Chapter 60: The High-Stakes Gamble

At No. 76, Zhou Mei and Su Bai were like fire and water.

After all, the position of section chief should have originally belonged to Zhou Mei. So at a time like this, since Zhou Mei wanted the credit, who else could she choose?

The answer was self-evident.

What a formidable woman Kyoko Watanabe was; these two strongholds—one real and one fake—had played her right in the palm of her hand.

Why did Jiang Ping monitor only the stronghold in the residential area? Surely because he knew that only that stronghold was genuine.

The rendezvous at Zhoushan Park probably never existed at all.

Having figured this out, Zhao Xuan fully understood Kyoko Watanabe's method of vetting him.

She had first used the Military Statistics Bureau to vet him, and after confirming he was not from Military Statistics, she vetted him again using the Red Party.

Furthermore, she used the exact same method both times: the traps set for the vetting involved real agents from Military Statistics and the underground party.

Therefore, regardless of whether he was with Military Statistics or the underground party, passing these vetting tests meant he had to watch helplessly as they were arrested and executed, or even participate personally and finish them off with his own hands.

She was truly ruthless. Zhao Xuan admitted that he had indeed been trapped by Kyoko Watanabe's tactics.

Just now over at Jiang Ping's side, Zhao Xuan had observed that there were at least six members of the underground party in that stronghold.

And Zhao Xuan had inadvertently laid a trap for himself as well.

Before coming, Zhao Xuan had told Jiang Ping that they would take action on both sides simultaneously. If his side made a move, but Jiang Ping's side received no word, while this might not be enough for Kyoko Watanabe to definitively brand him as a Red Party member, suspicion would be inevitable.

At that point, Kyoko Watanabe could assume that in order to protect the larger number of underground members, Zhao Xuan had chosen to strike the side with relatively fewer people at the photo studio, thereby startling the snake in the grass.

Indeed, underground work could never be taken lightly for even a single second.

Now, Zhao Xuan only needed to verify whether his conjecture was correct, and then find a way to see if he could rescue the underground party members who were completely under surveillance by Jiang Ping and the Yamaguchi Syndicate.

"Radish Head, come here!"

Hearing the call, Radish Head trotted over to Zhao Xuan with a beaming smile.

"Brother Xuan, what are your orders?"

Zhao Xuan glanced in the direction of the photo studio in the distance and asked expressionlessly, "Are you certain you followed the contact person all the way here from Zhoushan Park?"

Radish Head was slightly startled, then hurriedly said:

"Brother Xuan, I am certain! Captain Jiang said we had to keep close, and Third Brother and I didn't lose them. We followed them all the way to the photo studio. I even went inside to check; the person who had the rendezvous at Zhoushan Park is the owner of the photo studio."

*(Hiss—could Brother Xuan have figured something out? Although I did follow them all the way from Zhoushan Park, the captain was the one who told me to come straight here and keep watch.)*

*(Could there be some flaw in the story the captain told me to say?)*

Well, it was confirmed: this was a double act put on jointly by Kyoko Watanabe and Jiang Ping.

And Zhao Xuan was forced to play his part anyway.

Could he really just watch the underground party's stronghold on Zhoushan Road get wiped out?

The problem now, however, was how to rescue the underground party members who were heavily surrounded.

This was simply an insoluble deadlock.

"Alright, there's nothing more for you here."

As Radish Head returned to his previous position, Zhou Mei clenched her fists, a fierce glint flashing in the depths of her eyes.

Being used once was one thing, but being used over and over again genuinely infuriated Zhou Mei.

"Section Chief Zhao, what do we do now? There isn't a single word of truth coming out of Radish Head's mouth."

Having calmed down, Zhou Mei was indeed an extremely intelligent woman.

Earlier, she had simply fallen into Jiang Ping's trap because of her eagerness to achieve merit.

"I'll make another call to the director. At this hour, the photo studio is getting more and more customers. If we move in now, it's very likely the underground party inside will slip away in the confusion."

"Let me consult the director's opinion before making a decision."

Zhou Mei froze for a moment, then her eyes lit up, and she insisted firmly:

"Right! We absolutely cannot let the underground party in the photo studio escape!"

Arriving at the telephone booth once more, Zhao Xuan took a deep breath.

Through his several dressing changes at the No. 76 medical office, Zhao Xuan had figured out the working hours of the doctor, Yang Huamei.

There was a telephone right in her office.

Zhao Xuan debated whether to make a call to tip off Yang Huamei; it seemed that was the only thing he could possibly do.

However, making this call carried extremely high risks.

A check by the telephone bureau would reveal that the call to the No. 76 medical office had originated from this very phone booth.

Yet, to simply watch the underground party members at the Zhoushan Road stronghold get mowed down was something Zhao Xuan could not reconcile in his heart.

When it came to such matters, ignorance might be bliss, but once you knew and yet did nothing, what right did you have to speak of faith!

Taking another deep breath, Zhao Xuan activated his scanning mode to check the surrounding area, discovering to his surprise that there were no Yamaguchi Syndicate operatives watching him. He was stunned for a moment, and then his resolve hardened.

Since Heaven was helping him this much, failing to take a risk would be an insult to this sliver of a chance of survival.

Zhao Xuan placed the first call to Ding Moqun.

After listening to Zhao Xuan's report, Ding Moqun also decided that Zhao Xuan should bide his time and wait to see if they would attempt another rendezvous.

However, if it could be confirmed within the day that the people at both strongholds belonged to the underground party, they would make direct arrests and interrogate them for the intelligence they wanted.

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Xuan dialed the number for the No. 76 medical office once again.

No. 76, Medical Office.

Seeing that it was almost time, Yang Huamei picked up her lunchbox and prepared to head to the cafeteria for meal service when the telephone on her desk began to ring.

"Hello, this is the No. 76 medical office, I am Dr. Yang Huamei."

"Who are you? If you don't identify yourself, I'm hanging up."

"Are you out of your mind? Telling me something like this—this is No. 76!"

Startled, Yang Huamei lowered her voice, a look of terror on her face, and craned her neck to glance out the window as she spoke.

"......"

"All right, I understand."

Hanging up the phone, Yang Huamei knitted her delicate brows together, her heart pounding wildly.

After pondering for several solid minutes, Yang Huamei gritted her teeth, put down her lunchbox, and left the medical office.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xuan, having hung up the phone, was feeling equally nervous.

This time, Zhao Xuan had placed a massive gamble!

Comrade Drifting Snow, the Zhoushan Road stronghold is exposed!

That's right, Zhao Xuan had directly exposed Yang Huamei's identity.

The gamble Zhao Xuan was making was that the Red Party had no choice, and Yang Huamei had no choice either.

Especially since Zhao Xuan had called out "Comrade Drifting Snow" directly; on the strength of that alone, Yang Huamei had no choice but to believe it, even if she wanted to doubt it.

Still, Zhao Xuan had taken emergency precautions, disguising his voice and constantly rubbing his fingers against the telephone receiver so that Yang Huamei would not be able to recognize his natural tone.

This gamble also carried risks for Zhao Xuan, so his stake was essentially the moral character of the Red Party.

Although the probability of this call being traced was very low, if it were ever investigated, Zhao Xuan would be dangerously close to exposure.

Therefore, the integrity of the Red Party was crucial, which was why Zhao Xuan had directly blurted out Yang Huamei's identity.

Exposing her identity could also be seen as Zhao Xuan upping the stakes, making Yang Huamei more inclined to trust what he said and act accordingly.

Of course, Zhao Xuan was not going to pin all his hopes solely on Yang Huamei; he also had to deal with the potential trouble at the telephone bureau.