Tehran Grocery Store: My Intelligence is Priced Clearly

"Where shall we meet?"

Shahra looked at him.

"General Staff Headquarters, underground command center."

Zhang Jian abruptly pulled his leg back.

He sat back down in the rocking chair, picked up the still-warm black tea, and blew on it.

"I'm not going."

Shahra frowned.

"General Al-Khalid personally named him."

"I won't even go if I order it myself."

Zhang Jian took another sip of tea.

Tell him to go somewhere else, anywhere is fine.

"I'm not going to the General Staff Department, though."

Shahra frowned.

She hadn't expected Zhang Jian to refuse so decisively.

"This is a military order, personally issued by General Aiharid."

"Military orders don't apply to me; I'm just a Chinese merchant who runs a grocery store."

"Go to the General Staff? Do you think I'm too old to live?"

Shahra stepped forward, her right hand resting naturally on the holster.

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Jian raised his head and looked directly at her.

"Literal meaning."

He now knows the situation there all too well.

I spent my own hard-earned $20,000, and the intelligence was written down clearly.

The CIA has its sights set on the Revolutionary Guard General Staff.

He walks in like that, it's no different from having a target on his forehead.

"reason."

Shahra coldly uttered two words.

Zhang Jian's reaction was somewhat excessive, which she felt was abnormal.

Zhang Jian put down his teacup and pondered for two seconds.

I shouldn't have said that.

But Bahrami's death made him realize something.

Working with these people is pointless; keeping things hidden won't help.

The necessary warnings must be given; otherwise, given their intelligence system and security measures, they might end up being buried along with us one day.

He sighed and beckoned with his hand.

Shahra instinctively bent down.

"There's a mole within the General Staff."

Shahra's body stiffened instantly.

He then suddenly stood up.

Without questioning or inquiring about the source, he quickly scanned the surroundings.

The grocery store has just opened, and no one has come in yet; everything is normal.

She looked at Zhang Jian again with a serious expression.

Are you sure?

"If I wasn't sure, would I have brought this up with you?"

Zhang Jian pointed outside helplessly.

"Your scientists are being shot in the head by name on the street every now and then, and the whereabouts of high-ranking generals are as if they were publicly announced."

"Even the exact location of the leader can be precisely pinpointed and bombed, so what else is uncertain?"

"Do you think these things can be accomplished with satellites alone?"

Shahra's pupils contracted sharply, a sense of urgency instantly washing over her.

"Excuse me, I need to report this to my superiors."

Zhang Jian waved his hand.

Shahra immediately turned and walked deeper into the shop, quickly pressing the miniature communicator under her collar.

The communication was connected, and Aiharid's voice came through.

"Have you picked them up yet?"

"General, the target refuses to go to the General Staff."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the communicator, and then Aihari's tone became serious.

"reason?"

He said…

Shahra paused. "There's a mole within the General Staff."

Now, there was absolutely no sound in the headphones.

A full half minute passed before Ahrid spoke again.

His voice was extremely low, even carrying a hint of gritted teeth.

Did he say who it was?

"No, do I need to press him for answers?"

Shahra placed her hand on her holster and turned to walk back.

"Don't touch him!"

Ahrid immediately stopped him.

"Take him to safe house number three on the outskirts of the city now."

"I'll bypass all the surveillance cameras and go see him in person."

Shahra was slightly taken aback.

A brigadier general from the General Staff Department personally getting involved is no small matter.

"Yes."

"Take a detour around a few streets to make sure there are no tails before you go in."

"clear."

Communication was cut off.

Shahra came out of the inner room.

Zhang Jian was still sitting there, the tea in his cup was empty.

"The general has agreed. Let's meet somewhere else."

Shahra's voice remained concise.

"Not going to the General Staff?"

"I'm not going."

"That's more like it."

Zhang Jian put down his teacup, propped himself up from the rocking chair, and leaned on his cane.

He slowly turned the "Open for Business" sign over and wrote "Closed for the day due to the owner's good fortune" on the back with a marker.

He then went outside, pulled down the roller shutter, and locked it.

"Let's go."

Shahra drove out of the old town, first taking two main roads north, then making a U-turn at an intersection, switching to a gray sedan parked on the side of the road.

The rearview mirror remained completely clear, with no suspicious vehicles following.

Finally, we turned into the underground parking garage of a three-story apartment building on the southern edge of the city.

After going up to the second floor and walking to the end, Shahra took out her keys and opened the door.

The room was small, with one bedroom and one living room, and the curtains were drawn tightly shut.

There was a sofa, a table, and a small refrigerator in the corner; that was all.

Zhang Jian leaned his cane against the armrest of the sofa and sat down.

"It's more comfortable than my shop."

Shahra ignored him and walked straight to the gap in the curtains, prying them open with two fingers and staring at the street below.

About twenty minutes later, footsteps could be heard in the hallway.

The rhythm is steady, and the stride is long.

Two short knocks on the door.

Shahra opened the door after confirming the code.

Ahried walked in.

"Mr. Zhang, we meet again."

Zhang Jian stood up, supporting himself on the sofa armrest, shook hands with him, and said helplessly:

"General, I must say, your intelligence system is really not very good."

Ahrid's expression remained unchanged.

Their intelligence system has always been criticized.

If he were truly capable, he wouldn't have to come to a Chinese person to buy intelligence.

He sat down next to Zhang Jian with an air of authority and a serious expression.

"Mr. Zhang, is everything you're saying true?"

"real."

"Could you tell me, who exactly is this person?"

Zhang Jian met his gaze.

"Mr. Brigadier General."

He began to speak slowly and deliberately.

"You should know the rules when it comes to buying intelligence."

"clear."

Ahrid placed his hands on his knees.

"but……"

He took a deep breath.

"Mr. Zhang, I left in a hurry this time and didn't bring any cash with me."

"I'll arrange for someone to transfer the money after I get back."

"Pay me money? No, no, no!"

Zhang Jian simply waved his hand.

"Brigadier General, it seems we need to change our trading methods."

Zhang Jian leaned forward slightly.

"From now on, all intelligence transactions between us will only take two routes."

He held up one finger.

"First, pay in cash in person."

The second finger.

"Second, the money will be transferred directly to an account I arranged in China."

"It will not go through any of your military's systems, nor through any internal approval processes, and will leave no traceable records."

"Not even one."

Aiharid stared at him, remaining silent for a long time.

He is not a fool.

The subtext of Zhang Jian's words couldn't be clearer.

Since you have spies within your ranks, then your financial, communication, and approval systems are all untrustworthy.

Any trace of intelligence dealing that enters this system is equivalent to being delivered directly to the spy's desk.

In the end, it won't be the military that gets exposed, but him.

This guy is trying to save his life, and he's doing it very professionally.

Once the money is transferred into China, it won't be so easy for the CIA to investigate.

However, this also indirectly acknowledges that China was involved in this.

Is China this assertive now?

They've already stopped carrying people on their backs?

This seems to contradict their usual practices.

Aiharid was somewhat skeptical, but he didn't think too much about it. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded in agreement.

"Can."

I will send you the domestic account information later.

Zhang Jian added another sentence.

"I'll only speak after the money is in my account; that's the rule."

Akhalid's eye twitched.

Despite his dissatisfaction, he still pressed the button.

"Alright, name your price for this intelligence."

Zhang Jian closed his mouth.

He then mentally summoned the system interface.

"System, I want to exchange for the true identity of the CIA undercover agent in the General Staff of the Revolutionary Guard."

【Ding! 】

[Seven CIA agents have been detected within the Revolutionary Guard General Staff. Redeem all seven?]

Looking at the blue window in front of him, Zhang Jian once again felt worried about the situation of the Revolutionary Guard.

They're practically sieves already, can they really withstand the combined offensive of the US and Israel?

Don't let yourself collapse when things get tough.

He looked up at Ahrid.

"System, how much will it cost to redeem everything?"

The Revolutionary Guard General Staff has seven CIA informants!

[Required funds for exchange: US$155000.]

"264,000?"

"How many of our deepest-hidden, highest-ranking informants do we need to identify?"

【Ding! 】

[High-value intelligence detected: The true identity and details of the CIA's "Watchman" informant's covert operations.]

[Intelligence Level: S-rank.]

[Required funds for exchange: US$150,000.]

Zhang Jian's pupils dilated instantly.

So this one mole is basically worth the total price!

Does this mean that the other six are just small fry?

Insufficient evidence?

However, the $150,000 really surprised him.

He had only spent a few hundred dollars to buy intelligence on the rescue of Camp Karimi, and even the second wave of large-scale air raids, which targeted 12 locations, would only cost him 100,000 dollars.

The result was that the price of this spy's information alone was more expensive than the cost of the Tehran airstrike that day!

He had thought about the pricing logic of the system.

It's basically linked to the destructive power of intelligence.

The more outrageous the price, the more alarming the implications behind this intelligence.

$150,000...

A spy who can command this price is definitely not a low-level informant!

You can roughly guess how deep this nail is just by looking at the price tag.

Zhang Jian exited the system interface.

He forced himself to calm down.

After a moment, he slowly raised his right hand.

All five fingers were spread out and displayed steadily in front of Aiharid.

Akhalid stared at the hand.

"Fifty thousand dollars?"

Zhang Jian shook his head.

"Five hundred thousand."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop by three degrees suddenly.

"Say it again?"

Ahrid looked on incredulously.

"Five hundred thousand US dollars."

Zhang Jian withdrew his hand, leaned back on the sofa, and spoke in a relaxed tone.

"Fixed price, no bargaining."

"If you think it's too expensive, I understand, we can cancel the deal."

"But Brigadier General, there's a point you can make up for yourself."

"This person has been in your ranks for so long and holds a high position."

"How many top-secret documents has he handled? How much crucial intelligence has he leaked?"

"How many of your compatriots, generals, and scientists lost their lives because of what he sent out?"

Zhang Jian paused for a moment.

"Five hundred thousand US dollars for this person's information."

"Firstly, it can avenge those who have already sacrificed their lives; secondly, it can prevent you from leaking high-level intelligence in the future."

"General, do you think this deal... is a loss?"

The veins on Akhalid's hand, which was covering his knee, were bulging.

He looked up and stared intently at the young Chinese man who was leaning crookedly on the sofa.

After a long silence, he finally spoke slowly, almost through gritted teeth.

"Okay, I'll buy it..."