The Spy

Chapter 34: Finding Someone with Shoe Prints
Xie Yongshan's eyes showed approval. Yan Ming's arrangement was very accurate. If the other party was deliberately making anti-tracking moves, rushing in would only alert the enemy.

Just after he finished speaking, Yan Ming suddenly turned to the side, squatted down, and used the car body to shield his body.

The days are short in winter and it was already dark. A woman walked out of the alley, looked left and right, and continued walking forward.

It was indeed an anti-tracking action. He deliberately found an empty alley to see if there was anyone following him in. If so, he knew if it was someone who lived there. If not, he could basically determine that he was being followed.

Some smarter ones will familiarize themselves with similar places in advance. After entering, if a stranger follows them, they will immediately know that they have been exposed, and then use the safe house or escape route prepared in advance to get rid of tracking.

Yan Ming's caution worked.

"Captain Xu, Yan Ming is good, really good. If he wasn't from your intelligence team, I would really like to transfer him here to be the captain."

Xie Yongshan sighed, Yan Ming's performance made him eyes light up, but it was a pity that Yan Ming was from the intelligence team. It was easy to transfer from the action team to the intelligence team, but members of the intelligence team were generally unwilling to come to the action team.

The reason is not complicated. The intelligence team is responsible for reconnaissance and finding clues, while the action team is mainly responsible for actions, including arrests, assassinations, and various dangerous actions.

The casualty rate of the action team is much higher than that of the intelligence team. To put it bluntly, they are cannon fodder. The intelligence team is the real elite. Who would be willing to go to a worse place if they can be in a better department?

"Team Leader Xie, I don't have many people under me, so please don't make fun of me."

Xu Qingyun smiled slightly. Xie Yongshan should not have this idea. Who doesn’t like good seedlings? Yan Ming’s performance also satisfied him.

Xie Yongshan is the team leader and Wu Shaoshu's confidant, so this idea must be stopped as soon as possible.

Of course, if Yan Ming himself wanted to be the captain of the action team, he would not stop him. It was useless to stop him if their hearts were not together.

"Haha, okay, I won't make such jokes next time."

Xie Yongshan smiled and drove behind from a distance. Not long after, the car stopped again.

The woman who met Peng Sujiao had just arrived in Nanshi and quickly turned into an alley.

A few minutes later, Yan Ming ran over quickly.

"Captain, Team Leader Jie, we lost our target. The alley she entered was complicated, with many forked roads and houses everywhere. We didn't dare to follow her in, and we waited around as before, but this time she didn't come out."

Yan Ming lowered his head, it was not an honorable thing to embarrass others.

"lost?"

Xie Yongshan was slightly stunned and was about to get angry, but suddenly he remembered that Yan Ming was not his subordinate, and he had just praised him, so it was not easy to scold him.

"It's okay. There's no need to worry about losing her. Just wait a little longer. Maybe she lives in there."

Xu Qingyun shook his head. He was indeed not afraid of losing face. In his previous life, when he was investigating cases, he often hadn't even seen the suspects. He simply relied on searching for footprints along the way to find the suspects.

The question he was considering now was whether the other party had noticed them.

After careful consideration, this possibility is unlikely. Although Xie Yongshan's men are new operatives, they have been trained by Xie Yongshan. They took turns tracking along the way. When they encounter places with few people, they would rather not see the target than let the other party discover their existence.

Yan Ming is even more cunning, so it is impossible for her to find out.

Xu Qingyun was more inclined to believe that the other party had not discovered that the target lived here and she had arrived home.

Looking at his watch, Xu Qingyun decided to wait another five minutes.

It takes time to develop the film. Before they develop it, they won't notice that the intelligence has been swapped, so he still has time.

Five minutes later, Xu Qingyun walked into the alley with a flashlight in his hand.

Nanshi was originally dirty and messy, but after it became prosperous, many new houses were built. These new houses are not badly built and the environment is better. This alley is the area where new houses are built. The road is a bit small, but it is generally clean and tidy.

Not long after walking, Xu Qingyun squatted down and found the footprints of the woman who had met Peng Sujiao before.

She was wearing cloth shoes and her feet were not small.

It is currently impossible to tell from the shoe prints whether she is Chinese or Japanese.

After the abdication of the Qing Dynasty, many families in the country had already stopped foot binding for their daughters, and only a small number of families retained this bad habit.

Xie Yongshan and Yan Ming followed behind, curiously watching Xu Qingyun check the footprints.

Xu Qingyun stood up and continued walking forward. The ground was made of bluestone slabs and dirt roads. Such paths were very common in Tianjin's alleys. They were cheap to build, and they would not be muddy enough to be impossible to walk on when it rained or snowed.

After a while, Xu Qingyun saw footprints again.

After turning two corners, Xu Qingyun found footprints in the wrong direction at the door of a house. He looked up at the closed door and continued walking forward with the flashlight.

"She went into the third house just now."

After turning the corner, Xu Qingyun whispered that it was now certain that the other party had not discovered them, but had really returned home.

"Yan Ming, immediately find out how many people live here and who they are."

Xu Qingyun quickly gave the order, Yan Ming nodded, and Xu Qingyun suddenly said, "Five minutes, it has to be quick."

The other party may find that the film is empty at any time when he returns home, and time is running out.

"Don't worry, five minutes is enough."

Yan Ming replied confidently and ran over immediately. Xu Qingyun looked at Xie Yongshan and said, "Team Leader Xie, please be prepared. Once Yan Ming has found out the situation, arrest him immediately."

"Don't worry, leave the arrest to us, there will be absolutely no problem."

Xie Yongshan smiled and said that he was a good operator and was ready to lead people to carry out the arrest mission.

Yan Ming came back in less than five minutes: "Captain, I found out that there is a couple living here. The man runs a small business, and the woman is said to be a waitress in the concession, but I don't know where exactly."

When it comes to gathering information, Yan Ming is indeed good at it.

"Prepare for action. After catching the person, immediately notify the surveillance point to arrest Li Liangwen and his wife." In addition to the woman in front of him, Li Liangwen and his wife must also be arrested.

"Okay, I'll send someone to inform them."

Xie Yongshan responded first, saying that in addition to notifying the monitoring point, the stationmaster and Section Chief Xu should also be notified to let them know the good news.

It is evening now, the stationmaster and Section Chief Xu must be eating and drinking, but what they are most concerned about is the progress of the case. If they don't report it, they will definitely be scolded.

Xie Yongshan called all his men together, while Xu Qingyun looked at his watch, calculating the time it would take them to develop the film.

There are twelve people in the action team, and the other side consists of two people, one man and one woman. For safety reasons, they will not knock on the door to trick the other party into coming out, but will directly climb over the wall to arrest people.

The other party may have weapons, but Xie Yongshan asked them not to shoot if they could, and if they had to shoot, they would shoot at non-lethal parts of their bodies.

The two men are most likely Japanese, so keeping them alive is more meaningful. If we interrogate them overnight, we may get some follow-up results.

(End of this chapter)