You were allowed to marry into No. 76 family, and you were promoted to director?

Chapter 280 Secret Room
There are more than one way that Tu Feiyuan can think of to control Marus.

With the support of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce behind her, it's safe to say that it would be much easier for Watanabe to reach an agreement with Marus than for her to do it herself.

Now, Doiyu is almost certain that Prince Tojo came to Shanghai under the guise of filming a movie, but in reality, he wanted to sign an alliance agreement with Marus.

Such a great achievement would be enough to make them rich even if it were just a guard duty, not to mention that if any accidents happened along the way, whichever side ensured the safety of Prince Tojo and Marus would get the most credit.

Having figured this out, Doiyuu finally understood why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had accepted the escort mission.

In the small Hua Mao Hotel, as long as Prince Tojo and Marus sign the agreement, the possibility of any accidents is extremely low, and the credit is practically free.

Anyone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who isn't an idiot will definitely try to get this job.

Furthermore, forming alliances is something the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be doing, so it's perfectly reasonable for them to have achieved this.

Perhaps, some people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have already secretly reached some kind of agreement with Kyoko Watanabe.

Otherwise, given that Kyoko Watanabe had laid out such a grand scheme and accumulated such a large pie, there was no reason for her not to take care of Keiko Aizawa and instead throw the biggest slice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Based on Doiyuu's understanding of Watanabe, she would never do such a thing.

The only explanation is that Kyoko Watanabe wanted to extend her reach into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and even engaged in some resource exchanges.

Furthermore, given that Yamagi was one of Watanabe Kyoko's men, Doiyo's thoughts became increasingly clear, and in the end, the smile on his face became much more sinister.

"Teacher, are you planning to get involved?"

Tu Feiyuan chuckled and shook his head:

"The greater the risk, the greater the reward, but I still want to remain hidden in the shadows and wait for the crucial moment. If our original organization can play a decisive role, that would be the most important thing."

"Michiko, have everything you arranged been prepared?"

Michiko Sakai was somewhat disappointed. She had thought that her teacher had decided to send someone into the Cathay Hotel to steal credit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Now it seemed that her teacher was still satisfied with the previous plan. No, it seemed that she was even more satisfied now.

Michiko gave a brief report on the plainclothes officers stationed around the Cathay Hotel before being dismissed by Doiyuu.

Doi-Yuan certainly wanted to get involved directly, but since his opponent was Watanabe Kyoko, he thought it over and decided to play it safe.

Furthermore, Doi-man also wanted to confirm whether Watanabe Kyoko was actually making moves in this game.

The following day, just as Zhao Xuan had predicted, Tojo Jun did not arrive at the Cathay Hotel at the agreed time.

On this day, Iwai Ogawa also ordered the military police to conduct a thorough search of the entire Cathay Hotel.

In any case, Dao Yan felt very heavy-hearted all day.

After all, such a search could very well uncover Huang Qingzhi and Fang Hui.

Inside the Chinese restaurant on the first floor, Zhao Xuan, Dao Yan, Dao Ya, Sato Ai, and Lan Ze Huizi sat together.

While eating lunch, the group kept glancing towards the military police.

Since breakfast started today, only about twenty military police officers from one company have remained stationed inside and outside the lobby.

The remaining military police were assigned to various floors, especially the fifth floor, which has now become a restricted area.

Most importantly, Iwai Hisakawa ordered that the elevators at the Cathay Hotel be shut down immediately.

Now, if they want to get back to their rooms, they have no choice but to climb the stairs.

Climbing stairs meant that their every move would be under the watchful eyes of the military police.

Dao Yan was extremely distressed by Iwai Hisakawa's arrangement.

With such tight security, although Huang Qingzhi and Fang Hui were not found, their role afterward was minimal, and it was almost negligible that they were hiding in the Hua Mao Hotel.

Aizawa Keiko quite appreciated Iwai Hisakawa's arrangement, since this way, there wouldn't be much to worry about regarding Tojo Jun's safety after his arrival.

Even Zhao Xuan didn't expect that Iwai Hisakawa would actually stop the elevator, or rather, only allow Tojo Jun to ride it.

Zhao Xuan was quite surprised that Iwai Hisakawa had stopped the elevator, and he even admired Iwai Hisakawa for being quite capable.

Zhao Xuan was delighted to learn that the elevator was only for Tojo Jun.

Just when Zhao Xuan was racking his brains about how to assassinate Tojo Jun, Iwai Hisakawa gave him such a huge assist. To be honest, Zhao Xuan even wanted to thank Iwai Hisakawa in person.

Learn about locked-room murder methods!
Moreover, Zhao Xuan didn't even need to use complicated locked-room murder methods.

For most people, tampering with an elevator might be difficult, but for Zhao Xuan, it was a piece of cake.

With the help of Edith's precise scanning and assistance in nano mode, modifying the elevator is child's play for Zhao Xuan.

It seems I'll have to find an opportunity to perform some surgery on the elevator.

Fortunately, Dao Yan's arrival allowed Lan Ze Huizi to stay in Dao Ya and Sato Ai's room; otherwise, Zhao Xuan wouldn't have had time to fix the elevator.

As for the metal mesh in the ventilation ducts, it had absolutely no effect on Zhao Xuan.

Sometimes Zhao Xuan couldn't help but marvel at the magic of nanotechnology.

Zhao Xuan thought that even without scanning and dialysis modes, he could make a great contribution in this era with just the nano mode.

It's a pity that Edith only had one pair of glasses with nanoparticles; otherwise, it would have made things much easier for Zhao Xuan.

"Damn it, we can't even take the elevator! We live on the fourth floor!"

Daoya started complaining, while Sato Ai, eating her beef noodles, nodded in agreement.

Aizawa Keiko smiled and said:

"This arrangement is actually very good, as it can better ensure the safety of Prince Tojo."

Dao Yan was filled with worry; she couldn't think of any other way to assassinate Tojo Jun, but she still nodded in agreement with what Aizawa Keiko said.

"With only the stairwells accessible, they can directly monitor the actions of everyone in the hotel. Moreover, only Prince Tojo is allowed to use the elevators. This largely prevents Prince Tojo from contacting outsiders. Without contact with outsiders, his safety is naturally more fully guaranteed."

That's what Dao Yan thought and said, because she herself didn't know how she could kill Prince Tojo under such tight guard.

Although Daoya was also thinking of a way, in the end, Daoya came to the same conclusion as her sister: with such tight guard, it was simply wishful thinking to kill Tojo Jun.

Seeing the group of people each with their own thoughts, Zhao Xuan smiled and said:

"Huizi, this makes our tasks much easier, and we don't need to be so tense every day."

"However, I'm a little curious that Iwai Hisakawa doesn't allow people to leave the Cathay Hotel."

Lan Zehui nodded with a bright smile, but when she heard Zhao Xuan's next sentence, an inexplicable anger flashed in her eyes.

"That guy is completely unyielding. Relying on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' leadership in defense, he actually issued such an order."

"I was originally planning to send Xiaoya and Xiaoai out of this troublesome place first."

At this point, Keiko clenched her fists.

Doesn't Iwai Hisakawa know that the more people in the Cathay Hotel, the more uncontrollable factors there are?

If a group of people were cleared out, Tojo Jun's safety could be guaranteed to the greatest extent, but this guy is not letting anyone leave, which is something she finds very puzzling.

Dao Yan breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the order given by Iwai Ogawa this morning.

After all, if Toa and Sato Ai were sent away by Aizawa Keiko, she would have no reason to stay here any longer.

Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up and Lan Zehuizi and Zhao Xuan's identities have been revealed, the two can easily book separate rooms, and Dao Yan has no reason to stay any longer.

Fortunately, Iwai Ogawa, as if possessed, issued such an absurd and nonsensical order.

Before Dao Yan could even rejoice for long, Iwai Ogawa's subsequent actions drastically reduced their chances of successfully assassinating Tojo Jun, and now Dao Yan had lost all hope.

In fact, Iwai Hisakawa was also very troubled at the moment, and even angrily lashed out at some of the guests in the temporary interrogation room set up on the sixth floor.

Iwai Hisakawa originally intended to at least get rid of Daoyan, Daoya, and Sato Ai.

Although Dao Yan is a member of the 76th Division, he is actually backed by Ying Zuo.

Needless to say, Dao Ya and Sato Ai were two old ladies working at the Hua Mao Hotel. Sakata Jiro of the military police would frequently run over to fawn over them, which delayed his work a lot.

However, Iwai Ogawa was pressured into not leaving the Cathay Hotel, and the cabinet actually agreed, even ordering him to allow entry but not exit from the Cathay Hotel starting this morning.

Iwai Hisakawa naturally understood the deeper meaning of those words. Those who had their eyes on the huge prize of the Cathay Hotel were already itching to make a move.

The people coming to the Cathay Hotel next, Iwai Ogawa didn't even need to think about it to be sure that there were definitely people from the 76th Division, the Military Police Headquarters Intelligence Department, or even the original agency among them.

At this moment, in the interrogation room, Iwai Ogawa looked at An Xiaomeng sitting at the desk with a stern face, his expression growing increasingly cold.

The appearance of this woman was completely unexpected by Iwai Hisakawa.

An Xiaomeng's identity was also easy to find out. After Liu Qinghuan left Shanghai, An Xiaomeng became the top singer and dancer at the Paramount Ballroom.

According to An Xiaomeng, she heard that Li Xiangjun would be coming to the Huamao Hotel, so she followed her there, hoping to get Li Xiangjun's autograph.

Seeing An Xiaomeng's terrified and helpless expression, Iwai Ogawa stepped forward and slapped her across the face.

"idiot!"

After the slap, An Xiaomeng burst into tears. She had prepared herself for severe torture, but Iwai Ogawa turned and left.

This left An Xiaomeng somewhat confused.

After finding out An Xiaomeng's identity, Iwai Ogawa didn't intend to make things difficult for her. After all, An Xiaomeng had contact with many officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Paramount Ballroom, and they could even be said to have a very good relationship.

What's most infuriating is that An Xiaomeng was able to stay at the Cathay Hotel only because an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs booked the room for her. Otherwise, without connections and influence, it wouldn't be easy to just check into the Cathay Hotel at this time.

Don't they know that the guests at the recent Hua Mao Hotel are all people of unusual backgrounds, while An Xiaomeng is just an ordinary citizen?

Iwai Hisakawa slapped An Xiaomeng because he was too angry.

After Iwai Ogawa left, the personnel director from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs walked in from outside.

Upon seeing Shimamura Shota, An Xiaomeng burst into tears even more.

Seeing this, Shimamura Shota quickly ran over to comfort him:

"Miss An, I'm sorry, the consul wasn't in a good mood today, but he's fine now. Come on, I'll take you to find some ice to apply."

Shimamura Shota and An Xiaomeng had a good relationship. After all, as the personnel director, Shimamura Shota visited the Paramount very frequently. An Xiaomeng took the opportunity to get close to him and won his favor. Over time, Shimamura Shota even felt that An Xiaomeng was his emotional comforter and usually took good care of her business.

The night before last at the Paramount, he heard that An Xiaomeng really liked Li Xiangjun and wanted to get Li Xiangjun's autograph and even take a photo with her.

Shimamura Shota was drunk at the time and agreed without thinking much, and even personally called to book a room for An Xiaomeng.

Shimamura Shota simply thought that An Xiaomeng was a weak woman, and even if she came to the Huamao Hotel, she could quietly stay by his side when he arrived, without causing any trouble.

Who could have imagined that such a big thing would happen at the Cathay Hotel last night?

In addition, Iwai Ogawa seemed annoyed by certain arrangements, which led him to vent his anger on An Xiaomeng.

After confirming that all the procedures were in order, Iwai Ogawa returned to the lobby on the first floor and gathered the people dining in the restaurants on both sides.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the military police will be ensuring your safety while you are at the Cathay Hotel. Therefore, no one is allowed to leave the Cathay Hotel. I will notify you separately when you will be free to come and go."

"Furthermore, from now on, you are not allowed to use the elevator except for the first to fourth floors where you can move freely via the stairs. No one is allowed to enter the floors above the fourth floor."

After saying that, Iwai Ogawa waved his hand, and a squad of military police immediately returned to their positions.

There were four military police guards at the elevator entrance on each floor, two military police guards at each stairwell, two military police guards at each stairwell corner, and a military police guard every three steps on the fifth floor.

Seeing Iwai Hisakawa's arrangements, Sophia and the others were furious, but they had no way to refute them.

The consulate has yet to respond, which has left Sofia and the others both angry and worried.

After lunch, Zhao Xuan and the others chatted at the table for a while before returning to their rooms.

As soon as Zhao Xuan and Dao Yan stepped into the room and closed the door, they sat down on the sofa. Dao Yan was about to say something when her gaze suddenly sharpened, and she and Zhao Xuan both stopped.

Their eyes simultaneously turned to the chandelier on the ceiling.

In scanning mode, Edith was frantically alerting that three listening devices had been installed throughout the room.

Dao Yan raised her hand that was holding the sofa, and then pointed to a footprint that hadn't been wiped clean on the sofa.

Zhao Xuan also pointed to the chandelier on the ceiling, then to the telephone not far away, and to the bedside.

Dao Yan didn't find all the bugging devices, but he was certain there was one on the ceiling chandelier.

If it weren't for the scanning mode, Zhao Xuan would likely not have been able to completely discover these three bugging devices.

Moreover, Zhao Xuan could tell from the ceiling light that the person who installed it deliberately left traces so that they would discover the bug and lower their guard.

After all, the footprint that was wiped three-quarters of the way off was indeed a bit deliberate.

Having understood Zhao Xuan's gaze, Dao Yan nodded slightly.

The person who installs the listening device demonstrates a subtle control over people's minds!

If it were Dao Yan herself, she would definitely be attracted by the footprint on the sofa that hadn't been wiped clean, thus overlooking the possibility of listening devices elsewhere.

Zhao Xuan's gaze sharpened slightly. He took out paper and pen and wrote down while chatting with Dao Yan: "The most obvious thing is that this bugging device is a trap. We'll see how things go later. If no one steps forward, we'll pretend we don't know anything. If someone does, we'll see how many they can find."

Dao Yan instantly understood Zhao Xuan's meaning: to prepare for the assassination of Tojo Jun?

Zhao Xuan: Yes!

Dao Yan took a slight breath and nodded to Zhao Xuan, saying:

"Honey, I have a feeling this room has been disturbed."

"The military police probably just searched the place."

"That's not what I meant, honey. Look at that on the sofa, it looks like a footprint that wasn't wiped clean."

"You mean"

Their conversation abruptly ended.

Similar to Zhao Xuan, Sofia and Gomarev also noticed that their room had been disturbed after returning home and found the listening device.

However, neither side discovered three listening devices like Zhao Xuan's side.

On the fourth floor, Daoya, Sato Ai, and Aizawa Keiko returned to their room.

Dao Ya and Aizawa Keiko had just walked to the sofa when they also noticed something was wrong.

However, Daoya didn't show it. She just took Sato Ai's hand and was about to sit down on the sofa without any regard for her image.

With a furrowed brow, Aizawa Keiko stepped forward without a word and looked directly at the listening device on the ceiling chandelier.

After sitting on the sofa, Dao Ya glanced at the phone not far away, then looked away again, pretending not to have noticed anything.

Although Daoya didn't know how Edith knew she was in the room, whenever Edith wasn't in the room, Daoya would shift the phone receiver slightly to avoid Edith calling while she wasn't there.

But in that one glance, Dao Ya clearly noticed that the phone she had deliberately placed had been moved.

So there were listening devices not only in the ceiling lights, but also in the telephones.

With two listening devices already discovered, Dao Ya naturally wondered if there were other listening devices installed in the room.
Seeing Toa and Sato Ai chatting and laughing on the sofa, Aizawa Keiko carefully observed the room for a while before sitting down on the sofa and looking at the two of them with a serious expression, she said:

"Xiaoya, Xiaoai, the room isn't clean. Could you help me move that cabinet over here?"

After saying that, relying entirely on her experience, Aizawa Keiko grabbed the telephone from the sofa cabinet next to her and began to examine it.

Sure enough, Keiko found a bugging device inside.

Sato Ai was confused, and Toa also pretended to know nothing. Following Keiko's instructions, she and Sato Ai moved a cabinet over.

Without any hesitation, Keiko removed the bug from the telephone, then climbed onto the cabinet and took down the bug from the chandelier. She then checked the room twice to make sure there were no other bugs before turning to the two men and saying:
"Xiaoya, Xiaoai, you two stay in the room. I'll be right back after I go out for a bit."

The two nodded in bewilderment, while Aizawa Keiko took the removed bugging device and left the room with a cold expression.

A short while later, Lan Zehuizi arrived at the door of room 301 and knocked. Dao Yan opened the door shortly after.

Seeing the bugging device in Huizi's hand, Dao Yan pointed to the position of the ceiling light in the room with a surprised expression.

Lan Zehui nodded slightly. Seeing that Zhao Xuan had already moved the cabinet over, Huizi went in and didn't say much. She pointed to the chandelier, indicating that Zhao Xuan should remove the bugging device. She then went to the telephone and removed the bugging device from inside.

After all the listening devices were removed, Aizawa Keiko said:

"Zhao Sang, Dao Yan, don't worry, I will give you an explanation."

Dao Yan quickly grabbed Hui Zi's hand:
"Section Chief Lan Ze, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Aizawa Keiko snorted coldly:
"He dares to do such a despicable thing, why would he be afraid of being discovered? Don't worry, nothing will happen, and even if something does happen, it won't be me."

After saying that, Lan Zehui gave Zhao Xuan a reassuring look, then took her leave of room 301.

After Huizi left, Daoyan began writing while saying worriedly:

"Honey, is Section Chief Lan Ze really going to cause trouble for Iwai Hisakawa?"

Zhao Xuan smiled as he looked at the notebook Dao Yan was holding up, and after reading the words on it, he said:

"That's just Keiko's personality; she won't tolerate anything that crosses her bottom line."

“For Keiko, Iwai Ogawa’s act of sending people to install listening devices was precisely what she could not tolerate.”

It's only the Special Higher Police who install listening devices for others; when did it become someone else's turn to install listening devices for the Special Higher Police?

Because of the Special Higher Police's Technical Section, every time Aizawa Keiko listened to the eavesdropping content sent by Murakami Yua from the Technical Section, she felt a chill run down her spine and her scalp tingle.

Therefore, unless it happens to someone else, Aizawa Keiko would feel deep resentment and disgust towards such a thing.

Dao Yan wrote: "Aizawa Keiko only found two bugging devices. In that case, the remaining one should be Iwai Ogawa's backup plan."

Zhao Xuan nodded.

The bugging device that Iwai Ogawa finally planted was indeed not so easy to find.

Who would have thought that a listening device could be installed in a light switch by the bedside?

Moreover, the person who installed the bugging device was very clever; even if the switch was disassembled, it couldn't be found because the bugging device was squeezed into the conduit.

At this moment, in room 501, a suite, Iwai Hisakawa, wearing headphones and eavesdropping in the study, had a mocking smile on his lips.

Two of the three listening devices were traps he had laid to lull the enemy into a false sense of security.

Judging from the content of the eavesdropping.

Now, two listening devices each have been removed from Dao Ya and Sato Ai's room, as well as two from Zhao Xuan and Dao Yan's room. The last one can be said to ensure concealment and security.

(End of this chapter)