The door of the courtyard house has been welded dead

In May in Beijing, locust flowers are in full bloom, and their rich sweet fragrance is wrapped in an indelible stickiness.

The bluestone pavement outside the Dongwangzhuang compound reflects the moonlight like a mirror. Moss grows wildly in the corners after the rainy season, adding a layer of dark green mildew to the mottled brick walls.

The five members of Team E of the Investigation Department hid in the shadows of the alley. They were wearing brand new bulletproof vests, and the rough canvas had rubbed their necks red. Sweat flowed down their necks, feeling a little hot, and finally slid down their spines into the waistband of their pants, condensing into hot and wet marks on the stuffy fabric.

Zhou Zhengguo, the head of Group E and leader of Operations Division 3, took off his headphones and put on a bulletproof vest. Due to the heat inside, sweat had already spread onto his back, forming dark brown salt crystals.

The target their team is responsible for this time is much easier than that of Xu Le and his team, and the scale of the task is not as big as that of Boss Shen's team. Their target is Cai Congsheng, a clerk in the administrative department of Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant.

Taking advantage of the convenience of organizing technical files, the new blast furnace smelting information introduced from abroad may have been leaked to foreign forces.

Once these data were leaked, they might threaten the security of the entire heavy industry system. As an administrative staff member, he should have been aware of this, but he still betrayed the steel plant and the country.

At this moment, the target is hiding in the No. 14 tenement deep in the alley in front of us. According to intelligence analysis, this Cai Congsheng has no anti-reconnaissance capabilities and should have just rebelled not long ago.

Due to the tight time schedule, the Intelligence Department did not provide more comprehensive information. It was unclear whether they were carrying weapons. Because there was only one person, the risk factor of the operation was determined to be relatively low. Five operatives were already considered a high-profile operation.

The main reason is that the traffic environment in Dongwangzhuang is very complicated. There are many large courtyards, forming a place comparable to the urban villages a few decades later. Once you escape, it is really difficult to find it.

"Check your equipment~!" Zhou Zhengguo lowered his voice, opened the safety of the pistol, and put it back into the quick-draw holster.

The operatives moved their wrists silently, and the guns and metal instruments collided with each other, making a crackling sound.

The goalkeeper placed the battering ram on the ground and spat into his palm twice. The surface of this specially made hammer still bore traces of the heavy object it had smashed during its last mission.

The communications soldier was adjusting the height of the walkie-talkie's antenna. The antenna was looming among the branches and leaves of the locust tree. The rustling sound of the electric current mixed with the chirping of cicadas was particularly harsh in the stagnant air.

There are many people who use many methods to fight, and there are few people who use few methods to fight.

After all the team members were ready, Zhou Zhengguo squatted on the ground, spread out the map, held a flashlight in his hand, and explained the arrangements for this operation.

On the map, the area circled in red is the slum where Zhou Zhengguo lives. It's a mixed crowd, if not a mixed crowd. Compared to the courtyard houses on the east and west sides of the capital, the people living in the north and south of the capital are all commoners, and their living standards are below average, resulting in very poor living conditions.

Wherever there is a little open space, sheds and houses have been built. The phenomenon of illegal construction is very serious. People may be able to climb over the wall through the gap between the connected houses or through a pile of firewood.

"Old Zhang and I will go through the main gate, No. 4 will block the back, and No. 3 will climb up the west wall and keep an eye on the roof of Cai's house in the east. We will try our best to capture him alive. According to his rank, he is not equipped with a gun, but we cannot be careless, he may be armed~!"

The flashlight spot slid across the map. Several action personnel stared at the map and noted down their assigned positions.

Bluestone slabs, grape trellises, messy electrical wires and bricks and tiles that are within reach. After the task was completed, Zhou Zhengguo looked at the complex and messy buildings in the alley and sighed deeply. In this situation, it would be better to arrest the person in the factory!
But in order to avoid complications, the superiors unified the action and demanded that they catch the enemy in one fell swoop, so they had no choice but to go ahead with it. At least, what their group should worry about most is that the enemy will take advantage of the environment and escape, unlike other assault teams, which are at risk of being sacrificed at any time.

"Let's get started~!"

The moment the cicadas stopped chirping, the air seemed to solidify into a block.

Cold sweat broke out on Lao Zhang's palm as he held the battering ram, and the metal handle glowed coldly in the twilight.

The rubber soles of the Liberation Shoes rolled over the locust flowers on the bluestone slabs, and the rustling sound startled the wild cat at the foot of the wall, which arched its back and ran into the corner filled with honeycomb coal.

Zhou Zhengguo followed closely with a pistol in his right hand and a flashlight in his left hand, the beam of light sweeping across the mottled house numbers in the alley.

, No. 7, No. 9, No. 11...the damp mildew spots looked like distorted ghost faces in the light column.

The sound of dogs barking came from deep in the alley, each bark becoming more shrill than the last.

Zhou Zhengguo suddenly grabbed Lao Zhang's arm and the light of the flashlight suddenly fixed on the wall - a sign with the number 14 in white on a blue background was hanging crookedly between the peeling wall plaster, and a half-faded red cloth strip was wrapped around the iron nail. It was unknown which child's wish rope it was tied for the New Year.

The door to the yard was tightly closed, and the smell of sandalwood mixed with the burnt smell of paper leaking out from the crack of the door was particularly pungent in the sultry air.

"There seems to be movement over there."

The signalman lowered his voice, and the antenna of the walkie-talkie vibrated slightly above his shoulder.

Zhou Zhengguo looked in the direction he pointed and saw the curtains of the dormer window not far away moving without wind. A dark shadow could be vaguely seen swaying behind the curtain. He didn't know whether it came here to hear the noise or to watch out for thieves.

He made a gesture, and the team members immediately dispersed to the agreed position. The rustling sound of bulletproof vests and the barking of dogs were intertwined.

Old Zhang held the door-breaking hammer against his waist, his back teeth clenched until they ached. He had seen photos of Cai Congsheng himself, and he looked like a weak scholar, and it was impossible to imagine that he was a traitor who sold out state secrets.

Over the years, I have seen all kinds of evil spirits. As an administrative cadre in a steel plant, I may not have a bright future, but I will not lack food and clothing. Why should I go down this path of no return?

At this moment, he stared at the half-open carved door, and suddenly remembered the hidden safe that Xu Le had broken into. Inside the safe were neatly stacked various important documents.

"Prepare!"

Zhou Zhengguo's voice was like a taut bowstring.

Lao Zhang took a deep breath and just as he was about to swing the battering ram, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from the winding alley next door.

Everyone's guns instantly turned towards the source of the sound, only to find an old lady holding an enamel spittoon in her hand. Her white hair was disheveled and stuck to her forehead. She looked at the fully armed men and staggered back two steps in fear. The spittoon in her hand fell to the ground, making a clanging sound.

"Young man, what are you doing?"

Zhou Zhengguo's pupils suddenly shrank. This commotion was quite loud. He wondered if it had alarmed Cai Congsheng in the compound. He didn't have the energy or the energy to answer the old lady.

"Break the door!" Zhou Zhengguo roared, and Lao Zhang's door-breaking hammer had already hit the door hinge heavily.

The rotten wood groaned under the weight, and the moment the door panel fell to the ground with a loud bang, Zhou Zhengguo stepped on the door panel and slipped into the yard. The beam of his flashlight pierced the darkness like a sharp sword.

A man quickly climbed onto the wall of the courtyard, as light as a swallow, holding five or six rifles in his hands. After reaching the position, he aimed the muzzle of the gun directly at the roof of the house opposite where Cai Congsheng lived.

The other man was like a nimble raccoon. The sound of his feet landing on the ground was extremely heavy. He did not care about the risk of being exposed at this moment. The right thing to do was to block the road to the back first.

"who?"

"What's going on? Why is there such a big noise? Are they demolishing the house?"

The sound of the door being broken, coupled with the sound of the courtyard gate collapsing, woke up many residents of the slum, and every household turned on the lights.

Before she could finish her words, the door of the back room creaked open. The eldest sister, wrapped in a floral quilt, was holding a baby in her arms. In the dim light, the child was frightened by the sound of the door breaking and burst into tears.

Old Zhang stood in front of Zhou Zhengguo with a battering ram, and there were sawdust on his bulletproof vest.

More figures came to the entrance of the yard, a barefoot man carrying a bamboo broom, an old lady in a robe holding a copper washbasin, and the shouting and barking of dogs mixed together.

"Don't even come here!"

Zhou Zhengguo fired a warning shot into the air. The sound of gunfire tore through the night sky. The crowd froze in place instantly, with only the sound of locust flowers falling on everyone's shoulders.

"Public security personnel are on duty! All unrelated personnel should return to their rooms immediately!"

The signalman took the opportunity to maintain order, standing guard with a gun in one hand and waving with the other, driving away the people who did not know the truth and hurriedly went home.

The Cai family was the only one that didn't turn on the lights or open the door. It was so quiet, as if they didn't hear anything happening in the yard at all. The dark house was like a black hole, absorbing all the light.

Old Zhang stepped forward and swung the battering ram in his hand. The door of Cai's room, like the courtyard gate, collapsed with a loud bang.

Like quails, the neighbors ran back to their houses, peeking through the door frames and cracks, watching these fierce-looking public security comrades rushing into the Cai family's house. They were all dumbfounded.

The house was very quiet. There was no crackling of gunfire and no resistance. The collision sounds from the fight were so quiet that it was a little scary.

After a while, when the lights came on, Zhou Zhengguo, with a gloomy face and a frown, walked out of the house. The communicator also looked a little confused at this time.

"Why did you die?"

"You ask me, who should I ask? Hurry up and report~!"

Zhou Zhengguo wiped the sweat from his head, sat down on the bricks at the door, and signaled to the people on the wall to come down.

"Team E reports, arresting personnel, Cai Congsheng is dead, dead in bed, no fatal injuries on his body, no signs of struggle, the children at home are nowhere to be found~!" (End of this chapter)