If you had to choose an identity to go undercover, you'd choose a gynecologist.

The boiler room was filled with the pungent smell of coal smoke, and the scorching air, carrying coal dust, rushed towards us. The walls were blackened and shiny from the soot.

The huge boiler roared, and flames leaped out of the furnace mouth, making the entire space flicker between light and shadow.

A dark-skinned man, shirtless, his bronze skin glistening with sweat, his muscles sharply defined in the firelight, was none other than Bao Yi, the boiler worker.

He gripped the shovel with both hands and deftly added coal to the furnace, shovel by shovel. The burning coal crackled and popped, and sparks flew down from the furnace opening, disappearing on the ground in an instant.

Bao Yi dropped his shovel, turned around, and squinted at Chen Qing, his eyes reddened by coal smoke: "Who are you looking for?"

"I'm Qin Lijuan's boyfriend." Chen Qing lowered his voice and responded according to the code word that Grandpa Qin had given him, his eyes subtly scanning the environment in the boiler room to make sure there was nothing unusual.

Upon hearing this, Bao Yi showed no expression on his face, but simply pointed to a pile of clothes in the corner.

It was a boiler operator's uniform stained with coal dust and smelling of sweat; the cuffs and hem were worn and frayed, clearly indicating that it had been worn for a long time.

"Okay, change your clothes."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and continued adding coal.

Without hesitation, Chen Qing walked to the corner, quickly took off his clothes, and put on the dirty uniform.

The clothes were too big and didn't fit him well; the coal dust-covered fabric rubbed against his skin and made it itchy. Just as he finished changing, Bao Yi came over carrying a broken bowl filled with soot. Without a word, he grabbed a handful of soot and smeared it haphazardly on Chen Qing's face and neck.

In an instant, Chen Qing's once clean face became filthy, blending into the boiler room environment and becoming unrecognizable.

Bao Yi clapped his hands in satisfaction, considering the disguise complete.

After finishing his work, he took out a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled out two, tossed one to Chen Qing, and put the other in his mouth, lighting it with a match.

The two squatted side by side at the entrance of the boiler room. Amidst the swirling smoke, the roar of the boiler room seemed to have faded somewhat.

Chen Qing leaned against the door frame, his eyes warily watching the figures coming and going, wondering when Liu Xiaojing would arrive.

But Bao Yi, who was beside her, had completely lost his previous competence. His eyes were fixed on the female nurses coming and going in the hospital corridor, and he couldn't look away.

Just as Chen Qing was feeling a bit bored, he suddenly heard a strange sobbing sound.

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Bao Yi beside him with a strange expression. He saw that the guy had a furrowed brow, his lips were twitching slightly, and he was making soft "woo-woo" sounds in his throat.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you crying?" Chen Qing couldn't help but frown.

Bao Yi snapped out of his daze when he was asked the question. He quickly wiped his mouth and choked out, "How young are the nurses at Guangci Hospital?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but smack his lips, his gaze drifting back towards the corridor.

Hearing his nonsensical words, Chen Qing couldn't help but curse, "What the hell are you choking about, you surnamed Bao?!"

"No, I was drooling!" Bao Yi quickly wiped his chin with his sleeve, showing no remorse on his face. Instead, he continued to stare at the nurse on the road in the distance with a straight face.

Chen Qing rolled his eyes helplessly and shook his head. After the Military Intelligence Bureau was rebuilt, what kind of people did Wang Tianfeng recruit?

He could only refocus his attention on the mission, thinking about how to get to the fourth floor, kill Takagi, and escape unscathed, only occasionally hearing Bao Yi's suppressed "slurping" sounds.

Finally, it was past midnight, and the hospital lights were turned off one by one, leaving only a few emergency lights in the corridor.

A series of rustling footsteps approached, and a woman in a nurse's uniform walked over.

"Liu Xiaojing?" Chen Qing stood up and asked.

Liu Xiaojing didn't say anything more, just nodded and handed over a neatly folded white doctor's coat that she had been carrying in her arms.

"Change your clothes, wash your face, and come with me."

Chen Qing didn't dare to delay. She quickly washed her face, put on a white coat and a mask, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Bao Yi picked up his clothes, strode to the furnace, raised his hand and tossed them into the blazing fire. The clothes were instantly engulfed by the orange-red flames, turning into a wisp of black smoke that drifted into the night sky through the chimney.

Chen Qing followed Liu Xiaojing along the path toward the inpatient building.

Just as the two turned a corner and were about to approach the ward area, a sound of footsteps approached from afar—it was a patrolling Japanese soldier.

"Hide in the corner!" Liu Xiaojing pulled Chen Qing and staggered to hide behind the corner at the end of the corridor.

The footsteps grew closer, and the soldiers' flashlight beams swept back and forth in the corridor.

However, their white clothes were too conspicuous in the dimly lit corridor, leaving them nowhere to hide.

The footsteps grew closer.

Chen Qing's palms were sweating as the beam of light was about to sweep over their hiding place.

At this critical moment, Liu Xiaojing suddenly leaned closer and whispered breathlessly in his ear, "Quick, hold me."

Without time to think, Chen Qing instinctively stretched out his arms and hugged Liu Xiaojing tightly.

He could feel her body trembling slightly, and he could smell the faint scent of disinfectant mixed with soap in her hair.

The next second, several blinding beams of flashlight shone directly on the two of them.

Chen Qing's body stiffened, and he subconsciously released his arm. Liu Xiaojing also turned slightly to the side, lowered her head, and her long hair covered most of her face.

"Baka!" The leading soldiers, a man and a woman in white coats, embraced in the corridor late at night and burst into playful laughter.

They didn't linger, just swept their flashlights over the two of them a few times, then turned and left, chatting and laughing, their footsteps gradually fading into the distance and disappearing at the other end of the corridor.

Only when the soldiers had completely disappeared and silence returned did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief. Chen Qing's back was soaked with cold sweat.

"Come on, we're almost at the nurses' station."

The two returned to the nurses' duty room with their heads down. Liu Xiaojing immediately locked the door and breathed a sigh of relief.

"No one usually comes here. Wait until 1 a.m., then pretend to be the doctor on duty and go straight to the fourth floor. Takagi is in room 403. The syringes and medicine are ready, mixed with potassium cyanide. It's up to you then."

Chen Qing frowned and asked, "Am I going alone? What's the situation on the fourth floor? How many people are there? How many people are watching room 403? Will they check me?"

Liu Xiaojing shook her head: "I don't know. Ever since that Takagi went into the fourth-floor ward, I haven't been up there. The fourth floor is not under my responsibility. I only saw in the medical record that he was staying in ward 403. Moreover, it was an emergency mission that I received tonight, so I couldn't go to the fourth floor to scout it out in advance."

Chen Qing was speechless. It turned out that everything was based on guesswork, which was too unreliable.

Moreover, Minglou's sudden use of the Military Intelligence Bureau's contact line to send him on an assassination mission indicates that he already knew the assassination was dangerous and didn't want his own people to die, instead using the Military Intelligence Bureau's people as cannon fodder.

He concluded that an ambush had been set up on the fourth floor, and that if he stepped inside, he would likely be captured.

"Let me see the duty roster on the fourth floor, as well as the medication records and treatment records for the patients over the past few days."

Although Liu Xiaojing was full of doubts, she knew that this was not the time to ask questions. She quickly walked to the filing cabinet, opened the drawer, rummaged through a pile of messy documents for a moment, and quickly took out a stack of bound record books, which she handed to Chen Qing.

"These are all the relevant records from the fourth floor over the past few days. The head nurse asked me to organize them before, and they're all here."

Chen Qing took the notebook, walked to the table and sat down, carefully flipping through the pages one by one, his brows gradually furrowing.

………………