This was like a pledge of allegiance; it made a good first impression on Commander Ning, making things easier from the start.
"How did you find out about these things?" Ning Zhiheng felt he needed to ask about the specifics.
“We already had some records on file at the police station, so I took Yanqing and two other colleagues and went under the guise of checking household registrations,” Liu Datong said with no small amount of pride.
This was his idea: to enter the house openly and legitimately as a police officer to conduct the inspection, without arousing any suspicion.
"Are your two colleagues reliable?" Ning Zhiheng pressed.
“We’re all brothers, we’ve looked after each other in the police station for years, he’s very reliable. The investigation will definitely not get out.” Liu Datong knew what Ning Zhiheng was worried about, and quickly replied.
Ning Zhiheng nodded. For such a confidential matter, someone as clever as Liu Datong wouldn't seek help from outsiders; he must be someone trustworthy.
"So, did you interview these few households individually, or did you interview all the households in the vicinity?" Ning Zhiheng asked again.
“Well, if we were to investigate everything, there definitely wouldn’t be enough time. We only investigated a portion of them, since the rest were just for show. We focused our main efforts on these nine households,” Chen Yanqing replied from the side.
Ultimately, some problems arose. The household registration check wasn't conducted in its entirety; only a portion of the households were checked. This situation itself was abnormal.
If Japanese spies were sufficiently vigilant, they might have alerted the enemy.
“I’m not blaming you, after all, we have limited manpower and time is tight. It’s already very good that you were able to deliver this record.” Ning Zhiheng waved his hand, interrupting what he was about to say: “However, there are loopholes after all, so hopefully the situation is not as bad as we think.”
He patted the records in his hand and analyzed, "Seven of these nine households keep potted flowers, and six of those seven households keep roses. After all, roses are the most common flower in Nanjing, so it's not surprising!"
Of these six households, four were families living together, with a considerable number of people in each household. Logically, it would be best for a spy to live alone.
This makes things much easier, and we don't have to worry about others leaking secrets. Of course, it's not to say that these four households are without suspicion, but we're pressed for time, so we can only investigate the most suspicious targets first.
The remaining two households are suspicious. One is inhabited by a single woman, a dancer. Is the information accurate?
Liu Datong turned his gaze to Liu Yong, who was standing to the side. Ning Zhiheng understood that Liu Yong should be the one to report the remaining details.
The household registration check was handled by police officers Liu Datong and Chen Yanqing. The remaining tasks should be Liu Yong's forte, given his street-smart lifestyle. Otherwise, Liu Datong wouldn't have brought him along today.
Liu Yong felt a little nervous under Ning Zhiheng's gaze, so he quickly stood up and replied, "This dancer is from Shanghai. She came to Nanjing a year ago. I checked with the Le Xiaoyao Club, and the information is true."
Ning Zhiheng nodded. If the situation was true, then her suspicion was greatly reduced. After all, the profession of a dancer meant that she was unlikely to have access to important intelligence.
The mole's public identity should facilitate access to intelligence and minimize intermediate steps in the process of transmitting intelligence.
That leaves only one resident!
"You didn't see this last resident?" Ning Zhiheng waved the notebook.
"Yes, No. 402 Beihua Street. This tenant is renting. The landlord's registered name is Wang Yunfeng, a man in his early thirties."
Ning Zhiheng continued reading the record: "Medium height, strong build, occupation: dentist?"
“Yes, these are all the information provided by the landlord. Wang Yunfeng himself said he is a dentist. But there’s a problem: he’s never home when the landlord comes to collect the rent. In the end, Wang Yunfeng paid the rent himself. The landlord also said that Wang Yunfeng is an honest person,” Liu Datong continued to explain.
“A dentist’s income must be quite good, so he must be particular about where he chooses to rent. At the very least, he won’t care too much about the rent price, but rather whether it’s convenient to live there.” Ning Zhiheng pondered for a moment, slowly piecing together some clues.
"The reason he chose apartment 402 is probably because it's not far from his workplace and has convenient transportation. Are there any dental clinics near this apartment?" Ning Zhiheng asked.
Seeing Ning Zhiheng's questioning gaze, Liu Yong quickly replied, "There's only one dental clinic on the entire Beihua Street. It's not a big storefront, but the dentist is an old man who's almost sixty. We all know him, so this doesn't match up!"
"How do you know he has potted roses at home when you haven't even seen him?" Ning Zhiheng suddenly realized something was wrong.
“The landlord had a spare key, so we let him open the door and go in to check. We confirmed that there were potted roses in the house,” Chen Yanqing replied casually, not finding anything amiss.
Based on the information available so far, Ning Zhiheng believes that Wang Yunfeng is the most likely candidate.
First, he's a single man, and he wasn't home every time the landlord called to collect rent. This indicates he spends very little time at home, which is typical of a mole, since it's just a communication point.
Before delivering the intelligence, you just need to come to this rented room and place the potted flowers on the windowsill. After delivering the intelligence, you can come back and take the flowers down.
I would never stay in this place for long, much less live here; it would be too dangerous.
Secondly, the identity doesn't match; at the very least, there are no dentists in the nearby dental clinics who match his description. This suggests that the identity he registered is likely fake.
"Have you asked his neighbors what time of day they usually see him?" Ning Zhiheng asked.
"I asked around, and people move around a lot these days. Some people move away before they even have a chance to get to know him. His neighbors said they've never seen him before and have no recollection of him!" Liu Datong said helplessly.
Even the neighbors had never seen him, which suggests that he deliberately avoids others when he comes and goes, making him even more suspicious.
If Wang Yunfeng is indeed a Japanese spy, then his act of letting the landlord open the door and enter the house today was somewhat rash.
Because a truly trained spy would not be able to remain unaware of someone entering their home.
In particular, Liu Datong and his team were not professional searchers, and they did not deliberately clean up any traces of their entry into the house.
Wang Yunfeng only needed to make some specific marks on the key parts of the doors and windows, such as a strand of hair stuck in the door or window, the placement of key items, etc.
These seemingly insignificant details and subtle changes would alert him to the fact that someone had entered apartment 402. He would then have no choice but to flee immediately to escape danger.
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