Ethan Hunt

Given Zhou Yi's physical fitness and intelligence, in this spy world, accomplishing things like gathering evidence on some drug lord or gangster was almost laughably easy.

As for why Zhou Yi did those things that seemed bizarre and capricious to his superior, Chris...

Regarding that time he went on a spending spree with the drug lord's money, it was entirely because Zhou Yi discovered that gray income also came with significant restrictions. Feeling a bit annoyed, he vented by blowing off steam.

Zhou Yi naturally had no intention of letting the drug lord go. So after hinting that the drug lord should pay a "life-protection fee," he promptly turned around and arrested him. His change of heart was so swift that even the drug lord couldn't react, even wondering if the money he'd handed over was counterfeit.

But in the end, that money wasn't counted toward his experience points.

Infuriating!

So Zhou Yi took it to Dubai for a revenge spending spree.

Later, Zhou Yi experimented a few times and discovered that although it was gray income, it seemed to require adhering to a certain principle: the money would only be counted as experience if he followed through on what he'd promised when accepting it!

At this, Zhou Yi had a mountain of complaints.

Gray income or not, why did it still demand such integrity?

What integrity did you need to show a drug lord? Just pull out your weapons and gang up on him, right?

For something inhuman, taking the money and immediately turning on them was only natural, wasn't it?

But the system was clearly a brainless blockhead, utterly unmoved by Zhou Yi's arguments.

Zhou Yi continued his experiments.

In another operation, Zhou Yi deliberately brought along a team member. To avoid exposing his true abilities, he deliberately suppressed his physical performance to match a normal human's. The result...

After Zhou Yi "traded" with the drug lord, the team member just stood there dumbly, watching the drug lord escape. In the end, Zhou Yi had no choice but to step in and catch the drug lord himself!

Later, when Zhou Yi asked about it, the team member argued with full confidence: "You're the legendary Zhou. I trust whatever you do—you must have your reasons. I just need to follow your lead and actions!"

Zhou Yi was speechless.

Then he abandoned that approach.

Because after thinking it over, he realized: first, he couldn't tell his team members to let the drug lord escape and then catch him, because that would also be invalidated—it involved "deliberate guidance" on his part.

Second, most team members would, like that one, mistakenly assume his actions had "deeper meaning" and wouldn't make the arrest.

Third... even if a team member wanted to make the arrest, doing it alone without Zhou Yi's help was nearly impossible. And if Zhou Yi got involved, it would constitute a "breach of contract," rendering the gray income invalid.

So Zhou Yi simply gave up on team members and returned to solo mode.

Since cutting corners wouldn't work, Zhou Yi decided to proceed with his original plan.

First, he needed to get involved in major incidents, like the Nuclear Crisis or the List Leak Incident.

Then, he would make deals with either the protagonist or the villains, raking in massive gray income!

After all, given the protagonist's abilities, following the original plot, they'd eventually retrieve everything. If Zhou Yi joined in as an inside man, wouldn't that make things even easier?

Thinking this, Zhou Yi glanced at his interface.

The Auto Mechanic interface showed only ten added experience points, earned from a few times he'd played the role for missions. There hadn't been many opportunities since, so it hadn't changed much.

As for the IRS Employee interface—

[IRS Employee · Intermediate (200/1000)

Title Bonuses:
1. [Physique] · 110 (You need strong stamina to subdue tax evaders)
2. [Intellect] · 110 (You need sufficient intelligence to understand all methods of finding tax evaders)
3. [Intermediate Tax Law Mastery] (Sharpen your tools before doing your work)
4. [Intermediate Agent Skill Mastery] (Sometimes, with special tax evaders, you need this to gather enough evidence!)
5. [Intermediate Weapon Technique Mastery] (As an IRS Employee, this is a skill you must master!)]

As for Zhou Yi's own interface, aside from [Physique] and [Intellect] each gaining 100 points, there wasn't much change.

Having successfully secured a vacation, Zhou Yi planned to start his scheme.

Over the past year, he had successfully spread his network of connections.

As long as a person was willing to spend money, then, needless to say, they'd have plenty of "friends."

As for how reliable those "friends" really were... as long as the money kept flowing, they were very reliable!

Through spending money and a certain degree of physical intimidation, Zhou Yi had made some "friends" like this, mainly hoping to glean useful information from them.

Like now—

"Found you..." Zhou Yi smiled as he looked at an email on his computer. "Ethan Hunt!"

Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.

Zhou Yi, dressed in a suit, stepped into the Consulate with impeccable posture and stride.

Of course, Zhou Yi wasn't using his real face. On the way, he ambushed a guest attending the banquet, used a specialized machine to craft a mask, and attached a voice modulator, achieving near-perfect disguise.

As for where he got the machines for making masks and voice modulators... What was the CIA? Just audit their accounts once, and you'd have everything!

Of course, the IRS and CIA aren't at each other's throats to that extent. Small devices like these can be exchanged between the two sides through a certain degree of mutual benefit—for instance, you don't audit my books, and I'll give you a few gadgets.

(IRS: "This is absolutely not a threat, just a normal gift from the CIA!")

Besides, the IRS's investigative division isn't some idle department coasting along. In some ways, they're even more formidable than the CIA!

Some of the gear Zhou Yi carries is stuff the CIA doesn't even have, or if they do, his is more advanced.

"Senator, how did you find the opera?" the Deputy Consul General asked.

"Hmm... quite dull." A white-haired but spirited old man thought for a moment before replying.

At that moment, Zhou Yi was taking a glass of wine from a tray held by a waiter. His deliberately sharpened hearing caught the distant conversation.

On an ordinary day, Zhou Yi would naturally choose to dial his hearing down a notch, because being too sharp meant picking up too many useless and chaotic sounds. Although the mental capacity boosted by his [Intellect] stat allowed him to process all this information instantly, Zhou Yi simply couldn't be bothered to receive and handle it.

Things that can be repurposed aren't trash. Real trash is what can't even be recycled—utterly worthless. And those useless sounds fall squarely into that category.