Chapter 76: Insider Traitor Locked On
In the short time it took to stand up, Cao Weida’s peripheral vision swept over the second floor and the hidden spots in various corners.
Sure enough, he discovered many abnormal things. People come to the dance hall to seek fun, but these people kept their faces tense the whole time, their hands intentionally or unintentionally placed at their waists, as if they could pull out something at any moment, and their eyes scanned the venue nonstop like lightning.
After one song ended, the people in the center of the stage were replaced by scantily clad dancers who began performing a sexy dance with alluring figures.
After another song ended, with more than half the alcohol drunk, he finally stood up unsteadily and left.
After confirming no one was following, Cao Weida turned left and right until he arrived near a residential building. He knocked on the door with the agreed rhythm of three longs, three shorts, and two longs, muttering to himself, “Don’t say it, it really has the flavor of special agents making contact.”
The door opened quickly. Zheng Chaoyang poured him a glass of water and asked eagerly, “How did it go? Did you make contact with any of those comrades?”
Cao Weida took a sip of water and shook his head. “I had no contact with them at all.”
“This…” Zheng Chaoyang grew anxious. What he needed was screening for traitors, but without even making contact, how could they screen?
“Don’t worry, keep listening to me,” Cao Weida signaled him not to panic and continued:
“After I went in, I observed the place and indeed saw several people from the list. I originally planned to find a suitable reason to contact them.”
“However, I saw someone who was in the photographs but not on the list, and this person was staying in a private room on the second floor with people from the East Asia Academic Research Association.”
“Who is it!” Zheng Chaoyang’s brows immediately furrowed. He naturally knew what kind of organization the East Asia Academic Research Association was.
It could be said they were old rivals. The East Asia Academic Research Association had persecuted countless of their comrades, and hating them to the bone was an understatement.
If possible, he wanted to bite them to death one by one!
And now, someone from the photographs appeared in the private room, staying together with people from the East Asia Academic Research Association. He wasn’t a fool; how could he not realize the reason?
“What about those photographs.”
“Here.”
Cao Weida pulled out one of the photographs and pushed it to him. “After I spotted him, I didn’t dare contact anyone from the list you gave me.”
“It’s him…” Zheng Chaoyang was first incredulous, then his face turned very grim as his hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.
Cao Weida took all this in, knowing that Zheng Chaoyang probably knew this person, or rather was familiar with him, and seemed extremely shocked by this outcome.
He sighed inwardly, fully understanding the other’s reaction. Putting himself in the other’s shoes, if someone he was familiar with, someone with shared ideals, suddenly betrayed the country and became a traitor, he too wouldn’t be able to accept it for a while.
For example, Duomen. If Duomen now became an unforgivable major traitor, risking his life for the little devils and persecuting his former comrades, just thinking about it made him want to smash everything he saw to pieces.
He felt sorry for this traitor who defected to the enemy. Abandoning ideals and faith to betray the country and become a traitor at this time—what difference was there from joining the Kuomintang in 1949?
He silently patted his shoulder. “I guess you might know him, but now’s not the time to hate him. At that time, this person was on the second floor observing the surroundings, and there were quite a few people around watching,
Under the gaze of so many eyes, I didn’t dare use the method you taught me to make contact, nor did I dare make the signal to abandon contact. Those comrades…”
Zheng Chaoyang looked dejected. He did know the person in the photograph, or rather, he knew this person’s wife. The traitor’s wife had studied at the same place as him, so they were very familiar.
“It’s fine. When the contact time is up and no one contacts them, they will withdraw on their own.”
Those being contacted this time were all veteran underground party members who knew the rules. If contact wasn’t made by the appointed time, they would withdraw and never stay innocently.
At the same time, he was extremely grateful and understood why Leader Zhou had established the single-line contact method.
Although it brought many inconveniences and might prevent some intelligence from reaching superiors immediately, this contact method undoubtedly maximized the life safety of underground party comrades.
If not for the single-line contact, this traitor who surfaced this time might have wiped out a large group of Communist Party underground party members in one fell swoop!
“That’s good. I’ve been worried about this all along.” Cao Weida nodded.
“By the way, can I make a small suggestion?”
“What suggestion?”
“I think you shouldn’t choose contact points like the Yangzi Dance Hall or such dance halls in the future. I saw those comrades were all… um… strapped for cash.”
Reality isn’t like web dramas. Those who join the Communist Party underground basically aren’t willing to spend money.
Even if they originally had some money at home or a decently paying job, they weren’t willing to spend it. Most donated their money to the organization.
Or, whenever they had a bit of money, they would stockpile supplies and then find opportunities to send them to the rear to alleviate the organization’s difficulties in various aspects.
Cao Weida greatly admired this. Many people thought such people were stupid—aren’t people supposed to be selfish?
But precisely because of this admirable stupidity, this group of lovable fools built the new world where the people are masters of the house!
There were many in later generations who nitpicked online with all sorts of improper remarks, but Cao Weida made no comment.
He only wanted to say that although there might be some flaws in some places, no matter which dynasty or place, there are always a few bad apples. Looking back at the national history, looking at various countries around the nation, which country’s people have the stability and peace of China’s?
If the Communist Party hadn’t unified the country and the Kuomintang had ruled, in what kind of environment would China’s people have to live?
Would there still be the later prosperity, or the energy to stand tall online picking faults everywhere?
Uh… got off track. Back to the point.
Underground party comrades with firm faith are unwilling to spend money. Most take low-paying jobs to hide their identities, but what kind of place is the Yangzi Dance Hall?
It’s a place that respects fine clothes first and people second!
Without clothes or cash, people won’t even give you a proper look.
For them, who turned over all surplus costs to the organization, this was obviously no small burden.
Just this evening, he saw that the clothes on several comrades weren’t quite fitting—likely borrowed from others.
If the puppet government’s special agents tonight hadn’t been fishing for big fish and focused all their attention on the underground party’s leader, these people wouldn’t just be in danger—they were a significant flaw.
Hearing this, Zheng Chaoyang gave a bitter smile. “We usually do single-line contacts and generally don’t appear in such places.”
“Today we had no choice but to resort to this. In all of Beiping, only places like dance halls are the most mixed with fish and dragons, and the hardest to be discovered, allowing comrades to hide deeper.”
Cao Weida was stunned for a moment, then laughed at his own foolishness.
How could veteran underground party members with years of experience make such a low-level mistake? It was mainly that there were no better options.
If the location were elsewhere and there were fewer people, having so many extras would draw attention too easily.
Even if the leader hadn’t come, the special agents could just give an order to control everyone on site, turning this screening action into a major merit on their record.
After getting the information he wanted, Zheng Chaoyang left hurriedly and made his way to another place.
After entering with the specific knock, Zheng Chaoyang reported everything to his superior—Old Luo.
“It’s him…” Old Luo’s face was full of disappointment as he stared blankly at the photograph in his hand, sinking into deep pain.
This person was someone he had personally recruited into the organization. He had even introduced a young and promising female comrade from the organization to him to cooperate with an action.
But now…
“Old Luo, do we need to tell Comrade Subarashi about this?” Zheng Chaoyang asked tentatively.
Subarashi was this traitor’s wife. They had a son, four years old this year.
Old Luo fell into deep thought, his expression conflicted and pained.
After a long while, he finally sighed, his demeanor unusually firm: “I can’t deprive our comrade of the right to know. I also believe in Comrade Subarashi’s loyalty to the organization and the party.”
“I’ll tell her personally about this. The screening action for the rest must continue.”
Although one traitor had been identified, it didn’t mean there were no more among the rest. The screening action had to continue.
Old Luo looked at the pitch-black night outside the window and closed his eyes full of pain. Although he had decided to tell Comrade Subarashi the news, he really had no face to confront her pained expression.
Sin…
Though he didn’t want to face it, Old Luo still steeled himself and quickly found Comrade Subarashi. With the traitor by her side, every second delayed meant more danger.
If the traitor knew he was exposed, no one knew what crazy actions he might take.
Inside a remote thatched hut.
“Comrade Subarashi, has Old Sun not returned yet?”
“Not yet. He’s on night shifts these days and only comes back during the day. Old Luo, you’re contacting me so urgently—is there a mission?”
Facing Comrade Subarashi’s bright and spirited gaze, Old Luo averted his eyes with a complicated expression. “Intelligence from our group has been leaking frequently. Last time, Echo Comrade was nearly arrested. Luckily we got the intelligence in time, or it would have been a disaster.”
“So, I suspected a traitor within our group and conducted a screening action on group members.”
“What was the result? Did you find him?” Subarashi’s face showed hatred. Previously, she hadn’t been in a group with Old Sun, but with another comrade.
If not for the traitor’s betrayal, perhaps the one she would now share revolutionary friendship with would be him, not Old Sun.
Therefore, she especially hated traitors.
“We screened him out. He is… he is…” At the end, Old Luo suddenly didn’t know how to say it.
Seeing Old Luo’s hesitation, how could Subarashi not notice? In an instant, she suddenly realized something. Her hands on her lap clenched into fists, the knuckles turning pale from the force.
