At seven o'clock in the morning, inside the safe house where Zhang Pei was hiding in the north of the city!
"Slap!" A loud slap!
Shen Le, director of the Nanjing Investigation Office of the Central Party Affairs Investigation Department, stared at Duan Xingzhou, the action team leader in front of him, with a livid expression.
"Isn't Zhang Pei's safety your responsibility? Now give me an explanation!" Shen Le roared.
Then he asked loudly, "When was it discovered?"
With the handprint still clearly imprinted on his face, Duan Xingzhou hunched over, covering half his face with his hand, and answered tremblingly, "At six o'clock this morning, I called Zhang Pei, but no one answered the phone. I felt something was wrong, and when I rushed over with my men, all three of them were already dead!"
At this moment, the intelligence officers who had been busy nearby finally had their results. Wen Hao, the leader of the third intelligence team, stepped forward and reported: "Chief, the bodies have all been examined. They all had broken necks. The operative in the living room had his neck broken from front to back, while the operative in the bedroom and Zhang Pei had their necks broken from left to right!"
"What's the difference?" Shen Le asked in a deep voice.
"Breaking an opponent's neck from front to back is a common technique used by martial arts masters in the martial arts world."
Breaking an opponent's neck from the side is a common technique in military combat, especially used by specially trained spies and agents when ambushing the enemy from the side!
"What do you mean?" Shen Le asked, seemingly understanding.
"If I'm not mistaken, the murderer was probably a江湖人士 (jianghu person, someone involved in the martial arts world) in his early years, and later joined the army, where he learned close combat techniques," Wen Hao stated his judgment.
As the head of the intelligence group of the Nanjing Party Affairs Investigation Office, Wen Hao had rich experience in struggle. He was also a skilled fighter with excellent physical abilities. In addition, he was shrewd and clear-headed, making him one of Shen Le's capable assistants.
His judgment on the cause of death was very accurate, but he got the chronological order wrong.
Ning Zhiheng first learned military combat techniques at the army academy. After that, in the last two months, he practiced Xingyi Quan with Sun Jiacheng, which included a deadly move to break an enemy's neck.
However, this cannot be blamed on Wen Hao. It's common for people in the martial arts world to join the army, and very few soldiers actually receive a government salary while serving in the military; instead, they lose their jobs to join the martial arts world. Based on this common sense, Wen Hao made the above judgment.
"Any other discoveries?" Shen Le asked.
"The perpetrator was an experienced criminal. He must have cleaned up the scene afterward, leaving almost no trace. The only trace found was a scratch mark made by a sharp weapon on the window of a guest room on the first floor."
Based on the condition of the body, we made a preliminary judgment!
Between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. today, the murderer broke into the safe house, pried open the window of the first-floor guest room, entered the apartment, first attacked the action team members in the first-floor living room, then went upstairs to the room opposite the stairwell, where he killed another action team member, and finally went to Zhang Pei's room and killed him in the same way.
All three had broken necks and showed no signs of struggle, indicating that they were attacked suddenly in their sleep. The perpetrator acted swiftly and decisively, leaving them no chance to resist.
Afterwards, the killer calmly and methodically erased all traces. This was a killer with exceptional mental fortitude!
Wen Hao perfectly reconstructed the scene of Ning Zhiheng's actions. His judgment of the situation almost perfectly matched Ning Zhiheng's actions, proving himself to be one of the top detectives in the Central Party Affairs Investigation Department.
"Can you figure out the killer's motive? Could it be that the underground Communist Party is carrying out a kill order against Zhang Pei?" Duan Xingzhou, who had been standing by without daring to interrupt, finally couldn't help but ask.
"Foolish! Zhang Pei didn't show up after his arrest. It wasn't until the Ma Hong case that he made contact with the Red Party's underground contact. That contact was too badly injured and died as soon as he arrived at the Military Intelligence Investigation Department. The underground party couldn't possibly have known about Zhang Pei during this time! So where did this kill order come from!" Shen Le glared at Duan Xingzhou unhappily. This idiot, he has no brains at all, and is completely useless!
As soon as Duan Xingzhou opened his mouth, he was scolded by the director and immediately dared not say anything more. He obediently shut his mouth and hid to the side.
Shen Le was also having a headache. Zhang Pei was just about to be put to use when he was attacked and killed. The candidate to infiltrate the underground party had to be reselected!
Oh no, if the murderer wasn't after Zhang Pei, then what was his motive? It was that file! It was Wu Quanjiang's file!
Shen Le was startled. He finally realized something was wrong and quickly asked Wen Hao, "Did you find a document bag during the search? It contains important documents!"
Completely bewildered by Shen Le's persistent questioning, Wen Hao quickly replied, "No! I didn't find any document bag!"
"Search again immediately, especially Zhang Pei's bedroom. Check carefully and don't overlook any clues!" Shen Le ordered loudly.
Upon hearing the order, everyone immediately sprang into action. Soon after, Wen Hao reported again, "Director, we really couldn't find the document bag!"
Shen Le's last shred of hope was finally shattered. Wu Quanjiang was the highest-ranking member of the Nanjing underground Communist Party they had discovered so far. Fourteen days ago, when Shen Le learned that they had found a high-ranking leader of the Nanjing Provincial Committee of the Red Party underground, he was overjoyed!
Originally, we wanted to arrest him immediately. If everything went smoothly, it would be fine if he confessed, but if he could destroy the Nanjing Provincial Committee of the underground Communist Party, it would be a huge achievement!
However, underground party members of this level must be the backbone of the Red Party, die-hard elements!
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