Chapter 99: Seizing the Codebook

Wan Delong directly picked up the radio set and carefully stroked and examined it as if he were looking at a beautiful woman.

In reality, he was a firearms and shooting instructor, skilled in field operations, and did not really understand this sort of thing. He was simply overjoyed because they had uncovered a Japanese spy radio.

“The low-power radio most commonly used by Japanese spies, manufactured in the tenth year of the Shōwa era.” Cheng Qianfan also leaned over to take a look. After glancing at the nameplate, he spoke.

The special training class offered a communications course, but it was an elective and students were not required to take it. Because the curriculum was intensive, very few trainees had the time and energy to study communications as well.

The Special Service Office had dedicated communications specialists, so agents were not required to master it themselves.

Moreover, communications courses were considered advanced subjects and required natural aptitude. Not everyone was capable of learning them.

Cheng Qianfan was an exception. He was extremely enthusiastic about communications courses. Since he had passed his foreign language and firearms examinations ahead of schedule, he had extra time to study communications.

“Good stuff. It should be Japan’s most advanced radio set, highly secure, stable in transmission power, compact, and easy to carry.” Cheng Qianfan was very interested in the radio.

“See if there’s a codebook,” Wan Delong quickly reminded him.

Recovering the radio alone was not enough.

The codebook was the truly crucial item.

The Special Service Office had always attached great importance to codebreaking work.

Just two months earlier, Yao Dunwen, chief of the Code Translation Section of the Special Service Office, had deciphered an encrypted telegram of the Communists in Xi’an, and its contents concerned military matters.

Dai Chunfeng was overjoyed and reported it to Chiang Kai-shek, earning considerable praise. Yao Dunwen also received a personal reward order from the Generalissimo worth five hundred yuan in legal tender.

The Code Translation Section of the Special Service Office had long been seeking to crack Japanese spy communications, but had never achieved much progress.

The reason was straightforward. The Special Service Office rarely managed to seize Japanese codebooks.

The Code Translation Section lacked sufficient reference material for studying Japanese encryption patterns.

Therefore, Dai Chunfeng had specifically emphasized at senior meetings of the Special Service Office that agents should seize Japanese codebooks whenever possible during operations.

Anyone who captured an enemy codebook would be generously rewarded.

It could be said that if they managed to obtain a Japanese codebook this time, the merit would far exceed that of breaking up a Japanese spy cell and capturing several Japanese agents.

“There isn’t a codebook.” Cheng Qianfan shook his head. The radio case contained only the radio itself and no codebook.

“Keep searching! We must find the codebook!” Wan Delong ordered in a deep voice.

If there was a radio, there had to be a codebook. They simply had not found it yet.

Even if they had to dig three metres deep, they would find the codebook.

Turning around, Cheng Qianfan stared thoughtfully at the storage cabinet.

The tea canisters on the cabinet had all been smashed, and the fragments had already been cleared away.

His gaze settled on the third shelf of the cabinet.

Because tea canisters had been stored there for a long time, clear impressions remained visible on the surface.

The impressions were extremely dense.

This indicated that the third shelf had held the greatest number of tea canisters, packed tightly together.

In his mind, he pictured so many tea canisters lined up that they completely blocked the view, making it impossible to see the partition board behind them.

Why had that shelf held so many tea canisters?

The third shelf was relatively high and actually inconvenient to reach.

Something was strange about it.

Cheng Qianfan glanced at the two stools sitting in the corner.

He dragged the slightly shorter stool over and placed it behind the counter, then sat down on it.

Given his height, only the upper half of his body barely rose above the counter.

That wasn’t right.

Liu Tao was a head shorter than him. If that man sat on this shorter stool, only a small portion of his body would be visible. It would be very awkward.

“Come here.”

Cheng Qianfan called over an agent whose height was similar to Liu Tao’s.

He had the agent sit on both stools in turn.

The slightly taller stool fit perfectly.

The shorter stool was visibly unsuitable.

Cheng Qianfan strode out from behind the counter and entered the private room where the Japanese spies were being held. He swept his gaze across them.

None of the Japanese spies matched the height required for that shorter stool.

“Just as I thought!” Cheng Qianfan exclaimed with delight. A vague suspicion had already formed in his mind.

Returning behind the counter, he signaled for the agent whose height resembled Liu Tao’s to stand on the stool. The agent’s position now matched the height of the third shelf.

Cheng Qianfan motioned for the agent to step down. Then he climbed onto the stool himself and carefully felt along the back panel of the cabinet with both hands.

A thin cord.

Its colour was identical to that of the wooden panel. The lighting here was rather dim, and without careful observation, no one would have noticed the thin cord glued to the back panel.

Cheng Qianfan pinched the cord and slowly pulled on it.

A section of the back panel began to loosen.

Overjoyed, Cheng Qianfan gave it a slightly stronger tug. The wooden panel came free, and pressed tightly against the inner panel was a book about half a fingernail’s thickness.

“Found it!” Wan Delong, who had been watching closely, was overjoyed. “Quick, take it out.”

“Wait.”

Cheng Qianfan’s expression suddenly turned serious.

“Flashlight.”

An agent handed him a flashlight.

Cheng Qianfan shone the light on it, and his face changed slightly. He handed the flashlight back.

“Hold the light for me.”

The corners of the book had been stitched together with needle and thread. At first glance, it seemed as though the stitching had been done because the book was falling apart.

However, one thread was obviously much longer than the others, hanging down roughly twenty centimetres.

Moreover, the thread should originally have been broken in the middle and then tied together with a slipknot.

Cheng Qianfan carefully untied the slipknot before removing the book. He then handed it to Wan Delong.

Wan Delong took the book, flipped through it, and his face lit up with excitement.

“It should be the codebook.”

At that moment, his heart was completely at ease and filled with joy. They had captured a Japanese spy cell without losing a single man, seized a radio set, and now obtained a codebook as well. This operation could only be described as flawless.

After the excitement subsided, he felt a wave of fear.

“Cheng Wufang, thanks to your vigilance. Well done.”

As the action team leader at Xiongzhen Tower, Wan Delong was a veteran of many battles. He naturally understood why Cheng Wufang had acted so cautiously just now.

“Those damned little Japanese are far too cunning.”

Cheng Qianfan stepped down from the stool, his forehead covered in sweat. Hearing this, he nodded.

“You’re absolutely right, Team Leader. If I’m not mistaken, that thread should be connected to the pin of a grenade. We almost fell into their trap.”

“Go and remove whatever is attached to the other end of that thread,” Wan Delong ordered. “Be careful. It could be a grenade.”

The agent who had been singled out climbed onto the stool and used his dagger to cut away the wooden panel with extreme caution.

He glanced back and saw that everyone, including the team leader, had retreated far away.

He inwardly lamented his luck.

After seven or eight minutes, the agent finally removed the panel with great care. Sure enough, behind it sat a grenade. The grenade’s pull ring was attached to a thread, the same thread that had previously been tied to the thread connected to the codebook.

Wan Delong, He Qichen, Cheng Qianfan, and the others all let out long sighs of relief.

“Fortunately, the Japanese spies set this trap to destroy the codebook.” Cheng Qianfan’s face darkened as he suddenly said, “If they had pulled the same trick inside the radio case earlier...”