Chapter 1038: The Secret Stake

Shi Lei was truly a novice; the moment he saw He Yuzhu, he nearly exposed his own identity.

He Yuzhu leaned back in his chair and spoke slowly: "You're with the CIA, so you've heard of the name 'Shadow', right? Is that what you were just about to say?"

Shi Lei shook his head desperately, his face turning pale: "I don't know what you're talking about... I'm just a doctor, really..."

The smile lines on He Yuzhu's face remained unchanged, but his tone grew cold bit by bit: "Doctor Liu's protective suit was slashed, and you went missing. Don't tell me this has nothing to do with you."

"My family members were infected, I came over to take care of them!"

"Young man, if you don't have the skill to lie well, don't lie. One lie requires countless more to cover it up; you don't have that kind of ability!"

"I'm being wronged! To tell you the truth, I just didn't want to stay in the hospital anymore. I was afraid of getting infected, afraid of dying there without knowing why. I really don't have any other identity..." Shi Lei still wanted to play dumb.

He Yuzhu wasn't in a hurry; he stood up slowly, grabbed a filthy large wooden bucket, placed it under the faucet, and turned the handle.

Water gushed into the bucket. It was hard to tell how long it had been since the bucket was last scrubbed; several small insect carcasses floated on the surface, dark and disgusting to look at.

"The last person who drank the water from this bucket has grass growing a man's height high on his grave. He was also CIA... Are you still not planning to tell the truth?"

He threw the bucket full of water in front of Shi Lei. The bucket tilted, and murky, dirty water splashed out, drenching the top of his feet.

Shi Lei's pupils shrank violently, his whole body couldn't stop trembling, and even his lips were quivering.

"He... don't kill me... I beg you... I'll talk, I'll tell you everything... I was turned by the CIA... but I really didn't do anything terrible, they just hired me for a lot of money..."

He Yuzhu sneered: "Has your conscience been eaten by dogs? Doing such wicked things that will leave you without descendants!"

Shi Lei suddenly wailed, his face smeared with tears and snot: "You don't know what I suffered when I was a child... After my parents died, my uncle snatched away all our house and land. I went to the township to file a complaint, but no one would stand up for me..."

He spoke incessantly about the grievances and bullying he suffered in his youth, becoming more agitated as he spoke.

He Yuzhu interrupted him with a look of disdain: "Just because you didn't get fair treatment as a child, you have to become a traitor? You have to harm a good doctor who didn't even care about his own life to save others?"

Shi Lei shrank his neck and defended himself: "The Doctor Liu incident really can't be blamed entirely on me... They forced me. If I didn't do it, they would expose my identity. I finally managed to live a good life, I don't want to die..."

He Yuzhu didn't continue listening to him and suddenly asked: "What do the few people with you do?"

Shi Lei's eyes darted around, his lips moving repeatedly; it was clear he wanted to fool him again.

He Yuzhu didn't say another word; he grabbed the back of his head and pressed his face directly into the bucket of dirty water.

Gurgle, gurgle—

Shi Lei struggled desperately with his hands and feet, the dirty water bubbled up, and the rim of the bucket clattered loudly.

He Yuzhu waited until his breath was almost exhausted before grabbing his hair and pulling him out.

Shi Lei collapsed on the ground, gasping for air, dirty water streaming down his chin; he looked like he had lost his soul.

"I'll talk... I'll tell you everything..." his voice was cracked, "Those people all have their own missions. One is for spreading the virus, one is for external liaison, and those two are responsible for monitoring us... They are all veteran agents! Please let me go! This is my first offense..."

He Yuzhu squatted down and stared at him: "When do they plan to get you out of the country?"

Shi Lei's voice trembled: "They said... they said someone will come to pick us up next week..."

He Yuzhu interrogated him for a while longer.

By now, Shi Lei had completely broken down, wanting only to survive, and spilled everything he knew and could say.

He Yuzhu suddenly asked: "Which one is responsible for the specific liaison?"

Shi Lei paused, then answered weakly: "It's that fat man... his name is Wu Dajun. He was a government-sponsored student in the eighties..."

He Yuzhu showed contempt: "Another spineless, ungrateful wretch."

Shi Lei chimed in: "The reason this guy is with us this time is because his mission is complete and he's preparing to return to M Country. He even said he'd never come back here again."

He Yuzhu didn't ask any more questions; he raised his hand and delivered a chop to the side of Shi Lei's neck, knocking him unconscious, and casually stored him in his space. Immediately after, he released the fat man.

The fat man was still dazed when he was dragged out, rubbing his eyes in confusion.

He actually had no idea what Shi Lei's group had specifically done; his job was very simple: he was specifically responsible for maintaining contact with the CIA and moving the spies sent to Si Jiu Cheng in and out.

But after He Yuzhu heard Shi Lei's introduction, he didn't show the fat man any courtesy.

After a few rounds of Shuiqing, the fat man couldn't hold out anymore and confessed everything from top to bottom.

Only then did He Yuzhu understand: he used Hotmail to contact the CIA, and the email content was encrypted with PGP; the recipient needed a key to decrypt it.

After listening, He Yuzhu's tone softened slightly: "Wu Dajun, you didn't participate in the killing and looting, so you aren't guilty of the most heinous crimes. Confess honestly, and I can spare your life."

The reason he made this promise to Wu Dajun was for fear that this bastard would smuggle private information into the password to secretly tip off the CIA, which would cause all his efforts to go to waste.

Wu Dajun was spineless to begin with; once he heard there was a way to live, he clung to the hope that He Yuzhu might let him go, so he answered whatever was asked, recounting everything he had done over the past dozen years over and over again.

He Yuzhu tested him repeatedly and confirmed he wasn't lying.

Over these years, Wu Dajun's role was that of a mobile spy transit station, mainly using tour groups and freight channels to transport those unspeakable people back and forth.

He Yuzhu stared at him and asked: "The country spent money to cultivate you, yet you do things that return evil for good. In the dead of night, have you ever regretted it?"

Wu Dajun burst into tears: "Always... every time I have a nightmare, it's related to this. At first, I hated myself, but later I became numb. Sir, I really had no choice! When I first arrived in M Country, those CIA people targeted me. At first, they were quite nice to me, full of benevolence and morality, and just asked me to analyze some domestic affairs through Chinese newspapers, which I thought was nothing. But later, I got deeper and deeper, and they sent me here to do this kind of work. My whole family is in M Country; if I don't listen to them, they definitely won't survive... and I'll be killed too. Please, let me go..."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said: "You also know that I will capture your superiors... so your identity will inevitably be exposed. Even if I don't kill you, those CIA people might not let you go."

Wu Dajun nodded repeatedly: "Sir, if you let me go, I'll find a remote small town, change my name, and never do anything again..." As he spoke, he bowed, his waist almost bending to the ground.

He Yuzhu watched coldly without interrupting; once he had said enough, he chopped him unconscious with one palm and stored him in his space.

He wasn't in a hurry to kill him now; he would keep him for a while to see if what he confessed was the truth.

By the fourth day, He Yuzhu received a new email in Wu Dajun's inbox.

He followed the decryption method provided by Wu Dajun and decrypted the email step by step.

The content was very clear—Wu Dajun was to contact a customs brokerage firm to transport a pre-prepared large shipping container to the pier; once there, someone would naturally take over and load it directly onto a ship to be transported away.

The time, location, and code words were all there.

He Yuzhu closed his computer, the corners of his mouth tugged slightly, and he muttered to himself: "A bloody storm is about to begin again."