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Chapter 155 Playing Hard to Get
Wu Zhiyuan looked surprised. The mission had clearly failed, so why did Director Chu say that?
Chu Jianguo smiled calmly, picked up the lighter on the table, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said slowly, "We already know this guy's final destination in Jiangzhou."
He lived less than 500 meters from the entrance of the Earth Company headquarters, at a milk tea shop called Angel's Kiss.
Wu Zhiyuan asked, puzzled, "Living in a bubble tea shop?"
Chu Jianguo nodded: "Yes, you need an ID card to stay in a hotel. Of course, spies like Gao Bowen have fake identities. But what's safer and more convenient than staying at a milk tea shop?"
A thought struck Wu Zhiyuan: "Could this milk tea shop be one of the bases of foreign intelligence agencies in Jiangzhou?"
Chu Jianguo said approvingly, "That's a good question. The fact that Gao Bowen stayed at a milk tea shop instead of a hotel shows that he has a close relationship with the owner of the milk tea shop."
Without evidence, we cannot say that the milk tea shop is a base of foreign intelligence agencies. Perhaps the owner and Gao Bowen are just friends, or perhaps the owner is being used by Gao Bowen.
The question of what their true relationship is needs to be answered by you.
Wu Zhiyuan nodded: "Director Chu, I understand. Gao Bowen's choice of a milk tea shop as his base is no accident."
This circumvents the hotel's strict registration system and uses the high foot traffic of the milk tea shop as cover, making it difficult to detect.
Chu Jianguo added, "We have conducted a preliminary investigation. The shop owner is named Su Manli, 32 years old, a local of Jiangzhou. Public records show that she worked for a foreign trade company in the south for several years, and opened the milk tea shop three years ago."
On the surface, her resume appears clean, and her social connections seem simple. However, the nature of her relationship with Gao Bowen remains to be investigated.
Wu Zhiyuan replied, "Okay, Director Chu, I'll investigate. By the way, how did you know Gao Bowen went into the milk tea shop? Was it part of the Skynet project?"
"No." Chu Jianguo shook his head. "Massive deployment of citywide surveillance for real-time facial recognition requires coordinating a great deal of resources and involves a complex approval process."
At a stage where concrete evidence of Gao Bowen's crimes has not yet been obtained and the primary purpose is external surveillance, it is not advisable to use this investigative method lightly.
What we want is not to scare him away before he commits a crime, but to catch him red-handed at the moment he feels safest and is ready to lay his hands on the crap.
Wu Zhiyuan suddenly realized.
Capturing spies and capturing terrorists are clearly different.
If a suspected terrorist is discovered, every effort must be made to stop him from committing the crime and prevent casualties or property damage.
However, espionage activities are often covert and long-term; alerting the enemy too early may result in losing the opportunity to delve deeper into their network.
The best strategy is to catch him red-handed just when he thinks he's safe and ready to pass on intelligence or make a deal.
Gao Bowen took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled a smoke ring, and slowly said, "Zhiyuan, the story of having you follow him this afternoon was a staged act."
The real reason I didn't tell you beforehand was so you could make your performance more convincing.
"Acting?" Wu Zhiyuan was shocked again.
Chu Jianguo explained with a smile, "We deliberately let Gao Bowen know that someone was watching him, but then he managed to shake off those eyes by using his own abilities."
In tactical terms, this is a combination of "stirring up the enemy's grass" and "feigning weakness to lure them in."
Chu Jianguo further explained: "An opponent of Gao Bowen's caliber is very vigilant."
If he feels suspicious that we have come to Jiangzhou without his knowledge and without taking any action, he will become more cautious and discreet, making it harder for us to find any real evidence against him.
Now that he has arrived, he has alarmed us, but we have lost track of him. He will think that our abilities are nothing special and will become complacent and underestimate us.
What we need is to make him misjudge the situation, and then, when he thinks he's safe and is ready to act, we can close in and arrest him, striving to catch him red-handed.
Chu Jianguo stubbed out his cigarette and said calmly, "Therefore, the previous tracking was both a real reconnaissance mission and a necessary tactical deception."
Wu Zhiyuan couldn't help but admire Chu Jianguo's shrewdness, but another question arose: "Director Chu, how did we know his final destination?"
"Didn't you learn this during your initial training?" Chu Jianguo picked up a tablet-like device from the table and turned on the screen.
The screen displays an electronic map of Jiangzhou City, with a single dot of light flashing near the Angel's Kiss milk tea shop.
"A new type of tracking agent that is almost odorless, has strong adhesion, and requires a receiver of a specific wavelength to capture its weak signal."
Our man on the high-speed train cleverly got him infected with this.
During his initial training at the provincial department, Wu Zhiyuan did come across some technical equipment courses on tracking and counter-tracking, including traditional radio transmitters and GPS locators. However, the new tracking agent that Chu Jianguo demonstrated was more concealed and technologically advanced.
"This tracking agent," Chu Jianguo explained, magnifying the light spot on the screen with his finger, "is essentially a special bioalkaloid complex. It is processed using nanotechnology, resulting in an extremely fine powder that is almost odorless and colorless, and has extremely strong adhesion."
Once it gets on clothing, skin, or luggage, it is difficult to detect and remove using conventional methods.
It does not actively emit signals; it only generates an extremely weak but unique resonant feedback when scanned by electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency, which is then captured and located by our receiving terminal.
The tracer also has drawbacks; it can only maintain its position for a maximum of 72 hours, and its precise positioning range is approximately 500 meters.
Initially, all we knew was that Gao Bowen was hiding near the Angel's Kiss milk tea shop, but after reviewing the surveillance footage in the area, we confirmed that the milk tea shop was indeed his hideout.
Chu Jianguo turned off the screen and said, "Confirming his lair is only the first step."
Gao Bowen chose this place not just for shelter.
This shop is conveniently located near the headquarters of Dadi Company, where there is a lot of foot traffic, making it easy to observe and hide.
We must find out Su Manli's background and her true relationship with Gao Bowen as soon as possible.
Zhiyuan, considering your outstanding performance in "Operation Blade of Light", with Director Han's approval, it has been decided that you will serve as the deputy leader of this task force.
Although I will serve as the team leader, you will be fully responsible for the specific investigation work.
If you need me to coordinate resources or provide support, report directly to me.
"Yes! Thank you for the trust placed in me by the organization and leaders! I will do my utmost to live up to this responsibility!"
Wu Zhiyuan knew that this was both a tremendous trust and a heavy responsibility.
Compared to the relatively clear target within Institute 835 last time, this time they are facing professional spies who are more deeply entrenched and operate more mysteriously. The battlefield is wider and the situation is more complex.
Chu Jianguo nodded approvingly: "Good, let's not delay."
You immediately set about assembling a capable team and developing a detailed surveillance and investigation plan.
The operation was codenamed Operation Crucible, its purpose being to place all threats to national security into the crucible of justice and incinerate them completely.
Chu Jianguo reminded him, "Zhiyuan, you need to be fully prepared. Gao Bowen will definitely not be fighting alone."
A fully-functioning spy network is like an iceberg; what we see now is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Gao Bowen is just one link in the network, but he is by no means the whole.
Gao Bowen's visit this time is aimed at Dadi Company's rare metals and top-secret technology, and he may have other important tasks as well.
Such an important operation could not have been carried out by foreign intelligence agencies alone.
There must be people responsible for receiving him, people responsible for passing on intelligence, and it's even possible that someone has already infiltrated the Earth Company to pave the way for him or act as an inside agent.
Chu Jianguo said earnestly, "Our goal must not be limited to simply capturing Gao Bowen or investigating Su Manli. That's just treating the symptoms."
We must use Gao Bowen as a lead to trace the spy network lurking in Jiangzhou and even in a wider area, and completely destroy this black channel for stealing our country's strategic resources.
This is the true meaning of the word "furnace"! It not only melts away the exposed iron, but also burns away its deeply buried foundation!