Chapter 34: The Telephone Line
Upon the return of Master Xie, Mrs. Xie also arrived. Holding onto Zhou Lin, she insisted on inviting him to dine at their home.
During the meal, Master Xie inquired, "Is he the traitor?"
Zhou Lin replied, "Indeed! He is the traitor. However, this time, the information he provided should only reach the hands of the Japanese high command just now."
Master Xie was puzzled, "You seem to have something more to say."
Zhou Lin explained, "After your meeting, he left the military camp. He's just a deputy battalion commander, not qualified to attend the conference. Why did he receive and immediately transmit the information?"
Tingting Xie said, "Someone tipped him off. The informant must be of a rank higher than a battalion commander."
Zhou Lin praised, "Correct answer!"
Tingting Xie proudly raised her nose, "You finally recognize how capable I am."
Master Xie patted Tingting's head and said to Zhou Lin, "So, the real traitor is still lurking in the shadows."
Zhou Lin handed a cigarette to Master Xie, "We arranged surveillance outside that fabric shop. After the deputy battalion commander went in, he provided information. Consequently, they decided to send it out. But our people discovered them, leading to a shootout."
Tingting asked, "How are our people?"
"They sacrificed themselves, but they prevented the Japanese from sending out the telegram. Upon hearing gunfire, our men rushed over. The Japanese had no chance to transmit the information. After he left, he had nowhere to report, so he could only go to the Japanese military and let them send him to their intelligence agency. This delay means he can only deliver the information at least seven hours later."
Master Xie nodded, "So, the Japanese agents in the fabric shop had no time to provide information."
"Yes! However, the Japanese headquarters still received the information. According to the captured Japanese officer, the Japanese headquarters received and issued orders half an hour after your operational meeting."
Master Xie slammed the table, "The biggest traitor attended the meeting."
"Yes! He might have planned two moves. First, he let the deputy battalion commander deliver the information. If the deputy safely transmitted the information and the fabric shop's Japanese agents sent it out, he would cease his actions."
Master Xie took over, "The fabric shop owner encountered trouble. Someone called the biggest traitor. Therefore, he personally took action, using our radio in the camp to report to the Japanese."
Zhou Lin nodded, "Master, your insight is admirable."
Master Xie looked at Zhou Lin and said, "If this person remains in the Seventh Division, sooner or later, the Seventh Division will fall into his hands. Zhou Lin, you must help me uncover this person. No matter who it is, I want to kill him."
Zhou Lin stood up, "Rest assured, Master! We will definitely expose him. However, we can only do it openly. In the past, we tried to investigate covertly, but it concerns the life and death of the Seventh Division. So, we were exposed."
"Open actions are fine. As long as it's within my authority, I support whatever you need."
Zhou Lin said, "We need several things. First, find out who informed others through a telephone call at the market."
Tingting nodded, "The person reporting has a problem."
Zhou Lin continued, "Second, after the meeting, find out who made a call outside."
Tingting said, "The telephone exchange can provide that information."
"Third, check if anyone used the radio to transmit information outside."
"This situation is a bit tricky, but it can still be traced."
At that moment, the guard entered and reported, "Master, Director Wang from the Political Office is here."
"Please!"
After Wang Hong arrived, he saluted Master Xie. "Master, we checked the market. Through the telephone office, we found that a call was made to the Seventh Division. The caller used a public phone, and it was a woman's voice. The call reached the third floor of the officer's dormitory building, where there is a public phone."
Zhou Lin said, "That woman must be an undercover agent. Her mission is to watch the fabric shop. As soon as something happens at the shop, she calls to report. Once the call is made, her mission is complete, and she evacuates."
Wang Hong added, "This is correct! We investigated, and the adjacent small shop to the fabric store is managed by a woman. She has already left."
Master Xie handed Zhou Lin a cigarette, "That lead is cut off. Now, only the third-floor telephone remains."
Wang Hong reported, "We also checked. After the meeting and before the unit's departure, the telephone on the third floor was not used. No calls in or out."
Zhou Lin asked, "How can we be sure?"
Master Xie, aware of the situation, said, "The third floor of the officer's dormitory houses colonels and majors. For their safety, we assigned a dedicated guard. The guard resides in a room on that floor. The telephone is just outside the guard's room. If a call comes in, he answers and then calls someone to take the call."
Wang Hong added, "We questioned the guard. He said that during that time, no one came to make a call, and no calls came in. Just that..."
Zhou Lin urgently asked, "Just what?"
"The guard mentioned that the phone rang in the middle, but after he answered, no one was on the line. He thought it was a wrong number."
Zhou Lin stood up and said to Master Xie, "Master, I'll go check."
Master Xie agreed.
Zhou Lin and Wang Hong arrived at the officer's dormitory building and went directly to the third floor.
It was Zhou Lin's first time on this floor.
The guard recognized Wang Hong and greeted him.
Zhou Lin also nodded to the guard and asked, "I heard you heard the phone ring, but when you answered, no one was there."
The guard cursed, "Don't know which scoundrel did it."
Zhou Lin handed the guard a cigarette and asked, "Has the phone always been there?"
"Yes! It has never been moved."
After coming out, Zhou Lin picked up the phone. The phone seemed fine.
Next, Zhou Lin checked the telephone line. Relying on Zhou Lin's heightened mental abilities, he quickly noticed the damage to the telephone line. There were multiple points of damage.
For Zhou Lin from the future, this situation was familiar.
Phone tapping.
Not stealing the physical line, but attaching another connection to someone else's telephone line.
For example, your home phone has one line. If I want to use your phone, what do I do?
I can attach another line to your phone line. This line comes directly over and connects to my phone.
This way, I can make outgoing calls. When I'm on the phone, your phone becomes unusable, picking it up only results in a dial tone. When I'm not using the phone, your phone works normally.
If an outsider calls, my phone rings first. If I ignore it, your phone will ring. If I answer the call, you only hear a dial tone.
After hearing the guard's account, Zhou Lin suspected someone had tapped into the phone line. So, he examined the telephone line.
Sure enough, there were traces of someone connecting to the damaged parts of the telephone line.
(End of this chapter)