Uncle Shazhu, a simple-minded man in a courtyard house, persuades people with reason.

At the entrance of Nanluoguxiang, a middle-aged man wearing an old cotton-padded coat and an old felt hat was slowly pulling a cart. Several large wooden barrels on the cart emitted an unpleasant odor.

He Ping'an, who was passing by, frowned slightly, as if avoiding a vehicle collecting night soil, and turned into a dead-end alley. The middle-aged man collecting night soil looked around and then followed him into the alley.

Deep in the alley, He Ping'an glared at the man who had followed him: "You've bypassed me and mobilized the action team? What, is Lao Luo sending you to eliminate traitors?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man hurriedly waved his hands and shook his head, explaining with a long face.

"Leave the city?"

"Yes, leave Beiping! Captain, Secretary Luo instructed us: Ma Hanshan is the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau's Beiping station, one of the top five most powerful figures in Beiping. The Kuomintang will never let this go. It's too dangerous for you to stay in Beiping..."

Using the funeral procession as a pretext to leave the city and head directly northwest, Luo Chengjun's plan was sound. Unfortunately, he was unaware that He Ping'an had an omniscient perspective, and this information gap caused their plans to go completely awry.

"Need not!"

He glanced up at the sky; any later and the medicine's effects would wear off. He Ping'an offered a brief explanation:

"Go back and tell Lao Luo that I know he has a point. But I also know about the 'Daiji crashing into Daishan,' and that many people in Nanjing believe Ma Hanshan was the mastermind!"

Seeing his bewildered team members, he didn't bother to explain. He left with the words, "Tell Lao Luo I'll go see him tonight," and turned to leave.

In the courtyard, He Ping'an silently entered the room, glancing at the still unconscious He family father and son. He took out a blood-stained cloth bag from his spatial storage, knelt before the coffin, and whispered:

"Sister-in-law... this is all I can do, please don't take offense. I will definitely take good care of Zhuzi and Yushui, and ensure they have a smooth life!"

He Ping'an knelt there, recounting his past and present lives to the person in the coffin in a haphazard manner, until the He family father and son woke up one after another as dawn broke.

Regardless of the details of the He family's funeral, the screams from the Ma family in Xicheng were chilling. With each phone call made, the Military Intelligence Bureau and indeed the entire city of Beiping were jolted awake.

"The murderer is Yama, the King of Hell!" The deputy head of the Military Intelligence Station in the Ma family looked at the five blood-red characters on the wall and sneered repeatedly.

Yama, since his sudden emergence in 43, has killed countless Japanese soldiers and traitors. Each strike is swift and decisive. Leave a message? Ha…

The intelligence chief and the operations chief behind him exchanged bewildered glances. Yama was ruthless and decisive, yet he had never exterminated an entire family; however, he was greedy for money and consistently stole every last penny from every passing goose.

Today's incident... again, there were writings left behind, and no hidden compartment was found. Is this the King of Hell? More like a revenge killing!

Neither of them said much. Every member of the Military Intelligence Bureau with the title "Chief" had friends in Nanjing. The big boss had been dead for only two days, and then the station chief's entire family was wiped out, compounded by rumors spreading from Nanjing.

Rumors and truth—it's all just talk from above! These low-level bosses are better off playing dumb. The two exchanged a glance and lowered their heads in tacit agreement.

The assassination attempt on Ma Hanshan caused a period of heightened tension in Beiping, which did not subside until late at night. Of course, the radio waves passing over the city were not disclosed to outsiders.

The Jing'an Bookstore, under Luo Chengjun's cover, was also a business for the underground Communist Party in Beiping. The bookstore had long since closed, but Luo Chengjun, having received the report, did not rest.

"Thump!"

A soft sound came from the courtyard, and the door was pushed open. Who else could it be but He Ping'an?

"Hey, you clumsy rascal, can you please stop jumping over the wall all the time?"

He Ping'an knew Luo Chengjun was blaming him for his unauthorized revenge, but he didn't care. He slapped a crumpled piece of paper directly onto the table:

"The paper records all the ill-gotten gains Ma Hanshan amassed from the people, including his overseas bank accounts and passwords, totaling $100 million. The rest are the addresses where he hid his things!"

"Cough cough... What?" Luo Chengjun spat out a mouthful of tea directly from his nostrils. Putting everything else aside, just one million US dollars alone is more than the entire underground party in Beiping could ever have, let alone the entire organization.

"Splash..." Luo Chengjun suddenly stood up, ignoring the tea spilled all over the floor, and tightly grasped He Ping'an's right hand, his voice trembling with emotion:

"Comrade He Ping'an...I...the Party and the organization...!"

The Communist Party's poverty was notorious, so whenever He Ping'an had the chance during a mission, he would meticulously loot the spoils, and this time was no exception. Ma Hanshan confessed voluntarily, saying that refusing a gift from heaven would only bring trouble.

Of course, he only took the most superficial items from the Ma family mansion; as for the hidden compartments and other valuables, he deliberately left them to the Kuomintang secret agents.

After a while, seeing Luo Chengjun still excitedly holding his hand, He Ping'an became displeased. A handshake between comrades is a sign of friendliness, but what kind of man would hold on like that?

Ignoring Luo Chengjun's embarrassment, he pretended to drink water, clearly freeing his right hand, and began to explain his plan.

After listening to He Ping'an's account, Luo Chengjun pondered for a moment: "You want to pin Ma Hanshan's murder on the assassins avenging their boss, the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, in order to confuse the public?"

"This is not only misleading, but also an attempt to disrupt the investigation by the Beiping Military Intelligence Station!"

He Ping'an nodded first, then shook his head:

"A station chief, especially a major station chief like the one in Beiping, a major general. No matter when he's killed, it will trigger a massive crackdown by the Kuomintang secret police. Only…"

To be honest, He Ping'an's plan wasn't complicated... He told everyone that he was responsible for the massacre, but it was completely different from his previous actions, so he deliberately left a loophole.

The Ma Hanshan family massacre was clearly a revenge killing. The annihilation of a major general station chief's entire family was no ordinary feat. Coincidentally, Dai Li's plane crashed into Daishan just two days prior, and rumors circulated that Dai Li's arrival in Beiping was to investigate and kill Ma Hanshan. Ma Hanshan struck first.

As for why it had to be this way, the reason is quite simple: there are many different opinions about the death of the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Rumor has it that the Nanjing bigwigs discarded him after he had served his purpose, and this theory actually has quite a following.

Now that a scapegoat has been readily available, He Ping'an has essentially "proved the innocence" of the Nanjing bigwig! In this way, the bigwig doesn't even need to say a word; his subordinates will fabricate a massive amount of irrefutable evidence. The troubled bigwig will likely just go along with it.

Only then would the Kuomintang secret agents truly hesitate to act rashly, and even avoid them like the plague!

To put it bluntly, the Ma Hanshan family massacre was purely an internal power struggle within the Kuomintang military intelligence, and had nothing to do with external forces.

If someone finds out about the feud between the He family and Ma Hanshan, it's not a big deal. The He brothers' past is clear, and we, as ordinary citizens, are not afraid of investigation.

As for the Beiping spies trying to do two things at once, that really underestimates the power of university students in the Republic of China era.

Now is the time when calls to disband the Military Intelligence Bureau are at their peak. If this causes a stir, the nation's attention will once again focus on the Bureau and its boss, who caused the plane collision. This kind of shady move, which is purely meant to annoy the Nanjing authorities, truly deserves to be condemned.

Great figures have their methods, and ordinary people have their wisdom. Who would cause trouble for themselves over a dead person?