Naming Technique of the Night

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For intelligence officers, if captured, the best possible outcome is death.

Qing Mu was captured because one of his subordinates, a Kite Falcon, betrayed him.

This Kite Falcon not only gave up Qing Mu but also caused 121 members of Qing's northern intelligence system to be caught.

The Jindai family used the lives of these 121 people to demand that Qing Mu not commit suicide; as long as he obediently raised pigs at the Northern Military Base, those 121 could perform the lowliest menial jobs at the northern production base.

Although life was hard for these 121 people, lacking even cotton clothes to wear in the winter, and over 30 of them suffered from night blindness due to a prolonged lack of meat in their diet,

at least they all survived.

Qing's shadow sat on the edge of the rooftop, gazing at the distant starry sky and said, "Sometimes I wonder, how many 19 years does one have in life to squander? Qing Mu was 31 when he was captured, and now he has become a 50-year-old man. In the first year he was placed in the pigpen, everyone thought he would give in, but he didn't. The second year, everyone thought he would give in, but he didn't."

Shadow continued, "Gradually, everyone in Qing's Family knew that Qing Mu would not yield, and he became the soul of Qing's intelligence system. Jindai wanted to break him, but year after year, he persevered, becoming the backbone of Qing intelligence personnel in that pigpen. So when you ask me what contribution he made to Qing's Family? That contribution is immeasurable."

Just like Qing's shadow had said, the Jindai family kept Qing Mu alive not for any other reason, but to break him.

Those northern jackals were adept at manipulating the human heart; they knew that if someone like Qing Mu couldn't endure the humiliation and ultimately switched allegiance, then all of the Qing intelligence personnel captured by Jindai would collapse together.

This was the best strategy to breach the psychological defenses of Qing intelligence personnel: If a Qing intelligence officer, ready to resist to the end, was captured, and suddenly Jindai brought out a compromised, surrendered Qing Mu saying, "See? Even Qing Mu has surrendered, what's the point of your persistence?"

It's imaginable that most intelligence personnel wouldn't be able to withstand this tactic.

This was more terrifying than physical torture.

But Qing Mu withstood it.

Qing Chen understood that this was also why Qing's shadow suddenly intervened in Group Seven's affairs this time—they wanted to bring Qing Mu back home.

Qing Chen suddenly asked, "Is Qing Mu doing alright now?"

Shadow was silent for a moment, "Not well, 7 years ago the Jindai family tried to use neuron bridging technology to usurp his consciousness, so even if Qing Mu did not yield, someone could impersonate him as the new Qing Mu. But the neuron bridging surgery failed spectacularly, the consciousness of the person trying to usurp him was obliterated, while Qing Mu turned into a madman who could only mechanically feed pigs and utter a single sentence. Under these circumstances, neuron bridging technology also can't be used again, or it would kill Qing Mu."

Shadow continued, "Jindai was unsure whether he was genuinely insane or feigning it, so they resorted to more means to torment him, to insult him, but he only had that one sentence."

Qing Chen was stunned; he couldn't imagine how much willpower the Commander must possess to resist neuron bridging surgery and even obliterate the consciousness of the person trying to usurp him within his mind.

Qing Chen asked, "What is Qing Mu's sentence?"

He was asking about the sentence that Qing Mu left for the world after resisting neuron bridging.

Qing's shadow said, "Don't worry about me."

Qing Chen was taken aback; those four words were not the least bit heroic, quite plain really.

But for some reason, he always felt that behind these four words was the last bit of perseverance that Qing Mu had after resigning himself to death.

Qing's shadow said, "Actually, by all accounts, it would be in my interest as a shadow for Qing Mu to die at Jindai's hands or continue to stay in that pigpen. That way, I could always use Qing Mu's story to stir up the hatred of the intelligence personnel, and make Qing Mu into a wall in the heart of every intelligence officer. But today, I suddenly felt like bringing him home, for no particular reason, just a feeling that he should come home."

At some point, Qing Chen even felt that there was a strong emotion hidden in Qing's shadow's matter-of-fact tone.

This Qing Mu might have some kind of relationship with Qing's shadow.

Over the phone, as if Qing's shadow had guessed Qing Chen's thoughts, he said with a laugh, "Do you think you've caught on to a clue that could lead to my true identity? Try and see, you might actually find out."

Qing Chen said irritably, "There's no mention of Qing Mu in the information database of Intelligence Department One. You'd have to look in Qing's internal intelligence database, but would you dare to open Qing's internal database to me?"

Qing's shadow chuckled, "If you could become a shadow, wouldn't Qing's database be at your disposal? Keep it up."

With that, the shadow hung up the call.

Qing Chen sat in the office and brewed himself a cup of tea; at this time, Qing Hua had returned, and he smelled the peculiar aroma of the tea right at the office door.

He said in surprise, "Boss, is this Realm camellia?"

Qing Chen glanced at him, "You know about this tea?"

Qing Hua whispered, "I had the chance to smell it once at some big shot's place; this tea has a unique fragrance that one never forgets once smelled."

"Hmm," Qing Chen responded nonchalantly, as if the Realm camellia wasn't that precious in his eyes.

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Qing Hua said cautiously, "Boss, I've heard that the Realm camellia tea is only available from Mr. Shadow, and only his most trusted confidants who have achieved great merit can get a small reward... I also heard that the tea is grown by Transcendents..."

After finishing his words, he glanced at the open tea caddy on Qing Chen's desk, which must contain at least a pound of Realm camellia tea, right?

Confronted with Qing Chen's demeanor, Qing Hua became even more humble.

The person who could acquire a pound of Realm camellia tea from Mr. Shadow, could he be Mr. Shadow's closest and most trusted confidant?

For Qing Hua, those were lofty figures from the heavens.

After hearing what Qing Hua had said, Qing Chen suddenly realized why Qing's Shadow had asked him to bring the Realm camellia tea to Intelligence Department One. It turned out that the reason he had been given the tea late at night was to facilitate winning over people's hearts at the department.

If he had let Qing Hua smell the fragrance of the tea as soon as he reported for duty, there wouldn't have been any incidents of attempted intimidation.

Little did Mr. Shadow know that Qing Chen not only didn't carry such precious Realm camellia tea with him, wasting his good intentions, but also had managed to get Team Seven under control within a single day, without any need for the tea to come into play.

Qing Chen looked at Qing Hua and calmly said, "Let's set aside the matter of the Realm camellia tea for now. Are the people from Deer Island secured?"

"They are secured," Qing Hua replied. "I have already spread the news of the trade, and if nothing goes wrong, Deer Island will soon find out that Jindai has traded their two important missing individuals to us."

Qing Chen nodded, saying firmly, "Good, remember to update the whiteboard with those two people's names tomorrow. Cross out Jindai Jingyi's name. If anyone from Deer Island comes to inquire or watch, tell them plainly that we want Jindai Yasuhara, and only him. If they bring Jindai Yasuhara to us, I will hand over both of Deer Island's people to them."

Qing Hua was momentarily stunned. "Alright, I'll get on it right away."

Qing Chen sat alone in the office drinking tea, feeling no sense of belonging to the Qing Clan. However, he now very much wanted to bring Qing Mu back home.

...

...

Dawn broke, and the detectives from the various groups of Intelligence Department One began to arrive at work.

The first thing everyone did upon arriving in the building was to go to the third floor to check the whiteboard, eager to see what names had been updated.

Though everybody had heard about the events of the previous night, they still wanted to see firsthand whether everything in the rumors had actually happened.

Especially the detectives from the Li and Chen Clans, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the drama, eagerly pointing at the two newly added names on the whiteboard. "Lee Kwangheon has been missing for two years, and to think that he was actually captured by the Jindai family, ah, I never imagined Jindai and Deer Island, seemingly close as family, would secretly capture such an important figure from the other side, tsk tsk tsk."

"With the Jindai family's nature, it's not at all surprising that they could pull off such an act. They're the best at scheming behind others' backs."

In reality, the secret capture of Lee Kwangheon wasn't carried out by the Jindai family.

But when the news spread, everyone felt that it wasn't unusual for the Jindai family to backstab, and at this point, it was time for Jindai to do some self-reflection...

The occurrences of the previous night were so significant that even the usually stern Inspector Li Yunqu of the Li Family came to the third floor to join in the chatter.

As Li Yunqu looked at the whiteboard, he thought to himself that the gentleman from Autumn Leaf Courtyard was truly impressive, stirring up unrest in Intelligence Department One as soon as he arrived.

Sure enough, those favored by the previous generation's Family Head, Li Xiurui, were tough characters.

Li Yunqu said to his subordinates with a chuckle, "I wonder if Jindai and Deer Island can still maintain their close relationship now?"

Previously, when the detectives from Jindai and Deer Island met, they always behaved warmly towards each other, like a loving family.

Even the inspectors from both clans would occasionally have lunch together, publicly flaunting their alliance in front of everyone's eyes.

Now, everyone was waiting to see the drama unfold, curious about how Jindai and Deer Island would react.

When Jindai and Deer Island representatives arrived, Li Yunqu was astonished to see that they greeted each other with smiles as they always had.

He immediately understood that, due to the situation with the northern battles, the two clans couldn't openly confront each other in broad daylight and so continued their hypocritical facade.

After all, they were all calculating adults who knew how to play their parts.

But Li Yunqu was no pushover either. Seeing that Jindai and Deer Island were seemingly as close as ever, he jovially quipped, "Look at these fools from Deer Island, counting money for their seller, with two of their important figures secretly captured, and they're still playing nice with the captors. Come on, brothers, let's not look any longer. Staring at fools too much can make you foolish."

The faces of the Deer Island detectives changed; their pride was at stake!

Li Yunqu's words were like pouring salt on Deer Island's wounds—painfully direct!

...

On the G3296 high-speed train heading home, having not slept for nearly 20 hours, attending meetings, rushing to catch the train, finishing these two chapters, and revising the manuscript, all I want to do now is get a good sleep on the train. Good night, everyone...