Volume 1, Chapter 18: The Arsenal is Complete! The General is Coming to Cut the Ribbon!

For over a month, a vigorous construction project had been unfolding in Zhaojiayu. During this time, the entire valley had been transformed into a massive construction site. Green sprouts were already beginning to emerge from the barren land reclaimed by the soldiers.

At the mouth of the valley, the fortress named "Sword-Casting Pass" by Lin Mo was taking shape. Its dark machine gun nests and artillery ports stood like silent sentinels, guarding this land of promise. Meanwhile, the "Spark Arsenal," located in the deepest part of the valley, had undergone earth-shaking changes. Rows of brand-new workshops had risen from the ground, and simple hydroelectric generators roared day and night, providing precious electricity to the entire complex. The old machinery salvaged from Hongyadong and the various equipment captured by the Independent Regiment were repaired, modified, and breathed with new life.

Lin Mo had been working around the clock, losing a significant amount of weight, yet his eyes shone with an alarming intensity. He was not only the chief designer and chief engineer but also the primary technician on the front lines. From workshop layout and equipment installation to the planning of production workflows, he handled every detail personally. The veteran technicians who had broken out from Huangyadong were initially skeptical of this "Chief Engineer Lin," who seemed far too young, but after a month, they were all thoroughly impressed—sincerely convinced of his ability. Lin Mo’s imaginative yet practical ideas and his effortless, surgical precision in solving technical problems left these old men, who had spent their lives working with machines, in absolute awe.

Everything was ready, and the inauguration ceremony for the arsenal was scheduled for a few days later. For this event, Li Yunlong had sent men to ride posthaste to report to the brigade and headquarters. To everyone's surprise, the response came back extremely quickly, and it was a direct telegram from headquarters: the Deputy Commander, the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Division Commander, and the Brigade Commander would all personally visit Zhaojiayu to attend the founding ceremony of the "Spark Arsenal"!

When the news broke, the entire Independent Regiment was in a frenzy.

"My goodness! The high-ranking officers from headquarters are coming here?"
"Did you hear? Even the Deputy Commander is coming!"
"Of course! Our regiment is the apple of their eye now, specifically assigned to guard the arsenal!"

Li Yunlong was so excited he paced back and forth in the regimental headquarters, his grin stretching from ear to ear. He grabbed Zhao Gang by the arm, spraying spit as he talked, "Old Zhao! Did you hear that! The headquarters leaders are coming! What does this mean? It means headquarters values us! They value Brother Lin! They value me, Li Yunlong! Hahaha, this honor is greater than being given an entire division!"

Zhao Gang was equally stirred by the sudden good news. He smiled and said, "Old Li, this is a matter of the utmost importance. The security work must be foolproof! There cannot be any slip-ups!"

"Don't worry!" Li Yunlong slapped his chest. "I’ll pull out the First and Second Battalions and start reconnaissance and defensive deployment fifty miles outside of Zhaojiayu! Forget the Japanese; not even a fly will be able to get in!"

Just as the entire regiment was immersed in joy and busyness, only Lin Mo frowned, almost imperceptibly. At that moment, he was inspecting the ammunition assembly workshop, which was nearing completion.

The floor of this workshop, per his requirements, needed to be hardened with special cement to prevent static electricity. However, as he ground his foot against a small section, he noticed the hardness was clearly insufficient, and the surface was somewhat loose.

"Master Liu," Lin Mo called over the veteran craftsman in charge of the construction. "Who was responsible for the cement in this section?"

Master Liu came over, took one look, and paused, scratching his head. "That's strange. This batch of cement used the same formula. I remember... this part was done by Zhu Ziming's crew."

Zhu Ziming?

A figure flashed through Lin Mo's mind—the logistics officer who had escaped from the Yamamoto Special Forces. He was usually very proactive and clever, but Lin Mo had always felt he was a bit too eager, especially in his tendency to hover around the research institute.

"Chief Engineer Lin, maybe that kid cut corners and didn't get the mixture right. I'll have someone break this up and redo it right away!" Master Liu grumbled.

"No, don't touch it yet," Lin Mo stopped him, his gaze deepening. "Leave it as it is."

He crouched down, picked up a bit of powder, and sniffed it. Beyond the scent of cement, there was an extremely faint... smell of tung oil?

Lin Mo stood up, dusted off his hands, and a bold, lightning-fast realization struck him. Damn it, could there be a mole? And if so, this mole might have been lurking in the Independent Regiment ever since the incident at Yangcun! The bombing of the Hongyadong Arsenal likely had something to do with him as well!

Lin Mo's heart sank instantly. The leaders from headquarters were arriving soon; if this mole wasn't removed, the consequences would be unimaginable! He had to find a way to drag this viper hiding in the shadows out into the light. And he had to pull it out by the roots!

A cold glint flashed in Lin Mo’s eyes as a plan quickly formed in his mind. He turned and headed toward the regimental headquarters; he needed to get Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang to put on a grand show!

...

"What?! You're saying there's a mole in our regiment?!"

At headquarters, Li Yunlong slammed his hand on the table, making the tea mug jump. He stared with eyes as wide as copper bells, his face full of disbelief. "Brother Lin, are you sure about this? This is no joking matter! Every soldier in our Independent Regiment comes from a background of poverty and has a blood feud with the Japanese devils—how could there be a mole?"

Zhao Gang's expression also became extremely serious. He adjusted his glasses and asked in a low voice, "Lin Mo, do you have any evidence?"

Lin Mo recounted the incident with the cement floor and his suspicions in detail.

"Just because the cement on one patch of floor isn't right?" Li Yunlong still felt it was making a mountain out of a molehill. "Maybe the kid was just lazy; I'll give him a good whipping later and that'll be that!"

"Regimental Commander, this isn't something that can be explained by laziness," Lin Mo shook his head, his tone firm. "A normal construction error wouldn't smell like tung oil. Tung oil is waterproof, but it also blocks signals. If I'm not mistaken, something might be buried under this section of the floor—perhaps a radio transmitter!"

"A radio transmitter?!" Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang exclaimed in unison. This conjecture was too shocking for them to accept immediately.

Zhao Gang calmed down and analyzed, "If there really is a mole who has access to a radio transmitter, their rank must be quite high. When the Yamamoto Special Forces advance team raided Yangcun, they located our position with such ease—thinking back now, it was indeed suspicious!"

Li Yunlong's face was as dark as a storm cloud. He hated traitors above all else. At the thought of such a creature hiding in his ranks, potentially linked to the bombing of Hongyadong, his knuckles cracked as he squeezed his fists.

When Lin Mo voiced his suspicion that the logistics officer Zhu Ziming was the most likely suspect, Li Yunlong's face flushed red, and he could no longer sit still. "Damn it! I'm going to grab that dog Zhu Ziming right now, hang him from a tree, and whip him with chili water! Let's see if he talks!" Li Yunlong started to charge outside.

"Come back!" Lin Mo and Zhao Gang shouted simultaneously.

"Old Li, calm down!" Zhao Gang pulled him back. "If we arrest him now, we'll only alert the enemy! If he has people behind him or accomplices, won't we expose everything by acting like this?"

Lin Mo nodded as well. "That's right. Catching Zhu Ziming alone is useless. We want to capture the entire network of spies lurking in our base, and we need to use him to deliver a 'special gift' to the Japanese!"

Persuaded by the two, Li Yunlong calmed down. He breathed heavily and asked, "Brother Lin, tell me, how do we do it?"

Lin Mo walked to the map, his eyes sparkling with intelligence. "My plan is to lure the snake out of its hole! First, we act as if we know nothing. The inauguration ceremony will proceed as planned, and we will make it even grander so everyone knows the headquarters leaders are coming to Zhaojiayu. That way, the mole will definitely try to find a way to get this vital intelligence to the Japanese. Second, I will serve as the bait!"