Cooperation

Tom: "...No matter how you plan to act, you have to guarantee their safety in the end."

FBI Staff: "I can certainly guarantee that."

Tom: "Thank you."

FBI Staff: "You're welcome. Happy cooperating."

Tom: "Happy cooperating."

Closing his phone, Zhou Yi executed a tail-out drift, parking the car in the yard.

Although Ethan's words in the text message seemed a bit rude, they were actually perfectly fine.

Otherwise, Zhou Yi wouldn't have replied so amiably.

After all, Zhou Yi was the one who had threatened Ethan first.

The adult world wasn't filled with fairy tales or idealism.

For Zhou Yi to protect Ethan's parents in Wisconsin, the most suitable method was to capture his parents beforehand or intercept them from the CIA.

Whichever of these two methods was chosen, the end result would be the same: Ethan's parents would fall into Zhou Yi's hands.

Compared to falling into the CIA's hands, the only difference was that Zhou Yi wouldn't publicize the matter to the world.

Originally, Zhou Yi and Ethan were merely in a cooperative relationship, with no trust to speak of. Therefore, Ethan had naturally seen through Zhou Yi's other motive for doing this—

That is, to tell him to cooperate obediently and not to do anything else.

This was a form of unspoken threat that both of them understood.

Zhou Yi considered his own character to be decent, but not to the point of being noble.

First and foremost, he had to ensure his own interests were not harmed.

Ethan was the protagonist, yes, but Zhou Yi and Ethan didn't have a good relationship. How could he guarantee that Ethan wouldn't choose "justice" and hand over the ten million at the last moment?

If he didn't get the ten million, where would Zhou Yi get it back from?

And it was ten million that could be counted as experience points!

Therefore, having a leverageable handle as a guarantee, Zhou Yi naturally chose to seize it.

Ethan also understood the reason behind Zhou Yi's actions. He knew that Zhou Yi simply wanted a guarantee.

At the very least, as long as they didn't fall out and continued to cooperate, this was just a guarantee.

Compared to the direct, overt threat from the CIA, Zhou Yi's guarantee was naturally more preferable.

So, after getting a guarantee from Zhou Yi, Ethan said thank you again. This was because he understood that if their cooperation was successful, Zhou Yi's actions could be considered as simply protecting his parents once.

Despite the few words exchanged, the communication between them, though seemingly brief, was packed with sufficient information.

"My lawn!"

Just as Zhou Yi was recalling the hidden meanings in the previous messages and planning how to protect Ethan's parents, the villa door opened, and a man's wail rang out.

Zhou Yi: "..."

"Don't get agitated, Director. Your lawn..." Zhou Yi looked at the green lawn, which he had just ploughed with two black dirt tracks from his drift, and paused. "Doesn't it have more artistic flair now?"

"Artistic flair, my foot!" Chris was almost tearing his hair out. "Don't think I didn't see you doing that tail-out drift just to show off!"

"Oh..." Zhou Yi nodded thoughtfully. "Do you want to experience it a few times?"

"Experience it a few times?"

Chris almost choked with laughter. "Do you think I'm a primary school student? I'd want to experience this thing that only looks flashy and is basically useless for just a few times..."

"I'll teach you."

"Deal!" Chris's eyes lit up, and as if afraid Zhou Yi would go back on his word, he quickly agreed.

What was a lawn? As the Director of the IRS, could he care about a patch of grass?

It was just like one dish at a meal!

What Chris truly coveted was Zhou Yi's skill!

He had hinted and explicitly mentioned this matter to Zhou Yi several times before, but Zhou Yi had never agreed. Until today... Wait.

Something's not right!

Thinking this, Chris realized what was happening and instantly became vigilant.

Why did Zhou Yi agree so easily this time, when he hadn't agreed so many times before?

There's a catch!

"Who are you going to arrest now?" Chris asked cautiously.

"How can you slander me like that out of thin air?" Zhou Yi widened his eyes. "How can you say I'm going to arrest someone again? In your eyes, am I only capable of arresting people?"

"..." Chris was silent for a moment. "Isn't that true?"

"Hmm..." Zhou Yi thought for a moment. "It seems that way. Alright then, I do want to arrest a couple of people."

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple!" Chris analyzed. "You only called me in advance when you were going to take down CIA headquarters. Now, this time, you're even using driving skills as payment. Tell me, are you planning to take down the White House or the Pentagon this time?"

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes speechlessly and said, "When did I ever raid the CIA headquarters? Please don't slander me. Also, don't make me sound like a terrorist; I'm a regular office worker with a proper job!"

"Yes, yes, you're right," Chris replied perfunctorily, then subconsciously asked in a low voice, "I forgot to ask earlier, how did it go?"

It was only now that Chris realized he hadn't actually asked about the results of Zhou Yi's trip to the CIA headquarters!

"It went okay..." Zhou Yi said. "Because the CIA kept stalling, I didn't reveal my intentions until the person cooperating with me succeeded."

"..." Chris fell silent.

So, it had actually succeeded?

The entire list of agents for the CIA, that intelligence agency, had been taken just like that?

After a brief half-second of mourning for the CIA personnel, Chris quickly pushed it out of his mind and asked, "So, what did you say afterward?"

As for what Zhou Yi intended to do with that list, Chris couldn't be bothered to inquire.

That thing was a hot potato, offering no benefit to Chris whatsoever. Therefore, Chris would rather "not know" the list's whereabouts.

Besides, he had already provided assistance to Zhou Yi; how could he not trust him?

"So, I reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with CIA Director Brown on your behalf, initiating a friendly and comprehensive exchange between the IRS and the CIA," Zhou Yi listed. "Including equipment and technology... you should know more about this than I do, right?"

"There's such a good thing?" Chris was shocked.

Chris naturally understood what such a "friendly exchange" entailed.

In reality, it was just a large-scale transaction involving the exchange of benefits, where both sides could profit.

However, this time, Zhou Yi had also stolen the other party's agent list!

It was equivalent to someone raiding another person's house, while that person remained completely unaware, and the two were still arm-in-arm, calling each other brothers, all smiles and goodwill!

PS: I want to revise the manuscript, the second update will be later, I'll send it out in the morning~

This chapter was deleted again! Damn it, I'm going to report this to the editor! They delete and revise without even sending a notification, it's infuriating!