Zeng Mo Yi was an underground worker for our party, belonging to the Chongqing underground organization. She received an order from her superiors, asking her to find a way to obtain the list of 73 secret agents sent to northern Shaanxi by the Military Control Commission.
Upon receiving this mission, Zeng Mo Yi treated it as her most important task... a mission for which she was willing to sacrifice herself.
The list of 73 Military Control Commission agents was passed on by a comrade of our party who was undercover in the First Army of the Republic of China government, led by Hu Zongnan. Dai Li, in order to protect them, secretly contacted Hu Zongnan and asked him to provide some cover. Without this, the Central Committee in northern Shaanxi would never have known about this matter.
How much damage could 73 secret agents cause? Zeng Mo Yi couldn't imagine, but she was certain that if they weren't exposed in time, the entire party would be harmed. In this situation, her own life was insignificant.
Zeng Mo Yi wasn't stupid. On the contrary, she was incredibly clever.
After receiving the mission, Zeng Mo Yi began to think about where Dai Li would keep the list of secret agents.
Zeng Mo Yi couldn't get close to Dai Li's office. The only person she could get close to was Dai Li's secretary and lover: Chen Hua!
Before Zeng Mo Yi received her mission, Chen Hua had been trying to get closer to her, subtly and overtly encouraging her not to care too much about her reputation, claiming that being Chen Hanwen's woman was the best choice.
Furthermore, Chen Hua said that being with Chen Hanwen was Zeng Mo Yi's good fortune. While Chen Hanwen was still interested in her now, if he ever lost interest, Zeng Mo Yi would have nowhere to turn.
However, how could Zeng Mo Yi possibly submit to a man?
But now, the most likely way to get the list of 73 secret agents was to get close to Chen Hua and extract the location of Dai Li's list from her.
If she wanted to use Chen Hua, she couldn't avoid Chen Hanwen!
Zeng Mo Yi pondered for a moment and gradually formed a plan, a plan that included Chen Hanwen, Dai Li, and Chen Hua.
After work, Zeng Mo Yi stayed in the office, claiming she had to work overtime to organize files, so she could perfect her plan.
...
Meanwhile, Chen Hanwen was also thinking about where Dai Li might have hidden the list of 73 undercover agents. However, his approach was much simpler.
The Military Control Commission headquarters was large, but Chen Hanwen's personal space, which was the size of a basketball court, could cover a portion of it. Moreover, the Military Control Commission headquarters building was owned by Chen Hanwen, and the positions of all the guards, both visible and hidden, were transparent to him.
Chen Hanwen could easily use his spatial movement ability within the range of his personal space, quietly and unnoticed, to slip into the headquarters.
It was night, 2:00 AM.
Lin Tao, sleeping beside him, was already deeply asleep. Chen Hanwen quietly got up, activated his personal space, and in a few blinks, he was outside the Military Control Commission building.
The building was dark at this hour. Chen Hanwen first used his personal space to move to his own office, and then, using his spatial movement ability again, he instantly arrived at Dai Li's office, carefully observing the surroundings.
Dai Li's room was large, with an office on the outside and a small meeting room on the inside. There was also a small suite where he could rest when he couldn't go home.
Chen Hanwen entered the small meeting room inside, sat down on a chair, and began to think.
Dai Li was a suspicious person, he wouldn't trust anyone, so it was highly likely he kept the list in the office area.
Where could it be?
Chen Hanwen constructed a 3D image of Dai Li's room in his mind, beginning to think about the layout and structure of the room.
The list of 73 undercover agents was known to only a handful of people within the Military Control Commission, or perhaps only Dai Li himself. Given his personality, he would likely hide it somewhere extremely concealed, unknown to anyone but himself.
Where?
After much thought, Chen Hanwen thought of a portrait of Chiang Kai-shek... hanging opposite Dai Li's desk.
The current leader of the Kuomintang was still Sun Yat-sen, and the Three Principles of the People he proposed were still the guiding ideology of the Republic of China government. However, as a supporter of Chiang Kai-shek, Dai Li still had a portrait of Chiang Kai-shek hanging in his office.
The portrait depicted him in military uniform, holding a sword.
He did this to show loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek, which was understandable, but he should have hung the portrait behind him, side by side with Sun Yat-sen. Hanging it on the wall opposite his desk weakened its significance.
Could there be a secret compartment there?
Chen Hanwen considered this and decided to check. He got up from his chair in the small meeting room, and in a flash, he was in front of the portrait of Chiang Kai-shek. After inspecting it and finding no mechanism, Chen Hanwen carefully removed the portrait.
As expected, Dai Li had carved out a secret compartment on the back of the portrait. Inside, there was a safe, about a foot long, half a foot wide, and half a foot high.
The safe required both a password and a key to open, but this type of safe was a piece of cake for Chen Hanwen.
With a flick of his wrist, two pieces of wire appeared. He inserted them into the lock holes and leaned over the safe, manipulating the combination lock.
Dai Li's office was quiet, and Chen Hanwen's exceptional hearing allowed him to clearly hear the springs clicking inside the safe door. It took only a minute before he heard a 'click' - the password was correct. Then, Chen Hanwen inserted the two pieces of wire and the safe door opened. Inside, he found a notebook.
He wanted to pick it up and read it, but his sharp senses detected something amiss. He shone his flashlight on the notebook, and saw that a cross was tied around it with hair.
Chen Hanwen chuckled. As expected of old Dai, even such a concealed spot had an added layer of protection, and he even tied a bow with the hair. Dai Li really knew how to play.
Just as Chen Hanwen was about to untie the hair, he heard footsteps approaching from the end of the corridor outside.
There were three sets of footsteps, slow and steady... it was the patrol!
There was a small window about a foot square on Dai Li's door. If no one was in the office, the patrol team of three wouldn't enter Dai Li's office, but they could look into the room through the window. If someone entered, they would immediately press the alarm outside, so that the Military Control Commission's guards would surround the building immediately.
As for entering the room, that was out of the question! Only Dai Li could enter.
Chen Hanwen calmly closed the safe door, hung the portrait of Chiang Kai-shek back up, and with the help of his personal space, quickly teleported back to his office, still holding the black notebook in his hand.
Chen Hanwen pulled the thick curtains and turned on the desk lamp. People outside couldn't see anything inside. He carefully untied the bow on the notebook, remembering how the hair was tied, and set it aside. Then, he opened the notebook and began to read.