At midnight, in Shanghai, artillery fire and gunfire rang out. The battle continued. Night and day, dusk and dawn, were ignored by the battle. There was no difference. The general situation was hopeless. The order to retreat had been issued. The troops responsible for the rear guard made a final resistance in the city to buy time for evacuation.
Under the constant shining of the flashes in the distance, the glass on the window kept trembling, and the light leaked into the window in a flickering manner. A graceful figure stood in front of the window, staring at the street outside the door, as if anxiously waiting for something. There was no light in the house. A middle-aged man paced back and forth on the empty floor, circle after circle, and finally stopped and said to the woman at the window: "Lao Chen is a trustworthy man. It's already midnight. I think he may have been in trouble. We can't wait any longer."
The woman still stared outside and sighed, "What about the list? If we don't send it out, our work this year will be meaningless."
"What can we do? Our work requires us to maintain a single line of communication. If Lao Chen's line is broken, then our work will have to stop."
After a moment of silence, the man seemed to have made a decision and spoke again: "The Japanese haven't completed the encirclement yet, so I guess they can still leave from the west. I'll escort them out myself."
The woman turned around and said, "No. You are the hub of our group. The subordinates can only contact you. If you make a mistake, the loss will be greater."
"This..." The man was helpless and began to pace back and forth in the room again.
There was another silence, and the woman seemed to have made up her mind: "I'll go."
"What? Comrade Su Qing, do you know what's going on outside? There's gunfire and hail of bullets, chaos and refugees! How can a female comrade like you handle this? Besides, Lao Chen's situation is unclear, and his contact point may be invalid. Absolutely not."
"I am the only suitable candidate. I am confident. If Lao Chen's contact point fails, I will go directly to Nanjing."
…
It was almost dawn, Su Qing was walking hurriedly on the dim path, her neck-length hair, the part near her ears was already wet with sweat, sticking to her flushed cheeks without her bothering to comb it out. She was in a hurry, and she went out in a plain grey long-collared cheongsam. Because she fell several times in the dark, there were several large mud stains on her white socks and black cloth shoes, which had become a muddy grey.
Lao Chen's home is in a small village east of Songjiang County. Su Qing has been there before. She feels that it should be not far ahead. Just now, there was a burst of gunfire and an explosion from the south. Although it was far away, Su Qing's heart was still nervous. She clenched the bag in her hand and wanted to speed up her pace, but the bumpy night road made her helpless.
The small village was quiet, dark and deserted. Su Qing walked lightly to an ordinary gate, leaned against the wall beside the door, put his hand on his chest and took a breath for a while, then stood on tiptoe to carefully feel the top of the door frame.
If Lao Chen had an accident, a brick would be placed on the door frame to warn the police. Su Qing felt it carefully and found no brick. It meant that the situation was normal, so why didn't he show up at the meeting place? With doubts, Su Qing tried to push the door, but it was not locked and opened. Su Qing took out a pistol from his bag, a delicate Browning, and walked in gently.
After searching the house carefully in the dark, the stove was cold. It seemed that Lao Chen had been out for a long time and no one was left here. Su Qing, who was sitting by the bed in the dark, felt half depressed. It seemed that this was indeed a difficult task.
Suddenly, Su Qing heard the sound of footsteps, which frightened him. This village was very small, with dozens of houses close together. If you walked in the east, you could hear the sound in the west. Now that the village was deserted, who else would come except him? Old Chen
Gripping the pistol tightly, pulling the bolt and releasing the safety, Su Qing leaned against the darkness behind the door. Her towering chest rose and fell rapidly, and her heartbeat was getting faster and faster.
The footsteps passed the gate and seemed to sway around for a while, appearing and disappearing from time to time, and then sounded in the house next door. After a sound of rummaging through boxes, they appeared again at the gate of Chen's house.
Su Qing bravely put his eyes to the crack of the door. The light in the yard was dim, and he could barely make out a figure appear at the gate. The figure was not tall, and seemed to be looking around furtively, and then walked towards the door.
It can be concluded that it is definitely not Lao Chen, it is either a Japanese devil or a thief. Su Qing encountered an emergency right after arriving here, and he couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic. Can he really complete the task
Su Qing had fired a gun before, but that was during training. He fired a few rounds, and then he just carried it with him and never used it again. At this moment, the gun in his hand was his only hope. Su Qing tried to force himself to stay calm, and as the training professor taught him, he held the gun steady, leveled it, and pointed it at the door. But his arms were still shaking involuntarily, and as the footsteps outside the door got closer and closer, his heartbeat seemed to be about to burst his chest.
Creak—the door opened.
Bang! A gunshot rang out. In Su Qing's wide-open eyes, the figure fell at the door, curled up on the ground, uttered a few weak groans, and then never moved again.
Su Qing panted heavily, still holding the pistol, pointing at the figure on the ground, and carefully moved to the door, trying to identify the other party's identity through the dim light leaking in from outside the house. Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the door again, causing Su Qing to raise his gun in a hurry, and saw a blurry figure quickly passing by the door.
Bang, bang, bang, bang - instinct took over everything. Su Qing pulled the trigger continuously, unaware that the figure had disappeared long ago. Under the impact of the bullets, only the door was shaking slowly, making a strange creaking sound.
Su Qing was scared. The surroundings were unusually quiet. If it weren't for the body still curled up at the door, he wouldn't have believed that all this was really happening. The muzzle of the gun was still pointing at the door outside the house. His black eyes were wide open with fear and stared outside, motionless.
However, until Su Qing's arm holding the gun began to feel numb, no more sound came from outside.
Did I hit him when he passed the gate? Did he die outside? Maybe I can see his body when I go out? No! I can't go out! It's not that I can't, it's that I don't dare. Daybreak is almost here, I'd rather hold on like this until daybreak, this room is the only place where I can feel safe.
Su Qing began to retreat cautiously, not daring to touch anything, and slowly moved his feet until his back was against the wall, then he exhaled a breath and slowly squatted on the ground. He held the gun tightly in his hand and dared not put it down, aiming at the gate through the open door.
Bang—the sound of the window shattering suddenly broke the silence. Su Qing's heart suddenly rose to his throat, and he turned the gun and shot at the window.
Bang—click—the last bullet has flown out, and Su Qing's finger is still pulling the trigger.
The stone that broke through the window was still rolling on the ground. A figure appeared at the door of the house and pounced on the stunned Su Qing as swiftly as a leopard...