Chapter 346: Digging for Spies

“Yes, it makes sense logically, but Comrade Wu Mu, your logic is missing a key link,” Zhao Manxiong shook his head. “Who exactly told them that the Daoist has a ‘life-bound divine talisman’? We all know very well that the Corrupt Daoist doesn’t have such a thing.”

“Since it’s a folk religion, isn’t it normal for them to make up some supernatural nonsense to fool people?”

“That’s for their followers. The high-level members themselves are very clear. It’s perfectly fine for them to make up this kind of thing to fool their followers and justify their own incompetence and failure. But how could they have fooled themselves so badly that they actually sent people to destroy this non-existent thing?”

“You mean, these people are just pawns, and the real mastermind behind the scenes hasn’t appeared?” Wu Mu had worked in the State Security Bureau for several years and had this level of associative ability.

“That’s one possibility,” Zhao Manxiong nodded. “However, I’m more inclined to believe that someone, for some purpose, revealed Zhang Yingchen’s so-called ‘fatal flaw’ to the Southern Limitless Sect, tempting them, already oppressed by the new Taoism, to make a desperate move.”

“What’s the point of doing that? Just to cause us some trouble?”

“Comrade Wu Mu, your suspicion is very reasonable. If someone could persuade the high-level members of the Southern Limitless Sect to send people to Lingao to die, this person is by no means an unknown figure. He must have sufficient authority and financial power in the social hierarchy of the Great Ming. Since he can mobilize such large resources, why would he play with conspiracies and do something like burning down the Yunji Temple, which is irrelevant to us?”

The Yunji Temple had only completed its first phase and couldn’t be described as “magnificent.” Even if it were burned to the ground, it would do no harm to Lingao, other than wasting some building materials and man-hours. Only a religious force like the Southern Limitless Sect would be so obsessed with the “magical power” of the Yunji Temple.

Yes, Wu Mu thought, there were too many valuable targets to destroy in Lingao. Even setting a fire in Dongmen Market would have a much greater effect than burning down the remote Yunji Temple.

He recalled the entire Umbrella Special Case and tentatively said, “They are a smokescreen.”

Zhao Manxiong nodded and stubbed out his cigar in the blue and white porcelain brush washer. “Very likely. Do you still remember the pirate night raid on Bopu after D-Day?”

“Of course I remember,” Wu Mu nodded. “You mean the real mastermind behind the scenes has not yet appeared, and the Southern Limitless Sect is just a smokescreen to paralyze us?”

“Yes. That’s a strong possibility. And what we are facing is probably a heavyweight figure from within the Great Ming’s system.”

“The Great Ming court?”

Zhao Manxiong smiled and said, “Comrade Wu Mu, the current Great Ming court, as a regime, is no longer qualified even as a medieval regime. So I don’t think it’s them.”

Wu Mu was still a bit confused. “You mean…”

“Let’s put it this way. It’s certain people within the Great Ming court—of course, people who hold great power and resources. Do you understand?”

“You mean ‘abuse of public power for private gain’?”

“Your wording is both concise and accurate,” Zhao Manxiong nodded.

“But what benefit would it be to him to deal with the Senate?” Wu Mu still couldn’t figure it out. The Senate was now a behemoth whose size and teeth could no longer be concealed. This was not like when the imperial relative Tian tried to seize the Ziminglou—at that time, no one had truly seen the Senate’s strength. To say that someone now wanted to snatch something from the Senate’s hands was no different from pulling teeth from a tiger’s mouth.

“That we don’t know,” Zhao Manxiong shook his head. “First, we need to know who they are. I estimate that the enemy has already planted several spies in Lingao. Not only among the natives, but also among the naturalized citizens, and perhaps even in the ranks of the strong-arm agencies’ naturalized citizens.”

This was said lightly, but the conclusion that the enemy might have infiltrated the strong-arm departments was still hard for Wu Mu to believe.

The Senate’s strong-arm agencies were all built based on the structure and system of the most successful strong-arm agencies of the 20th century. Although they were a patchwork of imitations and, due to the quality of the personnel, somewhat nondescript, they were still a super-era existence in this time and space.

It was possible that the enemy could have infiltrated the natives or ordinary naturalized citizens. After all, the State Security Bureau could not be foolproof. But to say that there were “enemies” in the strong-arm agencies, where recruitment and surveillance were very strict, Wu Mu couldn’t help but feel that Deputy Director Zhao’s imagination was a bit too wild.

“You think it’s impossible?” Zhao Manxiong seemed to have sensed his thoughts and asked.

“To be honest, it’s hard to believe.”

“You are very honest,” Zhao Manxiong nodded. “In a sense, you are right. But we have to consider that people learn—they lag behind us in the accumulation of systems and knowledge, not in intelligence. Besides, many of our institutional advantages are actually impossible to fully implement.”

Wu Mu admitted this. Even in a department like the State Security Bureau, which was picky about its personnel and invested heavily in training, the level of the staff was just so-so. Many people were doing jobs that were beyond their capabilities. If it weren’t for the Yuanlao cadres’ hands-on quality control, who knows how many messes would have been made.

“So…”

“Have you read the files of the Umbrella Special Case carefully?”

“I have.”

“The men of the Southern Limitless Sect, from their entry into Lingao to their going into hiding, had a methodical approach. Their cover identities were well-chosen. Some shaved their heads and became naturalized citizens, some posed as natives… they had all the necessary documents—even few naturalized citizens could fully understand these things. Without guidance from someone in a strong-arm agency, they could never have achieved this.” Zhao Manxiong showed a hint of worry. “There must be a spy in the strong-arm agencies.”

“I understand. Catching people is not the main thing. The key is to dig out the spies.”

“That’s right. What mastermind, what ultimate boss, they are all meaningless to us. Even if he is Chongzhen, Hong Taiji, or some shogun or viceroy, they are all just clay chickens and pottery dogs to the Senate. Their demise is only a matter of time. But the spies lurking within us…”

“Alright, I will immediately find Comrade Zhou Botao and inform him to continue with the Umbrella Special Case.”

“No, let the Umbrella Special Case end. Let’s call the next matter the ‘Sun Umbrella’ Special Case”—let him pick a few capable investigators to handle it secretly.

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Zhou Botao, the director of the State Security Bureau’s Investigation Department, sat in his chair, carefully considering the spirit of Deputy Director Zhao’s instructions about establishing the “Sun Umbrella” Special Task Force, which Wu Mu had conveyed to him half an hour ago.

It wasn’t difficult to understand Deputy Director Zhao’s meaning. But to dig out the spies within the strong-arm agencies was a bit difficult. Because in Lingao, the State Security Bureau was not the only strong-arm agency.

Excluding some agencies that only had a nameplate, the Senate’s main strong-arm agencies were only three and a half: the National Police, the State Security Bureau, the Cheka, and the Lingao Garrison Command, the latter of which was actually the headquarters of the Lingao Garrison Battalion.

Let’s not talk about the Cheka. Their main business was anti-corruption. Currently, they only had a headquarters and not many personnel. Although the Cheka had law enforcement power, it was actually a mixture of the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Audit Commission. This department was highly professional, and its staff spent most of their time doing office work. Zhou Botao didn’t think it was likely for a spy to be in this department.

In Zhou Botao’s view, the possibility of a mole within the State Security Bureau was extremely small. The State Security Bureau had strict internal control measures and a complete system. Zhou Botao believed that the natives of this era were unlikely to have this capability.

The largest and most important strong-arm agency under the Senate was the National Police. They had institutions all over Hainan Island and a large number of personnel. Although the State Security Bureau seemed to have more “deterrent power” and was almost omnipresent, outside of Lingao, the State Security Bureau’s field personnel had to rely entirely on the National Police to carry out their work. Even in Lingao, many activities had to be supported by the National Police.

However, precisely because its structure was huge and its personnel numerous, and the standards for entry were not strict—the Senate’s police system had expanded rapidly in recent years—it was not difficult to infiltrate this institution and lie in wait.

If one were to say which strong-arm department was most likely to have a spy lurking within, the National Police was the most likely, Zhou Botao thought. Moreover, suspicious individuals had already been found within the National Police in the routine internal control reports on “personnel under controlled use.”

The problem was that the relationship between the State Security Bureau and the National Police was somewhat delicate. Although the two sides had cooperated happily so far, a targeted investigation of “spies” might cause a backlash from the high-level officials of the National Police—many Yuanlao already believed that the State Security Bureau’s reach was too long.

Although the instructions were to investigate secretly, they had to first obtain the understanding of the high-level officials of the National Police. In other words, they had to produce solid evidence that there were spies within their ranks.

Zhou Botao picked up Li Yongxun’s file on his desk. Indeed, Li Yongxun was problematic, but being problematic alone did not prove her guilt.

Li Yongxun was found to be problematic because a public security activist reported to the police station that some strange symbols had appeared on the wall of a certain street in Dongmen Market.

Originally, the police station thought it was just some thieves who wanted to get rich in Lingao—they often used symbols to pass messages. So they sent an officer familiar with the jianghu’s secret language to investigate.

But the officer in charge of the investigation found that he did not recognize these symbols. After copying them down, all the police officers in the public order department with jianghu experience and knowledge of various secret languages were called in to identify them. They even brought in a few old thieves from the labor camp to identify them, but to no avail.

So this clue was transferred to the State Security Bureau. After the State Security Bureau sent people to investigate secretly, they found that the secret sign had been updated. They determined that someone was using secret signs to communicate here, so they set up a surveillance post on the second floor of the opposite shop to secretly monitor this location.