"Yes!" Tanikawa Chiemi didn't know what Ning Zhiheng meant, but she already felt that she must have revealed some flaw.
Ning Zhiheng looked at Tanikawa Chiemi with icy eyes, then said slowly, "According to these interrogation records, these assassins were acting on the orders of their leader, 'Nine Dogs,' to carry out the assassination attempt on me, but they have never seen 'Nine Dogs' in person. They communicated with each other through newspapers and dead mail."
But just two hours earlier, Nie Tianming had unearthed a woman's corpse in Guan Peiling's yard. After identification, it was confirmed to be Guan Peiling herself, and the time of death was also traced back to a month ago. This means that "Nine Dogs" had already died a month ago. So, who was giving orders to the "Nine Dogs" intelligence group after that?
Upon hearing this, Chiemi Tanikawa felt a buzzing in her head and a wave of dizziness. She hadn't expected that Ning Zhiheng would actually re-search Guan Peiling's residence and find a fatal flaw.
“I asked your team members, and you personally oversaw the search of Guan Peiling’s residence after the failed operation. You only searched the items in the room, and although the search was very thorough, you found nothing. However, you easily let go of the items in the yard, so in the end, you didn’t get any clues, and these cases were left unresolved.”
Then... can I explain it like this: after you received the information from Nine Dogs, you went to her residence first, took control of her and interrogated her. After obtaining the information to command the Nine Dogs intelligence team, you killed her and buried the body on the spot to cover up the crime. From then on, you took over the identity of 'Nine Dogs' and gave orders to the intelligence team.
"And last night, outside Nanjing, those assassins were on your orders to ambush my convoy. Am I right?"
After listening to Ning Zhiheng's analysis, Tanikawa Chiemi hurriedly defended herself, saying, "Chief, my loyalty to you is as clear as day. How could I possibly assassinate you? Besides, you set off from Shanghai while I was in Nanjing. How could I possibly know your whereabouts or arrange this ambush in advance?"
Hearing Tanikawa Chiemi's explanation, Ning Zhiheng let out another cold laugh. This was exactly what angered him the most. Without the help of an inside man, Tanikawa Chiemi would indeed have no way of knowing his whereabouts.
"Yes, you really don't know where I am in Shanghai, but someone does, and he tipped you off."
So who is this person? It must be someone close to me, and a trusted confidant at that. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to escape the maze I set up beforehand and know my true itinerary.
In Shanghai, there are only a few people who know my true whereabouts, and one of them is you who is closest to me. That person is Leng Qing!
Am I right?
At this point, Chiemi Tanikawa could no longer maintain her forced composure. In fact, it wasn't hard to guess. Within the Second Operations Division, the person she knew best and was closest to was naturally her assistant Leng Qing, who had infiltrated Changsha with her. The two of them had worked together to uncover the Japanese intelligence network in Changsha. Afterward, Leng Qing followed in her footsteps to Nanjing and became her liaison with Ning Zhiheng. It could be said that the two had been partners for five years and colleagues for two years, and their relationship was extremely close. Following her lead, uncovering Leng Qing was not difficult!
This is what angered Ning Zhiheng the most. Leng Qing was one of his most trusted confidants. She had followed him since the intelligence department and was promoted all the way up, from action captain to action group leader to chief of inspection. Later, she was transferred to Nanjing with Tanikawa Chiemi as a liaison officer. She was one of the people who knew about Ning Zhiheng's concealment of his identity. It should be noted that even the Zuo brothers, who had followed Ning Zhiheng the longest, did not know this huge secret before Ning Zhiheng was exposed. This shows that Ning Zhiheng had great trust in Leng Qing. After returning to Chongqing, he was promoted and given important positions all the way up until he was appointed as the commissioner of the Shanghai Administrative Office.
Such a trusted confidant would betray him, which was absolutely intolerable to the extremely arrogant Ning Zhiheng.
Seeing that Chiemi Tanikawa was speechless, Ning Zhiheng snorted coldly and continued, "Leng Qing participated in the investigation of the two assassination attempts in Shanghai. He provided several key pieces of evidence and confessions. In fact, he was in charge of one of the assassination attempts. He tortured several key witnesses so severely that they died on the spot. In the end, all the evidence and evidence pointed to those corrupt officials. But I trusted him too much and didn't notice in time. Alas, he was a brother who had gone through thick and thin with me. I never thought that such a person would betray me at such a time!"
At this point, Ning Zhiheng couldn't help but feel heartbroken. He let out a long sigh to calm himself down and continued, "But you were too impatient. Even after I killed those corrupt officials, you didn't stop. You even ambushed me on my way back to Nanjing, which made me focus my suspicions on you and Leng Qing. Were you in such a hurry?"
At this point, Chiemi Tanikawa had no room for further excuses. She knew that given Ning Zhiheng's suspicious and cautious nature, if even one of these suspicious points couldn't be explained, she wouldn't be able to get away with it. Moreover, there were already too many flaws exposed.
Thinking about this, she felt relieved. In fact, when she walked into this office, things were already beyond repair. She knew that all Ning Zhiheng needed was an explanation.
At this moment, her expression was calm and composed as she said lightly, "Indeed, it was I who had Leng Qing plan two assassination attempts. Unfortunately, you were too vigilant. Both assassinations failed, and you even captured the prisoners alive. There was no other way, so Leng Qing had to grit his teeth and continue the charade, ultimately making those fools the scapegoats. But we also knew very well that we could deceive you for a while, but not forever. With your shrewdness, once you came to your senses, this matter would soon be exposed. So we had no choice but to take a desperate gamble and risk everything on the outskirts of Nanjing. But in the end, it still failed. Haha... It's truly fate. I have nothing to say!"
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