Chapter 1165 - Sharpening the Blade

Two days later, the Confidential Communications Office sent Ke Yun a small wooden box that still smelled of seawater. The box was made according to Logistics Command's published packaging standards—the smallest of the standard containers, specifically for transporting documents and small items. Southeast Asian teak with iron corners and beast-skin waterproof lining.

The box was painted with black and white vertical stripes, and a row of Arabic numerals indicated it contained important documents. The clasp was lead-sealed.

Ke Yun broke the seal and took out the file materials, briefly scanning the covers and checking against the packing list that had been sent ahead by telegram.

There were three sets of materials. The first was the female escort's record of Li Mo's outing. The second was the Purple Bright Tower attendant's oral statement. The third was a report on Purple Bright Tower's surveillance recordings.

She had specifically requested the latter two based on what the informant had provided—after all, Li Mo had spent the most time at Purple Bright Tower during her entire outing. She opened the monitoring report first. The contents were very detailed, recording everything from the moment Li Mo left that day, including what snacks she had eaten in Guangzhou. But in Ke Yun's view, the only valuable thing in this report was confirmation that Li Mo had indeed visited Purple Bright Tower, as the informant had said.

Next, she opened the second report—the Purple Bright Tower attendant's oral statement, which confirmed that the female escort's record was accurate: Li Mo had indeed gone to Purple Bright Tower and gotten a private room.

This report cross-verified Li Mo's whereabouts at Purple Bright Tower, but they still knew nothing about what she had done there.

Ke Yun placed her hopes on the third report: she knew that several of the third-floor private rooms at Purple Bright Tower were equipped with surveillance devices. But when she opened it, she was greatly disappointed. The third report explicitly stated: there was no surveillance recording of Li Mo in the "Flowing Fragrance" suite.

Ke Yun's telegram requesting materials had immediately caught Lin Baiguang's attention upon reaching Guangzhou. He ordered Purple Bright Tower's surveillance records for that day retrieved, but there was no report for the Flowing Fragrance suite. However, attached was an investigation into all third-floor guests that day.

Because electronic surveillance equipment was a first-tier controlled item, the entire Guangzhou Station had only three sets. To conserve their service life, each surveillance session required Lin Baiguang's personal approval before equipment could be used.

To compensate for the shortage of modern equipment, during Purple Bright Tower's renovation, copper listening tubes had been installed in all private rooms—but the tubes' actual effectiveness was poor, with indistinct sound and limited pickup range. Moreover, the Security Department couldn't possibly assign monitors for twenty-four-hour surveillance.

Li Mo wasn't an important figure, wasn't on any priority watch list, and she had entered the room alone—so the duty security personnel hadn't arranged for anyone to monitor her room.

Lin Baiguang knew: Headquarters wouldn't request Li Mo's surveillance materials without reason. Obviously this person had some "problems" that had attracted Headquarters' "interest," so he immediately arranged a comprehensive investigation of Purple Bright Tower's staff on duty that day.

The investigation focused, of course, on the third-floor attendants, since only two had been on duty upstairs that day.

Because it had happened during the day, when business was slowest—Purple Bright Tower had few daytime guests, especially on the third floor—only two attendants were assigned to the third-floor day shift.

According to these two attendants' recollections, two other groups of guests had been on the third floor at the same time as Li Mo. Lin Baiguang repeatedly asked whether Li Mo had had any contact with either group, but the attendants couldn't recall—the other two groups were wealthy households with grand entourages who kept calling for service, so the attendants couldn't constantly monitor the movement of people between rooms.

Lin Baiguang had someone retrieve the guest register and payment records for that period. One of the two groups was a regular customer of Purple Bright Tower; the other was a first-time newcomer: a young gentleman, a middle-aged servant, a young servant boy, a maid, and an older female attendant. According to the attendants, the young gentleman had entered the private room accompanied by the servant boy and the maid; the others had waited in the first-floor lounge.

The new guests' registered address caught Lin Baiguang's attention—it said "Risheng Inn," a large guesthouse that catered specifically to traveling officials and wealthy merchants.

This meant the guests were from out of town—nothing suspicious in itself; many out-of-towners came to Purple Bright Tower to sample "Australian entertainment." But they usually chose to come at night when the atmosphere was liveliest; few came during the day.

He immediately sent someone to the Risheng Inn to investigate this group's identity. The investigators reported back that the group had indeed stayed at Risheng Inn but had left the day after visiting Purple Bright Tower.

Their registered origin was Fenyi, Jiangxi, and their destination was also Fenyi, Jiangxi. No matter how Lin Baiguang looked at it, this group seemed suspicious. He sent Qiwei escorts to investigate waterway docks for any group fitting this description heading to Jiangxi recently. The result: no such group was found.

But this result proved nothing. Investigation wasn't omnipotent; lack of witnesses didn't mean it hadn't happened. Pursuing this lead further was now impossible.

(End of Chapter)