My spy diary

Chapter 560 Intelligence (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Cui Fangping didn't say anything and walked straight in.

The young woman watched his retreating figure and asked, "Why did you suddenly think of me today? Didn't you say you'd never see me again?"

Cui Fangping walked to the living room and sat down on the sofa with a blank expression.

Seeing that he didn't speak and seemed a little uneasy, the young woman couldn't help but ask softly:
"Where's Secretary Liu? Why didn't he come today?"

Cui Fangping gave her a slightly mocking look: "You'll have to go to the interrogation room and ask him about that."

The young woman looked at him in horror, forced a smile, and said, "What...what's wrong with him?"

"Treason."

The woman was stunned.

"Of course, he also talked about things between you two."

The young woman felt dizzy. Just two days ago, Secretary Liu had confidently promised to elope with her, which was exactly the way she had always dreamed of. Secretary Liu was not only young and handsome, but also spoke gently, was attentive, and caring. But now...
The woman immediately knelt on the ground with a thud, tears streaming down her face.

After sobbing for a long time, she raised her head, lunged forward, and grabbed Cui Fangping's leg, almost pleadingly saying:
"Can you give me a chance to make amends? I was wrong. I'll listen to you from now on and never see other men again, okay? I'll have your children. You've always wanted a boy, haven't you? You can have as many as you want."

The word "boy" stirred something within Cui Fangping. Of the three unfilial acts, the greatest is to have no offspring; in the past, this would have been a scene he had always dreamed of. However, things had changed, and even if he were to have a child, it didn't necessarily have to be the woman before him.

He sighed softly, patting the woman's trembling body as he said:

"Scared? Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. Even if I, Cui Fangping, am inhuman, I wouldn't lay a hand on a woman." He paused, then continued:
"How many years have you been with me? Let me think... two years?"

“It’s been three years and four months,” the woman replied, carefully observing his expression.

Cui Fangping moved his lips, but said nothing.

The young woman carefully got up and said considerately, "Stationmaster, you must be tired. I'll make you some tea." After saying that, she took the teacup and walked to the side.

Cui Fangping did not stop him, his gaze falling on a plate of fruit and a fruit knife on the table.

By the time the young woman approached with a steaming cup of tea, he had already started peeling an apple, his gaze fixed on it: "Is the money I left with you still there?"

"I spent some, but the gold is still untouched; it's all in the safe."

"Didn't you send money home?"

"I sent some."

Cui Fangping looked up at her and asked, "The password hasn't changed, has it?"

"No."

Cui Fangping handed her the peeled apple he was holding. Seeing that she hesitated, he stretched his hand out further until she took it.

Cui Fangping put away the fruit knife and said, "Feelings are like a sharp knife, especially at your age, when you're still inexperienced. A man's sweet words can lead you astray, and in the end, you're the one who gets hurt. When I was young... well, I'm old now, so let's not talk about it."

The woman listened to him without saying a word, her eyes fixed on the knife.

“You’re a good girl, and I can’t keep you tied down for the rest of my life. Leave, go to the mountain city, or anywhere you want to go.” Cui Fangping leaned back on the sofa and sighed. “I’m telling the truth. Go and get the gold. Since we’ve met, I’ll give you some travel expenses.”

"You really want me to leave?" The woman's previously dazed eyes suddenly lit up, and she spoke in a soft, gentle tone:

"I won't leave. What will you do if I leave? I want to stay with you."

"When have I, Cui, ever gone back on my word? Hurry up, or we'll miss today's train."

"That's true, the stationmaster always keeps his word." The young woman breathed a sigh of relief and happily walked towards the bedroom.

Cui Fangping kept watching her until her figure disappeared through the doorway, and the sound of the safe being unlocked rang out. His face instantly turned gloomy.

Suddenly, he grabbed a cushion from the sofa and rushed into the bedroom. The woman had just opened the safe when she heard footsteps and turned around in surprise. Cui Fangping grabbed her hair and dragged her to the ground. Then, he quickly pressed the cushion against her face, suffocating her mouth and nose.

The woman struggled desperately, grabbing wildly with both hands, but Cui Fangping held her down tightly until her kicking legs gradually stopped moving.

Veins bulged on Cui Fangping's forehead, and his arms were stiff and somewhat numb.

He slowly released his grip, lifted the cushion, glanced coldly at the woman who lay dead with her eyes wide open, then stepped over her, casually grabbed a pillowcase from the bedside pillow, and rolled up dozens of gold bars from the safe inside.

Then, he came out of the bedroom, picked up the still steaming cup of tea, thought for a moment, put it down, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, quickly cleaned up the traces he had left, and then began to rummage through drawers and cabinets, his movements casual and rude, deliberately making a mess of the house before leaving without looking back.

Military Intelligence Bureau meeting room.

After lunch, the plainclothes officers who participated in the afternoon's operation quietly gathered here again.

Zhang Yi sat at the head of the table, with Li Mulin sitting next to him.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Li Mulin nodded to Zhang Yi, then took out several hastily developed photos that still smelled of chemicals and circulated them among everyone:

“Look carefully, she is the third party who appeared at the scene today. The next step is to verify her identity and find out her true identity, and bring her accomplices to justice.”

The photo shows Chiba Kiriko's sinister and hate-filled face—a photo left behind after she committed suicide by poisoning herself.

"Work in pairs, with the help of the household registration police and patrol officers, and activate all our informants and peripheral personnel. We must find out her true identity."

"Yes."

Not long after Chiba Kiriko's incident, the telephone in Ryuki's room, who was lurking in the brothel, suddenly rang.

She walked over, picked up the phone, and heard something said on the other end. Her expression changed instantly: "Say that again? Chiba?"

In the dimly lit fireworks display, a thumb pressed down on the spring of a spring-loaded folding knife, and with a "whoosh," the gleaming blade sprang out from the side of the handle.

It was Yukio Tanaka, Ryūei's assistant. She stood up and looked at Ryūei:
"What happened?"

"Chiba is dead."

A hint of sadness flashed in Tanaka Yukio's eyes, and she immediately asked, "What do you need me to do?"

Liu Ying waved her hand and calmly said, "It's better to stay calm than to act rashly. Based on my understanding of the Military Intelligence Bureau, they will definitely investigate her true identity carefully next. Not to mention that they won't be able to find out in a short time, even if they do, Qianye rarely shows her face in public, so it won't involve us. However..."

Tanaka Yukio understood: "That Section Chief Liu who made her documents?"

Liu Ying met her gaze: "He can't stay. Go and see him." "Understood." Tanaka Yukio put away her folding knife.

"Be careful, don't make any mistakes."

Tanaka Yukio nodded: "He also has a wife and a five-year-old son, what do you think?"

Liu Ying looked regretful and said ominously, "In times of war and chaos, if a man dies, how will a widow and her children survive?"

She sighed and then said, "Take care of everything."

Tanaka Yukio nodded, a wicked smile playing on her lips.

"Let's go to the interrogation room."

At Yuzhou Station, everyone's attention was focused on the peripheral investigation, leaving Zhang Yi and Li Mulin with some free time.

"Interrogate Xiao Rui?" According to the original plan, after Xiao Rui was taken away and subjected to a mock execution, he had not been interrogated again, but was tortured every day without interruption, barely clinging to life. Li Mulin was a little worried, "A person determined to die probably won't give in."

"Not necessarily. You only cherish your life more after dying once. It's said that the Japanese are ruthless and will commit seppuku if they lose, but that's mostly a lie. Times have changed. When the Japanese first came, their willpower was indeed strong, but now they are suffering defeat after defeat, and it's said that there are even deserters. Interrogation is like fighting a war. If you lose, your morale will be greatly weakened."

As they spoke, the two had already entered the interrogation room where Xiao Rui was being held.

The man was hanging from a beam, his skin torn and his face unrecognizable from torture. He was in a semi-conscious state, and the plainclothes officer's whip continued to lash him. He let out intermittent, pitiful cries.

Li Mulin accompanied Zhang Yi in. He took a few steps closer and pinched Xiao Rui's face: "Confess or not?"

Xiao Rui opened his eyelids, still with that nonchalant look:

"Recruit what? I don't know anything about it."

Li Mulin looked at Zhang Yi, shrugged, and had an expression that suggested he had expected this.

Zhang Yi remained expressionless and asked, "As the director of the confidential office, you have access to classified information. Haven't you developed any accomplices?"

"The people in the confidential office are all my accomplices, go ahead and arrest them."

"Oh." Zhang Yi knew he was being cunning. He slowly walked up to him, drew his pistol, loaded it, and stared at him intently without saying a word.

After a short while, Xiao Rui's gaze softened. Now that things had come to this, saying a few more words might actually do him some good.

“There’s a guy in the Confidential Office named Zhao Jingming who frequents a Chinese medicine shop. He seems very suspicious. I suspect he’s a member of the Communist Party.”

Zhang Yi and Li Mulin exchanged a glance, and the latter quickly jotted down Xiao Rui's statement. At that moment, the interrogation room door opened, and Li Mulin's secretary rushed in without even knocking.
"Director, phone call."

"Whose phone number?"

"From the provincial government."

A call from the provincial government? Li Mulin looked incredulous. He glanced at Zhang Yi, about to say something, when the secretary added:
"They said there's an urgent matter over there—it's very important."

"Where is Station Chief Cui?"

"The station manager is not here."

"Excuse me, Director Zhang, I need to take this call," Li Mulin said apologetically, and then hurriedly left with his secretary.

People from the provincial government brought Li Mulin unexpected news—the Yuzhou Provincial Government, in order to rectify local administration, was going to convene a meeting of all provincial administrative inspectors in Luoyang, and the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Garrison Command, and the Police Bureau were to be responsible for the security of the meeting.

Zhang Yi wasn't interested in the news. After Li Mulin sent someone to monitor Zhao Jingming, he returned to the office he had prepared for himself.

After closing the door, Zhang Yi sat at the table, his fingers tapping erratically on the surface. He was deeply troubled. He hadn't expected Xiao Rui to throw out such a piece of information. If Zhao Jingming was indeed a member of the Communist Party, then that Chinese medicine shop must be a communication point for the underground party. Once it was targeted by the Kuomintang, the consequences would be unimaginable. But how could he pass on the intelligence discreetly?

Just as he was filled with worry, on the other side, Tanaka Yukio, who had completed her mission, met up with Ryuki again, and the two were also discussing the meeting held by the Yuzhou Provincial Government.

Do you remember the Nanjing poisoned wine case?

“I will never forget it.” Tanaka Yukio said in a chilling tone, “This was a despicable assassination carried out by the despicable Chinese against the high-ranking officials of the Empire.”

The Nanjing Poisoning Incident was an assassination operation planned and carried out in June 1939 by the Nanjing Station of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Specifically, it was carried out by Zhan Changqi and his brother Zhan Changbing, who were infiltrating the Japanese Consulate General in Nanjing. The two brothers worked seamlessly together, poisoning the wine served at a banquet for the Japanese army. More than a dozen Japanese and puppet officials were poisoned, and two of them died from their injuries. When the news spread, it shocked the Japanese government and public, and the Japanese intelligence community considered this incident a disgrace.

At this moment, seeing Ryuki bring up the old story again, Tanaka Yukio seemed to understand something and asked expectantly:
"what do you mean?"

Liu Ying stood up abruptly, her eyes shining: "This is a golden opportunity to wipe out the enemy's high command in one fell swoop!"

“I’ll go,” Yukio Tanaka volunteered.

“No.” Liu Ying pondered for a moment, then slowly said, “Not only you, but me, all of us. Think about it, as long as we plan properly and trap those important figures who are having meetings and meals inside, Luoyang will be turned upside down. At that time, they will be leaderless, and our troops will be able to occupy Luoyang without lifting a finger. As the Chinese saying goes, ‘One general’s success is built on the bones of ten thousand soldiers.’ Even if we all sacrifice ourselves, it is worth it. The Emperor will surely win.” After saying this, Liu Ying revealed a firm smile.

"Yes." Tanaka Yukio nodded, meeting Ryuki's gaze. "This subordinate will do everything in my power to serve the Imperial Japanese Army."

"You will be checking into the Luoyang Hotel immediately. Your new job is as a waitress at the Luoyang Hotel. Your name is Liang Yutang."

"Where are the guns and ammunition?"

"Someone will take the weapons in for you. You just need to figure out the hotel's internal layout."

Tanaka Yukio nodded solemnly: "Yes, I understand."

"Be safe and have a safe trip."

The night is rich.

Zhang Yi stood by the window, holding a cup of hot tea, gazing absently at the vast night outside.

Today's intelligence has been updated.

[1. You met with Cui Fangping today and obtained relevant intelligence—Cui Fangping assassinated his lover, Wen Mansheng, and staged the scene as a home invasion robbery. Cui Fangping intends to win over the two deputy captains of the action team and sideline Li Mulin.]

When two tigers fight, one will surely be injured. Zhang Yi shook his head. He hadn't seen any other skills in Cui Fangping, but he was certainly adept at vying for power and profit.

[2. You met with Chiba Kiriko today and obtained relevant intelligence: Chiba Kiriko is a high-ranking spy of the Special Higher Police, directly under the command of Suzuki Shizuko, codenamed Ryūei, and is infiltrating the Red Sleeve Pavilion under the guise of a madam.]

Special Higher Police? Brothel?

Zhang Yi never imagined that even after he and his team had almost completely eradicated the Japanese intelligence agency in North China, the Special Higher Police (THD) was still lurking right under his nose. Moreover, judging from the intelligence, this female spy named Suzuki Shizuko had the audacity to attack the Luoyang Hotel, so she must be quite powerful. He just didn't know how many people she had under her command.

(End of this chapter)