Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Worried that the USB would have some sort of defensive mechanism, Zhao Yu kept the tools in his brain active and the hacking instructions on standby in real-time. If the USB had any sort of self-destruct protocol, he could stop it in time.
However, his concern was unfounded. The USB was password encrypted, but there was no self-destruct protocol. In fact, Zhao Yu had expected this to be the case. He knew that Li Jing was ordered by her superiors at Special Services, so no matter how much Li Jing was disgusted by him, she wouldn’t do anything that went against her orders, and thus would not have tampered with the USB.
Initially, Zhao Yu wanted to use his own tools to crack the password, but Li Beini wasn’t there just for show. She used professional software to quickly crack the password. Surprisingly, there was over 10GB worth of information on the USB. There was a large number of documents as well as many photographs and videos. Zhao Yu and the others browsed through these briefly and found that the information was all about the treasures, including investigation records on the five victims.
“Tsk!” Cui Lizhu was the first to comment after looking through the information. She had a complicated, worried look on her face. “Boss, this doesn’t seem right! I feel like we’ve jumped straight into the eye of the storm…” she said cowardly.
“Exactly, she’s right!” Li Beini said, nodding in agreement. “Leader, this actually means our country knew about the secret treasures a long time ago and that they have always been looking for it. But this seems like something out of the Criminal Investigation Department’s pay grade, isn’t it? Are we even able to investigate something like this?”
“There’s Russian KGBs, Japanese spies, and this even involves other international terrorist organizations…” Li Beini frowned. “This involves too many state secrets and foreign affairs, this…”
“It’s over, it’s all over!” Zhang Jingfeng cried in agreement. “I’ve always said curiosity killed the cat! This phrase is so true! When you don’t know something but have always been curious about it, you’re only left with regret after you discover the answer! Xiao Zhao, I feel like this time we’ve bitten off more than we can chew with regards to this treasure…”
“Hey, old Zhang! How can you say that? That’s inauspicious!” Li Beini said.
Ugh! At that moment, Zhao Yu was dealing with a slew of complicated emotions. He was not as high spirited as he had been before. According to the data, since the country’s founding, they had never stopped searching for the treasure. But, in the past 80 years, no matter how many professionals were involved, no matter what great inventions and technology they used, no one caught even a glimpse of the treasure.
The Secret Service agents had even begun negotiating with international terrorists and other illegal organizations, thus causing conflict and diplomatic turmoil. Zhao Yu finally understood now what Li Jing was saying regarding the importance of the treasure. It wasn’t so much about finding it as it was about controlling it, so the role of the Special Services team was to prevent and handle the underlying battles to avoid unnecessary conflict. After understanding this, Zhao Yu held a deeper appreciation of Li Jing’s role.
Special Services was there to control, while the Criminal Investigations Department was there to seek out the truth. The two parties had some internal conflicts, so Li Jing wanted to criticize and obstruct the actions of the Criminal Division and Zhao Yu’s team. However, even though her motives were understandable, Zhao Yu was still unable to figure out the reason behind Special Services’ final decision. The truth was right in front of him. The search for the treasure had reached new heights. This was something the Criminal Investigation Department couldn’t handle! Now that the Special Services team had asked his special team to take full responsibility and even given them a deadline, they were no longer just forcing them, they were straight-up throwing them into the eye of the storm!
Son of a b*tch! Zhao Yu thought to himself. Was the head of the Special Services team a moron? Even though he had conflicts with Li Jing, wasn’t this punishment completely irrational? The Criminal Department’s special team tasks were just to investigate cases, they didn’t have experience dealing with spies or secret agent disputes. If things weren’t handled properly, it would be all too easy for them to mess up!
This… no! That can’t be… Zhao Yu suddenly realized something. He quickly closed his eyes and tried to seriously recall what had happened. Li Jing’s affair, Xiao Hang’s irrationality, and now the deadlines… all this didn’t seem reasonable, it was extremely childish! However, amongst the lack of reason and childishness, there seemed to be something else. There was one reasonable possibility gradually forming! Could it be? Was this the truth?
Thinking about this, Zhao Yu quickly whipped out his phone and opened a hidden app. After opening it, a button for music playback was displayed on the screen. He pressed the button and placed the phone close to his ears to listen.
It turned out that when he had forcefully touched Li Jing’s chest, in addition to punishing her, he had quietly placed a bug in her jacket pocket. Since the system no longer had tools such as Invisible Listening Bugs and Trackers, Zhao Yu had to resort to the normal method and would always carry small things like a bug or locator. He had smelled a conspiracy and took the opportunity to plant a bug on her.
After the program was turned on, Li Jing’s voice was immediately audible, like a roar in his ear. These clips were recorded earlier from when Li Jing had just left the office. However, Li Jing’s anger was not directed at Zhao Yu, but at Xiao Hang. She sounded livid and was shouting until her voice had gone hoarse. Although Xiao Hang was trying to explain, it didn’t help.
Zhao Yu didn’t feel like listening to the couple quarreling and fast-forwarded, but after speeding up the bug became silent. Bzzz… Zhao Yu tried a few more times and confirmed that Li Jing had found the bug and had it disposed of. Both parties attempt at eavesdropping had failed! Even without the eavesdropping, Zhao Yu had another thought formulating. He felt like everything had been deliberately arranged by someone. He thought that Li Jing, who was in a high position, might not be the actual mastermind behind everything!
At that point, Zhao Yu’s phone buzzed twice. The Criminal Department had sent him an electronic confidentiality agreement. All he had to do was press his fingerprint on the agreement through his phone and it would take effect immediately. Reading it over, it seemed that this agreement was different from others in the past. Not only did words like ‘Special Services Department’ appear, but the consequences of defaulting and failure were much more serious than past confidentiality agreements.
A confidentiality agreement in the Criminal Department was generally pursued after the breach of contract, such as a dismissal of office or legal liability. However, the confidentiality agreement of the Special Services was on a national level and right from the first line, it stated that once the secret was disclosed, it would be dealt with as treason. Everyone knew what it meant to be charged with treason!
Seeing such a scary clause, the members of the group were all shocked and confused. They were all ordinary detectives who had come from local stations. They had never seen such a high-level agreement! They felt that this confidentiality agreement was worse than selling out. Who would dare sign it?
However, to everyone’s surprise, Zhao Yu did not hesitate and pressed his finger straight down.
