Chapter 23: Gold

Chapter 23: Gold

Watching He Ningyu, who had regained a flicker of consciousness stimulated by the ice, Zhou Zhihan felt a fresh wave of pain flash through his eyes.

He Ningyu’s hands and feet began to twitch slightly; the ice was gradually melting, obstructing her airway. For someone in a comatose state, this ice would cause rapid suffocation and death, mimicking the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Once she passed, her body would retain its warmth for a time, and the ice blocking her throat would melt and flow into her stomach, leaving no trace behind.

At this point in time, the technology for fingerprint identification had not yet emerged. For criminal investigations, the police relied on primitive methods—methods far too backward and weak to challenge someone like Zhou Zhihan, who possessed the technical awareness of a modern man.

Zhou Zhihan downed the remaining half-glass of chilled red wine in one gulp. Having been forced to kill for the first time, his heart was pounding violently. The cold wine helped his frantic heart gradually regain its composure. Once finished, feeling a sense of self-consolation, his slightly trembling hands became steady and strong again. He wiped the glass clean, leaving no trace, and hung it back on the bar rack.

He poured another half-glass of wine for He Ningyu and placed it in the bathroom, intending for the police to conclude that she had been drinking and was therefore oblivious to the gas leak—a state that would have only accelerated her poisoning.

Just as the ice blocked her trachea and she was on the verge of death, He Ningyu opened her eyes. It was the final flash of life. Her beautiful eyes, one could only wonder if they truly saw Zhou Zhihan.

In the moment she breathed her last, Zhou Zhihan pressed his palm to her forehead. His "Tactile Perception" was triggered, once again extracting the deepest, most fleeting memories from her life and rendering them into clear images and text.

When Zhou Zhihan had first made contact with He Ningyu at the Chinatown teahouse, his Tactile Perception had automatically read her consciousness, presenting the following prompt in his system:

*He Ningyu, Japanese. Currently posing as a Chinese-American, she is a high-level executive at an import-export company in New York State. In reality, she is a high-ranking spy meticulously trained by the Japanese Tokko (Special Higher Police). Her true identity is the Japanese female agent Kayama Yoshiko. She has participated in numerous assassinations and interrogations of patriotic Chinese, using every means to bribe traitors and lackeys. As beautiful as an angel, as ruthless as a viper.*

When Zhou Zhihan first touched her fingers and learned her true identity as Kayama Yoshiko, he had been momentarily dazed. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, using the genuine threat of being expelled by the military academy and sent back to China to instantly dispel her suspicions.

In fact, long before the first group of Chinese Air Force cadets set foot in the United States, Japanese spies in China were already aware of the move. Japan’s ambition to invade China had deep roots and was known to all; for years, they had been preparing for comprehensive military and ideological conquest.

Before the September 18 Incident, Japanese agents were already scattered throughout China. After the incident, they became even more blatant, cultivating countless traitors and lackeys. It was no exaggeration to say their eyes and ears were everywhere. They had a thorough grasp of the Nationalist government’s military layout and troop movements, and their spies already knew the exact number of combat aircraft in the Nationalist arsenal, including every model and its performance specifications.

The Japanese naturally knew the purpose behind the Nationalist government sending these students to American air schools. Thus, even before these students arrived in the U.S., they had already become special targets of the Japanese Tokko.

Their meeting, which seemed coincidental, had sparked an immediate interest in this innocent Chinese boy the moment Kayama Yoshiko saw him. At that time, however, she maintained the cold detachment of a professional spy, easily capturing Zhou Zhihan’s heart with a honey trap. This was why Zhou Zhihan had made no progress in his training; his heart was entirely focused on the beautiful and glamorous Kayama Yoshiko, leaving him no motivation to train in earnest—he merely went through the motions to appease his instructors, completely unaware that he had become a target of the Tokko.

Kayama Yoshiko’s methods for capturing a man’s heart were masterful. She played the part of an innocent young girl, holding hands with him in the dark corners of the park or engaging in shy, physical contact. Yet, she never allowed Zhou Zhihan to cross the final, intimate line. This was the method