Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 96 Are you sure you want to read this?
"not now."

"Why?"

"The port has been conducting routine spot checks in the past two days."

Zhou Yi glanced at the lieutenant colonel, then turned to Alexei and said, "You don't want people to see him by the garbage dump on the beach tomorrow."

"This person has a special identity; we need to handle this more thoroughly."

Alexei's breathing gradually became unsteady.

He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

"Are you sure you want to stay and watch?" Zhou Yi continued to ask.

Alexei paused for a few seconds.

The scene of Kherson flashed into my mind again—flagpole, human head, blood meandering down the cracks in the floor tiles.

That suffocating feeling swept over me, as if my stomach was being squeezed again.

He finally couldn't hold back any longer, stood up abruptly, and said urgently, "It's all up to you."

Before he finished speaking, he turned and left, his steps unsteady.

The lieutenant colonel slumped in his chair, trembling all over from the pain.

"Please, don't go, Alexei! Don't leave me here!" he screamed desperately. "I've told you everything, please—"

However, before he could finish speaking, a hand grabbed his chin.

"Shut up." Zhou Yi looked down at him, her voice soft but firm.

The lieutenant colonel shuddered, his cry caught in his throat.

Zhou Yi pulled over the chair that Alexei had just been sitting in and sat down directly in front of him.

She didn't rush to do anything, nor did she ask any questions; she simply observed him quietly.

The lieutenant colonel was still panting heavily at first, but gradually, his will to survive was completely swallowed up and replaced by a fear that went deeper into his bones.

He began to sob softly, like a helpless child under the dual torment of body and mind.

Zhou Yi finally spoke: "Tell me about the Kamianne station."

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant colonel froze.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I've already said everything—"

"Snapped!"

A crisp slap landed on his face.

“Rewrite your words,” Zhou Yi said. “You have ten seconds.”

"I...I don't know what you want to hear."

"The Kammenai station is a newly established route; only one shipment was processed there, so it's insignificant and not within my jurisdiction."

"But you still signed it."

"That was an automatic process by the system, not me—"

"Do you think I will believe it?"

The lieutenant colonel's eyes showed panic.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that you simply don't understand how chaotic this system is."

His voice trembled, "Sometimes we have to sign something just because it's a verbal order from above. Who dares not to sign?"

"I don't know who arranged it, and I don't know where the fax came from."

"The shipment to Kamian was a temporary allocation; there were documents, confirmations, and offline communication."

Who made the contact?

"Yes, it's Yevgeny, and there's a woman with short hair and a strange accent, not like someone from around here."

Whom do you think they represent?

"I don't know. I really don't know. I initially thought he was one of your people, but then I realized something was wrong, and it was too late."

"When did you start to suspect that something was wrong?"

"Shortly after signing, I discovered the supplies had gone to where they shouldn't have. I asked—they said—"

As soon as he said that, he suddenly realized something and looked up at Zhou Yi.

It was an eerie pause—

Zhou Yi didn't reply or move, but calmly watched him.

The lieutenant colonel's eyes slowly brightened, as if he had discovered some incredible truth. "...You're not one of Igor's men."

Ignoring the lingering pain, his tone became more excited and ingratiating: "You're not investigating violations at all; you have your own plans."

"Therefore, you need me more, because I know a lot."

“I can tell you who is secretly transferring supplies, which line is not in the report, and which batch number and which train number do not match.”

"Don't kill me, I can help you bypass Igor's surveillance."

"Let me be yours."

Zhou Yi remained noncommittal, slowly took out a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

Then, without hesitation, he pressed the burning cigarette butt against his bloody wound.

The lieutenant colonel's face changed drastically, the pain intensified again, and a strange groan escaped his throat.

"Do you know Kherson?" Zhou Yi asked in a low voice.

"What?"

"If you don't want your wife and three children's heads piled up under a tree, while your human skin flies like a flag on the flagpole of the naval port."

"—Then tell me now."

This time, the lieutenant colonel was truly panicked.

He jerked his body apart, but his hands and feet remained tightly bound.

“You can’t do this! You’re not—you need to understand I was just an executor! My family knows nothing, they shouldn’t be held responsible for my mistakes—”

Zhou Yi had no interest in listening to his excuses. He bent down, inserted his fingers into the swollen flesh, and pressed down hard.

"Tell me, who works for you at Kamine Station?"

The lieutenant colonel's face instantly contorted and deformed, as if he were about to bite off his own tongue at any moment.

A few seconds later, he could no longer hold on and completely broke down:
"Yes, it's Ivan! Ivan Sergeyevich Morozov! The railway dispatcher is over sixty years old and is a long-term employee who was temporarily rehired!"

"Why did he help you?"

“He wasn’t helping me! He was asking for money himself! He said his grandson was sick and needed a kidney transplant, treatment, and hospitalization. I was just trying to help him out of kindness.”

Zhou Yi stood up and wiped the blood off his torn shirt.

"address?"

"Near the platform, there's an old staff dormitory building, a five-story brick building. He lives on the fourth floor, and there's an old mailbox hanging by the door."

Is he still working?

"Yes, yes, he's been working the night shift all week because no one wants to switch shifts with him."

Zhou Yi nodded, drew a pistol with a silencer from his waist, and cocked it.

"Wait," the lieutenant colonel stammered, his voice bitter, "You said you promised—"

“I promise I’ll let you die quickly,” Zhou Yi interrupted him abruptly.

The next second, the cold muzzle of a gun was pressed against his forehead.

"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll switch to an abdominal injection and let you die in your own excrement."

The lieutenant colonel stared at him, his lips moving, but he couldn't say anything.

"Close your eyes."

The lieutenant colonel hesitated for a moment, then finally closed his eyes with trembling hands.

"Goodbye."

--"puff."

Gunfire rang out.

The lieutenant colonel tilted his head back and slumped onto the stool.

Blood splattered and fell onto the cement floor.

Zhou Yi stood still for a while before putting away his gun, picking up the spent cartridges and stuffing them into his pocket.

All processing tools are ready.

He then knelt down, removed the rank insignia and armbands from the body, as well as the pocket cloth with the unit number, and rolled it up separately.

Fortunately, identification work in the 1990s still relied mainly on fingerprint and visual comparison.

Therefore, the following process will be a little simpler.

(End of this chapter)