Chapter 12: Confirming the Suspicion

Chapter 12: Confirming the Suspicion

The military truck belonging to the Political Department was a modified Renault AGR produced by the French Renault company.

Its boarding ladder could be folded up.

Cheng Qianfan glanced at the ladder and had a thought.

One of the screws on the ladder was loose, causing it to wobble unstably.

He considered tampering with it while Zhu Yuan was boarding the truck, intending to make the fellow fall flat on his back.

However, seeing that Ma Yishou personally led people in helping Zhu Yuan onto the vehicle, he could only abandon the plan.

Ma Yishou was an old hand.

Trying tricks under his nose was too risky.

After boarding the truck, Zhu Yuan became unusually obedient.

From time to time, he secretly glanced at Cheng Qianfan and tried his best to stay as far away from him as possible.

“You planning to jump from the truck and escape?” Cheng Qianfan cast him a sidelong glance and said coldly.

“Move inside.”

After hearing this, Ma Yishou scrutinized him and motioned for him to move inward.

“Xiao Cheng, keep an eye on him.”

“Got it.”

Zhu Yuan was terrified.

This policeman dared to be ruthless even toward his own people, let alone a Communist “suspect” like him.

However, what relieved him was that Cheng Qianfan merely gave him a cold look and made no further moves.

Cheng Qianfan was thinking, replaying the arrest in his mind.

Pushing Old Mo into the room had been a spur-of-the-moment plan that killed two birds with one stone.

The first purpose was to alert the person inside by startling him.

The second was to seize the opportunity to openly fall out with Old Mo.

Having a conflict with Old Mo had always been part of Cheng Qianfan’s plans.

Even if He Guan and Old Mo had never quarreled, Cheng Qianfan would have created an opportunity to provoke a conflict with him.

A grudge without openly tearing relations apart fit the gentle image that everyone had of Xiao Cheng.

To Cheng Qianfan, Old Mo was like a tool that could always be counted on.

Thanks to their long-standing conflict, he could turn hostile at any moment according to circumstances and create opportunities as needed.

Old Mo had tried to manipulate Cheng Qianfan into becoming the sacrificial pawn during the trip there, revealing his malicious intentions.

Therefore, using Old Mo to issue a warning, while somewhat abrupt, would not arouse suspicion.

Even a rabbit bites when cornered.

Although this warning would most likely still fail to allow the man inside to escape, it at least tore a tiny gap in the otherwise airtight encirclement.

At the very least, it gave him some time to react.

Yet what happened afterward was entirely beyond Cheng Qianfan’s expectations.

His powers of observation were extraordinary.

He keenly caught the panic in Zhu Yuan’s reaction when Old Mo suddenly appeared.

What surprised Cheng Qianfan most was the trace of relief and concealed joy in the man’s eyes when he saw the police.

That was wrong.

The contents of Zhu Yuan’s travel trunk, once discovered by the police, were enough to confirm his identity as a Communist.

Old Mo’s sudden intrusion and mistaken identification as a killer was certainly frightening.

However, for a Communist, compared with being captured by the police, which posed a greater threat to the organization?

The answer was obvious.

This immediately aroused Cheng Qianfan’s suspicion.

Furthermore, Zhu Yuan moved closer to the police to avoid Old Mo.

That was another puzzling action.

There were two possible explanations.

Either Zhu Yuan approached the police in preparation for a sudden counterattack at close range.

Or he was seeking a sense of security.

His subsequent behavior proved that he had no intention of attacking.

Of course, Cheng Qianfan’s judgment could still be wrong.

After all, instinctively seeking protection from the police when confronted by an apparent intruder was understandable.

But as an underground operative, every trace of suspicion had to be treated with extreme seriousness.

Underground work was like dancing on a steel wire stretched above a cliff.

One misstep, and you would be smashed to pieces.

In addition, he had another reason for suspicion.

Now he needed to verify his guess.

The truck was approaching a turn.

Cheng Qianfan prepared to act.

The driver was still Inspector Jin Kemu.

Everyone in the police station knew that Inspector Jin loved vehicles.

Whenever an operation required transportation, he usually drove personally.

Among the inspector-level officers of the French Concession, this had become something of a curious anecdote.

Jin Kemu drove aggressively.

It was completely at odds with his normally cautious style.

Cheng Qianfan casually glanced outside.

Ahead was the same sharp bend they had passed on the way there.

“He Guan, a lighter.”

A cigarette hung from Cheng Qianfan’s mouth.

After pulling out his lighter and seeing it had been soaked, he muttered irritably.

He had prepared two boxes of matches in his pocket.

One was dry.

The other had been secretly soaked while washing his hands in the latrine before departure.

He Guan took out a box of matches and handed it over.

Cheng Qianfan took two steps and reached out to receive it.

As expected, when the truck turned left, Jin Kemu barely slowed down at all.

Everyone had already been swaying while standing in the truck bed.

Now they were thrown about even more violently.

Just as Cheng Qianfan approached, the sharp turn caused him to stagger.

By coincidence, he collided headfirst with the equally staggering Zhu Yuan.

“Damn it!”

Cheng Qianfan flew into a rage.

He grabbed Zhu Yuan’s clothing and raised a hand to slap him.

Zhu Yuan instinctively struggled.

Both men tumbled into the truck bed.

Everyone hurriedly helped pull them apart.

Cheng Qianfan pretended he still wanted to beat him, but Ma Yishou restrained him.

“You little brat, behave yourself too.”

Ma Yishou cursed at Cheng Qianfan.

“Motherf...”

From the driver’s cabin, Jin Kemu slammed his fist against the roof and cursed.

Cheng Qianfan glared resentfully at Zhu Yuan.

He spat onto the truck bed floor, pointed at him, snorted, and walked away.

After turning his back, Cheng Qianfan silently looked outside.

He took a deep breath.

When he had grabbed Zhu Yuan moments ago, part of the man’s clothing had been lifted.

For a brief instant, clear scars were visible across his back.

They appeared to be marks from a whipping.

During the arrest inside the apartment, Cheng Qianfan had kicked him and vaguely glimpsed a scar near his waist.

However, the windows had been shut, the lighting was poor, and Zhu Yuan had offered little resistance afterward.

There had been no chance to verify it further.

That was why he had deliberately engineered this incident to confirm his suspicion.

Sure enough, the man was injured.

His suspicions had been confirmed.

An injured man?

Where had those injuries come from?

Communists being arrested while already carrying injuries was not exactly rare.

However, when combined with his earlier observations, the existing suspicions, the new clue, the spotless garbage bin, and the scrap of paper hidden in his pocket...

When so many suspicious details appeared one after another around the same person, it was enough for any underground operative to maintain the highest level of suspicion and vigilance.

One hand gripping the truck’s side panel, Cheng Qianfan lit a cigarette and casually chatted with He Guan.

The white vapor from his breath mixed with the cigarette smoke.

The early spring wind quickly dispersed both.

The flame at the cigarette’s tip flickered on and off.

He took a deep drag and tossed the remaining half-smoked cigarette butt out of the truck.

Several ragged little beggars immediately fought over it.

By the roadside, two Annamese policemen waved their batons to drive people away.

One beggar let out a miserable cry after being beaten and limped away to hide.

The Annamese policemen burst into laughter and ordered the beggar to bark like a dog.

As the military truck drove away, Cheng Qianfan clenched his teeth.

The fingers gripping the rail turned white from the force.

This damned world.

This was precisely the reason why countless comrades like him were willing to sacrifice their heads and shed their blood in struggle.