Just as Li Zhiqun was deep in thought, pondering the matter repeatedly, the telephone on his desk rang. Li Zhiqun suddenly came to his senses, got up, walked to his desk, and picked up the phone.
He quickly turned to Luo Xingchao and said, "It's Cui Yuanfeng on the phone, he's looking for you!"
Upon hearing this, Luo Xingchao stood up, took the microphone from Li Zhiqun, and asked in a deep voice, "What is it? What? Okay, take the photos to the director's office right now!"
After speaking, he put down the microphone. Li Zhiqun, who had overheard Luo Xingchao's conversation, asked, "What's going on?"
"Cui Yuanfeng discovered Hu Yunhe's image and photo; he appeared right in front of the department store!" Luo Xingchao's tone was somewhat fluctuating, clearly quite surprised.
Li Zhiqun's eyelids twitched involuntarily, and he quickly asked, "When did this happen?"
Luo Xingchao explained, "Just now, we took a lot of photos over the past few days, but because the developing process was too slow, a lot of negatives accumulated. He just developed a portion of them and found that Hu Yunhe's image was in one of the photos."
Developing photos in this era was quite tedious, involving chemical development, fixing, bleaching, and then washing and drying. The chemical solutions were particularly expensive, requiring a lot of cost and time. When enough negatives accumulated, it was indeed impossible to develop them all. Luo Xingchao had explained this reason to Li Zhiqun before.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and Li Zhiqun quickly ordered, "Come in!"
Hearing the sound, Cui Yuanfeng pushed open the door and entered, holding a photograph in his hand.
Li Zhiqun was anxious and asked directly, "Give it to me!"
Cui Yuanfeng quickly handed the photo to Li Zhiqun, who grabbed it and examined it closely.
The photo shows the entrance of a department store in the background, with the store's sign clearly visible. However, in one corner of the photo, a young man is seen hurrying away from the department store entrance, his face slightly turned to the side as he looks in another direction. The photo is fairly clear, and the man's face is clearly recognizable as Hu Yunhe himself!
Suddenly, a fierce glint flashed in Li Zhiqun's eyes, and he understood everything!
It turned out that Hu Yunhe had indeed visited the department store recently. When he saw the photos taken by the surveillance cameras on Luo Xingchao's desk, he immediately recognized them. Combined with the major breakthrough that Luo Xingchao had mentioned earlier, he naturally understood the situation of the surveillance operation.
Especially since Hu Yunhe had just entered this contact point and should have left behind images and photos, it goes without saying that exposure was inevitable and he could be arrested at any time. So he immediately declined Luo Xingchao's invitation and went to the Dahua Ballroom instead.
The Dahua Ballroom was a place he frequented every day. With its large number of customers and diverse clientele, it was an ideal place for transmitting intelligence and exchanging information. Therefore, he likely had accomplices there who could provide cover and assist his operations at any time.
In this dance hall, he could easily contact his accomplices, and after dark, he had his accomplices call Huang Lihui to warn him. At the same time, taking advantage of the chaos caused by his accomplices, he managed to get rid of his bodyguards and escape!
Yes, that must be it. The whole story has been figured out.
Hu Yunhe is the mole I've been searching for all along!
The more Li Zhiqun thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Given his suspicious nature, he wouldn't easily let Hu Yunhe off the hook if there was even the slightest hint of something suspicious. Moreover, all the suspicious points now pointed to Hu Yunhe, especially with the photos from the scene as evidence, which was irrefutable.
To be honest, even if Hu Yunhe were standing right in front of Li Zhiqun, he still wouldn't be able to explain himself clearly, let alone in this situation.
Li Zhiqun was burning with rage. Although he had been prepared that the mole must be one of his trusted confidants, otherwise he wouldn't know so much top-secret information, he was still so angry that he could hardly breathe when he actually found out the mole's identity.
He handed the photo to Luo Xingchao, shook his head, and said, "This bastard, his disguise is flawless. When he defected, he betrayed all his accomplices and even carried out the arrests himself. I never expected him to be so well hidden!"
Luo Xingchao took the photo, examined it carefully, and nodded, saying, "It is indeed Hu Yunhe, Director. This explains everything. He knew he would be exposed at any time, so he acted desperately and fled quickly after issuing the warning."
Li Zhiqun nodded emphatically, then turned to Cui Yuanfeng and asked, "When was this photo taken?"
Cui Yuanfeng bowed and replied, "It was at noon two days ago!"
"This is a major mistake!" Li Zhiqun shouted angrily, pointing at Cui Yuanfeng, clearly furious.
"If the surveillance personnel had recognized Hu Yunhe at the time, this major incident could have been completely avoided. They could have caught this mole in advance, so that neither of the two lines would have been lost. By following Hu Yunhe, they could have found the Shanghai Intelligence Section, and by following Huang Lihui, they could have found the Military Intelligence Bureau's Shanghai Station. This would have been the most important opportunity for our Special Agent Headquarters!"
But what about now? Everything's gone, all for naught!
I must severely punish Bi Wenxiang; this is dereliction of duty, a serious dereliction of duty!
Upon hearing Li Zhiqun's loud rebuke, Luo Xingchao and Cui Yuanfeng both stood up with bows, not daring to utter a single word.
Only after Li Zhiqun's emotions had calmed down a bit did Luo Xingchao say softly, "It is mainly my fault. Hu Yunhe took advantage of the situation and leaked important intelligence, which led to the failure of the operation. Please punish me, Director!"
Li Zhiqun looked at Luo Xingchao's self-criticism, opened his mouth, and finally shook his head, saying helplessly, "Xingchao, I'm not trying to criticize you, but as the saying goes, 'a kind heart cannot command an army.' You've been too protective of your subordinates. This operation is a lesson. Bi Wenxiang made several mistakes this time, and we cannot tolerate them. I think we should remove him from his position as head of the investigation section and give him a stern reprimand to see how he behaves."
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