Li Dexi smiled kindly at Bai Shuang.
He acted as though he was the host and pointed to the position opposite to him, saying, “My dear, you finally came back. Have a seat.”
Bai Shuang sat down opposite him calmly and exchanged a few polite words with him.
“Have you had lunch yet? Do you want to order take out?”
She didn’t seem surprised to see Li Dexi appear in his hotel room.
Li Dexi was very satisfied with Bai Shuang’s calm in the face of shock.
He smiled and shook his head as he said, “No, I’m not hungry. We don’t need to talk about food now. I wanted to ask you how it’s going.”
“Everything went well,” Bai Shuang replied seriously, her eyes becoming hard and solemn. “I only saw Gu Nianzhi and Zhao Liangze, not Huo Shaoheng.”
After a pause, Bai Shuang gritted her teeth and said, “Didn’t you say that Huo Shaoheng would be coming here with Gu Nianzhi?! I told you from the beginning that I just want to kill Huo Shaoheng and avenge my father! I don’t want any extra trouble!”
“Calm down, calm down, my dear.” Li Dexi stretched out his hand and pressed down to soothe Bai Shuang. “I know that you have a saying in the Huaxia Empire that a person would never let their father’s killer live, but you can’t be too anxious either. It would be no good if you acted rashly and startled the enemy. That Mr. Huo is too cunning.”
“I don’t care how powerful he is. He must die for killing my father, no matter what!”
After speaking those harsh words, tears began to fall from Bai Shuang’s eyes.
She wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand and whispered, “…But you have never given me any real evidence. In case… I mean in case… What if he wasn’t the one to kill my father? I’m – I’m not that easy to push around!”
“My dear, no one has ever questioned anything I said before. You are the first one,” Li Dexi said with a smile.
In the face of Bai Shuang’s question, he didn’t seem to be angry, and he thought it was reasonable.
If Bai Shuang believed in him too quickly, either she was not capable, or she was too inexperienced to see the bigger picture.
Li Dexi wouldn’t bother cooperating with Bai Shuang if she was the kind of person who succeeded less than she failed.
Therefore, he was quite understanding of Bai Shuang’s repeated requests for evidence.
Bai Shuang looked resolute and insisted, “I have done what you asked me to do. I deliberately created several chance encounters with Zhao Liangze. He not only has feelings for me but also told me that the person he loves is me, not my cousin!
“I have already won Gu Nianzhi and his basic trust. As long as Huo Shaoheng is really in Cape Town, he will definitely show up and look for Gu Nianzhi. But before I make a move, I still have to see the evidence.”
Li Dexi was very satisfied.
After taking so long to set this trap, it was finally about to spring.
“Well, I already promised that I would give you the evidence when you lead them to the French Societe Generale bank.”
As Li Dexi spoke, he took out a flash drive. “This is a list of names provided by Hong Kangquan, the head of your Secret Service department when he contacted our CIA,” he said.
Hearing the flash drive contained the information provided by Hong Kangquan, Bai Shuang’s eyes sparkled.
“It was really him?!”
It was indeed possible that this was real information.
Bai Shuang dubiously took the flash drive from Li Dexi, then got up to get her laptop and plugged it in.
An audio recording and top-secret document were stored on the flash drive, but the material was incomplete and only contained a few pages.
She clicked the play button on the audio recording, and Bai Yueran’s calm voice played over the laptop speakers.
“General Ji, Speaker Long, I think the opportunity cannot be missed. We will never have this chance again. It just so happens that Major General Huo is near that area, so he should be authorized to do it immediately.
“As far as we know, Bai Yusheng has not revealed all the information he knows. That is not because he still has a sense of shame, but simply because he wants to maximize the benefits he can receive from having the information in his hands. He will be of no value once he reveals everything, and the Americans are the best at turning their backs ruthlessly and experts at betrayal.”
As soon as Bai Shuang heard her say that Major General Huo should do it immediately, her tears flowed freely.
She would never forget that day for the rest of her life.
She had been sitting on the balcony, enjoying the sea breeze, drinking red wine, texting her cousin, making phone calls, and waiting for her father to return from diving in the ocean. She hadn’t expected to receive tragic news…
Bai Shuang muffled her mouth and sobbed painfully.
Li Dexi was even more satisfied upon seeing Bai Shuang’s reaction.
He stood up and said, “I will leave you with these things. Think about what you should do. I don’t think I need to tell you.”
Bai Shuang nodded silently and said, “Don’t worry.”
Li Dexi stood up with the help of his cane. “Lure them to the Societe Generale Bank and let them find the evidence for themselves. You don’t need to worry about the rest of the plan,” he said.
“No, I want to avenge my father personally.” Bai Shuang shook her head as she said, “You can’t deprive me of this opportunity, or I will no longer cooperate with you.”
“You will no longer cooperate?” Li Dexi narrowed his eyes. “Do you think you can get out of the situation at this stage?”
“Why not? The worse you can do is kill me.” Bai Shuang raised her chin slightly, her eyes full of despair as she said, “I live to avenge my father.”
Li Dexi looked at her fixedly for a few minutes and attempted to probe her with hypnotism.
Bai Shuang’s emotions were too agitated. Li Dexi used a lot of effort and had just gotten it to work when the ringing cell phone woke Bai Shuang up from her hypnotized state.
Li Dexi’s eyes were dark as he averted his gaze and said calmly, “Okay. I will contact you again.”
Bai Shuang blinked and looked down at the phone to see it was Gu Nianzhi’s number.
She showed her phone to Li Dexi and raised her eyebrows. “Look, they trust me completely. What are you still worried about? I don’t want to work so hard to get them to fall for the bait, only to be robbed of my rightful credit in the end,” she said.
Her reason was too compelling, so Li Dexi found himself unable to refuse her. He also felt approval in his heart.
In their line of work, performance and status were paramount.
Money was only second place.
Li Dexi had investigated Bai Shuang and knew that she was not short of money.
“Okay, keep up the good work. I will let you participate personally.” Li Dexi nodded and left Bai Shuang’s room with the support of his cane.
He got into his black bulletproof car and ordered his men to drive away immediately.
In the car, his personal assistant asked him worriedly, “Do you really trust Bai Shuang?”
“Yeah,” Li Dexi replied flatly. “People like her are the focus of our development and the best candidates for this operation.”
“Her family betrayed her, her lover was stolen from her, and her father was killed. Who would she cooperate with, if she didn’t cooperate with us?”
“A wise assessment.” The personal assistant swiftly flattered Li Dexi and then didn’t hesitate to criticize Reinitz in front of Li Dexi.
“Actually, if Major General Reinitz had done a better job on this matter, you wouldn’t have to come here personally to win over Bai Shuang. Although Bai Shuang has a method, she is no longer a member of the Huaxia Imperial government. I think she is limited in what she can contribute.”
Li Dexi sighed deeply. “It’s not that Reinitz didn’t do a good job, but there is someone we cannot fight against… You don’t understand,” he said.
He already told Reinitz that, if he encountered a conflict with He Zhichu, he must not face him head-on.
Li Dexi had not expected He Zhichu to actually go to the Taj Mahal to rescue Gu Nianzhi.
Reinitz returned empty-handed and, in the report he wrote, bluntly admitted that He Zhichu possessed too much power, and the mercenaries under him were powerful as well, so all Reinitz’s men put together were still no match against them.
Reinitz was only able to escape because he threatened He Zhichu with Gu Nianzhi.
He Zhichu was still very careful around Nianzhi, so he was afraid of harming her when attacking Reinitz. Reinitz took advantage of the situation and managed to escape.
Li Dexi had always believed that Reinitz was as powerful as Huo Shaoheng, and only a little weaker than He Zhichu.
He Zhichu was not a powerful person himself, but rather, he was due to the forces behind him being far too strong.
Even with Li Dexi’s position in the CIA, it was impossible to ascertain He Zhichu’s true background.
Therefore, the typically cautious Li Dexi did not act rashly or punish Reinitz.
But Reinitz didn’t completely miss the mark, since he managed to lead them to Cape Town.
This time Li Dexi carefully gathered intelligence to confirm that He Zhichu would not come to Cape Town. Instead, he returned to the Huaxia Empire.
He was currently teaching his doctoral students at B University in the Imperial Capital.
Li Dexi sent personnel to closely monitor He Zhichu’s activities and prevent him from secretly assisting Gu Nianzhi to disrupt his plans once again.
Reinitz had already been exposed here, so he would not send Reinitz again. Instead, he was going to use one of the candidates he has been developing for a long time – Bai Shuang.
…
After Li Dexi left, Bai Shuang stood in front of the hotel room window with a glass of red wine. She stared at the scenery outside the window for a while, sipping the red wine in her hand, and then changed into another red dress. She was getting ready to stroll around the bank with Gu Nianzhi and Zhao Liangze.
…
Gu Nianzhi and Zhao Liangze left the Truth Cafe and found a very high-end seafood restaurant.
The pair sat by the window, where there was still a vast ocean view outside.
As soon as Gu Nianzhi took a seat, she found a man sitting behind her. His aura felt very familiar to her, and it was none other than Huo Shaoheng.
