Agent: Intercepting Yu Manli at the start!

Recently, Zhou Xiao has been the most frequent visitor to the headquarters. However, upon closer examination, it seems that Zhou Xiao is the one who personally summons him most of the time, rather than the other party taking the initiative to visit him.

But on the very day he was preparing to take Zhou Xiao to the Shan Agency, a detail he had overlooked suddenly popped into his mind—the time.

That day, the headquarters of the intelligence agency happened to send a coded telegram about Asano Hirofumi's itinerary, which he casually locked in his office safe. Zhou Xiao was there at the time.

This is the first point of overlap in time.

Immediately afterwards, he blindfolded Zhou Xiao and led him into the Sugi Agency, inadvertently revealing the "currency war" plan along the way; as a result, less than two days later, his most trusted driver, Honda Matsushita, was kidnapped and gave away the exact address of the Sugi Agency headquarters on the spot.

This is the second point of overlap in time.

Both key moments are inextricably linked to Zhou Xiao. Oshima Ken's heart sank: Could Zhou Xiao truly be a spy planted by the Military Intelligence Bureau within the Special Operations Headquarters?

His mind raced, but he quickly dismissed the idea—no! Except for the first meeting when Zhou Xiao wasn't present, he had been there on all the other occasions, and had even gone to the listening room to check the activity, finding nothing unusual. Logically, he shouldn't have had any chance to steal intelligence.

But why is Zhou Xiao always present at every crucial moment?

If he really was a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau, what was his motive for risking his life to save me at the Shanghai Grand Hotel?

Is it to gain trust?

But his reaction at the time was natural, decisive, and without any trace of affectation...

The doubts that had just begun to surface were nipped in the bud by himself.

At this moment, Ken Oshima is experiencing intense inner turmoil: on one hand, there is the trust built up over many years, solid, concrete, and accumulated step by step; on the other hand, there are several undeniable coincidences in time, vague, isolated, and lacking empirical evidence.

He held his forehead, his brow furrowed in worry—if he believed, he feared things would go wrong; if he didn't believe, he couldn't find a plausible reason.

Although the trust has not collapsed, a fine crack has quietly appeared.

If Zhou Xiao reveals even the slightest flaw, Oshima Ken will immediately make his move.

He had to admit that there was indeed a deeply entrenched mole within the high ranks of the intelligence agency.

It has to be said that Ken Oshima, that old fox, is indeed sharp—he spotted the breakthrough point of "time correlation" so early on, far exceeding Zhou Xiao's expectations.

Those Japanese devils, none of them are easy to deal with.

Fortunately, Zhou Xiao had prepared a backup plan—he never intended for Oshima Ken to leave alive today.

Once doubt takes root, it must be eradicated completely.

After the car came to a stop, Ken Oshima stepped into the former site of the Sugimoto headquarters.

All that remains are broken walls and ruins.

Identifiable bodies, remains, and ashes have all been collected and inventoried; for those that could not be found completely, we had to rely on the registration of personal belongings to make up the numbers.

"General, according to the roster, a total of forty-five bodies have been recovered, and twelve more are still missing. The identification of the remaining bodies has been completed. Please take a look." Captain Yamamoto stepped forward quickly and presented the register with both hands.

Ken Oshima took the book and flipped through it briefly. He then glanced at the rows of bodies not far away—almost none of them were intact, and most were incomplete.

His face grew increasingly gloomy.

Unbeknownst to him, at that very moment, the crosshairs of a sniper rifle were firmly aimed at his temple.

Ken Oshima inspected the progress of the aftermath at the scene, focusing on verifying the condition of the bodies dug out of the rubble.

The reason is simple: those working in the Sugimoto government were mostly university professors, renowned scholars, and technical experts with high social status and significant domestic influence, which is why he ordered that every effort be made to search for and properly archive them.

He wouldn't have bothered with this if he were an ordinary soldier or a low-level agent.

That's the difference.

On the rooftop of a three-story building diagonally opposite the headquarters of the Sugimoto Agency, Mingtai steadily set up his sniper rifle, the crosshairs firmly locked onto Ken Oshima's head.

After destroying the headquarters of the Shan Agency, the Mingtai Action Team did not immediately withdraw, but quietly disappeared into the surrounding shadows to continue their infiltration.

Hades had another direct order: Ken Oshima must be eliminated.

This person must die.

At this moment, Ken Oshima had keenly noticed the fatal flaw of the timing—although he still outwardly relied on Zhou Xiao, he had quietly built a wall of defense in his heart, separating him from trust.

In this situation, Ken Oshima has no way out; even a god couldn't save him, and no bodhisattva could protect him.

Yu Manli serves as Mingtai's observer.

Mingtai, using the scope to firmly grip Oshima Ken's head, asked in a deep voice, "Guo Qiyun, is the retreat route confirmed?"

Guo Qiyun answered decisively: "The route is fine, proceed as planned, but we must act quickly."

Since the mission was to carry out long-range sniping, the evacuation route had naturally been repeatedly planned and meticulously executed.

Mingtai turned his head again and asked, "Manli, is there anything else we missed?"

Yu Manli held up a high-powered telescope and scanned the surrounding area. After a moment, she replied in a low voice, "Everything is stable. The wind speed, temperature, and humidity are all suitable."

At this point, all variables are under control.

When Hades issued the assassination order, Mingtai was still worried: Could waiting for Oshima Ken really lead the way?

As it turned out, every step was within Hades's prediction.

Today is the day to close the net.

Mingtai held his gun at the ready, the sights firmly aimed at Oshima Ken's brow, the muzzle making slight adjustments to correct for deviations caused by airflow disturbances.

The two were 500 meters apart—the perfect killing distance for a sniper.

He breathed slowly and steadily, a cold glint in his eyes: "It's time to run."

Before he finished speaking, he lightly pulled the trigger with his index finger.

boom!

A flash of gunfire, and the scorching bullet burst from the barrel, tearing through the air.

whoosh-

The bullets were like arrows released from a bow, arriving in an instant.

puff!

It hit the skull squarely, causing a fatal head injury.

The bullet pierced the brain cavity, shattering all consciousness and ending this wicked life on the spot.

Kenjiro Oshima bent down to examine the corpses scattered on the ground, but before he could even show any shock, he collapsed to the ground.

Seeing his target fall instantly, Mingtai immediately holstered his gun and stood up: "Retreat!"

The three of them immediately fled like arrows released from a bow.

Ken Oshima, commander of the Shanghai Military Police and head of the Sugi Agency headquarters, lay dead in the hospital, falling into hell along with those so-called "experts" and "professors".

He did begin to suspect Zhou Xiao, but he never had the chance to verify it.

In the eyes of all Japanese spies, Zhou Xiao was still the most reliable person—after all, he was Oshima Ken's most trusted subordinate.

With the recent death of the newly appointed head of the Special Higher Police Section, Hirofumi Asano, and now the fall of General Ken Oshima, the commander of the Shanghai Military Police, the entire Japanese puppet regime's intelligence system is suddenly leaderless.

The two main supporting pillars collapsed one after another, and the foundation was in disarray.

Before Oshima Ken's body had even cooled down, personnel from the Shang Mansion, the Special Higher Police, the 76th Special Agent Headquarters, the Special Operations Headquarters, and other groups rushed to the scene.

Ken Oshima had originally served as acting head of the Special Higher Police, but now that he's dead, the various factions under him are at odds with each other and are acting independently.

Wang Manchun, Liang Zhongchun, Zhou Xiao, Chen Shen, Sakurada Kaoru, Chen Shan and others also arrived one after another.

Liang Zhongchun stared at Oshima Ken's mangled corpse and gasped, "Even General Oshima was targeted by the Military Intelligence Bureau and shot in the head... These people are incredibly audacious!"

Zhou Xiao crouched down to examine the bullet trajectory closely and calmly said, "It was a long-range precision sniper kill—which means the Military Intelligence Bureau had already figured out General Oshima's whereabouts and landing point."

Kaoru Sakurada was the only Japanese officer present. He silently bowed to the corpse and whispered, "Oshima-kun, you are a true samurai of the Empire."

Wang Manchun glanced at the corpse, looked around, and turned to leave.

Zhou Xiao called out to her, "Director Wang, are you in such a hurry to leave? Is something urgent?"

Due to their different responsibilities, the two had very little interaction before.

But Zhou Xiao had read "The Disguiser" and already had a good idea of ​​Wang Manchun's temperament—a woman who was trapped by love and eventually twisted into a venomous scorpion, ruthless, decisive, and unscrupulous.