Chapter 29: The True Identity of Special Agent 0901

  From the moment I met Sherlock, he was a fake! First impressions, I didn't know him beforehand, and the image in my mind was established from the start. His 'character' and behavior made me think that's what Sherlock should be like, creating blind spots in my understanding and thinking, so I never doubted his identity. From start to finish, I never suspected his true identity, and later on, most of the British people related to him were dead, so even if he did something inconsistent with the real Sherlock, no one could point out the flaws. It's much easier to deceive a stranger than to confuse an acquaintance!

  A chill ran straight up my spine, I was cheated by some unknown guy all along, damn it!

  "Tell me everything you know!" I hastily interrogated the real Sherlock. He muttered and confessed to everything. After hearing his confession, I became even more astonished and uncertain. The information that Sherlock revealed was almost identical to what the fake Sherlock had said. In other words, the fake Sherlock had told me everything he should and shouldn't have said, except for his own deceitful identity. It didn't surprise me that the fake Sherlock could reveal the real Sherlock's secrets; otherwise, he would have been exposed by the other British people from the very beginning.

  Of course, Shinjuroku didn't know my true identity, which was a relief. The fewer people who knew this secret, the better. What caught my attention, however, was that Shinjuroku revealed that Tian Wenliang was indeed their mole in the Confidential Bureau from East Asia Investment Company, but he had no idea that Tian Wenliang was already dead.

  Since I couldn't get any more useful information out of him, I threw the naked Sherlock into the crowd and watched over him together. Incidentally, I also found a Chinese-style long gown for him to wear, so he wouldn't catch a cold.

  I, along with Xu Lai and Nie Kun, told the captured sailors about the floating corpses outside. They looked at each other, seemingly disbelieving. I couldn't help but get angry: "Thirty years on this side of the river, thirty years on that side - you're all prisoners now, what are you afraid of? Are you worried we'll deceive you?"

  I pointed at Xie Lao San, whose face was completely changed, and ordered: "Find a few people who can drive the boat, and hurry up to leave here with the fastest speed!"

  Xie Lao San spat out a mouthful of blood and water, the little "chick" nodded repeatedly like pecking at rice, being extremely obedient. He pulled Zhang Jiao and three sailors, under the full armed guard of Gui Ye Jia and Xu Lai, towards the direction of the steering control room. With Gui Ye Jia's fierce gaze around, it was estimated that they wouldn't be able to stir up any big waves.

  We collected the firearms, each person hiding several, and forced the remaining dozen or so sailors into a corner, crowded together, ready to shoot at any movement. Cai Lingyu was still unconscious, I tied up her hands and feet, locked her in a room next door, waiting for her to wake up before interrogating her again.

  "Tell me, who are you working for?" I found a small stool to sit on, raised Erlang's legs, and asked the sailor in front of me with a smile.

  The sailors all looked at each other in silence, and I turned to speak to him. I let out a cold snort, "Kunye, show them your 'exposure'!"

  Nie Kun's eyes narrowed, his hand rose and the gun fell, bang bang bang! Only three shots were heard, with three bullets hitting the crotch of the three sailors' pants, shooting through. The bullet holes were less than a centimeter away from the vital parts!

  A cool breeze blew by, and the crotches of three sailors' pants all got wet, emitting a strong smell of urine.

  "Or else, heh heh, Lord Kun's hand will have to be raised a bit higher!" I said with a sly smile, the imposing air of interrogating prisoners finally returned, and I suddenly felt refreshed and spirited, forgetting all my worries.

  After a short while, I only heard a loud engine roar, and the Golden China Wheel started moving again, accelerating rapidly forward. My heart felt even more at ease.

  The sailors were frightened by us, and their spirits began to waver, whispering to each other in private, but still no one dared to speak the truth. I sneered, the timing was almost ripe, now they should have collapsed long ago, but because of the presence of others, no one dared to take the lead. At this time, the best approach is to separate them for interrogation, one by one.

  I looked at the old eunuch, with this treasure who was familiar with the ten great cruel punishments of the Qing Dynasty, and it would depend on his skills to see what extent the sailors could tell the truth. I whispered a few words in the old eunuch's ear, and he revealed a ruthless smile, laughing in a sinister tone: "These little rascals will be dug out for whatever bad things they did when they were three years old!" After that, his poisonous palms grabbed a sailor and dragged him to the next room for interrogation. Soon, cries of agony came from there, and the other sailors trembled all over their bodies after hearing them.

  Everything seems to be going on in an orderly manner.

  I was leaning on my leg, waiting for the result. I took out a pack of cigarettes and prepared to light one up. When I saw that it was the fake Sherlock who had thrown it at me before he left, I immediately became vigilant. After a series of checks, I finally noticed that there was a piece of paper stuck between the plastic wrap on the back of the cigarette box.

  "A note!" I almost shouted out, sneaking a glance at Nie Kun beside me, fortunately he was fully focused on the sailor and didn't notice the change in my expression. I quickly covered the note with my palm and said: "I'm going to the restroom." After that, I pretended nothing had happened and got up to leave.

  I rushed to an empty room, closed the door, and secretly looked at the note in my palm. I hastily unfolded it, and the handwriting was extremely familiar. The content read: "I helped you cut off the web of Qianlong's coffin. That Liu will be dealt with by me. You escort the top-secret files on the Jin Hua ship to Taiwan. Once the task is completed, you will become a senior intelligence officer!"

  The signature at the end of the note reads "Te 0901, Tian Wenliang."

  "Tian Wenliang... Tian Wenliang... Tian Wenliang!" I muttered Tian Wenliang's name, dazed and stupid like a wooden chicken.

  A multitude of fragments flashed through my mind. Was Xiaoluo Tian Wenliang? Tian Wenliang was Te 0901! After several minutes, I finally calmed down and roughly clarified the situation in my head.

  First, Tian Wenliang handed me the Jinhua ferry ticket and a secret order, telling me to head to the Jinhua ferry. Then he himself also snuck on board, knocked Sherlock out, disguised himself as fake Sherlock, and deliberately made contact with me. The Sherlock I met in the dining hall was actually Tian Wenliang in disguise; when I returned to my room, he must have taken a detour from another direction to get ahead of me, creating an illusion of a time difference. This way, I would never suspect that Te 0901 was actually the same foreign devil "Sherlock" who had just eaten with me moments before.

  All the big agents are 'familiar' with disguise, Zhou Enlai even disguised himself as a 'woman' to escape the Kuomintang's arrest. There were also many people in the Military Intelligence who knew how to disguise themselves, and some of them were extremely skilled. However, I never knew that Tian Wenliang, a civilian, had this 'unique skill'. He, a yellow-skinned Chinese, was able to disguise himself as a white-skinned old foreigner with yellow hair, without any flaws. It's incredible! In order not to arouse my suspicion, he even fabricated evidence of Tian Wenliang's accidental death, making me completely lose the last bit of possibility to suspect him. Now that I think back, "Sherlock" only showed me a few photos of Tian Wenliang's face at first, and the rest were all local anatomical diagrams, without revealing his full face. However, at that time, I was too shocked, my mind and thinking were all concentrated on the premise of Tian Wenliang's death, and I didn't notice the reliability problem of this premise.

  Why doesn't Te Ru 0901 let me see his face? He's actually an old acquaintance of mine! Once I see his face, he can't pretend anymore.

  The more I think about it, the more terrifying Tian Wenliang becomes. His mother's acting skills are too deep. As expected, old ginger is still spicy, and even when we're in a desperate situation where anything can happen at any time, he hasn't revealed any flaws. From the moment he gave me that first note, he showed off his exceptional skills, rivaling those of Gu Ye. But what's even more frightening is that he can endure until the very end without making a move. Such composure and ruthlessness towards himself makes my hair stand on end.

  I remember Tian Wenliang saying that a spy is someone who deceives people, and a clever spy can even deceive his own people. I feel a deep sense of powerlessness, the Special 0901 I've been searching for all along was actually right beside me.

  "I can understand why he's worried that I might spill the beans. But what role did his hidden identity play in the mission? There are still some key points that I haven't figured out, and I couldn't help but take another look at the note: 'Escort the top-secret documents on the Golden Flower to Taiwan.' This message seems to have revealed the main purpose of our entire mission - it's not about the gold, nor is it about those stolen goods from the tomb. It's about the over 20 oak barrels hidden in the hold! In other words, everything else is irrelevant, no matter how many people die. Our task is simply to smooth out any unexpected impact and ensure that the documents arrive safely in Taiwan."

  Now that the dust has settled, Tian Wenliang immediately revealed his identity to me and ran away himself.

  "Grass, you also trust me too much!" I suddenly felt a huge pressure. Don't look at how harmonious I am with the other few people now, but don't forget that among them, two are Green Gang thugs who can kill their own kind without blinking an eye, and the other two are tomb-raiding thieves who can kill people without batting an eyelid, single-handedly killing almost half of the sailors on the boat. If they get some idea about me, I won't have enough lives to die with.

  I lit three cigarettes in a row, and after calming down, I slowly walked back to the original room with a heart full of thoughts. As soon as I entered the door, I saw that Gu Ye Jia had actually come back alone, and I asked in surprise: "How did you get back?"

  "Let me tell you two pieces of news, one good and one bad. Which one would you like to hear?" Koinu said mysteriously to me.

  I looked at Nie Kun, and that kid's worried expression seemed to already know the answer. This expression didn't need to be said, it was definitely more bad news than good news. I replied: "Let's start with the good news first."

  "The good news is that the ship has set sail, and before we did, the sea of corpses outside had mysteriously disappeared. At this speed, it's estimated that in three hours, we'll be able to break through the stormy area. In other words, for now, we're safe."

  I took a deep breath and asked, "What's the bad news?" The oni smiled wryly: "When I was blowing things up earlier, I accidentally destroyed the communication room. Now our dashboard and compass are malfunctioning, and we've lost contact with the outside world. If we can't find the correct coordinates, we'll be in big trouble."

  I thought about it and Ghost Leg's tone seems to be saying that we are 'lost' our way?

  "Not bad, we've 'lost' our way now. The Kinwa Maru is sailing blind and all we know is that we're somewhere in the ocean, but nothing else." Kiyotsugu smiled wryly.