Agent: Intercepting Yu Manli at the start!

Chapter 83 Strive for absolute perfection!

Feng Manna laid out the action plan on the table and explained it page by page.

After reading the entire plan word by word, Xian Daofeng looked up and asked, "Who else knows about this plan?"

"Only me." She shook her head. "It's been posted for over a month, and no one in headquarters except me has ever seen this piece of paper."

He tapped his fingers lightly on the table and asked again, "Is that Kuomintang agent you planted reliable?"

Feng Manna: "He is trustworthy. He personally delivered all the intelligence in the previous cases, helping us to uncover a series of Kuomintang agents and uproot several secret liaison stations."

Sendoh Kaede glanced down at the plan, tapped his fingertips lightly on the edge of the page, and after a few seconds of silence, a meaningful smile suddenly appeared on his lips: "Alright, I'd like to see what new tricks you can come up with this time. I'll personally lead tomorrow's operation."

Just as Zhou Xiao had predicted, Xian Daofeng had just taken up the position of head of the Special Higher Police and urgently needed a clean and decisive victory to establish his authority and suppress the discontented eyes of his subordinates; in addition, with Feng Manna taking the initiative to invite him and Oshima Ken putting pressure on him from the side, he naturally took on this task.

Sendou Kaede is indeed shrewd.

In his eyes, Feng Manna's meticulous planning this time proved his own superior skills—it was he who sowed discord between Lan Yanzhi and Feng Manna, forcing Feng Manna to be eager to take credit and do everything in her power to make this operation as solid as an ironclad fortress.

But he didn't expect that, like the mantis stalking the cicada, he was unaware of the oriole behind him.

He himself had already been secretly included in someone else's calculations.

The two went through the action points and contingency plans one by one, repeatedly checking them to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Two hours later, Feng Manna got up to say goodbye, the hem of her trench coat drawing a neat arc as she disappeared at the end of the Special Higher Police corridor.

As soon as the door closed, Xian Daofeng's eyes narrowed, his pupils shrank slightly, and his voice was deep but undeniable: "Sixth Brother, keep a close eye on things tomorrow."

He doesn't easily entrust his trust to others.

But this arrogance became his most fatal flaw.

Zhou Xiao spent the whole day peacefully at the Special Operations Headquarters.

The wind was calm and the waves were still; not even a sparrow was startled.

Just after 3 p.m., he set off to meet his sixth brother.

The place Zheng Yaoxian arranged was unexpected—not a teahouse, not a dock, but a quiet old-fashioned apartment, exuding an untimely sense of alienation.

Zhou Xiao drove onto Kane Road and saw the five-story gray-walled building in the distance: Oriental Apartments. Most of the tenants in the building were young office workers who were doing well in Shanghai, dressed in suits and ties, walking briskly, living respectable yet cautious lives.

When he drove to the intersection of Kane Road, he did not stop, but slowly drove around it before finally parking the car under the shade of a plane tree on the corner of Dongfang Road next door.

Dongfang Road and Kane Road are only one street apart, less than a hundred steps away.

After coming to a stop, he waved down a rickshaw and said in a relaxed tone, "Driver, to the Prosperity Hotel, the one on Kane Road."

"Alright!" the driver cracked his whip and gave a light shout. The carriage creaked and slid steadily forward.

The Prosperity Hotel is right across from the Oriental Apartments. It is also five stories high with red brick walls. The two buildings are only five meters apart, so close that it seems you could reach out and touch the other's window sill.

Zhou Xiao went straight up to the hotel rooftop, leaned down to look at the roof of the Oriental Apartment building—the wind brushed his forehead, he took a deep breath, then took a running start, pushed off the ground, and leaped into the air like an eagle, landing steadily on the opposite rooftop.

Upon landing, the body rolls forward to dissipate the force, and the shoulders and back spin as they touch the ground, bringing the person to a stable position with their breathing undisturbed.

Then, he quietly opened the rooftop access panel and slipped inside the apartment.

This roundabout approach was not a deliberate attempt to mystify the situation—it was simply because he was now the director of the Special Operations Headquarters' Operations Department, with countless eyes watching him from above; the slightest misstep could lead to utter ruin.

In front of Room 303, Zhou Xiao raised his hand and knocked three times, his knocks short and firm.

A calm voice came from inside the house: "Who is it?"

"it's me."

"Who should I look for?"

"Looking for something."

"Where is it?"

"In my heart."

After exchanging the coded message, the door opened silently.

Zhou Xiao strode in and immediately saw Zheng Yaoxian. His heart warmed, and he blurted out, "Sixth Brother!"

This is a term used only among old comrades in the Military Intelligence Bureau; it carries both warmth and weight.

Zheng Yaoxian's gaze was sharp as he scrutinized Zhou Xiao's face. After a moment, he nodded and said, "Not bad. You've played the part well. You have the air of a fake agent in your bones. You've been infiltrating quite deeply."

The old stories of the mountain city were still vivid in his mind—back then, he wanted to bring Zhou Xiao into the underground party, but the organization had strict rules and he had to go through the vetting process. He sent Lu Hanqing to secretly investigate, but after searching through the files, he only found a few yellowed resumes, as dry as blank sheets of paper.

Zhou Xiao's true identity remains a closely guarded secret. The various intelligence networks operate independently, and no one can pry open this iron box.

But the organization's instructions to him were clear: under the premise of ensuring safety, he could try to develop this person.

Zheng Yaoxian asked, "How did you get here?"

Zhou Xiao answered crisply: "The car stopped on Dongfang Road, the rickshaw went to the Fanrong Hotel, jumped over the rooftop, and then sneaked in through the stairwell."

"Hmm." Zheng Yaoxian nodded, his tone adding a touch of approval. "When working behind enemy lines, you have to proceed step by step like this. The slightest slackening is like burying yourself alive."

This is Shanghai.

Shanghai, right under the noses of the Japanese!

Street corner cigarette stalls, teahouse waiters, police patrol posts... who can tell which pair of eyes is watching you? Once you're targeted and appear at Oriental Apartments, the consequences are unimaginable.

But with Zhou Xiao's actions, even if there were nails buried all around, all that would be seen would be an ordinary guest in a rickshaw staying at a hotel—no one would expect that someone could descend from the sky and silently land in the heart of the target's territory.

Zhou Xiao bowed: "Thank you for your guidance, Sixth Brother."

He had long suspected that Zheng Yaoxian was one of his own, the deepest mole planted by the underground party.

However, they never managed to find any concrete evidence.

Zheng Yaoxian then asked, "Can you hold your ground inside the enemy's belly?"

Zhou Xiao replied, "So far, things are going smoothly. All the rounds of assassination missions have been carried out cleanly and efficiently, without any slip-ups."

"The only problem is that the new Special Higher Police Chief, Sendo Kaede, is a tough nut to crack—he seems gentle and cheerful on the surface, but he's actually incredibly cunning and has a whole repertoire of tricks up his sleeve."

"Within a few days of taking office, I turned the personnel files of the Special Operations Headquarters upside down. I was 'transferred' from the head of the intelligence department to the head of the operations department."

Zheng Yaoxian's eyes suddenly sharpened, his coldness like a knife: "If the Special Higher Police becomes a stumbling block in your path—then crush it and replace it with a more obedient leader."

Zhou Xiao's lips curled slightly, and his voice was steady: "Just what I wanted."

"I have set up the plan. All the secret agents of the Military Intelligence Bureau in Shanghai are in place. Target: Xian Daofeng."

Zheng Yaoxian's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he stared intently at Zhou Xiao: "Good! With this courage and this strategy, it's clear you're no longer a novice undercover agent, but a truly seasoned sharp blade."

To be able to infiltrate deep into enemy territory in just a few months without being detected, and even earn the reputation of being a trusted confidant of the Japanese—this skill is not something an ordinary person can possess.

What's even more remarkable is that while playing the role of a "loyal" puppet officer, he also cleanly and efficiently eliminated several traitors and henchmen; not only did he emerge unscathed, but his position was even promoted two ranks.

Such shrewdness and meticulousness are truly rare.

Zheng Yaoxian knew perfectly well that this apprentice had already surpassed him and was even more outstanding.

"Infiltration is a solo dance without an audience, and also a dark alley with no end in sight." He paused, his tone low, "You have to suppress all your true nature, hide behind layer after layer of skin—and over time, you won't even be able to tell which face is the real one when you look in the mirror."

"But as long as the light in one's heart remains unextinguished and one's spine remains upright, what difference does it make whether one is a human or a ghost?"

"Is he a human or a ghost...?" These words, uttered from his mouth, carried the weight of a rain-soaked brick.

After all, he had been an undercover agent in the Military Intelligence Bureau for many years. How many times had he drunk wine with his enemies and laughed and joked? How many times had he personally issued arrest warrants to hunt down his own people? Those confusing accounts piled up in his chest, making it hard to breathe. Sometimes he even asked himself in his dreams: Who am I?

Zhou Xiao listened quietly, and suddenly realized that the "Director Zheng" in front of him was far more than just a cold-faced, iron-fisted high-ranking military intelligence officer...

Zheng Yaoxian looked up at him and patted him hard on the shoulder: "Alright, that's enough. Your performance deserves the title of 'ace' and you are worthy of the name 'elite'."

Zhou Xiao smiled and said, "It's just doing my duty."

The two then chatted casually and got along very well.

Their relationship went far beyond that of master and disciple—they were brothers, confidants, and the only people they dared to let their guard down with.

Of course, it's also true that everyone has their own hidden agendas.

Zhou Xiao wanted to pry open the fog and see which side Zheng Yaoxian was on; Zheng Yaoxian, meanwhile, quietly planted a seed in his heart, waiting for it to quietly spread.

After chatting for a long time, Zheng Yaoxian suddenly stopped smiling and said seriously, "Zhou Xiao, let's put aside the idle talk for now."

"This time, Boss Dai personally selected the people to come to Shanghai."

"You eliminated cancerous figures like Li Moqun, Su Sansheng, Chen Mingfu, Bi Zhongliang, and Aoki Takeshige, repeatedly pulling Shanghai Station back from the brink of collapse, and even ensuring the safe retreat of the printing press—each and every one of these feats was earned with your life!"

"Effective immediately, Zhou Xiao is promoted to lieutenant colonel, awarded the Fourth Class Order of the Precious Tripod, and appointed as the head of the Intelligence Section of the Military Intelligence Bureau's Shanghai Station, with full authority over all intelligence affairs within the station!"

Zhou Xiao was originally just a major, but now he has jumped two ranks to become a lieutenant colonel.

It's important to understand that the higher the military rank, the more difficult it is to climb a precipice—Zheng Yaoxian himself was only a colonel, and there was an extremely difficult threshold to cross in between.

Without extraordinary achievements, it will be difficult to make any further progress.

As for the position of head of the intelligence section, it was a real promotion.

When he first arrived in Shanghai, he only held the nominal title of deputy section chief; now he is a leader in charge of his own affairs.

The Treasure Cauldron Medal, divided into nine ranks, features a bronze cauldron as its core, surrounded by blazing flames, symbolizing "a national treasure, its merits benefit the country."

Those of the first to third ranks wore a large sash, those of the fourth and fifth ranks wore a collar sash, and those of the sixth to ninth ranks wore a lapel sash. All those who were awarded this insignia were those who had fought and made great contributions.

Although fourth class is not the highest honor, it is still an extremely high honor.

Zheng Yaoxian took out his cigarette case, shook out a cigarette, put it between his lips, and a flame shot out, swirling with blue smoke: "You're still behind enemy lines. Your rank, medals, and appointment letters are all locked in the headquarters safe. We'll give you the full ceremony when you return in triumph."