My spy diary

Chapter 551 For Whom the Bell Tolls
"Now you know? If you know, go back and tell the people behind you that Liang Fu has betrayed the country and the evidence is irrefutable. No one can save him." After saying that, Zhang Yi gave the two men a cold look, then left with his hands behind his back.

"Yes, yes, we will definitely convey your message." The two men saluted and left looking disheveled.

After leaving the gate of the Military Intelligence Bureau, I stepped on the gas and headed straight for the nearest public telephone booth.

Needless to say, he must have called to ask for instructions.
"It's like this, we don't know how the Military Intelligence Bureau's Judicial Department got involved. Yes, it's Zhang Yi. From what we understand so far, Liang Fu's main problem is treason, and that seems to be their only concern. But we'll only know the specifics when we see Liang Fu. We haven't seen him yet, and if we can't silence him quickly, things might get complicated. Deputy Director Hu, do you think we should tell Commander Tang about this and ask him to intervene?"

"."

On the phone, the square-faced colonel gave an anxious report.

On the other end of the phone, in a lavish room, a man in silk pajamas leaned against the headboard, listening to the voice on the other end, his face ashen: "Idiot, you have to bother Commander Tang with such a trivial matter? The most urgent thing is to handle the aftermath properly. First, destroy the ledgers you find. Second, immediately send someone to his hometown to detain his parents."

He hung up the phone, took a deep breath, dialed a few more numbers, and said in a respectful tone:
"It's me, Xiao Hu. Is Commander Tang available to take the call now?"

In the Military Intelligence Bureau building, Liu Yang, the secretary of Station Chief Cui, stood at the office window, watching Zhang Yi and Li Mulin's car and the vehicle transporting prisoners drive out of the compound.

He thought for a moment, then picked up his teacup and walked into the confidential room.

The head of the confidential office was not there; a young agent was on duty. Upon seeing him, the agent greeted him warmly, "Secretary Liu, what brings you here?"

"Oh, regarding the issue of the mole within the station, the station has already made arrangements to conduct a detailed investigation into the history of each person. Could you first find Zhou Entai's information for me?"

"No problem, I'll give it to you right away." The agent took a bunch of keys from his belt, picked one out, opened the safe behind him, took out a stack of document bags from one of the compartments, flipped through them, handed one to Secretary Liu, and then took a register:

"Secretary Liu, please sign here."

After signing the document, Secretary Liu sat down at the table next to him and started looking through it.

He sat there for almost an hour, refilling his water glass after glass, as if trying to see the beauty in the few thin pages of paper.

When the agent on duty picked up the thermos again to make tea, he found that it was empty.

"Please wait a moment, I'll go change the water," he said, carrying the empty kettle out.

Secretary Liu grunted in response without looking up, but his eyes kept following the steps of the special agent on duty.

As soon as the other person left, Secretary Liu got up, closed the office door, took out a wire from his pocket, and opened a safe behind him.

He listened intently while rummaging through the safe. Soon, he found a file folder, deftly unsealed it, and pulled out the documents inside. The specific addresses of the three safe houses were clearly visible.

He quickly took out a pen and paper and silently copied down the three addresses.

A few minutes later, after returning the documents, he walked through the corridor and headed straight for the stationmaster's office.

Secretary Liu took out his key to open the door. Before entering, he looked around, then went inside, closed the door, and locked it, his movements light and practiced.

On the desk were two telephones, one black and one red.

He picked up the red phone and dialed a number.

On the other end of the phone was a man wearing a trench coat with his collar turned up, obscuring half his face. He quickly wrote down the address, said "That's settled," and hung up.

Then, he took out a scarf and wrapped it tightly around his face before going out.

He walked with his head slightly lowered, but he was still fully aware of his surroundings. After reaching a relatively secluded street, he slipped into a public phone booth and dialed the police headquarters.
"Hello, is this the police station? I need to report a murder at No. 3 Xigong Old Street."

After hanging up the phone, he thought for a moment, then picked up the phone and dialed another number, changing his accent: "Police station? There were gunshots at the watch shop on Shizi Street in the old town. Someone has been killed. Please send someone over to check it out."

After making the call, he quickly left the spot, walking and stopping intermittently until he arrived at another public phone booth. After waiting for nearly an hour, he dialed the number again:

"Hey, did you send anyone over? The murderer has escaped. What, I made a false report? Nobody lives there? Nobody lives at the watch shop on Shizi Street in the old town? How is that possible? I clearly saw it. Who am I? Guess?"

The man in the trench coat sneered and hung up the phone. The first two addresses had been eliminated, leaving only one: No. 23, Guanlin Temple Back Alley.

Having obtained the answer he wanted, the man in the trench coat immediately returned home, entered a secret room, and began sending telegrams. Amidst the ticking of the telegraph key, a telegram flew towards Kaifeng:
Field mice, rabbits, and loaches have been captured, as has the swift. The stone crab is dead. The safe house address has been confirmed. Please provide instructions! Also, Liu Yang, whose public identity is Cui Fangping's secretary at the Military Intelligence Bureau's Luoyang station, has incriminating evidence against him that I can use.
At the other end of the radio wave, Osawa Kanjiro, the head of the Japanese Kaifeng headquarters, received the telegram from a communications soldier. After glancing at it, he instructed the soldier, "Return the telegram to Yufu."

The communications soldier was ready to take notes in his notebook when Osawa Kanjiro struck a match, lit the telegram, and slowly said, "First, pay attention to the daily broadcasts from Kaifeng. The contact information for the special agents from Luoyang will be announced via the broadcast. Assemble all manpower and launch a forceful attack on the safe house. Kill Zhang Yi at all costs. Second, make good use of Liu Yang as a pawn; he can play an extraordinary role in this extraordinary time."

In the secret room, Yu Fu closed the codebook, took a deep breath, put his earpiece back on, and began to send a message: "Kaifeng Headquarters: Call received, execute immediately."

After doing all this, he turned off the radio, unplugged the power, went to his bedroom, sat at the table, turned on a radio on the table, and tuned the radio.

Soon, a female announcer's voice became clearer on the radio: "Grain prices in Kaifeng. Wheat flour, 231 yuan per bag. Rice, 369.5 yuan per bag."

He took out a pencil and began to write on a piece of paper.

After finishing his notes, he took out a newly published copy of Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" from the drawer, opened it, and began to look up the corresponding page numbers, one by one, matching the Arabic numerals he had just written on the paper.

He turned to a certain page in the book, moved his finger to a certain line and a certain word, and wrote it on the paper with a pencil: thorn.

Then, he turned to another page of the book, moved his finger, and wrote on the paper again: Hedgehog.

He continued flipping through the book, later jotting down notes on a piece of paper: Secret code, special skills
After finishing writing, he looked at the information on the letter and smiled.

No. 23 Guanlin Temple Back Alley is a small courtyard with seven or eight rooms in total.

Before getting on the bus, Sato Kenjiro, Guan Ayue, and Zhang Xianmin were all hooded, gagged, and knocked unconscious. Not only could outsiders not recognize their faces, but their sight and hearing were also completely blocked.

Upon entering the house, the three were led to three separate rooms. They were placed on specially made chairs, their belts and shoelaces removed, and their hands and feet were handcuffed to the chairs. After everything was arranged, Li Mulin invited Zhang Yi to the next room for tea and chess, and instructed his two deputy team leaders, Li Weizhang and Shen Zhongnian:

"Captain Li, go get some food. Captain Shen, keep watch."

"Yes."

Guanlin Temple Back Alley is located in a remote area. Even late at night, apart from a simple noodle stall a few streets away, there is nothing else to eat.

A tattered cloth canopy, a few tables, chairs, and benches stained with grease, and once the stove is lit, the noodle stall can open for business.

At this time of day, apart from a few rickshaw drivers eating noodles and drinking cheap liquor, there are hardly any people around.

Li Weizhang ordered three bowls of lard noodles and waited on the side, smoking a cigarette.

Sitting with his back to him was a rickshaw puller wearing a felt hat, who was currently engrossed in eating noodles.

Li Weizhang finished his cigarette, and the noodles were ready. He paid the bill and left without looking back, but the driver glanced at his retreating figure. If Zhou Entai were here, he would recognize this man at a glance—Hedgehog, the courier he had mentioned, the one who had taken him to see Sato Kenjiro.

Back in the safe house, Li Weizhang and Shen Zhongnian removed the hoods, handcuffs, and gags from Sato Kenjiro, Guan Ayue, and Zhang Xianmin.

Sato Kenjiro and Seki A-Yuki's rooms were on opposite sides of the room. As soon as the door opened, they saw each other.

Shen Zhongnian handed the clump of noodles to Guan Ayue: "Eat up. It's already good enough that you have black noodles. Ordinary people can only eat cornmeal."

Guan Ayue completely ignored his actions. She neither ate nor spoke, staring blankly at the ceiling with a cold expression.

"How about you have a chat with your old flame?" Shen Zhongnian pointed to Sato Kenjiro in the room across the street.

Guan Ayue remained silent.

In the opposite room, Sato Kenjiro's hands were pierced by iron hooks, the flesh turned inside out, the wounds were already a bloody mess, and his hands were covered in sticky blood, but this did not affect his eating at all. He grabbed a dough ball and wolfed it down, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Night fell, and a light drizzle began to fall outside the window. The hedgehog hid at the entrance of the alley behind Guanlin Temple, waiting for an opportunity to approach.

He looked around for a moment, then tiptoed into the alley and arrived at the gate of house number 23. Holding his breath, he pressed his ear to the door and listened. He could faintly hear a telephone ringing inside. He pulled a dagger from his pocket, inserted it into the crack in the door, and tried to pry open the bolt. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from inside the yard; someone was walking outside. The hedgehog quickly withdrew his dagger, disappeared into the darkness, and left, hugging the wall.

On a quiet street, a black sedan was parked on the side of the road, with fish belly, hedgehog, and quail inside.

Fish Belly listened to Hedgehog's report from the back seat with a blank expression, and finally said softly, "I understand."

He paused, then turned to look at the two of them and said coldly:
"The deaths of General Yoshikawa and several colonels were all orchestrated by the Chinese Zhang Yi. The Kaifeng headquarters has now issued a kill order, commanding us to strike at all costs to kill him. You two are both elite espionage agents of the Empire. I hope you will prioritize the interests of the Empire, be loyal to the Emperor, avenge General Yoshikawa, and vindicate our North China intelligence agency. This time, we must launch a surprise attack, turn the tide, and eliminate Zhang Yi in one fell swoop. Go, gather your men, I'll be waiting for you here."

"Hey, the honor and disgrace of the empire are above all else, the Emperor will surely prevail."

"Thank you."

The hedgehog and the quail got off the bus.

Yu Fu raised his wrist and glanced at his watch, a deep light shining in his eyes.

At that moment, in the room where Zhang Yi and Li Mulin were, Li Mulin finished his phone call and said with a surprised look, "That ghost in the nest has moved."

Zhang Yi looked at him, gesturing for him to continue.

Li Mulin cleared his throat and continued, "This matter started when you, Director Zhang, ordered the transfer of the prisoners and that we keep an eye on the people inside the station. I specifically left trusted people to monitor everything that was happening inside the station, to see if anyone was interested in information about the safe house. Sure enough, as you predicted, as soon as we made a move, that ghost also made a move."

"who is it?"

"Liu Yang, the secretary of Station Chief Cui." It turned out that Liu Yang was being watched as soon as he entered the confidential room. He thought he had managed to get rid of the duty officer and sneak a peek at the documents from the safe without anyone noticing, but little did he know that his every move had already been exposed to the surveillance.

Li Mulin said with a serious expression: "Afterwards, my men went to the confidential room and found that the only thing that had been touched was the document recording the safe house."

"He sent the intelligence out?"

“Most likely. The report on the phone just now said that although the communications department didn’t intercept any suspicious calls, he went to Station Chief Cui’s office, where there is a secure phone that is the only one that can’t be intercepted.” Li Mulin took a deep breath and continued, “Coincidentally, shortly after he sent out the intelligence, the communications department detected a suspicious signal in the south of the city. It should be a Japanese spy reporting to his superiors.”

Zhang Yi nodded, then pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you think Secretary Liu is also one of their people?"

Li Mulin frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's hard to say, probably only a ghost would know."

"Who knows? That's nothing. People are more cunning than ghosts." Zhang Yi laughed sarcastically.

Li Mulin nodded in empathy.

Just then, the phone rang again.

Li Mulin walked over and answered the phone. After listening for a few moments, he hung up and said with a serious expression:
"Director Zhang, our informant at the police station called and said they received two false alarms tonight. The addresses mentioned by the callers happen to be the addresses of our other two safe houses."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Weizhang knocked on the door and came in, saying in a deep voice, "Station Chief, Director Zhang, suspicious footprints have been found at the gate of the compound."

Upon hearing this, Li Mulin's expression grew even more solemn.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yi stood up expressionlessly and took a deep breath:

"Plans can't keep up with changes. Since the enemy is so confident and wants to wipe us out in one fell swoop, we might as well turn the tables on them, lay a trap, and wipe them out in one fell swoop. I want to see for whom the death knell tolls. Deputy Station Chief Li, call the Military Police Headquarters immediately!"

(End of this chapter)