I started with a ship full of max-level veterans, and I'm just a complete noob.

"Drag his hands out from under him and search for his weapons first."

Director Wang stepped on Meng Dechang's right shoulder, and the guard twisted his arm, taking out a small-caliber pistol and two spare magazines from inside his cotton-padded coat.

The third rock trough on the northern edge of the barren rocky beach was already illuminated by vehicle headlights. A gray tarpaulin truck was parked diagonally next to the rock wall, its front wheels stuck in the trough, and smoke was still coming from the rear door of the truck bed.

The power transistor in the final stage of the portable radio had burned through, and black smoke seeped out through the gaps in the wooden box. Several secret letters that had not been sent were scattered next to the key.

The guard put on gloves and carefully placed the letters, codebook, and telegram records into an evidence bag. He then found a pass for the supplies distribution center and several blank transport permits under the seat.

Meng Dechang lay on the frozen ground, his mouth full of sand, his breath dry from being pressed down by Director Wang's shoes, but he did not beg for mercy.

After the handcuffs were put on, Director Wang loosened his legs and had two guards turn him over.

Meng Dechang looked up at the top of the rock trough. After the dust settled, a narrow corner of the night sky appeared between the weathered rocks, and the afterglow of artillery fire occasionally flashed in the direction of the mining area in the distance.

"Director Wang, you arrived faster than I expected."

"It's not that we're fast, it's that you've turned the radio on too brightly."

"Is there a problem with the coordinates reported?"

"The coordinates are correct, and your people have been received. The problem is that each time the verification is performed, only the middle few digits are missing."

As Meng Dechang breathed, the sand on his face fell. He looked at the still-smoking radio station and finally understood why the mine had been repeatedly requesting an increase in transmission power.

It wasn't a equipment malfunction, nor was it that the technical supervisor forgot to leave the agreed area. Rather, someone was controlling the amount of missing information each time, making both sides reluctant to cut off communication.

"You used the mine to lure me in."

"You're also using the people in the mine to protect Lightning Seven, so it's not a matter of who's cleaner than whom."

Director Wang took out several sheets of black-and-white paper from the evidence bag and examined them under the car headlights. Some traces of chemical treatment were already visible on the paper, and the contents included equipment numbers, transportation routes, and personnel codes.

Meng Dechang watched as the secret writing papers were unfolded one by one, his composure still not completely gone.

"These are just transport registrations; there's no original list or technical source. Even if you catch me, you still can't piece together the whole picture of Lightning 7."

Director Wang handed the paper back to the guard.

"The mine's technical supervisor has been taken into custody. The central room, power distribution room, and data package have all been seized intact. The person you were supposed to pick up has not been able to come out."

Meng Dechang looked towards the mining area, and all he could hear was the sound of the wind passing through the cracks in the rock.

He originally thought that once the main entrance was attacked, the underground minefield would bury the assault troops, and the technical supervisor would be able to withdraw with the data from the southeast branch cave.

There was no secondary explosion in the mine, and the artillery fire only lasted a short time, which means that the last line of defense also failed.

"It's impossible for him to be captured alive. There's a centimeter-wave detonation system underground, and no one can find the power supply bus from the outside."

"The ventilation shaft was hit by six high-explosive shells, causing a short circuit in the main line. Your detonation system couldn't even ignite the first detonator."

Meng Dechang didn't ask any further questions. He turned his head to the side, his gaze falling on the maroon hem of a garment peeking out from the bottom of the carriage.

Director Wang followed his gaze and ordered the guards to open the wooden crate.

The maroon woolen overcoat was pressed under a spare battery and a folder, with old wear and tear remaining on the collar and coal dust, the same kind found on the platform of the Third Electronics Factory, stuck to the cuffs.

The guard opened his coat, and a temporary railway freight yard stamp fell out of the inside pocket, along with two train ticket stubs for round trips between Beijing and Lanzhou.

Director Wang took the train tickets, the dates of which corresponded to the night before Yuanlei No. 1 was loaded onto the train and the night the military train left Beijing.

The dark red figure that appeared twice on the platform finally revealed its identity at this moment.

"You went to the military platform with Jiang Ming."

Meng Dechang looked at the coat and did not deny it.

"The technical staff left Beijing with six shockproof boxes, and Director Wang personally escorted the vehicle. With such a big commotion, everyone would take a second look."

"You also used a freight system to send the parameters of Yuanlei-1 out of the factory area within an hour?"

"You want to know?"

Meng Dechang straightened up, the handcuff chains clanging behind him, and a hint of negotiator's composure returned to his face.

"Lightning 7 is not just a mine, nor is it just a jamming device. I know about the missing three pages of the manual, the European technology line, and the second piece of equipment that you have been unable to find."

"If you hand me over to the regular interrogation team, all you'll get are a few names of dead men. Give me a way out, and I can write down the whole story."

Director Wang took out a folded document from the inner pocket of his military uniform. When unfolded, it was a copy of an old receipt with a tattered Zhang inspection stamp in the lower right corner.

"You think you still have leverage because you believe that the 1949 material requisition form has nailed Lei Ming to the spot, and all the responsibility can ultimately be shifted onto a missing person."

Meng Dechang's gaze fell on the photocopy, his breathing losing its rhythm.

"These are items intercepted by the pawn shop, with Zhang Shouzhen's inspection stamp. They, along with the notes, transfer records, and Li Huaiyuan's confession in your office, can be linked together."

Director Wang tossed the photocopy to his chest; the pages were blown away by the wind, and the stamp was right next to the button on his cotton-padded jacket.

"You've used Lei Ming's name as a shield for six years. Now this piece of paper will take us back to every material requisition, every warehouse, and every review signature."

Meng Dechang stared at the seal, but didn't voice the exchange terms he had prepared.

The consignment shop owner was dead, and Zhang Shouzhen was also no longer alive. He always believed that the intermediate transit chain would not leave complete physical evidence.

However, the photocopies in front of them show that Director Wang has traced the investigation back to the inspection stage from the very end. As long as the handwriting on the material requisition form is re-examined, the old case from 1949 will be completely unearthed from the sealed cabinet.

The sound of another jeep's engine came from afar, its headlights sweeping across the entrance to the rock trough before quickly stopping outside the cordon.

The central chamber of the mine has been sealed off. Jiang Ming needs to come and verify the corresponding parameters of Meng Dechang's radio and the seized equipment. Fang Xudong and Lu Qinghe will stay in Mine No. 04 to organize the spectrum evidence.

Jiang Ming got out of the passenger seat, the hem of his military overcoat being blown open by the draft in the rock trough. Comrade Song, the crew-cut officer, followed behind him carrying the parameter box.

"Have they caught him?"

"Alive, the final stage of the radio is burnt out, but the oscillator and cipher attachments are still intact."

Director Wang pointed to the truck bed.

"Check the equipment first, don't touch the sealed paper, the security personnel have already sealed the bag."

As Jiang Ming walked into the car, backlit by the headlights, half of his face was hidden in shadow, but his nose, brow bone, and jawline were clearly cut out by the side and rear lights.

Meng Dechang had been looking down, but when he heard footsteps, he looked up and his gaze fell on Jiang Ming's face and never left.

He moved his hands, which were supporting him on the ground, backward, causing the handcuff chains to tighten. His calm expression vanished, and he tried to speak several times but failed to utter a complete sound.

The warehouse filled with radar parts from six years ago, the material requisition forms under the dim light bulbs, and the young man escorting the equipment westward alone overlap with the silhouette in the headlights of the car in front of me.

Director Wang had been observing Meng Dechang, and seeing his reaction, he did not urge Jiang Ming to check the equipment.

"Do you know him?"

Meng Dechang did not answer Director Wang; his gaze remained fixed on Jiang Ming's face, the air in his throat turning into an unpleasant sound from the sand.

"Lei Ming is dead. He can't come back. He can't."

Jiang Ming walked to the side of the carriage, lifted the blackened back cover of the radio, first checked the oscillating coil and the final stage tube socket, and then asked Comrade Song to record the crystal number.

When Meng Dechang was lifted up by his guards, he was still looking back. The muscles on his face could not maintain their original expression, and he could not even stand firmly on the stone.

"You look just like him."

These words traveled across the wind in the rock trough and reached Director Wang's ears.

Director Wang held the photocopy of the old receipt, his gaze shifting from Meng Dechang to Jiang Ming's face, the silhouette from that black-and-white photo from six years ago resurfacing in his memory.

Jiang Ming did not respond, but instead took a shielding cover with a number engraved on it from the bottom of the radio and handed it to Comrade Song.

"Record the oscillation stage parameters, including the number of coil turns, crystal designation, and all modified solder joints. Then check if there are any corresponding underground equipment diagrams on the vehicle."

Comrade Song, accompanied by his guards, climbed into the carriage and began counting the boxes one by one.

Jiang Ming turned and looked towards the mining area 15 kilometers away. Smoke and dust were still spreading along the night sky in the direction of the ventilation shaft.

Just then, the walkie-talkie rang. Lu Qinghe sent a supplementary report from the mine: The technical supervisor had just admitted that there was another old laboratory below the central chamber, at a depth of nearly two hundred meters, containing a lead-shielded box, but he refused to disclose the equipment inside.

"There's one more thing." Lu Qinghe's voice was interrupted for a moment by electrical noise. "We rechecked the earliest set of centimeter-wave pulses, and the signal phase is not in the central chamber; it's deeper."

Jiang Ming glanced at the shielding cover that he had just removed from Meng Dechang's radio station.

Its modified welding points and the couplers seized from the mine belong to the same structure.

The central room is not the end point, but merely the control layer.

The device that actually emitted that centimeter-wave pulse is still hidden two hundred meters underground.