Chapter 212: Smuggling Chain Reveals a Lead – Language Mimicry Breaks the Puzzle

Zhao Jianguo stared at the blacked‑out Screen, his finger still on the power button. The Laboratory was so quiet that the faint rush of air in the ventilation ducts could be heard. He ran his hand over the black Crystal in the metal box, then put it back into his pocket.

The automatic reboot half an hour earlier couldn't just be dismissed. He stood up, walked to the filing cabinet, pulled open the bottom drawer, and retrieved a stack of Photocopies of prison correspondence records. These had been requested from the Special Forces a few days earlier; at the time they were treated as routine inspection, but now it seemed Xu Da Mao had tampered with them.

The corners of the three letters were stamped with a red "Inspected" seal; the contents were ordinary, asking whether the household had enough rice and flour, and mentioning the son's studies. Yet after a system scan, several anomalous phrases were flagged—"Cousin's watch has been repaired," "Tea leaves sent by a southern relative smell fragrant," "Technician Lao Chen has been visiting frequently lately."

Zhao Jianguo squinted. The remarks sounded ordinary, but in light of the intrusion incident from the previous night, their meaning shifted. "Watch" was a code for the smuggling channel, "tea leaves" referred to the cargo, and "technician" wasn't a person at all but a piece of equipment.

He opened the system interface and selected the language mimic function. The skill had just been unlocked, allowing him to replicate regional accents and speech habits. He first loaded Xu Da Mao's hometown dialect, then added the four accents of Chaoshan, Northeast, Sichuan–Chongqing, and Minnan. System Prompt indicated readiness.

Zhao Jianguo sat before the vintage telegraph machine and tapped out a string of secret words:

"The goods have been taken over, cousin designated for handoff. South‑city café, tomorrow morning at ten o'clock."

After sending the message, he leaned against the Chair back and waited for a reply. In less than two hours, the machine beeped three times. The counterpart confirmed the time and place, adding, "Bring the proof documents; Mr. Xu mentioned you speak Minnan."

He nodded, slipped the forged pass into his inner pocket. This matter required him to go in person.

Early the next morning, Zhao Jianguo changed into a gray‑blue work uniform, donned an old hat, and headed out carrying a canvas bag. Inside the bag was a modified smart watch; its exterior resembled an ordinary digital watch, but it was actually a recording and signal relay device.

The café was at a corner of the old south‑city street; by 9:30 a. m. a few tables were already occupied. He chose a seat by the window, sat with his back to the door, and placed the bag on the adjacent Chair.

At exactly ten o'clock, a man in a floral‑check shirt entered. In his thirties, his hair slicked back, he carried a briefcase. He scanned the doorway, his gaze landing on Zhao Jianguo, then walked over and sat down.

"Mr. Xu's cousin?" the man asked, speaking Mandarin with a Cantonese accent.

Zhao Jianguo didn't rush to answer; he first pulled out a cigarette pack and shook it. The other man waved his hand, refusing to smoke. Zhao lit one, exhaled a puff of smoke, and in Chaoshan dialect said, "My younger brother is still okay in there, right?"

The man's eyes flickered, and he switched to English mixed with Cantonese, asking, "He said you handled border trade, dealing in radios and film rolls."

Zhao Jianguo grinned, switching to a Northeast accent: "That's all old calendar stuff. In '73 I ran in Dandong for half a year, then the wind got tight and I shut down." He then used the Sichuan–Chongqing dialect to utter a Black Market slang, "Those who know how to swim always find a way to survive."

The man's brow relaxed a bit, and he nodded, "Consider that you're on the right track."

The two exchanged a few words about weather and prices, and the atmosphere eased. The foreign businessman suddenly lowered his voice, "Where's the stuff? Mr. Xu said you have high‑precision equipment."

Zhao Jianguo leisurely pulled the modified watch from his bag and handed it over: "The original unit is too sensitive to take out. This is the outer module; it can sync data and be triggered remotely."

The man took the watch, turned it over and examined it for several minutes, then opened the back cover to inspect the circuitry. Zhao Jianguo remained expressionless, watching his movements.

"How many were caught in the last electronic watch case?" the foreign businessman suddenly asked.

"Three, caught in Guangzhou," Zhao Jianguo said, "Customs are strict; now everything goes by sea‑freight containers, with badge‑labelled appliances mixed in for export."

"Hmm." the man nodded, "There are three more domestic transfer points; the next one is in Qingdao."

Zhao Jianguo noted it mentally, his face unchanged, "When do we set off?"

"Before the end of the month." The man returned the watch, "I need to report to headquarters; we'll contact again after the notice."

Just as they were about to finish, the other party suddenly looked up, "Mr. Xu said you speak Minnan; say something so I can hear."

Zhao Jianguo smiled slightly and, in authentic Quanzhou dialect, uttered a proverb: "Heaven's old man loves the good, and the wicked will be struck by lightning."

The man froze for two seconds, then laughed, patting the Desk, "Exactly! Spot on!"

He stood up, said they would reconnect another day, and turned to leave.

Zhao Jianguo sat for a while, then picked up his bag and left. As he exited the café, his peripheral vision caught a man in a jacket standing beside a newsstand across the street, head down reading a newspaper, but his toes were constantly pointing this way.

He didn't stop, continued along the sidewalk, and turned into a narrow Alley. On both sides of the Alley were a shoe‑repair shop and a general store, with a clothes‑drying line strung between them. He passed a watch‑repair shop, pushed the door open, and went inside.

"Master, replace the battery." He handed over the modified watch, "Also, please deliver this to the old man Jia in Nanluoguxiang and tell him 'the clock has been repaired.'"

The shop owner, in his early fifties, wore a Magnifying Glass, took it, examined it, and nodded, saying he understood.

Zhao Jianguo paid, exited through the back door, and looped around to the neighboring vegetable market. He ducked through fish stalls and meat stalls, deliberately lingered a few seconds in front of a tofu stall, then abruptly turned right, slipping into a small Hutong.

Footsteps behind him hesitated briefly, then continued to follow.

He quickened his pace, turned left at the third fork, then right, and finally burst out through the side door of a grain shop, just as a trackless tram was pulling up at the stop.

He hopped onto the tram, tossed in a coin, and sat in the rear row. Through the reflected car window, he saw the jacketed man scanning the platform, then turning and walking away.

The tram started, rattling as it headed toward the city center.

Zhao Jianguo leaned against the seat, exhaled a long breath. A System Prompt popped up:

【Language disguise success rate 98.7%, evidence chain collection complete】

【Reward skill: Spy Identification Technique (Basic)】

Immediately after, a second prompt appeared:

【Detected abnormal capital flow】

【Xu Da Mao's remnants are transferring assets through underground money houses】

He tucked the storage device close to his body, looked out the window. The plane trees lining the street receded rapidly, sunlight glinting on the glass, reflecting half of his face.

When the tram passed under an overpass, he suddenly noticed a public phone booth beneath a bridge pier. A woman in a blue dress was on the phone, one hand clutching a suitcase.

The side of the suitcase bore the name of an out‑of‑town trading company; the label was still damp, as if it had just been affixed.

Her voice was soft, but her accent was odd, like a northerner forcing a southern tone.

When she said "the goods have arrived in Qingdao," she paused, looked up at the traffic on the bridge.