The Bravest

In the underground interrogation room, Lao Liu was brought before Li Shiqun. This time Li Shiqun was the presiding judge, with Zhao Yilong as his assistant, who could play both the good and bad cops. Sanpu was recording, while Gangcun and Lin Jie were eavesdropping next door.

"Hey, Lao Liu, long time no see. I heard that you wanted to see me. Now I'm here and you can tell me whatever you want to say." Li Shiqun went straight to the point.

"Is there anything to eat? Zhao Yilong tortured me all night, so here are the first ones to eat." Old Liu, with his hands still handcuffed, answered weakly while leaning against the back of the chair.

"Okay, you said you confessed everything, is it necessary for me to be present? You finished talking last night and you should have left by now, why do you still need to suffer here? Chief Zhao, go to the kitchen and ask for some food, something good. Lao Liu, the wine will be on my table after your injury heals, haha." Li Shiqun was not in a hurry to interrogate Lao Liu now, but wanted to eliminate Lao Liu's guard through chatting.

Soon, someone brought over a large bowl of noodles with eggs on top.

"Eat it. This is all we can do so early in the morning." Li Shiqun pushed the noodles in front of Lao Liu.

Old Liu raised his hands to indicate that he wanted to open the handcuffs. Li Shiqun smiled and said calmly, "That's the treatment you get after you've recorded your confession, so don't drag your feet. Eat first, and then be quick. Get it done sooner and get out sooner."

Old Liu didn't ask for anything else. He leaned against the table, lowered his head and ate his noodles slowly.

The interrogation room became quiet, but soon, Li Shiqun's Lin Jie reported outside the door, then came in and handed Li Shiqun a telegram, then turned and left. Li Shiqun took the telegram in his hand and read it carefully. His face changed slightly, but he quickly covered it up and casually put the telegram into the folder. As if nothing had happened, he didn't care about Lao Liu and brought himself a cup of tea.

Old Liu finished his noodles quickly, burped, and leaned back in his chair without saying anything, closing his eyes to rest.

The two of them were silent for more than ten minutes before they made up their minds. Li Shiqun finally stopped being silent, put down his teacup, and spoke to Old Liu, who was resting with his eyes closed: "Old Liu, whether we stay here or go back to the interrogation room, you choose."

Old Liu didn't say anything, and Li Shiqun was not in a hurry. He chatted like an old friend: "Go ahead, the process has to be followed. It's a matter of time."

"Okay, let's start." Lao Liu remained calm.

Li Shiqun: "Okay, then let's relax and start from the day you accepted the mission."

Old Liu was silent, as if he was reminiscing. Li Shiqun did not urge him, but just watched with a smile.

After a few minutes, Lao Liu finally spoke, "Three months ago, Mao Renfeng summoned me alone and issued an assassination mission codenamed Jing Ke. It was top secret. I came to Shanghai alone and activated this silent base, the Yunlai Tavern. This base exists independently and has no connection with the Shanghai Station. I don't know how to contact the Military Control Commission Shanghai Station either."

"Then how did you contact Zhang Wu?"

"Is there any cigarette?"

Old Liu took the cigarette, lit it with the help of Li Shiqun's lighter, took a deep breath, and two streams of white smoke came out of his nostrils. He didn't continue to speak until he finished the cigarette.

"Then I replaced the original chef, and then I was silent and waited."

"Why didn't you contact Zhang Wu?"

"Haha, we don't know about Zhang Wu's existence, so we can only wait. You should know this. You should have obtained the confessions of Old Zou and Little Zhang."

"So don't tell lies. Just say what you know," Li Shiqun warned Lao Liu. "Go on."

"I waited for half a month until Zhang Wu showed up and we got in touch. I gave Zhang Wu the task, and then Zhang Wu said he had to go back to make preparations and asked me not to contact him on my own initiative."

"Okay, let's stop here for now. Let's go back to the beginning and tell you how you and Zhang got in touch. How did you identify each other? Tell me the details of what happened at that time."

"It's actually very simple. I knock on the door within ten minutes after the pub closes on Monday night. The person on the other end will say, "Little bastard, give me three pounds of vinegar, and I want it to be sweet." I will use my left hand to push his left shoulder and say, "This is a pub. If you want vinegar, I'll ask the kitchen to give you one ounce, but it's sour." Then the person on the other end will say, "Then I'll go in and drink one ounce of wine, and I want it to be sweet." That's it."

"Well, what's next?"

"Then there was still silence. After a month, Zhang Wu still hadn't contacted me. It was already the end of August. I was afraid that something had happened, so I took the initiative to inquire about Zhang Wu from the outside. I found that Zhang Wu was fine and no one was monitoring him. So, on August 8, I reported to Mao Renfeng for the first time, and the answer I got was to wait in silence."

"What time did you send the message on August 8, and what time did you receive the reply?" Li Shiqun interrupted.

"Four in the morning, received a reply at 5:10."

"What's next?"

"The tavern was open for business as usual, and I didn't go to get any more information. Three days later, Zhang Wu came again, and this time we started discussing an action plan. We made two plans in total. One was to track your whereabouts, ambush you on the road, and blow up the entire convoy with high-density mines. You usually travel in three cars, and we have five anti-personnel mines. Then the three of us will attack, and Zhang Wu will snipe from a distance. In this way, even if we fail, Zhang Wu will not be exposed. This plan is okay, right?" Old Liu looked at Li Shiqun meaningfully.

"Haha, if you fail, in order not to be exposed, you should be the first one to be killed by Zhang Wu's sniper rifle, right? It would be the same if it was you, Lao Liu?" Li Shiqun retorted in a murderous way in the face of Lao Liu's smile. Lao Liu's face darkened when he heard this.

Seeing that Old Liu's face was dark, Li Shiqun didn't want to anger him, so he quickly changed the subject: "Just kidding, according to what you said, as long as we find out the whereabouts, the probability of success of this plan is more than 80%. Why didn't you execute it?"

"It has already happened. Weren't you ambushed on your way to work on the morning of September 6th?"

"That's not you," Li Shiqun chuckled. "Where is your ambush location?"

"You, Lord Li, are too powerful. You retreated. They ambushed you when you entered the bend. The convoy had to slow down there, so your bodyguards must have been very alert at the time. As a result, they chose the wrong place for the ambush and failed. We were just after the bend and about to enter the straight road, only a hundred meters away from where you were ambushed. If you had rushed over, I can say that there would be a 99% chance of success." Old Liu showed his proud smile again. Although it was not very obvious, Li Shiqun still saw it.

"That's right. If we had rushed forward, the unexpected second ambush would have caused chaos. The cars in the front and behind would have naturally widened the distance between the convoy when we turned the corner. One person per car only needed a submachine gun to attack at close range or snipe from a distance. I dare not think about the outcome, haha." Li Shiqun had to admit that he was lucky.

"what's next?"

"Later, I suggested looking for another opportunity, but your route changed again, and the convoy became two pairs, so it was difficult to figure it out in a short time. Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhang Wu and I met, and he decided to use the backup plan, which was the action on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"You said you were sent by the Special High Police. How do you prove it?"

"Oh, that was just something I said when I was pressed to the limit."

"Well, then, the important thing is, where was Zhang Wu that night? Where was he when you were arrested?"

"Ah, didn't you catch him? He was in a secret room. The explosion was so violent that I think one of your men tripped over a mine. In that case, they must have all died."

This was a dead end. Could it be that Zhang Wu was really dead? Old Liu confessed everything from beginning to end, and there was no need to hide anything. However, he felt something was wrong, and Li Shiqun fell silent for a moment.

Gangcun next door turned to Lin Jie and asked, "What do you think? Did Liu Yang lie?"

Lin Jie shook his head: "It doesn't seem like he's lying. I've listened to the recording of Section Chief Zhao's interrogation. Liu Yang must have collapsed at the time. Unfortunately, Section Chief Zhao didn't press on and gave Liu Yang time to rebuild his mind. So now Liu Yang's tone is calm and he has time to think before he speaks, which makes it more difficult for us to judge."

"Then why do you think he didn't lie?"

"Because there is no need. What he said is of no use to us. As for that ingenious assassination plan, I think I just want to show my ability and sell it for a good price. But not lying does not mean not hiding anything. If you want to sell it at a high price, you have to have bargaining chips, right?"

"Haha, Mr. Lin, great minds think alike. It's a waste of your talent to work in logistics."

Back in the interrogation room, Li Shiqun was silent for a few minutes and decided to change the angle. "Lao Liu, now that I have finished talking about this process, can you help me analyze why Chongqing used a high-level undercover agent to assassinate me? The Military Control Commission has others. Let's talk about this."

"I really don't know this yet."

"Just talk casually, or guess, you can't just sit there and do nothing, haha." Li Shiqun leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and looked as relaxed as if he was chatting with an old friend.

"Ahem, Director Li, I've said everything I need to say. Just tell me how you're going to deal with me, so I can feel at ease." Old Liu raised his handcuffed hands and said with embarrassment.

"As expected, he's here." Gangcun from next door glanced at Lin Jie.

"Hahaha, how can you say we're dealing with them? We're all family. Um, Yilong, go take off the handcuffs. I forgot. Why didn't you remind me? Oh, you're the one who caused Lao Liu's injury, right? Set up a table to apologize someday." Li Shiqun was enthusiastic and casual: "Lao Liu, do you have any ideas?"

"Alas, I can't go back to the Military Control Commission, and your Director Li won't let me leave. After this incident, I'm scared and dare not work on the front line. I can only ask the director to arrange a sinecure for me to pass the time. After all, I used to be a major section chief in the Military Control Commission, so I don't think I will make things difficult for the director." Old Liu's words implied that he wanted a high position.

"Oh, these are all trivial matters. It is impossible to wrong you. Talents are rare! However, every country has its own laws, and every family has its own rules. As the saying goes, one should not accept rewards without merit. Otherwise, it will be difficult to convince the people. What do you think, Old Liu?" Naturally, Old Liu's little thoughts could not be hidden from Li Shiqun.

"This achievement doesn't just happen overnight, it takes some time, Director Li, what do you think?"

"Well, I'll discuss this with the Imperial Army first. No. 76 is also under the control of the Japanese, so it shouldn't be a big problem. I'll let Lao Liu inconvenience him for now. He'll sign this record first, and then stay in the solitary confinement room for two days. After all, there are still screening procedures to go through. Yilong, take Lao Liu to a place where he can be relocated later."