Chapter 188: Let Him Leave
“Major Nantian, what nonsense are you talking about?” Nakamura Saki angrily said: “Are you doubting me?”
“Why shouldn’t I doubt you?” Nantian Yangzi’s pistol slowly moved upward, pointing at Nakamura Saki’s forehead.
“This mission being exposed so thoroughly must mean someone leaked the secret.”
“Your Excellency Nakamura, before you arrived, espionage work in Chongqing never had any oversight.”
“But as soon as you came, the plan was leaked, and you don’t even know the personnel structure of the Special Higher Police Affairs in Shanghai.”
“I was still a bit suspicious at first, but now, seeing your expression, I can already be sure.”
“The problem is with you. I advise you to confess honestly.”
Nakamura Saki’s face darkened as he said: “Major Nantian, mind your attitude. You are now committing insubordination.”
“I don’t believe you dare to shoot.”
Nantian Yangzi smiled slightly: “Then you’ve guessed wrong.”
Bang! With the sound of a gunshot, a peanut-sized bullet hole instantly appeared in the center of Nakamura Saki’s brow.
The agents outside the door heard the gunshot and burst in fiercely.
“Major Nantian, you…”
He looked at Nakamura Saki’s corpse on the ground, stunned and unable to speak.
“This man is not Nakamura Saki. He didn’t even know the personnel structure of the Special Higher Police Affairs in Shanghai. He’s very likely an undercover agent selected by the Military Statistics Bureau.”
“The real Lieutenant Colonel Nakamura has likely already been arrested by the Military Statistics Bureau.”
“Kintada-kun, it seems our whereabouts have been exposed. This time, it’s probably hard to escape from Chongqing.”
“Now, we have only one last chance. You go to the secret hideout to arrange things, notify Mr. Wang that the plan has failed, and evacuate immediately.”
“We’ll provide him with the final cover.”
Kintada Shun bowed slightly: “Hai, I’ll go do it right away.”
At nightfall, the cold autumn rain mercilessly battered Chongqing. The gray three-story brick building of the Garrison Headquarters appeared even more solemn and stern in the rain curtain.
Searchlight beams swept like huge white sickles over the high walls, wire mesh, and sentries at the gate who were armed and wearing raincoats.
This was one of the hearts of the wartime capital defense system, with an extremely high alert level.
Nantian Yangzi lurked in the shadows of a shop across from the headquarters.
The Military Statistics Bureau’s action not only shattered her “Bloody Sacrifice” plan but also thundered like a shock, declaring her complete exposure.
Even though she had decisively executed Nakamura Saki, she still couldn’t prevent
multiple secret contact points from being raided, her accomplices either dead or captured. The intelligence network operated by the North China Information Section and the Special Higher Police Affairs for a full year collapsed in just a few hours.
She and her team were trapped by a massive wave of pursuit.
The radio was silent, all escape routes completely blocked.
The Garrison Headquarters was her last trump card…
The security here was tight, but it also meant that if she could control a core figure inside…
Kidnap a high official important enough to make all of Chongqing hesitate, using him as chips…
This was her final plan. For this plan, she had arranged for a full half year.
Drawing on her experience of entering and exiting the Garrison Headquarters multiple times, Nantian Yangzi followed the previous map and entered the backyard of the Garrison Headquarters through the drainage ditch at the base of the wall during the gap in the searchlight’s sweep.
Pushing aside the manhole cover above, Nantian Yangzi poked her head out. The Garrison Headquarters had a tight outer and loose inner defense mechanism. The patrolling soldiers inside, at night and in the rain, weren’t patrolling very diligently.
This was experience she had gained from entering and exiting here multiple times.
The offices of the Garrison Headquarters’ senior officers were on the east side of the building.
Nantian Yangzi took off her soaked jacket, revealing a slightly ill-fitting Blue Army lieutenant’s military uniform obtained from who knows where.
After adjusting it slightly, Nantian Yangzi slowly approached the office of Deputy Commander Jiang Zhicheng on the east side of the Garrison Headquarters.
Footsteps and voices came from the corridor!
Nantian Yangzi immediately ducked into a recess holding cleaning tools, holding her breath. Two officers walked by talking with documents in hand, completely unaware of the danger in the shadows.
Once the footsteps faded, Nantian Yangzi continued sneaking forward.
Luck seemed to be on her side. She soon arrived at an office door with “Deputy Commander” on the nameplate.
Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” A steady male voice came from inside.
“Report to Deputy Commander, urgent documents from the Confidential Room.” Nantian Yangzi lowered her voice, imitating the local accent.
“Come in.”
Nantian Yangzi pushed the door open and entered. In the office, Deputy Commander Jiang Zhicheng was sitting at his desk reviewing documents, the desk lamp’s halo illuminating his slightly graying temples.
The moment the door closed, Nantian Yangzi moved! Without any hesitation, her right hand lightning-fast drew a pistol equipped with a silencer.
“Pfft!” With a slight muffled sound, a bullet hole instantly appeared on the orderly’s forehead, and he collapsed without a sound.
Jiang Zhicheng reacted extremely quickly, immediately reaching for the pistol in the drawer, but Nantian Yangzi was faster! She leaped over the orderly’s corpse in one step, the muzzle firmly pressed against Jiang Zhicheng’s temple!
At the same time, her left hand pulled a U.S.-made lemon hand grenade from her waist, her finger hooking the safety pin!
“Don’t move! General!” Nantian Yangzi’s voice trembled slightly from excitement and restraint, but her eyes were mad and resolute.
“It’s you?” Jiang Zhicheng clearly saw Nantian Yangzi’s face, and his body instantly stiffened.
What terrified him was not the cold muzzle on his temple or the desperate mad aura unique to fugitives on Nantian Yangzi.
But that familiar face.
The originally delicate woman, a diligent and studious female college student, the beauty who had accompanied him night after night, was now holding a pistol to his head.
She was a spy. How was that possible? If this “female college student” who had accompanied him night after night was really a spy, then the confidential information that had leaked from his mouth over the past half year…
It’s over, it’s all over…
Jiang Zhicheng slowly raised his hands, staring fixedly at Nantian Yangzi: “Who the hell are you? What do you want?”
“Who I am doesn’t matter!” Nantian Yangzi said sharply, “Now, do as I say! Use the internal telephone to order your guard at the gate to prepare a car, fill it with fuel, and drive it to the side door of the office building!”
“No underhanded dealings. I have more than just a gun in my hand—I have this!”
“As soon as I let go, it’s enough to send you, this office, and both of us to the afterlife!”
“Also, open your safe. I need the complete Chongqing Defense Map.”
“Commander Jiang, don’t tell me you don’t have it. You know, we’ve had deep exchanges more than once…”
As soon as these words were spoken, Jiang Zhicheng’s face turned from pale to somewhat flushed.
Jiang Zhicheng slowly stood up, opened the safe on the inner side of the office, and took out the complete Chongqing Defense Map from the bottom.
“Very good, thank you for your cooperation, Commander Jiang.”
“Now, you can notify your guards.”
The news spread like a bolt from the blue, instantly through the internal telephone and the panicked secretary, exploding throughout the Garrison Headquarters and racing at top speed to all intelligence agencies and the highest levels in Chongqing!
The office building was quickly and silently surrounded, snipers took high ground, Chongqing patrol forces quietly closed in, but fearing to act rashly, no one dared to storm.
And the mastermind of all this, Nantian Yangzi, leaned against the wall, using Jiang Zhicheng’s body as a shield, keeping the muzzle and grenade unrelenting, confronting the growing forces outside the door.
“You can’t escape,” more and more people outside, Jiang Zhicheng’s breathing gradually steadied as he began plotting his escape.
“Why not let me go? I guarantee you can board a train and leave Chongqing.”
Nantian Yangzi smiled contemptuously: “Commander Jiang, what do you take me for?”
“If I wanted to live, would I need to risk infiltrating the Garrison Headquarters to kidnap you?”
Jiang Zhicheng earnestly advised: “Now, all of Chongqing knows the Garrison Headquarters’ deputy commander has been taken hostage. Do you think you can walk out alive?”
“Listen to me, you’re still young, with a lot of future ahead. No need to die with an old man like me.”
Nantian Yangzi suddenly laughed: “Exactly, I want everyone to know that the Garrison Headquarters’ deputy commander has been taken hostage.”
“What the hell do you want?” Jiang Zhicheng vaguely felt things weren’t that simple, his tone unavoidably anxious.
Nantian Yangzi replied lazily: “Guess…”
Chongqing, Luojiawan No. 19, Military Statistics Bureau Confidential Room.
The lights in the deputy director’s office stayed on, and inside, two figures faintly appeared in the smoke.
Boss Dai didn’t smoke, but he always carried a pack of cigarettes for social courtesies.
At this moment, Zheng Yaoquan sitting opposite him had already smoked nearly a pack.
“Director,” Zheng Yaoquan stubbed out his cigarette butt forcefully in the ashtray and said gravely: “Nantian Yangzi pulling this stunt is clearly to cover for that person’s escape.”
“At this point, we can’t pretend we know nothing. If he defects to the Japanese, who knows what consequences it will bring.”
Boss Dai sighed, took out cigarettes from his pocket, and handed one to Zheng Yaoquan.
The next moment, feeling his own throat itch, he subconsciously lit one for himself.
“Cough cough cough.” Boss Dai, who had never smoked, took a full drag of nicotine and immediately choked into a coughing fit.
“Yaoquan, do you think I don’t know? Do you think the Old Master doesn’t know?”
“But remember, you and I are just a knife. When the knife falls or is sheathed is not up to us.”
“We can hurt people, but we absolutely cannot disobey, otherwise, this knife has no reason to exist.”
Zheng Yaoquan was silent for a moment: “Director, I understand the principles, but the second team has reported back: Meis Ping, Gao Zongwu, Tao Xisheng—these so-called Low-key Club people are all gathered together.”
“I stake my head that they want to run.”
“At this time, you…”
Before he finished speaking, a telephone rang. Boss Dai made a stopping gesture, picked up the phone: “Yes, it’s me. Understood.”
After a few simple words, Boss Dai hung up, his face turning grim.
“Yaoquan, have them withdraw.” Boss Dai rubbed his brow: “That was Tang Naijian’s call. The Old Master’s meaning is to let him go.”
