Chapter 28: The Fish That Slipped Through the Net

After Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng entered, they found the inside was a courtyard of over ten square meters.

The Insight Skill swept over the entire courtyard, detecting no danger.

Chen Yongren didn't have time to think further, taking Zhang Haifeng as he climbed over the wall and fled into the neighboring courtyard.

Someone was in this courtyard, but the gunfire in Hulu Lane had already frightened them into shutting their doors and hiding in the physics.

Although they heard someone entering the courtyard, they dared not come out to check.

Chen Yongren held a gun in hand, Zhang Haifeng covered the rear.

Taking three steps at a time, they reached the closed courtyard gate, then activated Insight again through the wall, confirming no danger within twenty meters.

Only then did they open the gate, poke their heads out, look left and right, confirm nothing abnormal, and then the two slipped out.

On the Hulu Lane side.

The group of Japanese spies who had killed Luo Mingyu and others at the lane entrance rushed into the alley, smashed open the small door through which Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng had fled, and pursued them into the courtyard.

Three Japanese spies rushed in with guns, searched the house thoroughly, but found no one.

The leader of the Japanese spies, however, noticed traces of climbing on the courtyard wall: 'They ran away by climbing over the wall from here.'

'Should we chase?' one Japanese spy said, eager to try.

'It's probably too late; let's first meet up with Oshima and the others.'

The leading Japanese spy made a quick decision, leading his people to withdraw from the small courtyard, return to Hulu Lane, and hurry toward the gate of Courtyard 24.

At that moment, the Japanese spy leader named Oshima Bansei was hesitating whether to kill Lu Yan.

'Oshima, how's your side?' a voice came over.

Oshima Bansei looked up, and Ono Jun'ichiro, who was in charge of blocking the lane entrance, came over with his men.

'Altogether over thirty, all successfully taken out by us. Ono, how about your side?'

Ono Jun'ichiro glanced at the scattered corpses of the Military Statistics Bureau on the ground: 'Seven or eight Chinese agents were also wiped out, but just now it seemed two guys had escaped by climbing over the wall from the rear courtyard.'

'By the time we chased after them, it was already too late.'

Saying this, he pointed behind him.

The purpose of doing this was to let Oshima Bansei understand that the ones who escaped were their responsibility, and had nothing to do with him.

Oshima Bansei turned his head, looked, and said: 'The main force of the Military Statistics Bureau involved in this operation has been completely wiped out by us; letting one or two fish slip through the net is no problem. This place is not suitable for a long stay; we must withdraw in batches immediately.'

A Japanese spy beside him pointed at the dying Lu Yan on the ground: 'Sir, what should we do with this guy?'

Oshima, thinking of the two escapees, then lowered his gun and said: 'This person still has use value; take him along as well.'

……

After escaping from Hulu Lane with their lives, and following Chen Yongren to a deserted alley, Zhang Haifeng leaned against the wall, his mindset collapsing, and said: 'How could this be? How could this be?'

'Section Chief Lu, Lin Fei, Luo Mingyu—they all seem to be dead!'

Chen Yongren leaned on the wall with one hand, panting heavily, and said: 'We've been set up again, damn dead spy!'

'Dead spy?' Zhang Haifeng looked at him somewhat bewildered: 'You mean Huige betrayed us?'

'Not a betrayal; the information he gave was true, but this information was deliberately leaked to us by the Japanese.'

Chen Yongren turned around, leaned against the wall, took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, puffing as he said: 'Back in Jinling, that Watanabe Shun was also a pawn executing the dead spy tactic, except that time we saw through their plan.'

I didn't expect the Japanese to pull the same trick again here.

Zhang Haifeng hit the wall in regret, saying: 'So that means we were careless.'

Chen Yongren felt a chill in his heart; it wasn't carelessness, but the Japanese were simply too devious.

Because he had used Insight on Huige, that guy had not lied.

This shows he was a pawn deliberately thrown out by the Japanese Intelligence Agency.

It appears the Japanese Intelligence Agency learned from the failure in Jinling, becoming more vicious and harder to deal with.

However, from the Japanese perspective, using a not-so-important minor figure to gain almost the entire Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai Station was obviously a huge profit.

'Damn it, it's all because of that bastard Huige; I'm going to kill him.' A surge of grief made Zhang Haifeng somewhat impulsive.

Chen Yongren reached out to stop him and shouted: 'Stay calm; the entire Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai Station has almost been wiped out, and all previous contact points are no longer safe.'

Going now would be walking straight into a trap, sacrificing your life for a Huige who has lost all value—it's completely not worth it.

If we want to avenge our fallen comrades, we must first survive.

Only by staying alive can we have a chance to take revenge!

Zhang Haifeng looked up at him and said: 'Then what do you say we should do next? We don't know a single person in Shanghai; we can't just go back to Jinling, can we?'

Chen Yongren turned his head, surveyed the surroundings, and said meaningfully: 'Returning to Jinling now would be desertion; I refuse to be a deserter, as the old saying goes: you get up where you fall.'

'I want to stay in Shanghai and settle the score with this bunch of Japanese trash, to avenge the comrades who fell today!'

Having said that, Chen Yongren waved his hand, indicating: 'Put away your guns and follow me.'

Zhang Haifeng felt doubtful: 'Where to?'

'Call for reinforcements!' Chen Yongren stepped toward the other side of the alley entrance.

Although they had no contact method with the chief of the Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai Station, the phone number of the Jinling Headquarters was firmly memorized.

In the Hulu Lane battle, the elite of the Military Statistics Bureau Shanghai Station were completely annihilated; no matter what, they had to report to Jinling as soon as possible, and requesting reinforcements was just a matter of course.

The two found a public phone booth; Chen Yongren had Zhang Haifeng stand guard outside while he went in to make the call.

……

Jinling, Action Section.

Section Chief's Office.

Shen Mingchen was handling official business when the phone on his desk suddenly rang.

He followed the sound, glanced up, picked up the receiver, and said: 'Hello, I'm Shen Mingchen.'

'Section Chief, there's a call from Shanghai requesting to speak with you directly,' came the sweet voice of the female secretary on the line.

"Put it through." Shen Mingchen raised an eyebrow, not thinking further.

"Yes." The female secretary replied and put Chen Yongren's call through.

"Who are you?" Shen Mingchen said in a low voice.

At the phone booth, Chen Yongren heard Shen Mingchen's voice and instinctively asked.

"Section Chief? I'm Chen Yongren!"

"It's me, what's up?" Shen Mingchen was obviously somewhat surprised.

Chen Yongren immediately reported the failure of the Hulu Lane operation, the annihilation of the three action teams at Shanghai Station, the unknown fate of Lu Yan and others, and that only he and Zhang Haifeng had managed to escape.

Shen Mingchen jumped up in shock upon hearing this, but quickly calmed: "Chen Yongren, you and Zhang Haifeng hide first; I'll immediately send people to Shanghai to support."

"Yes! Section Chief!"

After hanging up, Chen Yongren didn't rush to leave the phone booth; instead, he took out a slip of paper from his pocket and dialed the number written on it.

This phone number was Liu Shuyun's.

Although Liu Shuyun had been sent by the Central Bureau to investigate him, for him right now, her place was actually the safest.

Meanwhile, at the Nanjing Action Section, after Shen Mingchen hung up, he first had someone notify the Shanghai Station chief, Chen Xing.

Then he also called to summon the leader of Action Team One, Lin Dayou.

"Section Chief, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, something happened at Shanghai Station; the three action teams were wiped out; only Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng escaped."

Shen Mingchen fixed a sharp gaze on Lin Dayou and said.

"What?" Lin Dayou jumped, feeling uneasy under Shen Mingchen's gaze, and said tentatively: "How could this happen?"

"For now it's not clear exactly where the problem occurred."

Shen Mingchen said: "Do you think Chen Yongren and Zhang Haifeng might be problematic?"

"The Section Chief suspects them both?"

"Based on the information we have, they are indeed the most suspicious, because the entire action team only those two survived, which in itself is suspicious."

"According to my knowledge of them, their backgrounds are clean, especially Chen Yongren, who just achieved great merit and has a bright future, so he probably wouldn't…"

"You should know, in our line of work, anything is possible."

"That's true, but they just arrived in Shanghai; time-wise, they shouldn't have had the chance to be captured and turn traitor."

Lin Dayou lowered his head and said: "However, this is just my guess; the situation still needs investigation."

"Hmm." Shen Mingchen said: "The loss at Shanghai Station is too great; regardless of whether Chen and Zhang have problems, we must send reinforcements to Chen Xing."

"I've decided that you will lead the team; I don't trust anyone else to go."

"Chen Xing bears responsibility this time; whether Shanghai Station can be rebuilt depends on you, Dayou."

"Yes!" Lin Dayou stood at attention: "Please Section Chief, rest assured—I will not let you down."