He Yuan’s eyes sharpened, as if he had thought of something.
“The classified ads section of the ‘Haicheng Daily’…” This was an extremely important clue. In an era of underdeveloped communications, classified ads or specific sections of newspapers were often used for covert information transmission.
Moreover, on the island, there weren’t that many newspapers. Due to inconvenient travel, their most important sources of information were actually radios or the public broadcast system. Additionally, not many people were literate, and even those who were couldn’t necessarily decipher much from the newspapers.
That recycling materials person, named Old Qian, according to his file, came from a poor background and had little education. Wasn’t it suspicious for an uneducated person to be staring intently at a newspaper?
The mole never expected that a small, usual habit would expose him like this.
“Which specific day’s newspaper was it? Do you remember the approximate date?” He Yuan pressed immediately.
Ji Shuyu frowned, thinking hard. The research tasks were heavy that day; she started working right after arriving at the institute from home. But the experiment generated a lot of waste, so she had Old Qian handle it. The usually meticulous Old Qian spilled some water, and the assistant quickly grabbed paper towels. A stack of documents fell, and a newspaper slipped out. Old Qian took it away along with everything else.
It was the latest edition of the newspaper. The island basically received shipments every few months. Since the last one, it should have been about four months. Thinking of this, Ji Shuyu quickly told He Yuan, “It seems like… around March this year. I can’t remember the exact date, but I recall that issue had a missing person notice in the lower right corner.”
“That’s enough.” He Yuan stood up abruptly. “Zhao Qiang!”
Zhao Qiang, who had just arranged the interrogations, came running back.
“Immediately! Check all the old newspapers from the research institute from the last six months, focusing on the ‘Haicheng Daily.’ Find the issue from March this year with the missing person notice in the lower right corner!”
“Bring it to me immediately! Maintain confidentiality!” He Yuan spoke rapidly. After giving the order, he immediately sent someone to deliver this intelligence to colleagues conducting searches.
Although Zhao Qiang didn’t fully understand, he carried out the order without hesitation.
He Yuan’s heartbeat quickened. He felt they might have stumbled upon the mole’s communication method.
If information was truly being passed through newspaper ads, then Old Qian, now desperate to send out the intelligence, would likely still try to use a similar method. After all, the people outside wouldn’t know the current situation on the island and would only wait for the intelligence using the old methods.
He looked at Ji Shuyu, a flash of excitement in his eyes. “Shuyu, you’ve made a huge contribution!”
Ji Shuyu also understood and grabbed his hand nervously. “You mean, he might still try to transmit information by placing an ad in the newspaper?”
“Very likely. It’s one of their commonly used, relatively covert methods of long-distance communication,” He Yuan said gravely. “We must get ahead of him, crack this method before he uses it again, or… use it ourselves.”
Soon, Zhao Qiang returned with a stack of old newspapers and indeed found the one Ji Shuyu described. The March 15th issue of the ‘Haicheng Daily’ had a small triangular tear in the lower right corner, bearing the missing person notice.
He Yuan and Ji Shuyu immediately began carefully inspecting the classified ads section and the advertisement pages of the newspaper.
Soon, their gazes simultaneously locked onto an inconspicuous lost-and-found notice in the classified ads section of the March 15th newspaper.
“Lost: One silver Hero brand fountain pen, cap has a dent. Lost near Xishan Park on the afternoon of March 10th. Finder, please wait at the Xishan Park pavilion on Sunday at 3 PM. Substantial reward offered. Mr. Wang.”
The notice seemed utterly ordinary.
But both He Yuan and Ji Shuyu saw the problem.
Today was Saturday. Tomorrow was Sunday!
Xishan Park was in Haicheng, some distance from the island, but not unreachable. One could even get there by small boat.
“Sunday…” He Yuan’s finger tapped heavily on those two words, his eyes burning. “He’s likely still using this contact method and frequency. Tomorrow is Sunday.”
“But he’s trapped on the island now. How would he go?” Ji Shuyu asked, puzzled.
“He doesn’t need to go himself.” He Yuan’s mind raced. “He only needs to deliver the intelligence to a designated drop box, or have his accomplice in Haicheng retrieve it. And his method of delivering the intelligence…” He Yuan suddenly looked out the window. “Every Saturday afternoon, a supply ship leaves the island for Haicheng to transport garbage and some waste materials needing disposal. It returns in the early hours of the next morning.”
“Old Qian handles material recycling. He has every opportunity and reason to access that ship!”
Everything fell into place. The clues became clear.
He Yuan’s voice held barely suppressed urgency. “Zhao Qiang, take men immediately and secretly secure the garbage transport ship leaving the island tonight. Conduct a thorough search.”
“Focus on checking for suspicious items, hidden compartments, or if anyone has hidden anything onboard. This must be done absolutely covertly. Do not alert the enemy.”
“Yes, sir!” Zhao Qiang, also realizing the gravity of the situation, immediately turned and ran to arrange it.
He Yuan tightly grasped Ji Shuyu’s hand. “If our deduction is correct, Old Qian will likely try to send the intelligence via that ship tonight. This is our chance.”
Ji Shuyu’s heart tightened. “Can we catch him?”
He Yuan’s gaze was like a torch, looking out at the boundless dark night and the surging sea. “We’ve set a tight net, just waiting for him… to walk right into it.”
This was his only chance. His own supplies were also dwindling. Buying things at the supply cooperative required identity checks, and the islanders’ situations were being investigated door-to-door. If he couldn’t get the items out soon, not only would he be anxious, but the people outside would be even more so. Most importantly, He Yuan estimated that the food and drink Old Qian took when he fled must be running low.
So Old Qian’s top priorities now were, first, to immediately find supplies to sustain himself – after all, from his perspective, the military couldn’t keep expending this much manpower and resources just to search for him indefinitely. Second, to deliver the items as soon as possible and wait for his organization to find a way, perhaps to extract him.
But regardless of which, the current Old Qian was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
In the abandoned lookout post, Old Qian was indeed, as He Yuan predicted, carefully sealing a microfilm into a small, waterproof metal box. He planned to use his familiarity with the terrain after dark to sneak near the dock and mix the disguised metal box, made to look like scrap, into the garbage scheduled for transport that night.
This was the fastest method he could think of to get the intelligence out.
He licked his chapped lips, a flash of madness and hope in his eyes.
Unaware that an invisible net had quietly tightened, waiting for his next move.
The sea beneath the dark night rose and fell, like a wild beast that had already bared its fangs.
Leave a Reply