Wei Minglang's words were full of resentment, but he was absolutely right. Although Li Zhiqun valued the abilities of Wei Minglang and others, they had only been with him for a short time and had not yet fully gained his trust. It was indeed inconvenient to let Wei Minglang and others get involved in cases involving the Military Intelligence Bureau.
Luo Xingchao had long harbored the intention to win over Wei Minglang. He had previously been wary of Wang Hanmin, but now that Wang Hanmin was dead, things became much easier. He smiled slightly and said in a low voice, "Brother Minglang, let's skip the formalities. Everyone in this Special Agent Headquarters is from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Zhongtong). Only my First Division and your Second Brigade are from the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Juntong). We are in the same boat, so we should communicate more in the future and look out for each other."
Wei Minglang shared the same sentiment. With Wang Hanmin dead, he had lost his support at the Special Agent Headquarters, and it was difficult to trust Li Zhiqun for the time being. Only Director Luo, with whom he had some prior dealings and knowing of his powerful background, was someone even Li Zhiqun dared not neglect. So, he came directly to strike up a conversation, using a few complaints to build rapport. Now, hearing Luo Xingchao's direct attempt to win him over, he was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly in agreement: "From now on, I will follow Director Luo's guidance. If there is anything I can do to help, just say the word!"
"Brother Minglang, you're too kind. You're a few years older than me, just call me Xingchao, haha!"
Once the two opened up to each other, they became much closer, and the previous formalities disappeared. Luo Xingchao asked directly, "I heard that the director went to your place a few days ago to investigate Xu Yongchang's matter. I wonder if there has been any progress?"
When this matter was mentioned, Wei Minglang had a lot of grievances to share. Li Zhiqun went to the Second Brigade to investigate Xu Yongchang's situation and questioned everyone, but he was not polite to him at all.
"What progress could there be? Although Xu Yongchang is my subordinate, he hasn't shown any unusual behavior in the army. Besides, I didn't recommend anyone when we were selecting the people to accompany us to Qingdao. It was Deputy Director Wang who personally selected Xu Yongchang and a few others. Now, suddenly, he's being accused of assassinating Deputy Director Wang. He's already died at sea. Who can say for sure?"
"Does anyone know anything about Xu Yongchang's family background?"
"No, he was a member of the Green Gang. We don't know anything about his past, and he never mentions it. All the officers who were close to him before were killed in the battle of Jingze, so no one knows anything about his family."
Upon hearing Wei Minglang's words, Luo Xingchao felt relieved. It seemed that Li Zhiqun's investigation into Xu Yongchang had also yielded no results.
While the two chatted, Bi Wenxiang inspected the scene and quickly finished the investigation. He left some people to clean up the scene, waved goodbye to Wei Minglang, and then each went their separate ways.
On the way back, Bi Wenxiang drove and asked softly, "Director, was this done by our people?"
The "we" he referred to was naturally the Shanghai Intelligence Section.
Sitting in the back seat, Luo Xingchao shook his head and explained, "It shouldn't be. Unless it's a coordinated operation with a specific purpose, our intelligence department doesn't carry out these kinds of missions. We're only responsible for intelligence work. These kinds of assassinations with clear objectives are all the work of the Shanghai station. But I'll ask for instructions to confirm it's correct."
"So what should we do next?"
"How to do it? Of course, we just follow the steps and go through the motions. In the past year or so, how many assassination attempts have occurred in Shanghai? Li Zhiqun hasn't had any good solutions, so what can we do? We can only deal with it superficially. However..."
Luo Xingchao frowned and continued with a questioning tone, "In the past, Li Zhiqun and Wu Shicai handled these kinds of fieldwork. Why am I being asked to do it today? What have Li Zhiqun and Wu Shicai been doing lately?"
Upon hearing this, Bi Wenxiang replied, "I followed Li Zhiqun. He went to the Shadow Agency several times during this period. As for Wu Shicai, he is the same as before, either at the Special Agent Headquarters or going to the casino for entertainment. There is nothing to be found for the time being."
Luo Xingchao said thoughtfully, "The Shadow Agency? He wouldn't go there unless it was something important. It seems I should go and report the situation to them too!"
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