Time shifts back five minutes.
Liu Xin Jie had arrived at the private room where Lü Zong Fang was staying, ahead of Ma Kui, who was disguised as a rickshaw puller and heading towards the hotel where Lü Zong Fang was staying.
Lü Zong Fang was carrying out a mission in Nanjing, and he was already feeling uneasy. This mission was different from the ones he usually carried out.
There was a strange atmosphere everywhere.
Moreover, Lü Zong Fang was aware that his identity had been compromised before he accepted the mission. Regardless of whether the mission was successful or not, Lü Zong Fang would not be able to return to Shancheng.
Lü Zong Fang had come to meet Yu Ze Cheng today. He only wanted to assassinate Li Hai Feng as quickly as possible and then escape, to get out of the mission quickly.
Just before the appointed time, a person with a familiar face, but whom he couldn't recall, walked into his private room. Lü Zong Fang subconsciously wanted to draw his gun, but the other person was faster.
The person was none other than Liu Xin Jie.
"Don't move!"
Liu Xin Jie pointed his gun at Lü Zong Fang and asked, "Are you comrade Lü Zong Fang?"
Lü Zong Fang stopped his desperate attempt to fight back when he heard Liu Xin Jie's question.
But he was still wary of the other person: "Who are you?"
"Who I am is not important. Just listen to me first."
Liu Xin Jie kept his gun pointed at Lü Zong Fang and calmly said, "You have been exposed. Your mission in Nanjing was a cover. The real reason is to get rid of you. Dai Li has sent an assassin who will be here soon. If you want to live, you better cooperate with me."
He added, "The person who will come to kill you is Ma Kui from the headquarters' Operations Section."
Lü Zong Fang looked at him, narrowed his eyes and asked, "You are the person who sent me a message? Is 'Skull' your code name?"
Liu Xin Jie ignored Lü Zong Fang's question and continued with his plan, "Before Ma Kui arrives, I will shoot you, but I won't hit any vital parts. I have a corpse in the next room. Before you leave, you need to pull the pin on the grenade and blow up the corpse. Don't let anyone identify your identity from the body."
Lü Zong Fang asked again, "You are in the Military Intelligence Bureau? I think I have seen you before. You were a soldier! You… your name is Liu Xin Jie!"
Liu Xin Jie ignored Lü Zong Fang's words and pointed his gun at him: "Ready?"
"Always ready!"
Lü Zong Fang knew the other person's identity as 'one of our own'. He only needed to act as a pawn!
Liu Xin Jie waved at Lü Zong Fang:
"You stand behind the potted plant later. When Ma Kui fires, you must scream and fall."
"Okay!"
After they had discussed their plan, Liu Xin Jie covered his face.
Ma Kui, the rickshaw puller, soon appeared outside the hotel. He rushed into the room where Lü Zong Fang was, and without hesitation, he fired.
Lü Zong Fang didn't even think of resisting. He hid behind the potted plant.
Bang!
Ma Kui's shot shattered the pot, but seeing Lü Zong Fang screaming and falling, he felt a little puzzled. Lü Zong Fang had clearly dodged before he fired, so why was he screaming?
But before he could think about it, the masked Liu Xin Jie suddenly appeared from the doorway.
He fired at Ma Kui's arm.
Bang!
The bullet hit Ma Kui's right arm, instantly rendering him unable to fight back.
Ma Kui didn't expect anyone else to be in the room. He was taken aback!
He didn't even bother to check if Lü Zong Fang was dead. He immediately covered his arm and retreated.
Liu Xin Jie glanced at Lü Zong Fang behind him, and seeing him nod, he left the hotel.
Lü Zong Fang immediately broke through the wooden partition in the middle, pulled the corpse in the next room, pulled the pin of the grenade, and immediately left.
Boom...
An explosion. The room on the second floor of the hotel was destroyed. Everything disappeared before the Japanese and puppet troops arrived.
The only person injured was Ma Kui!
Ma Kui was still puzzled. He wasn't sure whether he had killed Lü Zong Fang. He was certain that his shot hadn't hit him. But his mission had failed. Ma Kui was very upset. This opportunity, which he had worked so hard for, had slipped through his fingers.
Who was the person in Lü Zong Fang's room when he was trying to assassinate him?
Ma Kui couldn't figure it out. Now, the most important thing for him was to protect himself.
Since he was in enemy territory, he was hiding while also trying to get information.
When he learned that a corpse was found in the hotel, and that the corpse was rumored to be a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau, Ma Kui was completely shocked.
Could it be that the person in Lü Zong Fang's room wasn't his accomplice, but someone who was trying to assassinate him?
Who could have sent him?
The Military Intelligence Bureau?
The Central Bureau of Investigation?
Or the Japanese?
Ma Kui couldn't understand who would attack Lü Zong Fang. He didn't have time to think about it now.
Because he didn't have enough medicine, and he was in Nanjing on a secret mission, Ma Kui couldn't get any help from the Nanjing station of the Military Intelligence Bureau. He didn't have time to confirm whether Lü Zong Fang was really dead, so he prepared to leave Nanjing.
But as soon as he went out, he was caught by the Wang Puppet regime's secret agents and sent directly to the Political Security Headquarters.
The Wang Puppet regime's people labeled him as the assassin of Lü Zong Fang and blamed Ma Kui for killing him. Ma Kui was helpless. He told the agents interrogating him that the person who killed Lü Zong Fang was someone else, not him.
But the Wang Puppet regime's people didn't listen at all. Ma Kui's explanation sounded like a quibble to them.
Without another word, they read out Ma Kui's personal information and waved a red-hot branding iron in front of him. "You still say you didn't kill him?"
Faced with the intimidation of the Wang Puppet regime's agents, Ma Kui immediately caved in. He blurted out everything he knew and didn't know. When the Wang Puppet regime's agents learned that Lü Zong Fang had come to assassinate Li Hai Feng, they immediately informed Li Hai Feng.
Li Hai Feng had been living in fear ever since he defected to the Wang Puppet regime. Now, hearing that someone was trying to assassinate him, he immediately demanded to interrogate the suspect himself.
As a nobody in the Political Security Headquarters, Yu Ze Cheng, who had taken the alias Lao Wen Chi, was dragged to the interrogation room by Li Hai Feng to act as a recorder.
Ma Kui had given up. He took responsibility for killing Lü Zong Fang and revealed Lü Zong Fang's identity as a Communist, which made Yu Ze Cheng, who was recording behind them, sweat profusely.
It all added up! Everything fit!
Lü Zong Fang had been using him all along. He was a Communist too!
But what good did it do to know?
Yu Ze Cheng didn't care about the Nationalists or the Communists. He just wanted to defeat the Japanese and live a carefree life with Zuolan. In his opinion, Ma Kui and Li Hai Feng, who had become traitors, were more hateful.
After a day of being in a daze, Yu Ze Cheng finally left the Political Security Headquarters and returned home. He pondered the help Lü Zong Fang had given him.
He felt that the dead should be respected. He had to do something for Lü Zong Fang, who had died.
The first thing he had to do was kill Li Hai Feng.
After a fierce internal struggle, Yu Ze Cheng decided to act alone. He would assassinate Li Hai Feng alone and use Li Hai Feng's death to honor Lü Zong Fang's spirit.
Lü Zong Fang, whom Yu Ze Cheng thought was already dead, had already left Nanjing and traveled north, reaching Shaanxi without any major incidents. He met with Xia Gong, one of the three heroes of the Dragon's Cave and the current head of the Communist Party's intelligence department.
When Xia Gong saw Lü Zong Fang, he had a warm smile on his face and quickly stepped forward to shake Lü Zong Fang's hand: "Comrade Lü Zong Fang, welcome home."
Hearing those four words, "Welcome home," Lü Zong Fang was moved to tears.
He had waited for these words for countless years of undercover work.
Now, he was finally home!