Tehran Grocery Store: My Intelligence is Priced Clearly

Time seemed to drag on endlessly in the subway tunnel.

Zhang Jian sat leaning against the wall, his right leg still throbbing with pain.

Karimi was beside him, clutching a walkie-talkie in his hand, his knuckles white.

Neither of them spoke.

Everything that needed to be said has been said, and everything that needed to be done has been done.

All that's left is to wait.

Zhang Jian glanced at Karimi.

This guy was as tense as a bowstring, every breath he took was filled with tension and anxiety.

The wound on his right shoulder was still bleeding, and the strips of fabric in his vest were soaked through, turning from light red to dark brown.

Zhang Jian wanted to say something to ease the tension, but he couldn't think of the right words no matter how hard he tried.

Comfort? How to comfort?

Say "It's okay"?

The lives of hundreds of people are hanging by a thread; saying those three words is no different from farting.

The old woman in the passageway was still chanting scriptures.

Several young people huddled in a corner, and a girl buried her face in her knees, her shoulders trembling.

Zhang Jian turned his gaze back to the countdown on the panel.

[00:00:00: The 47th Air Defense Battalion's position suffered its first attack]

[The first round of strikes has been carried out]

It's already blown up.

As for the outcome, he didn't know.

Karimi didn't know either.

The walkie-talkie lay quietly on Karimi's lap; the green light was still flashing, but no sound came out.

A minute passed.

Two minutes.

five minutes.

It wasn't until twenty minutes later.

Zhang Jian looked at the panel.

[00:00:00: The 47th Air Defense Battalion's position was hit by the third wave of attacks]

All strike missions have been completed.

That's when he finally couldn't help but speak up.

"If you squeeze it so hard, you're going to crush the walkie-talkie."

Karimi did not respond.

"I'm saying, if you loosen your grip and crush it, you really won't be able to contact us anymore."

Zhang Jian told a joke that wasn't funny at all.

Karimi slowly loosened his fingers, and blood returned to his fingertips.

"open."

"Um."

"What if they hadn't managed to evacuate in time..."

"That's not your fault."

Zhang Jian interrupted him.

"You've said everything you needed to say, but people don't believe you. What can you do?"

Karimi opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more.

"Sizzle!"

The walkie-talkie suddenly emitted a piercing electrical crackling sound.

Karimi shuddered, grabbed it, and held it to his ear.

"Buzz, Captain...buzz...Captain Karimi!"

Farhad's voice!

It was intermittent, with a lot of background noise, but it was definitely Farhad.

Karimi's voice was trembling.

"Falhard! I'm here! What's going on?"

"Captain!"

Farhad's voice suddenly rose in pitch over the walkie-talkie.

"The intelligence is true!"

Karimi's body stiffened.

"What did you say?"

"The intelligence is true! Completely accurate!"

Farhad speaks very fast.

"At 15:38 PM, the missile landed precisely on time! The center of the position was completely razed to the ground!"

"But! The deputy battalion commander gave the order to retreat at the last minute!"

"All personnel in the battalion entered the backup tunnels one minute before the attack!"

"Captain, we survived!"

Karimi's hand trembled slightly.

The walkie-talkie almost slipped from his hand.

"You...you say that again?"

Karimi became very excited.

"No one died! Not a single one!"

"The deputy battalion commander believed your intelligence and gave the order at the last minute."

"The entire battalion urgently evacuated to the backup tunnels on the west slope."

"Everyone was inside the tunnel when the missile landed."

"We survived!"

Karimi took the walkie-talkie away from his ear and placed it on his lap.

He leaned back against the wall, his chest heaving violently.

Zhang Jian saw that his eyes were red.

The Iranian officer, his face covered in blood and his beard unkempt, trembled incessantly.

After about ten seconds, Karimi raised the walkie-talkie again.

"And the second wave? F-15EXs."

"It exploded too! At 15:47 PM, exactly the time you said!"

"The ammunition storage area was hit directly, and the shockwave from the explosion could be felt even inside the tunnel."

"But everyone had already been evacuated, and not a single person remained in the ammunition loading area."

"The third wave of drones..."

"It just ended. Hellfire took out the remaining few empty vehicles on the position."

"Captain, the three waves of attacks perfectly match the intelligence you provided."

The time, direction, and weapon type—not a single word was different!

Karimi closed his eyes.

Zhang Jian, sitting next to him, also breathed a sigh of relief.

Alright, it wasn't a waste of those six hundred and thirty dollars.

"Captain."

Farhad's voice softened slightly.

"The deputy battalion commander asked me to ask you, where are you now?"

"In the Azadi Avenue metro station in downtown Tehran."

"Alright, once the bombing outside has completely stopped, I will personally lead a team to pick you up."

Farhad paused for a moment.

"but……"

"Captain, is your intelligence source... still with you?"

Karimi turned and glanced at Zhang Jian.

Zhang Jian was looking down at the injury on his right leg, pretending not to be listening.

"exist."

"The deputy battalion commander means to bring them back together."

"clear."

Karimi turned off the walkie-talkie, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He leaned against the wall and let out a long sigh.

He turned to Zhang Jian.

Zhang Jian was still looking down, fiddling with his trouser leg.

"open."

"what."

Karimi struggled to stand up, bracing himself against the wall.

His right hand was trembling, and his left hand was covering the broken rib. The whole process was extremely slow.

Zhang Jian looked up, about to say, "Don't move," but the guy had already struggled to stand up.

Then, Karimi pressed his left hand against his ribs and raised his right hand, his five fingers together.

A standard Iranian military salute.

His posture was actually crooked and awkward. The injury to his right shoulder prevented him from raising his arm to the standard height, and his body was also tilted to one side due to the broken ribs.

But Zhang Jian could see clearly what was in his eyes.

"What are you doing? Sit down."

Zhang Jian tugged at his trouser leg.

Karimi didn't budge.

The salute was held for a full five seconds.

"Thank you, Zhang."

He mixed two Chinese characters into his Persian.

"Three hundred lives."

Zhang Jian was stunned for two seconds.

He then turned his face away and rubbed his nose vigorously.

"Alright, alright, sit down already. You're standing with your bones broken, do you want to die?"

Karimi slowly lowered his hand, slid back to the ground while holding onto the wall, wincing in pain.

"Zhang, I owe you my life."

"Forget it, just patronize my shop more often after the war is over."

Karimi was speechless for a moment, then let out a painful yet joyful laugh.

"Don't worry, I'll go, the whole battalion will go!"

An hour later.

The explosions outside have completely stopped.

The atmosphere in the subway passage was still oppressive, but the initial apocalyptic panic had dissipated considerably.

Some people started talking quietly, some were taking stock of their belongings, and most were just sitting there, lost in thought.

The sound of an engine came from the direction of the entrance.

Immediately afterwards, a beam of flashlight light shone in from the collapsed entrance.

"Is anyone here? Is anyone here?"

Persian, the voice of a young man.

The passageway immediately erupted in commotion.

Several people who were near the entrance stood up and rushed toward the light source.

"The army is here!"

"They're from the military!"

A young officer in camouflage uniform squeezed through the gap in the entrance. He was followed by four fully armed soldiers.

Farhad.

Although Zhang Jian had never met him, he could tell from Karimi's reaction.

"Falhard!"

Karimi shouted at the top of his lungs from deep within the passage.

Farhad followed the sound and came over.

When the flashlight shone on him and he saw Karimi's appearance, he paused for a moment.

"Captain, you..."

"Stop looking, he's not dead yet."

Karimi waved his hand. "Take care of these civilians first."

Farhad nodded and turned to shout loudly at the civilians in the passageway.

"Attention everyone! I am an officer in the Islamic Republic's army!"

"This location is currently safe; please do not leave for the time being!"

"The situation outside is still unstable. We will organize an evacuation once we confirm it's safe!"

The crowd in the passageway fell silent immediately.

The old woman who had been chanting for over an hour finally stopped, her cloudy eyes looking at Farhad, her lips trembling.

"Will everything be alright?"

"It will be alright, Auntie."

Farhad nodded to her.

After settling the civilians, Farhad quickly walked back to Karimi's side.

He crouched down, examined Karimi's injuries, and his expression turned somewhat grim.

"Shoulders and ribs?"

"A laceration to the shoulder, and at least two broken ribs on the right side."

Karimi recounted his injuries himself.

"There's probably shrapnel in his leg too. He can walk, but he can't run."

"I brought a first-aid kit."

Farhad took a military first aid kit from his waist.

"Don't worry about me."

Karimi nodded his chin in Zhang Jian's direction.

"This is my friend, a Chinese man named Zhang."

Farhad's gaze shifted to Zhang Jian.

Zhang Jian slightly raised his hand in greeting.

"Is it him?"

Farhad lowered his voice and leaned close to Karimi's ear.

Karimi's reply was also very soft, but enough for Zhang Jian to hear.

"He provided the intelligence, don't ask any more questions, just take him with you."

Farhad said nothing more and beckoned two soldiers over.

One person was supporting Karimi, and the other was helping Zhang Jian.

The four people squeezed out through the gap in the subway entrance.

The air outside was full of dust and the smell of burning.

The streets were devastated.

The road Zhang Jian came on has been completely changed.

The road was littered with gravel and broken glass, and several cars were overturned on the roadside, some still smoking.

A military jeep and a truck were parked fifty meters away.

There were seven or eight fully armed soldiers sitting in the truck.

Farhad shoved Karimi and Zhang Jian into the back seat of the jeep.

One soldier took out a first-aid kit and began to perform basic hemostasis on Karimi. Another handed Zhang Jian a bottle of water.

Zhang Jian took it and tilted his head back to gulp down half the bottle.

The jeep started and bumped its way out of the city.

Karimi leaned back in his seat and turned his head to look at Zhang Jian.

"Zhang, who exactly is this person you're dealing with?"

coming.

Zhang Jian had long known that this problem would come sooner or later.

He screwed the cap back on the water bottle and wiped his mouth.

Even if I told you, you still wouldn't find it.

"Then I won't look for it, I just want to know."

"A link in the Middle Eastern black market."

Zhang Jian spoke in a flat tone.

"It's anonymous; I don't even know who the other person is."

They only accept US dollars, and it's a cash-on-delivery transaction; they never meet in person.

"Cash on delivery?"

Karimi frowned.

"Intelligence isn't like cabbage, how can we hand it over?"

"I can't tell you that. The black market has its own rules. I'll just ask you if they're accurate."

Karimi lost his voice.

quasi.

It's not just accurate, it's downright infuriatingly precise.

Let me put it this way.

Zhang Jian held up one finger.

"I started this business when I was doing foreign trade."

"What kind of people aren't there in Dubai? Arms dealers, brokers, retired special agents, former intelligence personnel, all sorts of shady characters."

"Some people have things in their hands, but nowhere to sell them."

"I happened to meet a middleman, and that's how we got together."

"I don't usually need this kind of thing, it's just a coincidence that I got it today."

Karimi stared at him for several seconds.

Is there a flaw in this explanation?

Of course there are.

But in the Middle East, you really can't disprove something like that.

The arms dealers in the Gulf do all sorts of business, and intelligence trading is an ancient trade.

Every single thing Zhang Jian said is valid on its own.

"And the informant's identity?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know."

Zhang Jian's attitude was firm.

"There's a rule in this industry: don't pry into the other person's background."

"If I were to ask around, they would have already cut off the connection."

Karimi sighed and didn't press the matter further.

Farhad, sitting in the front passenger seat, chimed in.

"Mr. Zhang, will this channel still be usable in the future?"

Zhang Jian was stunned for a moment.

Farhad looked at him in the rearview mirror; the young officer spoke very seriously.

"If we can continue to provide this level of intelligence, money is not an issue."

He paused for a moment.

"The last thing our Iranian military has in abundance is US dollars."

Zhang Jian didn't rush to answer, but instead glanced at Karimi.

Karimi nodded slightly, his expression serious.

"He's telling the truth, Zhang."

"We don't know how long this battle will last. You saved three hundred lives today. The higher-ups will recognize this achievement."

Zhang Jian leaned back in his seat, his mind racing.

The panel was still floating in the corner of my field of vision.

[Current Intelligence Points: 480]

Four hundred and eighty points.

In addition, the Iranian military receives an unlimited supply of US dollars...

"We'll see when the time comes."

The jeep drove for another twenty minutes or so before entering what looked like a military zone.

The gate was surrounded by barbed wire, and sentries stood at the entrance. They only allowed Farhad to pass after checking his identification.

The car was parked in front of a three-story building.

The sign at the entrance was written in Persian, and Zhang Jian recognized a few words.

"Military Medical Center".

Karimi was carried inside by two soldiers.

Zhang Jian, leaning on a cane handed to him by a soldier, limped along behind.

Upon entering the building, the smell of disinfectant hit you.

The corridor was filled with people in military uniforms, many of whom had injuries.

A military doctor came forward, examined Karimi's injuries, and then, with a frown, wheeled him into the operating room.

"The shoulder needs stitches, and X-rays of the ribs are needed for confirmation."

The military doctor glanced at Zhang Jian.

"The same to you?"

"My right leg was smashed."

"Clinic Room Number Three, someone will see you."

Zhang Jian nodded and was about to head to consultation room number three.

Farhad followed.

"Mr. Zhang."

"Um?"

"Go and treat your wound first. I've arranged for someone to examine you."

Farhad patted him on the shoulder.

"After you're done dealing with this, someone might want to have a chat with you."

"What are you going to talk about?"

Farhad smiled, a smile that held a deeper meaning in the young officer's expression.

"The deputy battalion commander has reported what happened today."

"The higher-ups are very interested in the source of this intelligence."

Zhang Jian paused for a moment.

The door to consultation room number three was ajar, and he glanced inside.

Inside the consultation room, besides a military doctor, there were two other people sitting there.

He wasn't wearing a white coat; he was wearing casual clothes.

But Zhang Jian immediately understood what was going on with that sitting posture and the way he looked people up and down.

He grinned.

"Well, before I even got stitches, my interrogation has already started."