The moon was hanging high in the sky. In a courtyard in Xiaojiao Village, a figure stealthily left the dark corner beside the gate, tiptoed across the yard, carefully opened the door, entered the pitch-black door, and then closed the door gently.
The room was pitch black. If you looked closely, you could see nearly thirty people sitting or curled up in the two rooms inside and outside.
One person asked quietly: "What's going on?"
The one who just entered the room whispered, "More than a dozen, with guns."
"What? Why are there so many of them? Are they just passing bandits?"
"No, there are those wearing hats, they should be... Eighth Route Army soldiers."
There was a sound of inhalation in the room.
The person asking the question suddenly fell silent, and the person who just walked in asked hesitantly: "Captain, what should we do now?"
"Damn it, this is such a big plan that we have to change it. Go back to the county now and ask for reinforcements from the military police. The sooner the better. Be careful when you go out and don't alarm them."
The figure who had just entered the room turned around, opened the door gently, and slipped out again.
The captain paced back and forth in the darkness of the room for a few steps, thinking for a while, and suddenly said: "We can't hang ourselves on a tree, we have to find someone to take the blame just in case. Hey, you, go out of the village to the north and bring the nearest security forces here. If this group of Eighth Route Army escapes, it will be their fault for not being able to reinforce and miss the opportunity to fight."
Then, another figure slipped out of the house quietly like a mouse.
Under the moonlight, Hu Yi walked slowly in the village holding a rifle, his eyes constantly scanning the front. Xiaojiao Village was silent and dark at midnight, there was not even a dog, and there was nothing unusual around.
Not far behind them, Ma Liang stood on the left and Su Qing stood on the right, carefully observing the upper right corner of every door they passed, looking for chalk marks.
Ma Liang suddenly stopped, leaned over a door and carefully identified it in the faint moonlight, and whispered, "Su Yushi, come and take a look, is this it?"
Hu Yi in front stopped when he heard the voice, turned around and looked at the door in front of Ma Liang, waiting for an answer.
"Yes, that's it." Su Qing raised his hand and prepared to knock on the door.
"Wait." Hu Yi stopped her, "You are not here alone, why are you so polite?" Then he whispered, "Ma Liang, open the door. Runny Nose, Mule, you two, set up sentry outside the courtyard. If Shi Cheng and the others come over, warn them."
The gate was opened from the inside by Ma Liang who climbed over the wall. Hu Yi entered the yard and stopped in front of the door, with the butt of the gun against his shoulder and the muzzle pointed at the door. Ma Liang leaned against the wall beside the door, waited for Hu Yi to nod, and then reached out to knock on the door.
Dangdangdang—even if the knocking on the door in the middle of the night is not loud, it is still particularly harsh.
Soon, someone in the room asked, "Who?"
Hu Yi did not move, Ma Liang did not answer, Su Qing replied: "Your second shopkeeper asked me to bring something."
After a while, the door was just opened a crack, and then it froze because the person who opened it saw the muzzle of the gun very close.
"Keep opening the door, slowly." The man holding the gun said in a deep voice.
The oil lamp was lit, and the room was bright. Su Qing looked up and down at the man who had just lit the lamp. He looked to be in his thirties, with an untidy beard. Both his clothes and appearance were ordinary, like a country farmer.
The middle-aged man flicked out the matchstick between his fingers: "I'm number three. I didn't expect you to come so soon. I thought I would have to wait for a while."
"What happened in the city?" Su Qing didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.
Number Three took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then said, "Number Two betrayed me. It happened... too suddenly."
"Where's the second shopkeeper?"
"He died during the evacuation."
“How much damage?”
"I don't know. The situation was critical at the time. All the lines were broken. I could only activate the emergency plan directly. I guess... not optimistic."
At this time, the door opened, Shi Cheng walked in, looked at the situation in the room, and whispered something in Hu Yi's ear, which made Hu Yi frown immediately. He knocked on the holster of Ma Liang's revolver standing beside him, and led Shi Cheng out of the room. Then Ma Liang took out the revolver again, put it in his hand, put it behind him, and quietly pulled the trigger under the cover of the wall and his body, leaning against the door between the two rooms, and continued to monitor the conversation in the inner room as if nothing had happened.
After leaving the house, he hurriedly crossed the yard and went out the gate. He didn't see anyone from the first team, so he asked Shi Cheng who was following him, "Where are your people?"
"I had them surround that."
Hu Yi was very satisfied with this approach, and asked again as he walked on: "Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
"I just looked carefully at the mark on this gate, and it's the same as that one."
It was strange, really strange. Shi Cheng's team actually found another place with the same mark on the gate. What was going on? Coincidence? Wasn't the probability too small
After several turns, they arrived at a large gate. Shi Cheng's men were guarding the perimeter of the yard. Hu Yi stood at the gate and looked up at the upper right corner. Under the faint moonlight, he saw a small symbol drawn in chalk, which was exactly the same as the one in Class Nine, without a single mistake.
"Come with me." Hu Yi jumped up and climbed onto the wall beside the door.
"Platoon leader, I asked the brothers to..."
"No need."
He walked into the yard, opened the gate, handed Shi Cheng a grenade, and whispered, "Wait by the window." Then he took off his rifle and walked to the door.
Shi Cheng bent down, tiptoed across the yard, squatted under the window of the house, hung the grenade fuse on his finger, and nodded to Hu Yi outside the door.
I raised my hand and knocked on the door, and there were three "dangdangdang" sounds.
Take a step back, put the butt of the gun against your shoulder, point the muzzle at the door, and stay still.
Soon, a panicked woman's voice came from the room: "Who... who is it?"
After recalling Su Qing's answer, he said, "Your second shopkeeper asked me to bring something."
The room was quiet for a moment, then there was a slight rustling sound, and then the lights came on. There were footsteps at the door, which creaked open. In front of the muzzle of the gun, a woman's figure stood frozen at the door.
He glanced at the two rooms inside and outside and began to look at the woman standing near the oil lamp with a nervous look on her face. She looked to be in her twenties, neither fat nor thin. Her clothes and appearance were extremely ordinary, just like an ordinary country girl.
"I'm sorry to startle you. What's your name?"
The woman raised her head, looked at Hu Yi's face, then looked at his military uniform, then lowered her head and said nothing.
"answer."
"Boss, you can take whatever you want, just... let me go..."
Hu Yi's eyebrows couldn't help but jump. This was a bit unexpected. Was it really a coincidence? Then why did she open the door? Was she looking for excitement
"Did you draw the mark outside the gate?"
The woman lowered her head and said nothing.
"Do you know the second shopkeeper?"
The woman lowered her head and said nothing.
Hu Yi was helpless. He opened the door but didn't say anything. What was going on? Wasn't this even more bizarre? He didn't want to waste any more time. He ordered Shi Cheng, "Keep an eye on him." Then he opened the door and left the house, returning to find Su Qing.
Su Qing walked out of the house to the yard in a bad mood and asked Hu Yi coldly, "Tell me, what's the matter?"
Hu Yi closed the door and whispered, "Team One found another place with the same mark on the gate."
"What?" The beautiful face under the moonlight was full of disbelief.
Looking at Su Qing's surprised expression, Hu Yi suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction in his heart. He always thought that she was out of touch with the world. But a piece of hard ice that was always calm and composed actually broke sometimes. She was so surprised that the ice broke all over the ground. Scarcity makes things valuable. This expression of hers was the first time Hu Yi had seen it, and he almost got drunk.
"What are you looking at?" After a brief moment of silence, her face froze again: "Take me there now."
After several turns, they arrived at another gate. Before entering, Su Qing carefully checked the mark on the gate, and then walked through the yard into the house.
Hu Yi followed Su Qing into the room. The two women in the room looked at each other for a while, and then Su Qing asked, "Who are you?"
"The 21st." She answered directly.
She actually answered directly, which made Hu Yi's head black. Is this fair? What on earth is she basing it on? Does the connection also depend on appearance and gender? Why do I feel that these intelligence people are so weird? What kind of messed up personalities do they have? Inadvertently, he found that Shi Cheng in the room also cast a puzzled look at him. He was looking up and down, left and right, searching for answers. When he found that he frowned and looked back at him, he quickly shifted his gaze and stood up straight.
"What happened in the city?" Su Qing didn't waste any words and went straight to the point the second time.
Number 21 bit her lip and said, "Number 2 betrayed me. There was no sign beforehand. It was too hasty."
"Where's the second shopkeeper?"
"I don't know. Before we evacuated, he told me to try to get out of the city and leave a mark in this village and wait. What happened next... I don't know."
Su Qing looked at number 21 quietly for a while, then asked, "You are number 21, how did you meet the second shopkeeper?"
"My superior was number seven. He was shot. Before he died, he instructed me to go see the second manager."
"Who else do you know in the organization?"
"I'm a single offline person, I only know number seven, the second shopkeeper... I met him at the last minute."
Su Qing thought silently. It seemed that No. 21 met the second manager before No. 3, and the second manager ordered No. 21 to come to Xiaojiao Village. Then No. 3 met the second manager and implemented an emergency evacuation. The second manager died. After No. 3 escaped, he came to Xiaojiao Village. This means that No. 3 did not know that the second manager had sent people out before, and No. 3 did not know No. 21, so now there are two people waiting to contact, at least that's what it sounds like from their narration.
This could be an unexpected coincidence, but it could also be a new crisis if one of them is a traitor. In any case, we must prepare for the worst.
"Take her over now." Su Qing ordered Shi Cheng.
After Shi Cheng took No. 21 out of the door, Hu Yi suddenly said to Su Qing: "I... have a question."
Su Qing thought Hu Yi was also aware of the danger, so she calmly raised her face and waited for questions. Unexpectedly, Hu Yi's question was: "She doesn't know either of us, why didn't she tell me when she saw me, but told you when she saw me?"
Su Qing looked at Hu Yi as if he was an idiot for a while, then walked out the door and said without looking back: "We must leave here immediately."
Hu Yi was stunned, and finally determined that Su Qing's words had nothing to do with his problem.
…