The third detective approached and took a closer look at the basement to see if there was an exit.

"How," the white-haired detective asked.

"There are two exits, but they are all blocked"

"What is it plugged with?"

"Bricks"

"Is there a lot of dust?"

"No, it's the same over there, it's full of broken stones, and there's no dust."

"So say it, there is not the slightest trace"

"What will be the marks on the rubble?"

"Just in case, let's go check again"

They walked over together, talking in whispers, occasionally shining flashlights into the dusty corners of the dark basement depths. The corners are littered with broken bricks and beams. The white-haired detective stopped and pulled a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Wait a minute," he said, "I'm lighting a cigarette."

He stood on a ribbed iron lid.

The operator heard several policemen standing overhead. They could be heard talking, but they couldn't make out what they were talking about, because of the sound of running water coming from the deep pipes beneath her feet. She stood on two huge iron nails and held her two children. She was always in a state of panic, afraid that she would lose her balance and fall into the rattling sewage ditch with her children. She heard someone talking above her head, and she made a statement: "If they open the lid, I'll jump into the drain so everyone will feel better."

The little boy began to cry, at first he hummed in a low voice that he could barely hear, but the operator felt that the cry was so loud that the people around him would immediately hear his cry. She leaned over him so as not to lose her balance, and gently sang a lullaby to him with two lips. But the little boy's slightly puffy blue-gray eyes did not open, and the cry became louder and louder.

The operator felt numb in his legs. The little girl also woke up. Now the children are crying together. She had understood that the child's cry could not be heard in the basement above.

She remembered, and she began to fall on the metal cover and hear the sound of running water in the sewers. But because she was afraid, she didn't open the lid and climbed out. Then she began to imagine, carefully how she would pull the lid open with her head, how she would put the child on a rock, stretch her arms, even if it was a minute's rest, and then climb out of it. In order to stall minute by minute, she forced herself to count silently, all the way to sixty. The radioman felt that he was starting to get anxious again, so he stopped and counted from the beginning. In their first year of college, they held a special class discussion entitled "Checking the Location of the Accident". She remembers how the teachers taught them to pay attention to every detail. That's why she was cunning like a beast, sprinkling some stones on the exit lid, and then holding the two children in her right hand and putting the lid back on with her left hand.

"How long has it been," thought the operator, "an hour no, more than an hour." Maybe less than an hour and I don't think about anything. It's better to open the lid at once, and if they're still here or have set up an ambush, I'll jump from here, and then it's all over."

She put the lid on her head, but it didn't move. Kate straightened her legs and pushed her head again.

"Probably they're standing on the lid," she understood, "no wonder they can't hold it up." Nothing to be afraid of. I shook it vigorously with my head, and if it still didn't move, I left my left hand to let it rest for a while, held the two children in my right hand, and opened the lid with my left hand. Of course, I have to turn it on."

She cautiously moved the crying little girl to lift her left arm, but she understood at once that it was impossible, because the arm was numb and would not listen to her.

"It doesn't matter," said the operator to himself, "it's not terrible. Immediately it will hurt like a pinprick in my arm, and then it will warm up and it will do my bidding. I held the children in my right hand, and they were very light. As long as the little girl doesn't roll hard. She was a bit heavier than my son. She's bigger than him and heavier."

The operator began to move his fingers cautiously and loosely.

She remembered a neighbor who spent the summer in the villa. He was a tall, thin old man with blue eyes that gleamed strangely.

He often came to the terrace of her house and looked at them with contempt. At this time, they were eating steamed bread and fermented bean curd, "This is unacceptable," he said, "steamed bread is poison, and fermented bean curd is also poison, which are extremely harmful substances in animals." Steamed buns, these butters are oil sludge, you should eat meat boiled with calendula, eat chili, cabbage, radish, then eternity will enter your body, I can live for a million years, yes, yes, I know, you think I'm a charlatan. No, I just dare to think that I am bolder than our conservative doctors. Disease is non-existent, it is ridiculous to cure ulcers or tuberculosis, and the secret to the eternal youth of cells should be cured; Eat as prescribed, breathe fresh air, and psychotherapy. Cells are the foundation of life, and you have to supply them with nutrients, oxygen, exercise them regularly, and think of them as your allies when you talk to a cell, or to the billions of other cells that determine your own existence. You must know that each of us is not a weak person governed by the environment, but the leader of the most sane of all the nations that live under the sun, the leader of a great power with millions of cells, you are the great power in the whole galaxy, and finally you have to understand who you are, you must open your eyes and look at yourself. Learn to respect yourself and not be afraid of anything. If you understand the gift of man, that is, the mission of being a human being, then any fear in this world is illusory and ridiculous."

The operator tried to talk to his finger for a while. But the children's cries grew louder and louder, and she knew there was no time left to talk to her army of cells. She raised her left hand, still feeling that it was not listening. She began to scratch the iron lid above her head with numb fingers. The cover flicked.

The operator put his head on top and the cover moved. Without even looking to see if there was anyone in the basement, she lifted the child up and put it on the floor, and then she climbed out herself and lay on the floor side by side with the children. By this time she was exhausted and confused.

"The gentlemen who enthusiastically offered to help told me in advance that you were in some way able to put me in touch with those who would decide the fate of millions of people," said the teacher, "and if we could get close to the upper classes, even for a day, then in the future we would have much to be forgiven"

"I'd like to ask you a few questions first."

"Please mention it. I'm willing to answer all questions."

The teacher was talking to a northerner, emaciated, very tall, very old, but very young.

"I don't have to answer all the questions. If you agree to answer all the questions, I don't trust you anymore"

"I'm not a diplomat. I came to you on a commissioned basis."

"Yes, yes, I understand. I've already been told something about you. First question: Who are you introducing?"

"I'm sorry, but I should hear your answer first: who are you, and I'm going to talk about the people who stayed with Wang Wei. Death threatens them, them, and their friends. You live in a neutral country, and you are not threatened by anything."

"Do you think there are no 76 spies in neutral countries, but this is an isolated case, and it has nothing to do with our conversation. I'm not an American, and I'm not British. ”

"I can hear this from your English. Probably you're Japanese."

"Yes, in terms of where I was born, I'm Japanese. But I am a citizen of the United States, so since you believe in the gentlemen who helped us to meet, you can also talk to me very frankly"

The teacher remembered the leader's parting instructions. So he said:

"My friends in my hometown believed that the surrender of all the Japanese military units and the elimination of the various units of the traitors could save millions of lives. I agree with them. My friends want to know who among the representatives of the allies we should approach"

"You mean all the troops: the troops stationed in the west, east, south and north surrendered at the same time"

"You want to propose a different path"

"Our conversation was conducted in a strange way: the negotiations were good for the Japanese, not for us, so we were going to put forward some conditions, and you said yes, so that my friends could have a concrete conversation with you, just as the ancients taught us, we should know who they were, when, and with whom and with the help of whom and for what ends."

"I'm not a politician. Maybe you're right, but I ask you to believe in my frankness. I don't know who the people behind the group that sent me here, but I do know that the people who represent this group are quite influential people."

"It's a game of cat and mouse. When it comes to politics, everything should be done right from the start. Politicians love to bargain because there are no secrets to them. They're measuring what they're worth. If they are not good at bargaining, if they are representatives of totalitarian countries, they will be overthrown, if they come from parliamentary democracies, then they will lose in the next elections. I suggest that you tell your friends that we will not sit down and talk to them until we have figured out who they represented, what their programme was, first of all their ideological programme, and what they intended to implement in Germany with our help in advance."

"The ideological programme is clear: it is based on anti-violence"

"But what does the country look like in the future, what will it be headed for, what kind of slogans do you propose to your people, and if you can't take responsibility for your friends, then I'd like to hear your personal opinion."

"Neither I, nor my friends, want to see the future country stained with the red of the Bolsheviks. But to this extent, I think it is extremely absurd to keep the idea of maintaining, albeit in disguise, some kind of organ that suppresses the existing people of the Motherland."

"The first question that arises is: who will be able to bring the people into order after Wang has not been left in the wilderness, and who will be the people who are now detained in concentration camps, or the commanders of the real police forces who are determined to cut ties with Japan."

"So you mean to keep the power of the Guard, which you think has the potential to lift the people out of anarchy and thus keep order"

"Whoever made a similar suggestion, I don't think the question has ever been discussed," replied the northerner, who for the first time in the whole conversation gave him a stern look at the teacher.

The teacher was taken aback. He knew he had spoken his tongue: the very careful northerner would at once seize him and force him to tell what he knew about the Americans' negotiations with the Guards. His superiors had shown him shorthand notes of the negotiations. The teacher knows that he is not good at lying, and his face can always reveal some thoughts in his heart.

However, the northerner, as a staff member of the Japanese intelligence service, returned to his residence and pondered for a long time before sitting down to write a report on this conversation.

"Either he was a man of complete importance," thought the northerner, "had no influence at home, or he was a shrewd scout." He wasn't good at bargaining, but he didn't say anything to me. However, his last few words prove that he is aware of some of the circumstances of the negotiations with above"

The telegraph operator had no money to ride in the rickshaw. But she urgently needed to get out of here by car, and find a place with a stove wherever she went. Changing the children's clothes, Ran Qing wrapped them again in swaddling clothes. If she couldn't find a suitable place now, the two children would soon die, because they had been in the cold for a long time.

"It might as well be over in the morning," the operator couldn't shake off the thought, "or stay in the basement," the sense of danger in her heart became a little dull. When she came out of the basement, she hurried towards the bus stop without looking around. She didn't know where she was going, how to buy tickets, and where to put her children for a while. She told the flight attendant that she had no money and that her money was left in the bombed-out residence. The flight attendant complained a few words and persuaded her to go to the refugee shelter. The operator sat by the window, which was not as cold as outside. Sleepiness immediately came to her "I can't sleep" and she said to herself, "I don't have the right to sleep"

However, she fell asleep immediately.

She felt someone push her and tug at her shoulder, but she couldn't open her eyes. She was warm and comfortable now, and the child's cry seemed so far away that it sounded indistinct

She saw a strange multicolored thing in a trance, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for those boring, overly sentimental dreams: at the moment she was walking along a thick azure carpet with a little boy who could already walk and hold a rag doll; Lu Liang, his mother, and the old man in the neighborhood who claimed to live a million years who knew him in the house came out to greet them

"Madame" someone pushed her so hard that her sideburns smacked on the cold windowpane.

The operator opened his eyes. A flight attendant and a police officer stood beside her; It's dark in the bus.

"What" the operator hugged the child tighter and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?"

"Air raid," the flight attendant also replied in a low voice, "let's go"

"Where to go"

"Go to the bullet shelter," the officer said, "let me hold the baby for you."

"No," said the operator, hugging the child tightly, "they can't live without me"

The flight attendant shrugged, but did not speak. The police took her by the arm and led her into a bullet shelter. It's dark but warm. Kate walked into a corner, and the two boys got up from the bench and gave her a seat.

"Thank you"

She put the child by her side and then asked a girl from the youth team who was on duty at the bomb shelter:

"My house was blown up, I don't even have a diaper, please do me a favor I don't know what to do, a female neighbor was blown up and I took in her daughter.

But I don't have anything."

The girl nodded, and soon found a diaper.

"Take it," said the girl, "here are four, and I think it will be enough for you for the time being." I recommend that you go to your nearest refugee relief office tomorrow morning, but you must have a letter from your district police station and the administrator."

"Yes, of course, thank you," replied the operator, and she began to change the baby's diaper, "Is there any water here, is there water and a stove I want to wash wet diapers, I have eight here, enough for me tomorrow."

"There's cold water, and I think I'll give you a bar of soap. Come here in a moment, and I'll do it all."

The two children fell asleep soon after they had eaten their fill. The operator also leaned against the wall, intending to sleep for a while, even for half an hour, "Now I don't want to do anything," she said to herself, "I have a fever, probably cold in the tunnel, no, the children don't catch a cold, they are wrapped in blankets, and their feet are warm." I'll sleep for a while before I think about what to do next."

She hallucinated again, but now the dream was very incoherent, and the phantasm floated towards her intermittently, and the colors of blue, white, red, and black quickly alternated before her eyes, and her eyes soon became tired. She was still staring at the sharp alternation of colors, "Probably, my eyeballs are rolling under my face," the operator suddenly understood, "it's very obvious, the Colonel used to say that in school," she rose from her bench in horror. The people around were dozing, the bombing was still in the distance, and the roar of anti-aircraft guns and the explosion of bombs were faintly heard.

"I should go to Li Guangyuan," the operator said to herself, amazed at how she could think calmly and with clarity and accuracy at such a moment, "No," she retorted, "you can't go to him." You know, they'll ask you about him. Then you ruined yourself and ruined him"

The operator fell asleep again. She slept for half an hour, then opened her eyes and felt better about herself. Although she forgot that she had thought about Li Guangyuan, she suddenly remembered a phone number clearly: 427541.

"Excuse me," she said, gesturing her elbow to a young man who was napping next to her, "may I ask where there is a payphone nearby?"

"What" The young man was startled and quickly stood up and asked.

"Tap, tap," the operator comforted him, "I ask you if there's a payphone nearby."

Probably the girl from the youth team heard her voice, she walked up to the operator and asked, "Do you need help?"

"No, no," replied the operator, "no, thank you, it's all right."

Just then, the whistle sounded to disarm the alarm.

"She asked where there was a telephone," said the young man.

"There's at the station," said the girl, "just behind the street corner next door." Would you like to call an acquaintance or relative?"

"Yes"

"I'll take care of the kids for you for a while, you can go and call"

"But I don't even have a coin on me"

"I help you. Please take it."

"Thank you. It's not far from here."

"Two Minute Road"

"If they cried"

"I'll just hold them," the girl smiled slightly, "don't worry."

The operator walked out of the bomb shelter. The metro station is right next to it. Beside the unobstructed automatic telephone, several puddles of water had frozen, and thin sheets of ice glittered with the light of conversation. A full blue moon hangs in the sky, sprinkling a delightful glow.

"The telephone is broken," one policeman told her, "and it was shattered by the blast of the bomb"

"Where's the phone?"

"Is there a station near you that you need to call urgently?"

"Yes"

"Come with me"

The policeman accompanied the operator down the empty station and opened the door to the police room. He turned on the light and nodded to the telephone on his desk.

"Please, but faster"

The operator walked around behind the desk, sat down in a high easy chair, and dialed 427541. This is Li Guangyuan's phone number. Listening to the blind beep in the microphone, she didn't immediately notice a large photograph of her pressed under the glass plate, next to which was a list of phone numbers printed in lead. The policeman was smoking behind her.

At this moment, except for Chang Kaishen's neck, Li Guangyuan saw nothing. His neck was thick and strong, and his hair was neatly trimmed, barely changing from the base of his neck to the back of his head. Li Guangyuan saw two horizontal wrinkles that seemed to mark the boundary between the head and the body. However, Chang Kaishen was born strong and well-proportioned, so his body closely resembled the bodies of the people around Li Guangyuan. Li Guangyuan lived in Germany all these years, and he harbored a deep hatred for the people around him; Sometimes this hatred wears him out, and he has been working in this circle for twelve whole years. At first, he was clearly aware of this hatred: the enemy is the enemy. Later, he gradually became familiar with the mechanical daily work of the Security Bureau, and he had more and more opportunities to observe its working procedures from the inside of the mysterious agency.