Spying

21 "Sister Youyin"

Just as Li Helin's investigation team focused their attention on foreign passport holders planning to leave the city soon, that same evening, Lan Youyin received a phone call at home.

An anxious voice on the line said to her, "Sister Lan, I think I've gotten into trouble."

Lan Youyin, who had been feeling somewhat groggy for certain reasons, instantly became wide awake.

From the caller's account, Lan Youyin learned everything that had happened that morning at the Pingshi Street photo studio. When she heard "the female officer who came seemed to have a photographic memory, exceptionally sharp recall," her heart sank. She immediately knew the Second Department of the Ministry of National Defense had tracked them down.

"Did you take on business you shouldn't have?" she asked.

She knew the Second Department's target was the escaped Han Guizhang, and checking secret locations producing fake documents across the city was standard procedure. But Lan Youyin's first thought was that this person hadn't listened to her advice or had misjudged a client.

"No! All were referrals from trusted contacts. And I followed your instructions—anyone who seemed connected to the Communists, I turned away. But that girl who came this morning... she really didn't seem like one!"

Lan Youyin closed her eyes on her end of the line, remaining silent for a long while. Only when the voice on the other end grew increasingly frantic did she take a deep breath and offer reassurance: "A Mang, don't panic. This might not be trouble after all. Even if that girl or someone else really is Communist Party, you didn't know. They can't hold you responsible for helping them."

"Really? But didn't you say before that anyone found to have assisted Communists would be arrested as Communist affiliates?"

"...That was to scare you—to prevent exactly this kind of situation from happening."

"But it's already happened—"

"Enough. I'll make inquiries tomorrow. Didn't that officer tell you to carry on as usual this afternoon? Stop worrying."

After hanging up, the memories from two afternoons ago resurfaced in Lan Youyin's mind.

From witnessing the Security Affairs Bureau urgently mobilizing personnel to hearing that the former 46th Army commander had defected to the Communists during a meeting in the adjacent auditorium—it had taken less than fifteen minutes. By the time the massive citywide manhunt began, Minister He's intention to "keep family shame private" had been thoroughly trampled.

This was precisely why Lan Youyin saw the opportunity she'd previously missed. With so many people involved, there was ample room for her to maneuver while remaining detached—after all, their target was Han Guizhang, which couldn't possibly lead back to her. Yet A Mang's call poured cold water on her plans, revealing oversights in her calculations.

The watered-down whiskey on her table was nearly gone. She cursed under her breath as frustration burned within her, wanting to flip both bottle and table in a fit of rage. But before her hand could rise, she forcefully suppressed the impulse.

Just as she'd done countless times over these years.

Thus, when the sun rose the next day, the Lan Youyin who appeared at the Ministry of National Defense remained the picture of unflappable composure—even when Shen Tong cornered her at the office door with wiretap reports and telephone company records in hand, her expression never wavered."No need for Section Chief Lan to go out of her way to inquire; I've come on my own." Shen Tong faced Lan Youyin with an ingratiating curve to her lips, yet her question was direct and unambiguous, "How does Section Chief Lan know a forger? Could it be you've had business dealings before?"

As it turned out, yesterday morning, before A Mang had any inkling and came up from the basement, Shen Tong had already swiftly installed a listening device in the telephone receiver of his shop. By the time he later locked the door to guard against the special agents outside, it was far too late.

And Lan Youyin hadn't anticipated that A Mang would call her home not from a public phone outside?!

Lan Youyin observed Shen Tong, who, despite addressing her deferentially as "Section Chief Lan" at every turn, had a pair of cunning eyes that shone with unbridled audacity. Knowing she couldn't evade the issue, Lan Youyin could only say, "Let's talk somewhere else."

To avoid other prying eyes, they had no choice but to face each other in the women's restroom.

Shen Tong let out a sudden laugh, saying, "This feels like being summoned by a senior at university for a private talk."

Lan Youyin replied, "Miss Shen, there's no need to play the fool."

Shen Tong countered, "Is Section Chief Lan a tiger?"

The two stood at an impasse for a while until Lan Youyin sighed, as if conceding defeat, yet striving to maintain a proud demeanor. "Miss Shen, if you've seen the phone records, you'd know that neither I nor A Mang have any connection to the matter your Second Bureau is currently investigating. As for how I know him—he originally ran a photo studio. I went there a few times to have my picture taken, that's all."

Listening to her confession, Shen Tong's expression was subtle, hovering between belief and skepticism. "How long ago was that?"

"Some years back."

"Can't remember exactly?"

Lan Youyin paused, then seemed to relent. "In the 25th year of the Republic, for my high school graduation photo. He was just an apprentice then."

Shen Tong feigned sudden understanding, staring at Lan Youyin's face before abruptly asking, "I'm really curious about what Section Chief Lan looked like back then. Do you still have the graduation photo?"

"Lost in the chaos of fleeing and moving. Long gone."

"What a pity. I suppose the studio didn't keep a copy either?"

"No. The owner at the time stayed in Nanjing in the winter of the 26th year, documenting many atrocities by the Japanese. In the end, both he and the shop were burned to the ground," Lan Youyin stated.

This time, it was Shen Tong who was left speechless.

Lan Youyin's words were matter-of-fact, yet they dredged up memories steeped in blood and tears. The more devoid of emotion her tone, the more it struck a chord in Shen Tong, who now realized the cruelty of her own questions. Her gaze shifted uncomfortably, but Lan Youyin continued.

"A Mang was lucky to survive in the refugee zone, so he values his life all the more. What he's doing now may not be honorable, but to say he has Communist affiliations—he wouldn't dare, even with two extra doses of courage. Miss Shen, I'm aware of the Communist Party's frequent underground activities, so I've specifically warned him to be discerning with people, unlike me."

Shen Tong was momentarily taken aback and asked blankly, "Unlike you how?"

"Has Miss Shen not heard how others talk about me? My late husband was conclusively branded a Bandit spy of the Communist Party."As her words trailed off, Shen Tong found countless words stuck in her throat—unable to deny yet incapable of lying, wanting to comfort her but feeling any words would be futile. Her gaze toward Lan Youyin softened. Indeed, last night's surveillance recording hadn't revealed anything concrete. She had merely applied what she learned in training, creating a non-interrogative setting to fish for information, never expecting to hear such a confession.

"Youyin-jie," Shen Tong suddenly blurted out an idea, "why don’t you help us?"

Lan Youyin was taken aback, both by the sudden shift in how she was addressed and the unexpected proposal. "Help with what?"

"Investigating the Communist Party's route for transferring Han Guizhang." Shen Tong grew increasingly excited about her own idea, her eyes brightening. "Section Chief Lan has experience in intelligence work. If we can capture Han Guizhang and dismantle the Communist underground network together this time, your friend A Mang’s suspicions will be cleared, and no one would dare gossip about you behind your back anymore."

Lan Youyin eyed her skeptically. "I’m not part of your bureau. Can you really decide whether I join the investigation?"

Shen Tong tilted her head and flashed her a confident, triumphant smile.

Five minutes later, the two stood in the office of the Second Bureau’s director. Facing Li Helin’s scrutinizing gaze, Shen Tong held Lan Youyin’s hand and said, "Uncle, isn’t the Communications Center short-staffed? I’ve found us an external ally."

Meanwhile, the Confidentiality Bureau was still fully investigating the death of their former Military Intelligence Section colleague, Yang Kaizhi.

According to the autopsy report, the bullet that killed Yang Kaizhi with a single shot had been fired from the front. Yet the crime scene investigation noted no signs of a struggle or gunfight. In other words, there had been no reported exchange of fire—Yang Kaizhi hadn’t even realized the person before him was an enemy before taking that fatal shot.

Was that possible?

A special agent who had joined the Military Intelligence Section over a decade ago, later handpicked by Tang Zong to help establish the National Police Headquarters and the Security Affairs Bureau. The acting director of the former Military Intelligence Section had valued him precisely because, though he wasn’t adept at bureaucratic politics and hadn’t climbed the ranks, his operational skills were impeccable—he could lead field missions. How could such a man, while pursuing a fugitive, let his guard down so completely that he was shot dead without even drawing his own sidearm?

Another oddity lay in the bullet itself. The ballistics analyst from the Criminal Division told him the shooter’s marksmanship was actually mediocre—the bullet hadn’t struck Yang Kaizhi’s heart directly, veering slightly to the right even at close range. Yet it still delivered a fatal blow because it wasn’t an ordinary bullet.

"Look at the bullet head," said the police officer, also a Military Intelligence Section veteran, who had unusually brought the extracted bullet from the body to show Lu Peng.

"It’s fragmented?" Lu Peng frowned, spotting the anomaly immediately.

"Right. Do you know why?"

Lu Peng fell silent—not because he didn’t know, but because he knew all too well. A firearms enthusiast and sharpshooter who had won marksmanship competitions at military academy, he had heard of a type of bullet used on the European front before the war’s end. Its tip was designed to splinter upon impact, scattering fragments like a kaleidoscope. Even if it missed vital organs, these shards could tear through tissue and bone, inflicting far greater damage than a standard bullet.This highly lethal type of ammunition was not manufactured in China, being only equipped by a few American-armed military units. Even someone as curious as Lu Peng had never gotten the chance to use it. Han Guizhang's Northwestern Army couldn't obtain it, and the Communist Party had even less possibility of acquiring it.

Lu Peng, who had never shown mercy when capturing underground party members, now began to suspect: could it be that Yang Kaizhi's killer wasn't from the so-called Communist Party Action Team that came to extract Han Guizhang?

Lu Peng personally went to the scene to search for potential eyewitnesses.

Yang Kaizhi's car had been parked near Yeshan, east of Chaotian Palace. What was once a thriving Taoist temple had now become the capital's slum district. The sprawling shantytown theoretically fit the profile of a hiding place that a fugitive trying to evade capture might choose.

During his investigation, Lu Peng indeed found people who recognized Yang Kaizhi from photos. He had come here on the evening of August 7th looking for someone, accompanied by two men who later became the first to discover his body—members of the security team.

The two team members trembled as they repeated their account to Lu Peng for what felt like the hundredth time.

At the time, some of their team had been setting up roadblocks while others checked hotels and inns. Yang Kaizhi had taken these two to search the slums. They were short-handed, but Yang had equipped each group leader with radio communication devices to maintain contact within a range of several kilometers. However, when they reached the shantytown, they discovered the radio signals were highly unstable—consistent with what the rear command at the Ministry of National Defense reported. They had lost contact with Director Yang's voice early on.

Leaving the radio equipment in the car, Yang Kaizhi and his two men split up to search. The two entered the shantytown from east and west but found nothing. When they returned to the meeting point, Yang never showed up. It wasn't until nightfall, when intermittent radio transmissions from other teams asked about the director's next orders, that they realized something was wrong. They retraced their steps and found Yang Kaizhi's bullet-riddled body on a deserted path between uninhabited areas.

Lu Peng concluded Yang Kaizhi had been killed by someone he considered completely non-threatening.

What followed was the Confidentiality Bureau's registration and investigation of all shantytown residents, which naturally sparked clashes between officials and civilians—even drawing attention from municipal authorities. City officials, appalled by the Bureau's brutal methods, finally protested up the chain of command until the Bureau director had to order Lu Peng to stop fanning the flames in this already volatile area.

Almost simultaneously, protests from various foreign consulates nearly brought the roof down at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.