Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Yeah… You got it wrong. I didn’t become a spy or a secret agent,” Miao Ying said as she downed her glass of red wine. “I also didn’t become a murderer! I merely helped my dad to take something! I was left with no choice!”
“Take something?” Zhao Yu asked closely. “From the underground vault in the honey shop? What did you take?”
“Mm… Let’s start from the beginning!” Miao Ying said. “This all started with your father-in-law! My dad started a business in Australia. He trades with some companies that are located in Australia, New Zealand, and some other nations in the Pacific Ocean.”
She took a breath, then added, “However, those business dealings were merely a cover-up. Actually, my dad has another identity. But, it doesn’t really matter if I told you about it now!”
Miao Ying sighed and pointed at the ocean that was just outside the window. “Do you know that most people see Oceania as merely being a tourist destination? They assume that it’s a place that is untouched by worldly strife, when in fact, this place is a war zone, especially when it involved business!”
Miao Ying continued, “Let me put this simply… As every country in the Pacific Ocean has a loose foreign policy, many huge corporations, businesses, and wealthy people run their companies here. Among them, a large amount launder money and hide their assets! It’s super shady!”
“Oh,” Zhao Yu nodded as he drank and listened.
“My dear, we are both from a detective background. As such, we always thought that being a detective is the most dangerous and highest level of crime solving,” Miao Ying explained solemnly. “But, we were wrong, as there is much more hidden in the crime world’s secret underbelly! It is my dad’s responsibility to inspect those hidden dangers and collect information, both domestic and abroad. Do you understand now?”
“I guess so,” Zhao Yu replied. “That means that my father-in-law is an impressive commerce spy, right?”
He then pointed at the bottle of wine in his hands, then said, “No wonder he’s so rich!”
“You must speak more discreetly! You will be in big trouble if you offend my dad!” Miao Ying pouted, then continued, “My dad heard that there was an extremely powerful group in the international business league. Apparently, their spies had infiltrated each of the biggest corporations across the globe in order to find their secrets. Then, they used the weakest points of the corporations to threaten them in order to achieve their goal, which of course was profit on a large scale.”
“Wow!” Zhao Yu took another gulp of the priceless red wine, then said, “No wonder people always say that the world is so dark!”
“It’s darker than you can imagine!” Miao Ying replied. “All these years, my dad has been investigating the specula group. However, he knows that there must be a stronger empire supporting them. So, we adopted the principle of ‘everyone mind their own business,’ and have not gotten involved with them too much.”
She then added, “However, that pattern has changed in recent years, as there was an internal dispute within the mysterious group. The group slowly started emerging as a radical force and was extorting money and monopolizing the market. Their measures became more and more extreme… To the point that the group was severely threatening our nation’s profits!”
She shook her head, then said, “Two years ago, the leaking of the oil well in Malaysia, the collapse of the Tanaea Bridge in Kiribati, the fires within the commercial buildings in New Guinea… All of those things were traced back to them. Plus, although the location varied, the involved companies were all corporations from our nation. Hence, they are obviously taking aim at us!”
She sighed. “The reason for this is that they are jealous of our making profits. Also, they wanted to achieve some wicked political goals. Hence, they waged a war without gunpowder smoke, which has turned out to be even more terrifying than an actual gunfight!”
She shook her head, then continued, “So, my dad’s biggest task was to investigate the mysterious group and look for some breaking point, which would allow him to get his hands on their hidden information. In the end, my dad discovered that the mysterious group already had a spy within the huge overseas corporations of our nation. They planned to attack our overseas corporations, one by one, during the next few years. In that way, they intended to gradually break down our influence in the foreign market!”
Her eyes were wide as he explained, “As you know, just like the oil well incident, once similar incidents take place, our corporation would lose the trust of the entire nation! Then, other nations that we worked with might become fearful of collaborating, thus losing their confidence in working together! Hence, once the enemy’s plan succeeded, it would no doubt be a huge disaster for our nation!”
“Wow, that is serious!” Zhao Yu scratched his head and said. “But, how does it relate to your leaving? If you were to tell me about this long ago, as your husband, I would have taken care of this for you.”
“You really are overconfident and shameless!” Miao Ying crossed her arms, but smiled faintly. “But, I really do miss you shamelessness!”
“I’m flattered!” Zhao Yu raised his glass and drank again.
“With my dad’s hard work, he finally found the breaking point. He bribed a high-level member of the mysterious group!” Miao Ying said. “The person promised to pass my dad the spies’ names on a list that features those who are against the Chinese corporations! However, the person was worried that my dad would betray him, so he requested something bizarre, which was for me to trade with them!”
“What? For you to trade with them?” Zhao Yu was stunned. “So… He basically mortgaged his own daughter?”
“Shush!” Miao Ying gave him a death stare. “The person knows that my dad cares the most about his precious daughter. So, as long as he agreed to send me to complete the deal, it meant that he was trustworthy!”
“But, who the heck can guarantee if that b*stard was trustworthy?” Zhao Yu shook his head, then said, “Isn’t that a huge gamble?”
“Yes, you’re right!” Miao Ying bit her lip and said, “But, I’d lose no matter how I played it!”
“Mm…” Zhao Yu thought about her words, but didn’t react to them immediately.
“If I lost, I would lose my life!” Miao Ying said. “If I won, I would lose you! To me, it was a losing game no matter what I did.”
“Why?” he asked her.
“You saw the deal… I took the account number, the password, and also my fingerprints to get the information from the other person’s vault!” Miao Ying said. “Once I entered the honey shop, my identity was exposed. Once I took the information away, I knew I’d be chased for the rest of my life!”
“I see.” Zhao Yu then recalled how anxious Miao Ying had seemed in the cafe at the shopping street! It was no wonder they had removed all of her information before she left.
“You should know how important the document is!” Miao Ying explained. “Even though my dad cares about me so much, he asked me to be his scapegoat without hesitation! Zhao Yu, I had no choice in such a situation. Can you understand that?”
“Yeah, but…” Zhao Yu scratched his head, then asked, “It seems that I took something from them, too, so, aren’t we both on their radar, now?”
“Nope, as it’s actually the total opposite instead!” Miao Ying smiled and looked at Zhao Yu with a determined gaze.
She then added, “The thing that you took can actually solve our dilemma! In fact, you have changed the entire game of this secret war! You pushed it into a white-hot state, and we even took the advantageous position!”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu nodded. “Now, I understand why my father-in-law wanted to give me this bottle of expensive wine!”
Then, Zhao Yu took a few more gulps and finished the entire bottle of red wine!
