Chapter 411: Deep Throat

He forced himself to remain calm and said, “I don’t know what this is… It doesn’t look like words…”

At this moment, the female officer, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke:

“Do you know Li Yongxun?”

Lin Ming was shaken. Although he had already known that he had probably been arrested for this matter, being asked so directly still made his hands and feet turn cold, and he could barely speak.

He stammered, “I… I don’t know her…”

The female officer actually smiled. “Stop playing dumb. You came here to find her, didn’t you? Centurion Lin.”

Lin Ming had nothing to say. For a final struggle, he forced a smile.

“Chief, I’m from a poor sailor’s family, not some centurion…”

“Stop pretending. Shopkeeper Liu of Runshitang, he knows you. You’ve taken quite a few of his gifts…”

Lin Ming cursed inwardly. How could I have forgotten about that! The Runshitang in Lingao had a pharmacy in Foshan, and the manager was very close to his family.

Seeing that he could no longer deny it, he lowered his head. “Since you already know, what more is there to ask?”

Seeing that he had admitted he was Lin Ming, the female officer continued, “What did you come to Lingao for?”

“To find Li Yongxun. She’s my sister-in-law. She went missing in Macau. I have to give her family an explanation.”

“How did you know she was in Lingao? Did someone pass you a message?”

“No, I figured it out.”

It seemed the female officer didn’t quite believe him. She repeatedly questioned him about whether he had any local contacts or other purposes. Lin Ming denied everything, stating that his trip to Lingao was purely personal and that he had no local contacts.

“He confessed everything,” Yang Cao reported to Wu Mu a few hours later. “It’s the same as what Li Yongxun said.”

Wu Mu flipped through the materials Yang Cao had brought. He was a little disappointed—not much substance.

“Are you sure they’re telling the truth?”

“Their testimonies match up perfectly,” Yang Cao said. “So Li Yongxun probably isn’t lying—she’s been under our surveillance the whole time. As for Lin Ming, we’re currently verifying his testimony. Based on his testimony and social connections, we’ve already compiled a list for assistance with the investigation and are in the process of arresting the relevant personnel one by one.”

Wu Mu stood up, his hands clasped behind his back, and paced around the office agitatedly. This is not good, he thought. Given the scale of this disturbance and the nature of the attack on Qian Duoduo, if I can’t find the ‘deep throat’ in Lingao, there’s no way I can explain this.

He already knew that several Elders, led by Shan Liang, were stirring up trouble, preparing to launch an impeachment at the general meeting. The most direct victims, the Elders from the arts circle, were furious. Qian Duoduo’s father was the speaker and the head of the Feiyun Society, a powerful figure in the Senate. If he were to collude with Shan Liang… As for the propaganda department, although they had published a “positive report,” that was for the naturalized citizens and natives to see. It was still unknown what they would write in the publications for the Elders…

“Should we proceed to the next stage of interrogation?”

Seeing her superior’s dissatisfaction, Yang Cao made a suggestion. According to regulations, the interrogation of suspects in such major cases needed to be conducted in stages. Each “escalation” required approval from a superior.

“I approve you to proceed to the second stage of interrogation. Focus on finding out all the details of their activities in Lingao.”

“Yes, Chief.”

“Xin Nachun! Open the door! We’re the police!” Several black-clad policemen gathered at the door of a room in the teahouse, the leading officer shouting loudly.

There was no sound from inside the room. The door was bolted from the inside.

Half an hour ago, they had been ordered to go to the brothel where Xin Nachun worked to arrest her, but the women at the brothel said she hadn’t been seen all day yesterday.

Since she wasn’t at the inn where she was staying, the police immediately went to the teahouse where she often met clients. They found out that she had indeed rented a room here, but had never checked out.

The leading officer nodded. A policeman, already prepared, immediately swung a battering ram at the door lock.

With a loud “bang,” the door was broken open. The police officers gathered outside the door swarmed in, instantly filling the small room.

“Fuck!” the leading officer cursed. The Xin Nachun they were looking for was lying on the bed, motionless, her two eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Her plump, alluring body had already grown cold and stiff.

The news of Xin Nachun’s death was immediately relayed back to the special task force, much to the disappointment of Liu Fuqing, who had been very hopeful. Although the autopsy report was not yet out, it was clear that she had been silenced. As for the silencer, it was very likely the “Seventh Master” mentioned in many testimonies. Xin Nachun was probably his liaison, which was why this cunning mole had killed her before the operation began.

Originally, Liu Fuqing had suspected that “Seventh Master” was the Jin Yi Wei centurion Lin Ming, who was connected to Li Yongxun’s line. However, after checking, he found that Lin Ming had a solid alibi. Although this didn’t completely clear Lin Ming, it made the possibility of him being “Seventh Master” very low.

Both he and Yang Cao had originally thought that Lin Ming was a “big fish,” and that Li Yongxun was likely the Ming’s “deep throat”潛伏in Lingao. But as the interrogation deepened and the testimonies of the surrounding personnel came in, the suspicion on Lin Ming and his sister-in-law grew smaller and smaller.

Based on the current information, besides the fact that the sister-in-law had failed to promptly report her brother-in-law, an “enemy agent,” for infiltrating Lingao, there was really no other crime. As for Lin Ming, if one disregarded his identity, he could be considered innocent… of course, he was guilty of forging his identity.

This made the special task force place all their hopes on the male and female warriors. Any of the arrested martial artists who were not seriously injured were now being tortured in the interrogation rooms. Their confessions were pouring in, but so far, nothing useful had been found.

After the first round of interrogation, which lasted twelve hours, Liu Fuqing had roughly categorized the martial artists involved in this operation, whether they were alive or dead.

Unfortunately, most of those currently being tortured to the point of wishing for death in the interrogation rooms were low-ranking figures. The key figures among the prisoners, Zhuo Yifan and Sima Qiudao, were seriously injured and were being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Let alone torture, it was probably difficult to even question them.

As for the people from the Huang Family Apothecary who were captured in Nanbao, they were very cooperative and confessed everything. However, they also couldn’t say who Seventh Master was. Huang Zhen confessed that their contact with Seventh Master was all done through Sima Qiudao.

But this Sima Qiudao was now on the verge of death. To get his confession, they would probably have to wait a few more days.

Liu Fuqing paced in front of the large table piled with materials in the special task force’s room, from time to time looking at the intricate diagram of personal relationships on the blackboard, racking his brains for a breakthrough.

Yang Cao sat on the table, smoking one cigarette after another. The room was already filled with smoke. Everyone in the room except Liu Fuqing had been smoked out. She thought for a long time and asked:

“If Lin Ming isn’t Seventh Master, then who could be? He must be a naturalized citizen.”

“That’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. There are hundreds of thousands of naturalized citizens in Lingao,” Liu Fuqing said with a bitter smile.

“No, this person is not an ordinary naturalized citizen,” Yang Cao said. “Huang Zhen said that this Seventh Master provided them with a copy of ‘Notes on Pacifying the Aussies,’ which contains many details of our administration. This is not something a farmer on a farm or a worker in a factory would know. He either has some status or works in a key department.”

“You’re right, but even so, the scope is not small,” Liu Fuqing reminded her. “I’ve also thought about this. Unfortunately, we can’t see this book. Otherwise, we could analyze the content to determine which department the author is from.”

“Huang Zhen is trying to recall and write it down from memory, but it’s probably fragmented and not very useful,” Yang Cao said with a frown. “Let’s go over the case again.”

“Alright.”

Although there had been several firefights throughout Lingao county yesterday, only three were initiated by the terrorists: the street intersection outside the stadium, the ambush at the pier on the Wenlan River, and the attack on the folk orchestra.

Of these three, the first was not much to talk about. According to the confessions, they had long known that the cultural festival was to be held at the stadium, so they had planned to concentrate their main force there to assassinate the Elders. And according to the reconnaissance materials and the testimonies of the “personnel assisting with the investigation,” it was also possible to roughly understand how they had obtained specific intelligence and conducted a preliminary “reconnaissance” of the surrounding environment. The interrogation of the captured terrorists also roughly confirmed this.

“Don’t you find it strange? Old Liu,” Yang Cao suddenly said. “How did the few terrorists who attacked Young Chief Qian’s Cang know that there was a chief on board?”

“It must have been intelligence provided by Seventh Master,” Liu Fuqing said slowly. “Unfortunately, all those who ambushed the Cang are already dead…”

“One escaped,” Yang Cao said. “Young Chief Qian said one escaped.”

“But who was the one who escaped?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Yang Cao’s eyes gleamed. “Even if we knew who escaped, he wouldn’t necessarily know who provided the information. It would just be ‘Seventh Master’ again. But think about it, how many naturalized citizens could have known the Cang’s itinerary, known that it was going to the stadium?”

“That’s quite a lot. There are many people at the Bopu pier alone…” Liu Fuqing suddenly stopped himself. That’s right! There were indeed many naturalized citizens who knew they were going to the stadium that day. But, even if they knew, how did they pass the message to the terrorists? The terrorists didn’t have telephones or telegraphs! And according to Qian Duoduo’s testimony, the terrorists at the pier were clearly well-prepared. One of the women had even specially worn a female student’s uniform obtained from Xin Nachun.