Which Sore Spot to Avoid

Cowering in Perfect Formation

"Yamamoto, Yamamoto, answer the question!"

Officer Mizuno, who was attending the exchange meeting, tugged at Yamamoto Takeo beside him. When he noticed that the other man's expression was clearly off, he immediately grew tense. He couldn't be having another episode, could he?!

Back in Japan, he had always been perfectly fine. Why had he started having episodes one after another after arriving in China? It was impossible to understand.

Yamamoto Takeo's mind was completely blank, as though he had lost the ability to speak. He showed no reaction at all.

To help conceal the awkward predicament of the Japanese officer, who was showing signs of another episode, the translators and interpreters repeated the deputy director of Huxi City's Sushan District Sub-bureau's question in Japanese.

"I..."

Yamamoto Takeo stared blankly, seemingly showing signs that another episode was about to begin. He mechanically turned his neck and looked toward Li Bai at the outer edge of the long table.

If he told them, he would lose his job.

If he did not tell them, he would still lose his job.

They were forcing him into a dead end!

"Comrade Li Bai, please help Mr. Yamamoto out!"

At that moment, Zhao Xiaoliang stood up. As expected of a public servant—he was a true expert at shifting blame, immediately tossing the hot potato to Li Bai.

There was a cause for every effect. After Yamamoto Takeo had suffered an episode onstage earlier and been slapped by Li Bai, many people already knew that there had to be some connection between the two.

Now that someone had asked about the Japanese commercial intelligence thief surnamed Li, some people had already turned their gazes toward Li Bai.

Needless to say, the original model was this very man. No one knew what Doctor