My spy diary

Chapter 692 Smile (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Yang Rong and He Zhiyuan were also in a terrible predicament. They were summoned to Dai Chunfeng's office and given a severe scolding.

"We told you to arrest someone, but you haven't made any progress. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the New Year, you fat pig?"

"It's as if Zheng Huhe has vanished."

"Disappeared? He disappeared, and Guo Xinya disappeared too?"

"this."

"What about this and that? What about Guo Xinya's escaped superior? Has she disappeared too?" Dai Chunfeng was furious. Looking at them, he complained, "Can't you even do your job? If you can't, I'll find someone else! I give you whatever you want, and I fill in whatever you lack, and what's the result? The intelligence department's information is not working properly, and the operations department's operations are inconvenient. Are you deaf or blind?"

Yang Rong and He Zhiyuan were so ashamed after being scolded that they couldn't utter a single word.

Just then, Deputy Officer Jia knocked and entered. Dai Chunfeng asked angrily:

"What happened again?"

Lieutenant Jia said cautiously, "Mr. Dai, our inside sources just reported that Chen Qingzhai of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Zhongtong) YZ District suddenly took over the household registration section of the Police Headquarters today, seemingly looking for someone. In addition, they just arrested a few people."

"Who is it?" Dai Chunfeng asked immediately, this was somewhat unexpected.

"I don't know the specifics, the secrecy measures are very strict, but based on inside information, it is probably the Red Party. Maybe they found some clues in the household registration department."

"Household Registration Department?" Dai Chunfeng frowned and pondered, then walked back to the sofa and sat down. Xu Zeng'en's smug "Waiting for good news" echoed in his ears, and he couldn't help but think of the name he had mentioned—Guan Zuzhi.

Did the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) find a clue from this person?

'I underestimated this little punk; he beat me to it.'

Dai Chunfeng thought gloomily, his face expressionless but his heart in turmoil. However, he would not admit his frustration, much less show it in front of his subordinates. He glanced at the dejected men standing in front of him and snorted:
"Originally, capturing Zheng Huhe and uncovering the mole within would have been a great achievement, but..." He paused, as if remembering something, a cryptic expression forming on his face, "What is Zhang Yi doing?"

Just as he finished speaking, the office phone rang suddenly.

Deputy Jia immediately went over and answered the phone. After listening for a few moments, he covered the microphone and said to Dai Chunfeng:
“Mr. Dai, this is Deputy Director Zhang. He says he has something important to report.”

"They've come at just the right time!" Dai Chunfeng remarked thoughtfully, then waved for Yang Rong and He Zhiyuan to leave.

But Yang Rong didn't leave; he looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Dai Chunfeng noticed his unusual behavior and said irritably:

"If you fart, let it go!"

Yang Rong glanced warily at He Zhiyuan, who had turned back after hearing his voice, and said, "I have an idea."

He wasn't doubting He Zhiyuan, but compared to his relationship with Zhang Yi, He Zhiyuan was better, and this concerned his next plan, so he couldn't be too cautious.

He Zhiyuan pretended to avoid suspicion: "Director, I'll be going now."

"No need, stay and listen together."

Yang Rong sighed helplessly.
"Director, I have an idea. With our current resources, we can definitely set a trap."

"A trap?" Dai Chunfeng scoffed, thinking to himself, "You've been completely fooled by the Red Party, and you still call it a trap? Aren't you worried about getting trapped yourself?"
"Yes, that's what I think." Yang Rong carefully chose his words. "Zheng Huhe has disappeared. If, oh if, we really have an undercover agent, if it's the person you suspect, Director, now that Zheng has disappeared, we can't find him, and that person probably won't be able to contact him either, right?"
You said, if he suddenly heard the news that Zheng Huhe had been captured, what would he do? Would he verify it? Would he take any action? The moment he makes a move, he'll definitely reveal his true colors!

He Zhiyuan looked at him in surprise. Clearly, Yang Rong was racking his brains to redeem himself.

Dai Chunfeng also looked surprised:

Do you think he'll take the bait?

Yang Rong sighed, "We'll try anything, even if it seems hopeless!"

Dai Chunfeng tapped the table and pondered for a moment:

"Alright, now that you have an idea, let's execute it. The intelligence department will be responsible for refining the plan, and the operations department will cooperate in its execution."

"Yes."

As dusk fell, a light rain began to fall.

From an abandoned air-raid shelter near the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBI) YZ District headquarters, marked with a sign that read "Distressed and Do Not Enter," piercing screams could be heard, sending chills down one's spine.

Deep inside the dark, damp air-raid shelter, filled with a nauseating, pungent smell, it has been secretly converted into an interrogation room.

Surrounded by his men, Chen Qingzhai entered the interrogation room. Several hours passed, and Chen Qingliu Qisheng, also known as Guan Ping, confessed nothing.

When he went inside, he saw that Guan Ping was covered in wounds, his skin was torn and his flesh was ripped open, and he had been beaten unconscious.

"Did you use severe torture?" he asked the execution captain.

"We've used everything we could."

Chen Qingzhai's face darkened: "You didn't say a word?"

"No, he did say that, he kept talking! But it was all nonsense, completely useless."

Chen Qingzhai pondered for a moment, then waved his hand and said:
"Wake him up."

Splash! A basin of cold water was poured over him, and Guan Ping, who was tied to the wooden stake, slowly woke up in a fit of pain.

His entire upper body was covered in whip marks and branding marks, a bloody mess, and half of his fingernails had been pulled out.

Guan Ping gritted his teeth, turned his face away, and instead of looking at the fierce-looking agents, he looked up and focused his gaze on the ventilation hole welded with iron bars in the distance.

Through the tiny window, he could vaguely see the patter of rain. His thoughts had drifted out of the dimly lit interrogation room, even out of the mountain town, and towards the distant Yongfeng Town in Xiangxiang County, Hunan Province.

The area is a picturesque place where mountains and water meet. The Mekong River enters from the south, meanders northward, and its clear waters reflect the scenery along its banks. The riverbanks are vast, fertile fields where rice, peanuts, and other crops thrive.

In autumn, the rice ears turn golden and the peanuts are plump, presenting a scene of abundant harvest.

He left his hometown in the autumn. Beside the golden waves of rice and wheat, his wife held their three-year-old son and waved goodbye to him with reluctance: "Zuzhi, wave goodbye to your father!"

"Only in Chu are there talents, and here they flourish!" He named his son Zuzhi, hoping he would take the sages as his mirror, inherit their wisdom, and carry on their aspirations. His son did not disappoint him; after graduating from elementary school, he became a probationary member of the Communist Party. Thinking of his son in his Eighth Route Army uniform, a smile appeared on Guan Ping's lips.

His grey military uniform, faded from washing and patched with indigo on the shoulders, was made all the more striking by his upright posture. He grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, raised his hand in a slightly off-the-cuff but remarkably solemn salute to the Kuomintang military intelligence officer, and called out, "Father, Guan Zuzhi reporting for duty!"

"Hey, that old bastard is laughing!" A spy noticed this and exclaimed in surprise. He rushed forward, somewhat annoyed, to punch him, but was stopped by Chen Qingzhai, who waved his hand and said, "You all go out. I'd like to have a good talk with Mr. Guan."

"Yes," the agents replied and left.

Chen Qingzhai walked step by step to Guan Ping, approached his blood-stained face, and said softly:

"Old Guan, you have a son named Guan Zuzhi, right?"

Guan Ping looked at him without saying a word.

“Silence is confirmation. I won’t say anything more. We’re all in this line of work. Look at me, I’m exhausted after a long day, haven’t even eaten, and I still have to stay here with you.” Chen Qingzhai sighed, his tone sincere. “Please say something, okay? Just say anything, about your downline, your upline, where you exchange intelligence, anything.”

After a long pause, Guan Ping spoke, but it wasn't the answer Chen Qingzhai wanted:

"I didn't beg you to come with me. Besides, as I've been saying, I own a tailor shop, I deal with fabric every day, and all I know is how to make clothes. Okay, I'll say it: the top thread, also called the face thread, is the thread pulled from the sewing machine spool and threaded out..."

"Enough!" Chen Qingzhai interrupted him angrily, grabbing his chin. "I know you Red Party members are as tough as iron and as sharp as steel, but in our Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, you have the most traitors among you. Even if you don't care about yourselves, you should at least think about your sons. Let me tell you the truth, he's in my hands right now."

Guan Ping fell silent again, seemingly too lazy to listen to his nagging any longer, and simply closed his eyes.

Chen Qingzhai was enraged:
"Hmph! Since you want to be a martyr, then I'll grant your wish! But have you thought this through? Miss Chen and her waiter are delicate and fair-skinned; they might not be as reckless as you."

Chen Qingzhai turned and left after saying those words. A trace of worry crossed Guan Ping's mind. Chen and Liu had only been working for a short time. Could they withstand the enemy's torture? But he still wanted to believe that they could endure the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics' cruelty.

Chen Xiaoting was actually in another windowless interrogation room around the corner. She was leaning against the interrogation chair, covered in bruises. Her cheongsam was tattered, and two thugs were lewdly tearing off her clothes.

"You're not going to confess anything, are you? It's okay if you die. Look at your delicate skin. Rather than letting the lecherous ghosts in the King of Hell have a go, let us brothers have some fun first."

"You beast, get away!" Chen Xiaoting struggled desperately.

As soon as one of the thugs tore open her collar, she bit him hard, making him scream in pain.

Seeing this, another thug grabbed her hair, dragged her to the ground, and began punching and kicking her. She felt dizzy and disoriented, and collapsed to the ground, screaming:
"You beasts, let me go, you animals!"

The thugs ignored her pleas, stuffed a piece of rag into her mouth, and tore at her clothes again.

Chen Qingzhai peeked through the crack in the door at this scene, smiled, and whispered to the guard:
"Did that guy confess?"

"No." The guard looked dejected.

Chen Qingzhai thought for a moment, then said with a smile, "Since he won't talk, let's try a different approach and bring him here." Having dealt with countless Red Party members, he knew that while torture was painful on himself, for some people, watching their comrades being tortured and humiliated was the truly unbearable pain.

Soon, Xiao Liu, the guy who had been beaten to a bloody pulp, was dragged over.

Chen Qingzhai kicked open the interrogation room door, startling the two agents who had taken off their pants. They were frantically trying to think of a response when Chen Qingzhai said with a smile:
"continue!"

The two spies, bewildered, stood there dumbfounded, staring at each other.

"I told you to continue, can't you understand human language?" Chen Qingzhai suddenly drew his pistol, quickly cocked it, and pointed the muzzle at the two men.

The two were both shocked and terrified, trembling with fear, and for a moment they didn't know what to say.

Chen Qingzhai snorted coldly and turned to look at the shop assistant who had been dragged over:
“Pull his head up and let him see and appreciate it.”

The man was pulled up and struggled to open his eyes. He saw a woman lying in the dim light, completely naked, screaming hoarsely.

"Drag her over!" The man was dragged over, and he finally saw the woman's face clearly; it was Chen Xiaoting.

The waiter collapsed to the ground, trembling all over. He desperately wanted to break free and tear these beasts in front of him to pieces, but his limbs seemed to have no will to obey him, shaking and unable to muster any strength. He gasped for breath, tears streaming down his face, his lips trembling.

"Let her go, I'll talk, I'll tell you everything." Faced with this cruel scene, the man could no longer bear it; he wept bitterly and completely broke down.

Chen Qingzhai laughed: "Who provided the ID card found in the tailor shop?"

"All I know is that he also has the surname Liu. Old Liu calls him Little Liu. He must be from the police headquarters."

Police station? The one surnamed Liu? Chen Qingzhai's nerves twitched. His smiling eyes drooped instantly, wrinkles gathered even more, and all the smugness in his eyes disappeared, replaced by astonishment and disbelief.

What does he look like? How tall is he?

"He's quite tall, probably around 170 centimeters."

"We've been tricked!" Chen Qingzhai couldn't listen anymore. At this moment, he was almost certain that the young police officer named Liu Wenzhe was a Communist Party mole embedded in the police headquarters' household registration department. He had used a stolen lighter to distract him and completely fooled him. "Luckily, I had a backup plan. The police station isn't closed yet," he muttered to himself, then growled, "Quick, call the police headquarters! Call our people right now and have them take Liu Wenzhe into custody!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the two agents ran outside.

The special agents stationed at the police headquarters received the call and immediately rushed to the household registration section, but Liu Wenzhe was not there at all.

The agent asked angrily, "Where is he?"

Section Chief Diao slammed his fist on the table in annoyance: "What are you doing? Who are you looking for? If you can't deal with Chen Qingzhai, you little punks can't deal with you. You're all baring your teeth and brandishing your claws. Do you really think the Household Registration Section is your own private outhouse?"

The agent, pistol in hand, glared at him fiercely.
"Section Chief Diao, we have confirmed that Liu Wenzhe is an accomplice of that bastard murderer Hong. Do you want to protect him?"

Section Chief Diao roughly guessed what had happened, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked the group of police officers:
Has anyone seen him?

One officer thought for a moment and said, "I just saw him go to the telephone department."

As soon as he finished speaking, the agent rushed toward the telephone section.

The door to the telephone department office was closed. The agent tried to turn the doorknob but found it was locked from the inside.

He winked at his companion while gently knocking on the door:
"Hey, why is the door locked from the inside? Is anyone inside?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than his companion took a step back and suddenly kicked the door open.

In the office, Liu Wenzhe leaned back in his chair with his head tilted to the side, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes half-open, and a relaxed smile on his face.

After inspecting the area, a spy dejectedly said:
Potassium cyanide.

Another plainclothes officer walked to the telephone on the table, picked it up and listened for a moment, then put it down, seemingly lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)