Fearing complications from delay, Jiang Si went directly to the courtyard house where Chi Heng was staying before dawn the next day.
However, after turning the courtyard house upside down and searching every nook and cranny, they still couldn't find the key.
Uncle Da thought for a moment, "Miss Jiang, Takeda is a very suspicious person. Do you think he might have kept the key on him?"
"He shouldn't have. The police comrades searched him yesterday. Besides a wallet, he only had a dagger for self-defense on him."
"That wallet was also checked, there was nothing inside..."
Before she could finish, Jiang Si and Huo Tingzhou exchanged a look.
Almost simultaneously, they blurted out, "The dagger!"
Without wasting a moment, Jiang Si and Huo Tingzhou hurried to the Public Security Bureau. After explaining the situation, they obtained all the items Takeda had on him when he was arrested from the evidence room.
Once the dagger was in hand, Huo Tingzhou weighed it. "The weight of this dagger isn't quite right."
Sure enough, after a thorough inspection, he spotted a shallow seam near the base of the hilt.
"Get me a screwdriver."
With the screwdriver, Huo Tingzhou pressed its tip against the seam and applied moderate force to pry.
With a soft click, the end cap popped open slightly.
Unscrewing the cap and seeing the brass key inside, their eyes lit up.
It was really hidden here!
Uncertain if there were any accomplices inside the bank, they dared not go there rashly. After reporting the situation to Fourth Uncle,
the group sat quietly in the office, waiting for news from Chi Heng's side.
Meanwhile, following his mother's instructions, Chi Heng had gone to the address early in the morning.
When Deputy Minister Yuan opened the door and saw Chi Heng, he was stunned speechless for a long moment.
Coming to his senses, he quickly glanced around.
Only after confirming no one was paying attention did he pull the man inside.
"Why are you here? Who told you to come?" Deputy Minister Yuan whispered.
His tone carried fear along with a hint of unease.
Hearing this tone, Deputy Minister Yuan clearly recognized him. Seeing this, Chi Heng didn't waste words on pleasantries and directly conveyed his mother's order.
"Takeda was taken away by the Ministry of Public Security yesterday. My mother hopes you can quickly ascertain the situation and find a way to get him out."
Knowing that Chi Heng wouldn't visit without a reason, Deputy Minister Yuan hadn't expected such a tricky matter.
"How did he end up inside?"
"If I knew, do you think I'd be running here?"
Chi Heng's attitude was arrogant. "My mother hopes to have accurate news by today. Otherwise, if Mr. Takeda stays in there too long, it won't be good for you, for me, or for anyone!"
Deputy Minister Yuan understood this well even without Chi Heng saying it.
But matters of the Ministry of Public Security were beyond his reach.
Using connections for such a person would clearly signal to others that something was amiss.
Yet refusing wasn't an option either. Chi's mother was a madwoman.
She held too many of his unsavory secrets.
After much deliberation, Deputy Minister Yuan could only approach a trusted old friend. Although the friend was somewhat surprised why he was inquiring about this,
thinking it rare for his old friend to ask a favor, he didn't press further and agreed to help ask around.
This person worked quickly, calling back in less than two hours.
That afternoon, Deputy Minister Yuan also relayed the situation to Chi's mother through his own channels, though his words were tinged with considerable dissatisfaction.
From his account, Chi's mother roughly understood the sequence of events.
Apparently, the problem lay with those fools Takeda had sent out.
Takeda's original intention was for these men to gather information near the residential compound, but they were spotted by police comrades conducting covert investigations.
It's said these men sold Takeda out in less than two hours after being detained.
Chi's mother listened but was half-convinced. These men were professionally trained; even if captured, they shouldn't have given anyone up.
"That's entirely possible."
Deputy Minister Yuan said, "Madam Chi, you've been abroad for too long; you might not be very familiar with their interrogation methods."
"There's no rule here about not hitting prisoners here. If once doesn't work, they hit them twice!"
"Moreover, who knows if they were carrying anything they shouldn't have when they went out?"
After a moment of silence, Chi's mother asked, "Then when can we get him out?"
"That's a bit difficult."
Then, he shared the information he had gathered. "I heard Takeda is being very stubborn inside, refusing to cooperate. He's currently in the hospital's intensive care unit. Whether he lives or dies, we don't know."
"How could this happen?" Chi's mother rarely lost her composure on the phone. "He's a Gaullic national, how dare they?"
Why wouldn't they dare?
Deputy Minister Yuan thought to himself, precisely because he's a Gaullic national, the suspicion is greater.
In these times, anyone associated with the term 'enemy agent'—even if beaten to death—people would only say they deserved it!
And didn't they deserve it?
The matter concerning Deputy Minister Xu could have been big or small. If Takeda hadn't been so clever and insisted on probing the situation, he wouldn't have been targeted.
Now he's made everyone else nervous along with him.
In his opinion, it would be better if this man died in the hospital—a clean end.
Of course, he couldn't say that. He could only try his best to soothe Chi's mother's emotions over the phone.
Chi's mother didn't want to hear his nonsense. "Given Takeda's condition, is repatriation possible?"
"Not very likely."
Unwilling to give up, Chi's mother said, "He has a dispatch work permit. According to..."
"Right now, no regulations matter." Deputy Minister Yuan, who worked in intelligence himself, understood this perfectly well.
After a pause, he added, "Regarding that work permit you mentioned, he probably didn't have it on him. If he did, the Ministry of Public Security would have contacted his unit long ago."
Chi's mother felt this was impossible. That work permit was crucial; Takeda couldn't be so careless.
Yet Deputy Minister Yuan's words were absolute.
Before she could sort out her thoughts, Deputy Minister Yuan said, "Madam Chi, the political situation in Capital City is quite unstable lately. Unless absolutely necessary, we should minimize contact. Also, please don't have your son visit again; it's too risky!"
With that, he hurriedly hung up the phone.
This matter couldn't be hidden from his spouse. Deputy Minister Yuan's wife was quite puzzled upon hearing about it.
"Old Yuan, as long as these people live for one more day, we are in danger for one more day. Why didn't you suggest to Madam Chi that she have them eliminated?"
Deputy Minister Yuan pressed his temples. "Do you think she isn't aware of this?"
No, she understood better than anyone that these people had outlived their usefulness.
But this suggestion couldn't come from him.
People always dislike the crow that brings bad news.
If he were the one to say it,
every time Chi's mother recalled this incident in the future, she would remember that it was he who suggested the silencing.
Deputy Minister Yuan fancied himself exceedingly clever. Little did he know that all the information he managed to gather today was intentionally leaked by Huo's fourth uncle and his associates.
As Jiang Si would say, the final result was correct, but not a single step in the problem-solving process was right.
But that wasn't important either. What mattered was that these words, when spread by Deputy Minister Xu, carried far more credibility than if they came from Chi Heng.
...
At that time, there were no direct flights between the two countries.
Chi Heng and Chris's marriage power of attorney arrived in Gaul three days later. Meanwhile, after three days of deliberation, Chi's mother had also reached a decision.
Those individuals, including Takeda, could not be allowed to remain.
As for who would carry out the task and how, Chi's mother had also given instructions.
At the same time, she also handed over the list to Chi Heng as agreed.
Only then did Chi Heng realize that the list he had been desperately searching for had been hidden right under his nose all along.
Chi's mother had written the list with a special chemical solution on the back of his photograph with his grandparents.
"This portion here can mobilize a certain group of people. I will hand over the remainder of the list to you when the time is right," she said.
Chi Heng asked, "What about the funds?"
In fact, he was already certain that the other half of the list must be in the safe.
But just to be safe, he asked one more question.
Chi's mother hesitated for a moment and, just before hanging up, uttered a name.
That night, all was silent.
The arrest operation, which had been postponed for several days, officially began.
Just as everyone was sound asleep, a series of knocks on doors rang out simultaneously in different locations—
