The Spy

Chapter 1: Traces Revealed
1935 years.

The second day of the second lunar month, Tianjin.

The streets and alleys are filled with the symphony of life. The hawkers' shouts and the noisy chatter of passers-by are like silk threads, delicately weaving this picture of human fireworks.

The sun shines shyly through the gaps in the clouds, gently caressing the bluestone slabs on the road, adding a touch of bright color to the busy and warm city scene.

In a two-story building deep in the alley, Xu Qingyun, a 20-year-old man dressed in a student uniform, stood silently in front of the window. His eyes were like a deep ancient pool, staring silently out of the window.

"Out."

Xu Qingyun suddenly stood up, staring out the window with eyes as sharp as an eagle's. A figure appeared in the yard diagonally opposite. It was the target of his arrest operation this time, the gangster Hu Qi.

A month ago, Xu Qingyun entered the Tianjin Police Department and was appointed as the acting squad leader right after he arrived. Today’s task is very important to him. After completing this task, the word “acting” on his head can be removed.

"I'll go and wait."

Zuo Jinfang, who was standing behind Xu Qingyun, went downstairs immediately. He was Xu Qingyun's fellow villager and a former tenant of the Xu family. He was loyal and reliable.

Xu Qingyun stood in the shadows and continued to observe.

Hu Qi washed his face in the yard, wandered around for a while, and finally walked out. Xu Qingyun watched him leave in secret.

At this time, Zuo Jinfang had reached the corner where two alleys were connected. Their entire class was there, waiting for Hu Qi to come over and fall into the trap.

"boom."

As soon as Xu Qingyun got downstairs, he heard the sound of sticks hitting not far away. He quickly came to the ambush site. Hu Qi had been pinned to the ground by seven or eight people and was being tied up with ropes.

"Brother Qingyun, we caught him. It's Hu Qi. He has a gun, a box gun." Zuo Jinfang reported happily, holding the spoils in his hand.

"Okay, put on the hood and take him back."

Xu Qingyun nodded slightly. Hu Qi was responsible for more than a dozen murders, including one involving a police officer.

Four years ago, in order to pick up an important figure of the puppet regime, Japanese spies committed a bloody incident in Tianjin that shocked the world.

A plainclothes special forces team composed of more than 2,000 bandits, bullies, soldiers and other mobs, filled with madness and greed, suddenly swarmed out of the Japanese Concession like locusts.

The villains held all kinds of weapons in their hands and hacked anyone and robbed anything they saw. Hu Qi was one of the thugs. The police station had been wanted for many years, and today the executioner was finally caught.

Back at the police station, Hu Qi was taken directly to the interrogation room.

"Hu Qi, do you know where this place is?"

Inside the interrogation room, the lights were dim and grim. Xu Qingyun sat at the interrogation table, staring directly at Hu Qi who was hanging opposite him.

The hood was taken off. Hu Qi looked around, raised his head high, and said nothing.

Xu Qingyun glanced at him and said calmly, "Serve him some food."

Screams were suddenly heard in the interrogation room. There were many torture tools here, including whips, branding irons, tiger benches, etc.

After an hour of severe torture, Hu Qi was already on the verge of death. When his nails were pricked half an hour ago, he could not bear it anymore and admitted to the fact that he had killed someone four years ago.

Unfortunately, Xu Qingyun didn't intend to let him go. At Xu Qingyun's signal, several people pressed Hu Qi on the tiger bench and took off his clothes and shoes. The bare soles of the feet were also a place of punishment. If someone was ticklish, just tickling the soles of the feet would make him feel worse than death.

Xu Qingyun suddenly stood up and came to the opposite side of Hu Qi.

He was looking at Hu Qi's bare feet.

Xu Qingyun's soul comes from the afterlife. He is a nationally renowned footprint expert. He can determine gender, body shape, etc. by observing footprints. This unique skill has attracted the attention of the police, and he has cooperated with the police to solve many serious cases.

You can judge a person by his footprints, and vice versa, you can also find clues by looking at his feet.

Noticing the slight mark on Hu Qi's big toe, Xu Qingyun's eyes twitched unnaturally.

There are obvious marks between the toes, and the gap is slightly larger. Xu Qingyun has seen many such marks. Most people who like to wear flip-flops are like this, but flip-flops are not popular in China at that time. The only ones with this style are some straw sandals and clogs.

He could conclude that the marks on Hu Qi's feet were left by wearing wooden clogs for a long time, and they were Japanese wooden clogs.

Xu Qingyun was a footprint expert in his previous life. He was not only proficient in footprints, but also well-versed in other types of traces.

Especially the Japanese. With the advancement of technology in later generations, Tokyo is very hot and people there wear less clothes. It is also ultra-clear, so they can see everything clearly. Xu Qingyun has summed up a lot of experience about funnels.

Japanese clogs are slightly smaller in size, with a raised and shorter heel. These clogs look more refined, but if worn for a long time, they will leave diagonal marks on the back of the foot, which is not the case in China.

There was a diagonal mark on Hu Qi's heel, a mark that would have taken at least twenty years to leave.

Xu Qingyun seemed to be thinking about something, there was something wrong with Hu Qi’s identity.

He is not Chinese, he is Japanese.

What kind of Japanese would conceal their identity and deliberately act as a Chinese?
There is only one answer, Japanese agents, or Japanese spies.

As for whether he was a Chinese who had lived in Japan for a long time, Xu Qingyun didn't even think about it. Nowadays, if someone had studied in Japan, everyone would want to know about it, not to mention that Hu Qi was a gangster.

At this moment, Hu Qi's legs were being lifted up, and bricks were being placed under his feet. This way, the contraction force would be concentrated on the leg joints, which was the most painful part of the tiger bench punishment. In severe cases, the kneecap could be broken. After three bricks were put on, Zuo Jinfang had the fourth brick put on. Hu Qi howled miserably and begged for mercy, but he did not mention his true identity at all.

Xu Qingyun suddenly stood up and walked in front of Hu Qi, his tone calm but unquestionable: "You are very good and disguised very well, but do you really think that this arrest is just for the previous crime you committed?"

"What do you mean?"

Hu Qi's heart suddenly shook and his expression was slightly startled, but he soon returned to normal.

Zuo Jinfang and the others looked at Xu Qingyun in confusion, not understanding why the squad leader asked this question. Xu Qingyun stared at Hu Qi and said, "Tell me, why did you disguise yourself as a Chinese? What is your mission this time?"

The surprise in his eyes flashed quickly, but it could not be hidden from a footprint expert who was good at paying attention to details. Xu Qingyun's guess was correct. Hu Qi was not only a pure Japanese, but also a hidden Japanese spy. He returned to Tianjin this time to carry out an important mission.

"I couldn't make it out there, so I came back."

Hu Qi replied with his dying breath, still not admitting it, and pretending very well. Just looking at his appearance, many people would believe that he was telling the truth.

"Jin Fang, go to the General Administration and ask my brother to come over. Don't call, just go there directly."

Xu Qingyun ignored him. Hu Qi was a Japanese spy, not an ordinary gangster. This case was beyond the authority of his small squad leader, and he needed someone more powerful to support him.

"Yes."

Zuo Jinfang took the order and left. Xu Qingyun raised his hand and signaled his men to continue raising the bricks under Hu Qi's feet.

"what……"

When Hu Qi's legs were lifted high, the severe pain made him unable to help but wail again.

With a crisp "crack" sound, Hu Qi's kneecap finally couldn't bear it and broke on the spot. Beads of sweat the size of beans flowed down Hu Qi's forehead. Suddenly, his head tilted and he fainted.

"Walk him awake."

Xu Qingyun gave the order, and several of his men were slightly startled. They immediately brought out a bucket full of ice water, which instantly woke up the unconscious Hu Qi.

"Go ahead and give him a promotion."

Xu Qingyun's voice was as cold as ice, without any emotion, but several of his men trembled in their hearts.

They had not expected that this young acting team leader would be so ruthless. Everyone started to move, and every movement was extremely quick and careful, for fear of any negligence.

Xu Qingyun entered the Tianjin Police Department a month ago, but he was able to become the squad leader entirely because of his cousin Xu Qingshi.

The Tianjin Police Department is divided into three battalions and a direct cavalry unit. Xu Qingshi is the captain of the most important battalion and the director's confidant. He has five squadrons and more than 600 people under him.

It is not difficult to become a team leader with such relationships, but he needs merit to consolidate his position. As a person from later generations, Xu Qingyun understands the importance of the Chaoyang masses very well. Soon after he traveled through time, he deployed several spies. The appearance of Hu Qi was the information provided by the spies.

The strong feeling of suffocation and the pain in his body made Hu Qi tremble all over. His whole body was soaked with sweat and he fainted again after a while.

After falling into coma several times in a row and when Zuo Jinfang had not returned yet, Hu Qi finally couldn't hold on any longer.

"Stop, I'll tell you everything."

After taking a breath, Hu Qi finally confessed: "My real name is Yamashita Junshan, codenamed Black Bull, and I am a member of the Operations Division of the Manchurian Railway Intelligence Department. This time I was ordered to return to Tianjin to cooperate with the Intelligence Division to carry out an operation."

Sure enough, they were Japanese spies. Xu Qingyun narrowed his eyes and continued to ask, "How many of you are here? What mission are you carrying out?"

"Three. They didn't tell me what the specific mission was. They just told me that after I arrived in Tianjin, someone from the Intelligence Department would contact me and ask me to do what they asked."

Hu Qi was breathing heavily. He had received painful training before, but the intensity was nothing compared to what he was experiencing now. This young man knew his limits very well and had never used fatal punishments, always keeping him on the brink of life and death. Such punishment was really too painful.

"Where are those two people? How did you get in touch with the intelligence department?"

"I have arranged for the two of them to stay in a small town outside the city. I will pick them up after I get the specific mission. The person in charge of the signal intelligence department will inform me in the newspaper. The content is..."

Hu Qi confessed everything. He was a spy in the Operations Division of the Manchurian Railway Intelligence Department. Because he was fluent in Chinese, he had been working as a Chinese eight years ago.

Just as Hu Qi finished his confession, Zuo Jinfang ran in, followed by another person into the interrogation room.

"Brother, you are here."

Seeing the person behind Zuo Jinfang, Xu Qingyun immediately stood up. The man who came in was about thirty years old, with a pair of calm eyes under his neat short hair, exuding a calm temperament.

"I heard you caught a wanted criminal?"

Xu Qingshi smiled and replied, "Brother is good. He was the one who found the clues to this case and successfully arrested the person. With this achievement, he can be promoted to the position of acting team leader."

"Please read the confession first."

Hu Qi has not signed yet, but that does not affect Xu Qingshi's understanding of the situation.

Xu Qingshi took the written confession and was slightly stunned when he saw the name. The person Xu Qingyun caught turned out to be the gangster Hu Qi?
Hu Qi had killed their police officers and was a wanted criminal. It would be of great significance to catch him.

He continued reading, and soon he suddenly froze there, his eyes filled with surprise, and looked at Xu Qingyun in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)