Espionage: You're tasked with spying, but you'll blow up the Special Higher Police?

As a spy planted in the prison by the Mei Agency, Kuki possessed absolute special privileges. He had been searching for Red Party underground members hidden among ordinary criminals and had even made some progress, but today he was severely punished by the police chief, who had only been imprisoned for a few days.

Kuki was furious, so he went to the warden of the serious offenders' quarters, Fuma Kojiro, to complain.

"He actually dared to hit me! He must be locked up and severely tortured! Also, my mission cannot be disturbed by anyone; I'm about to get close to their core."

Kuki's mission was to find potential contact points for the Red Party among these ordinary prisoners. For this reason, after entering the prison, the Ume Agency had already informed Fuma Kojiro, instructing him to fully cooperate with Kuki's operation and provide him with all necessary assistance.

"Kyuuki-kun, you mean Sasuke-kun? He and I used to be classmates, and our teacher gave him the name Sarutobi Sasuke. He's currently the police chief of the Jing'an Second Precinct. He got locked up because of a misunderstanding with Kondo, the head of the Special Higher Police, to try and deflate his arrogance. How did you two get into a conflict?"

Nine Ghosts looked a little uneasy and said angrily, "That Zhou Hongyi is too arrogant! I only glanced at him, and he attacked me without warning, even claiming that he would beat me every time he saw me. Sir, if this continues, I will not be able to complete my mission."

Fuma Kojiro rested his chin on one hand and tapped the table lightly and rhythmically with the other. After a while, he smiled and spread his hands, saying, "How about this, we lock you two in the hard labor section for fighting? I think that would be quite interesting."

"What? The hard labor ward? Sir, you mean..."

Fuma Kojiro revealed an extremely cunning expression and said, "Yes, he's like a pebble. I'm going to throw this pebble into the stagnant, hardened prison area and see if I can stir up the waters and catch all the fish hiding under the mud. Regardless of whether Zhou Hongyi is on our side or not, his role is undeniable. Kuki-kun, help him. Takamori Prison has been silent for too long. For professionally trained and steadfast rebels, traditional torture is no longer enough to make them talk, so we must find another way. Go and prepare."

Nine Demons pondered for a while, then straightened up, bowed his head in response, and withdrew.

Fuma Kojiro looked thoughtful, then smiled and muttered to himself, "My friend, what is your real purpose in coming to the prison this time? Let's wait and see."

Just as Zhou Hongyi returned to the regular prison ward and was about to get a good night's sleep, several prison guards suddenly walked over aggressively and opened his cell door.

"0434, due to your private fight with Kuki, the warden has decided to transfer you and other unstable elements to the serious offender cell for reflection. We will consider releasing you when you realize your mistakes."

"What?" Zhou Hongyi squinted, thinking it was probably the Japanese soldier he had just beaten up. But he hadn't expected Fuma Kojiro to handle it this way. Just moments ago, he was chatting and laughing with him, talking about being classmates and old times, and now he'd locked him up in the hardened criminal section. What was his purpose?

Although he didn't know the other party's purpose, this was exactly what Zhou Hongyi wanted. The people he needed to contact were all in the hardened criminal area. As the saying goes, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," so he decided to turn the tables on them.

Seeing Zhou Hongyi being escorted by several prison guards towards the cell door leading to the hardened criminal area, Diao Zhen, in another cell, suddenly stood up and shouted, "Hey! What are you doing? Where are you taking him?"

"Quiet down! Go back to sleep, everyone. This is none of your business. Anyone who's unhappy can go to the hardened criminal cell with him!"

"What? The hardened criminal ward? That's full of serious offenders. What happened to him? He didn't do anything wrong. Wasn't he helping out in the canteen during the day?"

Diao Zhen looked at Zhou Hongyi with some concern, while the latter nodded to him, indicating that he was alright.

Zhu Qingfeng, on the other side, made sarcastic remarks: "Hmph, has our arrogant Director Zhou finally shown his true colors? He should have been locked up in the hard-core prison long ago, and given a good beating to see what he hasn't confessed yet."

Zhou Hongyi glanced at the guy, then suddenly said to the prison guard beside him, "This guy! This guy is my accomplice. You have to take him in with me. Otherwise, I'll kill myself right here, and none of you will escape responsibility."

"What?" Zhu Qingfeng was dumbfounded. "Who's your accomplice? Don't you dare make false accusations!"

The prison guards didn't want to cause any trouble, especially since Zhou Hongyi was their squad leader Zhou Keshang's cousin. Immediately, the leading guard turned to Zhu Qingfeng, who was hurling insults, and said, "Take him with you. Since he's an accomplice, it's better to arrest the innocent than let the guilty go free."

"Sir! Sir! You've got it wrong! I don't know him at all, let alone be his accomplice! You've got it wrong! Zhou Hongyi, you're making false accusations! You're harming others without any benefit to yourself!"

Zhou Hongyi looked at Zhu Qingfeng, who had been dragged out, and chuckled, "Brother, stop pretending. We've already been seen through. As the saying goes, we should share the good times and the bad. Since we have this good opportunity, we should both shoulder it together."

"I'll take care of you for @￥%!"

Zhu Qingfeng spewed out a variety of profanities, some of which were mixed with local dialect. Zhou Hongyi didn't understand much of it, chuckled, and obediently followed the prison guard into the serious offender ward.

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

As soon as they entered, the guards from the regular prison ward handed them over to several Japanese guards and turned to leave. The iron gate between the two prison wards closed, completely shutting out all sounds from the other side. All they could hear were the sounds of whipping, screams, and the crackling of branding irons into flesh.

Zhu Qingfeng swallowed hard, no longer daring to curse. He kept his mouth shut and carefully looked around.

"You, go into this room! You go to that room!"

Several Japanese soldiers locked Zhou Hongyi and Zhu Qingfeng in different cells. Zhou Hongyi saw that his cell number was 005. The cells here seemed to be arranged in odd-numbered rows and even-numbered rows, meaning that the person imprisoned next to him was Song Guotao, a special envoy of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS).

Zhou Hongyi's eyes darted around, seemingly guessing what Fuma Kojiro was up to. He was using him as a troublemaker, that bastard!

"Ah...ah...help! Stop hitting me, I'll confess! I'll tell you everything~~~!"

At this moment, a prisoner from one of the cells, unable to endure the torture any longer, shouted loudly, demanding a confession. Zhou Hongyi stood at the door, listening intently, and heard the prisoner panting heavily as he said:

“I’ll talk…I’ll talk. My name is Zhang Baiyuan, and I’m the president of the Shanghai Local Media Alliance. I’ve been contacted by underground members of the Communist Party. They’ll communicate with me through special methods in the newspapers. In addition, we also publish poems and collections of anti-Japanese sentiments in the newspapers…Stop hitting me, I’ll confess everything. I’ll tell you who I’ve been in contact with on a daily basis. He…he’s in this prison.”