Spy game? Stop guessing, I really am an undercover agent!

Chapter 157: Casting stones to ask for directions
Shanghai, Jinbei Road, a secret base of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

The cigarette between Zhao Lijun's fingers burned to the end, and the scorching ashes fell onto the windowsill, leaving a burn mark.

The setting sun over the Huangpu River outside the window looked like it was soaked in blood, turning the blinds of the safe house a dark red.

"Knock, knock, knock," a crisp knocking sound rang out.

Zhao Lijun was awakened by the knocking on the door and realized that the cigarette in his hand had burned out.

Subconsciously tossing away the cigarette butt in his hand, Zhao Lijun said in a deep voice, "Come in."

Lu Tao pushed open the office door and walked in, his leather shoes making no sound as they stepped on the teak floor.

He calmly unbuttoned his gray overcoat, revealing a well-tailored three-piece suit, dressed like a manager of a foreign firm attending an upcoming business dinner: "The stationmaster urgently summoned me. Is there some new instruction from Shancheng?"

Zhao Lijun did not answer directly, but instead pushed Tang Shaoyi's photo across the table.

In the photo, Tang Shaoyi is bending down to get into a car, and a red birthmark is clearly visible on the back of his collar.

"Tomorrow night at nine o'clock, the target is to meet with Lieutenant Colonel Sonoda Kumakichi, head of the Nanjing government's military advisory group, in the Peony Hall on the second floor of the Paramount.

"According to reliable sources, Tang Shaoyi, through the introduction of Yingzuo, has decided to defect to the Japanese and will soon assume the position of Premier of the Executive Yuan of the new Nanjing government."

"When Boss Dai received the news, he was furious and ordered us to ensure that Tang Shaoyi did not reach Nanjing alive under any circumstances."

He paused, staring into Lü Tao's eyes, "The last mission failed, which put us in a very passive position. The first and third groups are basically no longer able to operate. Now, the only fully organized group left in the station is your second group."

"Therefore, I plan to entrust this task to you."

"You take six skilled men and infiltrate the dance hall, kill the target, and then escape via the freight elevator."

“This is the floor plan of the Paramount building. The freight elevator is located here…” Zhao Lijun said as he picked up a pen and drew the location of the freight elevator.

The pen nib scratched across the paper, and Lü Tao stared intently at the location marked by Zhao Lijun.

After a long pause, Lü Tao slowly shook his head and said, "Station Chief, the environment at Paramount is complicated, and with only six people, I'm afraid the plan will have a hard time succeeding."

"It's not that I, Lü, am afraid of death, but rather that I don't want my brothers to make unnecessary sacrifices."

"Now we only have a few seeds left in the Shanghai station. If there are any unnecessary casualties, it will be difficult for us to carry out our work in the future."

"If it really comes to that, the boss will probably be even more disappointed in you."

“Team Leader Lü makes a lot of sense.” Zhao Lijun pondered for a long time, then slowly pointed to the blueprints and said, “However, a mission is a mission, and you have no right to bargain.”

"How about this, just to be on the safe side, I'll have Captain Xie assist the second group in carrying out the assassination mission,"

"He will lead his men, Grey Pigeon, to monitor Tang Shaoyi's movements from the outside."

"You will enter the Paramount beforehand and await his instructions. If it is determined that the conditions for assassination are not met, he will issue an emergency retreat signal."

"On the contrary, if he thinks it is okay to take action, you must complete the task no matter how difficult it is, otherwise, you will be punished according to family law."

“Understood,” Lü Tao nodded. “I’ll go select the personnel to carry out the mission now.”

"Please rest assured, station chief, there are no cowards in our second group."

Zhao Lijun nodded, and as he watched Lü Tao's departing figure, a ruthless glint suddenly flashed in his eyes!

Meanwhile, in the French Concession, in room 706 of the International Hotel…

The room was filled with the aroma of Darjeeling tea.

Mao Qiuying used tweezers to pick up the electronic components inside the transmitter and rotated them under the light to observe them.

This is a part that Xie Zhipan bought from the black market. It cost him 160 yuan just to replace this part.

Xie Zhipan watched Mao Qiuying's actions quietly. Once Mao Qiuying confirmed that the part was usable, he slowly said, "Order from higher command: the new codebook is officially in use."

"Why?" She suddenly looked up at Xie Zhipan. "The change is happening in just a few days. Does Shancheng know about this?" Xie Zhipan said slowly, "The last operation failed, and the boss suspects there are problems within our ranks."

"The station chief has carefully studied the entire operation. If there were really a problem, the Japanese would probably have already obtained Chief Mao's codebook long ago."

"Therefore, to prevent intelligence leaks, we have no choice but to change the backup codebook."

"This is the station manager's decision. If you have any questions, you can contact the station manager to verify."

Mao Qiuying slowly shook her head. "Captain Xie would never joke about something like this."

"So, what do you need me to do?"

Xie Zhipan took out a piece of intelligence from his pocket and handed it to Mao Qiuying: "This is the station chief's newly designed action plan."

"We want to try again to see if we can successfully kill the target."

"Send the plan to headquarters and request assistance from your superiors."

Mao Qiuying took the note, glanced at it quickly, and nodded slowly: "No problem."

"Then I'll trouble Team Leader Mao. I'll go outside and keep an eye on things. Please handle it as soon as possible," Xie Zhipan said respectfully, and then slipped out of the room.

Rue Pétain in the French Concession.

The agent codenamed Earthworm clung to the stone carvings of the chapel's bell tower like a gecko.

Following the orders of station chief Zhao Lijun, he followed like a shadow, relentlessly pursuing Lü Tao, the leader of the second action group.

As the leader of the second action group of the Military Intelligence Bureau's Shanghai station, Lü Tao was undoubtedly an outstanding agent.

Therefore, even if you get a little too close, he might discover that you are being followed.

Therefore, maintaining a safe distance has become of paramount importance.

The distance cannot be too close, nor too far.

If you get too close, you'll be easily spotted; if you're too far away, you'll easily lose track of them.

No more than five people in the entire Military Intelligence Bureau's Shanghai station could do this.

Earthworm is one of these five people, and only an old hand like Earthworm, an intelligence specialist, can handle the situation with ease.

The September temperature was still scorching. Earthworms hid in the shadow of the church bell tower. Through his binoculars, he could clearly see that Lu Tao's black Buick was parked in the back alley of "Ruixiang Silk Shop".

A short while later, a man in a long robe furtively opened the back door of Ruixiang Silk Shop, glanced outside a few times, and when he saw the car parked at the back door, he looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, and then immediately went forward and opened the passenger door.

Due to the angle, the earthworm could not see the man's full face, only his profile, and it was this profile that gave him a chill.

The man's missing left ear resembled a torn dough.

"Ling Jing, head of the action group of the Jinling Special Service Committee."

"Damn, this old guy is really suspicious."

Inside the Buick, Lü Tao handed a document to Ling Jing.

"This is the plan to assassinate Tang Shaoyi tomorrow night."

"After the last failure at the Shanghai station, only I can still complete the assassination mission now."

"Zhao Lijun assigned the task to me."

Ling Jing glanced at it briefly and slowly said, "Mr. Lü, is there any way to get Zhao Lijun to take action himself?"

(End of this chapter)