Chapter 3: Investigation

The liaison officers of each squad withdrew from the zero-rent villa.

Only the four members of Team C remained, sitting anxiously.

After the others left, Zhang Anping walked straight over and sat on the sofa. He watched the four tense members of Team C, and only after all of them began to sweat did he slowly say:

"Clean up the mess! Are you standing here waiting for me to wipe your butts?"

The four of them hurriedly walked aside and began discussing how to handle the cleanup. Zhang Anping seized the opportunity to stand up and strolled around the villa.

Zeng Mengyi followed Zhang Anping. Once they were far enough from the four members of Team C, she lowered her voice and asked, "Weren't your punishments for An Wanqing and the others a bit too harsh?"

"Harsh? If this were wartime, their concealment and false reporting would be enough to get them shot!" Zhang Anping said coldly.

"Intelligence work cannot afford a single mistake. A single mistake doesn't just kill or ruin one person; it can destroy an entire network—just like them!"

He pointed at the four members of Team C. "If the owner of this place knew that secret agents dared to occupy his home for a meeting, what do you think would happen?"

Zeng Mengyi thought for a moment and said, "They shouldn't do anything too severe to us, right? After all, we are from the Secret Service."

Zhang Anping laughed.

"Do you think the Secret Service is that powerful? In the eyes of truly powerful people, we are worth less than nothing. Do you know whose house this is?"

Zeng Mengyi shook her head; she hadn't noticed any obvious markings.

"Zhu Xiaoan! One of the wealthiest men in Shanghai!"

Zhang Anping's mouth twitched—not from a stroke, but from sheer anger.

Good grief, you four masterminds of Team C, do you have any idea what this name means?

Did you really think the owner was just a fool with too much money, leaving an old servant behind to look after the house for nothing?

The public security in Republican-era Shanghai was certainly not so safe that people left their doors unlocked at night!

It was just that petty thieves dared not patronize this place!

Money can move the gods!

Before stepping into the mansion, he had seen the two characters "Zhu Residence." The characters were small, but they weighed heavier than a thousand catties!

"If he finds out that some blind thieves broke into his house, with a single phone call, we will be in deep trouble with the superiors!"

"The one above us won't be able to shield us!"

"If we kept a low profile, it would at most be classified as an unsolved case. But with the swaggering way you lot behaved, I guarantee the police would fish you out within three days!

Do you really think the police back then only took bribes?

When the time comes, they'll trace the clues all the way back to the Secret Service, and our superior will probably have to bow and scrape with profuse apologies just to see if the owner decides to press charges."

Zeng Mengyi was somewhat stunned. She had always thought the Secret Service was immensely powerful, able to execute people on a whim with a sort of lawless arrogance. She never imagined that in the eyes of the truly wealthy, the Secret Service was worth so little!

This, in fact, was the reality.

For people without backgrounds, being arrested or executed was just business as usual.

However, if someone had a background, evidence had to be discussed—and if the background was high enough, say, touching the clouds, it wasn't about evidence anymore; it was about personal whims.

As long as the powers that be didn't think you were guilty or collaborating with the communists, they would dismiss the evidence right in front of them as forgeries!

Zhang Anping had always maintained a clear awareness of this, which was why he was able to trick the Kuomintang's Bureau of Investigation and Statistics into losing three sections (the Postal Censorship Section).

Downstairs, the four members of Team C were discussing how to handle the cleanup and aftermath.

Yu Xiuniang, Chen Ming, and Gu Yufei said a lot, but they all felt it was risky—mainly because they feared that if negative consequences actually arose, they would end up like An Wanqing, kicked back by their teacher to be retrained from scratch.

When personal interests are involved, people always find it difficult to make decisions.

Seeing this, Xu Zhongyi cautiously said, "How about I follow my previous suggestion for the cleanup?"

Xu Zhongyi's previous suggestion was to intimidate the old servant before leaving, find out about his family situation, and then stuff him with money—the classic carrot and stick. Since the villa hadn't been damaged, the old servant would certainly be willing to take the money and settle the matter.

Yet with Zhang Anping standing right there, the other three were afraid the teacher would be displeased and dared not mention it at all—nor had they come up with any better cleanup strategy.

Seeing Xu Zhongyi bring up his old idea again, Yu Xiuniang said, "Xu Zhongyi, why don't you go ask the teacher?"

"Sister, my legs go weak just looking at the teacher!" Xu Zhongyi said with a mournful face. "The way he looked at me just now made me feel like he wanted to beat me up."

Chen Ming hurriedly winked at Gu Yufei. Catching the signal, Gu Yufei said in a sweet, soft voice, "Zhongyi, why don't you go give it a try!"

Xu Zhongyi felt dizzy on the spot. Without another word, he turned around, only realizing what he was doing halfway up the stairs. Realizing it was too late for regrets, he had to bite the bullet and find Zhang Anping.

"Teacher, do you think it's okay if I give the old man ten yuan?"

Zhang Anping's hearing was no joke. Back in the interrogation room of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, beaten to a pulp, he had still been able to recognize his uncle's footsteps; let alone now.

Seeing that this fellow hadn't even absorbed 0.1 percent of a honey trap, Zhang Anping felt his teeth itch with irritation.

Did he know that in later generations, this kind of behavior was called being a simping pushover?

Facing his chief disciple's request for consultation, Zhang Anping said coldly, "I've said it before: if there are no consequences, I won't punish you. If there are consequences, I will punish you based on the consequences."

Xu Zhongyi wanted to lean on his status as the chief disciple and pester him for a bit, but seeing Zhang Anping's expressionless face, he wisely chose to turn around and leave.

Going back downstairs to reunite with his three colleagues, this fellow happily announced:

"The teacher agreed."

Yu Xiuniang and the others truly hadn't expected this fellow to dare distort the truth right in front of the teacher, so naturally, they hesitated no longer and immediately began the cleanup operations.

Zhang Anping thought to himself:

*Well, as an undercover agent, that reaction just now was passing grade.*

He completely forgot his own ruthlessness when he refused to give An Wanqing and the others a chance—a textbook example of double standards.

The vanguard of the cleanup was naturally Chen Ming, who fiercely threatened the old servant and fished out his family situation before handing off the baton to the good-guy-playing Xu Zhongyi.

This fellow walked up to the old servant with a amiable and approachable demeanor, offered a bunch of empty apologies, and shoved twenty fiat currency notes into the old servant's hands.

Trembling with fear, the old servant accepted the money—which amounted to three or four months of his earnings—and the balance in his heart tipped instantly.

Chen Ming found the twenty yuan heartbreaking, wincing in pain as he vocalized his agony. Even Gu Yufei thought it was a lot—their team's monthly budget was only fifty yuan, and stuffing two-fifths of it into an old man's hands felt a bit excessive!

Yet Xu Zhongyi argued eloquently: "If we ever need to investigate Zhu Xiaoan in the future, or cooperate with him, this old servant will be our secret weapon."

Chen Ming was dumbfounded. You could do that too?

Yu Xiuniang learned her lesson, thinking to herself that this younger brother of hers truly lived up to being the chief disciple favored by the teacher. This mind of his... was so viciously crafty!

Naturally, Zhang Anping heard Xu Zhongyi's words as well.

He furrowed his brow slightly. Xu Zhongyi seemed to be heading off track—he had to find a way to make this fellow accept education from the Party, otherwise, judging by this style of operation, he would turn into a die-hard secret agent in the future.

Therefore, upon stepping out of the villa, Xu Zhongyi's deeply beloved teacher very cordially informed his four students:

"I never agreed to Xu Zhongyi's cleanup proposal. I'll say it again: you bear the consequences of your own actions."

With that, Zhang Anping strode away, leaving behind a panicked Xu Zhongyi and three companions with ferocious glares.

...

Zhang Anping and Zeng Mengyi strolled down the streets of Shanghai.

After pondering for a long time, Zeng Mengyi finally couldn't help but ask:

"Anping, do you think they can really find the bandits who hijacked our truck?"

"What do you think?"

Zeng Mengyi pouted and chided, "I'm asking you!"

"If they can't even solve this tiny trouble, then we might as well go back."

"Go back?"

"Go back to farming! Otherwise, we'll lose our heads here for no reason one of these days!"

...

Zhang Anping had not the slightest doubt that his students could unearth the culprits, but the students themselves lacked that confidence.

After all, leaking information meant being sent back for retraining from scratch. If they couldn't even track down the culprits, they'd probably be skinned alive by the teacher, right?

Therefore, once the liaison officers of the four squads returned and conveyed the disastrous omen of the special squad's grand opening, all four squads went into full gear, desperately searching for the true culprits.

As for Team C, they naturally had to step on the gas as well.

They were still counting on earning merits in advance to stave off the impending explosion of consequences from their zero-rent villa stunt.

Chen Ming said dejectedly, "How are we supposed to investigate? Not a single lead!"

Gu Yufei suggested, "Shall I go ask my cousin? He came to the Shanghai Station with Station Chief Chen; maybe he can use the resources of the Shanghai Station."

Yu Xiuniang objected, "Don't get the teacher's instructions wrong! If the Shanghai Station gets wind of this, all of us will be sent back for retraining!"

Seeing his goddess's suggestion being opposed, Xu Zhongyi immediately came up with a countermeasure:

"The reason they hijacked our truck is because An Wanqing was transporting contraband salt along their 'route.' Obviously, they must be the salt smuggling trust of this route."

Xu Zhongyi flaunted a term he had learned from Zhang Anping. Seeing the goddess listening with rapt attention, he quickly continued:

"We can start with the gang factions! We might be clueless, but those gangsters certainly know. Once we have a general target, we'll have somewhere to strike!"

"Hey, what you said actually makes sense, kid!" Chen Ming chimed in. Seeing Yu Xiuniang frown, he immediately changed his tune: "No, that's unreliable! This idea of yours is no go—"

However, Yu Xiuniang cut in: "We'll do as Zhongyi says. Let's go find the gangsters."

Xu Zhongyi made a face at Chen Ming and mouthed two words:

*Idiot.*

Chen Ming sneered and returned the gesture with his own silent mouthing:

*Flatterer.*

What Team C could think of, Li Bohan of Team B, Zuo Qiuming of Team D, and Xue Jingzong of Team E had naturally thought of as well.

However, Xia Shilin of Team F had not thought of it—or rather, Team F, flush with cash, understood the logic of paving the way with money far better.

Weren't they the logistics team, after all?

Xia Shilin's method was simple: find the salt traffickers.

First, find the retail dealers—whoever sold salt cheaper than official government salt was selling smuggled salt. They would definitely know the secondary middlemen above them.

Then follow the vine to find the middlemen, use money-tossing tactics to find the wholesalers, and then invite them to dinner under the guise of acting as agents for smuggled salt. With flattery and a little liquor, most people would dare utter even capital-offense secrets, let alone spill confidential details about the smuggled salt trade.

Without a doubt, this lucrative business in Shanghai was firmly in the hands of the Green Gang.

Through the wholesalers, they learned that all smuggled salt entering Shanghai from Jiangsu and Zhejiang belonged to the Heng Society—before smuggling salt into Shanghai, all groups of salt traffickers had to report to the Heng Society and could only sell to Heng Society-affiliated wholesalers after arriving in Shanghai.

What if they refused to sell?

"Just last night, a few clueless fellows transported a batch of smuggled salt hoping to break into Shanghai. They found three reckless fools to drive the trucks, trying to sneak past into Shanghai, but they got caught by Liu Fengqi, who guards the 'checkpoint.' The smuggled salt, the cargo, and the two trucks were all swallowed up by Liu Fengqi! Tsk tsk, that single haul was worth nearly half a month's revenue!"

Having acquired the information, the five members of Team F (the logistics team) dropped the polite acts, finished their eating and drinking, and bid farewell to the wholesaler.

The fatal flaw, however, was that while they had the information, they couldn't report it right away. According to the rules laid down by Zhang Anping, if they wanted to make contact, they had to leave a secret sign at the entrance of the Grand World Cinema, and their superior would come looking for them at the appointed time.

"Isn't this just taking off your pants to fart?" someone grumbled.

This was clearly their own territory; why did they make it feel like they were underground communists?

Though Xia Shilin harbored complaints of his own, he didn't dare voice them too loudly and could only repeat what Zhang Anping had said.

Even though they all knew the teacher was just tempering them, no one could possibly foresee that in a little over a year, they would genuinely enter such a clandestine state of operation. Thus, complaints continued to fly.

Human nature being what it is, before experiencing things firsthand, kind words can never truly persuade anyone.