Late at night in the early spring of 1939, the ancient city of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.

The dark night, as if the boundless black curtain shrouded the heavens and the earth, the dark clouds covered the moon, even the glimmer of the stars could not be seen, there was no noise and noise of the day, the city was surprisingly quiet, and the silent darkness filled every corner of the city.

At the corner of a compound in the central urban area, two figures flashed one after the other, close to the courtyard wall, and after listening for a while, they glanced at each other and nodded slightly.

One person was half-squatting, crossed his hands to set up the scaffold, and the other person raised his feet and stepped on the scaffold, and the two people used force at the same time, and a figure jumped on the wall lightly.

After the center of gravity of the forerunner stabilized, he reached out to borrow strength, and the latecomer jumped up vigorously, grabbed the arm of his companion, and turned over the wall with force, and at the same time supported his arm on the wall, and pushed his body forward two feet stiffly, unloading the gravity, and his feet fell to the ground silently.

The two of them were as agile as extremely dexterous raccoon cats, and the whole set of movements was like flowing water, as if they had been rehearsed thousands of times, and they turned over and entered the compound in an instant.

In the courtyard is a large, three-storey Western-style building, two people bent their waists to touch the front, one reached out to try the door of the front hall, turned his head and shook his head to his companions.

The companion signaled, and the two of them separated from the left and right, and looked at the windows around the first floor, but without exception, they all died from the inside, and no way to break in was found.

However, they were not surprised, one of them pulled a ball of rope from his waist, looked up at the open-air balcony on the third floor, tossed it gently, and then gently pulled back, and the steel claw at the end of the rope was already hanging on the railing of the open-air balcony.

After pulling the rope slightly hard, after making sure that it was firm, his body was vertical, his feet stepped on the wall, and his arms were forced, moving like a rabbit, and soon he came to the balcony, turned over and jumped, and entered the house.

One person remained, clinging to the wall, quietly waiting, ready to meet his companions and deal with the unexpected.

Not long after, on the balcony on the third floor, the figure reappeared, slid down the rope gently, landed on the ground, shook lightly with one hand, the rope was like a flexible long snake, gently threw an arc, the steel claw was disengaged, and fell down, the end of the rope accurately fell in the hand, coiled a few times around the waist.

The lookout looked at his companion, who nodded his head to indicate that the action was going well, so the two returned the way they came, and climbed over the wall again.

A small courtyard in the eastern urban area, the courtyard door was pushed open, Xu Chengyan and Ji Yun flashed in, bolted the courtyard door with their hands, and entered the room in a few steps, Xu Chengyan raised his hand to turn on the light, and the room suddenly became bright.

He came to the table, reached out and untied the rope from his waist, and gently placed it on the table, the slender rope was made of black soft linen, and the top of the rope was fixed with three steel claws that were curved like hooks, and the shape was very peculiar.

Picked up the teapot from the table, poured two bowls of warm tea, picked up one bowl by himself, drank a few sips, and sat on the chair, calming his nerves and recuperating his nerves.

Ji Yun sat on the opposite side, picked up another bowl of warm tea, drank a few sips and put it down.

Xu Chengyan spoke first: "This is the third target, but Kazuya Harada, who was assassinated today, is a senior advisor of the Xinmin Association, no more than the previous two, this movement is definitely not small, and the special high class will definitely intervene in the investigation, and the rumors will be tighter." ”

The "Xinmin Society" in Xu Chengyan's mouth was a special political organization established in the name of the puppet government of North China at the behest of the Japanese after the fall of North China.

At the beginning of the occupation, it was difficult for the Japanese to rule the occupied areas, and in the face of the rising armed resistance of the Chinese military and civilians, as well as the ideological resistance of the Chinese people, the Japanese military, which had limited troops, felt very troubled.

For this reason, the Japanese military changed its ruling measures and methods, pursued the policy of "using China to contain China," and established the "Xinmin Association" in North China by following the method of the puppet Manchurian "Concord Association" in Northeast China.

The main person in charge of it is the chief of the Japanese Special High School, Lieutenant General Keiji Tsuchihara.

The membership structure of the Xinmin Association is mainly composed of the Japanese as the main backbone, a large number of traitors as the grassroots personnel, and the North China puppet government as a whole, with the president as the supreme leader, that is, the head of the puppet government Wang Shulu as the president, and Keiji Tsuchihara as the general adviser, of course, this is just a cover-up approach, in fact, all the power of the Xinmin Association is under the control of Keiji Tsuchihara, and Wang Shulu is just a nominal president.

The organizational structure of the Xinmin Association is also very strict, and it has a central guidance department as a specific organization and guidance body for daily affairs, and its local organs are generally concurrently held by the heads of government departments of the puppet government.

Harada Kazu, who is also a senior adviser to the Taiyuan Xinmin Association, can be called a heavyweight, and among the three targets of Xu Chengyan's assassination, this person has the highest status.

Ji Yun snorted and said: "It's not a day or two since the wind is tight, as long as we are quick with our hands and feet and handle it cleanly, this huge Taiyuan City, with a population of hundreds of thousands, the nose of the Japanese is not so smart." ”

After speaking, he frowned, looked at Xu Chengyan, and asked, "We did it today, but we didn't say hello to Lao Ding, tomorrow Lao Ding is there, what will we say?" ”

"How?" The corners of Xu Chengyan's mouth rose, "Let's just tell the truth, we have completed the removal task, and I don't think he can say anything." ”

"That's it, I don't believe that he still dares to pick a bone in the egg," Ji Yun nodded and said, "Speaking of which, since the elimination operation, a total of four targets have been solved, and we have accounted for three of them, and the performance is obvious to all, and he still wants to touch our light, what is there to complain about?" I can see Lao Ding clearly, he is timid and afraid of things, afraid of the enemy like a tiger, I really don't know what the teacher thinks, such a person must also be called, if he was in southern Jiangsu, he would have been killed by the military justice department long ago! ”

Xu Chengyan frowned, waved his hand and said: "This can't be blamed on the teacher, he has been trapped in the headquarters of the Bureau all these years, has no real power, and has so much money in his hands. ”

Ji Yun obviously disagreed with Xu Chengyan's words, he straightened up, and his voice was a little higher: "Considerate? We are considerate of Him, and who will be considerate of us? The dignified lieutenant of the national army, who traveled thousands of miles from southern Jiangsu to Shanxi to lurk behind enemy lines with a single order, is it because we are his students that we can let us sacrifice our future and work for him?

I think that at the beginning, we also saved his life, and I still believed the love between teachers and students!

I thought that I came here, with the care of the teacher, I had to give an official and a half-job, which is good, just be a little intelligence officer, and be suppressed by people like Lao Ding, just because of the high rank, old qualifications, and the teacher's old department, this climbed to our heads......"

"Okay, okay, don't complain, the teacher has his own difficulties." Xu Chengyan's face suddenly sank, "It's the same everywhere you kill devils, and I warn you, don't complain about the teacher in front of anyone, people's hearts are unpredictable, take care of your mouth." ”

Seeing Xu Chengyan's serious expression, Ji Yun suddenly didn't dare to say anything, they were classmates, but also comrades-in-arms, and they knew each other very well.

He knows that his companion's temperament and temperament seem to be casual and gentle on the outside, but in fact he is introverted and deep, typical of the outside and the inside, stoic, and has a convincing temperament in his bones, so between the two people, Xu Chengyan has always been the leader.

Xu Chengyan also felt that his tone was a little heavy, his tone softened, and patiently explained: "It's all here, what's the use of complaining now?" Although the person is chosen by the teacher, and the adjustment order is issued by the headquarters, do we dare to disobey the order? Here, our only backer is the teacher, if we regenerate the dislike, I am afraid that it will be difficult to move an inch in the future. ”

"Of course I know this, that is, to talk to you." Ji Yun muttered a sentence in his mouth, he naturally listened to Xu Chengyan's words, in fact, he also knew that Xu Chengyan was also dissatisfied with this transfer, but the city government was far deeper than himself and never showed it.

"It's good that you know it in your heart," Xu Chengyan took out the pocket watch from his arms and looked at the time, "It's not too early, you go back, go to the library tomorrow to meet, and report the situation to Lao Ding." ”

Ji Yun nodded, got up and went out, Xu Chengyan followed, told him again, sent him out, and then closed the courtyard door and returned to the room.

I put away my tools and clothes and hid them, then I washed them briefly, and then I fell asleep in a daze after lying on the bed for a long time.

I don't know how long it took, in a trance, it seemed like I was back to that familiar scene...

Countless shells smashed into the position with a screeching sound that pierced the sky, and the flames exploded, causing a booming explosion, a huge shock wave tossing dirt and corpses into the air, and the pungent smell of gunpowder and disgusting blood filled the air.

The fire of Japanese heavy artillery and machine guns was rapid and intensive, and the Japanese air planes in the sky also roared, and at the same time, they cooperated with concentrated fire to attack the defensive positions, and the bullets fell down like a torrential rain, and the soldiers in the trenches fell to the ground one after another with blood splattered, and the screams of bitterness and pain were endless.

In a tunnel, there were countless corpses lying horizontally, with bandages on his head, and his face was covered with blood, Xu Chengyan was holding the body of a wounded person who was already bloody in his arms, looking very anxious.

"Makoto... Sincerely..."

The injured person was already dying, and he tried to spread out his palm, revealing a silver pocket watch inside, and stuffed it into Xu Chengyan's hand with all his last strength, and said intermittently: "They all... All sacrificed, the only members of the group are left with you and me, I... I can't do it anymore, take... Take it, and if you, you go back alive, give it back to the teacher for me......"

But before he finished speaking, his hanging hand hung down weakly, and he had stopped breathing.

"Zhenmin, Zhenmin..." Xu Chengyan was sad and indignant in his heart, holding the pocket watch in his hand, tears couldn't help but burst out of his eyes, and he called the names of his comrades-in-arms repeatedly, but he was powerless.

Then there was a barrage of artillery fire, explosions raging through the position, the earth shook, and a wave of heat mixed with dirt swept the two of them in it...

"Ahh

With an exclamation, Xu Chengyan suddenly turned over from the bed and sat up, only to feel that his back was soaked with sweat, his whole body was cold, and he was panting in his mouth, and he was frightened for a long time.

It's this nightmare again, the same scene, the same characters, for the past two years, lingering in the depths of memory.

When his mood calmed down, he took the pocket watch from the pillow, it was a Swiss pocket watch, all over rose gold, gently flicked open the case cover with his fingers, enamel dial, blue steel hands, the body with sparkling diamonds, with a gold bracelet, the shape is exquisite, at first glance it is a precious thing.

Xu Chengyan flipped the pocket watch, and on the back of the shell, there was also engraved a word "Yin", which was gently rubbed in his hand, recalling the dusty past again.