Chapter 2487: Stripping the Cocoon (Part 6)

Xu Tong flipped through the freshly recorded confession without lifting his head: "Keep an eye on him. Don't let anything happen to him."

The entourage member nodded slightly, walked to the courtyard gate, and gently tapped his hat twice with three fingers toward the alley entrance. Immediately, a peddler carrying a load quietly began trailing some ten meters behind Liang Yuanfu, and an idler silently followed another ten meters to the peddler's east. The group slowly merged into the flow of people at the alley entrance. The afternoon sun scorched the earth; under the dazzling light, all shadows had nowhere to hide.

Wu Mu sat exhausted on the sofa in the Guangzhou Political Security Bureau office, gently massaging his neck and complaining in a low voice: "The ships of Dabo Shipping are getting bumpier and bumpier. Did this bunch of crew members all drive walking tractors before?"

A clerk walked in and asked: "Director Wu, the people have arrived. Shall we start?"

Wu Mu had wanted to rest for a moment before starting work, but thinking of the pile awaiting him, he decided it was better not to delay. He nodded helplessly: "Let them come in."

Yang Cao and Xu Tong walked in one after another. Wu Mu glanced at Yang Cao with his peripheral vision. Every time he saw this woman, he felt a bit uncomfortable. She was like a piece of dry-baked hard dough cake—flat, dry, tidy, yet hard to swallow. Moreover, she reeked of cigarettes—he didn't smoke and wasn't used to the smell.

Wu Mu flipped casually through the recent work reports and said: "Sit. I've communicated with Mayor Liu. He will fully support our rectification action. That old miser is always thinking about raiding homes." Immediately realizing his slip of the tongue, he coughed dryly and said: "Talk about the progress on defection recruitment in the Liang residence."

Yang Cao nodded, adjusted her sitting posture, and began to report: "It went smoother than expected. We collected a large amount of personal data on the defection targets—personal circumstances, personality traits, hobbies, family members, family difficulties, social relations, and secrets. In the process, we successfully won over seventeen peripheral personnel. After screening, we made direct contact with two key targets we felt confident about, and both succeeded. Their codenames are 'Coral' and 'Sinking Sand.' Their personal data cards are in the folder in your hand."

Wu Mu said "Mm" and flipped the folder marked "Top Secret" to the personal data page.

Yang Cao continued: "Most people in the Liang residence now feel uneasy about Liang Cunhou's covert confrontation with the government, because no one thinks they'll be on the winning side. When external pressure increases, this unease intensifies, causing psychological imbalance and wavering. In fact, we're using the Finance and Taxation Bureau's recent audit of the Liang residence accounts to achieve this goal—creating an atmosphere of panic through pressure tactics, making relevant personnel fear for their futures. This is actually a modified Prisoner's Dilemma. When they understand their situation, although they know that keeping the secret strictly might mean no danger, once they know or suspect that other informers might exist and feel their future is unpredictable—once we contact them—the only strategy they can adopt to maximize personal interests is to throw in their lot with us. These people are in the same residence but lack any spirit of communication and cooperation. Given a choice, no one would hand their fate over to uncertain factors, let alone completely uncertain ones."

Yang Cao paused and suddenly asked: "May I smoke?"

Wu Mu was slightly taken aback.

Xu Tong smiled awkwardly from the side: "She stayed up late again."

Wu Mu shook his head helplessly: "You may. But pay attention to your health. Smoking and staying up late can easily lead to sudden death."

Yang Cao produced a lady's "Holy Ship" cigarette as if no one else were present, lit it, and shook out the match. Her left hand tilted up slightly, holding the cigarette loosely between the tips of her index and middle fingers. She brought it to her mouth, held the filter lightly with the corner of her lips, and took a gentle sip, leaving a faint trace of lipstick on the filter. In the curling smoke, a distinct charm drifted.

She paused and continued: "Most of these servants are old family retainers who have served the Liang family for many years. They are all ordinary citizens who have long been inside the residence and rarely contact the outside world. Though they basically hold some old-fashioned notions of loyalty, they've seen little of the world, have poor psychological fortitude, and weak resistance to stress. They collapse quickly when faced with high-pressure tactics. This shows that we previously overestimated the Liang residence's internal and external defenses. After all, it's not an institution—the Liang family is just a family. No matter how strict, it's just a home, while we hold absolute advantages in technical means, manpower, and resources."

Wu Mu listened quietly. This didn't surprise him. Even in the 21st century, recruiting spies was often just a matter of a cup of coffee or a meal. Sometimes an advertisement or even an email could recruit a valuable intelligence officer. An intelligence officer paid five or six thousand yuan a month could bring unexpected returns.

Wu Mu nodded: "Talk about the intelligence obtained."

Yang Cao said: "Both Coral and Sinking Sand confessed that Liang Cunhou is compiling a book called Tian Qing Guang Wen Lu (Record of Broad Knowledge of Heaven's Affairs). The name is just a little phonetic pun—'Tian Qing' (Heaven's Affairs) implies 'Tian Qing' (Heaven Tilting). Judging from comprehensive intelligence obtained from both sources, it should be an intelligence compilation. Liang Cunhou has collected and recorded all information on political forms, industrial scale, economic conditions, diplomatic exchanges, and military deployments obtained from our interior and various places. Coral has not directly contacted this book, while Sinking Sand said Liang Cunhou added personal insights and annotations to the content almost page by page and line by line—showing his attention to this book. To be honest, this surprised me somewhat. That Liang Cunhou possesses such awareness and engages in such systematic, comprehensive intelligence collection is indeed somewhat beyond my expectations."

Wu Mu smiled: "Nothing to be surprised about. Liang Cunhou was one of the earliest people to contact us. He's very smart personally, and he has a relatively clear understanding of our system's power. The one who understands you best is often your enemy—this saying isn't necessarily correct, but it has some truth. Our enemies are also constantly learning and progressing. If he wants to learn, he'll naturally learn from the strongest, so his behavior now resembles us the most. If we stand still and fall into a rut, unable to view things with a developmental perspective, we'll be eliminated sooner or later. The world is never immutable. Can we get this book?"

Yang Cao shook her head gently: "Liang Cunhou never lets ordinary servants handle this book—from compilation to preservation. Even Sinking Sand doesn't know the storage location, only occasionally seeing him annotating it in the study. He clearly doesn't completely trust the environment he lives in. Comprehensive analysis suggests this book is not in the Liang residence, but it hasn't left Guangzhou."

Xu Tong added: "From some situations we've mastered, the book is very likely in the hands of that prostitute named Yue Wan—who is also his mistress."

Wu Mu recalled this name: "That place where the little girl was found in the Witchcraft Case?"

"Correct, that's her residence," Xu Tong said. "We're considering finding a way to develop an insider around Yue Wan."

Wu Mu thought for a moment: "Focus on monitoring this, but don't act rashly. Liang Cunhou won't easily destroy such important data unless absolutely necessary. We must try to obtain it as completely as possible. If it's destroyed, it will cause a lack of key evidence during future case trials, leaving legal loopholes in conviction, and will also create significant obstacles for propaganda work exposing the true face of the gentry after the case is solved. At the same time, this batch of materials is the first large-scale intelligence collection and analysis of the Australian Song by hostile forces, which has significant reference value for future work. From any angle, these documents are very precious. Alright, continue."

Yang Cao continued: "Coral confessed that several core members of the Yuyuan Society are called Liang Cunhou's 'Literary Team'..."

Wu Mu raised his eyebrows and interrupted: "Literary Team? So—is there a 'Martial Team'?"

Yang Cao nodded: "Through clues, we also speculate this possibility exists, but current intelligence is very limited. It's also possible that early intelligence collected was missed during analysis. We'll organize another review of existing intelligence. If this Martial Team really exists, their execution ability should be relatively strong, because no relevant information has emerged during the investigation process. Moreover, they must be an independent line, having no intersection with anyone else—or possibly an anti-Song gang with a parallel cooperative relationship with the Liang residence. The acting styles of the Literary Team and the Martial Team are distinctly different. The Martial Team appears extremely cautious. If they can hide themselves, it means they possess certain counter-reconnaissance capabilities and have detected our deployed fixed surveillance, avoiding several of our fixed observation points around the Liang residence. If true, this might indicate that personnel from the Ming Dynasty's Eastern Depot or Embroidered Uniform Guard—or former personnel—are involved in the case. Liang Cunhou himself might also have detected our actions through these channels, which could bring difficulties to our future operations."

Wu Mu loosely clenched his fist and tapped the knuckles of two fingers gently on the table. The Liang residence was no longer the problem, but the new situation made things complicated and seemingly elusive. He pondered for a moment and said slowly: "We must advance step by step. Let Sinking Sand and Coral continue to lie low, reporting whatever they see. Do not inquire, do not spy—preserve themselves. We need intelligence from more sources to corroborate each other. Continue reporting."

While listening to Yang Cao's report, Wu Mu opened the desk drawer, took out a Rubik's Cube, and played with it casually. It was a little gadget he used to exercise his mind and kill time when bored. He stared at the colored blocks on the Rubik's Cube. He knew that if he wanted to restore the six faces, he needed to see all the facets.

(End of Chapter)