After glaring at him for a while, Zhao Liangze’s eyes gradually turned red, and he sniffled. He opened his mouth many times but couldn’t say a word.
Zhao Liangze was broken into pieces after having only experiencing smooth sailing all his life, so his confidence as a man was nearly destroyed as well. Gu Nianzhi felt very sympathetic when she saw this, so she couldn’t help but tug at Huo Shaoheng’s shirt and whisper, “…Why are you speaking so absolutely? Maybe the situation is not as bad as we think.”
“Yes, yes! Nianzhi is right. Maybe it’s not so bad?!” Zhao Liangze looked at Gu Nianzhi as if he was crying for help, hoping that she could help convince Huo Shaoheng otherwise.
Gu Nianzhi tilted her head, and her eyes drifted to Huo Shaoheng’s impeccably handsome side profile. “Alex, please listen to me. I can’t help but sense that there are many things suspicious about Bai Shuang – not just from the way she has been probing us, but also the way she has been speaking and behaving after running into us again. It is far too different from how she was before.”
Huo Shaoheng looked ahead without answering. Crossing his arms, he stretched out one long leg and put up the other. Like a nocked bow, his powerful body was ready to leap into action.
Gu Nianzhi looked at Zhao Liangze again and said, “Brother Ze told me that Bai Shuang didn’t like to wear red dresses before, but this time around, they are all she has worn. Bai Shuang usually paid a lot of attention to her appearance and especially her hair, but now she doesn’t seem to care about the wind messing her hair up at all. Also…”
Gu Nianzhi paused. “She was only interested in Brother Ze before, but now she is more interested in you than Brother Ze.”
Zhao Liangze’s face also turned pale with jealousy. “This is not what I said!”
He would never admit that Bai Shuang was setting her sights on another man!
Gu Nianzhi curled her lips as she said, “Yes, this is not what Brother Ze said. This last point was based on the summary of my observations.”
“…Bai Shuang won’t be interested in Alex.” Zhao Liangze refused to relent and nearly blurted out, “I am the only person in her heart.”
Gu Nianzhi declined to comment on Zhao Liangze’s self-confidence since she was merely analyzing the actual situation.
“I think it is an obvious sign since Bai Shuang has shown so many different behaviors and personality traits differing from how she was in the past over such a short period of time. She is clearly signaling to us that she is in trouble.”
After Gu Nianzhi finished speaking, she looked at Huo Shaoheng and whispered, “Alex, are you…?”
With Huo Shaoheng’s line of work, could Bai Shuang be working for him? Was she an undercover agent for the Special Operations Forces?
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help but let her mind run wild.
Zhao Liangze immediately denied this, saying, “No, that’s impossible! Our Special Operations Forces would never use an amateur as an undercover agent for such a dangerous task.”
Huo Shaoheng was very satisfied with Zhao Liangze’s answer. His expression relaxed a little, but he still looked at Gu Nianzhi and said quietly, “I have never made personal contact with Bai Shuang, and I couldn’t possibly let her go undercover.”
Gu Nianzhi was a little embarrassed but still mumbled, “…You could have killed two birds with one stone, so why not?”
“No.” Huo Shaoheng corrected Gu Nianzhi’s thought, saying, “The sense of professionalism in our line of work is very strong. We have our own organizational discipline. People who are qualified to do fieldwork have undergone a very strict selection process and training. Without several years of training at the military base, they would never be sent out to the field.
“Bai Shuang has not received any relevant training. The enemy would see through it right away if we let someone as inexperienced as her be an undercover agent. The enemy could possibly trace her back to us to find us and wipe us out in one shot. It would be very harmful to her and the organization.
“Moreover, we will never disregard human lives just because of the mission. Bai Shuang is a national of our country, and we are responsible for ensuring her safety overseas. However, we have no right to ask her to risk her life by working for us,” Zhao Liangze replied gruffly and appeared very solemn.
Gu Nianzhi was shamed by the two men scolding her.
She pursed her lips and asked, “But why did you let me… Contact Bai Shuang? Isn’t this asking me to work for you?”
“Did we let you go alone?” Huo Shaoheng asked as he patted her head. “If this was all part of our plan, would we have left you unaccompanied at any time? Little Ze, Big Xiong, and I have never let you stand alone.”
Gu Nianzhi was singled out in Germany because they had been lured away from protecting her. It wasn’t because they took the initiative to attack and failed.
Gu Nianzhi thought about it carefully and realized that was truly the case.
She looked at Huo Shaoheng with a complicated expression, then glanced at Zhao Liangze. She hesitantly asked, “Are you really not going to consider asking Bai Shuang to work for you? If she is deliberately acting so differently, then she is purposely warning you, or perhaps she is being controlled by someone else and has no choice in what is happening. Yet you refuse to believe her, so won’t this… Make her feel despair and disappointment?”
Huo Shaoheng was expressionless now. He merely grabbed Gu Nianzhi’s hand, which was tugging at his shirt, and replied in a deep voice, “Nianzhi, we cannot afford to act on any whim this time around. I know that you are a law student, so you try to look for evidence before making any judgments. But we can only look for evidence before making judgments when we’re in the courtroom…
“…In our line of work, anyone who looks for evidence before making any judgments has already perished.” Huo Shaoheng’s voice was icy and firm, and his tone was solemn beyond doubt. “What you said are only possibilities and your personal inferences. We don’t know what the truth is. At this time, we can only take all the necessary measures to ensure our safety and protect our interests to the greatest extent.”
Zhao Liangze understood what Huo Shaoheng meant. As a professional, he could not refute the reasoning, but he was so heartbroken that he could barely look up.
“But do you think that Bai Shuang cannot be won over?” Gu Nianzhi thought about it repeatedly and felt that her analysis was reasonable. “If she could work for us, we could achieve so much more with less effort…”
Of course, she had to admit that Huo Shaoheng’s statement was more reasonable.
When the enemy is inseparable from their people, wishful thinking that the other party was not the enemy was a sure way of sending themselves into a trap.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at Gu Nianzhi reproachfully and said, “Nianzhi, you can’t act like this. You can’t do whatever you want to achieve your goal.”
Gu Nianzhi’s tender, white face finally turned flushed, and she was so ashamed that she wanted to find a hole in the ground to burrow into.
Seeing Gu Nianzhi’s embarrassment, Zhao Liangze felt pity. He coughed and gave Huo Shaoheng a look to suggest he stop talking.
Huo Shaoheng didn’t look at him but continued to correct Gu Nianzhi’s misconception about trying to take shortcuts.
“I have been secretly investigating her over the past two days and found that the person in contact with Bai Shuang is most likely the godfather of the Gestapo, Li Dexi.” Huo Shaoheng frowned, asking, “Do you know who Li Dexi is? He’s an old espionage boss that even I fear.”
“This person is very powerful?” Gu Nianzhi was embarrassed for some time, then finally figured it out.
Being scolded by Huo Shaoheng and Zhao Liangze was nothing to be ashamed of.
One of the advantages of growing up with them was that she learned to endure sarcasm and withstand criticism.
“Let me tell you about something he once did. Back when the oil countries in the desert region fought against other countries, Li Dexi wandered through the oil-producing countries alone and provoked wars in them. All the current chaos in those countries can be traced back to Li Dexi’s achievements.
“Also, he is a high-ranking person in the CIA. His position at the Gestapo is only a cover.”
Huo Shaoheng had no other thoughts about Li Dexi. After all, Li Dexi’s professional jurisdiction did not overlap with Huo Shaoheng’s, so the two of them avoided each other. There had been no need to treat each other as enemies.
But when Gu Nianzhi experienced danger in Germany, Huo Shaoheng went through numerous investigations and discovered that Li Dexi was the figure behind Reinitz’s actions. It was then that Huo Shaoheng began to regard Li Dexi seriously and even began to hate him.
Li Dexi had bad intentions towards Gu Nianzhi, but Huo Shaoheng also kept a close eye on Li Dexi.
The saying of knowing oneself and knowing the enemy was absolutely mutual between these two men.
“…With a person as powerful as Li Dexi, how could an inexperienced person like Bai Shuang ever pass his scrutiny? If I wanted to send an undercover agent, how could I send an amateur like Bai Shuang? If Li Dexi actually investigated her after she was sent as an undercover agent, she would be dead by now.” Huo Shaoheng glanced at Zhao Liangze and said, “Especially since she is still entangled with Little Ze. A lovesick person like her is taboo in our line of work.”
Love was blind and the easiest way to confuse someone.
