Chapter 146: The Ultimate Undercover Agent

During dinner, she secretly took a photo of the food and carefully made sure to keep her senior fellow apprentice's home decor out of the frame.

Then, she asked Wang Qing, who was away on a post-graduation trip, to send a few landscape pictures.

She stitched them together and sent them to Bian Yang to let him know she was safe.

After the meal, her senior dropped her off at the hotel, and Bian Yang happened to video-call her.

Seeing that she was in the hotel, he had no suspicions. After chatting for a couple of minutes, Tang Yu made up an excuse of being sleepy and urged him to go to sleep.

As for herself, she burned the midnight oil, reading through the dozens of centimeters thick case files her senior had brought until three in the morning, eventually falling asleep with her head on the desk without realizing it.

When her senior came to pick her up, Tang Yu was already packed and waiting for him downstairs at the hotel.

Returning the thick stack of case files, she said, "Senior, your victim's infection route is identical to the one I know of. The overlapping period points to the date of blood donation last March, which means our cases are most likely the same one."

Her senior smiled and took back the files. "I didn't expect you to sort out the timeline so quickly. After reading Zhang Dexing's file, I had the same thought as you. His infection route highly overlaps with my victim Liu Fanghua's, which is why I asked you to come to Minquan."

"Actually, this case already had leads back in May. The police have already traced the blood donation mobile van to the relevant hospital. Following that clue, they tracked down the related manufacturer that supplied the disposable syringes and equipment. One of those manufacturers is a prime suspect, but the police don't have the relevant evidence yet."

The two had a simple breakfast and headed to the police station.

Since her senior frequently handled lawsuits, he was already well-acquainted with the people at the police station.

Regarding this case, experts from the Provincial Health Clinical Testing Center, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and others had already formed a joint investigation team with the police.

The head of the investigation team called them into his office for a detailed discussion.

The office was filled with members of the project.

Her senior introduced Tang Yu to the police as a lawyer. In reality, Tang Yu did not have a lawyer's license, and she hadn't even officially completed her university enrollment yet... Naturally, she did not deny it.

Standing in the open space, the team leader pointed to the intricate relationship chart on the blackboard behind him and said, "Currently, we have targeted a disposable medical equipment manufacturing plant named 'Jianzhou'. According to our existing data and investigations, the disposable equipment configured inside the blood donation van visited by blood donors like Zhang Dexing and Liu Fanghua all originated from this plant."

"Under normal circumstances, blood samples collected in mobile vans are transported directly to hospitals. After use, the disposable blood collection equipment must undergo high-pressure sterilization or chemical disinfection treatment before being centrally processed by a unified waste transportation company. Every step is signed off and weighed by designated personnel until destruction."

"However, the blood collection equipment used by this van was not shipped directly to the hospital. Therefore, we suspect that the hospital has an unspeakable secret with this manufacturing plant, and we plan to send an undercover agent to investigate."

He pulled out a flyer. "This is a recruitment advertisement issued by the Jianzhou manufacturing plant a few days ago. Every summer vacation, they only recruit students and do not hire external social workers."

"Students are naive to the world, cost-less in labor, simple-minded, and easy to manipulate. To them, students are the most suitable candidates."

"But the problem now is that the factory has been operating in Minquan County for four or five years, and they are already thoroughly familiar with the local police. If we send our own people in, it might alert the enemy."

The team leader looked at one of his colleagues. "When are the new recruits assigned from above reporting for duty?"

"Chief, they won't arrive until September."

Upon hearing this, the team leader fell silent.

It was only July now; how could they afford to wait two months?

One of the female colleagues immediately raised her hand and said, "I can do it. I'm from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and have always worked in the urban area. They shouldn't have seen me before, and I only graduated a year ago. I should still be able to pass as a student... right?"

She smiled awkwardly, feeling like she was somewhat suspected of trying to look younger than she was.

The team leader glanced at her. She was indeed young, but her eyes lacked that "foolishness."

One look and you could tell she had already tasted the harshness of society, making her seem a bit too slick.

"I can do it too."

Tang Yu, who had been quietly listening from the corner, slowly raised her hand.

Her senior looked at her in surprise and hurriedly tried to push her hand down, but the police officers in the entire room had already turned to look at her.

"I am a freshman this college year," the young girl said softly, her eyes as clean as glass beads. "They won't recognize me."

She couldn't wait until September.

The team leader looked at her for a moment, his expression solemn. "Young lady, although you are a college student and meet the requirements on the advertisement, you are not a member of our police force. Going undercover comes with risks; it's not as simple as you think."

Tang Yu took a step forward. "I can go with that older sister, and we can back each other up on our identities. They shouldn't suspect anything." Pausing for a second, she looked at the team leader. "And I believe the police will ensure our safety."

The room fell silent, everyone admiring the young girl's courage.

Her senior asked her, "Have you really thought this through?"

A lawyer was merely paid to handle tasks. Even with a surging sense of justice, she was not a people's police officer after all, and there was no need to go this far.

Tang Yu nodded. "Don't worry, Senior."

Someone was still waiting for her; she would protect herself well.

Her senior's lips moved, but seeing her persistence, he said nothing more.

The investigation team held a two-hour meeting and finally settled on having three people go with them for the interview.

One was the female colleague from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, another was a young male colleague temporarily transferred from the urban area who was a few months older than the female colleague, and the third was Tang Yu.

The three of them would look out for and support each other, coupled with the police department's high-tech equipment, safety would not be an issue.

"The ear studs are micro-cameras, and the walkie-talkies can be inserted deep into your ears. All three of you must wear them. They are waterproof, shockproof, and fireproof, and even body scanners won't pick them up. We will use the cameras to capture the internal scenes of the factory and will also be able to hear your voices and converse with you. So don't worry, the moment you encounter danger, we will immediately terminate the plan and go in to rescue you."

Tang Yu touched her ear stud.

She didn't have pierced ears; this had been newly pierced and still hurt a little.

It was so small that it didn't look like a micro-camera at all.

Not only that, but they also had to change their names and forge new identification documents.

Li Zhizhi, the female colleague from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was renamed Li Shu.

Zhou Zhongmin, the male colleague temporarily transferred from the urban area, was renamed Zhou Dawei.

As for Tang Yu... she said, "I'll change mine to Jishi Yu (Timely Rain)."

Bian Yang was the scorching, blazing sun in her life, so she would be a timely rain in his life.

---

The next day, the three of them came to the factory for the interview.

However, only the two females were kept, and the male colleague failed.

Not just him; any male who came for the interview failed to pass.

When Tang Yu and Li Zhizhi were led inside, Li Zhizhi muttered, "Why are they only wanting females?"

Tang Yu looked around. The workers burying their heads in work at the factory were basically all women. She said, "Probably because they think women have less physical strength, making them easier to control if any trouble arises."

The leader led them to a workshop.

The workshop supervisor immediately assigned them tasks.

Assembly line work, simple and repetitive.

Tang Yu's job was to put caps on the semi-finished medical equipment moving along the conveyor belt.

They worked on the assembly line for three whole days until their wrists ached.

During dinner, Li Zhizhi sighed heavily. "When is this life ever going to end?"

What was even more depressing was that doing this kind of work all day long gave them zero access to any confidential information.

Then, she glanced at Tang Yu, who was burying her head and digging into her meal with great enthusiasm.

The corner of her mouth twitched. "You really have a great appetite..."

Tang Yu licked a grain of rice stuck to her mouth. "I must gain weight to ninety-five catties before school starts, or my boyfriend will be mad."

Li Zhizhi: "...Fine, whatever."

People are infuriated by comparisons; she would want to set off firecrackers just to celebrate losing a single catty, yet here was someone with a mandatory quota requiring weight gain!

Li Zhizhi poked her rice. "But going on like this isn't a solution either. We can't just stay on the assembly line forever, right?"

Just as they were talking, someone suddenly sat down next to them.

It was a fellow worker from the same workshop.

Li Zhizhi instantly fell silent.

"This meal is too expensive! Two dishes actually cost fifteen yuan! Our daily wage is only one hundred and fifty yuan, the cafeteria is such a rip-off!" the coworker complained while eating.

Another coworker teased, "Then you should work hard and strive to become a supervisor. A supervisor makes three hundred yuan a day and gets free meals."

Tang Yu's eyes instantly lit up. "Are you saying that being a supervisor means free meals and higher pay?!"

"Of course, since you're a supervisor, the perks definitely have to be better."

The group chatted and laughed.

Never did they expect that by the next afternoon, Tang Yu would be promoted to the supervisor of the third workshop simply for submitting a complete set of proposals to improve assembly line production efficiency.

Li Zhizhi: "..."

The two coworkers who had been joking yesterday: "..."

The police officers in the monitoring room: "..."