Chapter 182: Intelligence Leaked
“152 Shanghai, 155 Urgent, 432 Zero, 99 Speed, 667 Work, 5471 Station…”
Inside a luxury apartment in the French Concession, Song Yilin opened a note, which contained a string of numbers, Chinese characters, and various symbol combinations.
This was encrypted intelligence; even if the Japanese obtained it, they wouldn’t get useful information without a special cipher book.
Song Yilin greatly admired Chen Yang. She needed to decipher it word by word, while Chen Yang memorized all the password arrangements just by glancing at the cipher book.
If it were someone else, Song Yilin might not have believed him, but she had great faith in Chen Yang’s abilities.
After all, on their first meeting, Chen Yang clearly remembered when and where he had met Song Yilin within a month.
This eidetic memory ability was undoubtedly one of an agent’s strongest talents.
After deciphering the text by comparing it with the cipher book, Song Yilin’s heart suddenly pounded.
“Urgent Report: The Special Higher Police Affairs plans to contact Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang may be collaborating with the enemy. Suggestion: Dispatch a team to Suzhou Station promptly to intercept intelligence officer Xiong Ye Liangping and destroy the intelligence.”
“Attached: Security deployment and train schedule for Suzhou Station. Train number 5471 will stop at Suzhou Station at 02:21 AM, for a duration of forty-three minutes.”
02:21 AM. Song Yilin checked the time. If she sent the telegram back to Chongqing now and planned the action, it would be too late.
After a moment of silence, Song Yilin sighed and retrieved a wooden box from under her bed. Upon opening it, she found a set of keys. This was her personal arsenal, and these keys were its access.
Before she departed, her superiors had strictly ordered her to focus on intelligence work, and her daily actions were not to be interfered with. Now, however, she had to act on her own.
Receiving and sending intelligence was merely her basic duty; her greatest strength, in fact, was not this…
Jiangsu Province, Suzhou…
The autumn rain drizzled, blanketing the ancient city of Suzhou.
The train station was brightly lit, but compared to the bustling Shanghai Station, here there was a greater sense of oppression and tension.
The silhouettes of Japanese sentries flickered in the lamplight, their bayonets glinting with cold, damp light.
Train K-5471 panted heavily, like a weary steel behemoth, temporarily stopped at this important transfer station. Steam billowed, mingling with the scent of coal smoke and damp earth.
Deep in the night, Song Yilin was like a ghost blending into the background, hidden among the stacked goods crates at the end of the platform and in a dark corner.
She had already changed into dark, coarse cloth clothing suitable for an ordinary local woman. Her head was wrapped in an old headscarf to ward off the rain, and her face was deliberately smudged with dust, concealing her original delicate features.
According to Chen Yang’s arrangements, Song Yilin avoided the high alert in Shanghai and chose to act at this relatively “lax” intermediate station.
Her gaze was fixed intently on the door of a special carriage in the middle of the train.
This was the train Chen Yang had arranged for him, so she naturally knew his location.
Time ticked by, second by second.
At the station, passengers boarded and alighted from other passenger train carriages, making the platform appear noisy and hurried.
However, the special express carriage designated K-5471 remained as silent as ever.
Japanese military police and train personnel patrolled the platform.
Song Yilin’s heart beat steadily in her chest, waiting for the opportune moment.
After more than ten minutes, he arrived.
The carriage door opened, and a figure in a trench coat, wearing a felt hat and carrying a conspicuous black briefcase, appeared at the doorway, seemingly intending to get some air or survey the platform…
He appeared vigilant and weary, but that briefcase remained as if permanently attached to his hand.
Indeed, just as Chen Yang had described, Xiong Ye Liangping kept his briefcase with him at all times, even when boarding and alighting. This was also Song Yilin’s opportunity; at least, she could be sure that this briefcase contained the top-secret intelligence Chen Yang had mentioned.
Song Yilin took a breath, the plan she had designed earlier flashing through her mind. After a moment of contemplation, she had a complete plan.
A few seconds later, Xiong Ye Liangping turned around, preparing to return to the carriage. Now! A cold glint flashed in Song Yilin’s eyes.
She had already calculated the angle and distance. Like a startled wild cat, she suddenly “hurriedly” rushed out from her hiding place, as if trying to catch the train, or perhaps tripping over something, letting out a short gasp, and “fell” directly towards Xiong Ye Liangping!
Xiong Ye Liangping reacted extremely quickly, instinctively attempting to sidestep and reach for his waist. But Song Yilin’s “fall” was precisely calculated; it appeared clumsy but was actually accurate.
She “happened” to collide heavily with the arm Xiong Ye Liangping was holding the briefcase with!
“Bang!” A dull thud. “Baka!” Xiong Ye Liangping cursed in pain, his arm numb, and the black briefcase, which he guarded as if his life depended on it, flew out of his grasp! The briefcase traced an arc in the air and landed on the platform floor with a “thwack!”
The combination lock on the side even struck the ground, producing a small spark.
“Sorry! Sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Song Yilin apologized frantically in a dialect with a thick North Jiangsu accent, scrambling to her feet, seemingly terrified, not daring to look at Xiong Ye, and turned to squeeze into the crowd to escape.
“Stop!” Xiong Ye Liangping, both startled and enraged, first reaction was not to retrieve the bag but to try and grab this “careless” woman!
His intuition sensed something was amiss! The nearby Japanese soldiers were also alerted and surrounded them with shouts.
In this chaotic moment of a second or two!
No one noticed that when the briefcase fell to the ground, the cleverly split clasp burst open under the impact!
The briefcase clasp sprang open, and a small portion of the contents, perhaps due to the impact and fall, scattered out!
“My bag!” Xiong Ye Liangping finally turned back abruptly, seeing the briefcase on the ground and the scattered papers, his soul departed him!
He no longer cared about any suspicious woman, and like a madman, he lunged forward, shielding the scattered documents with his body from the rain and view, fumbling to stuff them back in, desperately trying to close the clasp!
But the connecting part of the clasp was almost broken, rendering it unable to lock securely!
He could only futilely hold the lid of the bag tightly with his hand, his face pale, and his expression filled with panic.
And that “careless” country woman had long since disappeared into the chaotic crowd and the misty rain, leaving no trace, while the soldiers’ attention was drawn to Xiong Ye and the briefcase.
The train whistle blew, and the train was about to depart. Xiong Ye Liangping, still shaken, clutched the briefcase whose clasp could not be secured normally, and under the “escort” of the soldiers, he retreated back into the carriage in disarray.
His mind was in chaos: Was it an accident? Or an attack? Was the target the bag? Or me? That woman… he hadn’t seen anything clearly, only remembering the accent and her flustered demeanor. A great sense of unease and humiliation washed over him.
All he wanted now was to leave this place as quickly as possible, return to the relative safety of his journey, and then check the damage to the bag.
He held the bag tightly, as if it were a lifeline, or perhaps a bomb that could explode at any moment.
He completely failed to notice that on the other side of the platform, in the shadows, a figure wearing railway worker’s overalls and a hat pulled low was coldly watching it all.
Through the glass outside the special train, she saw Xiong Ye, under the lights, escape back into the carriage clutching the briefcase whose clasp was clearly damaged and could not be locked. A cold curve formed at the corner of her mouth.
First step completed: the briefcase has been successfully “opened” and left with undeniable damage.
This lays a plausible groundwork for the Special Higher Police Affairs to suspect that intelligence might have been leaked!
Either someone tampered with it during the chaos, or the files were seen or partially obtained by an infiltrator when they scattered,
Or this damage would force Xiong Ye to seek assistance during the subsequent journey, increasing the risk of exposure.
In any case, regardless of the possibility, the briefcase was no longer absolutely secure.
Once confirmed, Song Yilin did not linger.
She quickly left the platform area, merging into the crowd like a drop of water into the sea. Utilizing the station layout described by Chen Yang, she circled around to the outside of a curve in the train’s direction of travel.
The tracks were complex here, with maintenance sheds and piled-up equipment, making it relatively concealed.
She dragged out the prepared rattan trunk from a very hidden corner of the tool shed.
The timer bomb inside was already set. She calculated the train’s acceleration time and firmly secured it in the shadow of a support point on the inner side of the railway track.
Then, she disappeared again.
A few minutes later, train K-5471 roared past, approaching the curve.
“BOOM—!!!”
A massive explosion, thousands of times more violent than the “accident” on the platform, shook the rainy night!
The railway track was blown apart, flames shot into the sky, and the powerful shockwave violently overturned, twisted, and tore apart several passing carriages!
The immense explosion and tremor even reached the Suzhou Station, which had just returned to a semblance of calm, causing panic and commotion!
Song Yilin stood in a wooded area on a distant elevation, watching the burning ruins.
The blast point had been calculated, and it was highly probable that Xiong Ye’s carriage was included.
Now, whether Xiong Ye lived or died, the “Maple Plan” personally approved by Dohihara was no longer complete, nor was it top secret.
Shanghai, Fukaisen Road, Lin Mansion.
Chen Yang lay on the bed, lost in thought. It was already 4 AM, yet he still couldn’t sleep.
After the intelligence was passed on, he was worried whether the Military Statistics Bureau could arrange an action in time.
He hadn’t expected Song Yilin to take action herself and blow up the train.
Moreover, Lin Xueli had pointedly or unintentionally reminded him that the house was not safe and that there were Japanese informants.
Therefore, Chen Yang could only pretend to be asleep in his room, but in reality, he had been waiting for news.
*Knock knock knock*, a rapid knocking sound. The maid Xiao Cao called out loudly, “Young Master, hurry and get up, someone is on the phone for you.”
“Coming,” Chen Yang responded after a dozen seconds, making his actions appear perfectly natural.
At Suzhou Station, the Special Higher Police Affairs Action Group, which had rushed from Shanghai, had already cordoned off the train explosion site.
After the explosion, soldiers from the Jiangsu-Shanghai Garrison Command had surrounded the area, and a company of Japanese soldiers searched the area in a fan formation for suspicious individuals.
However, unfortunately, it was the early morning, and it was raining, so all traces had been washed clean.
Major Ando Shinichi stood in front of the train, while his colleagues from the Investigation Team were examining the scene one by one.
“Major Ando, we have a discovery…” a voice called out from the crowd…
