Chapter 490: Nothing is easy these days
Everyone was excited when they knew they could go out to sea.
During the two months on Norderney Island, they really had enough fun!
What are the benefits of working on a ship? Besides earning a lot of money, you can also save a lot. Xiao Peng forbids gambling on board, so even if you want to spend money, there's nowhere to go.
But it’s different on Norderney Island: although there are only more than 6,000 people here, there are many fun things to do: cycling around the island, horseback riding around the island, bars, shopping...that’s all!
But apart from that, you can take a ferry to visit mainland Germany. Lower Saxony is on the other side of the coast, and it’s not far from places like Hanover and Wolfsburg. There are also many football fans on the boat, so it would be nice to go and watch the game!
So all the people on the boat turned from crew members into tourists, and being a tourist costs money!
First, spending money feels good for a while, and it feels good all the time if you keep spending money.
They have been getting a lot more financially comfortable after working under Xiao Peng for a while, and this was even more so when they returned to China some time ago. They are used to spending money lavishly, so how can they possibly save money now?
Now I can finally go out to sea and finally save money again...
Besides, people are just humble. Although everyone complains bitterly when they are at sea, when they return to the ordinary life on land, they begin to miss the life at sea.
But this time Xiao Peng did not go to sea with them: he wanted to return to Paris.
He had to take care of Shao Feng's affairs. After all, he still owed Shao Feng a big favor: he always felt bad about Miao Pei's affairs.
Huh? It seems that there is nothing to feel guilty about. If you calculate the timeline, when he and Miao Pei were applauding for love, Miao Pei didn't know Shao Feng yet. After all, the earth is so small, right?
I can't blame myself for this, I can only blame Miao Pei for having a torn crotch!
The crew split into three groups. Chen Cheng and Fabian commanded the Calypso, heading west to Heligoland Bight to search for shipwrecks and film a documentary. Besides Fabian and his crew, there were also some German historians on board. They saw Xiao Peng and his crew as the "Chinese Bethunes." Their historical excavation efforts required funding, but securing such funds proved incredibly difficult. Now, they were overjoyed to have someone helping them uncover history for free.
Walter and Khedira were responsible for driving a sailboat to Dunkirk. Xiao Peng should carry out his next plan, and Kasin followed him to Paris to deal with Shao Feng's affairs.
Pascal planned to go to Paris with Xiao Peng, but he wanted to stay on Norderney Island: there was a batch of wealth to be dealt with here.
Even if Xiao Peng won the lawsuit, would Hoffman not be compensated? Now that Hoffman is bankrupt, many of his assets have been converted into compensation, including the villa where Xiao Peng lives, which is actually Hoffman's property.
Someone needs to take care of these things. In fact, Fabian is more suitable to handle this matter, but he has to go out to sea to shoot a documentary, so this important task falls on Pascal.
After Xiao Peng and Kaxin returned to Paris, there was a car waiting for them at the airport. It was a car from a car rental service company.
What Xiao Peng did next was exactly what he and Chen Zetao had said: he went directly to the headquarters of 'DRSD'.
The headquarters of 'DRSD' is one of the six major intelligence agencies in France. Is it so easy to find?
In fact, it is that easy. The information here is completely public, and there is also their official website on the Internet. After completing the registration and appointment and getting approval, you can enter, and there will be a dedicated person to guide you around...
It's almost like a tourist attraction.
When people mention the so-called "intelligence agencies", the first thing that comes to mind is spies. The importance of intelligence work, especially during wartime, is self-evident. What about the Soviet KGB, the American CIA, the British MI6, the Israeli Mossad... Which one is not famous?
But now, things are different. Forget about other countries, intelligence agencies in countries like Britain, France, and the United States are all facing staff shortages. People imagine that those who want to join an intelligence agency must go through rigorous screening, rigorous training, and only one in a hundred is qualified. But in reality, all you have to do is submit a resume online—otherwise, why would they have an official website?
And because of the publicity of film and television works, people think that those agents are either like Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible" who can fly over rooftops and fight a hundred people at once; or like 007 who is accompanied by beautiful women and luxury cars; or like the gentleman in "Kingsman"...
If that is the case, then those foreign intelligence agencies have hired a traitor specifically for themselves.
Although the French intelligence agency does not seem to be as well-known as the intelligence agencies of other countries, in fact, the French intelligence agency should not be underestimated.
During the Cold War, the French secret service did something that shocked the West:
During the Cold War, East Germany, as a country bordering NATO and the Warsaw Pact, was the country with the most intense intelligence warfare in the world.
At the time, East Germany had its own intelligence agency called the Stasi, modeled after the KGB and operating under a repressive internal regime. Getting intelligence from East Germany was incredibly difficult.
At the time, the French intelligence agency responsible for East German affairs was headed by a man named Leroy. He did something truly remarkable: he devised a map of the sewers in key East German departments and used it to search for "written toilet paper" to obtain intelligence. This work lasted for a long time.
Regardless of whether or not they obtained useful intelligence, this kind of dirty, shady work is what intelligence agencies often do. For example, the CIA is famous for using drugs to fund the war effort. They directly participated in and led drug trafficking operations to generate revenue, a practice they carried out for decades, initially denying it until confronted with concrete evidence. They later changed their tune, claiming it was "for the country." Furthermore, the psychedelic drugs that have plagued a generation of Americans were actually the result of research conducted by relevant CIA departments.
In the past, due to underdeveloped communications media, the CIA's misdeeds remained largely unknown. Now, with the evidence now out there, they can't hide it anymore. That's why so many films and TV shows are smearing the CIA. Now, anyone looking for a job at the CIA can submit a resume online... This is a severe staff shortage! This, in turn, has led to other Western intelligence agencies facing the same problem.
In order to solve the problem of insufficient personnel, the Americans have "Mission Impossible" and "The Bourne Supremacy"; the British have "007" and "Kingsman: The Secret Service", but how do the romantic French solve it?
Just make the intelligence agency public and let people see what a great working environment we have here. Come and work!
In addition to the good working environment here, the service attitude is also first-class. The girl who led Xiao Peng and his friends provided smiling service throughout the whole process. Her service attitude is better than that of the shopping guides in the "Galeries Lafayette" store!
Nothing is easy these days...
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