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

To the rhythmic and upbeat music, Zhou Hongyi began to sway his waist. He even took off his leather shoes and, barefoot, circled around Manyu with an extremely relaxed and bold movement.

He was dancing the classic twist dance from the movie "Pulp Fiction." This dance is simple in its movements, but incredibly free-spirited and addictive. It's said that in North America at the time, some people danced so much they couldn't stop, eventually collapsing from exhaustion on the ground.

The movements in twist dance mainly focus on the twisting of the body. The dancer's waist and hips are the core parts of the movements, and the rhythm of the dance is displayed through fast and smooth twists.

As Zhou Hongyi performed his novel, interesting, and daring dance steps, Manyu's mouth opened slightly, her eyes first showing surprise, then quite amused. She followed Zhou Hongyi's movements, took off her high heels, and wiggled her bare, tender white feet on the floor.

Soon, the other guests joined in, and to the accompaniment of rhythm and blues, everyone let loose and danced freely, whether they knew how or not. This dance didn't have any strict rules; it was all about spontaneity, doing whatever you wanted.

Seeing that the atmosphere on the dance floor had reached its peak, "Bodhi" picked up his coat, put on his hat, and walked out of the dance hall without anyone noticing.

He had already found a note in the lighter Zhou Hongyi had left him, and was preparing to go to the shop owned by the latter to discuss serious matters, as this dance hall was indeed not a place to talk business.

As for Chen Gong with the big beard, although he stood in the corner and didn't dance, he couldn't help but nod his head to the rhythm, like a chick pecking at rice.

As Zhou Hongyi danced, his eyes darted out of the corner of his eye toward the private room on the second floor. He saw Colonel Shimazu standing there with a mysterious man in civilian clothes, seemingly pointing at him and whispering something.

He staged this scene on the dance floor for two reasons: first, to get closer to Manyu, and second, to attract the attention of the person upstairs. Now that he had achieved his goal, Zhou Hongyi left the dance floor, sat at the bar, ordered a drink, and said he was too tired to dance anymore.

He had only been sitting there a short while when a young man approached him and whispered, "Mr. Zhou, Mr. Shimazu requests your presence in the private room on the second floor."

Manyu's cheeks were flushed and she was covered in sweat from dancing. She took a sip of her drink, greeted Zhou Hongyi, and then went backstage to change her clothes, as they were now completely soaked.

After saying goodbye, Zhou Hongyi was led up to the second floor by the bodyguard-like man and entered the private room.

"Hehehe~~~ Zhongliang, I didn't expect to meet you here. You danced so well just now. I didn't expect you to like Miss Manyu too."

As soon as Zhou Hongyi entered the private room, he saw Colonel Shimazu, sporting his signature mustache. He was dressed in a loose-sleeved linen shirt, wide-legged trousers, and comfortable cloth shoes. If you didn't know him, you would never guess that this man was the head of the Special Higher Police's intelligence division.

Zhou Hongyi feigned surprise, widening his eyes and asking, "Teacher, what are you doing here?"

Because Zhou Hongyi had studied Japanese with Shimazu in his early years, he privately called this Japanese man "teacher".

Shimazu introduced Zhou Zhongliang to the man beside him with great admiration: "Hasegawa-kun, this is my student I told you about, Zhou Zhongliang. Mr. Hasegawa is an old friend of mine. He's here in Shanghai with the Ministry of Finance to conduct some research and plans to make some investments and establish a new chamber of commerce here. So, Zhongliang-kun, are you interested?"

While Shimazu was speaking, Zhou Hongyi had already begun to use the [Eye of Insight] to uncover the true identity of the man named Hasegawa.

This middle-aged man, with a sleazy appearance, a round head, and round glasses, is the procurement specialist of Xiao Rizi's Ministry of Finance.

This man wields considerable power. While not the kind of authority in the military that allows him to mobilize troops and wage war, he controls the treasury. Who wouldn't love a god of wealth? Even amidst internal power struggles, they all have to do their utmost to win over Hasegawa; after all, who would turn down a god of wealth?

At this moment, several entries were arranged next to Hasegawa, who had a round head, which caught Zhou Hongyi's attention.

One of them is [procurement], and the other is the ongoing task – [delivering supplies].

Since the other party wasn't in a state of panic, tension, or fear, Zhou Hongyi had very limited information to glean. And since it was their first meeting, he couldn't immediately bring up sensitive topics. He could only follow Shimazu's lead, offering greetings and exchanging compliments. But at that moment, a thought flashed through Zhou Hongyi's mind—he remembered the persistent assassin from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) on the first floor.

"Teacher, Mr. Hasegawa, I didn't expect you two to be here today. However, I just discovered something downstairs, and combined with your presence, I can't help but feel worried."

As the head of the Special Higher Police, Shimazu was very sensitive to Zhou Hongyi's words. His smile vanished instantly, and he ordered his bodyguards to stand guard outside the door before asking, "Has Zhongliang-kun discovered something?"

Zhou Hongyi nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, I just saw a man in the restroom. He seemed suspicious and flustered, so I took a closer look while washing my hands. I noticed that the calluses on his hands were from years of shooting practice. Moreover, even in the dance hall, he didn't take off his long overcoat, and his right hand was always in his pocket. This made me wonder if he was holding a weapon in his pocket."

"Zhongliang, do you mean... there was a gunman infiltrated the Paramount Ballroom today? Have you figured out who he is?"

Zhou Hongyi shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I can confirm that he is neither a policeman nor someone from No. 76. If he were either, he wouldn't be so nervous. After you sent someone to call me up just now, I thought of this matter again. It's hard not to connect this person with the two of you, because he looked up at the second floor more than once just now."

Shimazu and Hasegawa exchanged a glance, and Shimazu said in a low voice, "Nakayoshi-kun, your discovery is very important. Mr. Hasegawa, for our safety, let's leave here as soon as possible. But don't worry, I will find out the other party's identity as soon as possible. As for what we just talked about, we can discuss it in my office tomorrow. Nakayoshi-kun, come with me to escort Mr. Hasegawa away from here."

Zhou Hongyi couldn't be happier. He walked over to Hasegawa and took his arm, and the words above Hasegawa's head fluctuated and changed because of this news.

Zhou Hongyi proactively revealed that there were gunmen below, and that the targets were likely Hasegawa and Shimazu. He only needed to drop this "bombshell" to let Hasegawa figure out the gunmen's motives.

This is something Zhou Hongyi learned from the movie "Inception": if you want someone to think about elephants, the best way is to tell them not to think about elephants.

At this moment, Zhou Hongyi's method had a similar effect. After hearing that a gunman had come specifically for him, Hasegawa's heart inevitably wavered.

Although he appeared calm on the surface, the words above his head betrayed him.

"What? Penicillin, machine guns, mortars, transport routes, land and water routes... the goods are being delivered to the Japanese troops around Qingdong as military supplies for suppressing the guerrillas?!"

Zhou Hongyi noted down all this information and important intelligence, and followed several other Japanese spies from the Special Higher Police, surrounding Hasegawa in the center, as they carefully walked from the second floor to the lobby.

At that moment, he immediately spotted the Central Bureau of Investigation assassin with a red label above his head. Originally, his target was Manyu, but after being misled by Zhou Hongyi in the restroom and seeing the mysterious man dressed in traditional ethnic clothing, his emotions instantly tensed up.

Zhou Hongyi had just told him to pay attention to the signals he gave before making a move. The ballroom was now crowded, making it the perfect opportunity for an assassination or a chance to escape in the chaos.

Zhou Hongyi exchanged a brief glance with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBIS) gunman through the gaps in the crowd. As he passed a woman, he deliberately reached out and pinched her buttocks.

The woman was also fierce. She screamed, turned around and saw Shimazu's lewd face. She raised her hand and slapped him across the face.

However, her hand was only halfway through waving when it was grabbed by a Japanese spy from the Special Higher Police next to her.

"Ouch! A pervert pinched my butt!"

The woman screamed in pain as her wrist was gripped tightly, and she kicked the man in the shin. Her dance partner was clearly no pushover either; with a shout, six or seven people rushed over and blocked their path.

"You bastard, get out of here!"

The Special Higher Police bodyguards were on edge. Enraged that their path was blocked, they drew their pistols and pointed them at the men who had surrounded them.

The sudden turn of events terrified the other guests, especially the women, who screamed and began frantically searching for places to hide.

Their running quickly revealed the Kuomintang secret agents hiding behind them.

When the assassin's gaze met Zhou Hongyi's, the latter intentionally or unintentionally shifted his body half a step to the side, as if afraid of being accidentally injured.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) gunman decisively pulled his right hand out of his pocket, gripped a small pistol, and repeatedly pulled the trigger.

“Bang, bang, bang~!”

The gun went off, and the entire Paramount Ballroom erupted into chaos, like a firecracker thrown into a chicken coop.