At the same time, a notification sounded in Zhong Yuyan’s mind.
【Congratulations, Master. You have successfully opened the beginner’s gift pack.
You have received:
A Skill Fusion Card for merging with the original body’s skills,
Ten-Square Spatial Storage（Upgradeable）,
5 modern miniature listening devices,
2 Disguise Masks（No time limit; single-use）,
2 Light as a Swallow Cards（Duration: 4 hours）
1 silenced pistol（Unlimited ammunition）,
Base points: 100】
Zhong Yuyan was satisfied. As expected, novels hadn’t lied to her: everything the System produced was top quality.
She used the Skill Fusion Card first.
A few minutes later, Zhong Yuyan felt sorry for the girl once more.
The girl had been a skilled doctor, and she also spoke five languages: English, Japanese, German, Russian, and French.
While studying in Japan, she had joined the National Salvation Army and secretly learned hand-to-hand combat, shooting, and communications skills.
Such a talented person had died at the hands of her own people.
'System, where did the original body go?'
【The original body accumulated good karma over three lifetimes. In her next life, she will be born into a happy family and live a life of happiness.】
Zhong Yuyan: …
'You make it sound as if I must have failed to do good deeds to end up here.'
【Master, don’t sell yourself short.】
Zhong Yuyan was at a loss for words. ‘Fine. Since I’m here, I’ll make the best of it.’
【Master, a mission has arrived.】
【Mission 1: Successfully rendezvous with the Military Statistics Bureau.】
【Mission 2: Successfully rendezvous with an intelligence operative from our Party.】
There were two missions, but they were essentially the same.
But given her current situation, how was she supposed to get out and rendezvous with anyone?
Wait, it seemed she didn’t need to go anywhere.
The news that she had been shot was already in the papers.
So both the National Salvation Army and the Nationalist Army had already heard about it.
That meant both sides would send people in to find out the details of her condition.
So all she had to do was stay in her hospital room, and the rendezvous would succeed! Could it really be that simple?
Zhong Yuyan felt uneasy. Her experience watching television dramas told her she had to be extra careful in her current role.
So she couldn’t just sit around waiting!
She had to do something, at least take a look around and get a sense of the situation.
She sat up. Her head was still spinning, and she nearly toppled to the floor.
She steadied herself, closed her eyes, and waited a while until she felt a little better.
Tentatively, she got out of bed and slowly made her way to the door, then reached out and opened it.
Two Japanese soldiers were guarding the door. When they saw her open it, they both looked at her warily.
Wary? Why were they looking at her that way?
Zhong Yuyan was puzzled, but didn’t let it show. She smiled gently at them and spoke in Japanese:
“Could you find me a nurse? I need to use the restroom.”
The Japanese soldiers exchanged glances. The one on the left saluted her. “Hai.” Then he turned and left.
Before long, the Japanese soldier returned with a nurse.
“Doctor Zhong.” The nurse was also in the original body’s memories. Her name was Wang Chunmei, and she was a shy young woman.
“Chunmei, could you help me to the restroom?” Zhong Yuyan asked softly.
“Of course, Doctor Zhong. Take it slowly.”
Wang Chunmei nodded quickly, then gently supported Zhong Yuyan as they made their way along, one small step at a time.
The two Japanese soldiers followed behind them. Zhong Yuyan could feel their eyes on her the whole time.
As they walked, Zhong Yuyan endured her dizziness and secretly observed her surroundings.
It seemed this entire floor had been cleared. She had been walking for quite a while and hadn’t seen a single person.
“Why are there so few people at the hospital today?” Zhong Yuyan asked.
“For your safety, Doctor Zhong, this floor has been isolated. I heard General Yamada gave the order personally,” Wang Chunmei said excitedly.
Zhong Yuyan smiled faintly. “General Yamada is making too much of this. There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Not at all. General Yamada really cares about you, Doctor Zhong.”
“That’s not true…”
When they reached the restroom, Zhong Yuyan entered a stall. Her expression darkened at once. Everything she had seen along the way had felt wrong, and it left her deeply uneasy.
“Knock, knock, knock-knock-knock…”
Suddenly, a tapping sound came from the partition.
Already annoyed, Zhong Yuyan heard the person in the next stall keep knocking and snapped, “Whoever’s next door, if you have something to say, just say it. Why are you knocking?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the knocking next door stopped.
By then, Zhong Yuyan was done. She didn’t give it another thought, stood up, pushed open the stall door, and came out.
“Doctor Zhong, are you done?” Wang Chunmei hurried over to support her.
“Mm.” Zhong Yuyan answered as she washed her hands. “I’m a little dizzy. Let’s go back.”
“All right.” Wang Chunmei carefully helped her toward the exit, then asked casually as they walked, “Doctor Zhong, what happened just now?”
Enduring her dizziness, Zhong Yuyan replied, “I don’t know who was in the next stall, but they kept knocking on the partition. My head already hurt, and all that knocking made it hurt even more.”
“Oh! Who would do something so inconsiderate?”
“I don’t know.” Zhong Yuyan’s whole body felt weak, and her head really was starting to spin. Using every bit of her willpower, she made it back to her hospital room, then lay down on the bed.
Wang Chunmei tucked her in and said softly, “I’ll get a doctor to give you an injection.”
Zhong Yuyan refused. “No need. I’m suffering from the aftereffects of a concussion, so I need to rest. Besides, it’s not good to keep taking tranquilizers. Sorry to trouble you. I’ll be fine if I rest for a while.”
“All right, then. Get some good rest, Doctor Zhong.” Wang Chunmei left.
Alone in the room again, Zhong Yuyan lay quietly on her back for a long time before the dizziness began to ease.
Only then did she start recalling everything she had seen.
After reviewing it all, she communicated with the System in her mind. ‘System, am I being watched?’
【Master, you’re amazing—clearly born for this line of work. That’s right, you’re being watched.】
Sure enough, her instincts hadn’t been wrong.
When the Japanese soldiers saw her open the door, their first reaction hadn’t been to ask what she needed, but to look at her warily.
Wariness wasn’t the way you looked at someone you were protecting. It was the way you looked at someone you were guarding.
And Wang Chunmei’s reaction had been off, too.
Based on what the original body remembered of the young woman’s background and usual personality, even if she wanted to curry favor with Zhong Yuyan, she would only have said something like, “The Imperial Japanese Army really cares about you.”
She wouldn’t have named General Yamada so confidently, as if she knew all about him.
All these irregularities told her she was under surveillance.
It was strange. She was a female collaborator who’d been shot by the Military Statistics Bureau. Why would they bother watching her?
After a long while, a light suddenly dawned on Zhong Yuyan.
'Could it be because of the intelligence the original body stole?'
【The master figured out the key issue on her own. Hidden storyline unlocked.】
【The intelligence stolen by the original body was extremely important. It had caused the Japanese Army’s encirclement operation to fail. After an investigation, only a few people had been found with access to the intelligence, and the original body and two others had become the prime suspects.】
【That day, even if the rookie Military Statistics agent hadn’t assassinated the original body, the Japanese Army’s Special Action Group would have secretly arrested her. In the original timeline, the original body was assassinated before they could capture her, so she was naturally cleared of suspicion.】
【But now, Master has arrived, and she has gone from dead to gravely wounded. Although being gravely wounded in the assassination means she won’t be secretly arrested, she is still under suspicion.】
【They suspect you’re staging a ruse to gain their trust, so you’re under surveillance now.】
Zhong Yuyan furrowed her brows. So that rookie Military Statistics agent had accidentally gotten things right.
She spoke with the System in her mind. ‘Then the best thing for me to do now is lie low and avoid contact with anyone. But the missions you issued tell me to rendezvous with people. Wouldn’t doing that now put both them and me in danger?’
【Why don’t you try guessing, Master?】
Zhong Yuyan: Guess?
She understood her situation and knew that staying put was the best choice. But the Nationalist Army and the National Salvation Army didn’t know that.
What they wanted most right now was to find out her true condition, so they would certainly risk coming to rendezvous with her.
An intelligence operative under enemy surveillance needed to lie low, but her comrades didn’t know that and were still trying every possible way to meet her.
Just thinking about the situation gave her a headache.
It was clearly a dead end.
So…
'Your mission isn’t to make the rendezvous succeed. It’s to break this deadlock.'