Chapter 467: Get me a set of military uniform, legally

What, body-shaming now too… Yu Dazhang was quite displeased about this.

So what if I'm fat.

I'm not eating your family's rice.

Besides, I've already lost quite a bit of weight recently.

Fine, still pretty fat.

But you still can't say it to my face.

You don't hit someone in the face, you don't rake up someone's shortcomings when cursing them—is this the emotional intelligence of the Ministry of State Security?

"What, not convinced?"

Seeing Yu Dazhang stick out his neck and glare at him, Li Mingzhao couldn't help but mock:

"Look at that belly of yours. Even if I gave you a white coat, you couldn't button it up."

Fine, fine, fine, so it's insults then… Yu Dazhang simply threw in the towel.

"I was actually planning to sneak into the research team and help you catch the mole, but since you've said that, there's no point in me racking my brain anymore."

He waved at Li Mingzhao:

"Team Leader Li, you go ahead. I'm going back to catch up on my second sleep."

Catch the mole? The moment those three words reached Li Mingzhao's ears, his eyes lit up instantly, and even most of the bloodshot in them faded away.

Seeing Yu Dazhang already walking out, he hurried after him.

"You think there's a mole inside the Fifty-Third Institute?"

Yu Dazhang ignored him and kept walking out.

"Which specific department? How did you figure it out? What's your basis?"

Yu Dazhang stopped, staring at him fixedly.

Li Mingzhao caught on instantly.

"I was just joking earlier."

He patted Yu Dazhang's shoulder, his tone very sincere:

"My fault for not considering your feelings. Normally my team members and I often rag on each other like this too."

As a Ministry of State Security leader, it was already quite something for Li Mingzhao to humble himself enough to say a word.

Yu Dazhang seized the moment to make a request:

"If I catch the mole, you have to do me a favor."

"No problem." Li Mingzhao nodded without even thinking:

"Tell me, what favor."

Seeing how readily he agreed, Yu Dazhang didn't waste any words and said directly:

"Get me a set of military uniform, legally."

Every boy has a soldier dream, and Yu Dazhang was no exception.

From childhood he longed to put on a military uniform and run and fight in the troops, using his own youth and passion to defend the motherland.

Later he became a police officer partly for this reason too.

Unfortunately, he never got the chance to put on a military uniform.

Buying and selling military uniforms is illegal—not just active-duty uniforms, even replicas are illegal.

So with such an opportunity now, naturally he wouldn't let it slip.

Others might have no way, but the Ministry of State Security must have a way to help him fulfill this wish.

"You really know how to seize the moment to reach out."

Li Mingzhao looked very troubled, frowning and thinking for a long while before reluctantly agreeing:

"This isn't my call, but I can try. Given your resume, it probably shouldn't be a big problem."

Is your leadership title even real… Yu Dazhang muttered to himself.

In his view, for the Ministry of State Security this wasn't even a thing—why make it so difficult?

It's just one set of military uniform.

He's not going to wear it to impersonate a soldier, let alone use it to show off and swindle people.

At most he'd wear it at home occasionally, to satisfy the soldier dream he'd always had.

Then the two casually found a room.

"Now talk."

The moment they entered, Li Mingzhao couldn't wait to ask:

"What did you base your judgment on that there's a mole in the Fifty-Third Institute?"

The Ministry of State Security had naturally considered this possibility too, only there was no evidence at all that the people here were colluding with foreign enemies.

And everyone here had gone through strict vetting. If there was even the slightest issue with their identity or background, they wouldn't be allowed to work here.

Since that researcher had his accident, the place had been locked down. In the past two-plus months, none of the staff inside had gone out.

Let alone colluding with the enemy—even if someone inside wanted to contact the outside world, it was impossible.

Those armed police and guards aren't just for show.

Unless someone can whip up a satellite phone out of thin air.

"How did the enemy agents discover this place?"

Yu Dazhang looked at him, his expression grave:

"You guys should already have the answer to that question."

This was the most superficial layer—he believed the Ministry of State Security had long since figured it out.

"Based on the information currently in hand, it was leaked by that researcher who is already dead."

Li Mingzhao answered smoothly and naturally, clearly having already conducted an in-depth analysis of the matter beforehand:

"Two possibilities."

"First, that researcher voluntarily sold the classified information here to a foreign intelligence organization in exchange for enormous profit."

"Second, the researcher carelessly exposed his own identity, was discovered and captured by the other side, and after being subjected to a series of methods, revealed important information about this place."

On the surface, it really did seem like what he said.

Because the whole thing had started from that researcher's disappearance.

Yu Dazhang nodded after hearing this, then asked:

"At that researcher's level, would he know the exact location of this place?"

He had thought this question through carefully before.

If that researcher knew the location of this place, the higher-ups would never have let him go back on leave so easily.

Even if they let him go back, they would surely adopt a series of strict protective measures to ensure he would not reveal the location information here to anyone.

An even more critical point.

From the perspective of scientific research work, researchers had no need whatsoever to know exactly where this place was; they only needed to focus on their own research fields.

Just like Yu Dazhang coming here—although he didn't know his own location, it didn't affect his investigation of the case.

Sure enough, Li Mingzhao, after hearing this, shook his head:

"As far as we know, that researcher had no right to learn the location information of this place."

"Not just him—all the researchers here have no right to know, including those two academicians."

At this point, his tone shifted:

"Having no right to know doesn't necessarily mean he definitely didn't know. That researcher worked here for five years; if he wanted to know, he would certainly have found out something."

A trumped-up charge… Yu Dazhang suddenly felt a bit speechless.

Even if that researcher was a suspect, you can't just slap a label on someone without evidence.

No wonder you guys are the Special Action Group—you're only suited for action, not for deduction.

Yu Dazhang was complaining in his heart, but not a trace of it showed on his face.

"If you ask me, neither of your two possibilities holds up."

Since they had already talked this far, he simply laid out My own idea:

"First, if the researcher had voluntarily sold the classified information, he simply wouldn't have been killed."

"Each side got what it needed; there was no reason at all to kill anyone."

"One crook swindling another is even more impossible—does the other side look like they're short on money to you?"

This one question left Li Mingzhao stunned.

Yu Dazhang had no mood to wait for him to figure it out, and continued:

"Second, that researcher had been working in the experimental zone the whole time before his leave; he didn't even have the chance to expose his identity."

"Even if he went out and told people he was a researcher, that's nothing new—there may be few academicians in the country, but researchers are plenty."

He paused briefly, and seeing that Li Mingzhao had already come back to his senses, continued:

"What's more, he couldn't possibly have taken the initiative to expose his identity."

"There's also the biggest loophole here: after killing the researcher, the other side actually left the body for you."

There was no need to spell out the rest too explicitly; he trusted Li Mingzhao could figure it out.

Even ordinary people understand the principle of destroying a body and erasing all traces—would foreign agents not know that?

Therefore, the other side did it on purpose.

It looked like a panicked escape, no time to deal with the researcher's body, but in reality they were using that body to cover for the real mole.

They wanted to tell everyone that it was this researcher who leaked the location of the experimental zone.

Just as Li Mingzhao was digesting this information, Yu Dazhang spoke again:

"Want to hear a third possibility?"

(End of this chapter)