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Chapter 1190: Chapter 1048: Eye-Opening (Please Subscribe!)
Hoshino Ichiro’s death.
It did not cause any ripples.
The fighters forged a recording.
It was sent to Hoshino Ichiro’s superior—Uchida Hikaru.
The content of the recording was Hoshino Ichiro supposedly planning to expose, along with three others tomorrow, a past incident where he had embezzled one million US dollars during a Task.
A new member at the headquarters, who provided the material, took it upon themselves, out of a desire to show loyalty, spent a significant amount of money to make them disappear, and only reported to Uchida Hikaru right before the action.
Initially, Uchida Hikaru did not believe it because the recording was too bizarre.
After much deliberation,
he made a call to Hoshino Ichiro.
What Hoshino Ichiro heard was merely Uchida Hikaru asking him to follow the Driver to carry out a Task, but to Uchida Hikaru’s ears, it sounded like Hoshino Ichiro had some newfound sense of justice.
He was preparing to expose him, and those team members who had taken the money were also loudly claiming justice.
In the end,
Uchida Hikaru angrily hung up the phone, not knowing why these people were acting crazy, but he didn’t want to be discharged from his position. With time being of the essence and no time to ponder, he agreed to the plan of that ’loyal’ subordinate.
Just like that,
Hoshino Ichiro’s issue was something Uchida Hikaru decided to suppress. Numerous Intelligence Officers disappear every year. Incidents happening during tasks aren’t inexplicable, merely a bit troublesome.
In the afternoon,
he saw the video of Hoshino Ichiro being dealt with.
In the video, just before his death, Hoshino Ichiro cursed him as a villain, a degenerate, a hidden traitor within the headquarters, and more. Such scenes completely eradicated all mercy in Uchida Hikaru.
He couldn’t help feeling fortunate.
It was good that Hoshino Ichiro hadn’t made it back.
Otherwise,
he would have been done for.
In the evening,
in Uchida Hikaru’s office,
Uchida Hikaru stared at the informant, whose eyes, under those glasses, were equally fierce. Uchida Hikaru squinted and slowly said, "The matters spoken by Hoshino Ichiro..."
"You don’t have to worry, I don’t know anything," the person said modestly.
"Good, very good."
Watching the figure leave,
Uchida Hikaru felt a surge of murder in his heart, but it quickly subsided. Killing this person might put him in great trouble, as clearly, this was someone capable of making careful plans.
Moreover,
he had embezzled money.
Many people knew about it, it wasn’t unknown; it just went unspoken among themselves. However, he couldn’t have a madman like Hoshino Ichiro causing a stir and getting to the media, or he would definitely be finished.
Therefore,
there was no need to assassinate this ’loyal’ subordinate.
Instead, he had to be cultivated properly.
Such a perceptive and resourceful person with high execution skills was indeed a valuable subordinate. A good person? Ha, his subordinates, all involved in espionage, defined a good person as someone capable of executing their jobs.
Clearly,
this person
had strong work capabilities
and was worthy of promotion.
...
On the other hand,
Mu Dong and Liu Yi switched cars and clothing multiple times, rerouting frequently.
As night fell,
both finally arrived at their second foothold, an Apartment in a shared complex, chosen to avoid strangers remembering new faces.
This place was not far from the Red Light District Sumiyoshi in Nagoya.
Around the area,
there were numerous Internet cafes, bars, and Snack shops.
The living area was quite chaotic, housing many unemployed and freelance workers. Observing this environment, Mu Dong was used to it; intelligence work fundamentally differed from the Movie 007.
People had luxury cars and beautiful women.
Good-looking agents.
Such highly recognizable agents were certainly the most likely to meet a quick end.
They remained cautious and discreet,
roaming in all sorts of unusual places. Observing various lower-class members of Japan along the way, Mu Dong sighed; civilization had areas it couldn’t illuminate.
Every year, tens of thousands in Japan committed suicide, directly linked to the societal environment.
Entering the small house,
Liu Yi locked the door behind. 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
The room was bare-bones.
A bed, a Table, a chair, a kettle, and a set of drinking utensils. There was no private Toilet, and Mu Dong took out a small knife from his waistband, scraped several spots on the ceiling,
and retrieved a wrapped item in black cloth from inside.
He slowly opened it.
It was a notebook computer.
Security in Japan couldn’t be said to be good.
Especially in places like this, burglary was a common occurrence. In places that weren’t visited often throughout the year, communication devices like computers couldn’t just be left out in the open.
Now their location had been exposed.
By how much was unclear.
But one thing was certain.
The phone call they had just made couldn’t be used anymore; they could only use the internet.
He opened the computer.
Connected to the internet.
Made a call using VoIP.
Mu Dong reported the situation to his superior.
The other side was also bewildered; they only knew that Mu Dong’s foothold had been exposed and hadn’t sent someone to rescue them. They didn’t even know about the recent chase by Hoshino Ichiro back home.
"Are there any suspects?"
"If it’s not one of our people, I can’t think of anyone else. It definitely wasn’t an accident. Maybe a friend?" Mu Dong was also clueless.
"A friend?"
"I don’t want to use that word either, but I can’t explain it any other way," Mu Dong said.
"Let’s pause our meeting activities for now. The Maruyama Family is certainly under suspicion. You need to be prepared at all times. Since we promised her mother, no matter what, we must do our utmost."
"Yes."
...
The next two days passed quietly.
The private investigation made no progress.
On the third day,
news reached domestic authorities.
"What? The person tailing Mu Dong disappeared?"
"Yes, we’ve got the message. The Intelligence Headquarters hasn’t received any information about the Maruyama Family, and those four people who followed Mu Dong to Maruyama have still not returned."
"That’s really strange."
"Could they be letting out a long line?"
"Possibly."
Intelligence work was filled with doubts, traps, and conspiracies. Every incident had to be considered from the worst perspective. If the Intelligence Headquarters was waiting to fish, their actions would be filled with danger.
No.
There was no need for it to be filled.
It was a danger.
Taking someone from Japan and the Intelligence Headquarters was not any easier than kidnapping their prime minister.
It was headache-inducing.
This kind of situation was the most perplexing.
However,
there was soon a turning point.
On the fourth day, when Mu Dong woke up, he found a letter on the ground at his door.
"Liu Yi."
Mu Dong awakened Liu Yi.
Seeing that Mu Dong had picked up a letter, Liu Yi immediately rushed outside but found nothing unusual.
Mu Dong opened the letter and saw it was a photocopy with very unique paper—thinner than regular A4 paper with very good transparency. Mu Dong couldn’t determine what kind of paper it was at that moment.
It was written in Chinese:
"We will take care of matters regarding the Maruyama Family. Do not involve the Maruyama Family further. No need to thank us for saving you; it was just by the way."
The letter was brief.
Mu Dong read it and was shocked beyond measure. Their location, a place they were staying, had simply been approached by someone who left them a message. If it had been an enemy, they wouldn’t even know how they’d died.
It seemed,
someone wanted to protect the Maruyama Family. But who could it be?
Just as Mu Dong was stunned,
suddenly,
the piece of paper in his hand began to burn.
Frightened, he quickly threw it out, but before the paper even hit the ground, it was completely consumed by the fire, leaving no ashes—as if the paper had never existed.
Mu Dong was taken aback.
This trick,
he had only read about in textbooks. Special paper combined with specially made chemicals could accomplish this kind of smokeless, residue-free combustion. He had only heard of it, never seen it.
Today was an eye-opener.
