Chapter 357: Diverting the Tiger from the Mountain

“Extreme Agent… not Wu Hanran?”

He never actually betrayed the country, nor did he have the slightest intention of opposing it. His only goal was to save his daughter; what kind of agent would that make him?

Entering a state of forced calm, Xiao Yu let his thoughts settle while his mind raced with analysis and deduction.

Not Wu Hanran, not those expendables?

How did they learn about the gas shell?

Did National Security find out from those expendables?

‘Something’s off. It definitely can’t be the gas shell, they wouldn’t dare do something like that.’

His head felt muddled. First, he needed to check on those expendables.

Raising his eyes to the three group leaders, Xiao Yu no longer pretended to be an invalid. With Salamander’s Regeneration, his broken ribs had basically healed in just one day.

It was obvious why Shen Mei and Zhou Lie had come. In the end, everything would fall on him. 

Xiao Yu felt rather annoyed.

A female operative brought him a set of clothes. Five minutes later, Xiao Yu was dressed in a black Zhongshan-style National Security uniform.

Everyone else paused upon seeing him in that outfit.

It fit him as though custom-tailored, perfectly accentuating his upright, athletic physique. The solid muscles beneath the fabric suggested a panther-like strength. Combined with his handsome face—one that could be described as sculpted of jade—his appearance took on an added air of mystery.

Those eyes—sometimes lively, sometimes sharp, sometimes like starlight in the night—were so deep it was impossible to fathom.

Xiao Yu took the lead, heading out of the hospital room.

The three group leaders recovered themselves and followed.

***

At an interrogation room in the city bureau of S City, temporarily requisitioned by National Security, Xiao Yu stared at Qi Huan, who was cuffed to the interrogation chair.

In reality, the cuffs didn’t matter. When saving Wu Yaxin, Xiao Yu had already shot and broken Qi Huan’s four limbs.

“Tell me where Jun Dao is.” Xiao Yu’s voice was cold.

“Jun Dao?” A codename.

A snake cannot move without its head; any organization has an organizer, a person in charge. Jun Dao was the commander of the external intelligence operatives, the one responsible for finding the Yushen blade and carrying out the gas shell plan.

“I don’t know!” Qi Huan trembled, his face filled with terror.

Why was he so afraid? Because of the pain in his limbs and because of National Security’s methods the day before.

He wasn’t lying. Xiao Yu pulled his gaze away from Qi Huan’s face.

“Tell me everything you know, your mission, operations, everything…” Xiao Yu enunciated each word. “All of it.”

Qi Huan began speaking hastily.

Starting from when he was sixteen, he described his first contact with foreign intelligence operatives, how he was won over by money and seduction and began receiving secret training, and how two intelligence agents specifically trained him…

At eighteen, he entered university.

At twenty, his first assigned task was to get close to Wu Hanran’s daughter, Wu Yaxin.

By posing as a senior student, he took special care of her. After graduation, he stayed in touch with Wu Yaxin. Once she graduated, they confirmed their relationship.

Hearing this, Xiao Yu frowned.

Wu Hanran’s status as an operative had been exposed years before, and foreign intelligence found out. National Security’s safety personnel and operatives usually keep their identities classified. The records of National Security’s ten group leaders were sealed, accessible only at certain clearance levels. And Group Five’s files, though not on par with the group leaders’, were still above those of ordinary personnel.

“Wu Hanran was on a mission abroad?” Xiao Yu glanced at Shen Mei beside him. “Country R?”

“Mm.” Shen Mei nodded.

She knew why the young man asked. That must be how Wu Hanran’s identity was compromised. Other countries deployed intelligence agents, and Group Five also sent operatives overseas. For intelligence personnel in a foreign country, they were the bad guys, the enemy. In their own country, they were heroes and meritorious contributors. One could not judge good or bad, only differing positions.

Based on Qi Huan’s account, an intelligence leader from Country R, “Jun Dao,” personally came to direct the operation, which had two goals. 

The first goal was to find the Yushen Blade and bring it back to Country R.

The second goal was to locate the gas shell and orchestrate its detonation.

Xiao Yu stood up. There was no need to listen further.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Mei followed him out of the interrogation room.

“Sister Shen, let me ask you something.” Xiao Yu stopped. “If you were commanding an intelligence operation, would you share vital info with a bunch of expendables?”

Shen Mei stayed silent.

The answer was obvious: absolutely not.

Why did these expendables even know about it? Didn’t that seem suspicious?

If everything was normal, that would mean the enemy had an even more significant objective. Compared to that goal, retrieving the Yushen blade and setting off the gas shell might no longer matter. Possibly they were just decoys, a smokescreen, drawing National Security’s attention.

For instance, a gas shell attack was fundamentally implausible. It counted as a terror act. If a foreign agent committed terror in another country and was exposed, did they realize the consequences? 

That would be utterly inhumane. Would they really dare, knowing it was practically suicide?

That was why, when Xiao Yu first heard from Shen Mei about a gas shell detonation, it felt too contrived. It seemed wrong, prompting him to interrogate personally.

Now it was clear.

Retrieving the Yushen blade might be more plausible. As for detonating the gas shell, that was only a cover—a smokescreen. Even the Yushen blade could be a smokescreen.

Why?

Because half-truths and half-lies are more believable. Isn’t that so?

So what was their real objective?

All at once, stepping out of the city bureau building, Xiao Yu halted.

Group Five? Group Nine?

What do these two teams represent within National Security?

Group Nine was the strongest fighting force—everyone was a king among soldiers.

Group Five was the strongest operative team—everyone was an elite agent.

The other seven teams were basically regular security personnel. Without weapons, they were just ordinary people. Even Wang Dong once admitted Xiao Yu alone could take on ten of him.

“Sending the two strongest teams out to find hidden sites, search for the gas shell… a diversion?” Xiao Yu’s face changed abruptly. “Their target… is the Capital?”