My spy diary

Chapter 663 You've got it wrong! (Seeking monthly votes)
"Hello, is this Secretary Mao?"

"who are you?"

"Heh, you just tried to bribe me with gold bars a few days ago, and you've already forgotten? You bastard, you've really got me killed!" the voice on the other end of the phone said through gritted teeth.

Mao Zhongxin was somewhat surprised by the call from Zhu Hua, the driver of the Eighth Route Army office. Hearing the other party's gritted teeth, he couldn't help but chuckle inwardly and tentatively asked:
"Mr. Zhu, what makes you say that?"

There was a moment of silence on the phone before he said, "You've really ruined me. The organization already knows about your bribery of me. They're going to investigate me and send me back to Baota Mountain."

Mao Zhongxin was skeptical: "Oh, really? What does this have to do with me?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone again. After a long pause, someone finally spoke:

"Hey Mao, let's skip the pleasantries and have an open and honest talk." Zhu Hua paused for a moment, then continued, "How about we make a deal?"

Mao Zhongxin was even more surprised and tentatively asked:

"Deal? What deal?"

"I need money."

"Money is no problem, as long as you can provide what I need." At that moment, Mao Zhongxin suddenly heard a commotion on the other end of the phone and quickly asked, "Where are you?"

Zhu Hua sighed and said, "I'm leaving."

"Where?"

“I’m leaving the mountain city. In short, you won’t see me again.” Zhu Hua said, her voice growing softer and softer. “Let’s get back to the point. I have the information you need.”

"What information?"

"There's no time to say more now—I know who the mole your Military Intelligence Bureau is looking for is."

Mao Zhongxin's eyes lit up: "Is it accurate?"

“It’s absolutely true, I heard it with my own ears.”

"This is wonderful news. When can I share it with you?"

"I said there was a deal."

"How many?"

"Twenty small yellow croakers, a car with a full tank of gas, and a pass to leave the city. In the trunk were two pistols, four magazines, a box of biscuits, and a box of canned food."

Mao Zhongxin was taken aback. He hadn't expected Zhu Hua to offer such a high price. He scratched his head instinctively and asked:
"With so much stuff, how far exactly do we need to go?"

Zhu Hua said coldly, "That's none of your business. What you want is intelligence, and what I want is freedom."

How can I trust you?

"At noon, I want to see these things at the same place we met last time—gold bars, a car, and passes. I'll tell you when I see them." With that, he slammed down the phone.

Mao Zhongxin held the phone, his brow furrowed. After thinking for a moment, he dialed the telecommunications department's number: "Hello, this is Mao Zhongxin from Division A. Could you help me find out where this phone number that just called was from?"

A moment later, the telecommunications staff replied: "Secretary Mao, hello, 23442 is the public telephone at the train station."

Mao Zhongxin hung up the phone and immediately went to find Mao Qiwu.

Guo Xinya handed over her access pass at the gate, registered her reason for leaving, and hurriedly left the bureau's headquarters office.

Outside the office, she glanced at her watch; it was already 11:12 a.m., half an hour before the agreed meeting time.

There were no bus stops nearby, only a few rickshaws wandering around.

Guo Xinya did not choose to take the ride, but instead chose to continue walking forward.

After walking for a while, the streets gradually became busier, and a bus stop appeared, with more than ten people already queuing.

Guo Xinya casually glanced around and, finding no one suspicious, breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon, a bus slowly approached, and Guo Xinya continued to observe cautiously.

A short while later, the bus pulled into the station. Guo Xinya rushed to the door and boarded the bus first. She then looked through the window but still found nothing unusual.

Soon, the car started again.

Looking out the train window at the station that was getting further and further away, Guo Xinya finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

She was wearing a modified, plain-colored cheongsam and carrying a handbag; she looked no different from any other office worker.

This is actually her seventh year of undercover work. Seven years have passed since her time in the Special Service Department in 35, and now in the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Her code name was Qiu Chan, and she belonged to the former Jinling City Working Committee, now the Shancheng City Working Department.

However, what she didn't realize was that the rickshaw that had been speeding down the street with its passengers suddenly stopped the moment she boarded the bus. The passengers jumped off, ducked into a tobacco shop on the side of the street, and then picked up the phone to make a call.

Soon, the phone rang in Wang Xinheng's office at the Bai Mansion.

He took the phone, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Well done. Continue surveillance, continue the segmented tracking, and remember to maintain distance. Don't alert them!"

Military Intelligence Bureau No. 41 Hospital.

The hospital laboratory had become Feng Wenrao's workspace. He was using a magnifying glass to compare and examine the manuscript and the letter of denunciation that Zhang Yi had given him. Every detail of the characters seemed to be under his watchful eye, and he kept circling them with a red pen.

Once he gets into work mode, Feng Wenrao is like a meditating monk, with only the handwriting in his eyes.

Soon, he put the words "I, I, I" circled in red pen in the confidential documents of Mao Zhongxin's internal affairs into the microscope.

Under the microscope, each character is magnified many times over, and every tiny detail, from hooks and strokes to turns and flicks, is revealed in exquisite detail.

Feng Wenrao lay on the microscope, gently moving the page slightly, and occasionally picking up the whistleblower letter to compare and observe it.

Outside the door, Zhang Yi waited patiently.

Meanwhile, Guo Xinya had gotten off a rickshaw and was walking slowly toward the meeting point.

The street was bustling with people, and in the distance, she could already see the Chengxin Traditional Chinese Medicine Shop.

As she walked, she kept an eye on the Chinese medicine shop out of the corner of her eye.

The sign outside the pharmacy read "Buying Tiger Bones," indicating that the contact point was functioning normally and meetings were permitted. Everything around the pharmacy was normal; there were no spies, no informants, and no suspicious individuals—this was good.
Just then, the phone rang at Chengxin Traditional Chinese Medicine Shop. The owner answered the phone, listened to the other person say a few words, and then calmly hung up. He then walked outside the shop and casually flipped the sign that read "Buying Tiger Bone" over to "Buying Astragalus".

Guo Xinya saw the Chinese medicine shop had changed its signboard from afar, paused for a moment, then slowed her pace and calmly turned at an intersection to leave.

In a car at the intersection, the head of the inspection team, who had been monitoring and tracking them, frowned when he saw Guo Xinya suddenly turn a corner and noticed that the traditional Chinese medicine shop had changed its sign.
"Group one, withdraw. Group two, continue surveillance. Send someone to check the pharmacy, but don't alert them."

After returning to the inner room, the owner of the traditional Chinese medicine shop quickly opened a medicine drawer, took out a stack of documents, lit them with a lighter, threw them into the brazier, and then quickly poured some alcohol on them. He saw plainclothes officers approaching the shop through the window. He quickly turned and fled through the back window.

When the plainclothes team leader led his men into the traditional Chinese medicine shop, it was already empty.

Several plainclothes officers searched the house. The team leader went outside, looked at the empty street, then at the "Buying Astragalus" sign. Furious, he ripped the sign down and stomped on it. He then walked to the telephone behind the counter, picked it up, listened for a moment, then put it down, seemingly lost in thought. Finally, he picked it up again and dialed a number.

Bai Mansion.

"The person ran away? What happened?"

Wang Xinheng felt his heart stop for a few seconds, but he quickly interrupted the voice on the other end of the phone and said:

"Listen to me. Immediately inquire about the surrounding shops and draw a sketch of the pharmacy owner. Have your people rush to major transportation hubs such as the train station, bus station, and docks to control every entrance and exit. If necessary, you can ask the inspection department and waterway traffic checkpoints for assistance. In addition, once the sketch is completed, immediately issue it to the police station and issue a city-wide warrant for his arrest on charges of rape."

Immediately after hanging up, he dialed another number:

"Second team, this is Wang Xinheng. Where is the target? Still in sight? Good, no need to follow, arrest him immediately."

Exposed?
Guo Xinya walked along, feeling uneasy. She noticed that a car was following her, so she quietly turned into a side road.

Soon, a black Dodge and a rickshaw stopped at the narrow intersection, and four plainclothes officers from the Inspectorate got out.

The group exchanged a silent glance and made a gesture to surround the other group.

Unbeknownst to them, a figure was silently watching their every move from a street corner not far away.

It is Zheng Huhe.

His duty was to cover the evacuation of the pharmacy owner and Guo Xinya.

Upon seeing this, he immediately took a detour and followed them.

At the same time, Guo Xinya was chased out of the alley by two plainclothes officers who were baring their teeth and claws. Just as she was about to run into the bustling street, one of the plainclothes officers couldn't hold back and pulled out a gun.

"Stop! Run again or I'll shoot!"

Guo Xinya's face was ashen as she secretly opened her handbag, inside which was her Browning pistol.

Since exposure is already irreversible, we must not fall into their hands, even if it means dying together with the enemy.

Then, at that moment, a scream was heard, followed by a sharp gunshot.

"boom!"

"A gun! Someone fired a shot!"

People on the street screamed and scattered in panic, everything spiraled out of control. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Guo Xinya immediately ran into the crowd. She saw Zheng Huhe firing a gun into the air and immediately recognized him. After a moment of hesitation, she grabbed him and rushed into the chaotic crowd.

"Damn it, who fired the shot? Everyone, get down!" The plainclothes officer at the alley entrance was furious and fired warning shots wildly, but it was all in vain. No one could stop the flow of people rushing to escape.

Guo Xinya and Zheng Huhe quickly disappeared.

At the Bai Mansion, Wang Xinheng waited by the telephone. Just when he was almost "waiting with bated breath," the phone rang.

He grabbed the phone, listened to the dejected voice on the other end, his face full of disbelief, and couldn't say a word.

A moment later, he arrived at Dai's mansion dejectedly and, feeling extremely uneasy, recounted the entire process of the tracking and arrest.

Dai Chunfeng sank into the sofa, his face even more gloomy than his.

"You mean Guo Xinya's superior suddenly canceled the meeting after receiving the warning call?"

"Yes."

"Have you found the source of the phone call?"

"It's a public phone."

"So, Guo didn't know that the Thunderclap Plan was a decoy, his superiors didn't know at first either, but the owner of that warning phone call did?"

What does this refer to?
Dai Chunfeng and Wang Xinheng simultaneously considered the same possibility—Operation Thunderclap had been leaked, perhaps last night or this morning. Besides Guo Xinya, the already exposed undercover agent, there were other undercover agents lurking at headquarters.

Perhaps it was one of the people who attended the banquet that night, or someone close to them.

If that's really the case, then it's the most terrifying thing, because we haven't even caught a glimpse of this person yet.

"Yes."

Dai Chunfeng noticed his dejection and comforted him, "Operation Thunderclap was just bait. As long as Operation Lone Boat is safe, that's all that matters. What we need most now is patience." He paused, then changed the subject, "Besides Guo Xinya, are there any other suspects?"

Wang Xinheng snapped out of his daze and immediately pulled out a piece of paper with many names written on it from his pocket, handing it to Dai Chunfeng:
"There were eighteen people in total. From last night to noon today, some were sick and asked for leave, some had family matters to attend to, and others went to Shulu on official business. We have investigated and verified the whereabouts of each person and found relevant witnesses for each of them. The reasons they gave for registering were all true, and none of them lied."

"Should we be happy or disappointed?" Dai Chunfeng asked, looking at him with her deep eyes.

"It's a mixed bag," Wang Xinheng said, his expression not looking too good.

“Patience, as I said, what we need most right now is patience.” Dai Chunfeng smacked his lips and smiled knowingly. “Looking at it another way, isn’t this better than seventeen out of eighteen people lying?”

Hearing this, Wang Xinheng smiled, then his expression turned serious, and he said in a firm tone:
"It can now be concluded that the person is hiding among those who attended the banquet that night or among the people around them."

"Then let's wait and see." Dai Chunfeng tapped the table, picked up the list again, and glanced at each name before finally stopping at Zhang Yi's name: "Zhang Yi went to the 41st Hospital to visit Feng Wenrao and asked him to do a handwriting analysis?"

In the laboratory of the 41st Hospital, Feng Wenrao, who had been analyzing for more than half an hour, was still carefully observing. He had replaced the words marked on the whistleblower's letter with the words under the microscope.

Under the microscope, the three characters “我、我、我” were exaggeratedly enlarged, and the horizontal, vertical, left-falling, and right-falling strokes were very similar to those on the previous internal affairs documents.

Feng Wenrao slowly walked away from the microscope, rubbing his sore eyes, his face showing a confident expression.

It seems he already has a positive answer.

He got up and walked to the door, just then the phone on the table rang. He turned around, hesitated for a moment, and then answered it.

Standing outside the door, Zhang Yi was silently calculating in his mind whether Mao Zhongxin had been tricked and how far Zheng Huhe's plan had progressed. He seemed to be getting impatient. He glanced at his watch and turned to look at the laboratory.

At that moment, the door opened, and Feng Wenrao came out.

Zhang Yi immediately went to greet them:
"Is there any result?"

Feng Wenrao nodded.

"how?"

Feng Wenrao looked at him and said, "After careful comparison, I can tell that they were not written by the same person."

"No?" Zhang Yi's eyes widened.

“No. Although they look very similar, you can still see obvious differences in the details under a microscope.” He looked directly at Zhang Yi and said, word by word, “Deputy Director Zhang, you’ve made a mistake.”

For a moment, Zhang Yi was stunned. He never expected such an outcome, and his expression became quite subtle. Then, as if realizing something, he said with a forced smile:
"Deputy Section Chief Feng, thank you for your hard work!"

(End of this chapter)