Chapter 59: Empathy
Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Chu Lingyun asked Niu Qiu to go to the post office to gather information.
The post office is located on Peng Liu Yang Road, which can be said to be very close to them. They are on the same street and only a hundred meters apart. During many operations, people from the Military Intelligence Department would pass by the post office.
Fortunately, the Military Intelligence Department is an intelligence unit that usually pays great attention to confidentiality, and most people have no intersection with the surrounding positions.
But there is one exception, and that is loach.
Loach was usually very active and often went out. He had been to several nearby units, including the post office. This time, he was needed to gather information at the post office, so Chu Lingyun simply put makeup on him to make him look different.
"Team Leader, I've made inquiries. There are more than a dozen people collecting mail in the mailboxes in the post office. They are divided into different areas and collect all the mail in the mailboxes after 5 pm every day. They are then handed over to the sorting team."
Loaches are very flexible. Even if they go to inquire about information with a stranger, they can still find out everything clearly.
There are four people in the sorting team. They sort all the letters received in the city every day. These letters will be classified according to the addresses and then packaged and sent to all parts of the country.
"I specifically asked about it. The people on the sorting team take turns taking breaks, but there's one person who never takes a break. His name is Old Li. He's a mute bachelor. Because he can't speak, he doesn't have many friends. He just does his job every day. He's been working at the post office for over 20 years."
Loach continued to report, while Chu Lingyun quickly analyzed it in his mind.
To ensure that urgent letters can be found at any time, it is necessary to keep an eye on these letters every day. The dumb old Li is a major suspect. Only he sorts these letters every day and can ensure that the letters sent by Abe Hanako are found.
However, Old Li's background is clear and he has worked in the post office for such a long time. It is highly unlikely that he is a Japanese spy. The most likely possibility is that he was bribed by a Japanese spy.
"Also, the sorting team sorts all the mail in the city, whether it's mail collected from mailboxes or mail delivered from business points. They sort it all by hand. I also asked, and I learned that mail from some business points won't be delivered until the next morning. Only mail from mailboxes is delivered to the post office that evening."
Loach continued to speak, and Chu Lingyun understood why Abe Hanako was required to send the letter through the mailbox. Some letters sent over the counter will not be delivered until the next day, so there is a high possibility that they will not be discovered, or will be discovered very late, delaying their emergency meeting.
"Continue to investigate how many other people might have had access to all the letters. Also, thoroughly investigate Old Li's lifestyle and family background."
Chu Lingyun gave another order to Niu Qiu, saying that Old Li was a major suspect and needed to be kept under observation first, but the investigation into him would not stop.
"Yes, Team Leader, I'll go right away."
Loach took the order and left, feeling very happy when he left. He had made great contributions in capturing Watanabe Ichiro before, and later he made great contributions in capturing Asano Ono, thus being promoted to second lieutenant and becoming a squad leader.
In this case, it was she who caught Abe Hanako. Although it was a lucky opportunity, the credit really fell on him.
If he could make more contributions, even if he could not be promoted to a higher rank, he would have a great chance of taking over the position of squadron leader after Chu Lingyun was promoted.
Now everyone in the station understands that the future leader of the action team will definitely be Chu Lingyun.
As Chu Lingyun's direct subordinate, he naturally has a great chance of being promoted once his superior is promoted. For the sake of his own future, he will also work hard to make achievements, otherwise there will be no reason to promote him.
After Niu Qiu left, Chu Lingyun took out some information and looked through it carefully.
This is the roster of the Hankou Post Office. The information of all members is in it. They asked for it from the post office this morning. The people from the Military Intelligence Department asked them for something, and they didn't dare to refuse.
Not only do you have to give it, but you also have to keep it secret and not let anyone know.
In this era, the post office is considered a relatively good unit, but its goodness is limited. People in the post office can only make ends meet. If there are more mouths to feed at home, their salary may not be enough to support the whole family.
Old Li is a major suspect, but Chu Lingyun will not miss anyone else either. They must all be investigated.
After Loach's report, Chu Lingyun had a hunch that this Old Li was not the person he was looking for, or rather, not the person he was ultimately looking for.
Old Li is too obvious. Once someone figures out this method of emergency contact, they will definitely list Old Li as the first suspect.
If it were someone else, they might even arrest Old Li and interrogate him directly.
Chu Lingyun had suffered losses at the hands of Yang Jian and was well aware of the cunning of Japanese spies. They would not leave such a big loophole for people to see through their arrangements at a glance.
However, even if Old Li knew nothing about Japanese spies, he must have played a very important role in the Japanese spy arrangements.
The reason is simple. He is the only one who can see all the letters collected in the mailbox every day, ensuring that Abe Hanako's emergency notification method can be discovered.
So we can only keep an eye on him but not catch him.
After looking at the list for a while, Chu Lingyun closed the file. He knew that no useful clues could be found from the file alone. Ultimately, it would depend on the results of Loach's investigation.
Chu Lingyun sat on the chair and closed his eyes to rest.
He was thinking, if he were Dujuan, how could he arrange a perfect way to know Abe Hanako's emergency contact without being noticed by anyone else.
First of all, I can't bribe Old Li directly myself, because Old Li will become an insider, and once he is exposed, I will be in danger.
But the appearance of this letter must be confirmed through Old Li.
Chu Lingyun opened his eyes and thought of a possibility because he didn't want to show up himself but still wanted Old Li to notify him.
All this can be achieved by having more than one link between Du Juan and Old Li. This link is the key, allowing Du Juan to get the news without putting him in any danger.
Chu Lingyun is not sure what this bond is. It could be a person, an object, or even just an event.
For example, after Old Li found the letter, he did something special, so that Du Juan could confirm through this incident that Abe Hanako had contacted him urgently.
Chu Lingyun didn’t know whether his guess was right or not, but if it were him, he would do this to ensure that he would be safe.
At noon, the loaches hurried back.
Arriving at Chu Lingyun's office, he reported immediately, despite being sweating profusely. "Team Leader, we've checked everything out. Old Li originally had a mother, but she passed away three years ago. Now he's the only one left at home, with no relatives or friends. He's mute and has no friends at the post office. He only has a good relationship with Li Zheng from the boiler room. It's said they're related, and it seems they're from the same branch of the family."