Chapter 153 Making Connections Everywhere

"Is that all we have in our hands right now? When does the section chief plan to interrogate Meng Lesheng?" Ning Zhiheng asked, putting down the documents in his hand.

To be fair, the clues provided by Su Yu were quite scant. Apart from the name of the spy organization, the Black Water Group, and the code name of its leader, Viper, the Military Intelligence Investigation Bureau had already gathered everything else in advance.

"I went to check on him yesterday, and the fellow refuses to utter a single word. Right now, his physical condition is completely unsuitable for torture; we have no choice but to leave him be for the time being!" Xiang Yan said helplessly.

"But Japanese spy organizations always maintain strict schedules for secure, timed contacts. Once this deadline passes, the Japanese espionage headquarters will learn that the Black Water Group has been compromised, and the remaining dormant members of the group will be alerted and go dark!

Section Chief, we can't drag this out any longer. Let me interrogate Meng Lesheng instead; I guarantee I'll pry the identities of the other Black Water Group members out of his mouth and wipe them out in one net!" Ning Zhiheng had never cared about the life or death of Japanese spies. Delaying only allowed a cooked duck to fly away. Besides, he had his own trump card—if worst came to worst, he could intercept Meng Lesheng's memories at the very last moment, ensuring he wouldn't come away empty-handed. With the opportunity right before his eyes, how could he be willing to let it go?

Looking at Ning Zhiheng's anxious face, Xiang Yan couldn't help but offer a bitter smile. "Hand him over to you? Zhiheng, everyone knows that when you interrogate prisoners, you completely throw caution to the wind and your methods are far too brutal. Huang Xiansheng was directly crippled during your interrogation, and later died because his wounds were too severe to pull through the infection.

As for Shadow Group's leader, Darkfinch, the man was barely brought in before you left him disabled in under an hour. If the guys from the Interrogation Section hadn't intervened, he probably wouldn't have been alive by the time we got there! I saw that with my own eyes, so you can't deny it!

Hand him over to you? Given Meng Lesheng's current physical condition, I'd probably be going to collect his corpse in less than half an hour!

Even Section Chief Zhao gave explicit instructions about this, saying your methods are too brutal and your touch too crude, and strictly forbade handing Meng Lesheng over to you. Otherwise, we'd draw water with a bamboo basket and come up empty, and all of us would have worked in vain!"

*Good grief!* A myriad of metaphorical horses stampeded across Ning Zhiheng's mind at that moment. *I am not taking the blame for this!* Clearly, Qian Zhong had deliberately tampered with the wound medicine to silence Huang Xiansheng, which led to the infection. That act had been done in secret, with only himself and his senior fellow apprentice, Wei Liangbi, in the know. Because of this incident, he and Wei Liangbi had ruthlessly extorted five thousand US dollars from Qian Zhong as hush money.

However, Huang Xiansheng *had* indeed been crippled by his hands, and in the end, it was he who had secretly administered the coup de grâce to execute him. From that perspective, Xiang Yan's words weren't entirely unjust!

Yet, the accusation regarding Darkfinch, the leader of the Shadow Group, was truly a grievance. In order to rush the acquisition of a confession back then, he had indeed applied heavy methods, but it shouldn't have directly cost the man his life. As ill luck would have it, Zhao Ziliang and Xiang Yan had barged in right as he started, and Gu Zhengqi had used that as an excuse to forcefully wrest away the interrogation of Darkfinch. He certainly bore some responsibility for that.

And yet, hadn't they ultimately obtained Darkfinch's confession by following his very method of harsh torture regardless of life or death? How could anyone say his touch was too crude?

Now that even Section Chief Zhao Ziliang was saying the same thing, it seemed he truly wouldn't be able to get his hands on the interrogation of Meng Lesheng. That would make it very difficult for him to intercept the fleeting memories in Meng Lesheng's mind the moment he could no longer hold on and neared death. *No, I still have to fight for this!*

"Section Chief, I admit I have shortcomings when it comes to interrogating prisoners, but you can rest assured this time. I will be extra, extra careful and will never get the man killed. Look—" Ning Zhiheng said with a sincere tone.

Instead, Xiang Yan looked at him with an expression of utter disbelief. Ning Zhiheng was good at everything, except for one thing: his style of action was far too ruthless and unscrupulous! Yet, for an agent of the Military Intelligence Investigation Bureau, this actually turned out to be an advantage.

"I still don't trust you. I'll handle the interrogation myself, and you're welcome to watch from the side. But I suspect you won't have the spare time to deal with this matter anyway during this period." In the end, Xiang Yan refused to take the risk; such an important prisoner had better be interrogated by himself!

"Is there another assignment for me?" Ning Zhiheng immediately caught the implication.

"What assignment could there be? I'll let you in on a secret: the expansion of the Military Intelligence Investigation Bureau has already begun, and personnel will be arriving shortly. Therefore, your promotion must be brought forward so that you can assume the post of Action Team Leader with the rank of major. This is an adjustment specially made for you by the Director and Deputy Director Huang. Being able to make the two directors break the rules for you, Zhiheng, is quite an honor!

What you need to do right now is hurry back and prepare your case-closure report, especially the materials for the subordinates you'll be taking with you. Consider everything carefully and submit them to me as soon as possible.

I also need to prepare a report myself. All other personnel who demonstrated meritorious service in this case will receive early commendations. The Director mentioned this personally to both the Section Chief and me."

"So soon? Does that mean this case is already over?" Ning Zhiheng hadn't expected to be writing a case-closure report when the case didn't even have a final conclusion yet. "But Meng Lesheng's confession hasn't been extracted yet. How am I supposed to write it?"

"The progress of the case is coming to a temporary halt for now. Pay no mind to Meng Lesheng—let me give you a hint: the Director seems to have other ideas regarding him, and his interrogation will likely be taken over by someone else.

I suspect it's probably related to that document recovered from the safe in Meng Lesheng's home. It must be an extraordinary case, which is why Meng Lesheng absolutely cannot die. This is also one of the reasons why Section Chief Zhao specifically gave orders not to let you interrogate him!"

Only after hearing this did Ning Zhiheng understand that there were so many complexities beneath the surface. It was a pity his rank was too low for him to touch these inner circles; if Xiang Yan hadn't told him today, he truly would have been in the dark.

However, as his military rank and position rose, his clearance to access intelligence would become higher and higher. This situation should change very soon!

"Then I'll prepare the case-closure report immediately and hand it over to you as soon as possible," Ning Zhiheng said hastily. The case-closure report was crucial. Although he had already done a lot of groundwork, his subordinates also needed performances worthy of display, and that would depend entirely on how he struck the right balance in the report.

Xiang Yan felt the same way; he, too, needed to weigh things carefully to accommodate interests from all sides. In truth, this was also an important process for everyone to share the fruits of victory!

Only then did Ning Zhiheng suddenly remember why he had come to see Xiang Yan. He placed a briefcase on Xiang Yan's desk.

"What is this?" Xiang Yan asked suspiciously. He reached out and picked up the briefcase; it was bulging and surprisingly heavy. When he opened it, his gaze instantly tightened!

Stack upon stack of brand-new banknotes—and they were all US dollars! There was at least ten thousand dollars here! This was by no means a small sum! Before the currency reform last year, ten thousand US dollars would have been worth at least seventy or eighty thousand silver dollars, and with the US dollar even stronger now, its value would only be higher!

"What is the meaning of this?" Xiang Yan asked with a frown.

"Yesterday, I ordered the seizure of Dai Daguang's residence and his trading firm. These are just some of the windfall assets recovered, and this portion is yours!" Ning Zhiheng explained.

"So much! Zhiheng, rules are rules! Dai Daguang is nothing more than a underworld hoodlum—how many windfall assets could he possibly have? Besides, you need to show some consideration for the Director, especially at a critical juncture like this!" Xiang Yan had no idea that Ning Zhiheng had completely appropriated all of Dai Daguang's family fortune this time; the harvest was so abundant that even Ning Zhiheng himself hadn't anticipated it.

He assumed Ning Zhiheng had intentionally given him an extra-large share. Although this was common practice in official circles, he still abided by the rules of conduct and refused to fleece people too harshly, lest he leave his subordinates empty-handed and invite public criticism.

Ning Zhiheng smiled and explained, "I have my own intentions regarding the Director. While this Dai Daguang didn't look like much, he was a very fat sheep. Rest assured, Section Chief, I know what I'm doing!"

Hearing Ning Zhiheng say this, Xiang Yan stopped turning it down. Acting magnanimously and knowing how to conduct oneself meant this Ning Zhiheng had a boundless future.

He looked at Ning Zhiheng with satisfaction and said, "Zhiheng, this promotion is no ordinary matter. Crossing from a company-grade officer to a field-grade officer cannot be achieved without a major contribution. To become a major at the age of twenty-one and command an action team of over a hundred elites is something others wouldn't even dare to dream of!

Back then, your senior fellow apprentice Wei Liangbi made a massive contribution by turning the tide in Guangxi, which is why he was promoted out of turn and became an action team leader, drawing considerable attention at the time. I never expected your performance to be even more stunning. To achieve such results less than a year after graduating from the military academy... it makes me realize we old folks are truly aging. The future depends on you young people now!"

"The Section Chief flatters me too much; Zhiheng is unworthy of such praise!"

The two chatted for a while longer, exchanging thoughts on the case-closure report. They conversed most agreeably in a harmonious atmosphere, bringing their relationship a step closer still.

Leaving Xiang Yan's office, Ning Zhiheng hurried back to his own workspace and began drafting the case-closure report. As for how to polish the wording and distribute the credit, he had already envisioned it long ago. Being quite adept at writing, he spent two hours quickly knocking out the report, finally submitting it to Xiang Yan before the end of the workday.

After returning home from work, Ning Zhiheng waited until the sky grew dim before taking two suitcases and heading to Huang Xianzheng's residence.

Seeing that it was Ning Zhiheng visiting and knowing he was Deputy Director Huang's favored subordinate, Secretary Yu smiled as he led him into the drawing room and went to report to Huang Xianzheng.

Soon, Secretary Yu invited him into the study. Ning Zhiheng was quite pleased by this. In official circles, there was an unwritten custom: when a subordinate visited a superior and was received in the drawing room, polite and considerate though it might be, it indicated that the superior did not view the subordinate as part of their inner circle, implying a certain maintained distance.

However, if received in a study or some other more casual and private space, it meant the superior already considered the subordinate one of their own, and they could interact with greater casualness!