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

Chapter 96 I refuse to believe I can't handle it

"I...don't know." These words seemed to have taken all of Zhang Mingda's strength; his voice was not loud, but it was unusually firm.

Matsui Yokoji looked at Asano Ozo beside him: "Asano-kun, it seems that's not enough. Let's turn it up to the maximum and let him experience the feeling of being at the limit."

"Hai." Asano Ozo grinned maliciously as he pressed the switch and then turned the current to its maximum.

"Buzz, buzz." An electrical hum sounded, and the pointer on the control panel swung wildly.

Zhang Mingda's teeth were clenched so hard they were grinding together, and his eyes rolled upwards uncontrollably.

"Ah, ahhhh." An uncontrollable scream tore out from deep within his throat, then shattered into a discordant hoarse sound amidst violent tremors.

The acrid smell of electricity mixed with the stench of incontinence permeated the air.

The next second, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.

A bucket of cold water was poured over his head, and Zhang Mingda groaned as he slowly woke up.

“Not bad, not bad, your willpower is indeed amazing. Let’s try a different approach.” Matsui Yokoji waved his hand, and two Japanese soldiers carried Zhang Ming to the torture table in the corner of the room, fixing his head firmly in a downward tilted position.

A thick, coarse linen cloth soaked in dirty water was suddenly smothered over his mouth and nose.

Ladles of icy, foul-smelling, dirty water were mercilessly poured onto the burlap.

The water instantly soaked through the fabric, blocking all breathing channels.

The cold, murky liquid was forced into his nasal cavity, mouth, and rushed into his trachea and lungs. Within seconds, a burning pain, as if his lungs were about to explode, came from his lungs.

Zhang Mingda's hands and feet were still struggling at first, but slowly, after a series of tremors, they suddenly stopped.

Upon seeing this, Asano Ozo quickly removed the towel and used his hand to check Zhang Mingda's pulse on his neck and his breathing through his nose.

Thankfully, although the breathing was weak, it didn't stop...

"Section Chief Matsui, we can't continue like this," Asano Ozo whispered. "His willpower is far stronger than his physical strength."

“These stubborn elements cannot be reasoned with at all. I’m afraid that if this continues, someone will die, which would be a huge loss.”

"Baka!" Matsui Yokoji unbuttoned two buttons at the neck of his shirt, took a breath, and said angrily, "I don't believe I can't do anything to him."

Asano Ozo quickly dissuaded him, saying, "Section Chief Matsui, please be rational. This courier is key to finding the new army's special envoy."

"If he dies, all our hard work these past few days will have been for nothing."

"Perhaps we can try other methods."

Late at night, Shanghai, Avenue Joffre.

The clanging tram stopped at the terminal station after carrying the last passengers.

A rickshaw carrying a middle-aged man in Western clothes sped forward.

Despite it being late at night, Xiafei Road was still bustling with people.

Lin Xueli sat in the rickshaw, constantly glancing around at his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.

Soon, the rickshaw arrived at the entrance of Dahua Bookstore, which was already sealed off with two long strips of paper.

There were signs of men wearing hats and black shirts lurking around, but Lin Xueli didn't call for a stop. The rickshaw driver continued to run quickly past the entrance of Dahua Bookstore at the same speed.

Everything proceeded smoothly and did not alert the spies around the bookstore.

After driving for about a kilometer, Lin Xueli suddenly called a stop, got out of the car, gave the driver a silver dollar, and then turned around and sat down at a late-night snack stall on the side of the street.

Lin Xueli ordered a bowl of noodles and ate while trying to analyze the situation. Combining the tailor's deductions with the surroundings of Dahua Bookstore, Lin Xueli was certain that the Japanese had not gotten what they wanted from the lynx.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many spies near the Dahua Bookstore.

They still wanted to catch the person who made contact with the lynx by waiting for him to come to them.

If the Lynx confess, they should know that the contact person won't come.

So the key now is to figure out exactly what intelligence the Lynx obtained.

The tailor said that the lynx's activity range is only in the area of ​​Avenue Joffre and White Horse Road.

Lin Xueli's family started out running a yarn factory, so he knew the work schedules of the female workers in those factories very well.

Female workers in yarn factories typically earn between 35 and 40 cents a day.

The factory provides two meals a day, but they are both cold steamed buns and pickled vegetables. Accommodation is also provided at the factory.

A conscientious boss will provide free food and lodging, but some bosses still try to skim profits off their workers.

One dollar a month will be charged for food and one dollar a month for lodging.

The average female worker's salary is usually only eight to ten silver dollars.

Generally speaking, they don't go too far from the factory unless it's payday at the end of the month.

Based on this judgment, it means that Lynx must have found the communication signal left by the special envoy at some location on White Road.

But where could the route of the Lynx operation overlap?

Lin Xueli couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought about it. A grown man like Shanmao couldn't possibly be going in and out of the female workers' dormitory.

Female workers usually come out in groups of three or five, so any strange behavior they do is easily noticed.

You need to go to a place that everyone considers perfectly normal, but without attracting attention.

Where could this place be?
"Grandpa, there's no water again," a child's muttering voice suddenly rang out.

The old man cooking noodles sighed and said, "There are still two buckets of water inside. Genzi, go and fetch one of them."

"Use it sparingly tonight, and go to the water station to queue up first thing tomorrow morning."

"These damned bastards have even cut off the water supply."

Lin Xueli's body stiffened, as if he had just thought of something, and he asked the old man cooking noodles, "Boss, why is the water often cut off here?"

"Sigh." The boss sighed and said, "Everything costs money these days. The Municipal Council issued a notice last time that the sewage system here needs to be renovated."

"Actually, it was someone in the Municipal Council who colluded with the water station owner to force us to use their water."

"In this world, they even cheat ordinary people out of their hard-earned money. These bastards deserve to die a horrible death."

The old man cursed angrily, but Lin Xueli's eyes suddenly lit up.

The point where the routes overlapped was actually here.

The water in the yarn factory is reused and is absolutely undrinkable; it's only okay for washing and scrubbing.
If the water supply to the lynx's habitat is also cut off, he will need to go to the water station to fetch water to maintain his daily needs.

If I'm not mistaken, the lynx accidentally discovered the communication signal left by the special envoy when he went to the water station to fetch water.

However, his rank was too low to understand the meaning of the communication signals, so he could only contact the tailor, tell him the address of the water station, and let him go and make the contact himself.

There were three water stations on Baima Road, and they should all be closed by now. Lin Xueli hurriedly threw down five mao (0.5 yuan) and quickly disappeared into the night.
(End of this chapter)