cicada

Chapter 1503 The Mole and the Mole

On the quiet street, Copper Lock gripped the steering wheel without saying a word, while Ava beside him watched the street scene rushing past the window in silence as well.

The two of them had just finished their conversation with Ryosuke Hase and were now preparing to return to their residence.

Although the conversation went smoothly and Hase agreed to cooperate with the Strategic Intelligence Agency, Ava did not seem happy and looked preoccupied.

As the car was about to enter a fork in the road, Ava suddenly pointed ahead and said, "Don't turn."

Tong Suo was taken aback, but still followed the other party's instructions and continued driving forward, the wheels splashing water as they drove over puddles.

Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of an abandoned church. The church walls were riddled with bullet holes, and colorful shards of stained glass were scattered on the ground, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place there.

"Clang~"

Copper Lock got out of the car and closed the door. He looked up at the round spire with a puzzled expression. He was about to say something to Ava when he saw her walk quickly inside.

After passing through a half-open iron gate, the two entered the church, which was filled with various architectural ruins.

Before Tong Suo could get a clear look at his surroundings, several dark figures jumped out from the wreckage and pointed their guns at him.

Despite being pointed at by so many guns, Copper Lock showed no fear. Instead, he snorted and questioned Ava.

"What do you mean by this? Are you trying to use me and then discard me?"

"Don't forget, I'm a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau. If I disappear, the authorities in Chongqing will definitely send people to investigate, and you won't be able to escape then either."

Ava giggled and waved to the shadowy figures. The men opposite her put down their weapons and lit torches, the dim light instantly dispelling the darkness.

She walked step by step to Tong Suo's side and said calmly, "Darling, it is precisely because you are a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau that I brought you here."

“Your Deputy Director Zuo is very cunning. The Strategic Intelligence Bureau is worried that you have ulterior motives for approaching me. You need to prove your loyalty with concrete actions. Do you understand what I mean?”

Copper Lock looked into Ava's eyes and sneered, "Isn't this just a pledge of allegiance? I agree."

He said it lightly, but he was actually in great pain inside. But there was nothing he could do; this was a test that every intelligence officer would face, and a price that had to be paid.

Intelligence warfare is not a dinner party; if you want the enemy to believe you, you can't just talk the talk.

Upon hearing this, Ava clapped her hands, and a dark figure pushed a man with his mouth gagged in front of the two. When he saw the copper lock, hatred and anger flashed in the man's eyes.

"Do you know who he is?" Ava asked with a smile, and before Copper Lock could answer, she gave the answer directly.

"This gentleman is an informant sent by the Military Intelligence Bureau to monitor you. He can also play the role of an assassin when needed. It is clear that Shancheng does not completely trust you."

"Since you want to defect to the free world, then show me your sincerity: kill him! Or be killed by me!"

After saying that, Ava handed Copper Lock a pistol with a silencer, and then drew her own sidearm and pointed it at Copper Lock's head.

Just then, a gust of wind blew into the church, and the torches flickered, illuminating the mottled cross and the unpredictable expression on the copper lock's face.

After a long while, Copper Lock finally made up his mind and slowly raised his pistol. Seeing this, Ava pulled the gag out of the man's mouth.

"Pah! You bastard! You traitorous dog! I'll haunt you even in death! Shoot!"

The man knelt on the ground, head held high, shouting angrily. His eyes were fixed on the copper lock, filled with hatred, yet something seemed to be hidden behind them.

As if enraged by the other party, Tong Suo forcefully pulled the trigger, and the bullet whistled out of the barrel and struck the man's heart.

"Plop plop plop!" The man's eyes widened, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, blood slowly spreading along the tarpaulin beneath him.

Hello, look here.

A sarcastic English sentence rang out, and Tongsuo subconsciously looked in the direction from which the sound came, when suddenly a flash of light appeared before his eyes.

Not far away, a white man held up a camera and pressed the shutter, capturing both the gun-wielding copper lock and the fallen man on film.

Seeing the other person's actions, Copper Lock immediately turned his head and glared at Ava, raising his arm sharply, the dark muzzle of his gun pointing directly at his lover who had just shared a bed with him.

His actions startled the shadowy figures, who quickly raised their guns and shouted, "Put down your guns!"

The enormous noise caused dust to fall continuously from the top of the building, but Ava showed no fear and even waved her hand with a smile to tell her men not to fire.

She walked slowly to Tongsuo, gently pressed down on the muzzle of the gun, and spoke to him as if complaining, or perhaps coquettishly.

“Darling, don’t be angry. This is a necessary means to ensure the success of the cooperation. You should understand.”

"Understand my ass! This matter ends here, I'm done!"

Copper Lock shoved the gun into her hand, then walked out of the church without looking back. The shadowy figures tried to stop her, but Ava shook her head.

"Let him go. If you were the ones being coerced, you wouldn't be happy either."

“We need to give David some time; he’ll figure it out. Okay, clean up the scene so the Japanese don’t find out.”

Ava's voice echoed in the empty building, and the shadowy figures quickly moved forward and dragged away the body and tarpaulin.

Meanwhile, Tong Suo, who had driven away, was breathing in the fresh air, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. After driving for a while, he finally couldn't hold back any longer, slamming his fist into the hard steering wheel and letting out a silent scream.

The streetlights shone into the car, revealing Tong Suo's expression of immense pain. What was more painful than fighting alone was the execution of his own compatriots, even though he had been prepared for it.

However, once the car stopped again, Copper Lock had regained his indifference; he couldn't let his brothers sacrifice themselves in vain.

With his recent pledge of allegiance, the Americans will soon recruit him into the Office of Strategic Services.

The smoke of war is about to dissipate, but the struggle between nations will never cease. China and the United States are allies now, but no one can predict what the future holds.

In the event that the US and China become enemies in the future, his position will be crucial and could even determine success or failure.

Back at his residence, Tong Suo turned on the floor lamp and was about to sit down on the sofa when he caught a glimpse of a note on the coffee table.

He immediately pulled out his sidearm and searched the house, only unfolding the note after confirming that no one was inside.

[Jingwei sacrificed herself willingly; please do not blame yourself, and take good care of yourself.]

These words made Tong Suo momentarily dazed. So all of this was part of headquarters' plan? The image of that brother's eyes flashed in his mind, bright and resolute.

Tong Suo burned the note and shrank into the sofa, looking somewhat helpless. He once again experienced the cruelty of intelligence warfare and felt a chill run through his body.

The moon rises and sets outside the window. When the sun leaps over the Huangpu River from the horizon, Tong Suo transforms back into that traitor who harms his compatriots and recognizes the enemy as his father.

Five days later, Ava appeared at his residence, along with a document.

The document states that the U.S. Office of Strategic Services appointed Copper Locke as a special commissioner for the East Asia Research Office, responsible for all intelligence analysis work in East Asia—a highly sensitive position.

Ava told Copperlock that as long as he served the United States diligently, there would be more important positions waiting for him in the future.

Meanwhile, the Strategic Intelligence Bureau assigned the task of meeting with Ryosuke Hasegawa to Copper Lock, ordering the two to form a secret intelligence team and await further instructions.

After seeing Ava off, Copper Lock immediately destroyed the documents. If such things fell into the hands of the Japanese and the puppet government, he wouldn't have enough heads to chop off.

As for whether the Americans would deny it without the document, that's impossible. As long as it has value, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) will not go back on its word.

"Dingling bell~~"

Just as he destroyed the documents, the phone on the table rang. Tong Suo picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. On the other end of the line was his subordinate from the Political Security Administration, who reported something.

Wan Lilang, the former head of the No. 76 Division and now the director of the First Bureau of the Political Security Administration, invited him to Nanjing to attend a welcome banquet.

Tong Suo hung up the phone, a look of suspicion flashing across his face. A welcome banquet? Who was Wan Lilang going to welcome?

With doubts in his mind, he boarded a train from Shanghai to Nanjing and arrived at the agreed meeting place, a Japanese restaurant, that same day.

As the junior agent pulled open the barrier door, Tong Suo discovered that besides Wan Lilang, there were four other people in the private room.

One of the four men was Zhou Fushui, a high-ranking official in the puppet government; another was Gangcun, the captain of the Nanjing Gendarmerie; and the remaining two were complete strangers.

When one of the bespectacled strangers saw Tong Suo enter, he hurriedly stood up and bowed. Wan Lilang introduced the stranger and the other man to Tong Suo in a deep voice.

"Director Ji, this is Mr. Lao, a righteous man who has just joined the new government. He is Mr. Ji's mole sent to the mountain city. Before coming to Nanjing, he served as the communications director of the intelligence department of the mountain city military command."

"Mr. Ni next to Mr. Lao is even more remarkable. He is a top agent of the Military Intelligence Bureau's Telecommunications Department and is known as the Military Intelligence Bureau's living code dictionary."

The copper lock's head was buzzing. The Japanese and the puppet government were about to collapse, so why were there still people surrendering to the Japanese and the puppet regime?
Moreover, these two were not ordinary agents. Given their positions, they must have possessed a great deal of highly classified information, such as the secret codes of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Military Wei Society.

Especially this guy named Mr. Ni, if the other party knew the contents of the secret telegrams he used to communicate with the vice-captain, the Japanese could easily trace him back to him.

Tong Suo was shocked inside, but outwardly remained calm as he sat down. Mr. Lao and Mr. Ni, upon hearing his title, greeted him together.

"Hello, Director Ji." X2
Faced with the greetings from the two traitors, Tong Suo smiled kindly: "Alright, sit down. From now on, we're all brothers making a living together, so there's no need to be so polite."

Mr. Lao and Mr. Ni bowed in response, but their reactions and expressions were different.

The former always wore a humble smile, while the latter forced a smile and kept picking up his glass to drink.

Tong Suo didn't say anything more, but listened quietly to the conversation between Wan Lilang and Lao Ni, and roughly figured out the situation.

Lao and Ni had just defected from Shancheng to Nanjing. The Japanese and their collaborators were worried that their surrender was fake, so they held a banquet to try to verify their identities.

Listening to the probing exchanges between the two, Tong Suo turned his gaze to Mr. Lao, feeling that the other man was a bit strange.

This feeling had no evidence; it was merely a mole's intuition. He seemed to see his own reflection in Mr. Law.

Mr. Lao noticed his gaze, raised his glass with his right hand, supported the bottom of the glass with his left hand, and bowed slightly to offer a toast.

"please."

"please."

Tong Suo put aside his doubts, turned the cup upside down and drank it all in one gulp. The spicy liquor flowed down his throat and into his stomach, burning his chest.