Men Can Be As Beautiful As Paintings (Seeking Collections and Recommendation Tickets)

Several days later.

Ethan stared blankly at the contact name on his phone, then pressed send, dispatching a message.

Tom: "I met with the arms dealer, Max. I'm playing along, planning to fake a sale of the CIA agent list to her, to trick the mole [Job] (codename) into revealing himself. Can you offer any assistance?"

Zhou Yi looked at the message received on his phone and replied.

FBI Employee: "I assume you already have a plan?"

Tom was the contact name Zhou Yi had saved for Ethan, while "FBI Employee" was the note he'd made for the phone he'd given Ethan.

Naturally, some things that could become evidence required small precautions, and contact names were no exception.

Tom needed no further explanation; perhaps only Zhou Yi truly understood what it meant. As for "FBI Employee"... well, anything could be FBI, so it was perfectly fitting.

Ethan frowned, thought for a moment, and sent another message: "I do have a plan, but with your help, my operation would be much more convenient and simpler."

Rather than not knowing when Zhou Yi would get involved, it was better to have him participate directly in the operation. That way, at least he'd have some idea of what was going on.

That was Ethan's thinking.

"Before that," Zhou Yi replied, "recruit your helpers first. Then, when you get to Langley, send me a message."

Ethan looked at the message on his phone, completely bewildered.

How did he know?

Ethan couldn't help but look around, starting to suspect Zhou Yi was hiding nearby or had installed some listening device.

FBI Employee: "Don't worry, I haven't set up any surveillance, nor am I hiding nearby listening in. Recruit your helpers first. I'm ready on my end, just waiting for you."

Ethan: "..."

Did I actually tell you about these things?

And you still say you're not monitoring me? Are you treating me like an idiot!

However, Ethan didn't have time to investigate where Zhou Yi might have hidden listening devices or how he was disguised to eavesdrop.

He was currently in a private compartment on a high-speed train, preparing to interview the two helpers he had found.

In fact, these two "helpers" came from a Discredited List within the CIA.

However, the truth was, this list was filled with people who possessed special skills but had also committed offenses.

The CIA monitored and updated information on these individuals. Whenever they were needed, or when they committed another offense, they could be found or apprehended directly!

Every intelligence agency had a similar list.

As the saying goes, every trade has its master. Sometimes, those from formal training institutions couldn't compare to the people on this list in certain areas.

When used properly, these individuals could sometimes achieve incredibly significant results with extremely high cost-effectiveness.

Ethan was leveraging this very point, selecting people directly from this list to ensure his operation had a certain level of technical assurance.

After all, he was planning to break into CIA headquarters and steal the most crucial CIA agent list from the most heavily guarded central computer room!

Such an undertaking, if not handled with extreme caution, would not only be disrespectful to his own life but also to the CIA.

After all, they were a top American intelligence agency!

Although what Ethan was doing hardly qualified as respectful...

Several more days passed.

Tom: "I've arrived in Langley."

FBI Employee: "Alright. Give me a location, and we'll meet to talk."

Soon, Zhou Yi drove to the location Ethan had chosen, a coffee shop.

"It seems you've been living quite comfortably lately," Zhou Yi said as he sat down opposite Ethan. "Found yourself a sugar mama?"

"Are you talking about Max? Well, that's true. An arms dealer who can produce ten million US dollars... calling her a sugar mama isn't an exaggeration."

Ethan glanced out the window, habitually scanning for anything unusual before looking back. "I thought you'd bring people with you?"

"Do I need to? If I went to the trouble of tricking you to Langley, would it be to have the CIA lay a trap for you in advance?"

Zhou Yi ordered a mocha, left a tip, and after the server left, he said, "If I really wanted to act, I could have captured you back in Prague."

"You're right," Ethan took a deep breath. "I looked into your background and found out you're actually an IRS employee, and a Kingsman agent. You once, in a single year, from..."

"Am I here today to have you recount my past experiences?"

Zhou Yi shook his head, directly interrupting Ethan. "That's just the information available on the surface. You surely know how much I've done beneath that."

"Yes," Ethan nodded. "That's why I'm wondering why you didn't make a move back then?"

"With the power the IRS possesses, combined with your Kingsman status, you could have arrested all of us without needing much evidence and then interrogated us for proof later."

"You're right, I could have done that, but I never would," Zhou Yi said, his words slightly convoluted, leaning back in his chair. "Do you know why?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be here," Ethan spread his hands.

The morning sun shone through the window, illuminating their faces, creating a perfect division of light and shadow in the middle.

Two completely different styles of handsome, at this moment, were like a perfect painting.

Men could also be as beautiful as a painting, and it was a true, not at all effeminate, beauty like a painting.

"Because..." Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow and waved his hand, signaling the waitress who had just come in with coffee and was stunned by the scene to hand it over.

After taking it and taking a sip, and the waitress left in a hurry, Zhou Yi then said, "That wouldn't yield enough profit."

"What?" Ethan tilted his head.

"Profit," Zhou Yi repeated, "dollars."

"..." Ethan was silent for a moment. "That direct?"

"Otherwise?" Zhou Yi smiled, put down the coffee, and leaned back in his chair. "What do you work for?"

"..." Ethan thought for a moment and said, "If it were before, I might have answered that I enjoyed the thrill of it. But now, with my team members sacrificed, and it being caused by a traitor within the team... I feel it's meaningless."

"That's the answer, your answer. As for me, it's for money. Only with money, with a life, can one have the other thoughts to consider other things, like... ideals," Zhou Yi said. "That's my answer."

Of course, that wasn't his real reason; he was just trying to gain system experience points to get stronger... but that didn't stop him from casually fabricating a story to feed Ethan some chicken soup, whether it was poisonous or beneficial.

"Then... are you going to embezzle?" Ethan frowned. "That ten million dollars?"

"Yes," Zhou Yi nodded very frankly. "Ethan, I'm very curious. What if I told you that the money I haven't turned in over the past year exceeds ten million, and you know what I've been doing, and you have enough power to sanction me?"

"For example, if you were the Director of the IRS right now, what would you do?"