Chapter 88 The Death of Longjing

Chapter 88 The Death of Longjing

Suddenly, it started pouring rain.

Raindrops as big as soybeans pelted down, creating a misty haze that made it hard to see.

It was impossible to see anything in the distance.

Xiao Zepeng yelled at his deputy, "Go find Deng Kuan, now!"

But on this main road, with cars ahead and behind, and chaotic buildings on both sides, where could they look?

Xiao Zepeng checked the taxis ahead, someone searched behind, and the last one had to run into the side alley.

There were only four people in their car, and with Deng Kuan gone, the remaining three couldn’t even figure out the direction.

In the misty rain, Deng Kuan was nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Cui Yuan, who was lying in wait on a fishing boat near Hongshawan, held a telescope. Through the small window of the fishing boat, he observed the dock.

A large cargo ship by the dock was loading cargo in the wind and rain.

On this rainy day, with strong winds and rough waves, the fishing boat was rocking violently, but everyone on board was silent.

The boat was filled with brothers who lived by the blade, part of the chapter. If this hijacking succeeded, the boss would pay the brothers a large sum. For such a big score, the brothers were eager.

As for who the boss was working for, whether it was for the Communist Party or the Nationalists, that wasn’t their concern.

Someone came aboard from behind, Cui Yuan turned around, it was the lookout returning from outside.

The lookout, wearing a raincoat, handed something over to Cui Yuan: "Boss, someone just delivered this."

Cui Yuan took it and saw it was chocolate. Unwrapping it, he saw a simple character carved into the chocolate with a knife.

It was clear—it was the character "Go"!

Pull out?

Using chocolate to convey signals was something they had agreed upon.

Cui Yuan didn’t doubt it, he quickly stood up and ordered: "Pull out immediately! Be quick!"

All the brothers on the boat were stunned.

"Pull out!" the lookout shouted.

Within minutes, the chapter members scattered, and Cui Yuan quickly jumped onto another small fishing boat.

Soon, Cui Yuan arrived at another beach by boat, his car was hidden in the nearby woods.

Getting into the car, he didn’t even take off his raincoat, directly driving onto a muddy path.

On the way, he drove while smoking, still thinking about the events.

Today’s operation failed.

He was not willing to return like this.

It was around seven o’clock, after the car got onto the main road, he turned around and headed towards the city center.

*

Over at Red Sand Bay, Dong Yushan and Long Jing, both wearing raincoats, stood in the rain, each preoccupied with their own concerns.

Not long after, a clerk from the shipping department hurried over to report.

"Captain, Deputy Director Xiao called and told us to shoot Deng Kuan on sight."

Dong Yushan was shocked: "Kill Deng Kuan?"

The clerk assured him: "Yes, Captain."

Dong Yushan didn't know about any other tasks for the day and hesitated: "Does Director Gao know about this?"

The clerk replied: "Director Gao knows. Deputy Director Xiao conveyed Director Gao's orders."

It dawned on Dong Yushan—was Deng Kuan a traitor?

He glanced at Long Jing.

Long Jing had already figured the raid failed and Deng Kuan escaped.

Dong Yushan loosened his gun holster for quick access, realizing the dock wasn't safe either, and he headed towards the shipping department.

As he walked away, Dong Yushan turned and told Long Jing: "I'm going to call Director Gao to confirm. You stay here and keep watch."

When Dong Yushan came out after his call, he found that Long Jing was also gone.

Twenty minutes later, Long Jing parked the jeep a hundred meters from the port office building.

Long Jing got out of the car and cautiously scanned the area before quickly walking into an alley.

Wang Muxun was by the window, eating fried rice. Through the window, he saw someone hurry into Alley No. 3, seemingly holding a gun.

Even with just a quick glance, Wang Muxun recognized him—the bearded guy!

Now he knew the man was Long Jing.

Wang Muxun set down his fried rice and rushed downstairs. Instead of following, he ran to a public phone booth to call Lin Yufan.

Lin Yufan was with Ms. Guan in the living room. Lin Yuwu had someone pretend to kidnap Second Young Master Li, luring Second Young Master Li's brother away from the control tower.

But they still didn't know if the airport plan had succeeded.

Hearing the phone ring, Lin Yufan quickly answered: "Hello... Wang Muxun... What?"

At first, she thought it was about the publishing house, but Lin Yufan was surprised when Wang Muxun told her Long Jing had been seen sneaking into Alley No. 3 with a gun.

Lin Yufan told Ms. Guan, who grew tense.

The surveillance equipment had to be close to the target for a strong signal, so they had rented a house behind the port office as a monitoring room.

Ms. Guan said: "That surveillance equipment is Yang Liu's lifeline. He might have gone back to dismantle it."

Lin Yufan worried: "Is there any way to notify him?"

Ms. Guan quickly called, but only got a busy signal.

"The phone's been disconnected," Ms. Guan had a bad feeling. "I hope Yang Liu has already left."

She wouldn't make it in time if she went herself, so she called Guang Touli and asked him to send people over for support immediately.

*

After learning that the Red Sand Bay Pier was a trap set by the Nationalists, the old man immediately sent someone to inform Cui Yuan. He then wanted to return to the surveillance room in the No. 3 Alley to dismantle the equipment before the secret police arrived.

The surveillance equipment was all imported and very expensive—it was his prized possession.

Xiao Kong was supposed to go back with him to dismantle the equipment, but the old man feared that more people would draw too much attention, making it even more unsafe. So, he didn’t let Xiao Kong follow.

The rain was pouring heavily, and the old man was soaked to the bone by the time he returned to the house in No. 3 Alley. He quickly dismantled the surveillance equipment and the telephone, stashing them in a bamboo basket, then wrapped it up tight with waterproof plastic.

Just as he finished and was about to stand up, something cold pressed against the back of his head.

"Don’t move."

The old man’s heart raced, and his hand gently gripped the dagger hidden in his sleeve.

Long Jing held a gun to the back of the old man’s head and asked, "Why are you alone? Where are the others?"

The old man feigned ignorance, "Have mercy, sir! I’m just a poor man with no money."

"Cut the act, Yang Liu! You didn’t think that just because Thorn got away, you could too, did you? Where are the others? Tell me the truth, and I might let you live."

As soon as Long Jing finished speaking, the old man darted to the side, slashing the dagger toward Long Jing’s neck.

Long Jing, being young, reacted quickly. He jerked back just before the blade could connect and simultaneously let off a barrage of shots at the old man.

The old man grunted in pain—he had been shot in the abdomen.

But he didn’t fall. Instead, he snatched up a long bench from the living room and hurled it at Long Jing.

Long Jing’s gun was knocked to the ground, and the old man stomped on it, then brought the bench crashing down on Long Jing’s head.

Long Jing rolled away, narrowly avoiding the blow, but the bench slammed down again.

Bang!

The bench hit him squarely on the forehead.

At the same time, Long Jing drew another gun.

Bang! Bang!

He emptied several rounds into the old man’s head. The bullets were fast and chaotic, leaving no room to dodge.

One of the bullets hit the old man in the neck. He froze for a moment, the bench falling from his hands, and then he collapsed backward.

The old man twitched on the ground before finally going still.

Long Jing blinked, shaking his head. He realized his vision was blurry and reached up to touch his forehead…

Blood! It was all blood!

At that moment, the door was kicked open.

Cui Yuan walked in.

Long Jing leaned against the wall, looking at Cui Yuan and smiling.

"Help... help me," Longjing gasped.

Cui Yuan glared at Longjing and snapped, "Why should I save you? For selling me out?"

"No, it's not..." Before Longjing could finish, Cui Yuan shot him dead.

Hurried footsteps echoed from outside. Cui Yuan quickly checked the old man's pulse, but there was none.

As the footsteps grew closer, he grabbed the bamboo basket containing the equipment and fled through the back door.

Wang Muxun, hiding outside the window, pale and holding his breath, also quickly slipped away.

Xiao Zepeng arrived with his men to find the room in complete disarray.

Longjing was dead, and lying in a pool of blood was also a stranger.

So close to the Hong Kong office, this had to be a Communist listening post.

The dead stranger was clearly a Communist. Logically, there must have been a third person at the scene, who likely just left.

Xiao Zepeng ordered, "Two of you, search the place quickly. The rest, follow me."

Wang Liu, trailing behind, saw Longjing lying in a pool of blood. He was momentarily stunned, then quickly ran over, "Quick, get him to the hospital. His body's still warm; there might still be a chance."

A member of Special Operations Team 2 said coldly, "He's already gone."

Wang Liu was filled with despair, muttering, "How could this happen? How could this happen?"

*

The ordinary cargo on the Red Sand Bay freighter had been loaded, and it was officially setting sail for Taiwan.

Just received word that the Communists might have discovered it was a trap and retreated early. Unwilling to give up, Pei Xing still led his team to wait aboard the freighter.

After the freighter sailed twenty nautical miles with no hijack attempt, Pei Xing had no choice but to give up, taking a fishing boat back to shore.

As soon as he stepped ashore, A Xi ran over with "bad news."

The transfer of important cargo had failed.

The Communists didn't hijack the ship, but they did hijack the plane!

To be precise, it wasn't a hijacking; the pilots had been turned.

Three planes carrying important cargo that took off an hour and a half ago deceived the control tower, not flying to Taiwan but heading further north.

Pei Xing was so angry he lashed out at A Xi.

His kick landed on A Xi's backside, and A Xi howled in pain, clutching his rear.

Pei Xing cursed, "Jinx! Every time I see you, it's bad news! Last time, you messed up with Professor Bai, and now you've lost the important cargo!"

A Xi whispered in defense, "Captain Pei, it's not my fault, I just... I just take the calls..."

"Still backtalking?!" Pei Xing moved to kick him again, but Xiao Zheng stopped him.

Xiao Zheng said, "Let it go, Captain Pei..."

His surname is unlucky—always losing, never a good sign.

Pei Xing shouted again, "Don't call me Captain Pei anymore, call me Captain Xing!"

"It's Pei... it's Xing Team!"

Pei Xing's head was about to explode. He could imagine the merciless face of Linghu scolding him!

At the same time, in the office of Director Gao at the Hong Kong liaison office, Director Gao finally found the opportunity to slam the table and scold Xiao Zepeng.

"With such thorough preparation, setting up an inescapable net, and what was the result? The ordinary supplies were smoothly transported from the dock, but the important supplies were seized!! How am I supposed to explain this to my superiors? You were supposed to keep an eye on Deng Kuan, and you didn't even manage that! A bunch of useless idiots! The party and the country are being ruined by you lot."

Xiao Zepeng dared not retort. He was also deeply disheartened. On the way, he kept recalling where he might have made a mistake, allowing Deng Kuan to escape regardless of the consequences.

Dong Yushan and Wang Liu stood behind, also restless.

Especially Wang Liu, as both the slain Longjing and the escaped Deng Kuan were his good teammates.

In his heart, he was both grieving and worried about getting into trouble.

After a while, Dong Yushan finally said, "Although Longjing has been killed, at least we managed to kill an important communist. It's worth it, not a complete loss. We are still far superior to the Confidentiality Department."

Director Gao glanced at them, "Hmph! Just wait and see if the Eagle will hold us accountable. We can't afford to let the Confidentiality Department fail, and we fail as well!"

Then he looked at Wang Liu, "Wang Liu, what are your thoughts?"

Suddenly called upon, Wang Liu was taken aback, forcing a smile that almost turned into tears, "Director, the shock is too overwhelming. I never thought Deng Kuan was a traitor, nor that he would kill Longjing."

Director Gao continued to berate, "All of you are utterly blind! If it weren't for the Eagle telling us who the traitor was, you would have died without knowing!"

Director Gao was also berating himself.

He was also blind.

Everyone was silent again, not daring to make a sound.

*

In Lin Yufan's living quarters.

Because of Yang Liu's death, Ms. Guan was deeply distressed. She dabbed at the corner of her eye and didn't speak for a long time.

Zhao Zhiao stood by the window looking into the distance. Lin Yufan had just finished talking with her Fifth Brother downstairs and was pushing the door open to come in.

The phone rang, stopped after two rings.

When it rang again, Ms. Guan quickly answered.

After a few words, she hung up and said, "All three planes have safely landed at Tianjin Airport."

Zhao Zhiao breathed a sigh of relief. At the cost of Yang Liu's life, the mission was finally accomplished.

And Cui Yuan even killed the Eagle!

Ms. Guan sighed heavily, "If only Cui Yuan had arrived a step earlier, perhaps he could have saved Yang Liu. Unfortunately, everyone was a step too late. Guang Touli's people were also a step too late; we didn't even manage to recover Yang Liu's body."

Zhao Zhiao couldn't understand, "Why did Longjing go alone to assassinate Yang Liu? If he was the Eagle, he could have dispatched many people, why didn't he send others? Placing himself in such a perilous situation is not characteristic of a spy leader."

Ms. Guan thought for a moment, "Longjing must have summoned others, didn't Xiao Zepeng immediately take people there? He probably saw Yang Liu preparing to escape with equipment and had to come out to stop her."

Zhao Zhiao still shook his head, "The Eagle, someone even the Military Statistics Bureau couldn't apprehend, died so simply. I always feel something is not right. Also, the person Guang Touli sent to save Yang Liu wasn't Cui Yuan, why did Cui Yuan appear there? Cui Yuan was recruited by Thorn, and Thorn always contacted him. He didn't know where Yang Liu's monitoring room was."

Ms. Guan was also puzzled, "Cui Yuan said he saw Longjing get out of the car with a gun, so he followed."

As they were speaking, the phone rang again.

This time it was a normal ring. Zhao Zhiao answered, it was Brother Bing calling.

Good news: Brother Bing had someone send Deng Kuan away by sea.