Chapter 245: Escape from the Fire
"That's all for today. Go to bed early."
Old Deng smiled and said to Xiao Bi that Xiao Bi did not have a high level of education and had only studied for a few years, but he had great sympathy for the workers and peasants, and he was diligent and studious, and was a good seedling.
He has been studying with him recently, and Xiao Bi has made it clear that after finishing his studies with Lao Deng, he will go to a more difficult base and teach what he has learned to more people, especially the soldiers in the base.
Old Deng believed that Xiao Bi would become a very important teacher in the base in the future.
Inside the surveillance point, several people watched them turn off the lights and then go eat.
The electric fan was whirring, and one of the team members said to Yan He with a smile: "Captain, we are much more comfortable with this thing."
In the hot summer, there is nothing more refreshing than feeling the cool breeze.
"This is because our team leader loves us and applied for it specially for us."
Yan He was also very satisfied with the electric fan. The room was no longer as unbearably hot as before. Everyone’s favorite thing to do was to go out and take a shower.
Otherwise you will be covered in sticky and smelly sweat, which is very uncomfortable.
"Arrange the people on duty, and let the others rest."
After having supper, Yan He instructed that the team leader would naturally not stay here at night, and he, as the team leader, would be in charge.
In order to monitor the Red Party, they had to be on duty 24 hours a day so that no movement by the Red Party could be hidden from them.
Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Yan He returned to his separate room to sleep. There was an electric fan there, blowing a comfortable breeze. He slept soundly and sweetly.
This was the fan that Bao Shengqun had tampered with. The rapidly rotating blades slowly increased the heat inside.
Yan He was sleeping soundly with the breeze blowing, not knowing that the heat from the fan was about to reach its limit.
The heat on the base continued to increase, and a spark came out.
The fan was still turning, Yan He turned over and continued to dream sweetly.
The small flame grew bigger and bigger, and soon ignited the debris on the table. Soon a large column of fire rose up, and the curtains covering the side were ignited. The whole room instantly turned into a big fire.
"Where did the smoke come from?"
The people on duty outside had just smelled a strange smell, but couldn't find the cause. Now smoke kept coming into their room, and the people on duty and monitoring immediately discovered that something was wrong.
When he opened the captain's bedroom door, he was stunned for a moment.
"The fire is coming."
After several full seconds, the team members screamed at the top of their lungs, and Yan He was awakened from his sleep. He only felt the heat, but he was so sound asleep that he didn't notice that his room was on fire.
I don't know when the fan stopped, and my whole body was on fire.
Yan He was stunned, and the team member's shouting woke up the others. Seeing the fire, many people immediately went to find water to put out the fire.
Yan He didn't bother to put on his clothes and ran out wearing only his shorts. He looked at the fire in the room in shock, not knowing how the fire started. If the team members had not been smart enough to open his bedroom door in time and wake him up, he might have been burned to death inside.
He shuddered at the thought.
Flames were already coming out of the roof, not to mention the team members who had just shouted. Many neighbors around were woken up and noticed that the fire here had started to move, so they came over to help put out the fire.
These houses are connected. If the fire cannot be controlled, it is very likely that their house will be burned down as well.
Lao Deng and Xiao Bi were also awakened. They quickly put on their clothes and came out. They noticed a fire diagonally opposite. Without thinking much, they hurriedly picked up buckets of water to help put out the fire.
"not good."
Yan He's face changed. They were still monitoring the Red Party on the opposite side. If a fire broke out on their side, it would likely alarm the people on the opposite side.
"Hurry, follow me to catch him."
Yan He snatched his men's clothes and put them on quickly. Fortunately, they had been monitoring them for several days and his men had extra clothes, and all his clothes were in the room.
His gun was also in the room, so how could he dare to take it now? He would probably burn it all.
"Bang."
Lao Deng and Xiao Bi had just fetched some water when they heard an explosion in the burning room, which sounded very much like a gunshot.
This voice instantly made Old Deng alert.
"Xiao Bi, come here."
Old Deng called Xiao Bi and pulled him to hide in the dark. There were people everywhere putting out the fire, and it was so chaotic that no one noticed them at all.
Soon he saw at least a dozen people rushing into their house.
They were exposed and the spies were coming to catch them.
Looking at the burning house, Lao Deng was still frightened. Without thinking too much, he pulled Xiao Bi and ran out.
There was nothing valuable or important in the house, only their fake identities. The agents had already rushed in, and they had no chance to go back to get these things. They had to escape as soon as possible.
"Walk."
Taking advantage of the chaos, Lao Deng pulled Xiao Bi away quickly. After making sure that no one was following them, he took Xiao Bi to another safe house.
On the other side, Yan He entered the room and found that the person inside was gone. He fired several shots in anger.
The gunshots scared away many of the people who were putting out the fire. When Yan He realized that the Red Party members living here might be involved in the firefighting, he hurried out again.
But there was no trace of them outside.
The person they were closely monitoring escaped because of a fire.
"Old Deng, what's going on?"
It was not until they were inside the safe house that Xiao Bi dared to ask in a low voice. Lao Deng patted him on the shoulder and said in a deep voice, "We've been exposed. A spy just entered our house."
Everyone was busy putting out the fire, and they didn't have a well, so the neighbors who were putting out the fire wouldn't run to their house.
It was so late, even if there were thieves taking advantage of the fire to steal things, there wouldn't be so many people. Old Deng didn't take any chances. With so many people, they must be spies.
In addition to the suspected gunshots before, he heard several consecutive gunshots when he was running away, which further confirmed this speculation.
Fortunately, there was a sudden fire, otherwise they would not have discovered the existence of the spies, and would not have had the chance to escape.
He didn't care. He had been working for so many years and had long since put life and death aside. But it would be a pity if Xiao Bi died with him.
"spy."
Xiao Bi was shocked. How could there be spies here? When did the spies target them?
"Old Deng, not many people know we are here." Xiao Bi was very smart and immediately thought that it was very likely that they had been betrayed.
"How many days hasn't Lao Shi come?"
Old Deng suddenly asked, Shi Haiyang was his subordinate, and he would usually come to him to report some work to him.
Apart from Shi Haiyang, only his superior Lao Hu knows about him.
"About seven or eight days." Xiao Bi thought for a moment and replied in a low voice.
Old Deng's face was gloomy. If Old Hu had betrayed him, the spies would have taken action long ago. The situation just now was obviously that the spies were watching him in secret. If it weren't for the sudden fire, the spies would not have come to catch him.
From this perspective, there is a high possibility that Shi Haiyang was arrested and defected.
Moreover, the day before yesterday was the day he and Shi Haiyang had agreed to meet, but Shi Haiyang did not show up.
It was normal for people doing a job like theirs not to show up on time. Old Deng didn't suspect anything at the time, but now that he had discovered the spy, he suspected Shi Haiyang and immediately realized that he was not absent because of something, but that he simply couldn't come.
There were obvious signs of torture on Shi Haiyang's face, so how could he possibly come to see him?
Fortunately, Shi Haiyang didn’t know about his safe house, otherwise he would have run away immediately. But he only had this one safe house, and if he ran again, he would have nowhere to go.
As for going to Lao Hu's house online, he didn't even think about it.
He is in danger now, and he doesn't know if someone is watching him in secret. It is impossible for him to go to Lao Hu at this time.
"Old Deng, was it Old Shi who betrayed us?"
Xiao Bi asked carefully. He was not stupid and knew that there were not many of them. Now they were suddenly exposed. If it was not because of his own carelessness, then someone must have betrayed them.
There are not many people who can betray them. Old Deng suddenly asked Shi Haiyang, naturally he suspected him.
"Without evidence, you cannot suspect any of our comrades now."
Old Deng shook his head. He didn't want to believe that Shi Haiyang had betrayed them, but at the moment Shi Haiyang was indeed the most suspicious person.
Whether it is him or not, Lao Deng will verify it during the day.
"Where are the people?"
Tan Wenbo, head of Group 2 of the Intelligence Section of the Party Affairs Investigation Department, rushed over after receiving a call late at night.
The fire has been put out. Fortunately, there is a pond nearby, and the surveillance point they rented is not a purely wooden structure, otherwise it would likely cause a bigger fire.
Yan He and the others all lowered their heads, not daring to look at him.
"Yan He."
Tan Wenbo shouted angrily, and Yan He immediately raised his head: "Team leader, we don't know where the people have gone. This fire happened so suddenly. By the time we reacted and wanted to catch them, they had already run away."
The fire has been put out, but the person hasn't come back yet. What else could it be but that he ran away?
"asshole."
Tan Wenbo slapped Yan He in the face. Yan He didn't dare to move, just letting the burning pain on his face.
The team leader used a lot of strength, and Yan He felt his anger deeply.
The person ran away, and all their efforts for so long were in vain. Shi Haiyang only knew his superior and didn't know the whereabouts of other Red Party members.
I thought that by capturing Shi Haiyang, I could also capture more Red Party members, which would be a great achievement and bring honor to my reputation. But now, everything is gone.
The key point is that the section chief and the director know about this case and have high expectations of them.
How can he explain this to the section chief and the director?
The next morning, the Party Affairs Investigation Office was filled with a strange atmosphere. Bao Shengqun did not ask anything, but noticed that all the people from Intelligence Group 2 had returned.
"What are you doing? Why did you start such a big fire?"
In Xu Laogui's office, he was cursing the intelligence chiefs Lin Peilun and Tan Wenbo. The previous traitor case had made him lose a lot of points with the old man. He had wanted to use this good result to restore his impression, but he didn't expect to be ruined by the intelligence department.
"Director, the technical department has already gone to investigate. The preliminary conclusion is that the fire was caused by improper use of electrical appliances."
Lin Peilun, head of the Intelligence Department, explained with gritted teeth.
"Electrical appliances, what electrical appliances?"
Lin Peilun looked at Tan Wenbo. He had never been to the surveillance point. Tan Wenbo was in command of the surveillance point.
"It looks like an electric fan, Director. You know it's so hot right now, and the guys at the surveillance post are working very hard. We just received an electric fan from the General Affairs Department yesterday. Could it be that they deliberately replaced it with a substandard one, causing the fire?"
In order to shirk responsibility, Tan Wenbo could only throw dirty water on the General Affairs Department.
"asshole."
Old Xu was so angry that he threw the cup of water in his hand directly, and the cup hit Tan Wenbo directly. Tan Wenbo didn't move at all even though the scalding hot tea flowed over his body.
Tan Wenbo was shirking responsibility, and Xu Laogui was well aware of this.
But his words made Xu Laogui wonder in his heart, could it be that the General Affairs Department really did not care about anything and tampered with the equipment just to make money?
He didn't expect it was intentional. Passing inferior goods off as good ones and exchanging old goods for new ones were the means for the General Affairs Department to make money, and he was very clear about that.
"Go ask the technical department to check if there's any problem with the equipment in the general affairs department."
Xu Laogui gave instructions to the secretary, and the secretary left quickly. Tan Wenbo felt a little relieved. As long as the director suspected the General Affairs Department, his purpose of diverting the trouble would be achieved.
In fact, he himself suspected that the real cause of the fire was a problem with the equipment provided by the General Affairs Department.
As for whether someone had deliberately tampered with the situation, neither he nor Xu Laogui had thought about it, nor did they have any suspicion about Bao Shengqun.
The technical department's investigation results came out soon.
The fire at the surveillance point was caused by an electric fan, but the rest of the electric fans in the General Affairs Department were fine. It was not a problem with the equipment itself, but with their improper use.
This result made Old Xu so angry that he slammed the table.
Soon, rumors spread throughout the department that the Intelligence Department had been severely scolded by the director.
In the office, Bao Shengqun was drinking tea leisurely. The intelligence department's operation had obviously failed. He felt a sense of pleasure in his heart. No one knew that he did it, let alone thought of him.
Even if they found out that the fire was caused by the electric fan, it would be fine. Electrical appliances are prone to fire. Who can they blame for not paying attention?
During the day, Lao Deng walked slowly on the road alone.
He walked through many deserted intersections and even stopped to wait to make sure that no one was following him before he carefully walked to the front of a house.
"Old Deng, why are you here?"
The one who opened the door was his superior, Lao Hu. Today was not the day they had agreed to meet, and Lao Deng came over suddenly, so there must be other reasons.
"Let's talk inside." Old Deng looked back again and quickly went into Old Hu's house.
"I've been exposed. There were spies at my previous residence."
Old Deng's first words startled Old Hu. He quickly walked to the door, looked outside, checked the windows, and finally came to Old Deng's side and asked anxiously, "Tell me in detail, what's going on?"
Lao Hu is a key member of the Nanjing Red Party. His identity is as important as Director Yang's, but he is not on the same page as Director Yang.
Director Yang is responsible for business, while Lao Hu is responsible for discovering and delivering talents to the base.
He has many more subordinates than Director Yang. If something happens to him, it will be a huge blow to the organization.
"Last night..."
Old Deng explained the situation in detail and then expressed his suspicions. Old Hu was fine, as it could basically be concluded that it was Shi Haiyang who betrayed them.
The traitor Shi Haiyang not only knew of his existence, but had also met Lao Hu.
Fortunately, the organization is now tight. Although they have met before, Shi Haiyang does not know Lao Hu's identity, otherwise Lao Hu would be in danger this time.