Walking a Tightrope

A small Transport Ship took off directly from the surface, left the atmosphere at full speed, and headed toward the military defense identification zone.

Yang Ming was quite relaxed.

Even with handcuffs on and two Laser Guns pointed at his head.

"Bring me his watch."

The Major's voice came from the speaker in the corner.

A soldier immediately stepped forward.

Yang Ming put his hands under the table and said firmly, "That's my privacy!"

"Military Intelligence Management," the soldier said stiffly, "take off your watch, sir. I don't want you to make this unpleasant."

"Then come and take it," Yang Ming said, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

The soldier's nostrils flared slightly. Suddenly, he bent forward and lunged at Yang Ming.

Yang Ming immediately raised both hands. "Oh! If you want it, take it! Don't touch me! Get your damn hands off me!"

"This isn't your territory. You'd better behave."

The soldier sneered and roughly removed Yang Ming's watch.

Yang Ming squinted and smiled, showing no anger at all. In a gentle voice, he said, "Sergeant, I can guarantee you'll be putting it back on me later."

The soldier merely curled his lip in disdain and turned away.

His expression had seemed to say that Yang Ming wouldn't survive the "tonight" in the Ilanduo Time Zone.

The compartment where Yang Ming was being held fell quiet. The two soldiers guarding it seemed a little distracted, too.

Yang Ming scratched his chin.

He was certain his watch wouldn't leak anything. Lü would handle these problems—and even give the other side a little surprise.

But he couldn't stop a few slightly crazy thoughts from surfacing.

In this setting—the familiar, cramped interior of a spaceship, isolated from the surface like an island—it was simply too perfect for making a move.

He didn't even have to worry about boarding the ship. The other side had already brought him aboard.

Yang Ming had already rehearsed it in his head several times.

First, Lü would launch an electronic attack, hack into the ship's control system, cut off its external communications in no time, and wipe out its surveillance footage.

All he had to do was make a little noise to draw the guards behind him over. Once they got close, he could snap these shoddily made handcuffs, then press his hands against the guard's soft neck—soft as a steamed bun—and squeeze!

Bang!

Yang Ming suddenly slammed the metal table in front of him.

The two guards didn't raise their guns. They charged straight over, reaching to grab Yang Ming by the neck.

"Hey! Hey!"

Yang Ming raised both hands and shouted, "I'm not looking for trouble! I just need to blow off some steam! Get your Major over here to talk to me!"

The two soldiers stopped, frowning at Yang Ming, who was obediently holding up his hands. Then they exchanged a glance and said a few words into their Earpieces.

Yang Ming lowered his head and rubbed his eyes.

What was wrong with him?

He'd suddenly become irritable, as if he wouldn't feel right without starting a bloodbath.

He took his gene-stabilizing drugs regularly, and Lü had verified both their ingredients and effects.

Was the harsh environment putting him under too much pressure?

As Yang Ming was wondering about this, the Major appeared outside the compartment door, holding Yang Ming's Network Terminal—the watch Kolev had given him.

The Major looked grave.

They had first tried to "crack" the high-end projection watch the normal way, but hadn't found anything substantial. The most they'd uncovered were some photos of beautiful women, a few ordinary transaction records, and some paid content in the browsing history.

Then they'd used what they considered an advanced decryption key to read the information hidden inside the watch.

That hidden information was what had made the Major look so serious. There was something in it—something that had come as a bit of a surprise to them.

The Major sat across from Yang Ming, turned on the projector in his watch, then looked up and gestured to the two soldiers.

The two soldiers turned around in unison.

"Mr. Yang Ming..."

The Major leaned forward, a hint of unease in his eyes. In a low voice, he said, "Forgive my impertinence, but this watch really is yours, correct? I'd like to confirm."

Yang Ming frowned and curled his lip. "Where did you take it from?"

"Your left wrist," the Major replied, unconsciously using an honorific.

"Mm-hmm."

"My question was rather childish. I apologize."

The Major seemed restless.

He returned the watch to Yang Ming. He also had a key the size of a fingernail, which he passed over Yang Ming's handcuffs. With a click, they fell open by themselves.

Yang Ming rolled his wrists but made no move to put the watch back on. He simply looked at the Major with a smile.

Who knew what Lü had shown them?

But right now, Yang Ming had to get this Major under control, then get close to the high-ranking Luofeng military official behind him.

Yang Ming thought that if he had to fight the Luofeng Empire's military, holding a general hostage would be more advantageous than holding a Major.

"Aren't you going to put it on?" the Major asked quietly.

Yang Ming gave a slight curl of his lip.

The Major understood. He stood, lowered his head, and held out the expensive Network Terminal, its surface crafted to resemble a mechanical watch.

Yang Ming merely moved his left hand aside and rubbed his wrist.

The Major considered this for a moment, then turned and called out a name.

Soon, the soldier who had removed the watch from Yang Ming's wrist came running over.

"Put it on this gentleman," the Major said in a low voice.

The soldier frowned at him. "Sir?"

"Carry out the order." The Major's gaze turned stern.

The soldier pressed his lips tightly together. "Sir, I can't accept..."

"Carry out the order!"

"Yes, sir!"

The soldier saluted, then lowered his head, doing his best not to look at Yang Ming's expression as he fitted the watchband around Yang Ming's wrist and quickly fastened the clasp.

Yang Ming laughed happily.

The Major immediately said, "Sir, why don't we talk on the bridge?"

Yang Ming stood up, lightly patted the soldier's face, and smiled. "You should be grateful, kid. Today, I've chosen to settle things through friendly negotiation."

The soldier's face turned liver-red.

After Yang Ming followed the Major out, the soldier muttered a few curses, keeping his voice as low as possible, then punched the nearby tabletop.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard a faint sound in front of him. The sturdy tabletop, made of alloy plating, shattered all over the floor like broken glass.

The two armed soldiers stared at each other.

"Did you awaken a superpower?"

"That wasn't me."

"Oh, my God. The higher-ups are taking such huge kickbacks. What kind of garbage is this? I'm starting to wonder if this ship's just an aluminum coffin!"

"Keep it down. Do you want to get yourself killed?"

When Yang Ming left the Transport Ship, he still had no idea what Lü had shown the Major.

The Major was respectful on the surface, but the number of soldiers "guarding" Yang Ming had gone from two to six. They watched him from every direction without leaving any blind spots.

It was only when the Transport Ship entered the large Supply Ship that the number of soldiers behind Yang Ming dropped to two.

The hatch hadn't opened yet.

Yang Ming covered the face of his watch with his right hand and pressed down gently. A series of text messages quickly scrolled across the screen.

He had successfully obtained the relevant information.

This made Yang Ming feel more composed and gave him greater confidence in handling the complicated situation ahead.

Lü's improvised strategy had been a little risky, but she had handled it rather well.

The hidden information in Yang Ming's watch was something Lü had planted while the other side was cracking the watch's system.

They'd prepared a total of twelve versions of "spy credentials": the Empire's Military Intelligence Department Twelve, the New Federation's Central Intelligence Agency, Lina's former agency in the Guer Alliance...

Lü had fakes from all the well-known intelligence agencies in her toolbox.

Lü had always controlled the watch remotely. When it left Yang Ming's wrist, all its sensitive data would be automatically deleted.

When the Major had the technicians crack the watch's hidden files, Lü had taken matters into her own hands and shown them a Senior Agent ID from the New Federation. (It was actually an employee ID from a technology department controlled by the New Federation's intelligence agencies.)

Yang Ming and Lü had come up with many similar little tricks.

Now, in the Major's mind, Yang Ming was probably a covert agent for the "New Federation."

Why had they chosen the New Federation's spy credentials?

There was more to it than that.

The text information Lü had sent was brief, but it contained refined keywords and a tremendous amount of information.

The maid's death was connected to a major military corruption case. A total of thirty-two chips had been hidden in a makeup bag, and they were key evidence in the case.

It was a tangled mess.

Based on the information Lü had stolen, the situation was roughly as follows:

[The military had teamed up with a number of Military Industrial Enterprises in and outside Luofeng to take kickbacks. They all profited from exorbitantly priced weapons and equipment. The chips had been purchased by the military and installed on a Light Frigate. Two years ago, the ship was shot down while clearing out pirates. There shouldn't have been any wreckage left, but some of it turned up at a scrapyard in a neighboring country.

The military had priced these chips at three times the going rate for the most advanced models of their kind, while their performance was only one-tenth of what the military required.

The military had also arranged for the frigate to be shot down themselves. That not only let them use up a batch of equipment and start building a new ship, but also allowed them to get rid of a batch of "fake soldiers" who drew pay without serving.]

For a moment, Yang Ming didn't know what to say.

The maid had come from the Luofeng Royal Palace. In other words, someone in the royal family was dissatisfied with the military and had already begun taking action.

The even more outrageous part came next.

The reason Lü had chosen the identity of a "New Federation Senior Agent" for Yang Ming was that the general he was about to meet—the Luofeng Empire's Deputy Chief of Staff of Military Intelligence, Gudunmaha—had been doing business with Military Industrial Enterprises from the New Federation for more than a decade.

The industrious Gudunmaha had acquired a large number of "advanced" Federation weapons for the Luofeng Empire and had directly helped New Federation agents steal intelligence from the Sherman Empire several times.

Deputy Chief of Staff Gudunmaha's daughter had married a noble from the Sherman Empire.

But both of his sons were citizens of the New Federation.

And none of this was particularly secret. Many high-ranking officers and colonels had left conspicuous traces when they chatted.

That wasn't all. Lü had also stumbled upon a real windfall.

Gudunmaha had a Network Terminal he never used himself. It was on a civilian encrypted network and occasionally received instructions from New Federation officials.

That terminal gave Lü a great many leads, allowing her to dig up Gudunmaha's background in a short time.

Having the information only meant he'd found his enemy's weaknesses and knew how to deal with them.

Yang Ming was still walking a tightrope.

He was essentially impersonating a New Federation Senior Agent. If he managed to fool the other side, it would undoubtedly make things much easier for him. But if he made one wrong move...

Then it would be a bloodbath.

At that moment, Yang Ming arrived outside Gudunmaha's office.

Now that was what you called a military big shot!

The solid-wood door was made from wood almost identical to the kind used for the doors in Kolev's manor!

When Yang Ming had asked Lü to pull up Kolev's asset list, the price of this kind of untouched natural wood had made a deep impression on him.

Well... don't worry about why he'd asked for that list. It wasn't important.

The Major beside him knocked on the expensive wooden door.

"General, the gentleman has arrived."

"Come in."

A low voice sounded from within.

As the door opened, Yang Ming saw a thin old man wearing glasses. The man's sharp gaze was like a keen dagger, piercing straight into Yang Ming's eyes.

Yang Ming walked over with a broad smile. The Major tried to follow, but General Gudunmaha stopped him with a look.

The door closed behind them.

Yang Ming sat down behind the desk and looked around the antique-style office. He murmured, "How does the General plan to resolve this matter?"

Gudunmaha narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Could you give me your CIA identification number? I've dealt with a few CIA officials. This is a difficult matter, and it concerns the reputation of the Luofeng Empire. I have to verify things carefully."