Six hours later.
The Secret Service was brightly lit.
Zuo Zhong walked out of the interrogation room with a solemn look and rolled down his blood-stained cuffs. After the interrogation for such a long time, Ren Guanglin remained silent and refused to admit the accusation of espionage.
He didn't even know anything about his relationship with Pang Chong, the boss called the boss, and the truth about the deaths of Su Zifu and the 15 officials. He was determined to be a loyal minister of Tian Locust.
Gu Qi, who followed him out, held the confession and marveled: "Deputy Director, we have come into contact with many Japanese spies, but this is the first time we have seen a guy with such a tough attitude."
"The Japanese are not vegetarians. We have warriors who are not afraid of life and death, and others are certainly not lacking. Okay, no more nonsense. I will go back to Ren Guanglin's house to have a look." Zuo Zhong stretched his waist.
"Deputy Director, do you want a trial here?"
"Continue, don't give the other party a chance to rest."
"Yes, I understand."
The two of them discussed it, and Gu Qi ordered a team of guards to go back to work, while Zuo Zhong drove Jian Cong to the vicinity of Baixia Road, hoping to find clues related to the case from the target's residence.
When he arrived at his destination, he asked the driver to wait in the car. He walked to the second floor alone and said hello to the police guarding the scene. He put on shoe covers and gloves, pushed the door open on tiptoes and walked in.
The place remains as it was when they left. The police would never dare to enter the scene of the espionage case privately without orders from the Secret Service. These veterans know the seriousness of this matter better than anyone else.
"Ding-deng-deng..."
Zuo Zhong turned on the light and took out the pen from his pocket, and carefully knocked on all the walls. The previous inspection by the Operations Section agents was relatively short, so there might be some oversights.
He checked every corner, behind every piece of furniture, and all the corners that were normally difficult to reach. The result was no different, and he still didn't find any hidden compartments.
This is a bit strange. Japanese spies are different from intelligence officers in European and American countries. Most of them serve military purposes and basically carry guns for killing or committing suicide.
So where are Ren Guanglin's weapons, including the false documents and disguise supplies used during operations and retreats? It seems that he is either an exception or has another safe house.
Some guesses flashed through Zuo Zhong's mind, and he stepped on the floor according to the search procedures. In the end, he found nothing. He stood in the middle of the living room and frowned. After a long time, he turned his attention to the shoe cabinet.
He walked slowly over, knelt down and opened the cabinet door, and eight or nine pairs of various pairs of shoes appeared in front of him, which was a bit too much for a man, especially in this era.
Unlike later generations where shoes had fashion attributes, shoes at this time were just tools. For an average man, four or five pairs would be enough. Why would Ren Guanglin buy so many shoes for his home?
Do you appreciate it?
Or a hobby?
Considering that Ren Guanglin is a Japanese spy, a more reasonable explanation is that the other party needs to dress up to represent different identities, and these shoes are part of the disguise tools.
Zuo Zhong picked up a pair of thousand-layer cloth shoes and weighed them. These shoes are very comfortable, light and non-slip, keep warm in winter, breathable and sweat-absorbent in summer. They are common shoes for many people in Jinling. He also has two pairs.
And because they have a quiet walking sound and no sole patterns, they are very popular among grassroots intelligence personnel. Of course, it may also be because cloth shoes are cheap and little agents have no money to buy leather shoes.
He turned the cloth shoes over in his hand and paid close attention to the soles. Sometimes the soil or other residues carried on the soles could tell a lot of things. Unfortunately, the soles of this pair of shoes were very clean.
Also, Japanese spies would not be so careless.
Zuo Zhong put the cloth shoes aside and took out the remaining shoes one by one for inspection. He also found nothing. The soles of the shoes had all been carefully cleaned. Ren Guanglin acted very cautiously.
He touched his chin, glanced in the direction of the door, stood up and locked the door. He took out his mobile phone and turned on the flashlight to shine into the depths of the shoe cabinet. The focus of his observation was the dark places hiding dirt and evil.
The best flashlight brightness is about 5 to 10 lumens, and the mobile phone flashlight has at least 30 lumens. The difference in lighting brightness will make it easier for him to notice the details that Ren Guanglin has overlooked.
The light illuminated the shoe cabinet. The horizontal panels were spotless and had obviously been wiped. However, Zuo Zhong lay on the ground and saw a half-dried leaf stuck in the gap between the bottom horizontal panel and the back panel.
This location was very hidden. Unless you were observing like him, it would be difficult to find it. Could this be an effective clue? He calmly pulled it out slowly so as not to destroy the evidence.
Holding the leaf in the palm of his hand, Zuo Zhong looked at it carefully for a while and found that the leaf was broadly oval in shape, with sharp serrations on the edges, almost hairless on both sides, and darker in color on the front. It seemed like a rose leaf.
Rose, this plant is not only liked by the Chinese, but also by the Japanese. It was introduced to Japan during the Song Dynasty. The Japanese named it Gengshen rose, which means the rose that blooms every other month.
So, has Ren Guanglin recently been to a place where roses are planted? This clue is too broad and has no practical significance. There are not a thousand, but also eight hundred places with roses in Jinling City.
Such as Xuanwu Lake and Tangshan.
There are a large number of roses in these two places. Every year during the flowering season, many citizens come to enjoy the flowers. The Secret Service cannot investigate all these places. It would have to go back to the 38th year of the Republic of China.
The only valuable thing is judging from the freshness of the leaves. It is estimated that this leaf has only fallen for two to three days. If we can trace Ren Guanglin's recent whereabouts, we may gain something.
While Zuo Zhong was thinking, he put the leaves under the light and looked at them repeatedly. A few grains of black soil at the bottom of the leaves caught his attention. When did Jinling have soil of this color?
The Secret Service has collected a soil survey report on Jinling from the Central University, which clearly states that most areas of Jinling are yellow-brown soil, with a small area of red soil in the south bordering Hui Province.
The reason goes back millions of years. At that time, Jinling was an ancient tropical area. After long-term rain erosion, many compounds in the soil were washed away, but some were not easy to dissolve.
These insoluble compounds will naturally crystallize into pellets. This is the original form of yellow-brown soil and red soil. There has never been black soil in Jinling and its surrounding areas.
So, where does black soil come from?
Where did Ren Guanglin get it?
Zuo Zhong took out his record book, sandwiched the leaves and soil, and put it back into his pocket. He then stood up and looked puzzled. All the black soil in the Republic of China was in the Northeast, which is now occupied by the Japanese.
Could it be that Ren Guanglin met with his accomplices from the Northeast these days and accidentally stepped on the black soil brought by this person's feet? He thought about it and quickly ruled out this possibility. This was unrealistic.
Not to mention how difficult it is to bring soil thousands of miles away to Jinling with the soles of shoes, the Secret Service's close surveillance of Northeast personnel makes it impossible for the cautious Ren Guanglin to take the risk of running to contact him.
Impossible due to natural causes,
Could that be an unnatural factor?
Zuo Zhong thought of humus soil. This artificial soil is not imported from Europe and the United States, but is a derivative of flowers and plants planted by ancient Chinese literati. It is now used in many places.
For example, flower beds for cultivating seedlings, gardens of wealthy people, flower beds in public places, and even small potted plants will have a layer of nutrient-rich soil to allow the plants to grow smoothly.
In this way, two criteria can be summarized. One is that humus soil is used in a certain place, and the other is that roses are planted there. Although the scope is still a bit large, it is better than finding a needle in a haystack.
After restoring the scene, he turned off the lights and left Ren Guanglin's residence, got in the car and returned to the Secret Service. After consideration, he decided to let Song Minghao and Wu Jingzhong, who were monitoring Yang Changqing, allocate part of their manpower to search.
Compared to Wu Chunyang, who was monitoring multiple suspicious officials, their work intensity was a little lower. They didn't need to put all their hands together and could just check for clues about the humus soil along the way.
But what he didn't expect was that not long after the order was conveyed, Song Minghao rushed back to Hong Gong Temple alone, cowered his head and reported something. After hearing this, Zuo Zhong became furious.
"What, there is a flower garden outside the wall of Yang Changqing's house. There is a large area of roses and humus soil. Song Minghao, Song Minghao, what do you do for food? Can't you even look at one person?"
Based on the current situation, it is very likely that Ren Guanglin met Yang Changqing in the flower garden, and he was surrounded by the Secret Service. This is the biggest shame since the establishment of the Secret Service.
Since when did their secret service become the same as the secret service headquarters? Enemies can come and leave whenever they want. If that bastard Xu Enzeng knew about this, I'm afraid even Da Ya would laugh.
Faced with Zuo Zhong's thunderous wrath, Song Minghao explained sadly: "Deputy Director, Lao Wu and I really weren't careless this time. The neighbors around the target have done the most stringent background checks.
The garden is in the name of a Jinling local. He and his family are in normal condition, and they have not lost contact with relatives and friends like the Pang family you reported, so we don't care. "
He felt that he and Wu Jingzhong were really unjustly accused of opening the door to an unjust case - they were so unjustly accused that since they took on this espionage case, they had not been home for many days and were focused on work.
Who would have thought that the target was so cunning and unexpectedly set up a secret joint next door. This was completely inconsistent with the behavioral logic of intelligence work and caught the two of them off guard.
"Strict ass!"
After listening to his words, Zuo Chongyu couldn't get rid of his anger, and he slapped the desk hard: "You will not find the problem until Yang Changqing runs away, and quickly gather people to prepare for action.
Arrest the Yang Changqing family immediately. This matter cannot be delayed any longer. If the other party knows that Ren Guanglin was arrested last night, they will probably evacuate. If they escape, Old Song, you will be in big trouble. "
"Yes, I'll go now."
Song Minghao ran out and was stopped again when he reached the door. Zuo Zhong asked him to go to Renxin Hospital to see if Gui Youguang had recovered. He was really worried because there was no operational expert to take charge of the operation.
