Courtyard House: I, the eldest son of the Jia family, have returned from the battlefield.

Seeing through the other party's scheme, Jia Dongming feigned eagerness and pressed on, "Comrade Dongfang, is this news... reliable?"

Seeing Jia Dongming's enthusiastic expression, Zhao Dongfang was secretly delighted, thinking that he had taken the bait. He nodded hurriedly: "Section Chief, I guarantee with my integrity that this news is absolutely true! My neighbor ran out of food, and last night he sneaked off to get some grain, but on his way back he was robbed—by the thugs who guarded the place at the brothel."

My neighbor was furious, so he revealed the whole story to me.

After hearing Zhao Dongfang's explanation, Jia Dongming pretended to believe him completely: "Comrade Dongfang, I'll let the police station know right away. We'll join forces and uproot this bastard."

Once things are done, you'll get the credit first!

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's promise of benefits, Zhao Dongfang immediately adopted an indignant stance: "Section Chief, I don't care about the credit or anything else. I just want to vent my anger for my neighbor! Those thugs are all heartless wolves who eat people without spitting out the bones."

If Jia Dongming hadn't known Zhao Dongfang's background beforehand, he might have been fooled by his acting skills.

Seeing the other person's indignant expression, Jia Dongming smiled and said, "Dongfang, you go ahead and get busy. I'll personally go to the police station later to finalize the matter of taking down the gang."

Zhao Dongfang assumed the plan had succeeded and couldn't hide his joy: "Section Chief, then I won't delay your business any longer."

As Zhao Dongfang left Jia Dongming's office, he hummed a little tune and strode into Chen Jianfei's room.

He closed the door, his voice low but brimming with excitement: "Captain! It's done! As long as Jia Dongming leads his men to raid that place tonight, his death is nigh!"

Jia Dongming had been worried – Chen Jianfei was armed, and if he were to be arrested rashly, the other party would inevitably resist with his gun, and might even take hostages to resist in a last stand.

Now that Chen Jianfei had presented him with the opportunity, how could Jia Dongming let it slip by? So he pretended to go to the police station to discuss the operation to destroy the police station, pushed his bicycle, and rode slowly toward the gate of the steel mill, with Chen Jianfei watching him go.

After leaving the factory gate, Jia Dongming rode north along the road outside the wall and soon arrived at the north gate of the steel rolling mill.

He immediately spotted Zhou Jiefang and Li Dajiang standing guard at the entrance and asked, "Jiefang, where are Director Wang and the others?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiefang immediately straightened up and reported, "Section Chief! Director Wang and the others are over at the other end of the small house."

There are also two other police officers helping with duty in our duty room.

Jia Dongming nodded, pushed his bicycle to the shed behind the duty room and parked it, then turned and walked towards the row of low houses.

He hadn't walked far when he arrived at the hut.

Pushing open the door, one could see Wang Dapao directing several policemen to carefully lift a wooden box out of the tunnel.

Jia Dongming stepped forward and asked, "Dapao, have all the fuses on those guns in the tunnel been removed?"

When Wang Dapao saw Jia Dongming arrive, he nodded subconsciously, but a hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes: "Dongming, the fuse is being removed."

Why did you suddenly come here?

"Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on Chen Jianfei at the security office? Why are you suddenly here with me?"

Jia Dongming smiled as he recalled Chen Jianfei's previous attempt to deceive him with false information. He then turned to Wang Dapao and said, "Dapao, I was worried that Chen Jianfei, who was carrying a gun, might resort to desperate measures and use the workers in the workshop as shields if he realized he was being exposed."

"Who would have thought that he would be so clever as to give us an opportunity instead—he sent someone to tell me that he had found a suspicious stronghold not far from the steel mill and suggested that I take people to take it down that night."

Now that all the explosives underground in the special workshop have been cleared, our last concern about the operation is gone.

I went along with it, using this as an excuse to call him to my office for a meeting, and then took him into custody when he was off guard.

After listening, Wang Dapao remained silent for a while before speaking: "Dongming, from a strategic point of view, your idea is indeed feasible."

However, our current information is limited to the number of enemies lurking inside the factory; how many accomplices they have outside the factory remains unknown.

"As for Zhou Xudong, how could a deputy factory director have the authority to arbitrarily transfer engineers? Director Li judged that he had someone backing him."

The bureau's intention was to secretly arrest all enemy agents within the steel rolling mill.

Jia Dongming immediately understood that Wang Dapao did not support his proposal.

After carefully considering what the other party had just said, he also felt that it made sense, so he asked, "Big Cannon, you guys are experts at catching spies. I'll follow your arrangements completely. Just tell me how you need me to cooperate."

Just then, a policeman emerged from the tunnel, carrying a box of explosives. He gasped for breath and exclaimed, "Chief, these guys are practically trying to wipe the special operations workshop off the map! They buried fifteen boxes of high explosives underneath. Luckily, Section Chief Jia discovered it early, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."

Upon hearing the numbers, Wang Dapao broke out in a cold sweat and whispered, "What a stroke of luck... If they had actually succeeded, the entire city of Beijing would have been shaken to its core."

"Chief, Director Li has arrived with reinforcements!"

A report came from outside the door, and Wang Dapao immediately said to Jia Dongming, "Come on, our bureau chief has arrived. Let's go out and greet him."

The two walked to the north gate of the steel rolling mill and saw Li Xidong standing in the shop across the street.

Wang Dapao strode across the road and into the store. After saluting properly, he reported, "Chief, all the explosives buried underground in the special workshop have been safely removed."

Li Xidong nodded and then ordered: "Comrade Wang Dapao, according to the instructions from higher authorities, the original stakeout plan is cancelled. Immediately arrest the enemy agents lurking inside the steel rolling mill."

Previously, Jia Dongming had not reported the existence of spies in the factory to his superiors, mainly because he could not be sure whether the management was clean.

Only after he had figured out the specific enemy agents did he plan to inform the factory leaders.

Unexpectedly, the police action was suddenly brought forward, without even giving the factory time to be notified.

As the head of security at the steel rolling mill, Jia Dongming fully understood Li Xidong's decision from the perspective of the public security bureau.

But at this moment he had to consider the order of the steel rolling mill itself—if he did not communicate with the factory leaders before taking action, even if they did not say anything on the surface, it would inevitably create a rift in their work in the future, and his own situation would become passive.

More importantly, as the head of the security department, he was responsible for the safety of all the factory's employees.

Therefore, Jia Dongming objected to Li Xidong's plan to take direct action.

"Director Li,"

He stepped forward and said sincerely, "Before, because I couldn't determine which leader in the factory might have a problem, I didn't report it immediately after discovering the enemy agent."

Now that their identities have been verified and the explosives have been neutralized, I believe it is necessary to inform the steel mill leadership before taking action and seek their cooperation.

"In addition, you just mentioned that you want to make arrests directly, but I think that would be too risky."

The steel rolling mill employs tens of thousands of people. If enemy agents become aware of the situation, they may take the risk of kidnapping ordinary employees as hostages.

I suggested that we ask the factory leadership for assistance in using a trapping method to subdue the enemy agents within the factory one by one.

The air in the office suddenly froze. Li Xidong's fingers tapped lightly on the desk, the subtle sound like the beat of a countdown.

He looked up at Jia Dongming, his gaze sharp as a searchlight: "You've already identified the hidden dangers, so what's the solution?"

Jia Dongming met that gaze, his expression unwavering, as if he had already rehearsed the plan a thousand times.

He leaned forward slightly, his voice calm and clear: "I believe we should use the opponent's strength against them."

The first step is to communicate with the core leadership of the steel rolling mill—only the most reliable comrades—and truthfully inform them of the risks faced by the special workshop.

Being in the thick of it all, it's most natural for them to mobilize their own personnel.

A pretext can be arranged, such as temporary equipment maintenance or an inspection by a superior, to subtly lure the target out of the workshop.

As for Zhou Xudong…”

He paused briefly, then said, "Perhaps the factory leaders could ask him to come over under the pretext of holding an emergency production meeting."

Once the meeting room door is closed, a complete trap is set.

He continued, speaking at a steady pace like laying tracks: "As for those three venomous snakes inside my security department, Chen Jianfei has laid bait, trying to lure me away from my nest with a fake 'nest'."

We might as well go with the flow.

I will invite him to my office under the pretext of discussing the details of the "demolition operation".

Once he stepped in, there was no turning back.

Once he's under control, the other two are nothing more than fish in a barrel.

Li Xidong closed his eyes for a moment, letting the entire plan run rapidly in his mind, dismantling and reassembling it, examining every possible link that might fall apart.

When he opened his eyes again, his gaze was filled with a resolute, cold light: "Feasible."

The details are to be finalized by you and your colleagues in the factory. The operation must be carried out discreetly, without disturbing the public, and without giving the enemy agents any opportunity to act desperately.

Jia Dongming nodded and said no more.

He led Wang Dapao, along with two police officers who had already changed into the common work clothes of the steel rolling mill and whose auras were so concealed that they were almost invisible, through the noisy factory area and the air mixed with the smell of machine oil, and went straight to the administration building.

When the door to Li Huaide's office was knocked, he was frowning at a report.

Looking up, he saw Jia Dongming, and behind him three unfamiliar "workers".

He was taken aback at first, then a look of understanding flashed across his eyes.

He quickly stood up, a warm smile plastered on his face, but his voice was unconsciously lowered: "Section Chief Jia, you've finally arrived! Please come in."

The door closed gently behind the four people, shutting out the noise from the corridor.

Without exchanging pleasantries, Jia Dongming went straight to the point: "Director Li, this is Director Wang, and these two are comrades from the branch office."

The situation is now basically clear: Zhou Xudong and his accomplices are undoubtedly enemy agents.

"Zhou Xudong? Him...!"

Li Huaide felt as if he had been pricked by an invisible needle, his body suddenly leaning forward, his astonishment almost bursting out of his throat.

Jia Dongming immediately raised his hand, put his index finger to his lips, and made a stern but silent gesture of stopping him.

"Absolutely true."

Jia Dongming's voice was deep and resolute, as if stating an unchangeable fact, "We have now investigated and found that this is a gang of fourteen people, and one person has been arrested."

They dug a tunnel in an abandoned shack behind the special workshop, leading directly underground to the workshop, and buried a large amount of explosives.

The original plan was to reduce the workshop and vehicle fleet to ruins tonight.

Li Huaide's face drained of color in an instant. He seemed to hear the non-existent roar and see flames and fragments shooting into the sky.

A chilling fear crept up his spine. He took a deep breath and looked at Jia Dongming with a mixture of disbelief and relief at surviving: "Section Chief Jia, thanks to you... If it had happened... I really don't want to think about it."

"It's my duty."

Jia Dongming's answer was brief and forceful, without any hint of smugness: "Protecting the factory area is my duty."

Li Huaide composed himself, wiped away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, and his tone turned serious: "What do you need me to do? The factory will definitely cooperate fully."

Jia Dongming presented the meticulous arrest plan in detail.

Li Huaide listened carefully, nodding from time to time, and finally said in a deep voice: "The plan is well thought out, and I completely agree."

but……"

He hesitated slightly, "After all, Director Yang is the top leader. For such a big operation, he should be informed, and we should ask him to coordinate the necessary manpower."

Section Chief Jia, what do you think...?

Jia Dongming remained expressionless.

He vividly remembers the polite yet distant, even scrutinizing gazes of the factory's main leaders, except for the Deputy Factory Director Li in front of him, on the day he reported for duty.

He was not one to curry favor, and given the unknown extent of enemy infiltration and whether he was being protected by someone within the management, he went directly to Li Huaide, whom he was relatively familiar with.

At this moment, he pondered for a moment, weighed the pros and cons, and finally nodded: "That's how it should be."

"Then I'll trouble Director Li to report this to Director Yang together."

Jia Dongming was fundamentally resistant to Li Huaide's suggestion—he really didn't want to take the initiative to report anything to Director Yang.