Volume 1: The Fierce Tiger Breaks Free Chapter 25: Turning the Tables (Part 1)

  According to Grandpa's request, after arriving at the Special Forces Command of the Military Region, Ling Tianxiang stayed in Zhou Guohui's office and didn't leave for a single step. Fortunately, Zhou Guohui had collected many books that interested Ling Tianxiang, allowing him to pass the time. Now, thinking back, it was also possible that during his childhood, he was influenced by military books at Grandpa's place, which led him to give up the opportunity to enter a top university and instead enroll in a military academy, becoming a soldier. If not for these influences, maybe he would be an excellent engineer now or studying for a degree at some university.

  Zhou Guohui also treated Ling Tianxiang as if he didn't exist, and after returning, he began to deal with the files piled up on his desk, busy to the point where even going to the bathroom was a sprint. He had long forgotten his dignity as a general. Ling Tianxiang had been secretly observing Zhou Guohui's every move, and now he remembered that when he was young, he and his siblings would often go to their uncle's house and loved to disturb him while he worked. But that was already over ten years ago, and those little brats were now all grown up. Thinking of this, Ling Tianxiang also felt a bit melancholic - how were his siblings doing? Since entering the "Snow Leopard" unit, for two years, Ling Tianxiang had not been in contact with his siblings, and even writing letters or making phone calls was rare.

  "General..."

  Ling Tianxiang quietly lifted his head, and the secretary hurried in.

  "I had just received the call when Director Luo from the Military Intelligence Bureau arrived half an hour later."

  Zhou Guohui nodded, intentionally or unintentionally glancing at Ling Tianxiang, and said to the secretary: "Let's have Director Luo come in directly later, and also prepare some tea. He seems to like green tea."

  "I remember it was black tea."

  "Alright, you go prepare then. Also, after Luo Zhi Chang arrives, don't let anyone else disturb us for the time being."

  After the secretary left, Zhou Guohui also put down the documents in his hand and sat down on the sofa. Ling Tianxiang was still pretending to read the book in his hand, as if nothing had happened, but he had already noticed that his uncle's expression had become gloomy, as if he had a heavy heart.

  "Uncle, if it's inconvenient for you, I'll..."

  "Don't even think about going anywhere, just stay here!" Zhou Guohui immediately pressed down on his hand, "Also, don't interrupt later, got it?"

  Ling Tianxiang immediately nodded, it seemed that Eldest Uncle didn't trust him at all, as if he was a wild beast that needed to be locked up with chains. This feeling made Ling Tianxiang very uncomfortable, he had only done what he thought he should do, and the fact proved that he wasn't wrong to an unforgivable extent, did they need to stare at him like this?

  "What a hassle!" Zhou Guohui sighed several times, rubbed his temples forcefully, and then fell silent again.

  Ling Tianxiang had been observing the changes in his uncle's expression, feeling that something was not quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. He could only continue to remain silent and observe the changing situation.

  Before long, the secretary brought in a middle-aged man. After serving a cup of red tea, the secretary quickly retreated and pulled the door shut.

  "Lao Luo, what's going on? You're troubling yourself with such a big deal?" Zhou Guohui came over very enthusiastically, but Ling Tianxiang immediately saw that his uncle was just pretending to be enthusiastic and wasn't even doing it very convincingly.

  "General Zhou, I am someone who doesn't visit the Three Treasures Hall for no reason." Luo Chuzhang said as he glanced over at Ling Tianxiang sitting in the corner of the sofa.

  "What's up? Please sit down!" Zhou Guohui pretended not to see Ling Tianxiang, and asked Director Luo to take a seat. "Is it related to that tape?"

  Lu Chu nodded and didn't say anything else, obviously he didn't trust Ling Tianxiang who was still in the room.

  "The tape is what he brought back." Zhou Guohui didn't introduce Ling Tianxiang, "You can rest assured that whatever is said in this room, no fourth person will know."

  Luo Chuchang's gaze towards Ling Tianxiang immediately changed, and he nodded slightly. "Let's put it this way, we've already investigated the person mentioned on the tape."

  Zhou Guohui lit a cigarette and waited for the other person to continue speaking.

  "He is indeed a spy lurking in our country. Half a year ago, we were already tracking and monitoring his movements, but didn't find anything unusual. Before that, we had classified him as a latent spy and didn't pay much attention to him."

  In intelligence terminology, the "incubation period" means that spies have not yet received orders from their superiors and remain undercover, only responsible for gathering intelligence without transmitting it to the outside world or participating in any intelligence activities. Most spies lurking within a foreign country's borders have an incubation period, some lasting several years, others even decades. These spies are like timed bombs, posing no threat until they receive orders, at which point they will immediately spring into action.

  "If this intelligence is true, then we've caught a big fish." Luo took the cigarette and after taking two puffs, continued to say, "The problem now is that we can't immediately make an arrest."

  "Why?" Zhou Guohui asked immediately.

  "It's simple. If he is an important contact, then as soon as we capture him, it will immediately startle the snake from its hiding place and scare away the traitor we are investigating."

  "But through interrogation, shouldn't we also find out the identity of the traitor?"

  "It's tough." Luo shook his head, "Intelligence personnel usually have one-way contacts. This is due to mutual distrust and insurance. Maybe he doesn't even know who the traitor is, but just exchanges information at a designated time and place, which doesn't even require them to meet in person."

  "How can we find the traitor through this clue?"

  "There are two ways."

  Upon hearing this, Ling Tianxiang also became interested. Even if he didn't want to participate in the subsequent actions, he was very clear that it was that traitor who had harmed Wei Daming and made him narrowly escape danger several times.

  "One is to closely monitor the spy, grasp his whereabouts, and it's not too big a hope. After all, if we want to exchange intelligence, our internal mole should be the first to send out information. And by the time we have grasped the spy's whereabouts, the mole has already left. Moreover, there are many places for exchanging intelligence, and we can't monitor every corner."

  Zhou Guohui nodded slightly, this is indeed the fact. Even if the intelligence department's ability is great, it is impossible to conduct extensive surveillance without any clues.

  Luo Chuzhang's expression also became difficult, he glanced at Zhou Guohui and didn't continue speaking. The sharp blade rolled over, the fierce tiger went off the reins Chapter 25: Turning the plan into a counterplan (Part 1)