Yuji Imai called Taro Sagawa, the head of the Shanghai Special Higher Police Section, directly.
"Imai-kun, a call so late at night must mean something important!" Sagawa Taro's voice rang out, guessing that the investigation must have yielded results.
"Yes, Section Chief! Let me first report my investigation results. The military doctor at headquarters conducted a thorough examination of Mr. Kawamoto's body and determined that the cause of death was a sudden heart attack, likely a recurrence of Mr. Kawamoto's old illness, resulting in natural death. I also searched and examined the traces in his room and found no suspicious traces. I checked the classified information he possessed and found nothing stolen. Everything was intact. Now we can confirm that there were no human factors involved in Mr. Kawamoto's death."
“Very good, Imai-kun, this is the best outcome.” Sagawa Taro said with relief, his worries finally put to rest. After all, the impact and consequences of the death of an intelligence chief of this caliber were incalculable, and this conclusion could be considered the best possible result.
"There is one more thing I need to report to you," Yuji Imai said again.
"What is it?" Sagawa Taro asked.
"The intelligence agent Mr. Kawamoto last contacted, Sakita Katsutake, the leader of the Twilight Squad, provided important information regarding the investigation into the reasons for the failure of the Nanjing intelligence operation, and preliminary results have been obtained," said Imai Yuji.
"What? That's great! Tell me quickly!" Sagawa Taro asked urgently. This problem had been troubling the Japanese intelligence agency for a long time, to the point that the Nanjing intelligence group had completely gone into hibernation, and all Japanese reconnaissance of Nanjing had come to a standstill. As a result, the Japanese military had recently put tremendous pressure on the Special Higher Police, ordering them to resume all reconnaissance activities on the political and military movements of the Chinese government as soon as possible. This made Sagawa Taro extremely anxious, and now there was finally news.
Yuji Imai sensed Taro Sagawa's anxiety and quickly gave Taro Sagawa a detailed report of what Katsutake Sakida had reported.
Upon hearing Yuji Imai's report, Taro Sagawa pondered for a long time before slowly saying, "In other words, Mr. Kawamoto also suspects that there is a high-ranking mole within our ranks who passed messages to the Chinese intelligence department, and this Ning Zhiheng is definitely one of the insiders, or even the mole's contact."
Although Taro Sagawa was unwilling to accept this possibility, it was the most plausible explanation for why the intelligence groups that did not communicate with each other in Nanjing were captured one after another.
At least now we have a clear target: the young officer Ning Zhiheng. Once we catch him, all our questions will be answered.
"Understood. Now that we have a clear target, things are much simpler. I will immediately organize personnel to investigate all aspects of Ning Zhiheng's situation and dispatch elite agents to infiltrate Nanjing to seize him and force him to reveal the real reason." Sagawa Taro said solemnly. This operation is different from the last one, which involved casting a wide net throughout Nanjing. This time, the target is more specific, making it less difficult and greatly increasing the success rate. It seems that this major problem can be solved soon.
"By the way, I've already chosen Murakami Keita as the new leader of the Hangzhou area. He'll be heading there tomorrow to take up his post. You and he will handle the handover, and then you should come back immediately to oversee the operation to arrest Ning Zhiheng," Sagawa Taro said.
"Is it Murakami-kun?" Imai Yuji asked, his tone hesitant.
"What, you think it's inappropriate?" Sagawa Taro clearly understood what Imai Yuji meant.
Japanese society has a clear hierarchy, and subordinates have no right to criticize decisions made by superiors; they can only obey unconditionally. This is especially true in the highly disciplined intelligence agencies, and Yuji Imai is no exception.
“No, the section chief’s decision is certainly wise,” said Yuji Imai. Keita Murakami was also one of the high-ranking officers at headquarters, and the two were acquainted. But that was precisely why one of the high-ranking officers he had suspected was Keita Murakami, because Keita Murakami was also one of the people who knew about the Nanjing intelligence infiltration team. He had been exposed to such intelligence before, and he was the person that Yuji Imai was preparing to focus on investigating and screening this time.
In the end, he still offered his opinion. After all, this was no child's play, and intelligence work could not tolerate the slightest flaw. He carefully worded, "Section Chief, Mr. Kawamoto's suspicions are not without reason. I think it would be more prudent to conduct an internal screening first, eliminate the possibility of a mole within the organization, and then appoint a successor for the Hangzhou region."
Sagawa Taro said somewhat displeased that they were questioning his decision, "Imai-kun, we can't be paranoid. There can't be a gap in leadership in the Hangzhou area. It's too difficult to conduct internal screening and delays. As long as we catch Ning Zhiheng, all the problems will be solved. Just do as I say. Murakami Keita will take over immediately upon taking office and come back as soon as possible!"
"Yes, I understand. I will obey your orders!" Yuji Imai sensed Taro Sagawa's displeasure and immediately stood at attention to reply.
Meanwhile, Ning Zhiheng, far away in Nanjing, was smiling as he took out one precious antique after another from a box in Huang Xianzheng's study and placed them on the desk in front of Huang Xianzheng.
Huang Xianzheng stared intently at the treasures before him, not daring to blink, until Ning Zhiheng once again filled his desk to the brim.
"Zhiheng, your eye is amazing! These are all top-quality treasures!" Huang Xianzheng was carefully examining each antique when his eyes suddenly widened, and he exclaimed in disbelief, "This is white porcelain from the Xing kiln! My God! It really is white porcelain from the Xing kiln!"
He shouted loudly, but his hands were as light as could be as he could be as he lifted a white porcelain scholar's jar and brought it close to his eyes. At this moment, even if the sky were to fall, it would not affect him in the slightest.
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