Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 89 Informant
2:38 PM.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the cheap curtains and onto the wooden floor.

Zhou Yi sat in the hotel room, wearing a light gray shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

In front of him lay a dictionary and a military topographic map, the markings not new, but still fairly clear.

After extinguishing his cigarette, Zhou Yi picked up his notebook, turned to the latest record page, and continued to review the military vehicle transfer routes that he had spent the past few weeks tracking.

Several different ZIL-131s.

It originated from that hidden facility about sixty kilometers southwest of Sevastopol.

They are all painted green, with tarpaulins covering the rear, and they travel between 8 pm and 10 pm.

They take different paths, but they always "disappear" in a certain area.

We will not enter the city center, nor will we go directly near the train station.

He had thought he had lost them several times before.

It wasn't until later that he began to notice that the cars eventually drove behind the walls of several "technical units".

On the surface, they are decommissioned chemical plants, power dispatch points, or warehousing units taken over by local departments.

In fact, they all have one thing in common.

Branch lines near abandoned railways or depots with track-switching capabilities.

Most of them were designated as "temporary technical work areas".

It is possible to close off or bypass the civilian dispatch system in a short period of time without public notification.

Zhou Yi listed seven such locations in order and marked them on the map with a red pen.

Then switch to a black pen and try to draw an envelope, connecting these points.

He hadn't expected to discover any patterns.

But as the lines gradually closed, it was discovered that these points roughly circled the same main road.

The southern railway line connecting Crimea with mainland Ukraine.

Of course, not every point matches perfectly.

Two or three were clearly off course, one of which was even separated from the target by an entire hill.

However, the trend formed by the remaining few points is too suggestive, resembling some kind of "weak correlation structure".

Although they appear loosely connected, they intersect at key points.

Zhou Yi hesitated for a moment, but still drew out the main line and added notes to his notebook:

"Multiple transfer points are distributed in the surrounding area, forming an indirect connection structure, suggesting the existence of hidden intersections."

But maps alone are far from enough.

Zhou Yi lit another cigarette, took a deep drag, picked up the second stack of materials, and began translating them one by one from the dictionary.

This includes several notices and briefings from different dates and publications.

Most of these things can be obtained by spending money, especially for employees whose wages have been delayed for months.

Even more fortunately, several keywords appeared repeatedly in this content.

Nighttime closures, access for technical vehicles, and maintenance of unlisted branch lines.

"Due to maintenance needs, the Kamine-Bohodani station will be closed for operations from 1:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. the following day."

"The 13th Railway Bureau dispatching department has issued a notice: multiple groups of technical work vehicles have applied for priority passage at night."

On the surface, it was a normal operation and maintenance, but the problem lay in the overlap of the timing.

Whenever he witnessed a military vehicle quietly entering a non-civilian area, similar reports would always appear somewhere along the route within the next six to eight hours.

Not once, but three times.

They were independent of each other, yet both appeared in the early hours of the following day after the operation.

This is no coincidence.

Zhou Yi took a drag of his cigarette, wrote down the time point, dispatch level, and coordinates of the closed section, and then overlapped it with the previous route.

Finally, three of the most likely positions gradually emerged:

1. Kamine Station – the main marshalling yard to Odessa, which appeared twice during the three closures, and is rarely used for civilian freight transport;
2. The eastern branch of the Bakhchisarai line – connecting several decommissioned military docks along the Black Sea coast, abandoned during the day and active at night;
3. From Tarnovskaya to Station No. 5—marked as "out of service" on the map, but recently appearing repeatedly in the "Technical Engineering Group's" closure requests. Zhou Yi frowned, picked up a red pen, and circled these three locations, writing a word next to them:

"Backup line".

Nuclear warheads do not necessarily follow a fixed route.

Instead, it dynamically schedules operations based on the latest security level, interference factors, and target location.

This means that he cannot pinpoint a specific shipping window based solely on existing observations.

Zhou Yi sighed.

He needs informants.

It doesn't have to be a high-ranking government official or a military officer.

The most basic level of personnel is enough.

Because they can receive indirect early warnings of "special scheduling" eight or even twelve hours before the transportation arrangements begin.

such as:

"Don't go near the thirteenth fork tonight."

“B13, 22:40, JZK”.

No one would ask what the destination was, and no one dared to ask what was loaded.

But for me, this “vague” signal is actually the most valuable.

He doesn't need to know the number, the name of the organization, or the complete path.

Once the duration of the temporary lockdown can be determined, that will be sufficient to carry out the operation.

at this time--

"Boom, boom."

Two light knocks interrupted Zhou Yi's train of thought.

With a cigarette still dangling from his mouth, he reflexively drew the pistol from his waist and cocked it.

However, before Zhou Yi could get up, the receptionist's voice rang out from outside:
“Mr. Fahd? It’s me, Darina. Someone downstairs is looking for you.”

"He said he's your friend, named Anton."

Zhou Yi did not respond immediately, her gaze returning to the clock on the table.

3:27 PM.

The next second, Zhou Yi realized that today was the second time he had met Igor.

Anton had told him that a while ago.

As a result, he was so busy tracking the location of the nuclear bomb that he almost forgot about it.

"I understand," Zhou Yi replied in a deep voice. "Please tell him I'll be down in five minutes."

The receptionist outside the door replied with a "okay," and then the sound of her footsteps faded into the distance.

Zhou Yi quickly extinguished his cigarette, pulled a thin waterproof bag from the bottom of the wardrobe, and neatly stuffed in the categorized documents, notes, and markings.

Then, the movable board under the bed was removed, the entire package was embedded into the interlayer, secured with tape, and the wooden board was put back in place.

Then he went to the door, took out a very thin nylon thread from his pocket, wrapped one end around the hook under the latch, and attached the other end to a brass plate.

The brass sheet was glued to the back of the bed leg with beeswax, making it difficult to notice.

If someone pushes the door beyond a certain angle, the pulling force will tear the wax connection, causing the copper sheet to fall off and the wire to loosen.

Upon returning, simply checking for wax marks and whether the copper plates have shifted will reveal whether an intrusion has occurred.

It's not a very professional technique, but it's barely enough for this situation.

After all, he wasn't here specifically to engage in espionage.

Zhou Yi did a final check to make sure nothing was left behind before putting his coat back on and tucking the pistol into his waistband.

Before leaving the room, he lit another cigarette.

As the smoke dissipated, Zhou Yi walked out with a calm gaze.

(End of this chapter)