Espionage: You're tasked with spying, but you'll blow up the Special Higher Police?

Zhou Hongyi thought to himself, "They're here." He had caused quite a commotion that morning, and with Number 76 suffering such a huge loss, they were bound to make a big scene.

After Director Feng gave his instructions, all the team leaders focused their attention on Zhou Hongyi. They hadn't expected that this young man, who had only been there a few days, would rise so rapidly in rank, becoming equal to the deputy director. It was truly a case of comparison making one envious.

But then they thought about it again and felt relieved. After all, Zhou Hongyi's family background was undeniable: he was Director Ding's brother-in-law, a top student from West Point, highly praised by Colonel Shimazu, and even a general was paying close attention to him. Perhaps he would even join the Special Higher Police in the future. What was so strange about him becoming an action team leader?

At Feng Jinxiong's roar once again, the police officers from each team put on their hats, grabbed their batons and equipment, and each group received an arrest warrant before heading out in a noisy scramble.

When Zhou Hongyi received his wanted poster, he almost burst out laughing. Most of the face was covered by a hat, and the poster showed glasses, a thick beard, and a trench coat. If he could find the murderer based on that appearance, he'd definitely perform a handstand while eating noodles.

However, he still had to put on an act. Before Zhou Hongyi's special operations team was officially established, he was still a policeman under Xu Guodong, so he followed Captain Xu to search the area near Guanyintang.

After rushing out of the police station, most of the police officers got on bicycles, a few of the faster ones managed to grab motorcycles, and as for cars, no one dared to drive without the chief's order. They just set off in a chaotic frenzy.

Zhou Hongyi declined the invitation from another group to ride motorcycles, instead hopped on a bicycle and followed Xu Guodong and his group at a distance, heading towards the vicinity of Guanyintang.

I had just left the police station and hadn't ridden far when I almost collided with a rickshaw that suddenly appeared from the side road.

Zhou Hongyi had just opened his mouth to curse, but before he could finish speaking, he heard the rickshaw driver say in a very small voice, "My father's father is called Grandpa."

Huh? They contacted me so quickly. I just helped the liaison officers at the contact point evacuate this morning, and they came knocking on my door before noon. The efficiency of the Red Party's underground workers is really high.

"what's the situation?"

Zhou Hongyi asked a question, then pedaled his bicycle again, riding alongside the rickshaw puller.

"Comrade Four-Faced Buddha, Comrade Bodhi has brought back the message, so please rest assured. Also, because he left in a hurry, there is one more thing he didn't have time to tell you, so he asked me to convey it to you."

"explain."

"During the Japanese army's large-scale mopping-up operation, one of our comrades was killed, and her family is still trapped in the tunnel. We just received the news that she had been shot and was in critical condition. She must be moved to a safe place to recuperate as soon as possible."

"A family member of a comrade who died during the Japanese army's large-scale mopping-up operation? I understand. What is his specific address?"

“There is a secret passage under the statue of the Earth God in the Guanyintang Town Temple, and she was trapped there.”

"Understood. Leave this to me. I'm on my way to the vicinity of Guanyin Hall."

Zhou Hongyi agreed and sped up, while the rickshaw driver turned right at the intersection, and the two parted ways.

Their search area was near Guanyintang, which could be an opportunity to rescue the surviving family members of their comrade. He also happened to have a box of aspirin on him. However, he was not a doctor, and the family members of the wanted comrade could not be allowed to enter the hospital openly. It seemed that they had to find a suitable safe house to recuperate.

......

In April 1940, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army stationed in Shanghai, and Major General Maeda, head of the Japanese Army's special service agency in Shanghai, commanded more than 4000 Japanese and puppet troops stationed in Shanghai to encircle the Qingdong Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Base centered on Guanyintang Town by land and water.

Because the guerrillas received advance warning, they were able to break up into smaller units and relocate despite the enemy's superior strength.

However, after their encirclement and suppression plan failed, the Japanese army turned their anger on innocent villagers.

Although two months have passed since the massacre, the fear and shadow will stay with the survivors for the rest of their lives...

Having arrived at his destination, Zhou Hongyi stood beside the ruins of a building that had not yet completely collapsed, unable to believe what he was seeing.

The catastrophe two months ago caused a sharp decline in the population of Guanyintang and its surrounding area. The once bustling village became unusually quiet. A large number of houses and buildings were destroyed, and crops were burned to ruins. The survivors were homeless and could only build makeshift shelters in the ruins or risk living in dilapidated houses that had already collapsed halfway.

Every surviving person here lost loved ones in the catastrophe, and the entire region was permeated with a tangible sense of oppression and grief.

Several ragged civilians searched for food in the ruins, their faces filled with almost numb despair. Only when they saw Zhou Hongyi and the other policemen approaching did a trace of fear arise in their despair.

"You damn Japanese devils... I'll fuck your grandma...!"

Although he had acted in many anti-Japanese war dramas before, the feeling was completely different from the shock he felt when he saw it with his own eyes.

Zhou Hongyi was so angry at the tragic scene that his teeth chattered, and his knuckles turned white and veins bulged from the excessive force he exerted.

The police who arrived first had already begun searching the surrounding ruins for the so-called "guerrillas," but in reality, they were just looking to see what other profits they could find there.

Zhou Hongyi's group was no exception; they sneaked into the shacks of the surviving refugees and robbed them of their few remaining personal belongings.

"Please~~~ That's the only thing I found to eat today, please don't take it away from me~~~ Please~~~"

At that moment, a tall policeman with his hat askew emerged from a roadside shack, carrying a bag of steaming food.

A woman, about sixty years old, clung tightly to his clothes, her eyes red, pleading incessantly.

"Go away...get out of here! This roast meat smells so good, I can't even afford to eat it all the time. Why should an old lady like you eat better than me? Get...get out of here!"

The burly policeman, protecting the steaming roasted meat in his hand, shoved the woman to the ground.

"Give it back to her..."

"Huh? What did you say? Who are you?"

"I said... give the things back to her—!"

Zhou Hongyi roared, took a few steps forward, and kicked the big policeman, sending him sprawling.

"You beast! You even steal rat meat roasted by refugees? Why don't you just die?! Apologize, apologize!"

Zhou Hongyi kicked and cursed at the same time. Although the policeman who was suddenly beaten was big, he was obviously not brave and begged for mercy repeatedly.

"No... please don't hit me, sir! I know I was wrong! I was wrong! Please don't hit me! I'm sorry, ma'am!"

After hitting her for a while, Zhou Hongyi got tired and stood there panting. He silently handed the bag of rat meat back to the woman.

"Thank you... thank you..."

The woman, clutching the rat meat she had finally found, thanked them and then turned and crawled back into her shack.

Zhou Hongyi glanced at the police officers staring at him and shouted impatiently, "What the hell are you all looking at? Don't forget why we're here!"

Given Zhou Hongyi's special status, the police officers from the Second Precinct naturally wouldn't provoke him. The police officers from other precincts, seeing this situation, also knew that this person probably had powerful backers, so they didn't dare to say anything and could only curse him in their hearts, "What are you pretending for?"

Zhou Hongyi looked at the big policeman curled up on the ground, reached out his hand and said, "Are you alright? Get up. Don't blame me for hitting you. It was really dangerous just now. Don't forget we came here to search for guerrillas. What if that woman was a guerrilla in disguise? I seemed to be hitting you just now, but I actually saved you."

"Ah...is...is that so? Thank...thank you, sir. I'll never do it again, I won't..."

Zhou Hongyi looked at the big policeman who seemed a bit slow on the uptake, but he never expected that the policeman would believe such a blatant lie.

"Which branch are you from?" Zhou Hongyi asked.

"I'm from the First Precinct... my name is Fusheng, sir, may I... may I leave now?"

Zhou Hongyi knew he had lost his temper by hitting someone, and seeing that the big guy seemed to be mentally challenged, he had an idea.

"Fusheng, my name is Zhou Hongyi, the leader of the special operations team of the Second Branch. You'll come with me on the search, otherwise you won't even know if we encounter danger later."

"Team...team leader? Yes...yes, sir!"

The tall Fusheng hurriedly saluted Zhou Hongyi, then tightened his belt and followed behind him with a smug look, beginning the search.

Zhou Hongyi followed the direction and walked all the way, only to see two policemen holding batons not far away, preparing to go into a local temple that had been burned to a crisp.

Zhou Hongyi's heart tightened, and he shouted first, "This area is under the jurisdiction of our Second Branch, everyone else get out of the way!"

The two policemen stood there, speechless after being scolded by him. Then, they retorted defiantly, "Who do you think you are? Who are you telling to get lost? So what if you're from the Second Precinct? You think you're the same rank as us? You're just a pig with a scallion stuck in its nose. What are you pretending to be?"

Zhou Hongyi said, "So what if I cursed at you? If you don't get lost, I'll fucking hit you!"

"you……!"

Just as the two sides were about to fight, Xu Guodong suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stood between them.

"Don't hit us, don't hit us! We're all on the same side, let's talk this out!"

After he finished speaking, he turned to the two policemen, moved closer, and said, "Isn't this Xiaozhabei from the First Precinct? What, don't you recognize me?"

The two policemen frowned and looked him over for a while before recognizing him.

"Captain Xu? He's one of your men? That's some serious temper! He told us to get lost the moment we met, even though this was a joint search operation by several of our departments..."

Before the young policeman could finish speaking, Xu Guodong gave him a wink and whispered a few words to him.

After hearing this, the two young policemen clearly showed signs of panic. They stopped shouting and fled from the local temple as if they were escaping.