Chapter 106.1

The day before, at the Beijing General Air Command.

Since Gu Qinghan had captured three enemy agents in the North military unit, after 48 hours of continuous interrogation, the agent responsible for sending messages finally revealed a deeper network of operatives in Beijing.

Thus, Gu Qinghan had hurried to Beijing a few days ago, intending to catch this group of people in one fell swoop.

After holding several meetings with the higher-ups at the General Air Command, General Lu appointed Gu Qinghan as the person in charge of the operation to capture the enemy agents.

Although the entire air force was eager to eliminate the enemy organization in Beijing, General Lu, as the overall commander of the mission, still endured tremendous pressure from all sides and firmly decided not to let anyone alert the enemy.

After a continuous seven days of planning, Gu Qinghan had managed to capture most of the remaining operatives, leaving only two enemies who had been alerted and were now trying to escape.

General Lu’s office was filled with meetings every day, and today was no exception.

The meeting table was covered with various files and documents, with leaders of different ranks sitting around it. They had been running around in a frenzy for several days due to the operation.

General Lu’s sharp brows scanned the people sitting around the table. He coldly said, “I believe everyone has seen that this batch of enemy agents shares a common trait. They use individuals with small bodies or physical disabilities to act as intermediaries to transmit information. They blend in with the crowd and are a vulnerable group, making it easy to be deceived.”

“According to the intelligence, there are still two of them left, and they are big targets. We need to split into six teams and make sure we don’t let any suspect slip through any of the checkpoints.”

Gu Qinghan pressed her lips together and suggested, “I think we should increase manpower at the train station. If the remaining two are children or have child-like appearances, they don’t need any identification to board the train.”

In that era, children could ride trains without any proof of identity. Younger ones needed a household registration certificate, and older children could simply recite a few lines to get on the train.

The difficulty of land and water routes wasn’t as great, but if the enemy agents got into the rail system, they could move freely across the entire railway network. At that point, they could go to any city, and nobody would know where they had gone.

Moreover, the train stations were always crowded, especially in the capital, with people coming and going. Every carriage and platform was packed with people.

This was the best place for an escape.

General Lu nodded in agreement. “Alright, you’ll be in charge of the train station. Bring two more teams of comrades and make sure we catch all of them.”

The soldiers around the table stood up in unison, saying in chorus, “Yes, Commander.”

Once the people left, the meeting room was empty.

General Lu sat back down, raised his hand, and rubbed his temples, feeling a moment of fatigue.

Shen Chuanshan knocked on the door and casually walked into the meeting room, asking, “Old man, didn’t sleep again last night?”

Since Beijing had taken over the mission to capture the enemy agents, his old comrade had not been this exhausted in a long time. He had been busy for several days, treating the office as his home.

When Lu Mingfei heard his comrade’s familiar voice, he opened his eyes and asked, “How come you’re back so soon? Did you see my granddaughter?”

“I saw her. Wen Nuan is in good spirits; you don’t need to worry,” Shen Chuanshan replied as he sat down. “I just don’t know if Gu Qinghan will make it back in time to see the baby’s birth. Your granddaughter said the baby could come at any moment.”

At this point, General Lu raised an eyebrow and helplessly said, “Once we capture the remaining agents, he can go back.”

However, it was a good opportunity to earn merit. The more involved one was, the greater the recognition.

Gu Qinghan had been specially sent by General Xu to support Beijing, and it was clear that General Xu wanted Gu Qinghan to use this opportunity to secure a chance for redemption in the North military unit.

After all, the appearance of enemy agents within their ranks indirectly pointed to issues with their internal management, which would inevitably lead to accountability.

However, Gu Qinghan had contributed the most in this mission. He was the one who had extracted the most valuable information from the enemy agents. By all accounts, his achievements outweighed any mistakes.

It all depended on how Gu Qinghan chose to proceed.

Lu Mingfei found himself in a dilemma. On one hand, his granddaughter was about to give birth, and on the other, there was Gu Qinghan, an invaluable asset in capturing the enemy agents.

He knew that Wen Nuan would understand the gravity of the situation and wouldn’t blame him or Gu Qinghan. But his granddaughter, whom he had just managed to find again, was someone he wanted to do something for.

Both of his sons had died in the war, and Wen Nuan, along with a few children, were the closest people he had in this world.

But when it came to the cause of the revolution, family had to take a back seat. This was the inevitable reality, and it was the duty of a soldier.

Shen Chuanshan, seeing his comrade’s troubled expression, teased, “How about a bet? I bet that as soon as Gu Qinghan finishes the mission, he’ll rush back to the North.”

“Who would bet with you?” Lu Mingfei replied, gathering the confidential documents in front of him and placing them into a tan-colored folder. He sighed, “Right now, I’m just hoping those bastards don’t manage to escape.”

Shen Chuanshan knew his comrade was worried, so he offered a rare word of praise, “Don’t worry. Your deployment is so tight that even if they had the ability to fly or vanish, they wouldn’t be able to escape Beijing.”

“That sounds reassuring,” Lu Mingfei said as he poured a glass of water and handed it to him, but then added, “But I think this might involve some internal military officers as well. This might take at least a year or more. When are you going back to the frontier?”

Shen Chuanshan glanced at the enamel cup his comrade had handed him and, in no rush, blew gently on the tea inside. “No hurry, let’s wait until you catch the remaining operatives first. The internal matters need to be investigated secretly.”

The two exchanged a tacit glance, not continuing the conversation. General Lu then asked, “This incident didn’t scare my granddaughter, did it?”

Shen Chuanshan leisurely took a sip of tea and laughed, “Your granddaughter, Lu Mingfei, is she that easily frightened? Besides, it was she who discovered the whole thing in the first place.”

“I like hearing that,” General Lu smiled and pressed his lips together, then sighed, “The problem is, we’ll be busy with this for a while, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to see my three great-grandchildren for the next few months.”

Shen Chuanshan snorted, “Oh, come on, just bring them over after the New Year. It’s not like they’re miles away. A ten-hour drive and you’re there.”

“Go on, go on, the kids are so young, and it’s the middle of winter—how can I let them travel like that?” General Lu bent his fingers and tapped the table, shaking his head helplessly.

After Gu Qinghan left the General Air Command, he led his team to the train station.

He brought fifty people with him, each of them changing out of their uniforms into plain clothes beforehand, so that the sly enemy agents wouldn’t spot them and cause panic in the crowd, making their mission even harder to carry out.

Before the operation began, Gu Qinghan warned the team he was leading, “Everyone needs to be cautious. The enemy agents may have suicide pills in their mouths. When we capture the suspects, make sure to remove those pills immediately—don’t let them die so easily.”

“Also, the remaining two enemy agents are big fish. They might still have weapons on them, so be careful.”

The soldiers following him all responded, “Yes, Comrade.”

“Alright, pair up into teams of two and take your positions according to the map I just gave you. Start the operation.” Once Gu Qinghan gave the order, everyone blended in as though they were passengers waiting for their trains. Every 20 meters, two people were assigned to keep watch.

Gu Qinghan looked at the train schedules in the station’s main hall and quickly identified a train heading south.

But the train to Fujian Province wouldn’t depart for several more hours, and Gu Qinghan worried that he might have misjudged the situation.

The waiting room was packed with passengers speaking various dialects from all over the country. Gu Qinghan leaned against a pillar, picked up a newspaper, and began observing quietly.

Most of the remaining enemy agents they had captured over the past few days were disabled individuals with limited mobility, and some were even people who had been injected with hormones. Their physical characteristics were still easy to recognize.

Three hours passed as he continued to wait.

Just as Gu Qinghan was about to reconsider a different train route, a middle-aged woman walked past him, holding the hand of a child who appeared to be about eight or nine years old.

The two of them were speaking in a rural dialect that was hard to make out, seemingly talking about returning to their hometown.

Gu Qinghan shook the newspaper in his hand and glanced at the mother and child as they passed by. In that brief moment of relaxation, something suddenly occurred to him—

“Comrade, you dropped something.” Gu Qinghan pointed to a banknote on the ground and said, “This is the money you just dropped.”

The middle-aged woman looked at the money on the ground and smiled, “Comrade, this isn’t mine.”

With that, she took the child’s hand and walked away.

She didn’t want the money?

Gu Qinghan sneered coldly, then folded the newspaper in his hand and followed them.

Noticing the large crowd around them, he signaled to the people he had brought along at a nearby distance, indicating that they should start clearing the area.

Gu Qinghan followed closely behind the mother and child, but their footsteps instinctively quickened, as though they had sensed something was wrong.

The moment they turned around, Gu Qinghan raised his fist and struck the left side of the woman’s face. There was a dull thud as she was knocked to the ground, letting out a piercing scream of pain, “Ah—!”

Without hesitation, Gu Qinghan knelt down and immediately restrained her, then dislocated her jaw to prevent her from swallowing any poison capsules.

Gu Qinghan sneered, “You want to die? It’s not that easy!”

The woman, now unable to speak because of her dislocated jaw, frantically shook her head, as if trying to tell Gu Qinghan he had the wrong person.

The other “child,” small in stature, tried to escape, but was quickly tackled and knocked to the ground by one of his comrades, who successfully apprehended him.

To avoid causing panic among the crowd, the rest of the team took over the security duties.

Gu Qinghan immediately escorted the two individuals back to the General Air Command and handed them over to the special inspection team that had been set up.

When Minister Zhao Dagang of the General Air Command saw that Gu Qinghan had captured the individuals and returned with them in less than two hours, he couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up, saying, “Impressive, Captain Gu! How did you manage that?”

It had to be said that in the past few days, with Gu Qinghan around, the mission had been progressing very smoothly.

He had already prepared for a long-term battle, as enemy spies existed in every era, and they could never be completely wiped out.

They had captured group after group, but this time, the traitors they had revealed led to the capture of all their comrades.

It seemed that this time, Gu Qinghan would surely earn a first-class merit and rise quickly in rank.

After handing the suspects over to Zhao Dagang, Gu Qinghan didn’t engage in casual conversation. He simply asked, “Minister Zhao, could you lend me a car?”

“A car?” Zhao Dagang paused for a couple of seconds and asked, “Aren’t you going to interrogate them with me? Could it be that there are more traitors?”

Gu Qinghan had been out on missions with everyone these past few days. Though a vehicle was assigned to him, it wasn’t designated solely for his use.

His vehicle was shared with the deputy minister, so it wasn’t ideal to lend it out directly.

Just as Zhao Dagang was about to approve a special request, a jeep, marked as General Lu’s personal vehicle, arrived at the office.

As soon as the jeep stopped, a young officer, Xiao Zhang, rushed over to Gu Qinghan, panting heavily. “Captain Gu, our commander knows you’re back and sent me to bring the car over, saying you might need it…”

“Thank you for your hard work, Comrade Zhang. Please thank General Lu for me,” Gu Qinghan said before taking the keys from Xiao Zhang’s hand and walking toward the military green jeep. He swiftly opened the door and got in.

Zhao Dagang watched as the jeep sped away, then turned to Xiao Zhang and asked, “Comrade Zhang, does Captain Gu have another mission?”

Gu Qinghan had impressed him so much in these past few days. Could it be that General Lu had secretly assigned him a special task?

In the military, one’s political awareness had to be sharp; otherwise, opportunities to earn merit would slip by unnoticed.

Xiao Zhang pressed his lips together, unsure whether to speak or not. He finally smiled and said, “Yes, it’s an important mission, but I can’t tell you more. The General’s office still has a lot of work to do. Minister Zhao, you’d better get back to work too.”

Zhao Dagang watched Xiao Zhang leave, regretfully slapping his palm. If he had known, he would have driven Gu Qinghan himself!