Chapter 143: The Traitor Issue
January 21, Tuesday.
The climate of modern industrial civilization seems to have been out of balance for a long time. On days that should be cold enough to freeze dogs, it was surprisingly a relatively warm sunny day, continuing to build an atmosphere for the upcoming Lunar New Year. In the Hidden Arrow Western Supervision District, headquarters building.
In the secure communications room, Han Jieli was communicating with the headquarters intelligence bureau, a thousand miles away, about some work matters, completely unaware that it was already past three in the afternoon. He hadn’t left this room since early morning and hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice.
“… Yes, I need the records of phone communications of the target for the past year, including all sent and received text messages…”
“… Can you track the physical addresses of the devices accessing the servers and the internet access logs? That would be great. Is there any way to quickly filter the data?”
After an hour-long communication, Han Jieli closed the remote communication, and with a serious expression, began writing and sketching in his notebook, occasionally frowning or getting lost in thought.
Perhaps due to the headache from thinking too much, Han Jieli set down his work, took out a confidential phone, and continued with the usual procedure, entering a special contact password. Unfortunately, seconds later, the information displayed that the other party’s device was turned off.
After more than a month, he still hadn’t received any response from Meng Huai. Although Han Guowei had repeatedly emphasized to be patient, the heavy burden on Han Jieli’s heart remained unmoved.
A notification sound came from the access control direction behind him, pulling Han Jieli back to the present.
“When did you inherit my father’s bad habit of locking yourself in your office for seven or eight hours? Skipping meals is one thing, but you don’t even go to the restroom?”
The door opened, and Han Xiao stood there holding a lunch box, wearing a cold expression. It was only when she said that that Han Jieli realized how thirsty he was; he hadn’t had a sip of water all day, and his bladder indeed felt a bit uncomfortable. Without a word, he bypassed her and headed toward the end of the corridor.
A few minutes later, Han Jieli sat in the secure communications room, wolfing down food, while Han Xiao sat beside him, helplessly looking at the various strange materials scattered across the table.
“You don’t seem to care at all about Meng Huai’s whereabouts? Weren’t you recently seen getting close to him?”
Han Xiao waved a napkin, wiping the corner of her cousin’s mouth while speaking in a neutral tone.
“Aren’t you? I thought you would be competing with Tao Qiao for the follow-up investigation rights.”
Han Jieli didn’t look up and continued to eat heartily, muttering, “I remember that after the first phase search mission ended last week, Meng Huai’s case was handed over to the intelligence department.”
“The most crucial half month yielded nothing… Last time, Xia Yan at least revealed some clues, but what about Meng Huai? Completely vanished, I’m starting to doubt he isn’t even in the country anymore.”
Han Xiao snorted coldly, her expression growing increasingly displeased, even her words taking on an undertone of sarcasm, “Aren’t you from the intelligence department? Tracking down Meng Huai’s clues should be your job, right? You’ve been derelict in your duty since returning from his father’s place!”
As she spoke, her gaze fell again on the pile of unclear materials on the table.
Han Jieli didn’t mind Han Xiao’s ridicule, merely tidying up the lunch box in front of him, casually saying, “Our second grandfather still has influence. With him personally stepping in to smooth things over, the headquarters can easily downplay this matter, and we can follow the normal process… I have other more important tasks now, rather than focusing on Meng Huai’s whereabouts.”
“Is this all there is to your new task?”
Han Xiao frowned, picking up one of the printouts filled with countless numbers and strange codes, seemingly related to some computer program.
“Third sister, since Xia Yan and Gu Yao were designated as B-level task targets, it’s as if the world has entered a great time of contention. Many truths are classified secrets for both you and me. Outside of a few people at headquarters, we are all grasping at straws, knowing the phenomena but not the reasons behind them.”
Han Jieli pondered for a moment, searching for suitable words, “In this struggle, the security and accuracy of intelligence is the foundation of victory. Otherwise, we might see a second or even third tragedy similar to that of the Embroidered Clothes Team, letting the enemy lead us by the nose.”
“Sister, you’re also a member of the Han family, and the commander of the front line of Hidden Arrow. You should understand the importance of accurate intelligence and confidentiality better than I do.”
As he spoke, Han Jieli slowly began to collect the scattered documents on the table, falling silent.
“I definitely know about confidentiality regulations!”
Han Xiao seemed to think of something, turned around, locked the door, and hurried back to Han Jieli’s side, “Xiao Jie, are you… still investigating the traitor issue?”
Saying this, she directly slapped down a few sheets of information that Han Jieli was putting away, pointing to one page: “I noticed this; these are our family’s phone numbers, including my mobile number. Do you consider me a suspect as well?”
Hmm, the headquarters has restarted the investigation into the 430 workgroup leak. I need to conduct a gradual investigation of the sixteen original members. However, if even members of the Han family could be traitors, then the intelligence bureau might as well disband.
Han Jieli forced a smile, putting all the materials into a briefcase.
Han Xiao already knew that the headquarters had listed certain tasks as ongoing matters. Although mentioning it now might not count as leaking secrets, it still touched upon topics she shouldn’t engage with, causing her to blush slightly and retreat a bit.
“Third sister, I’m asking hypothetically. If I gave you the most extreme and crazy power, and you had to identify the traitor among the sixteen people, who would you choose?”
Lifting his water cup, Han Jieli suddenly lowered his voice, smiling mysteriously.
“Most extreme, most crazy power?”
Han Xiao blinked her big, beautiful eyes, falling into deep thought. After a few seconds, she coldly said, “Simple, no need to identify, just shoot all of them!”
The secure communications room echoed with Han Jieli’s fierce coughing, as water had gone down the wrong pipe, making his face turn red from coughing.
“You… Seems like both of us siblings are going to be sacrificed for the traitor issue. I’m really impressed by you. If the leaks happened at that level of the headquarters, wouldn’t we have died in vain?”
Faced with Han Xiao’s murderous rhetoric, Han Jieli was left speechless and directly picked up his briefcase, turning to leave.
“You little brat, you’re the one who proposed such an absurd hypothesis!”
Han Xiao sat there, equally furious.
…
Unexpectedly, for dinner, Han Jieli ran to the house of his third uncle Han Guowei instead of going to the dining hall where he usually ate the most since taking his post in the Western Supervision District.
Han Ma’s cooking goes without saying, but at the dining table, the results of their earlier conversation seemed unpleasant, causing Han Xiao to have an unusually bad attitude toward Han Jieli, making Han Ma think there was some conflict between the siblings.
The news of Meng Huai’s blood invasion and disappearance caused a huge stir in the Western Supervision District, and Han Ma had learned some fragments of it. Knowing some of her daughter’s thoughts from beginning to end, Han Ma could only avoid those topics as much as possible.
After dinner, Han Xiao needed to return to the base of the Embroidered Clothes Team, while Han Jieli settled into the study with Han Guowei.
Once Han Guowei locked the study door and completely drew the curtains, Han Jieli took out a stack of materials from his briefcase.
“Third Uncle, the entire investigation into the 1101 Wan Qiaoli incident was managed and reported by Zhen Guangquan. Many doubts I previously raised seem to have been dealt with quite perfunctorily…”
“Look, anything related to Xia Yan, he shifts the focus from another angle of intelligence interpretation. Although his position seems reasonable logically.”
As he spoke, Han Jieli extracted a page from the materials and pushed it in front of Han Guowei.
At that time, the isolation screening work at the military hospital was presided over by Zhen Guangquan himself, and all results seemed normal. However, I have always suspected that the clue regarding Xia Yan’s weapon appearing at the Wan Qiaoli commercial center must have issues.
According to personnel screening records, a total of 125 people underwent checks at the military hospital. But the hospital’s server retained only 122 people’s reports, while the remaining three were deleted manually. Through the headquarters’ high-tech intelligence center, I conducted data recovery and found signs of hacker intrusion on the military hospital’s server.
The time of the hacker intrusion was within the timeframe when Zhen Guangquan was presiding over the screening work. After discreetly visiting, it was clear that Zhen Guangquan had at least twenty minutes of unaccounted time during that period, and no one knew where he had gone.
My colleagues and I in the intelligence bureau retrieved the missing examination materials for the three individuals and ultimately discovered it was just a smokescreen; someone is still shifting the focus, indicating that someone is extremely cautious.
Looking up, Han Jieli found Han Guowei staring intently at him and immediately stopped speaking.
After a few seconds, Han Guowei sighed heavily, picked up his teacup, and spoke gravely, “Xiao Jie, those of us in intelligence work must be rigorous. Although I have my doubts about Zhen Guangquan, what you’ve stated is clearly a presumption of guilt, akin to shooting arrows then drawing targets, forcibly pushing all doubts onto him.”
At that time, both the personnel from the Xuanjia Team’s intelligence unit and the intelligence department were at the military hospital, and many participated in managing the server data operations. How can you be sure it was Zhen Guangquan? And how can you be sure that the traitor in the Western Supervision District is really the only one?
Once Han Guowei’s doubts were voiced, Han Jieli was taken aback, nodding after a long while as if accepting the other party’s viewpoint.
“Third Uncle, didn’t you say that intelligence work involves bold speculation followed by cautious verification? Perhaps many of my views are quite subjective, but any abnormal phenomena and behaviors will undoubtedly lead to an abnormal conclusion.”
After a minute of silence, Han Jieli smiled again, placing his hands behind his head and looking up at the ceiling’s lights.
“Third Uncle, to be honest, in the absence of solid evidence, I don’t even care who the traitor in the Western Supervision District is… Because logically, only those who know about the existence of the Origin Plan would truly interfere with our pursuit of Xia Yan.”
“Because the traitor in the Western Supervision District most likely should only be an executor, not a decision-maker. Only decision-makers would know about the Origin Plan; they would either be our enemies or our own people…”
As he was halfway through his sentence, Han Jieli timely closed his mouth, turning his head to look at Han Guowei.
“You… Xiao Jie, are you implying… Hmph, what, not brave enough to continue? Fresh meat doesn’t fear tigers; your capacity for bold speculation is pretty great.”
Han Guowei’s expression became somewhat unpleasant, rubbing his teacup, his voice low and eyes unfriendly.
“Hehe, just wild guesses, they don’t count…”
Han Jieli scratched his head, grinning a bit: “However, Third Uncle, a fortnight ago you mentioned ZZ and the other three strategic seeds, I’m a bit curious, why did these three strategic seeds all go missing at the same time twenty years ago?”
“Those predecessors had penetrated behind enemy lines for decades, only for such bad luck to expose their identities or defect at the same time? I think the coincidence is far too low; ZZ wouldn’t have such poor judgment, would she?”
To counter the Origin Plan, the Hidden Arrow was established as a special confidential operation group, and the three strategic seeds sent out after forty years of hiding went missing simultaneously. After waiting twenty years for Xia Yan’s case to surface and reconnecting with clues, it got interrupted by a traitor…
Han Jieli’s tone grew more fervent, even starting to touch on some sensitive topics, causing Han Guowei’s expression to darken.
“Third Uncle, let me make one more bold hypothesis: Is it possible that these three predecessors were not passively lost contact but actively abandoned their connection with the Scarecrow and us?”
“You’ve said that for strategic tasks, it’s better to fail than to expose. From the second-generation Scarecrow onward, the seeds and the Scarecrow implement a double-blind system; doesn’t that imply that the trust relationship between the Scarecrow and the seeds is inherently weak?”
“For instance, the three predecessors, for reasons they firmly believed in, might have preferred to operate independently rather than continue to trust the Scarecrow, just to avoid exposing themselves and their tasks…”
Perhaps not noticing the change in Han Guowei’s expression, Han Jieli continued unabated, speaking as if there was no stopping him.
“Shut up! Enough!”
Han Guowei slammed the desk with one hand, his entire body trembling.
“Sorry, Third Uncle…”
Han Jieli was startled, realizing he had gone too far with his cleverness. He quickly stood up and bowed his head in apology.
“You’ve also worked hard these days. Tonight, just stay at home; if you want to return to the dormitory, that’s fine too… what you said today, keep it to yourself. Don’t mention it again!”
Han Guowei suddenly felt very tired, closing his eyes and raising a hand in a gesture to send him away.
Han Jieli pursed his lips, put on his military cap, tidied his appearance, stood at attention, and exited the room.
A few minutes later, Han Guowei heaved a heavy sigh, opened his eyes, staring blankly at the scattered intelligence materials on the desk, his expression increasingly bitter.
“This kid Xiao Jie is too much like his grandmother, too precocious… How did he deduce that there are likely traitors not only in the Western prison district but also probably in the headquarters?”
Saying this, Han Guowei pressed the confidential hotline on his desk, hesitated for a moment, but finally grasped the phone firmly.
“This is Han Guowei; connect me to Chief of Staff Wu Zhongxian…”
While waiting for the secure communication to be connected, Han Guowei picked up a few pages of materials that Han Jieli left behind and began reading them carefully.
When the call was connected, Han Guowei almost skipped any pleasantries and directly got to the point:
“Old Wu, I think your previous speculation is correct!”
“… Yes, this is a layout that has been targeting us from at least twenty years ago, aimed at collaborating with foreign blood clans to execute the Origin Plan domestically, and might even be earlier! Back then, we were both still very young.”
“I propose we immediately conduct limited internal decryption of the confidential contents of the strategic task, restricted to just us Scarecrows… Yes, we must understand how the first special confidential action group was arranged. If the enemy knows more than us, then what good is our strict confidentiality?”
“You are the Chief of Staff, a member of the party group, as well as the leader of the special confidential action group. I am the deputy leader and the person responsible for the strategic task plan; we can only absolutely trust each other!”
As the conversation unfolded, both Han Guowei and the voice on the other end of the call, Wu Zhongxian, bore heavy hearts.
A secure phone call lasted nearly an hour, and after the communication was cut off, Han Guowei slowly stood up, pulled back the curtains in the study, and quietly gazed at the night sky, deep in thought.
This was the first time Han Guowei questioned the so-called confidentiality discipline he upheld, for it was a deadlock in the puzzle that could not be resolved without understanding what was happening among their own people.
…
After two in the morning, an internal modified Tianba vehicle stopped in front of the treatment building of St. Mercy Hospital in C City.
Even though some unexpected situations had delayed them along the way, Jiang Yan and Dr. Lu still escorted Meng Huai back to C City with the help of the Luo family, taking nearly seventy hours from the old street in northern Myanmar.
Medical personnel from the top-tier special disease zone surrounded the bus, carefully lifting out a sleeping young man, then hurriedly entering a specialized elevator.
With the best medical examination equipment and special reagents, preliminary examination results were available in less than two hours.
However, in a certain intensive care unit, Jiang Yan, who had been exhausted from the journey, had already fallen asleep beside Meng Huai’s bed. On the other hand, Dr. Lu, who was specifically assigned to monitor, still maintained a minimal level of awareness.
“Little Lu, Wanyue has already informed me of some situations in advance… I need you to push this unknown potion and Li Huai’s blood sample back to the family for further examination.”
“Okay, Director.”
Old Jin walked into the room, beckoning Dr. Lu and handing him an envelope, which the latter quickly received and left with.
Sensing Old Jin’s aura, Jiang Yan rubbed her eyes and drowsily awakened.
“Old Jin…”
First, she instinctively glanced at the sleeping Meng Huai on the bed, then looked up. When she recognized who it was, Jiang Yan immediately stood up.
“You little girl, don’t you believe this place? Go rest in the caregiver’s room.”
Old Jin smiled as he sat by the bed, feeling Meng Huai’s pulse. After a few seconds, he nodded slightly.
“Old Jin, Director Jin, what… what happened to Meng… Li Huai?”
Jiang Yan shot a glance at Meng Huai, her face involuntarily turning slightly red, and she lowered her voice.
Not only was Fu Zhilan involved, but the unknown substance also disrupted his normal blood stability; he currently had an overwhelming amount of mixed drug residues in his body… Fortunately, no signs of the Engel family’s breakthrough drugs were detected, so it doesn’t seem like he was rapidly matured into a knight.
Old Jin handed over the stack of examination forms in his hand, smiling a bit awkwardly, “To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen such a strange promotion dormancy; so unstable, yet able to maintain the update of blood energy proteins in the body.”
However, I must say beforehand, the use of super high doses of Fu Zhilan worries me; he may have developed a dependency, and his brain’s nervous system and cognitive functions will likely suffer irreversible damage.
Hearing Old Jin’s conclusion, and then looking at the stack of examination forms in her hand, Jiang Yan bit her lip, experiencing an inexplicable pang of pain in her heart.
Hehe, actually, I know him; he’s the brother of Zhong Jing… But since Wanyue and you both plan to keep it confidential, he can stay here for treatment for now. If there are any issues, I’ll contact you separately. I will also help handle his identity issue.
After Old Jin finished speaking, he called over a nurse and quietly exited the ward.
…
Not sure when, Jiang Yan, who had long lost any sleepiness, quietly walked to the entrance of St. Mercy Hospital and sat down on the steps.
Looking at the sparsely populated street illuminated by lamp light outside the door, Jiang Yan seemed to recall her own struggles after the blood invasion, searching for a way out.
She took out her phone and turned it on; her social media and messages were flooded with notifications.
Judging that Wanyue was likely in a phone-off state at this time, Jiang Yan opted not to call but directly tapped on her social media avatar and typed out a string of text.
“Sister Wanyue, can you let Meng Huai join Wind Messenger?”
After sending the message, she silently awaited a response, counting the seconds in her mind.
Jiang Yan’s mood was strange; she anxiously hoped Wanyue would reply with a refusal, at least until she changed her mind.
A minute passed without any response from Wanyue, and Jiang Yan quickly retracted her message, her heart racing violently.
