"Understood, I'll be careful!" Zhao Ziliang replied and hung up the phone.
Meanwhile, in a two-story villa in the Japanese concession of Hanghang City, Murakami Keita, who had just succeeded Kawamoto Kuraji as the leader of the Japanese intelligence forces in the Hanghang area, was extremely uneasy.
Since taking office, Keita Murakami has not placed his command post inside the Japanese consulate, believing that the consulate would attract too much attention. Instead, he chose a villa in the Japanese concession, which, although not as heavily guarded as the consulate, was discreet and inconspicuous.
His predecessor, Kawamoto Kuraji, died of illness in his bed less than three months after taking over the job, leaving him with many tasks he hadn't had time to complete.
Unlike other jobs, intelligence work involves many secrets known only to the head of intelligence. For example, the former head of the Special Higher Police, Kawamoto Kuraji, had high-ranking spies like Yan Yichun, nicknamed "Black Fox." Even the head of the intelligence team, Imai Yuji, was unaware of Yan's secret identity. Kawamoto Kuraji handed the secret over to his successor, Sagawa Taro, when he left office. If Kawamoto Kuraji hadn't revealed it, Sagawa Taro would never have known about the existence of Black Fox.
Therefore, if the handover cannot be carried out properly, many secrets will become permanent mysteries with the departure of the former.
This is the case with Murakami Keita. He knew that there must be several highly classified intelligence agents in the Hangzhou area, who were under the sole control of Kawamoto Kuraji. These people were not on the list in the safe. He had applied to the Special Higher Police Headquarters many times to establish new contact in order to regain control of these secret agents.
However, Taro Sagawa, the head of the Special Higher Police Section, rejected his request. Before the reasons for the defeat in Nanjing were truly investigated, he would not truly trust anyone, including Keita Murakami. For now, he was only temporarily letting Keita Murakami take charge of the daily intelligence work in the Hangzhou area. As a veteran agent, Keita Murakami keenly sensed the distrust hidden in his superior and became extremely annoyed.
At this moment, his subordinate Yoshimoto Makoto came in and reported to him: "Sir, since yesterday afternoon, all intelligence contacts outside the concession have been cut off. The liaisons I sent out have not been found. It's as if all five groups have suddenly disappeared. Something is wrong!"
Murakami Keita frowned. Just yesterday afternoon, he received news that several arrest operations had suddenly occurred in the Hangzhou area, suspected to be targeting Japanese spies.
Hangzhou was a rather special intelligence zone. The Japanese not only had secret agents undercover here, but Murakami Keita also had many Japanese agents under his command in the Japanese concession. He would sneak out of the Japanese concession to carry out activities. He did not rely entirely on those undercover agents, so he still had some understanding of the dynamics in the Hangzhou area.
Upon receiving the report, he immediately confirmed the presence of the intelligence teams, but to his horror, not a single intelligence team has responded so far.
This situation was extremely serious, something he had never experienced before in his espionage career. Suddenly, all five of his intelligence teams had disappeared, leaving him feeling as if he had become blind and deaf.
"Immediately send everyone out to find out the details, and I will investigate through other channels," Murakami Keita instructed.
"Yes, sir!" Yoshimoto Makoto nodded in agreement and quickly left.
Keita Murakami walked a few steps to the phone, hesitated for a moment, and finally took the phone and dialed.
"Takashima-kun, I need your help!" Murakami Keita said in a deep voice.
The call was to Colonel Kohei Takashima, the Japanese garrison in the Hangzhou concession.
The Japanese have been operating in Hangzhou for forty years, and their operations are far more complex than just those five intelligence groups. As the military commander stationed in Hangzhou for a long time, Kohei Takashima also has connections in the city and some hidden forces under his command. He can gather information through certain channels, even if they are not part of the same system. But now, Keita Murakami can't worry about that anymore. He has to mobilize all his resources to investigate the cause of the matter, otherwise he won't be able to explain it to the Shanghai Special Higher Police Headquarters.
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