Chapter 707

Damn, shut up, don't yell randomly, it'll be your turn soon! The Japanese soldier in charge of guarding them impatiently lifted the butt of his rifle and threatened Li Qun.

Sir, please pass along a message; I have important intelligence to report to the Chief Commander. Li Qun dared not waste time, immediately speaking in Japanese.

This also worried him; seeing that the Japanese soldier in front didn't take it seriously, he immediately added: 'Sir, this matter involves the true culprit of the leak case, and it might even affect the Chief Commander's safety; we cannot afford any negligence.'

'Exactly, exactly, Sir, this matter concerns the Chief Commander's safety; you wouldn't want to see him come to harm, would you?' Ding Mo, although not fully understanding what Li Qun intended, could only nod in agreement for the sake of his life.

Upon hearing that this matter concerned the safety of the Yuan Chief, the Japanese soldier dared not delay, turned and ran off.

'Do you really know who leaked the secret?' Ding Mo sized up Li Qun from head to toe, his eyes filled with some suspicion.

'Do I know that well?' Li Qun watched the Japanese soldier's departing back, let out a long breath: 'Isn't it just a matter of finding an excuse to get away?'

'Huh?' Ding Mo turned pale, somewhat panicked saying: 'If you deceive the Japanese like this, will he let you go? In his anger, he might shoot both of us.'

'You idiot, who said the leaker must be from our Unit 76?' Li Qun glared at Ding Mo fiercely: 'Later, however I say it, you just nod along.'

Ding Mo nodded along.

When the Japanese really get angry, I'll just act like a non-stick pan, pushing all the blame onto Li Qun.

……

The Japanese soldier hurried over to Chen Yongren, stood at attention and bowed, saying: 'Chief Commander!'

'What's up?' Chen Yongren, who already knew everything through his insight, feigned impatience: 'Wasn't I supposed to have you properly watch those two bastards?'

These two bastards are quick-witted; before I could even deal with them, they'd already thought up excuses to escape, and even knew how to shift the blame.

'Ding Mo and Li Qun said they know the true culprit of the leak case, and even said it might affect your safety.' The Japanese soldier stood at attention and bowed.

'Oh, really?' Chen Yongren showed great interest: 'Immediately bring those two bastards before me!'

'Hai!' The Japanese soldier stood at attention and bowed, then hurried away.

'Chief Commander, those two are definitely just spouting nonsense because they know they're about to die, trying to stay alive.' Anteng Zhongsi said, curling his lip.

Chen Yongren said calmly: 'Anyway, I'm bored; might as well see what they want to say, in case they actually have some interesting intel.'

Upon hearing that, Anteng Zhongsi said no more.

As a subordinate, the most important thing is to make one's superior happy.

Not long after, the Japanese soldier brought Li Qun and Ding Mo before Chen Yongren.

'Chief Commander!'

Seeing Chen Yongren, Li Qun and Ding Mo wore grim faces, immediately wanting to step forward, but were stopped by Anteng Zhongsi.

Looking at the fearsome Anteng Zhongsi, the two shrank their heads, trembling as they stood before Chen Yongren.

'Do you know who leaked the information?' Chen Yongren sat in his chair, giving them a cold glance.

Ding Mo gave Li Qun a look, signaling him to speak quickly.

'Sorry, Chief Commander, but I actually don't know who leaked it either.' Li Qun said tremblingly.

'Damn, you dare to fool me!' Chen Yongren glared fiercely at Li Qun.

Upon hearing that, Anteng Zhongsi immediately drew his sidearm and pressed it against Li Qun's head.

Li Qun's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately said: 'Chief Commander, I mean no disrespect, but the opportunity to leak wasn't limited to just our Unit 76.'

'When so many people were present to greet you upon your arrival, they all knew you were coming; why couldn't it have been them?'

Moreover, the commissioner's visit to inspect work was itself a not-so-secret secret...

Having said that, Li Qun cautiously glanced at Chen Yongren; seeing no special reaction, he continued.

'Your whereabouts might have been leaked on the way to Songhu.'

Furthermore, the venue's security wasn't our Unit 76's responsibility; even if I were to take the blame, I couldn't bear this inexplicable blame.

Hearing this, Chen Yongren nodded thoughtfully.

That crafty Li Qun directly said Unit 76 was taking the blame, but he didn't pin the blame on any specific department, merely giving a general direction.

After all, aside from Unit 76, all other departments were Japanese, and Unit 76 couldn't afford to offend any of them.

Li Qun lowered his head after speaking.

Ding Mo also remained silent, thinking inwardly that serving the Japanese was no good job.

Our lives are forever in the hands of the Japanese; we must quickly find an escape route, which would also give us an extra means of self-preservation.

After a long silence, Chen Yongren then nodded and said: "Not bad, what you said does have some merit; the fact that your whereabouts were leaked truly cannot be blamed on just one of you."

Upon hearing this, Li Qun and Ding Mo wore expressions of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

"Indeed, Chief Commander, this case is strange throughout; please give us a chance. Our Unit 76 will certainly do our utmost to investigate this matter thoroughly!" Ding Mo immediately stood up and said.

Li Qun also followed with a kowtow: "Chief Commander, please give us a chance to make amends through merit."

Both men stood ramrod straight; their lives were in Chen Yongren's hands, and they didn't dare to take a breath.

"Alright, then I'll give you a chance." Chen Yongren rose directly: "I'll give you two weeks to find out the full story of this matter!"

"Mr. Ding, Mr. Li, I think this time should be enough for you, right?"

"Enough, enough, enough! Of course it's enough!"

Upon hearing this, Ding Mo and Li Qun nodded frantically, like chicks pecking at grain.

After the appetizers were served to them, Chen Yongren also decided to take it easy, go look for trouble in the remaining departments, and then got up and left.

Seeing Chen Yongren's party walk out of the prison cell,

Ding Mo and Li Qun felt as if all their strength had been drained; their legs gave way and they collapsed to the ground. The two exchanged a glance, then hastily scrambled to their feet and began an internal investigation.

……

After Chen Yongren left Unit 76, he immediately led his troops to all the customs houses in Songhu, gathering the recent import and export records of the customs.

Since the Japanese took control of the concession, the entire Songhu port has been under Japanese domination, which has also led to the rampant smuggling trade in Songhu.

The fact that Unit 76 and the Japanese use smuggling to evade taxes for their own private gain is already a semi-public secret.

After all.

That little subsidy isn't even enough to keep from starving; guarding Songhu, this egg-laying rooster, we have to think of ways to make money.

While Chen Yongren was reviewing customs records here, the news had already reached Ze Tianmao's ears.

"Customs?" Ze Tianmao disdainfully closed the document in his hand, his expression arrogant as he said: "Let him investigate; I don't believe he can find any useful clues."