LRAB Chapter 13: Meeting with the Bluebird Group for Assistance
Chapter 13: Meeting with the Bluebird Group for Assistance
Back home, Yan Shuo was so exhausted that his eyelids were practically glued shut. He collapsed onto the bed, not even taking off his shoes, and with the blanket wrapped around him, he fell fast asleep.
Li Zhiyao tiptoed into the room and sighed with heartache at his exhausted appearance. She bent down to help him take off his leather shoes, carefully straightened his posture, pulled the blanket over him, and gently brushed his sweaty hair with her fingertips, her movements so gentle that she was afraid of waking him.
When Yan Shuo woke up, it was already past 11 p.m. He stretched, and most of the soreness in his body subsided. He got up and walked to the stairwell, where he saw the lights on in the living room downstairs. Li Zhiyao was sitting at the table, flipping through a stack of papers with a focused expression.
"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" Yan Shuo went downstairs, poured himself a glass of warm water, and gulped down most of it.
"Sort down the messages we received a few days ago and see if we've missed anything." Li Zhiyao looked up at him and handed him the note in her hand. "Although Zhang Wenying has betrayed us, the messages Luo Ping sent back are still quite useful. Look at this—Tongwen Academy is getting two new teachers next week, one to teach medicine and the other to teach hydrology and geography. Something doesn't seem right."
Yan Shuo took the note, his fingers gripping the edge, his brow furrowing slightly: "Otsuka Yutaro, a medical teacher? From Northeast China?"
"Yes, they said they were recommended by the South Manchuria Railway Company, and their medical skills are said to be quite good." Li Zhiyao nodded, her tone carrying a hint of wariness.
"Don't believe this nonsense." Yan Shuo scoffed, placing the note on the table. "Have you heard of the Water Supply Corps? Those devils who specialize in bacterial experiments, would they really come here to teach medicine? They're probably just here to scout out locations, find places to conduct experiments, or make connections, just scouting ahead."
"Huh? That's terrifying?" Li Zhiyao's eyes widened, her tone filled with anger. "Should we just kill him to prevent future trouble?"
"No need to rush." Yan Shuo waved his hand and tapped the table with his fingertips. "Just keep an eye on his movements. Anyone he can contact is definitely cut from the same cloth. I'll create some 'accidents' for them and take them out one by one. That way, we can eliminate the threat and gather some intelligence. It's much more cost-effective than killing them outright."
"Should we report this to headquarters and call some help?" Li Zhiyao was still a little worried.
"Absolutely not." Yan Shuo's face darkened. "We're already fish in the sand. How many times has the Shanghai station been reorganized? Every time it's because of an inside man. There aren't many clean old hands in headquarters. It's impossible to guard against them all. I just changed the password. From now on, if anything happens, either I'll send the message, or I'll give you the code and you can send it yourself. Don't ask anyone else to do it for you, and don't ask anyone for help. We're an intelligence agency, not an action team. Assassinating someone once or twice is easy, but once the higher-ups find out it was us, all the dirty work and hard work will be dumped on us. We can't kill everyone, and sooner or later we'll get ourselves into trouble. Look at those people in the action team, how many batches have they changed? Not many are still alive. Just maintain your pampered young lady persona. Just talk. Leave the physical work to me. If you really need help, just keep watch for me."
"Oh, I see." Li Zhiyao nodded and handed over another slip of paper. "Take a look at this one too. It's for the hydrology and geography teacher, named Sugiyama Koichi."
"Sugiyama Koichi?" Yan Shuo repeated the name, his eyes turning cold. "He's probably the same kind of person as that Otsuka Yutaro. Who knows, he'll probably be using the guise of an internship to measure hydrology and geography everywhere, marking locations for naval bombing raids. We should find an opportunity to kill him; keeping him around is just asking for trouble."
"That's what I think too!" Li Zhiyao nodded in agreement. "The Japanese never came to China with good intentions, and they're teaching students? What good things can they possibly produce?"
"When will they arrive?" Yan Shuo asked.
"It will take a few more days. I'll go to Tongwen Academy again in a couple of days to find out the exact dates," Li Zhiyao said.
"Okay, let me know as soon as you arrive, and I'll go check it out." Yan Shuo picked up his water glass and took another sip.
"By the way, have you finished exploring all those safe houses, resource points, and dead mailboxes?" Li Zhiyao asked with concern.
"I'm done looking around, I'm exhausted." Yan Shuo stretched. "Several of them were guarded by enemy agents, but I took care of them all without any problems."
"Why didn't you call me?" Li Zhiyao suddenly became anxious and punched him. "It was so dangerous! If something had happened to you, there wouldn't even be anyone to help you. You're not allowed to act alone anymore, understand?"
"Haha, I know, I know." Yan Shuo laughed and grabbed her hand. "I'll definitely invite you next time, my dear lady, don't be angry."
"Hmph, that's more like it." Li Zhiyao pouted, her expression softening somewhat.
"By the way, this is a message retrieved from the dead mail box. We need to make contact tomorrow." Yan Shuo took out a few slips of paper from his pocket and handed them to Li Zhiyao.
"Let me see." Li Zhiyao took the note and carefully flipped through it.
……
The following evening, in the pavilion of the Bund Park, a cool breeze blew and the shadows of the plane trees swayed. A woman in red sat on a bench, holding a folding fan in one hand, fanning herself every now and then, while engrossed in a book in the other—her actions stood out conspicuously despite the slightly chilly weather.
Disguised as a leisurely schoolteacher, Yan Shuo, dressed in a gray cloth long gown and wearing an old felt hat, strolled over slowly. He first wandered around the pavilion, glancing around out of the corner of his eye. Finding no suspicious people or Xiao Zhi's danger warning, he then walked towards the woman in red with peace of mind.
"It's so cold, yet you're still fanning yourself. Miss, that's quite a peculiar habit of yours." Yan Shuo sat down beside her, speaking casually.
The woman looked up at him, her eyes darting around with a hint of wariness, then smiled and said, "Aren't all scholars like this? It's said that it helps them understand the knowledge in books."
"Oh, what a strange bad habit." Yan Shuo chuckled, finished speaking the code, raised his hand, picked up his hat, tapped it twice on his head, and then put it back on.
The woman's wariness vanished instantly, and she lowered her voice, saying, "Hello, I'm Lark, a radio operator from the Bluebird Group."
"Hello, Hongdou." Yan Shuo extended his hand, shook her lightly, and casually took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and asked, "How many people are left in your group?"
"Not counting the comrade who infiltrated 76, there are four of us outside—me, a liaison officer, and two intelligence officers." Nightingale's voice was very low, and her face showed some anxiety. "We dare not act rashly now and have been keeping silent for fear of being targeted by the people from 76."
"What are you mainly responsible for?" Yan Shuo took a drag of his cigarette, his eyes still clear despite the swirling smoke.
"Telegrams and communications," the Lark said. "The codebook is secure, but there was a backup at the Shanghai station. Now that something has happened at the station, we don't know if that codebook has fallen into enemy hands."
"Do you and headquarters have backup codebooks?" Yan Shuo asked, briefly explaining how he had previously transmitted new code structures through magazines and changed codebooks.
"You can do it like that?" Lark's eyes lit up, and a look of surprise appeared on her face. "I also know some comrades at headquarters, but we can't contact them directly right now. We can't just talk about these secrets over the phone, can we?"
"Of course not." Yan Shuo nodded. "Tell me your contact information, and I'll send a telegram to headquarters to coordinate the first version of the new code for you. Contact me with the new code first, and then we'll discuss completely changing the code. I'll also bring you a telegraph machine. I just relocated the resource point. Whatever you need—guns, ammunition, medicine, grenades, explosives, even sniper rifles and operational funds, and safe houses—I can provide it all."
"That's great! Thank you so much!" The lark's voice trembled with excitement as she quickly told Yan Shuo the contact code and the address of the dead mail box.
After agreeing on a time and place for their next meeting, Yan Shuo got up and left the park. Back home, he immediately sent a telegram to headquarters, coordinated a new password, and then took out a brand-new transmitter from his spatial ring, carefully checking it over.
They met again in a secluded little hotel, where Yan Shuo had booked a single room. Nightingale arrived with an intelligence agent, took the new code and transmitter, and immediately began testing the equipment, sending messages to headquarters and agreeing on the new code structure.
Twenty minutes later, after confirming that headquarters had received the message and replied, Lark finally breathed a sigh of relief and carefully put away the new password and transmitter. "Thank you so much, Comrade Red Bean. Without you, we really wouldn't know what to do."
"We're all on the same side, no need to be polite," Yan Shuo said. "I've already had the necessary guns and ammunition prepared, and the intelligence officer will come to collect them in a bit."
After exchanging a few more words about the details of the follow-up communications, Nightingale left first, escorted by an intelligence officer. Not long after, another intelligence officer arrived, took four pistols, two hundred rounds of ammunition, and six hand grenades from Yan Shuo, and safely withdrew as darkness fell.
Not long after the intelligence agent left, there was a gentle knock on the door.
Yan Shuo cautiously reached for the gun at his waist and asked in a deep voice, "Who?"
"It's me, Zhiyao." Li Zhiyao's voice came from outside the door.
Yan Shuo opened the door and saw Li Zhiyao leading a strange man in, looking somewhat tired: "I met him on the way. He's an intelligence agent from another group. He said he had important intelligence to pass on, so I brought him here."
Yan Shuo's gaze fell on the man, and he was about to speak when Xiao Zhi's warning suddenly rang in his mind: "Warning! Purple-marked target detected! Traitor confirmed!"
Almost simultaneously, Yan Shuo swiftly drew a silenced pistol from his waist, pointed the muzzle directly at the man's forehead, and pulled the trigger without hesitation—with a "thud," the bullet struck a vital spot, and the man fell straight down without even uttering a sound.
"What are you doing?" Li Zhiyao took a half step back in fright, her voice trembling. "He's an intelligence agent! I went through so much trouble to bring him back!"
"I know you brought it back." Yan Shuo put away his gun and looked sharply out the window. "But he's a traitor, and you're following him."
Li Zhiyao walked to the window with some doubt and cautiously lifted a corner of the curtain to look outside—he saw two men in black Zhongshan suits peeking furtively under the telephone pole; they were dressed as agents of the 76th Special Agent Unit.
She gasped in shock: "How could this happen? I was so careful..."
"Don't panic, we can't stay here any longer," Yan Shuo said calmly. "Go to the front desk and check out. Tell them you have an urgent matter to attend to. I'll tidy up the place and come down right away."
"Okay, hurry up!" Li Zhiyao nodded and quickly walked out of the room.
Yan Shuo bent down and searched the traitor's body, finding a few banknotes and an ID card. Then, with a thought, he put the body into his spatial ring.
He picked up the mop from the corner, dipped it in water, and quickly wiped away the bloodstains on the floor. His movements were swift and efficient, leaving no trace. Finally, he put the mop away and turned to leave the room.
Downstairs in the lobby, Li Zhiyao had already checked out and was anxiously waiting for him.
Yan Shuo strode over, put his arm around her shoulder, and whispered, "Let's go, let's go through the back door."
The two quietly slipped out of the hotel through the back door and disappeared into a dark alley next door.
The two spies who were following them did indeed catch up. Based on Xiao Zhi's markings, Yan Shuo confirmed that there were only two of them and said to Li Zhiyao, "Hide here and don't make a sound."
Li Zhiyao nodded and hid behind a trash can.
Yan Shuo took a deep breath, turned around and circled to the corner of the alley. When the two agents caught up, he suddenly appeared, raised his hand and fired two shots—"pfft pfft"—the agents fell to the ground without even a chance to call for help.
Li Zhiyao waited a few minutes, and when she heard no other noise, she cautiously came out: "How is it? Is it safe now?"
"We're safe now." Yan Shuo picked up the agent's identification and pass and handed them to Li Zhiyao. "Look, these two passes from the 76th Division are quite useful. They can go to the British Concession, the French Concession, the International Settlement, and the Japanese Concession. They're not low-ranking."
Li Zhiyao took the pass, looked at it, and threw it back to Yan Shuo. She kicked the corpse on the ground and said angrily, "It's all my fault. I almost fell into their trap."
"It's not your fault, they were too cunning." Yan Shuo smiled and ruffled her hair. "Go ahead and call a rickshaw, I'll dispose of the body."
"Hurry up, I'll wait for you at the alley entrance." After saying that, Li Zhiyao quickly walked out of the alley.
Yan Shuo stored the spy's body and identification documents into his spatial ring. He then kicked up dust from the ground to cover the remaining bloodstains, stirred it up, kicked on some more dust until the bloodstains were no longer visible, kicked it away again, kicked on some more dust, and rubbed it in until he was done. Only after confirming that no traces were visible did he leave the alley.
At the alley entrance, Li Zhiyao had already hailed a rickshaw.
The two got into the rickshaw, gave a random address of a nearby street, and after getting off, looked around to make sure no one was following them before flagging down another rickshaw, giving their home address, and slowly making their way home.