Spy war in the Republic of China, peak undercover

Simone's body suddenly tensed. She felt the discomfort of being seen through, but even more so, a sense of responsibility, a sense of trust, welled up in her heart.

Professor Zhang stood aside, his body motionless, just quietly observing the interaction between the two.

"You gave Lin Man's daughter freedom last time." Simone suddenly spoke, his eyes falling on Li Suozhu's face, "but she set a trap for you."

Li Suozhu's body stiffened slightly.

"How do you know?" His voice was emotionless.

"I can feel it," Simone said. "The data stream tells me that there's a hidden deviation in her behavior pattern."

Li Suozhu was silent. He knew that Simone's perception ability was far beyond that of ordinary people.

"Can you help me find her new funding source?" Li Suozhu asked with an imperceptible request in his voice.

Simone looked out the window again, which was completely shrouded in darkness.

"I need some time," she repeated.

Li Suozhu leaned forward slightly and stretched out his hand as if he wanted to touch something, but eventually stopped in mid-air.

"You said last time that I could be the decision maker." Simone turned his head and his eyes fell on Li Suozhu's face. "Now, I need your cooperation."

Li Suozhu leaned back in his chair.

"You said."

"I want to meet Lin Man in person," said Simone.

Li Suozhu's breathing stagnated slightly.

"She's dangerous."

"I know." Simone said, "But some things must be resolved face to face."

Li Suozhu didn't answer, he just looked at her quietly.

---

**Two days later, Li Suozhu's office.**

"Does she really want to see Lin Man?" Bond leaned forward slightly, his voice low.

Li Suozhu sat at his desk, playing with a pen in his hand.

"She insisted."

"That's too risky," Bond said. "Lin Man is hostile to her."

"I know." Li Suozhu's fingertips tapped the table, making a rhythmic sound, "but she needs this step."

"You need her to find out more?" Bond asked.

"No." Li Suozhu said, "I need her to understand what the real game is."

The phone rang. It was Professor Zhang.

"Mr. Li." Professor Zhang's voice was emotionless. "Simony's condition is stable, but her mental state is undergoing some subtle changes."

"What changes?" Li Suozhu asked.

“She seemed to be seeking something… beyond herself,” Professor Zhang said. “A new way of being that was completely different from the past.”

Li Suozhu was silent. He could feel the growing power in Simone.

"Will this help with treatment?" he asked.

“It could be beneficial or harmful,” Professor Zhang said. “It depends on how she uses this power.”

The corners of Li Suozhu's lips rose slightly.

"She'll take advantage of it."

---

**That afternoon, Lin Man was in a hidden apartment in the city center. **

Simone, accompanied by Bond, walked into the apartment, which was filled with a faint fragrance and exquisitely decorated, in stark contrast to the dilapidated factory.

Lin Man sat on the sofa, her hands folded on her knees, her face expressionless. Beside her was an open handbag, revealing a computer screen.

"You're here." Lin Man said, her voice cold.

Simone sat down opposite Lin Man, while Bond stood at the door, his body straight.

"Do you think I would be Li Suozhu's pawn?" Simone said.

Lin Man chuckled, the corners of her lips twitching upwards.

"You are now, aren't you?"

"I'm just looking for the truth," Simone said, "just like you're looking for your daughter's whereabouts."

Lin Man's body stiffened slightly, then relaxed again.

"Is that what you came here to say?"

"I came here to see you clearly," Simone said. "You gave Li Suozhu a fake funding chain, making him think you had cut off Mr. Gu's lifeline."

Lin Man's eyes did not fluctuate, but her fingertips tightened unconsciously.

"I do not know what you're talking about."

"No, you know." Simone leaned forward slightly. "That new funding chain, hidden in the redundant data of the city's underground pipe network, exploited the incompleteness of the old system and became Mr. Gu's lifeblood."

Lin Man's breathing stopped slightly.

"You...how do you know?"

"Because I can see it," Simone said, "there's a tiny logical deviation buried in your data. It's like a fingerprint pointing to your true intentions."

Lin Man leaned back on the sofa and stared at Simone as if she was meeting her for the first time.

"Li Suozhu is such a lunatic," she whispered.

"Why?" Simone asked.

"He wants to use you to completely destroy Mr. Gu," Lin Man said, "but do you think Mr. Gu will just sit there and wait for death?"

Simone's eyes were calm.

"What will happen to him?"

Lin Man's lips curled up in a mocking arc.

"He will leave you with nothing."

Lu Yang crouched down, shining the dim light of his flashlight towards the spot on the wall where the sound was coming from. He felt along the crack until his fingertips touched a bump. He pressed lightly, and a subtle "click" was heard.

The stone slab slowly moved away.

A long-dusty air blew in my face, carrying a faint smell of mold.

He shone the flashlight inside and saw a narrow hole, barely big enough for a person to fit through.

He took a deep breath, covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth, and lowered his body to get in.

Inside was a hidden space separated by wooden boards and dirt. The space was small, and the areas that were accessible by light looked a bit messy.

The first thing he saw was a black iron cabinet.

The iron cabinet is not big, but it looks very sturdy.

He took out his lock picking tools and started to pry the lock. He was very skilled, and after a few tries, there was only a slight "click".

The lock is unlocked.

He opened the door of the iron cabinet.

Shine the flashlight inside.

His pupils shrank suddenly.

In the cabinet, stacks of green banknotes are neatly stacked.

It was printed with a bearded foreign old man and a huge number "100".

US dollars.

And the number is staggering.

His hand trembled as he reached in and picked up a stack.

It was a thick stack, with at least a hundred sheets.

One hundred dollars.

One stack is $10,000.

The cabinet is not big, but it is filled with such banknotes.

He took a rough inventory.

One stack costs ten thousand, and there are at least ninety stacks here.

Nine hundred thousand dollars!

Nine hundred thousand!

This number was astronomical in China in 1940.

His mind went blank.

He thought back to his past life.

Mortgage, car loan, overtime, sudden death.

For that meager salary and those pitiful savings, he spun like a top until his oil ran out.

And this pile of money in front of me.

Nine hundred thousand dollars!

If this money was in his world, he could buy countless houses, the best cars, and live the most luxurious life.

He no longer has to grovel for a little overtime pay.

He no longer has to work so hard to come up with a down payment.

He can even not...

The cold eyes of my ex-wife flashed through my mind.

The marriage that broke down because of money.

The relationship that was lost due to poverty.

absurd.

He felt a great sense of absurdity.

The wealth that he had tried his best to obtain but could not reach appeared before him in such a way.

Moreover, it happened in this war-torn era.

The impoverished and weak China recorded in the history books of his previous life.

He felt angry.

Anger at fate.

Anger at oneself.

Those who always say "money is like dirt" may have died suddenly in their previous lives like him due to lack of money.

money.

He looked at the pile of green banknotes.

Suddenly, they felt like dirt to him.

A pile of meaningless paper.

They changed his destiny, but also seemed to make him lose the direction of his struggle.

A strong feeling of decadence came over me.

Disheartened.

He squatted there, as if he had lost all his strength.

Let the flashlight beam jump on the green banknotes.

He didn't know how long he squatted there.

It wasn't until his knees started to go numb that he suddenly woke up.

1940.

It is 1940 here.

The future he experienced has become history.

However, the past recorded in the books became unclear after his arrival.

He shook his head, pushing away those ridiculous emotions.

He's not here to get rich.

He came to find evidence.

Find evidence of the "shadow" lurking in the darkness.

He pulled himself together and continued to move the flashlight in the small space.

Next to the first iron cabinet, he saw another iron cabinet.

This cabinet is slightly larger than the first one, but looks just as heavy.

He took out his tools again and pried open the lock.

The cabinet door opens.

This time, inside were neatly folded banknotes and some objects that shone with golden light.

legal tender.

and gold bars.

Those banknotes were the legal tender in circulation during this era.

He picked up a stack at random and took a look.

He knew that the value of these fiat currencies would become worthless in the future.

He had no interest in these banknotes.

He picked up a gold bar, which was heavy.

Next to the gold bars are "yellow croakers" of different sizes.

He knew that the purchasing power of these gold bars and legal tender at the time was astonishing.

Together with the $900,000, this amount of money far exceeds the expenses required for an ordinary intelligence network.

This further confirmed his judgment.

The owner here is definitely not an ordinary tenant. He possesses such huge wealth, which must be related to some huge illegal activities.

This money is likely used to support a large spy network or other shady operations.

He put the gold bars back into the cabinet.

He didn't feel much towards these cold metals.

He continued to examine the walls of the hidden space.

Next to the second cabinet, he found that there seemed to be another abnormality in the wall.

He knocked with his hand.

Empty sound.

There is also a hidden space inside.

Without any hesitation, he continued to pry open the third hidden space.

This time, what was placed inside was not money or gold bars.

It's equipment.

Two small radios.

and two hand-cranked generators.

The flashlight shone on the cold metal casing of the radio.

His heartbeat quickened again.

Radio station.

This was what he really wanted to find.

When he saw these communication devices, his previous decadence and despair disappeared in an instant.

Those US dollars and gold bars seemed to have really turned into dirt.

His thoughts were forcibly pulled back to reality.

It is 1940 here.

The most difficult period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

The future he experiences is just a past.

But the past recorded in the book is the present he is experiencing now.

He realized his mission.

Perhaps he came here just to stop something from happening.

Events that will have a profound impact on the country and the nation nine years from now, or even beyond.

He couldn't let history develop along its original trajectory.

At the very least, we cannot let those sacrifices and pains happen in vain.

He cheered up again.

His eyes became firm.

He carefully examined the items next to the radio.

There are also four pistols.

Magazines and plenty of bullets.

He picked up a pistol and weighed it in his hand.

It's the Browning M1910.

This is a very classic semi-automatic pistol that is small, reliable, and easy to conceal.

He checked the gun's make and magazine.

He tried to find some clues from the guns and ammunition.

But the cabinet was well preserved, without any dust or fingerprints, and seemed to have been wiped regularly.

He replaced the pistol.

He held one of the radios and tried to take it out.

Just as his hand touched the bottom of the radio, his fingertips touched a hard booklet.

He was delighted.

He knew this might be what he had been looking for.

He carefully pulled the pamphlet out from under the radio.

The booklet is very thin and there is no writing on the cover.

He shone his flashlight and opened the booklet.

The first page contained some strange symbols.

He flipped through it quickly.

The second page, the third page...

He saw some comparison tables written in small characters.

Above are Arabic numerals, corresponding to some Japanese kana or kanji.

Code book.

A stone fell from his heart.

He finally found it.

This code book is the irrefutable evidence he has been looking for.

With this, plus the radio stations and huge amounts of money, he could be sure that the owner of this place was a Japanese spy.

In that complex era, huge amounts of money, gold bars or guns could belong to various warlords, families, parties, or even some smugglers.

But this code book is a unique symbol of Japanese spies.

The dust has settled.

Lu Yang's mood became unusually calm.

He had found what he wanted.

Now, he needs to think about how to deal with the follow-up matters.

How to report to the higher authorities and to Dai Yunong.

How to transfer this evidence safely.

More importantly, how can he get out of this "mess" and get the greatest benefit for himself.

Take all the property for yourself?

This thought flashed through his mind, and he completely rejected it.

That's too dangerous.

If you are not careful, you will be doomed.

He must get rid of this "mess".

To whom?

That mountain city special operations team.

Only they have the ability and courage to take over this hot potato.

Those military police under his control, those huge sums of money and gold bars, those radio stations and weapons all require a reasonable explanation and a party to take over.

His report on the list of suspects is in Dai Yunong's hands. If it is examined in depth, it may expose problems.

He needs to use these "achievements" to fill the gaps in the report.

But his work was not in vain.

The relaxed and cheerful look on his face disappeared in an instant.