Nineteen Years

On the long street, Qing Hua and Kongshu Kamishiro stood facing each other in silence.

Kongshu Kamishiro's emotions were clearly out of control. She had come all the way to save her younger brother, but he had been bought by someone else.

This result was somewhat unacceptable to her...

But this isn't really Qing Hua's fault.

The master under the shadow of the Qing family personally put on a show, and the acting skills and details were all done well. They even exchanged two extremely important missing people from Kashima for it. Who would have thought that it would be a scam?

Therefore, Shadow's move completely baffled everyone.

Kongshu Kamishiro glared at Qing Hua and angrily demanded, "Where did my brother go? He can't just be gone like that!"

Qing Hua hesitated for a moment. "Are you representing the Kamishiro Family? Or could it be someone else from the Kamishiro Family who is making this transaction, but you don't know about it?"

Kongshu Kamishiro, "No one from the Kamishiro Family besides me will participate in this deal!"

Qing Hua thought for a moment and said, "Please wait a moment, I need to call my boss to report this."

Actually, Qing Hua didn't want to make this call because Qing Chen had already entrusted the matter to him, so he should handle it properly and present the final result to Qing Chen.

This is the best kind of subordinate.

Now, he's only halfway through his task, and he still has to trouble his boss to resolve it, which makes him seem very incompetent.

However, he couldn't afford not to fight, because he keenly sensed that someone impersonating the Gods to make the deal must have a grand scheme.

Since he couldn't figure out what was going on, he should honestly report it and at least let the boss know about it as soon as possible.

After making the call, Qing Hua went to the side and explained the whole story to Qing Chen.

Qing Chen's first concern was. "Those two from Kashima are already in our hands, right?"

Qing Hua explained, "Yes, we'll arrive at the secret prison in 15 minutes. I just checked again, and everything's fine with the brothers. The previous transaction went smoothly, but now..."

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "For us, as long as we get the Kashima members, the deal will be considered a success. As for Kongshu Kamishiro... why don't you ask her if she has anyone else she wants to trade with, and we can go and capture them for her now?"

Qing Hua stared in disbelief. "Boss..."

In his view, this operation was as bizarre as someone impersonating the Kamishiro Family to trade for Qingyi Kamishiro.

However, before Qing Hua could say anything, Qing Chen sighed, "It doesn't seem appropriate. Kongshu Kamishiro is here to save his younger brother, so he probably doesn't care much about other things... Let's just run."

"Huh?" Qing Hua was taken aback.

"Run! Who cares who bought Qingyi Kamishiro? As long as we don't lose money, that's all that matters!" Qing Chen said. "Run!"

The next moment, Kongshu Kamishiro, with red hair and a punk outfit, suddenly saw Qing Hua turning her head to look at her while making a phone call.

Immediately afterwards, the trainee inspector who made the phone call suddenly turned around and ran away from the scene.

Kongshu Kamishiro: "???"

Kongshu Kamishiro was stunned. She never expected that a trainee inspector from the Intelligence Department One would do something like deserting in the face of battle.

They just ran away like that?

Is this something a senior PCA official should be doing?

Kongshu Kamishiro felt very frustrated, but looking at how fast Qing Hua was running away, she knew she couldn't catch up at all.

At this moment, Qing Shi's shadow was still sitting on the edge of the rooftop of the building.

Just like that day when he sat on the edge of Green Mountain Cliff, looking down at the world with great interest.

"They actually ran away, hahaha," Shadow laughed. "But sometimes running away is a good way to deal with problems."

"Boss, what's the next step?" the short, middle-aged man asked.

Qing Shi Ying thought for a moment, "Go and send Qingyi Kamishiro to Kongshu Kamishiro. Only Qingyi Kamishiro has truly returned home can the Kamishiro Family be considered to have officially entered the game."

"Release Qingyi Kamishiro?!" the middle-aged man asked curiously. "Boss, aren't we going to keep Qingyi Kamishiro alive for interrogation?"

At this point, the middle-aged man suddenly felt that his boss's actions were a bit strange.

They just made such a big show of things, exchanging two important members of the Kashima Family for Qingyi Kamishiro, and now they want to return him to Kongshu Kamishiro immediately?

The middle-aged man was surprised, but the young man behind the shadow was already used to it.

He was someone who was always by the shadows, so he knew that the boss's thoughts could not be fathomed by common sense.

But Shadow shook his head with a smile, "How much useful stuff can a third-generation member of the Kamishiro family dig out? At this time, letting him go home quickly will allow him to realize his greatest value. No, to be precise, it's allowing other forces to see him go home that will allow him to realize his greatest value."

The shadow continued, "Go. After you've finished this, all of you involved in the transaction should go to the wilderness and stay away from the Federation for now. We'll talk again once I've completely shattered the intelligence alliance between Kamishiro and Kashima."

The middle-aged man and the young man behind the shadow understood that only when others saw Qingyi Kamishiro return home could the fact of the deal between Kamishiro and the Seven Group be confirmed, and only then could Kashima truly resent Kamishiro.

Otherwise, if the transaction is completed but the counterparty, Qingyi Kamishiro, doesn't return to the Kamishiro Family, even a fool could see something was wrong.

"What does the boss want to do in the wilderness?" the young man asked in a low voice.

Shadow thought for a moment and said, "I heard that a Goddess has suddenly appeared over the fire pit. When the Divine Child comes of age, he will hunt down important figures in the Federation. The Goddess should also be needed. Go and see if there is any way to take advantage of this."

As for Shadow, he rarely does anything particularly strenuous.

In his opinion, leveraging external resources is the smartest approach.

Just like tonight, he simply chose the most opportune moment to make his move, but it was precisely this move that helped Qing Chen gain the upper hand.

It's important to understand that while Qingyi Kamishiro is certainly important to that senator, he's not enough to make that senator go against his family's wishes and break the intelligence alliance between Kamishiro and Kashima.

The Kamishiro Family even specifically informed Qingyi Kamishiro's father yesterday: rescue of Qingyi Kamishiro is forbidden, as this matter concerns the alliance between Kamishiro and Kashima, and Qingyi Kamishiro's value is far less than that of the alliance.

Therefore, Kongshu Kamishiro actually came secretly tonight.

The red-haired girl didn't have any members of the Kashima Family with her; she was just worried about her younger brother and wanted to exchange some information for him.

Even her father was unaware of this action.

Therefore, if Shadow doesn't make a move tonight, Qing Chen's plan is likely to fall through.

Therefore, Qing Chen must continue to arrest people until he captures a truly important figure, only then will there be a possibility of breaking the intelligence alliance between Kamishiro and Kashima.

Now, the appearance of the shadow has, in the course of the game, directly helped him open up the situation.

But Qing's shadow wasn't trying to help Qing Chen; rather, he found this opportunity rare and interesting, and he was interested in playing along with Qing Chen.

Moreover, this matter has a far deeper significance.

The Qing family's shadow wanted to use this incident to bring someone home.

At this moment, Kongshu Kamishiro was still standing blankly on the long street, at a loss.

The next moment, a short, middle-aged man carrying a huge travel bag passed by her and then threw the travel bag at her feet.

Kongshu Kamishiro was taken aback at first, then quickly squatted down and opened the travel bag, inside which was her sleeping younger brother Qingyi Kamishiro.

Overjoyed, Kongshu Kamishiro tears of happiness and called her father, "Dad, I've found my brother!"

However, to her surprise, her father was not happy at all. Instead, he immediately flew into a rage. "Who told you to go to him? I already told you not to save him! This is a scheme by the Qing clan to tear apart the alliance between the Shindai and Kashima clans! Are you an idiot?"

Kongshu Kamishiro was scolded by his father, his eyes reddened.

She held her unconscious brother and said, "But this is my brother, your own son! And if his affair is exposed, you'll lose your position as a councilor! Father, don't worry, I didn't exchange any benefits with them. It was a kind person who rescued my brother and put him in a travel bag at my feet!"

"There are no kind people in this world, everyone's just trying to scheme against us! Do you really think a kind person would save that idiot?" Her father already understood that they had been thoroughly manipulated, yet he still couldn't figure out who was behind it. "The councilor's position is gone, and now if the family holds us accountable, I might not even be able to save my life. Qingyi Kamishiro there, and get back here yourself!"

The young Kongshu Kamishiro couldn't understand why saving his younger brother was considered a mistake.

Shadow sat alone on the edge of the rooftop, watching everything unfold. He chuckled to himself, saying, "When will people truly understand that the sister's feelings for her brother at this moment are the most precious thing in the world? They've all been blinded by this superficiality."

As he spoke, he gazed absently at the distant horizon.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he called Qing Chen: "I've sent you the photos of Qing Hua trading with Kashima members and Kongshu Kamishiro receiving his brother. Spread them around. If anyone from Kashima comes to you for a deal, they'll definitely ask for 'Kamishiro Jingbian.' I'm pretty sure this missing person is in Kashima's hands."

Sitting in the empty office on the third floor of the Intelligence Department One, Qing Chen suddenly realized that everything that happened tonight was orchestrated and planned by Mr. Shadow.

He asked curiously, "Who is Kamishiro Jingbian? Is he important to you?"

Shadow said, "It's not that it's important to me, but it's important to the Kamishiro Family. Kashima imprisoned him for 7 years, squeezed him dry, and he's worthless now, so they should be willing to exchange him for that Kashima member codenamed 'Jeju'."

Qing Chen asked, "And then?"

Qing Shi's shadow said, "After you get the Kamishiro Jingbian, go to the people of Shendai and say that we can give Kamishiro Jingbian to them on the condition that Qing Mu is released to go home. Otherwise, we will lock Kamishiro Jingbian in a pigsty, and Kamishiro Jingbian will eat whatever the pigs eat."

"Who is Qing Mu?" Qing Chen asked, puzzled.

He was surprised to find so many people he had never heard of suddenly appearing.

Shadow thought for a moment and said, "Qing Mu was our intelligence chief in the north. He was secretly captured by the Kamishiro family 19 years ago and has been imprisoned by the Kamishiro Family in a pigsty at the northern military base, feeding pigs for the Federation's Third Group Army."

The Third Group Army of the Federation is an army controlled by the Gods.

Qing Chen couldn't understand why, after Shendai captured Qing Mu, he would arrange for him to feed pigs.

Shadow explained, "Qing Mu was once the most arrogant intelligence agent of the Qing clan. After he was captured, he was interrogated for 1,030 days, but he still did not betray anyone in the Qing clan. Shendai made him feed pigs for 19 years and put electronic ankle bracelets on him so that he would live in a stinking pigsty all day long, to torture him, humiliate him, and destroy his will."

Qing Chen then asked, "Then why did you bring him back? What important contributions has he made to the Qing family?"

Based on Qing Chen's understanding of the Shadow, this Shadow only cares about interests, and even if the other party is playing games, it is playing games with a purpose.

As Li Changqing said, the other party got things done while playing around with the game.

How could someone like that act impulsively?

Why would they use such an important figure Kamishiro Jingbian to replace someone unimportant? So Qing Mu must be extremely important.

Qing Shi's shadow calmly said on the phone, "What contribution could he have made by being imprisoned in a pigsty for 19 years? If we really have to talk about contributions, it's that he never compromised with the Divine Era. Qing Mu was one of the heads of the Qing Clan's intelligence system. He knew very well that if he compromised and surrendered, what would happen to the other Qing Clan intelligence agents who were arrested? What merit do the other intelligence agents have compared to Qing Mu? Even Qing Mu couldn't withstand it, so what makes them think they could?"

Qing Chen understood. The reason why the Divine Era imprisoned Qing Mu for 19 years was to use this one point to break the spirit and morale of the Qing Clan's intelligence system.

Qing Mu's 19 years of unwavering commitment and refusal to surrender in the pigsty were simply an effort to preserve the spirit and essence of the Qing Clan's intelligence system.