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

Chapter 279 Code Name: Mimosa
The Bear Hunting Plan – Chen Yang knew from the first two lines of the document that this was a complete disaster.

In fact, this was not the first version of the Bear Hunting Plan. In 1944, Lieutenant General Grišić Samoilovich Lyushkov of the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs defected with a series of important documents that should have been destroyed!
This man was a true high-ranking Soviet official, having served as the Minister of the Far East Region of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD, the predecessor of the KGB), with the rank of lieutenant general!
Fearing that his father's "Great Purge" would affect him, he defected to Japanese-controlled Northeast China in June 1938.

His motive for defecting is rather ridiculous!

My father suffers from severe rheumatism and needs to recuperate at the Sochi Machas Thermal Spa every year.

Lyushkov was in charge of the renovation work at the Matsus Hot Spring.

It was supposed to be a job done according to the rules, but I don't know what got into him, he actually changed the original design drawings and designed a small fountain at the entrance.

The loving father disliked noise, and when Lyushkov found out, he quickly ordered the hot spring to be filled in. Although he reacted quickly, it still left a stain on his record!
It was originally a trivial matter, but with the outbreak of the Great Purge, Lyushkov worried that he would be "cleansed" like his predecessor.

Meanwhile, his family members were arrested while trying to escape the Soviet Union, which deepened his hatred for his loving father.

From the Japanese perspective, his defection gave the high command of the Kwantung Army hope!
Because some of the materials he brought contained information about the Soviet Union's troop presence in the Far East.

These things became the foundation of the Nomonhan Campaign, and in order for the campaign to proceed smoothly, they devised the first version of the bear-hunting plan.

In January of Showa 14 (1943), the first operation of the Bear Hunting Plan was secretly launched.

Lyushkov planned to take advantage of Stalin's habit of recuperating at the Matsesta spa in Sochi after returning to his hometown to visit his ancestors' graves in order to carry out the assassination!

His proposed plan was for a seven-person assassination squad to infiltrate from the Turkish border, travel along the Choru River into the Soviet Union, and upon arriving in Sochi, hide in the boiler room of the father's private bathroom through the sewer system.

When the father came to bathe, they ambushed his guards and assassinated them.

This was a near-suicidal mission, and the assassination squad was prepared to go and never return.

Unfortunately, the assassins were captured by Soviet agents who had been lying in wait there just as they entered the Georgian border!
One of the victims was codenamed Leo, who was later confirmed to be a Soviet agent, but he also died in the battle!
Afterwards, Lyushkov planned a second operation, namely the bombing of Red Square!
According to Chen Yang's memory, this operation was originally scheduled to take place on May 1st, but it was abruptly called off for some unknown reason!
The assassination attempt, originally scheduled for May 1st, has been postponed to August!
The Army received new intelligence that the higher-ups planned to launch a surprise attack when German Ambassador Ribbentrop signed a cooperation agreement with the Father.

A plan to annihilate the Soviet high command!
The intention was to regain the initiative on the Far East battlefield by allowing the high command to lose control of the war situation, and to create more powerful offensive conditions for the Kwantung Army!
In short, Japan is now in a desperate situation on the Far East battlefield, but they are still hoping to turn the tide!

“Chen-san, isn’t your reaction a bit excessive?” Hiroichi Iwai frowned. “The teacher didn’t assign you to take charge of the operation.”

Bah! Do you think I'm an idiot? This is something I absolutely cannot get involved in, because it's a doomed operation!
Success is not impossible; first, capture Special Service Minister Takeshi Takeo and Konoe's secretary, Hotsumi Ozaki!
If these two are caught, there might still be a sliver of a chance!
Otherwise, Chen Yang was quite certain that this plan, which had just been approved in the morning, would have appeared on Beria's desk by noon!

"Senior Brother Iwai, you're overthinking it. With my position, I have no legitimate reason to be in charge of this kind of operation!" Chen Yang said with a bitter face. "I'm just a transportation officer. Don't include me in any big plans you're making!"

"I can't bear such a heavy responsibility!"

Hiroichi Iwai was speechless. His teacher had been right. This guy was a sly fox. He wouldn't make a move unless there was a significant benefit to him!
On the other hand, if you offer enough of a price, he wouldn't hesitate to kidnap His Majesty the Emperor!
Iwai frowned and sighed softly: "Let's not discuss this now. We'll talk about it after you've dealt with the South Manchuria Railway!"

"Goodbye now!"

"Senior brother, let me see you off..."

"No need, you go ahead and do your thing!"

Watching Iwai Hiroichi leave, Chen Yang's brows furrowed instantly. Iwai Hiroichi wouldn't give up so easily, so he had to find a way to get away with it!

"Yes,"

"I can't think of a good idea right away, but a bad idea isn't something you can just come up with on a whim..."

"Since they love causing trouble so much, this kind of thing will only make them escalate the situation!"

Shanghai, the South Manchuria Railway Bureau's Investigation Bureau, an underground interrogation room...

Deep underground, cold gray cement and heavy alloy doors isolate the area from the outside world, forming a desperate steel cage.

A blinding incandescent bulb overhead mercilessly cast a pale light, dragging every shadow into a distorted and grotesque shape.

Xiang Fang was forcibly handcuffed face up to the cold alloy chair, his limbs locked tightly by heavy metal braces, like a decaying corpse nailed to a cross.

The only thing that could still move slightly was its head, which hung limply.

The wound on his forehead had long since congealed into a purplish-black scab, covered with dark blood clots.

The thin garment he wore was so worn that its original color was no longer discernible; it clung to his body in tattered rags, the dark red bloodstains mingling with the yellowish-brown sweat stains to create an eerie hue.

Xiang Fang closed his eyes, his chest rising and falling only slightly, as if his soul had been burned away in the previous round of heinous torture, leaving only this wounded and nearly numb body.

The massive alloy door swung open with a dull hydraulic roar!

A sudden burst of intense light from the crack in the door pierced Xiang Fang's lowered eyelids, causing his stiff body to convulse violently.

Air rushed in from the upper space, followed by a piercing scream that tore through the deathly silence: "Let go of my mother! You're all bad people! Let us go!"

Naïve and desperate, that voice pierced through Xiang Fang's last line of defense in an instant!

Xiang Fang suddenly opened his eyes!

Through a huge pane of glass, his bloodshot eyes instantly shrank to the size of pinpoints, then spun wildly, fixated on the point where the beam of light met hell!

Guo Caiyu was roughly held up by two burly thugs at the door.

Her daughter, Xiang Xiaohui, followed behind, constantly slapping the two burly men. Guo Caiyu's mouth was gagged. Watching her daughter's actions, she felt both heartache and worry!
She worried that these beasts, worse than animals, might take their anger out on the children if they became enraged.

But the problem is, she couldn't make a sound at all!

Xiao Hui's coarse cotton-padded jacket was still intact, but her little face was covered in tears. Her once bright eyes were now filled with unease and anger at the hellish space in front of her!
Xiang Fang let out a rapid, wheezing sound like a broken bellows from his throat, his nearly stopped heart being torn apart in an instant!
His chapped, peeling lips trembled violently as he squeezed out broken syllables.

A brute force originating from the depths of his bones suddenly exploded from his waist and abdomen, causing him to spring upwards like a madman!
The metal chair emitted a sickening groan of deformation! But the cold alloy shackles instantly and mercilessly crushed this dying struggle!

The joints of his limbs creaked and groaned under the immense recoil, and excruciating pain tore his mangled body apart!

“Don’t struggle anymore. This is a special one-way glass developed by the South Manchuria Railway Company. They can’t see you or hear any of your voices,” said Special Agent Minister Arita Sei, who was very satisfied with Xiang Fang’s performance.

He is now certain that this is Xiang Fang's weakness!
"Let them go, let them go, let them go..." Xiang Fang's eyes were bloodshot, and his broken voice was like the last mournful cry of a wild beast before its death.

A man in a neat gray striped suit stepped in with steady steps.

The iron gate behind him slammed shut with a mournful hydraulic groan, extinguishing the last ray of light from the outside world.

He just quietly watched Guo Caiyu and Xiao Hui!

He ignored Xiang Fang's heart-wrenching roars, his eyes as calm as a frozen lake.

He slowly and deliberately removed the glove from his left hand, revealing a well-maintained hand.

Then, he walked straight to the little girl who was crying so hard that her voice had become hoarse and whimpering.

Without uttering a single unnecessary word, that large hand precisely placed itself on Xiao Hui's pulse on the side of her neck.

Xiao Hui's weak sobs instantly turned into "uh-uh" sounds caused by the pressure of airflow. Her eyes widened in extreme fear, and her small body twitched in the physiological spasms of suffocation.

The position of that finger silently revealed a cold truth to the father sitting in the chair!

With just a little more force, for just a few seconds, the life force throbbing beneath that fragile neck would fall into eternal silence.

Xiang Fang's blood froze in that instant! All his anger was completely drained away in that instant!

All that remained in the world was Xiao Hui's small face, twisted and bruised from lack of oxygen and excruciating pain!

His body trembled violently, and cold sweat instantly soaked through his tattered clothes. Large beads of sweat mixed with blood and tears of despair rolled wildly down his forehead and hair!
He watched his daughter writhe unconsciously in pain, looked into her pure yet lifeless eyes, dulled by fear...

An indescribable, utterly despairing torrent swept over him, capable of instantly burning away all the barriers of his soul! The last dam of his will that sustained him collapsed with a deafening roar!
Xiang Fang's head was smashed down as if by an invisible force, his spine completely broken, and he fell to the ground!

His chin slammed heavily against his own filthy, bloodstained chest! His entire body was completely drained of all strength to resist, leaving only a mass of desperate, twitching soft flesh within the alloy shackles.

A liquid, indistinguishable between blood and tears, dripped down his filthy jawline.
"Tap...tap..." It fell onto the cold cement ground, blooming into black flowers of despair.

Arita Cheng's cold gaze swept over Xiang Fang's body, which was completely mentally broken.

After a while, he finally made a move and gently patted an object on the table that looked like a bell!

The next moment, Nakayama Toshio's hand, which was resting on the girl's neck, loosened its grip slightly.

"I'm giving you one last chance. Who ordered you to do this?!"

"I hope Mr. Xiang can seize this opportunity. You should know that your answer will affect many people's lives!" After saying this, Yu Tiancheng stared coldly at Xiang Fang.

After a long silence, a hoarse sound, like rusty iron scraping against each other, struggled to emerge from beneath Xiang Fang's buried head:
"...ten...sixteen lines..."

A voice, seemingly drained of all its soul and essence, faintly echoed in the deathly silence.

"I didn't hear you, Mr. Xiang. Please explain clearly. Who is that person?" Yu Tiancheng brought his ear close to Xiang Fang's lips, which were stained with blood and saliva.

Xiang Fang's throat bobbed again with difficulty, like a ruptured trachea struggling to squeeze out a final, desperate scream:

"...Sixteen Factories...Wharf...Lin, Lin Xueyi..."

The name, carrying a heavy stench of blood and an aura of irreversible destruction, burst forth from between Xiang Fang's teeth.

"...It was him...it was him who ordered me...to kill...that high-ranking Japanese official...named Yoshida..."

"The price is thirty large yellow croakers..." With his last bit of strength, he uttered this complete but enough sentence to plunge him into an eternal abyss, his thick saliva and blood splattering onto Arita Naru's clean striped suit cuffs.

A sharp, cold glint flashed across Arita Naru's eyes, like lightning suddenly streaking across the dark night.

His gaze was precisely directed toward a highly concealed one-way mirror observation hole high in the corner of the wall. His eyes instantly pierced through the glass, engaging in a silent exchange with the person behind the mirror!

"Why did you kill him?" Arita asked.
"I really...really...don't know!" Xiang Fang said haltingly, "I...I'm just...an assassin. They give me money, and I do my job for the money!"

"Very good, thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Xiang!" Arita nodded, took the statement, and slowly walked out of the interrogation room.
French Concession, August 1939.

The air was humid and hot, and the cicadas chirped hoarsely, as if singing an ominous elegy for this city that had become an "isolated island."

Even in the relatively peaceful concessions, an invisible tension spread like a plague, with the shadows of the Special Higher Police and the 76th Division lurking everywhere.

Inside the "Ci'an Hall" Chinese medicine shop, the bitter yet calming aroma of herbs barely suppressed some of the heat.

The shopkeeper, dressed in a slightly worn blue long gown and wearing reading glasses, was meticulously weighing the medicinal herbs with a steelyard.

He was known as a kind and honest man on the street; his medicines were of good quality and reasonably priced.

Only he knew that this pharmacy was a crucial secret liaison point for the central government.

In the afternoon, a copper bell rang softly, and a young woman wearing a blue cotton cheongsam with indigo dye, her hair styled in a student's hair, with delicate features but a face showing signs of travel fatigue, walked in.

She had a light green handkerchief tied around her wrist, and her eyes quickly and cautiously scanned the store.

"Shopkeeper, do you have three qian of bamboo shavings and five qian of rush pith?" Her voice was soft, with a slight accent from another region, but her pronunciation was clear.

The shopkeeper looked up at her, his hands still moving, and replied calmly, "I still have bamboo shoots, but what about rush pith... Miss, do you want the one with cinnabar?"

The woman nodded slightly and said in a low voice, "The one with cinnabar is fine. My husband is restless and needs a strong medicine to calm his mind."

The code was matched! The seemingly timid female student in front of them was a special envoy sent by the Soviet Area Political Security Bureau, codenamed "Mimosa".

Her purpose in this trip was to receive extremely important intelligence, which was said to be related to the safety of her elder brother.

The Political Department took the telegram from Shanghai very seriously and immediately dispatched a special envoy, Mimosa, to receive it!

To ensure speed and efficiency, the headquarters spared no expense and used secret channels to send mimosa plants by plane to Hong Kong Island, and then from Hong Kong Island they were transported by ship to Shanghai!
The whole process took only three days and two nights!
The shopkeeper nodded calmly, turned around and opened the medicine box labeled "Rush Pith," but actually took out a package wrapped tightly in oil paper, about the size of a matchbox, from a hidden compartment at the bottom.

Just as he was about to mix the contents into the packaged medicine and hand it over, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out from across the street!

The shopkeeper paused almost imperceptibly, quickly stuffing the oiled paper package back into place. He then pulled out the real rush pith, his tone apologetic: "Oh dear, I'm so sorry, miss, we've just run out of rush pith with cinnabar. How about we use the regular kind for now? Or perhaps we can come back tomorrow?"

"Mimosa" paled slightly, but her eyes remained calm. She immediately replied, her tone carrying just the right amount of disappointment: "This... my brother's illness is urgent, I'm afraid he won't live to see tomorrow. Shopkeeper, could you perhaps help me find some goods from another shop?"

As the two were talking, the door of the pharmacy was suddenly pushed open. A middle-aged man with sharp eyes, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, walked in, followed by two short-sleeved attendants with bulging pouches at their waists.

The middle-aged man's gaze swept over "Mimosa" and Old Chen's faces, and he said with a forced smile, "Manager Lu, business is booming."

He is Wu Sibao, the captain of the 76th Special Agent Headquarters' action team.

Lu Yunqing's name at this time was Lu Zhihan, and his identity was the manager of this pharmacy.

The pharmacy was not far from Jisifeier Road, and Wu Sibao was a regular customer, but also the biggest threat.

"Captain Wu, you're joking. How can we, as pharmacy owners, get rich? We're just trying to make a living." Lu Zhihan said with a smile, his right hand unconsciously patting the counter to signal "Mimosa" to calm down.

“This young lady looks unfamiliar. Is she getting medicine?” Wu Sibao turned to “Mimosa” with eyes like hooks.

"Mimosa" lowered her head, twisting the hem of her clothes with her fingers, and said timidly, "It's...it's for my brother to get some calming medicine."

"Oh, Miss lives nearby?" Wu Sibao looked at the woman's timid appearance and did not let her off easily.

"Not far, on Foch Road!" The woman looked somewhat flustered and subconsciously lowered her head.

"Foch Road, who is your father?" Wu Sibao asked curiously.

"My father is Yun Zhongnian," the woman said without the slightest hesitation.

Wu Sibao was stunned for a moment: "Yun Zhongnian of Yunhe Money Shop? Your brother is Young Master Yun."

"That's strange. I've drunk with him so many times, but I've never heard him mention having a younger sister?"

The woman remained calm: "Sir, it's wonderful that you know my brother."

"My name is Yun Xiangqin. I have lived in Hunan since I was a child. I attended a girls' school when I was eleven. Four years ago, my father sent me to study at Yenching University. I have just returned from abroad!"

Wu Sibao wanted to continue asking questions, but Lu Zhihan quickly stepped forward and said, "Captain Wu, please don't frighten the young girl!"

"I know you hold a high position of power, but look at this girl, with her delicate skin and fair complexion, she's clearly a lady from a respectable family!"

"How could someone like that have a problem? If you keep asking, the young girl will start to cry!"

Wu Sibao frowned.

Seeing that he didn't press the matter further, Lu Zhihan quickly turned to "Mimosa," his tone tinged with helplessness, "Miss, what do you think... perhaps you could come back tomorrow? I'm truly sorry."

The "Mimosa" had a tearful yet hesitant expression on its face, gave a soft reply, and quickly left the pharmacy with its head down.

Lu Zhihan breathed a sigh of relief and quickly asked Wu Sibao, "Captain Wu, what brings you here today?"

"Manager Lu, we're already so familiar with each other, so I won't stand on ceremony!" Wu Sibao then remembered the purpose of his visit!

He gave a wink to the left and right, and the two burly men quickly went to the door to keep watch!

"No, no, no, Captain Wu, please speak plainly, don't let people block the door! I still have business to do!" Lu Zhihan was both anxious and angry, behaving like a shrewd businessman!
"Manager Lu, don't worry, don't worry, I'm just trying to prevent people from overhearing!" Wu Sibao explained, but his brows furrowed even more.
"What is it? Just tell me!" Lu Zhihan grew even more impatient as he watched the other person's hesitant and stammering manner.
"Actually, we're all men, you know that!"

Wu Sibao seemed to have something difficult to say, "When a man reaches a certain age, he will always, well, experience some decline in his physical abilities!"

"I understand, I understand," Lu Zhihan said, shaking his head. "We pharmacy owners are no different from those who come to repair shops!"

Lu Zhihan placed his right hand on Wu Sibao's hand: "Hmm, Captain Wu has eaten quite a lot, but the effect isn't very good."

"On the other hand, even the most powerful components can't withstand your constant tinkering. It's time to stop."

A flicker of fear flashed in Wu Sibao's eyes. "Manager Lu, do you think I wanted this?"

"I had no choice but to do this."

"My legs start to tremble just thinking about going home!"

“No, no,” Lu Zhihan turned around and went back behind the long table, skillfully picked up the medicine, and soon prepared three packets!

“The Golden Chamber Nourishing Formula, once a day, strengthens the body and nourishes the vital energy. Boil three bowls of water down to one bowl,” Lu Zhihan said, then leaned close to Wu Sibao’s ear and said, “Captain Wu, you still need to be moderate!”

Wu Sibao picked up the medicine and let out a long sigh!
For some reason, Lu Zhihan sensed a deep sense of helplessness in that sigh!
After seeing Wu Sibao off, Lu Zhihan looked at the intelligence information that he hadn't had time to send away in the medicine box and was at a loss for what to do.

Although Wu Sibao is a hoodlum, he has been in No. 76 for so long that he won't easily believe in coincidences!
I've already seen a mimosa once. If I happen to encounter one again, the chances of something bad happening are high. I need to think of a way to get the information out...

(End of this chapter)