Spy game? Stop guessing, I really am an undercover agent!

Chapter 284 How to End It
August 8th, 1939 (Republic of China Year 28), sunny...

Southern Transportation Department, Deputy Minister's Office.

The South Manchuria Railway Company notified them that a meeting would be held at 10:00 AM. This time, they did not use coercive measures, but simply sent someone to politely invite Chen Yang to explain his relationship with the Yoshida case.

Having learned from the last lesson, this time the tone was, well, extremely polite!

At nine o'clock in the morning, there was a knock on the door of Chen Yang's office. Yusuke Ino, along with his subordinates from the Land Transportation Division, walked into the office carrying a pile of documents!

"Minister, all the information you asked us to collect has been collected!" Yusuke Ino rubbed his sore arm.

"Minister, why do you need to ask the ministries in Central, Southern, and Northern China to submit detailed lists of supplies?"

"The Ministry of Supervision didn't say it was going to check the inventory of each department!"

Chen Yang waved for his two subordinates to leave, then said to Ino Yusuke, "Ino-kun, this is a rare opportunity to make a fortune."

"We've waited so long, and finally found a sucker to pay the bill. Let's make the most of it!"

"However, we also need to be reasonable. We can't just ask them for money with a bunch of empty accounts. We need to have a legitimate reason so they have nothing to say..."

Yusuke Ino then realized that Chen Yang was planning to use this as an excuse to rip off Mantetsu!
Upon thinking of this, I couldn't help but exclaim, "Minister, it turns out you're actually working for the benefit of everyone!"

Chen Yang said solemnly, "Of course, Ino-kun, I will not keep this honor to myself!"

Upon hearing this, Yusuke Ino instantly felt that Chen Yang's image had become much more impressive, and he almost blurted out the slogan of "loyalty"...

"Alright, I won't argue with you anymore. It's about time, I should get going!" Chen Yang stood up, picked up his briefcase, and casually instructed Li Ningyu at the door, "Prepare the car, head to the South Manchuria Railway Investigation Bureau!"

Shanghai, Jinbei Road, South Manchuria Railway Bureau, third floor…

This is the largest conference room in the South Manchuria Railway Company. Even before Chen Yang, the Vice Minister of Transport, arrived, everything was already prepared here!
Xiang Fang, the perpetrator in the Yoshida case, was roughly pressed down onto a cold iron chair.

The relentless interrogation over the past few days has left clear marks on him; the purple marks from the ropes on his wrists have not yet faded, his mouth is split open, and his left eye is bruised and swollen from a sudden, unexpected blow, leaving his vision blurred.

His spirit was hanging on the edge of collapse, and every dull pain from his body was eroding his remaining will.

Sitting opposite him was a bizarre combination of two forces, jointly representing the "authoritative" interrogation team regarding the murder of Yoshida Hirohiro and the abnormal loss of supplies heading north.

At the center of the long table sat Ryosuke Suzuki, an elite officer from the Investigation Bureau of the Manchuria Railway Company, who was also the chief judge and an internal affairs counselor under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Meanwhile, Mr. Miyagi Meitaro, the vice president of the South Manchuria Railway Company, who should have been sitting in the presiding judge's seat, was sitting on the side. Judging from this arrangement, it seemed that Suzuki was the presiding judge and he was the juror!

To Suzuki's right, his assistant was respectfully taking notes, the rustling of paper particularly jarring in the silence.

On the left are two generals in crisp military uniforms. One of them, however, has a ruthless and impatient look in his eyes, like that of a jackal. He is the newly appointed head of intelligence operations in China, General Doi-Yu-Yu!

Another figure, seemingly deliberately blurred, sat silently, and everyone was secretly observing him. It was none other than Mr. Tomoo Fujiwara, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs!

He represents a higher level of "observation." His presence transformed what could have been a one-sided inquiry by the South Manchuria Railway into a stage for power struggles!

In fact, his appearance was more like a cold shackle, both reminding all parties of "order" and invisibly oppressing the power of the South Manchuria Railway.

The core of this interrogation is no longer whether Chen Yang committed dereliction of duty.

Instead, it was the bizarre murder case that occurred in a special ward of the Imperial Army Hospital. Yoshida Hirohiro, the deputy minister of the transport department and a senior transport officer of the South Manchuria Railway, was stabbed in the heart with a poisoned needle, and his body was surrounded by fingerprints of the murderer!
Of course, the murderer who killed Yoshida was none other than Xiang Fang, the man known as the "Quick Blade," whom the South Manchuria Railway Company had interrogated from Nantian...

At this moment, almost all eyes and suspicions are focused on this: is Chen Yang, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Transport, the mastermind behind the murder of Yoshida Hirohiro?

Representatives from all sides, including those from the military, sat on the other side, like a group of dispensable spectators!

A series of hurried footsteps sounded!

A South Manchuria Railway investigator quickly approached Lord Suzuki and whispered a few words.

Lord Suzuki nodded slightly, indicating that he should be brought in.
The man bowed hastily and quickly left. A short while later, he appeared before everyone with Chen Yang, the key figure of this meeting, and a group from the Ministry of Transportation.
As soon as the transportation department personnel entered, Ryosuke Suzuki was the first to speak, "Mr. Chen, where were you between 11 PM and 1 AM on July 9th?"

Chen Yang was slightly taken aback. "I'm in the office... working overtime to process the backlog of dispatch forms... and the monthly report on northbound transport capacity..."

"Who can prove it?" Suzuki slammed his knuckles on the table. "Only you can open your office!"

"There's no one else..." Chen Yang asked, somewhat puzzled, "Mr. Suzuki, what do you mean by asking this?"

“Oh? What a coincidence.” Ryosuke Suzuki turned to a page of the file, his eyes sharp. “The day you worked overtime, a South Manchuria Railway military train was robbed in the southern Shandong region in the early hours of the morning.”

Is there any connection between these two things?

Chen Yang grinned: "Mr. Suzuki, what kind of joke are you making?"

"Whether there's a connection or not shouldn't be my concern."

"Let me explain a simple legal and procedural issue in the Empire: whoever raises a question must provide evidence!"

"If you think I have a problem, then you should provide evidence to prove that I have a problem, instead of making me prove that I don't have a problem!"

"This is a principle that even a child understands, and you're asking me about it now?"

After being rebuked by Chen Yang, Suzuki Ryosuke was a little embarrassed.

"Okay, let's put this matter aside for now. I'll ask you again: starting from June 13th, you repeatedly increased the cargo throughput on short notice."

"What explanation do you have for causing the normally operating transportation lines to start operating at full capacity, or even beyond capacity?"

“I have complete work records here, provided by Mr. Miura from the Department of Transportation.”

"You should have no objection to this evidence, right?"

"This is just normal transport work!" Chen Yang said gently, "While supplies heading north are important, we also need to take care of other units..."

“Normal?” Ryosuke Suzuki leaned forward slightly, his meticulous expression concealing a cold sharpness. “Chen-san, it is precisely the ‘normal’ wear and tear signature that you mentioned that has become the biggest point of suspicion.”

“We reviewed all the reports on damage to northbound supplies that you approved in the past two months, especially those that were handled by Yoshida and then forwarded to you for review, totaling 77 reports.” “Among them, the proportion of ‘abnormal losses’ (such as non-war damage or accidents during transportation) in the final archived version after your approval was 12.8 percent higher than the actual inspection records.”

"This means that a large amount of material losses that could have been accounted for or had their compensation reduced were written off as 'normal consumption' with your signature confirmation."

Chen Yang said calmly, "This is all done according to regulations and procedures... and some damage is difficult to judge accurately on-site!"

"Is that so?" Ryosuke Suzuki pressed on. "The problem is, the types of materials involved in this excess: medicines (especially high-standard medical sulfonamide powder and injections), sophisticated radio components, and special military alloy plates—Yoshida, as a seasoned transport officer, couldn't possibly have been unaware of the anomaly. And you,"

"As his most important work assistant, there are a large number of these abnormal documents that require your second review and signature. Are you turning a blind eye to them? Or do you know about the 'water' involved, and your signature is the key switch that tacitly approves of all of this?"

"I'll say it again, I didn't condone it! And I didn't kill anyone!" Chen Yang's voice rose several decibels. "Yoshida's death has absolutely nothing to do with me! You, you're framing me!"

"Outrageous!" Suzuki roared in fury, standing up abruptly. "Even on the verge of death, you're still trying to frame me! Frame you? What's your motive? Who has the ability to pin a minister on you?"

"If you didn't do it, are you suggesting we kill our own people?"

Suzuki paused, then pointed at Xiang Fang, who was locked in a chair, and said, "Minister Chen, stop making excuses!"

"We now have a complete chain of evidence from beginning to end!"

"The whole thing was a trap you set for Yoshida-kun!"

“You used the transportation system to smuggle goods, and Yoshida-kun found out. So you might as well go all the way and cause an incident in the Lunan area to strike at Yoshida-kun!”

"Afterwards, you pretended to offer your kind condolences, but in reality, you wanted to record the environment in which Yoshida-kun was recuperating, so as to provide intelligence for the assassin!"

"Then, through Lin Xueyi, they bribed the assassin Xiang Fang to carry out the assassination, and after the success, they framed the Military Intelligence Bureau!"

"It was all a premeditated murder!"

The room fell silent after he finished speaking!

Ryosuke Suzuki's accusations against Chen Yang surprised everyone present.
Is it really possible for a deputy minister of transport to murder another deputy minister?
Chen Yang turned his gaze to Ryosuke Suzuki's assistant, Hayato Aoki: "Aoki-kun, you are in charge of document review. I would like to ask you a question about the evidence you provided, namely the seventy-seven 'original inspection records' that Mr. Suzuki mentioned!"

"I want to ask you, why are you providing copies? Where are the originals of this evidence?"

Aoki adjusted his glasses and respectfully replied, "Minister Chen, the Investigation Bureau's internal files section has clear records that these original documents were indeed provided by the transportation team led by Yoshida."

"I'm asking you why it's a duplicate? Why is only the final approval copy left in this crucial chain of evidence? Where did the original data records go?"

Chen Yang placed his hands on the table in front of Aoki: "Can I assume that you don't have the original? Is that right or wrong?"

Aoki Hayato's facial muscles twitched. This was a question he was extremely reluctant to answer.

This wasn't caused by that good-for-nothing Nakajima!

When Haruki Yoshitaka forcibly broke into the South Manchuria Railway Company and took over the files, he confiscated the "blue files" containing the original survey data and sealed them as "stolen goods" and "clues" in the core archives of the Ume Agency, on the grounds of preventing collusion between insiders and outsiders to tamper with or destroy them.

This was indeed procedurally rude and disrespectful, but who would have thought that Chen Yang would hold it against them?

"The original documents are key physical evidence in the case and are undergoing professional analysis and technical appraisal by the Imperial Intelligence Agency. Non-investigative personnel are not authorized to access them," Aoki Hayato bluntly invoked the procedural law to deflect the issue.

Chen Yang smiled slightly, immediately grasping the key point: "In other words, your organization admits that you received and kept the original records. Then,"

"Where did the original records go after they were 'kept' in your custody?"

"You are using these signed copies of documents as primary evidence instead of the original documents. Shouldn't I question their authenticity?"

The subtext of these words is extremely sinister!
Chen Yang meant that it was possible to tamper with or conceal the original data to confirm his corruption suspicions, thereby indirectly confirming his motive for murder!
"Damn it, isn't he a transport officer? How come he's so familiar with the terms of legal documents?" Aoki Hayato's forehead veins bulged as he was forced to confront this sharp and impeccable legal logic.

He could not refute, much less admit, that the South Manchuria Railway might have "contaminated the evidence."

This Chen Yang is practically a walking law enforcement machine!

Just then, Fujiwara Tomoo, who had been listening silently, coughed softly. His voice was low, but it instantly silenced the two sides in their heated confrontation.

Without looking at anyone, he simply reminded everyone in a emotionless voice: "Procedural flaws affect the validity of evidence, which is a key point in court debate. The most urgent task is to find out the truth of the Yoshida case."

"We hope that all parties, especially Vice Minister Chen Yang, will provide stronger evidence when presenting the facts."

This seemingly "fair" reminder sounded like a thunderclap to Chen Yang!
Fujiwara questioned the legitimacy of the files seized by the South Manchuria Railway Company and did not support Chen Yang's accusation that the original records kept by the South Manchuria Railway Company disappeared without cause, which could lead to the contamination of evidence!
It seems fair and impartial, but in reality, it creates an opportunity for Chen Yang to retaliate!

The most important evidence has become invalid evidence that cannot be accepted, so they cannot prove that Chen Yang's motives are questionable!

Therefore, the alleged murder cannot be established!

"Does the South Manchuria Railway Company have any new evidence to submit?" As soon as Fujiwara finished speaking, General Doi-mado asked the next question!
Ryosuke Suzuki said, "We still have witnesses. Nakajima-kun has already gone to coordinate. Hopefully, we can have some time."

Chen Yang smiled and said, "Since you need more time to coordinate, why don't you take a look at the evidence I've provided first!"

As he spoke, Chen Yang waved his hand, and several people from the transportation department carried up several boxes of documents!

Chen Yang pointed to the box and said, "This contains the original copies of all the transportation records since Yoshida took over the work. After verification, there are absolutely no problems!"

Miyagi Meitaro frowned and said, "Minister Chen, what are you trying to prove with these things?"

Chen Yang said, word by word, "I want to say that all 326 transport records here can prove that Yoshida-kun has questionable intentions; he is supplying our enemies with resources..."

"What?" Miyagi Meitaro's expression changed drastically. "Minister Chen, please don't make wild guesses."

"I've worked at the South Manchuria Railway for so many years and handled many cases myself. To be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen someone like you who can turn black into white and plaintiff into defendant in just three days. What evidence do you have?"

[Just to explain, I was planning to finish writing this, but I don't know what happened, I got carsick after my transplant and just couldn't write. I'll rest a bit after I get there and then try again. I'll update with a 4,000-word chapter at 12:05 AM tonight, and another 4,000-word chapter tomorrow at noon! I just can't take it anymore...]

(End of this chapter)