Chapter 411: The Tip-off

After Li Mo returned, she reported back from her leave as required. Subsequently, the female bodyguard wrote a report on the escort mission according to the procedures and submitted it to the Guangzhou Station’s Security Department, a department specifically responsible for the security and anti-infiltration work of the Guangzhou Station, under the dual leadership of the Intelligence Bureau and the Political Security Bureau.

Number: 163207012438

Type: Routine Report

Security Level: Secret

I accompanied the surveillance subject from Zichengji at 0903… (omitted)… At 1210, the surveillance subject expressed a desire to visit the Ziminlou to see it and take a bath. I accompanied the surveillance subject into the Ziminlou at 1306. The subject went directly to the counter and requested a high-class private bathing room on the third floor.

Subsequently, a Ziminlou attendant (badge number 013) handled the check-in for her. The private room was named “Liuxiang.”

After checking in, I accompanied the surveillance subject into the “Liuxiang” private room at the Ziminlou. As there were very few guests in the third-floor private rooms during the day, there was only one attendant on duty on the third floor (badge number 051). I then left the third floor and returned to the waiting room on the first floor.

I remained there until 1600, when the surveillance subject requested to check out and paid the bill with circulation coupons according to the bill. We then left the Ziminlou at 1614 and returned to Zichengji at 1640. There were no abnormalities during the journey.

A naturalized citizen staff member of the Guangzhou Station’s Security Department read the report and filed it in the daily indexed surveillance records.

The medical tour team returned to Lingao on the Octopus the next day as planned.

Not long after they returned to Lingao, a secret report appeared on the desk of Zhou Botao, the head of the Investigation Department of the Political Security General Bureau.

Such secret reports were received in large numbers every day, all written by informants under the command of the various investigation networks controlled by the Political Security General Bureau. They were divided into routine reports and special reports. Routine reports were written weekly and mainly reported on public opinion and social conditions, similar to newsletters. Special reports were reports on a specific person or matter.

Regardless of the type of report, they were first sent to the analysis department, where they were read and analyzed by naturalized citizen staff. Then, based on the content, their destination was decided. 99% of the secret reports were directly cataloged and archived, and only a few materials considered “valuable” were forwarded to the investigation department.

Zhou Botao opened the report and read it carefully.

The report was written by an informant from the Ministry of Health who was part of the medical tour team. The content was about Li Mo’s abnormal behavior during her time in Guangzhou, including her expressions and actions. At the end of the report, the informant emphasized that Li Mo had been secretly crying in her bed the night before leaving Guangzhou.

Zhou Botao thought to himself, What kind of “situation” is this? Can’t people have some private feelings? This informant’s vigilance is too high. What were the people in the analysis department doing, sending him this kind of baseless garbage? He was about to toss the file aside and just PASS it when he remembered something—no wonder this report was sent to his desk! He thought, Isn’t this Li Mo the mother in the legendary “Wail of the Nanhai Farm”? Regardless of whether this matter was true or false, Zhou Botao was certain of one thing: Li Mo’s relationship with Wu Nanhai was unusual. Even though she didn’t work in the Ministry of Agriculture, she bought her dormitory in the Ministry of Agriculture’s staff residential area, and she was close to Wu Nanhai’s wife, Wu Chuqing, and often visited their home.

Since it involved a Senator and his family, the naturalized citizen staff certainly didn’t dare to make a decision. The most appropriate way was to kick the ball to their superiors for instructions.

Zhou Botao considered whether to initiate an investigation. He felt that since this person was involved with Wu Nanhai, it would be more appropriate not to investigate, to avoid getting involved in the privacy of a Senator’s personal life. Zhao Manxiong had repeatedly reminded everyone at the Political Security Bureau meetings that political security work should not target fellow Senators.

He picked up his pen, intending to write “No investigation” in the handling opinion column, but he hesitated just as he was about to write.

But what if there really was something hidden? Zhou Botao hesitated again. Li Mo was the secretary of the medical affairs department of Bairen General Hospital, which was equivalent to the chief of the naturalized citizen cadres in that department. Bairen General Hospital was a designated hospital for serving the Senators.

With Li Mo, it was either no trouble, or big trouble.

Thinking of this, Zhou Botao dismissed the idea of “no investigation.” He called his secretary in and instructed her:

“Please compile all of Li Mo’s files from the past one or two years and bring them to me.”

Zhou Botao personally studied her files, especially her personal statement:

According to Li Mo’s statement, she was from Nanhai County, Guangzhou. Her parents were servants in a large household engaged in maritime trade in Guangzhou, and she was also born in that household. She had two sisters.

At the age of eighteen, she was tricked into eloping with someone. She later learned that the person who tricked her was a “manager” among pirates. After drifting together for several years, she gave birth to her daughter, Li Quan. The “manager” then settled her in the Gou family village in Lingao, entrusting her to the care of Master Gou. He also sent his sworn brother to look after her. To cover up, they claimed that the sworn brother was her husband.

Her husband would visit her every three to six months. This went on for several years until news suddenly came from the sea that the “manager” had died at sea. She didn’t know whether it was a shipwreck or if he was killed, but the Gou family cut off her supplies. She relied on her sworn brother’s farming and hunting to survive.

The year before they landed, her sworn brother died of a sudden illness, and she was taken over by the head of the Gou family’s retainers. After he got tired of her, she was driven out and had to do odd jobs and beg to survive with her child. She was on the verge of starvation when she was brought back by Zhang Xingjiao and became a naturalized citizen.

Zhou Botao turned to the “external investigation” materials behind the statement. Due to the limitations of their ruling area and manpower, they were unable to conduct large-scale, comprehensive external investigations. However, because she had long been in contact with the Senators and was later transferred to a key department like Bairen General Hospital, which was related to the safety of the Senators, the Political Security General Bureau had specially organized an external investigation into her statement.

By questioning the old residents of the Gou family village, they roughly confirmed what she had said in her statement about her situation in Lingao before D-Day. They also found documents and letters from the Gou family that had been confiscated from the Great Library’s archives. The letters between Li Mo’s late husband and the Gou brothers confirmed that what she said about her pirate husband was true. As for her situation in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou station was also entrusted to conduct an external investigation.

The feedback from the Guangzhou station was rather disappointing. The large household she mentioned could no longer be found at the original address. They couldn’t find any relevant information either. However, in a place like Guangzhou, with merchants engaged in maritime trade coming and going, it was normal not to be able to find any information.

For this reason, the Political Security General Bureau had specially conducted a test on her about her situation in Guangzhou, which proved that she was indeed very familiar with Guangzhou. Her statement about having lived in Guangzhou was true.

By the standards of their original world, Li Mo’s life experience in Guangzhou was a complete blank, and her history could be said to be unclear. However, in this time and space, where there was a lack of sufficient written records and a strict social management system, it was very difficult to conduct a detailed investigation. Many naturalized citizens could not find any external investigation materials to prove their statements. In comparison, Li Mo’s “history was clear.”

Zhou Botao read the materials several times but couldn’t find any suspicious points. Although there were some blanks that couldn’t be confirmed, Li Mo’s statement was logical and reasonable.

Her political assessment was also impeccable, and her rating was very high. Li Mo’s first assessment was IIIA, and her second assessment when she was promoted to secretary of the medical affairs department was IIC.

With such a high rating and detailed external investigation materials, it was a bit of a stretch to investigate her. It was like nitpicking. If Minister Shi or Commissioner Wu found out, it would probably make them unhappy.

While he was studying the materials, a female staff member of the Political Security General Bureau, dressed in a neat uniform with a blue collar badge, walked in and stood at attention. It was Ke Yun. She was wearing the newly established rank of a political security trainee commander, equivalent to a warrant officer in the Fubo Army.

“Trainee Commander, please investigate this matter immediately.” Zhou Botao pushed the materials in front of her. “Study the materials and conduct a detailed investigation of her.”

“Yes, Regional Commander!”

Zhou Botao’s rank was equivalent to a lieutenant colonel in the Fubo Army, which was the common rank for Senators holding middle-level positions in the violent institutions. Zhao Manxiong had modestly set his own rank as deputy regional commander, equivalent to a colonel.

“But don’t let the Ministry of Health know about this, and especially not the people from the Ministry of Agriculture. And don’t alert the Senators.” Zhou Botao thought, if the investigation yielded nothing and some Senator found out, it would be another dispute. He added, “You must conduct the investigation secretly.”

“Yes, Regional Commander!” Ke Yun answered and nodded crisply.

Ke Yun returned to her office and studied the materials. She felt that it was very tricky. There was nothing to investigate at all! Ke Yun thought for a moment and decided to meet with the informant first to see what other materials the informant could provide.

She wrote down an order on official paper to summon informant No. 00967 to safe house No. 72 at 1800 tonight. She stamped her own seal and then rang the bell. A second-level political security officer came in from outside in response.

“Deliver this official document to the confidential communications room.” She imitated the tone of the chiefs—short and cold.

“Yes, Trainee Commander.” The second-level officer clicked his heels and went out.

Since the secret letter was about the Guangzhou trip of the medical tour team, there should be related materials on the Guangzhou side. Ke Yun thought, I might as well review their materials. According to the political security regulations, there should be special surveillance reports on the actions of the medical tour team personnel.