Chapter 1 Traces Exposed
1935.
On the second day of the second lunar month, Tianjin Wei.
The music of life reverberates in the streets and alleys. The shouts of vendors and the hustle and bustle of pedestrians are like threads, carefully woven into this picture of fireworks in the world.
The sun shone shyly from the gaps in the clouds, gently caressing the bluestones on the road, adding a touch of bright color to the busy and warm market scroll.
In a two-story building deep in the alley, Xu Qingyun, 20 years old, dressed in student uniform, stood silently in front of the window, his eyes like a deep ancient pool, staring silently out of the window.
"Come out."
Xu Qingyun stood up suddenly and stared out the window with his eyes as sharp as a hawk. A figure appeared in the yard diagonally opposite. It was the target of his arrest, the gangster Hu Qi.
A month ago, Xu Qingyun entered the Tianjin Police Station and was appointed as the acting squad leader as soon as he arrived. This task today is very important to him. After completing this task, the word "agent" on his head can be removed.
"I'll go over and wait."
Zuo Jinfang, who was standing behind Xu Qingyun, immediately went downstairs. He was Xu Qingyun's fellow villager and a former tenant of the Xu family. He was loyal and reliable.
Xu Qingyun stood in the backlight and continued to observe.
Hu Qi washed his face in the yard, wandered for a while, and finally walked out. Xu Qingyun watched him leave secretly.
At this time, Zuo Jinfang had arrived at the corner where the two alleys were connected. Their entire class was there, waiting for Hu Qi to come over and throw himself into the trap.
"Bang."
As soon as Xu Qingyun arrived downstairs, he heard the banging of sticks not far away, and quickly came to the ambush. Hu Qi had been pinned to the ground by seven or eight people, and they were tying ropes to him.
"Brother Qingyun, we caught him. It's Hu Qi. He has a gun on him, a box gun." Zuo Jinfang reported happily, holding the found trophies in his hand.
"Okay, put on the hood and escort him back."
Xu Qingyun nodded lightly. Hu Qi was burdened with more than a dozen murder cases, including their police.
Four years ago, Japanese spies committed a murder in Tianjin that shocked the world in order to pick up an important figure in the puppet regime.
A plainclothes spy team composed of more than 2,000 bandits, bullies, soldiers and other ragtag groups, filled with madness and greed, suddenly swarmed out of the Japanese Concession like locusts.
The thugs held all kinds of murderous weapons in their hands, cutting people and robbing everything they saw. Hu Qi was one of the thugs. The police station wanted him for many years. Today, the executioner was finally arrested.
Back at the police station, Hu Qi was taken directly into the torture room.
"Hu Qi, do you know where this place is?"
In the interrogation room, the lights were dim and cold. Xu Qingyun sat in front of the interrogation table, looking directly at Hu Qi who was hanging opposite.
The hood was taken off, Hu Qi looked around, raised his head very high, and said nothing.
Xu Qingyun glanced at him and said calmly: "Give him some food."
Screams suddenly rang out in the torture room. There were many torture tools, including whips, soldering irons, tiger benches, etc.
After an hour of torture, Hu Qi was already dying. When he pricked his nails half an hour ago, he couldn't bear it anymore and admitted the fact that he committed murder four years ago.
It's a pity that Xu Qingyun didn't intend to let him go like this. At Xu Qingyun's signal, several people pressed Hu Qi on the tiger bench and took off his clothes and shoes. The bare soles of the feet are also a place of punishment. If a person is ticklish, just scratching the soles of the feet can make his life worse than death.
Xu Qingyun suddenly stood up and came to the opposite side of Hu Qi.
What he was looking at was Hu Qi's bare feet.
Xu Qingyun's soul comes from later generations. He is a nationally famous footprint expert. He can determine gender, body shape and other conditions by observing footprints. This unique skill has attracted the attention of the police, and he has cooperated with the police to solve many serious cases.
People can be judged by their footprints, and clues can also be found by looking at their feet.
Noticing the slight mark on the seam between Hu Qi's thumb and foot, Xu Qingyun's eyes twitched unnaturally.
There are obvious strangulation marks in the seams of the feet, and the gaps are slightly larger. Xu Qingyun has seen many such marks. Most people who like to wear flip-flops are like this. However, flip-flops are not popular in China at this time. Those with this style are Some straw sandals and clogs.
He could conclude that the marks on Hu Qi's feet were caused by wearing clogs for a long time, and they were Japanese clogs.
Xu Qingyun was a footprint expert in his previous life. He was not only proficient in footprints, but also had extensive research on other types of traces.
Especially the Japanese, with the advancement of technology in later generations, Tokyo is very hot, people there wear less clothes, and it is super clear, so they can see clearly. Xu Qingyun has summed up a lot of experience about funnels.
Japanese clogs are slightly smaller in size, and the heel part is raised and short. Such clogs look more delicate, but if worn for a long time, they will leave diagonal marks on the back of the feet, which is not the case in China.
There are such oblique marks on Hu Qi's heels, marks that will take at least twenty years to leave.
Xu Qingyun was thoughtful, there was a problem with Hu Qi's identity.
He is not Chinese, he is Japanese.
What kind of Japanese would conceal themselves and pretend to be Chinese?
There is only one answer, Japanese agents, or Japanese spies.
As for whether he was a Chinese who had lived in Japan for a long time, Xu Qingyun didn't even think about it. He wanted everyone to know about his experience studying in Japan these days, not to mention that Hu Qi was a fierce gangster.
At this moment, Hu Qi's legs were being raised, and bricks were added to his feet. In this way, all the force of contraction would be concentrated on the leg joints. This is where the greatest pain of the tiger bench punishment comes from. In severe cases, the kneecaps can be directly broken. After three bricks, Zuo Jinfang asked someone to place the fourth brick. Hu Qi let out a miserable howl and kept begging for mercy, but did not mention his true identity at all.
Xu Qingyun suddenly stood up and came to Hu Qi. His tone was calm but unquestionable: "You are very good and you disguise yourself very well, but do you really think that arresting you this time is just for the things you committed before?"
"What's the meaning?"
Hu Qi's heart was suddenly shocked, and his expression was slightly startled, but he soon returned to normal.
Zuo Jinfang and others looked at Xu Qingyun in confusion, wondering why the squad leader asked this. Xu Qingyun stared at Hu Qi: "Tell me, why are you pretending to be Chinese? What is your mission when you come back this time?"
The shock in his eyes flashed quickly, but he could not hide it from a footprint expert who was good at details. Xu Qingyun's guess was correct. Hu Qi was not only a pure Japanese, but also a hidden Japanese spy. He returned to Tianjin this time is to perform an important task.
"I couldn't survive outside, so I came back."
Hu Qi replied dying, still not admitting it, and pretending to be the same. Just looking at his appearance, many people would think that he was telling the truth.
"Jin Fang, you go to the headquarters and ask my brother to come. Don't call, just go directly."
Xu Qingyun ignored him. Hu Qi was a Japanese spy, not an ordinary gangster. This case was beyond the authority of his small team leader, and he had to have more powerful people to support him.
"yes."
Zuo Jinfang took the order and left. Xu Qingyun raised his hand and signaled his men to continue raising the bricks under Hu Qi's feet.
"ah……"
When Hu Qi's legs were raised high, the severe pain made him unable to help but moan again.
There was a crisp "click" sound, and Hu Qi's kneecap finally couldn't bear it anymore and shattered on the spot. Big beads of sweat flowed from Hu Qi's forehead. Suddenly his head tilted and he passed out.
"Walk him awake."
Xu Qingyun ordered, and several of his men were slightly startled. They immediately took out the bucket and filled it with ice water, which instantly woke up the unconscious Hu Qi.
"Go on, give him a rank."
Xu Qingyun's voice was as cold as ice, without any emotion, but several of his subordinates trembled in their hearts.
They didn't expect that the young agent's methods were so ruthless. Everyone started to move, and every movement was extremely quick and careful, for fear of negligence.
Xu Qingyun joined the Tianjin Police Department a month ago, but he became the squad leader entirely because of his cousin Xu Qingshi.
The Tianjin Police Department is divided into three brigades, one directly under the cavalry brigade. Xu Qingshi is the captain of the most important brigade and the director's confidant. He has five squadrons and more than 600 people under his command.
It is not difficult to be a supervisor with such a relationship, but he needs credit to stabilize his position. As a descendant, Xu Qingyun understands the importance of Chaoyang people very well. He arranged several informants soon after time travel. The appearance of Hu Qi is the informant. Information provided.
Tie Jiaguan's strong sense of suffocation and pain on his body made Hu Qi tremble all over, his whole body was wet with sweat, and he fainted again after a while.
After falling into coma several times in a row and before Zuo Jinfang came back, Hu Qi finally couldn't hold on any longer.
"Stop, I said, I said it all."
After taking a breath, Hu Qi finally confessed: "My real name is Yamashita Junshan, codename is Black Niu, and I am a member of the Operations Section of the Manchuria Railway Intelligence Division. This time I was ordered to return to Tianjin to cooperate with the people of the Intelligence Section to carry out an operation."
It turned out to be a Japanese spy. Xu Qingyun narrowed his eyes and continued to ask: "How many of you are here and what mission are you performing?"
"Three. It didn't say what the specific mission was. It just told me that after I arrive in Tianjin, people from the Intelligence Division will contact me and let me do what they ask for."
Hu Qi breathed heavily. He had undergone painful training, but the intensity was completely incomparable to what he was doing now. This young man knew how to measure his limits and never used fatal punishments. He always kept him hovering on the edge of life and death. Such punishments were really harsh. Too painful.
"Where are those two people? How did you contact the people from the Intelligence Department?"
"I have arranged for the two of them to stay in a small town outside the city. I will pick them up after I get the specific operational mission. The person who contacted the Signal Intelligence Section will notify me in the newspaper, the content is..."
Hu Qi explained very thoroughly that he was a special agent of the Operations Section of the Manchurian Railway Intelligence Office. Because he was proficient in the Chinese language, he started working as a Chinese eight years ago.
As soon as Hu Qiqi finished explaining, Zuo Jin ran in conveniently, and then another person followed him into the torture room.
"Brother, you are here."
Seeing the person behind Zuo Jinfang, Xu Qingyun stood up immediately. The person who came in was about thirty years old. He had a pair of steady eyes under his neat short hair, exuding a calm and unhurried temperament.
"I heard that you caught a wanted criminal?"
Xu Qingshi smiled and replied, "My brother is good. He found the clues for this case himself and successfully arrested the person. With this achievement, his acting team leader can definitely correct the situation."
"You take a look at the confession first."
Hu Qi has not signed yet, but this does not affect Xu Qingshi's understanding of the situation.
Xu Qingshi took the written confession and was slightly startled when he saw the name. What Xu Qingyun captured turned out to be the gangster Hu Qi?
Hu Qi had killed their policeman and was an important wanted criminal. Catching him was of great significance.
He continued to read, and not long after, he suddenly froze there, his eyes filled with shock, and he looked at Xu Qingyun in disbelief.
(End of chapter)