“Director Duan, Director Duan, I really don’t know anything! Please let me go! Aahhh!”
Accompanied by the nauseating smell of burning flesh, the victim’s miserable screams echoed throughout the interrogation room. The screams were so horrifying that the timid female colleagues couldn’t help but begin sobbing quietly.
They trembled in fear, cautiously glancing at the female demon nearby. They didn’t even dare to cry out loud.
The moment Shen Shuman opened her eyes, she realized that her situation was far from good. Without revealing anything on her face, she observed her surroundings. In the dim environment, there were rows of dark, gloomy cells that looked like man-eating beasts beneath the flickering oil lamps.
The most striking figure in the darkness was a stunningly beautiful woman with an alluring appearance and fiery red lips. She was casually playing with a gun, completely unmoved by the sounds of flesh being whipped coming from the depths of the prison.
This is bad!
Could this be some kind of intelligence agency?
Shen Shuman felt waves of dull pain in the back of her head. The original owner of this body must have fainted just moments ago, only for Shen Shuman to take over her body.
Shen Shuman felt unhappy about the situation, but there was nothing she could do about it!
She had become entangled with a corrupted koi spirit that demanded she absorb other people’s fortune to help it cultivate. Otherwise, it would devour her soul and find another host.
Shen Shuman had no choice. She didn’t want to die; she wanted to survive. But she also didn’t want to harm anyone else.
Regardless of who it was, having one’s fortune stolen was an extremely dangerous matter. It could even affect one’s next life, and the life after that.
What’s more, during their conversation, she had also realized that once this Black Koi developed to its final stage, it might even absorb the fortune of an entire nation!
How could she allow that to happen?!
Shen Shuman was merely greedy for money, and her moral character wasn’t particularly outstanding either. She had no choice but to compromise in order to survive, but she absolutely would not do anything that harmed her country. Otherwise, what kind of person would that make her?
People could pursue their own interests and avoid harm, but they must never forget gratitude or betray those who had helped them. She had been an orphan since childhood, and it was her country that had raised her. Therefore, no matter what happened, she could never assist evil and harm her country’s interests.
As for going abroad to absorb the fortune of foreigners?
Shen Shuman shook her head. She wasn’t that short-sighted. In a globalized world, disturbing one part could affect the entire system.
If other countries lost their fortune, leading to business collapses, financial crises, technological regression, or even wars, which of these wouldn’t affect her homeland?
As it happened, she had been reading an espionage novel set in Shanghai’s occupied territories when an idea suddenly struck her. She tricked the Black Koi by telling it that if it could take her into the world of the novel, it could absorb as much fortune as it wanted. One book wouldn’t be enough? There were countless other books waiting for them!
At the time, she had only been joking. Although the appearance of a supernatural spirit had already caused her worldview to teeter on the brink of collapse, she never expected that the parallel dimensions imagined in science fiction would actually exist!
Shen Shuman regretted it immensely. What had possessed her to mention Republican-era Shanghai? The Black Koi clearly belonged to the cultivation side of things! She should have gone to one of those immortal-cultivation worlds and let the righteous heroes there destroy it!
Of course, that was merely wishful thinking. Once an arrow had been shot, there was no turning back.
Not only had she traveled through time, but she had also become a Zhongtong agent embedded in the 76th Bureau who had already been captured.
She was… truly unlucky!
Was this the consequence of having her fortune drained by the Black Koi?
Shen Shuman sucked in a sharp breath and desperately tried to process the memories in her mind, hoping to find a way to survive.
At this time, Shanghai had already been occupied for a year following the Battle of Shanghai. The International Settlement and the French Concession had become isolated islands.
After a year of raids and crackdowns, the Zhongtong intelligence network in Shanghai had completely collapsed. Countless people had been arrested. The original owner of this body, who had been recruited as an agent in passing, was actually an expendable pawn on the outskirts of the organization.
Recently, her instructor, Qian Anmin, the deputy director of the Confidential Affairs Department at the 76th Bureau, had fled with intelligence.
Duan Yinhui, the director of the Intelligence Department, launched a massive search of the Confidential Affairs Department and arrested everyone except the department director, Boro Ming.
During the arrests, three people suddenly appeared and resisted arrest with guns, shooting and killing quite a few people. The entire Confidential Affairs Department descended into chaos.
In the end, Duan Yinhui outmaneuvered them, captured everyone, and had them locked up in the interrogation department, where they were now being questioned one by one.
The timing of her arrival couldn’t have been more unfortunate. The original owner had already made preparations. Once it was her turn to be interrogated, she would immediately bite down on the capsule in her mouth and commit suicide.
At present, Director Duan was interrogating the only survivor among the three who had resisted arrest. After that, it would be their turn.
There was no doubt that anyone who would engage in such an act while carrying a gun had to be an agent planted by the Juntong, Zhongtong, or perhaps the Communist Party.
Based on the 76th Bureau’s methods, everyone would be treated as expendable, regardless of whether the remaining people were actually suspicious.
Fortunately, they were in the Confidential Affairs Department.
The so-called Confidential Affairs Department was actually a department where people with connections came to idle away their time. The three female colleagues around her had powerful connections.
Su Yingxue was the biological younger sister of Su Yingjiang, the action team leader.
Bai Liusu was the woman of Wang Bingyang, the deputy director of the interrogation department—or, one could say, his fiancée.
Chen Ailin was the niece of Li Jinsong, the director of the Third Department.
There were four women in the Confidential Affairs Department in total, and only the original owner was an ordinary person without any connections.
She had been recruited while she was still in school by the Haishe organization, which specialized in recruiting students. Among those who had been specially recruited alongside her, some had already risen to prominent positions, such as Duan Yinhui, the director of the Intelligence Department.
That woman was a complete lunatic, with blood covering her hands. In order to establish a foothold in the 76th Bureau, she would stop at nothing. No one knew how much blood she had spilled from innocent compatriots.
Others had already become nothing more than a handful of dust.
The original owner had been terrified. She wanted to find someone powerful to rely on.
Qian Anmin, the deputy director of the Confidential Affairs Department, noticed her intentions and persuaded her to become an outer member of Zhongtong. She didn’t do much in her daily life, merely helping Qian Anmin cover his tracks from time to time.
Since the original owner was only half-trained and possessed very little knowledge of espionage, Qian Anmin would never entrust her with any important missions.
As for this intelligence theft operation, it was highly classified, and the original owner knew nothing about it.
Yet she had still become an expendable pawn. In order to protect the person who had actually stolen the intelligence, Qian Anmin had deliberately planted misleading clues, leading Duan Yinhui to investigate the Confidential Affairs Department. By then, Qian Anmin had already escaped with the intelligence.
Those clues seemed to point in different directions, but in reality, they were directing suspicion toward the original owner.
The original owner had no way out. Knowing that she wouldn’t survive the torture, she had already decided to bite down on the poison capsule and end her life once it was her turn to be interrogated.
However, during the arrest, someone had pushed her amid the chaos, causing her to hit the corner of a table and lose consciousness.
To be honest, her performance was nothing like that of an agent. She was even worse than the few female colleagues beside her.
Therefore, Duan Yinhui hadn’t paid any attention to her. She was focused on interrogating the person who had obviously resisted arrest out of guilt.
But time was running out. Shen Shuman had to find a way to save herself. Otherwise, she would lose her life right after traveling through time.
The Black Koi had told her that if she died, it would directly devour her soul and search for its next host.
Shen Shuman didn’t want to die, and she certainly didn’t want the Black Koi to go around harming other people. What if it found a traitor and lackey of the enemy? The country in this world would be doomed.
She absolutely couldn’t afford to believe that the Black Koi possessed any moral principles. It was hardly any better than a villain who committed every imaginable evil.
With these thoughts in mind, an interrogation officer walked over.
“Director Duan, that person has confessed. He’s with the Juntong.”
Shen Shuman’s heart tightened.
It’s happening!
“Oh?” Duan Yinhui asked casually. “Who is his contact on the inside?”
“He said he doesn’t know. This matter wasn’t carried out by the Juntong. Do you think it might be Zhongtong, or perhaps the Communist Party?”
“Interesting.”
Duan Yinhui stood up, her sharp eyes sweeping across the people who were tied up around her.
“This Confidential Affairs Department really is full of hidden talents!”
She walked toward them step by step.
Su Yingxue and the others trembled in fear. Although Shen Shuman had been mentally prepared, facing such a situation in person still frightened her considerably. Her heart pounded rapidly in her chest.
“Take her down for interrogation.”
Duan Yinhui pointed at her.
Shen Shuman steeled herself.
I knew this would happen. Of the four of us, I’m the only one without any connections. Duan Yinhui would definitely target me first!
She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to take action to save herself!