allendalepharm Chapter 21 Personnel Arrangements and Identity Exposure
Chapter 21 Personnel Arrangements and Identity Exposure
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Yan Shuo got up.
On the octagonal table in the main room, Wang Xiaohong had already set out steaming hot porridge and pickled vegetables. Seeing him come out, she quickly stepped forward to take the coat he was holding and greeted him with a good morning.
Yan Shuo nodded, and just as he sat down and picked up his chopsticks, the curtain in the inner room moved slightly, and Li Zhiyao came out. She was wearing a plain-colored cheongsam, her hair was neatly tied up, and she looked like a gentle and elegant wealthy lady.
She picked up the teacup on the table, poured a glass of warm water and handed it to him. Her fingertips inadvertently touched the back of Yan Shuo's hand, and she whispered, "At the West American Trading Company, Lucas has been frequently interacting with the Japanese lately. Be careful when you see him."
"Okay." Yan Shuo took the water glass, took a sip, and quickly shoveled down two mouthfuls of porridge.
Yan Shuo put down his chopsticks, took the umbrella, then looked at Li Zhiyao and nodded slightly as a farewell.
It was raining outside, the raindrops slanting against the umbrella, splashing up tiny droplets. He flagged down a rickshaw, lifted the curtain, and ordered, "To the West American Trading Company, quickly."
When they arrived at the West American Trading Company, the rain had lessened a bit. Yan Shuo immediately saw Lucas wandering around the lobby with his hands behind his back. Several employees were busy carrying wooden crates, and every now and then someone would come up to him to report on the inventory.
He folded his umbrella and leaned against the wall, the water droplets dripping from the edge forming a small puddle on the ground. Only when Lucas glanced up and saw him did he approach, a polite smile on his face: "Good morning, Mr. Wolf."
"Good morning, Bernd." Lucas turned around, pointed to the office building behind him, and gestured for him to follow. "Let's talk in my office."
Upon entering Lucas's office, the warm heating dispelled the chill.
Lucas pointed to the leather chair opposite him: "Sit." He then took a box of cigars from the drawer and casually tossed one over.
Yan Shuo took the cigarette, took out a lighter, and lit it. Amidst the crackling sound of the burning tobacco, Lucas asked, "How's the matter I asked you to handle?"
Yan Shuo took a drag of his cigarette, slowly exhaled a smoke ring, and raised an eyebrow in feigned confusion: "Which matter are you talking about? I've been busy with a lot of things lately, and I'm afraid I might have mixed them up."
"It's about finding help for our warehouse." Lucas leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingertips on the table, his tone tinged with impatience. "We need someone who knows martial arts, someone who can protect the goods. Have you made any progress?"
"Oh, that's something going." Yan Shuo nodded, his tone confident. "I called a friend a couple of days ago, and he said he'd be sending a small team over in the next couple of days. How many people do you need? Is ten or so enough?"
"The more the better," Lucas smiled, his eyes revealing a businessman's shrewdness. "The wages for Chinese workers are very low right now, ten or so people aren't much, the more the better. Besides guarding the warehouse, they can also help with some moving work. Don't worry, as long as they have real skills, I'll pay them well, I won't treat them unfairly."
"Don't worry about that." Yan Shuo flicked his cigarette ash. "The people my friend introduced are all real martial arts practitioners, with excellent fighting skills, guaranteeing the safety of your goods. Also, there's something I'd like to discuss with you—if you could help them obtain residency permits for German residents in Shanghai, they would definitely work even harder. After all, having legal status makes things much easier."
Lucas waved his hand dismissively, his tone laced with arrogance: "It's not difficult at all. As long as we have their names and places of origin ready, they can apply anytime. I am, after all, an earl; I have connections."
After get off work, Yan Shuo immediately summoned the team leaders Zhao Lie, Su Ling, Huang Mo, and Yi Ying to the secret hideout.
As soon as he entered, Zhao Lie asked anxiously, "Boss, what did you call us here for? Is there another new mission?"
Yan Shuo sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of hot tea, and slowly said, "There is something I want to discuss with you—I'm looking for helpers for Lucas's warehouse. He promised to pay them and also help them get residency permits for German nationals in Shanghai."
Upon hearing this, the group instantly cheered. Yi Ying spoke first, her voice tinged with excitement: "Boss, is what you're saying true? You can get legal status?" Huang Mo also looked up, his usually composed face now showing a hint of emotion.
"Absolutely true." Yan Shuo nodded.
"That's great!" Zhao Lie slapped his thigh. "We're always on edge when we go out now. With legal status, things will be much easier! I have a few brothers under me who are very skilled; I'll introduce them to you!"
"I also have suitable people on my side!" Su Ling added, "I know a few who used to be in opera troupes, they know some kung fu, and they're reliable."
Several people eagerly introduced their subordinates, and the scene immediately became lively.
Yan Shuo raised his hand to interrupt them, his tone serious: "Quiet down. We can't cram everyone in; ten or so people will be enough."
"Why?" Zhao Lie asked, puzzled. "Wouldn't it be better to get more people in, especially those with legal status?"
"Use your brain," Yan Shuo frowned. "The others have their own professional identities and are supposed to be out gathering intelligence. What's the point of stuffing them all into the warehouse? Where do we get our intelligence from? Besides, we can't take everyone from the warehouse with us every time we carry out a mission. If it happens too often, Lucas will definitely become suspicious."
He paused, then continued, "With this fixed job, we basically have to be on duty every two or three days. If Lucas sees us dozing off or slacking off, it will affect our disguise and would be counterproductive."
Everyone calmed down after hearing this. Huang Mo said in a low voice, "The boss is right, we can't be greedy."
Finally, everyone discussed and decided to assign eight people to Lucas's side: four for the day shift and four for the night shift, specifically to guard the warehouse; the others would stand by as laborers, coming when there was work at the warehouse, and continuing to gather intelligence outside when there was no work, as long as they could change identities.
After dealing with these matters, Yan Shuo returned home. He took out the recording device he had used to monitor the secret communication line at the intelligence headquarters and pressed the play button. Normally, routine communications at the intelligence headquarters would use ordinary lines, but the line he was monitoring was an underground military-grade secret line. Most of the information transmitted through this line was top-secret.
After listening to several recorded phone conversations, Yan Shuo's face grew increasingly grim, and a cold sweat broke out on his back. In the recordings, Li Qun from the Special Agent Headquarters was giving a detailed report to Ryusuke Otani of the Special Higher Police, not only discussing the counterintelligence information collected by the Special Agent Headquarters but also mocking the Special Higher Police's counterintelligence methods against the Chinese as "incompetent."
What alarmed him even more was that the conversation between the two clearly revealed that there were spies within the Military Intelligence Bureau, and these spies were lurking in the core ranks, even among Dai Li's inner circle. Detailed information such as the names, hometowns, and backgrounds of individuals like Maodou and Hongdou had already been leaked to the Japanese.
With the safety of his colleagues and families at stake, Yan Shuo dared not be careless in the slightest. He immediately sent an encrypted telegram: "Director, I have captured a live enemy agent, one of Wu Sibao's associates. I obtained important intelligence from him—we have an undercover agent within our ranks, and even those around you are not safe. My team, codenames like Red Bean and Edamame, my name, and most of the team members' names have all been obtained by the enemy. Sketches of them have also been discovered, and there are photos in their files. Fortunately, I have acquired a disguise technique that can drastically alter facial features; otherwise, we would be unable to carry out our work. From today onward, we will no longer report information such as the work, location, and positions of our team members. We will completely revert to our original working methods. Please immediately process the files and communication codes of the undercover personnel to prevent further leaks."
After sending the telegram, Yan Shuo immediately summoned Zhao Lie and the others again. Upon entering and seeing Yan Shuo's grave expression, the men instantly wiped the smiles off their faces. Zhao Lie asked in a low voice, "Boss, what happened?"
"We have spies within our ranks, even among Boss Dai's inner circle," Yan Shuo said, emphasizing each word. "The names, code names, and portraits of everyone in our group have been leaked to the Japanese."
"What?!" Zhao Lie's eyes widened in shock. "How is this possible?!" Su Ling's face flushed red with anger, her fists clenched. "No wonder I've felt something was off lately; there's a mole inside!" Huang Mo silently took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag, his brows furrowed deeply. Yi Ying rubbed her hands together, pacing back and forth, her voice trembling. "Then... what do we do now? Our identities are exposed; going out is suicide!"
Yan Shuo remained calm, taking out a pile of imitation human skin masks and voice-changing patches from the cabinet and placing them on the table: "Don't panic, I was prepared. These are imitation human skin masks and voice-changing patches that can change appearance and voice. Also, take these disguise ID sets back and give them to all team members. In addition, bring your team member files and the newly taken disguise photos. I'll arrange for someone to create new identities, otherwise this job really can't be done."
"There are such good things?" Su Ling's eyes lit up. She picked up a mask and examined it, asking curiously, "Is this thing useful? Will it fall off easily?"
"It works great, it's waterproof and sweatproof, and the fit is excellent," Yan Shuo demonstrated. "When applying it, first wash your face, align it with your facial features, and apply the patch with the accompanying solution to the edges. It will then blend seamlessly with your skin. The voice-changing patch is applied to the throat, and you can change your voice to whatever tone you want."
Su Ling eagerly picked up the mask and medicine, quickly walked to the sink, washed her face, and began to apply the mask. A moment later, she turned around, and everyone was stunned—she, who had originally looked like a wealthy young lady, had now transformed into a middle-aged woman with an angry face and critical eyes, about thirty-five years old, completely different from before.
"My God, this is amazing!" Zhao Lie leaned closer, examining Su Ling closely. "I can't tell at all that it's a mask! Tell me again how to use this thing!"
Yan Shuo patiently explained how to use it. Zhao Lie picked up the items, medicine, and camera, and said hurriedly, "I'll arrange it for the brothers as soon as I get back. We'll take the new identity photos tonight!"
Huang Mo and Yi Ying quickly grabbed the supplies on the table. Huang Mo said in a deep voice, "Boss, we'll go back and make arrangements right away." Yi Ying nodded, her panic lessening considerably. "With these, we're much safer."
Su Ling picked up the supplies belonging to her group and nodded shyly to Yan Shuo: "Boss, I'll go back and arrange for the team members to change their identities too."
Watching the men hurriedly leave, Yan Shuo's expression remained grave. The danger remained until the undercover agent was found, but right now, ensuring the safety of his brothers was the most important thing.