Receiving Someone Home

For intelligence agents, the best outcome if they are captured is death.

Qing Mu was arrested because one of his Kite Falcon defected.

This Kite Falcon not only implicated Qing Mu, but also caused the arrest of 121 people in Qing's northern intelligence system.

The Kamishiro Family used the lives of these 121 people to demand that Qing Mu not commit suicide. As long as he An Xin to raise pigs at the northern military base, these 121 people could do the lowest-level menial tasks at the northern production base.

Although these 121 people lived a very hard life, they didn't even have cotton-padded clothes to wear in winter, and more than 30 of them suffered from night blindness due to a long-term lack of meat intake.

But at least all 121 people survived.

Sitting on the edge of the rooftop, Qing Shiying gazed at the distant starry sky and said, "Sometimes I wonder, how many 19-year periods can one squander in a lifetime? Qing Mu was 31 when he was captured, and now he's a 50-year-old man. The first year he was put in the pigsty, everyone thought he would give in, but he didn't. The second year, everyone thought he would give in, but he didn't."

Shadow continued, "Gradually, everyone in the Qing Clan realized that Qing Mu would not yield, and he became the soul of the Qing Clan's intelligence system... Shen Dai wanted to break him, but he persevered year after year, becoming the backbone of the Qing Clan's intelligence personnel in the pigsty. So you ask me, what exactly has he contributed to the Qing Clan? This contribution is immeasurable."

Just as the shadow of the Qing family said, the Kamishiro Family kept Qing Mu alive not for any other reason than to make Qing Mu break down.

Those northern jackals are adept at manipulating people's hearts. They know that if even a figure like Qing Mu cannot endure the humiliation and ultimately betrays them, then all the Qing clan intelligence agents that Shendai has captured will collapse together.

This is the best way to break through the psychological defenses of the Qing clan's intelligence agents: if the Qing clan's intelligence agents are arrested and are about to fight to the end, the Kamishiro Family suddenly pulls out Qing Mu, who has already compromised and surrendered, and says, "See? Even someone like Qing Mu has surrendered. What is the point of your persistence, intelligence agents?"

It's conceivable that most intelligence personnel wouldn't be able to withstand this tactic.

This is more terrifying than physical torture.

However, Qing Mu persevered.

Qing Chen understood that this was also the reason why the Qing family's shadow had suddenly intervened in the affairs of the Seventh Group; the other party wanted to take Qing Mu home this time.

Qing Chen suddenly asked, "How is Qing Mu now?"

The shadow paused for a moment, then said, "This is bad. Seven years ago, the Kamishiro Family tried to seize his consciousness using neuronal grafting technology. That way, even if Qing Mu didn't submit, someone could impersonate him and become the new Qing Mu. But that neuronal grafting surgery failed. The person who tried to seize his consciousness was annihilated, and Qing Mu became a madman who could only mechanically feed pigs and utter a single sentence. In this situation, neuronal grafting technology can no longer be used. If it is used again, Qing Mu will die."

The shadow continued, "Even the gods weren't sure if he was truly stupid or just pretending, so they used even more methods to torture and humiliate him, but he only ever said that one thing."

Qing Chen was stunned. He couldn't imagine how strong a will Qing Mu must have to resist the possession by the neuron reconnection surgery.

It even managed to annihilate the consciousness of the person who wanted to possess him within its own mind.

Qing Chen asked, "What was Qing Mu's statement?"

He was asking what Qing Mu left behind for the world after resisting the neuronal reconnection.

Qing's shadow said, "Don't worry about me."

Qing Chen was taken aback. These four words were not heroic at all; they were quite bland.

But for some reason, he always felt that behind those four words was Qing Mu's last bit of persistence after he had become indifferent to life and death.

Qing Shi's Shadow said, "In fact, logically speaking, it would be in my interest as the Shadow to have Qing Mu die at the hands of Shen Dai, or continue to stay in that pigsty. Because that way, I can keep using Qing Mu's story to incite hatred among intelligence agents and make Qing Mu a fortress in the hearts of all intelligence agents. But today I suddenly want to take him home. There's no reason why, I just feel that he should go home."

At one point, Qing Chen even felt that Qing Shiying's calm tone concealed intense emotions.

This Qing Mu may have some kind of relationship with the shadow of the Qing clan.

On the phone, Qing Shi Yingzi seemed to have guessed Qing Chen's thoughts. He laughed and said, "Do you feel like you've found a clue that can help you find my true identity? Give it a try, maybe you really can find it."

Qing Chen said irritably, "There's no mention of Qing Mu in the Intelligence Department One's database at all. You should only be able to find him in the Qing Clan's internal intelligence database. Do you dare to open up the Qing Clan's internal database to me?"

Qing's Shadow laughed, "If you can become the Shadow, wouldn't you be able to freely access Qing's information database? Good luck!"

After saying that, Shadow hung up the phone.

Qing Chen sat in his office and made himself a cup of tea. At that moment, Qing Hua returned and smelled the peculiar aroma of tea as soon as he entered the office.

He asked in surprise, "Boss, is this Jingshan Tea?"

Qing Chen glanced at him. "You know this tea?"

Qing Hua said in a low voice, "I had the chance to smell it once at the home of a very important person. The aroma of this tea is unique; once you smell it, you can't forget it."

"Hmm," Qing Chen responded indifferently, as if the Jingshan Tea was not particularly precious to him.

Qing Hua said cautiously, "Boss, it's said that this Jingshan Tea is only available from Mr. Shadow. His trusted confidants only receive a small reward after making great contributions... I also heard that this tea is grown by extraordinary individuals..."

After saying that, he looked at the open tea canister on Qing Chen's table, which probably contained about a pound of Jingshan Tea.

Qing Hua became even more humble in his attitude towards Qing Chen.

The person who could get a pound of Jingshan Tea from Mr. Shadow must be Mr. Shadow's most trusted confidant.

To Qing Hua, these were all incredibly important figures.

After listening to Qing Hua's explanation, Qing Chen suddenly realized why the Qing family's shadow wanted him to bring Jingshan Tea to the Intelligence Department One. It turned out that the other party was delivering the tea in the middle of the night so that he could win over people in the Intelligence Department One.

If he had let Qing Hua smell the aroma of the tea as soon as he reported on it, there wouldn't have been this embarrassing situation.

Little did Mr. Shadow know that Qing Chen not only didn't carry such a precious Jingshan Tea with him, wasting his good intentions, but also managed to subdue Group Seven in a single day, making the Jingshan Tea completely useless.

Qing Chen looked at Qing Hua and calmly said, "Let's put the matter of Jingshan Tea aside for now. Have the people from Lujima been properly detained?"

"Keep it locked," Qing Hua said. "I've already sent people to spread the word about the deal. If nothing unexpected happens, Kashima will soon find out that Kamishiro traded two of their important missing persons to us."

Qing Chen nodded and said firmly, "Very good. Remember to update the names of these two people on the whiteboard tomorrow, and cross out the name of Qingyi Kamishiro. If any people from Kashima come to inquire or observe, tell them directly that we want Kamishiro Jingbian, and only him. If they bring Kamishiro Jingbian over, I will hand over both of these people from Kashima to them."

Qing Hua paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, I'll take care of it right away."

Qing Chen sat alone in his office drinking tea. In truth, he felt no sense of belonging to the Qing family, but he really wanted to bring Qing Mu home.

As dawn broke, agents from various teams within the Intelligence Department One began arriving at work.

The first thing everyone did upon arriving in the building was to go to the third floor to look at the whiteboard, wanting to see what new names had been added to it.

Everyone had heard about what happened last night, but they still wanted to see for themselves whether all the rumors had really happened.

The detectives from the Li and Chen families, in particular, seemed to be enjoying the spectacle and were pointing at the two newly appeared names on the whiteboard with glee. "Li Guangxian has been missing for two years. I never thought he was captured by the Kamishiro family. I never thought that Kamishiro and Kashima were so close on the surface, but they secretly captured such an important person. Tsk tsk tsk."

"Given the nature of the Kamishiro Family, it's not surprising that they would do something like this. They're the best at scheming against others behind their backs."

Actually, the secret arrest of Li Guangxian was not done by the Kamishiro Family.

However, when the news spread, everyone felt that it wasn't surprising that the Kamishiro Family would do something like stabbing someone in the back. At this point, Kamishiro should have reflected on their actions...

What happened last night was so big that even Li Yunqu, the usually serious Inspector of the Li family, came down to the third floor to watch the drama unfold.

Looking at the whiteboard, Li Yunqu thought to himself, "That gentleman from the Autumn Leaf Villa is really something else. He's only been here Intelligence Department One and he's already stirred up a lot of trouble."

As expected, those who are valued by the previous patriarch, Li Xiurui, are all ruthless individuals.

Li Yunqu and said to his subordinates, "I wonder if Kamishiro and Kashima can still be on good terms?"

In the past, when the agents from Kamishiro and Kashima met, they were always very friendly and amicable, just like a loving family.

The inspectors from both companies would even occasionally meet for lunch, publicly displaying their alliance.

Now, everyone is waiting to see how Kamishiro and Kashima will react.

When Kamishiro and Kashima arrived, Li Yunqu surprised to find that they greeted each other with smiles as always.

He immediately understood that because of the war in the north, the two sides could not openly confront each other, so they continued to hypocritically go through the motions.

We're all adults with a lot of shrewdness; we can still put on an act.

But Li Yunqu was no pushover either. Seeing that Shindai and Kashima were as affectionate as ever, he chuckled and said, "Look at these idiots in Kashima. They've been sold out and they're still helping the seller count the money. Their two big shots have been secretly arrested, and now they're calling them brothers. Come on, brothers, stop watching. Watching too many idiots will make you an idiot too."

The agents from Kashima changed their expressions; they were losing face!

Li Yunqu's words were like tearing open Kashima's wound and rubbing salt into it; they were too hurtful!

On the G3296 high-speed train home, I haven't slept for nearly 20 hours – attending meetings, catching trains, finishing these two chapters, revising the manuscript. Right now, all I want is to get some sleep on the train. Goodnight everyone...