Chapter Thirty-Nine: Running a Radio Station

Mr. Li withdrew his thoughts and looked at Bai Zeshou, then suddenly smiled and said, "That Ah Hai you mentioned sounds promising. What do you think, is there a chance he could become one of us?"

"I'll find an opportunity to try," Bai Zeshou nodded, then asked, "Mr. Li, does the organization know much about Shen Guohua? To be honest, he and I grew up together, but later I joined the military academy, and he went abroad to study medicine."

"I do know about Shen Guohua. He's considered an elite and is quite patriotic. In the past, both we and the Nationalist Party invited him to join, but he doesn't hold any political beliefs. You probably don’t know—our people are still trying to make contact with him," Mr. Li explained.

"I see." Bai Zeshou nodded, then recalled the news he’d gathered during their meal. "Mr. Li, I have some good news for you. I think you’ll be pleased to hear it."

"What is it?"

"According to telegrams from inside the Special Operations Bureau, our First, Second, and Fourth Army Corps have successfully joined forces. The Nationalist Party’s encirclement has been completely crushed." As he spoke, Bai Zeshou vigorously waved his arms, his excitement evident.

"Really?" Mr. Li was equally exhilarated by the news.

Bai Zeshou nodded emphatically, then proceeded to give a brief report of his recent work, especially his joining the Inspection Team, though at the end he probed, "Mr. Li, is there someone inside the Special Operations Bureau who belongs to us? And is this person quite high-ranking?"

Mr. Li glanced at Bai Zeshou with a hint of meaning, "Have you guessed something?"

"It's mostly recent events that have made me suspicious. For instance, the location of this contact point—it’s right next to the Special Operations Bureau’s safehouse."

Faced with Bai Zeshou's curiosity, Mr. Li spoke calmly, "Actually, there are things I don’t know either. We do have comrades infiltrating the Special Operations Bureau. I have even received information from one of them. But I don’t know their details or even their code name, because this person is directly under the leadership of the Special Branch, and the level of secrecy is extremely high. So, don’t worry yourself about these matters."

"Heh, I’m just curious," Bai Zeshou scratched his head a bit sheepishly. Then his expression grew serious. "Mr. Li, there’s one more thing the organization needs to be informed of immediately. There’s a spy named Wu Xiaoming from the Party Affairs Bureau currently lurking within our ranks."

"Wu Xiaoming?" Mr. Li was taken aback, then quickly said, "You mean Wu Xiaoming, the director of the printing factory?"

"Exactly, him. A few days ago, under Wu Zhengke’s lead, the action team carried out a mission and destroyed our printing factory. By chance, I managed to capture Wu Xiaoming, and he confessed to being from the Party Affairs Bureau. Unfortunately, our comrades didn’t know this and sent people to rescue him by force—and they succeeded," Bai Zeshou said, clearly anxious.

Previously, due to Mr. Li’s arrest, Bai Zeshou had no way to contact the underground organization in Shanning. Now that Mr. Li had been rescued, the matter of Wu Xiaoming had to be resolved quickly.

"But how can you be certain Wu Xiaoming is an undercover agent, not just saying so to save himself? Do you have any proof?" Mr. Li countered.

"During the rescue, our comrades were cornered, but suddenly a group appeared and helped free them. I investigated afterwards—they were from the Party Affairs Bureau. Their goal was to let Wu Xiaoming continue his infiltration, so we must eliminate him," Bai Zeshou said, growing agitated.

"I’ll report this to our superiors. But we don’t necessarily have to eliminate him—after all, the harm of an exposed mole is limited. Perhaps we can use him to our advantage. It seems I need to leave Shanning and return to base soon," Mr. Li said, voicing his intention.

"That’s impossible. Not only is your health too poor to travel such a long way, but with all the wanted posters out there, you absolutely cannot leave now," Bai Zeshou said, his face full of concern.

"If I don’t go myself, is there another way?" Mr. Li smiled at Bai Zeshou.

"You could contact the underground organization in Shanning." Yet as soon as Bai Zeshou spoke, he realized Mr. Li would have already considered this.

However, Mr. Li did not opt for this method, and the reason was clear: there was a traitor in the Shanning underground organization. Until this traitor was dealt with, Mr. Li could not safely contact them.

Thinking of this, Bai Zeshou couldn’t help but ask, "Mr. Li, do you have any clues?"

"None. During my captivity, I pondered this issue carefully, but found nothing. This person is too well hidden, or perhaps we’ve all overlooked them," Mr. Li shook his head.

"We could use a radio—communication would be fast and secure. I happened to retrieve the codebook from No. 32 Ping’an Road," Bai Zeshou said, pulling the codebook from a secret compartment in the chamber.

Looking at the small booklet in his hand, Mr. Li felt a surge of relief—thankful Bai Zeshou had acted swiftly, or the consequences would have been disastrous. Yet, thinking about Bai Zeshou’s suggestion, he could only smile wryly, "Radios aren’t so easy to come by. So far, we only have two. One is used by the underground organization to contact higher-ups, and the other is under my sole control."

"Both are old models, with many damaged parts. Even so, two comrades died for these radios. Now, the one under my control was seized by the enemy when I was arrested."

"I think I can get one," Bai Zeshou suddenly remembered how Sun Yanjie had recently traded transistors with a black market dealer named Wu Jian in front of him and Liu Xiaobing.

Since Wu Jian could get transistors, he probably had other radio parts, maybe even whole radios. If not, once all the parts were gathered, Bai Zeshou could assemble one himself.

He knew how to build radios—he’d learned it during military academy training, and was fairly proficient.

"Where would you get one?" Mr. Li looked at Bai Zeshou with surprise.