I'm an IRS Field Agent

Zhou Yi glanced over there, then paid it no further attention.

He had only come to confirm whether Tom Cruise... no, whether Ethan was really carrying out a mission here today. As for actually getting involved in this matter, that would come later.

At this point, Ethan was still just an ordinary CIA agent, at least not yet in a position to accept missions and lead a team in planning and carrying them out.

This time, it was his team leader, an agent named Jim, who had received orders from above—to steal an agent list from this Consulate. That was why he had brought them here, preparing to infiltrate in disguise.

However, Zhou Yi knew that the true purpose of this mission was not to steal that list. The list was merely a fake lure.

In reality, the CIA had discovered that there was a mole within Ethan's team, so they had planned this fake operation and fabricated a false list to draw the mole out.

And that mole was actually Ethan's team leader, Jim!

Jim was very cunning. Although he did not know this operation was bait, he had still made thorough preparations—

He had faked the deaths of himself and his wife Claire, arranged for the others to die, and ultimately left Ethan as the only one who survived in the dark.

Then Ethan had been identified by the CIA as the mole.

After that, Jim had sent his wife Claire, who was also a member of the team, to stay by Ethan's side, mislead him, and provide Jim with intelligence.

And naturally enough, Ethan and his wife Claire...

Zhou Yi had to admit, he greatly admired people like that. As a human being, voluntarily becoming a cuckold was truly... hard to understand.

Still, plenty of people would probably be willing to be friends with him.

Zhou Yi did not intend to get involved in this matter just like that. Directly stepping in... would not be very appropriate.

He was no saint. If someone could be saved conveniently, he might save them, but under the current circumstances, unless he exposed what made him special, he could not save Ethan's team members who were about to be killed.

More importantly, this was a CIA matter. They had another team watching them as well. Since it was an internal affair, Zhou Yi had even less desire to interfere.

Not to mention that if he really made a move, he might very well expose himself.

Zhou Yi had no intention of letting others study him. At least for now, before he had become completely invincible or reached the point where his body could withstand nuclear bombs, he either had to avoid exposure as much as possible, or, after being exposed, make sure every eyewitness could never speak and leave behind no evidence.

In life, caution came first if one wanted to live long.

Although Zhou Yi's usual actions seemed to have little to do with being cautious, given his own abilities, he was already being extremely prudent.

He drained the wine in his glass, placed it on the tray in the waiter's hand, and headed for the exit.

Now that he had confirmed it, it was time to start preparing a few things.

Ethan stared blankly at the computer screen before him.

They were dead. They were all dead.

After hearing what his superior had said in the safe zone earlier, Ethan had understood some things, but found even more that he did not understand.

All of his teammates were dead, yet in the eyes of his superior, Eugene Kittridge, Ethan was the culprit behind everything—the one who had leaked all the intelligence!

Even now, Ethan could recall every detail of his conversation with Eugene.

After Ethan exposed the fact that Eugene had actually stationed another team of agents at the Consulate today to monitor their operation, showing his distrust of them, Eugene had laid his cards on the table and revealed the truth about this mission.

Only then did Ethan learn that their mission target had been fake from the beginning. Headquarters had never wanted that false list; its goal had been to expose the mole among them!

And now, Ethan's parents' accounts had received an enormous transfer of untraceable origin. Every member of his team had been attacked and killed, while he alone had not suffered any attack.

It was easy to see why Eugene suspected him of being the mole. Ethan knew full well that under such circumstances, he could not defend himself no matter what he said!

Ethan knew he was not the mole and had been framed, but he also knew that unless he found solid evidence to expose the real mole, the charges against him would definitely be made permanent!

He knew he could not return to CIA headquarters with Eugene.

As an agent, he understood those methods very well, and had no desire to test whether he could still hold fast to himself under such circumstances instead of being tortured into confessing.

So earlier, Ethan had used a chewing gum bomb to blow up the safe zone, creating chaos and successfully escaping. He had come to this safe point, intending to see whether he could find any clues.

Knock, knock, knock!

The sudden knocking instantly made Ethan's eyes widen, snapping him awake.

Though a temporary safe point like this should theoretically be known only to members of the team, since there was already a mole, this information might have been exposed as well. Ethan had prepared himself for the possibility of being found.

But he remembered removing the light from the stairwell before entering, smashing the bulb, and scattering the shards of glass across the floor!

That meant that no matter what, anyone trying to come in should have stepped on the glass and made a sound!

Why had he heard no crunching glass at all, only a knock directly at the door?

Ethan frowned, picked up the handgun beside him, and focused all his vigilance on the door.

"Friendly," the person outside said, as though he knew exactly what Ethan was doing inside.

"...Friendly?" Ethan thought for a moment, then hid behind the wall and asked with his back to the door. He was worried that the person outside might locate him by sound and spray the room with bullets. "Who are you?"

"I'm an IRS field agent," the person outside said. "Ethan Hunt, you've been implicated in a tax evasion case. I need information from you, as well as your cooperation, to apprehend the CIA mole who obtained illegal income but failed to pay taxes on it."

Ethan: "???"

An IRS field agent, here to arrest a CIA mole for obtaining illegal income without paying taxes?

"Couldn't you come up with an excuse that sounded at least a little more believable?" Ethan said speechlessly.

He was almost amused.

Did this guy take him for an idiot?

"Heh. Believe it or not, Ethan," the person outside chuckled, "our goal is the same."

PS: Qidian had finally begun cracking down on piracy!

So happy ヾ()~

When this book went premium, it would probably be promoted across the entire site. Hahaha, so happy, so happy!