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

“Pa bang bang~~~”

The flashbulbs of the cameras went off, and Elizabeth, wearing a silver mask, frowned slightly, while Zhou Hongyi remained quite composed, waving to the crowd and even helping a child who had been knocked down by the crowd to get back up.

"It's Mr. Zhou Hongyi, the deputy director of the Second Branch Bureau. He's such a gentleman!"

"Yes, I only heard the news yesterday. It turns out that Deputy Director Zhou is Miss Elizabeth's sugar daddy. No wonder Miss Elizabeth was able to get two of his new songs."

“Mr. Zhou is not only the deputy director of the police station, but as far as I know, he also runs an antique shop, which is doing very well.”

"How good can the business of an antique shop be? Mr. Zhou holds the title of External Affairs Director of the Sakura Trading Company and is highly regarded by those Imperial Army soldiers."

"Pah! Just a traitor, what's so great about him?"

"Who? Who's speaking? Who just spoke? Find him!"

Among the onlookers were envious people, jealous people, and people who were envious and greedy. There were all sorts of opinions, but Zhou Hongyi ignored them all. He let Elizabeth gently take his arm, and the two of them, like a golden couple descended from heaven, entered the Grand World amidst the flashing lights of reporters and the screams of fans around them.

In fact, some of the people cheering and shouting below were actually shills hired by Zhou Hongyi himself. They were the earliest fans he paid for Elizabeth to have. Wherever Miss Elizabeth appeared, they would show up, holding all sorts of signs, screaming and shouting, and even occasionally two of them would faint.

People of this era had never seen such a scene before, and they were all affected by the atmosphere. The reporters, on the other hand, focused more on the contestant wearing a cold mask.

The Grand World Ballroom, which hosted the main venue for the Miss Rose pageant this time, has also been specially decorated. In terms of space alone, it is larger than the Paramount Ballroom and has a higher ceiling. Moreover, it has a theater and a teahouse upstairs, making it more functional and more inclined towards traditional Chinese arts. It is very popular among some local businessmen, warlords, and people who are nostalgic.

However, this Miss Rose pageant is at the forefront of fashion.

When Zhou Hongyi led Elizabeth into the ballroom, they instantly attracted the attention of many people around them.

After all, Elizabeth made a stunning debut in the preliminary rounds with her rendition of "When Will the Moon Be Bright Again? I Raise My Cup to Ask the Blue Sky," which amazed everyone. If there were a Golden Melody Award in this era, it would undoubtedly belong to her.

"Oh my, Brother Zhongliang, you've finally arrived! We've been waiting for you. Come on, let me introduce you to the other judges."

Gu Tianbo was talking to someone when he saw Zhou Hongyi come in and hurriedly went to greet him warmly. After all, he still wanted to use this young man with a special identity to complete a secret transaction that only the two of them knew about.

"Brother Gu, I'm so sorry, there was a traffic jam on the way, which caused the delay. We really need to widen the main roads in our bustling city. There will only be more and more cars on the road in the future, and it will be a real problem if we can't move."

“Brother, we’ll have to rely on you young people. We old folks don’t know anything about this. We need the local government to get involved.”

The two chatted idly as they walked up to the VIP rooms on the second floor. In one of the rooms, which was clearly guarded by hired guns, Zhou Hongyi finally met the other four judges besides himself, as well as some behind-the-scenes financial backers.

"Hello everyone, this is Zhou Hongyi, whom I introduced to you before. He is also the deputy director of our Second Branch Bureau, a director of the Sakura Chamber of Commerce, and a rising star in Shanghai's political arena!"

Gu Tianbo enthusiastically promoted the idea to Zhou Hongyi, who then activated his [Eye of Insight] and scanned the big shots in the room. Instantly, a series of unspeakable, filthy, and obscene secrets were revealed to him, almost making Zhou Hongyi vomit.

He cursed "scumbag" in his mind and automatically filtered out the junk information.

When the host, Boss Qiao, saw him, he stood up and greeted him. Zhou Hongyi had met him once before, so he also raised his hand in greeting.

Looking at the other two judges, one of them, with slicked-back hair and glasses, was introduced by Gu Tianbo as Peter Lee, a traitor to the West who had previously worked in the French Concession police force. Now that the French had fled, he had transformed himself into a member of the military police on the other side. Furthermore, this man was also the direct culprit behind Beckham's brother's sacrifice.

The other person was Cui Liangda, the deputy minister of the propaganda department of the Wang Jingwei regime. He was also a senior music lover, dance lover, painting lover, and human anatomy connoisseur.

The remaining individuals were the financial backers of this beauty pageant: two big bosses, a warlord, and two gang leaders—a total of five. Each of these five brought a girl to the competition, presumably all with ulterior motives.

The few people who weren't very familiar with him nodded and greeted Zhou Hongyi. He then clasped his hands in a fist and bowed in a circle, saying, "I've heard so much about you all. I'm the youngest and the least senior among you all. Please take your seats, seniors. I'll sit on the outside. Also, tonight's drinks are on me. Please don't try to take them from me."

Originally, those gang leaders and warlords were indifferent to Zhou Hongyi, and even looked down on him. They all thought that he only got to his current position because his sister was someone else's mistress.

But upon meeting him today, I was surprised to find that this young man, who already held the title of deputy director, was quite polite and generous. As the saying goes, "one doesn't hit a smiling face," and since I had no deep-seated hatred or vested interests with him, and we were both shrewd old foxes, there was no need for me to give a young man the cold shoulder.

"So it's Young Master Zhou. It's true that seeing is believing. I've heard before that the leader of the Second Precinct's Special Operations Team is very young, a graduate of West Point Military Academy in North America, and the first person to dare to lead the entire police station to another police station to cause trouble. He shows his talent just right and is a man who can do great things."

"Yes, and yesterday I heard that Young Master Zhou represented the Sakura Trading Company to negotiate business with several local businessmen. Even your president, Hasegawa, couldn't win them over, but you only took half a day to subdue them completely. Of course, Mr. Gu, I don't mean to belittle you."

One of the gang leaders looked at Gu Tianbo and cupped his hands in greeting. Gu Tianbo knew he was joking, so he laughed and waved his hand, saying, "Zhongliang is one of the top young people in Shanghai right now. With him personally taking charge, I'm quite confident about this deal. Besides, I'd like to persuade you all to join in today. The Sakura Trading Company is backed by the Imperial Army; it's a sure-fire way to make money. This is just the beginning. Once the company grows, there won't be any room left for you to join."

Gu Tianbo's words were half true and half false. Anyway, he wasn't very familiar with these people; they were just nodding acquaintances. He could go back on his word the next day by claiming he had drunk too much, so he had no qualms about it.

Zhou Hongyi smiled modestly and said, "Brother Gu, I'm embarrassed by what you said. Seniors, if any of you are interested in doing business, we can talk about it privately, but today we'll only talk about romance, not work."

"Yes, yes, Mr. Zhou is right. What occasion is this? It's the Miss Rose semi-finals, a swimsuit competition. Naturally, we should talk about romance, not business."

"Hahahaha~~~"