Chapter 43: Delivering a Message in the Dead of Night

Chapter 43: Delivering a Message in the Dead of Night

Wang Jun pulled out the letter paper, and after reading only the first line, his expression changed dramatically.

“Zhu Yuan betrayed the cause immediately after being captured. This is a conspiracy by the Party Affairs Investigation Department to lure the organization into rescuing Zhu Yuan and seize an opportunity to infiltrate our Party.”

“How is that possible?” Kang Erniu leaned over to read it as well and could not help crying out in alarm.

Kang Erniu had just returned from a municipal committee meeting that very day, where the leadership had only recently deployed a plan to rescue Comrade Zhuang Ze.

While discussing the matter earlier, the two of them had been full of praise for Comrade Zhuang Ze, who was skilled both in scholarship and combat, and had eagerly anticipated the organization’s success in rescuing this young Anti-Japanese United Army comrade.

Most importantly, based on the information currently available to them, Comrade Zhuang Ze, who used the alias Zhu Yuan, had endured the enemy’s torture and appeared to be a good comrade loyal to the Red cause and the revolution.

Yet the very first line of this letter presented intelligence that was completely the opposite.

Neither man spoke or discussed it. Their expressions were simply incomparably grave.

They continued reading.

“Old Liao fell into an ambush on Avenue Joffre and was killed on the spot.”

They knew about the earlier shooting incident on Avenue Joffre in which someone had been killed, and they had paid attention to the case.

But who was Old Liao?

Neither of them knew.

Unless their work intersected, comrades on one operational line would never know the circumstances of comrades on another line.

Wang Jun and Kang Erniu fell silent. They knew that the person killed on Avenue Joffre had probably been this Comrade Old Liao.

Even though they had never met the fallen comrade, sorrow still rose in their hearts.

They continued reading.

“Kang Erniu acts carelessly. The medicinal plaster shifts from left to right.”

Kang Erniu’s face immediately changed, and he subconsciously touched the medicinal plaster attached to his face.

“Old Kang.” Wang Jun looked at him with an extremely serious expression. “I remember now. On two occasions, your plaster was on the left side of your face.”

“It was my mistake. I was too careless.” Kang Erniu remembered as well. Cold sweat broke out across his forehead, and he did not evade responsibility. “I failed to consider it properly. I only thought about concealing my appearance and didn’t pay attention to such details. If a secret agent noticed me on both occasions, that would be a major flaw.”

After a pause, Kang Erniu said sincerely, “I request disciplinary punishment from the organization.”

“I will report this to the municipal committee.” Wang Jun said angrily. It was not that he was being heartless toward his partner. Such a low-level mistake was simply unacceptable. In underground work, even the slightest error could lead to catastrophic disaster.

Kang Erniu was an important courier for the municipal committee and knew many key comrades. If he made a mistake and was captured, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Furthermore, he and Kang Erniu were partners. If the enemy captured him through Kang Erniu, setting aside his own life and death, he was a member of the municipal committee. His arrest alone would force the entire Shanghai Municipal Committee to conduct an emergency evacuation. A single thread could set the entire body in motion.

Young agents got into trouble because they lacked experience.

Experienced agents got into trouble because they believed they had plenty of experience.

The two men then exchanged a glance and both realized the implication hidden behind that sentence.

The writer had seen Kang Erniu many times.

He might even have been under surveillance or being followed.

Had they not already suspected that the sender was a comrade within the Party, they would have been unable to remain seated any longer.

Even so, they merely suspected that the sender was one of their own. They had no evidence to support that guess.

“In the bedroom of the house next door, move the wooden bed. Use the bedside cabinet as a reference point. Take five steps west. Near the wall, beneath the bricks, there is something.”

Eh?

The two exchanged glances.

Had the evidence arrived?!

Both men felt something strange. It was as though the writer of the letter could predict exactly what they were thinking at this very moment.

Step by step, the two of them were practically being guided according to a predetermined plan.

How could that be possible?

“So this letter was sent by the comrade who prepared this safe house?” Wang Jun said with a serious expression.

“That should be the case.” Kang Erniu nodded.

As the courier for an important municipal committee leader, he knew about this safe house.

If anyone besides key leaders of the Shanghai Municipal Committee or the Jiangsu Provincial Committee knew about this safe house, then it could only be the comrade who had prepared it.

“Verifying that will be easy.” Wang Jun said.

Kang Erniu nodded. He understood exactly what Wang Jun meant.

The two men took flashlights, quietly lifted the door bar, stepped outside, closed their own door, and walked to the small house next door.

Two short knocks, then three long knocks.

“Who’s there?”

“Dazhuang, it’s me, Uncle Kang.”

The man inside recognized Kang Erniu’s voice, lifted the door bar, and opened the door.

“What happened?” Dazhuang was astonished to see Kang Erniu and Wang Jun arrive together. The pistol in his hand opened its safety with a sharp Click.

“We’ll talk inside.”

“Oh.”

Dazhuang closed the door and secured the bar, preparing to follow them in.

“Dazhuang, stand guard at the door.” Wang Jun suddenly said.

“Understood.” Although curious, Dazhuang nodded without hesitation and obeyed.

Obedience and strict discipline were this young comrade’s greatest strengths.

Kang Erniu said nothing. He approved of Wang Jun’s approach.

The fewer people who knew about this matter, the lower the risk of a leak.

Although it had not yet been conclusively verified, both men had already accepted in their hearts that the sender of the letter was probably the comrade who had prepared the safe house.

Not only that, judging from the intelligence contained in the letter, this comrade was likely an extremely important agent hidden within the enemy’s ranks.

Whether it was Kang Erniu or Wang Jun, both had already subconsciously elevated the importance of protecting this hidden comrade’s safety to the highest level.

It was a kind of tacit understanding, forged through long years of difficult underground struggle.

These comrades hidden inside the enemy were carrying out work that was unimaginably difficult. They were priceless assets and had to be protected.

They moved the wooden bed in the bedroom.

The bedside cabinet.

Five steps to the west.

The corner by the wall.

The two men lifted three blue bricks and indeed found a wooden box buried beneath them.

Opening the wooden box, they found a small cloth pouch inside.

Wang Jun picked up the pouch. Hearing the Clatter, clatter of its contents, his heart stirred. He poured them out and found that they were indeed more than a dozen silver dollars.

Kang Erniu’s attention was not on the money.

He was staring at the two grenades inside the wooden box.

“German M24 grenades.” Kang Erniu said, his eyes shining.

These were far harder to obtain than pistols.

“What do you think?” Wang Jun asked Kang Erniu.

“We can basically confirm that the sender is one of our comrades, and is very likely the comrade who prepared this safe house.”

“What about these?” Wang Jun pointed at the wooden box.

Judging by the traces of its burial, the box had probably been hidden there within the past month.

The two men understood that these items, along with the safe house itself, had not originally been prepared for them.

Most likely, this comrade had noticed that the house remained unused and had converted it into a final refuge for himself. Everything here had been prepared for his own use.

The silver dollars as travel funds for escape, that was easy enough to understand.

But the two grenades?

“Prepared for breaking out of an encirclement?” Kang Erniu said.

“Yes, for breaking out.” Wang Jun nodded. “And also...”

He did not finish the sentence, but Kang Erniu understood.

If the breakout failed, then at least one of those grenades had been reserved by that comrade for himself.

Neither man touched the money or the grenades. They put everything back where it had been and moved the wooden bed back into place.

Now was not the time to think about those things.

The two quickly reached a decision. Dazhuang would escort Wang Jun, armed, to report to the higher-ups that very night, while Kang Erniu would stay behind to guard the place.

The rain was still falling, and the night was completely dark.

Wang Jun and Dazhuang hurried out the door, wearing raincoats and moving quickly through the darkness.

Watching the two figures disappear into the night, Cheng Qianfan curled his lips and silently followed after them...