After he graduated from New York University five years ago, he found a job in Beijing and had been living here ever since.
Over the course of the five years, he went from a 20-year-old kid to a successful adult. He had a nice apartment in the city, a seven-figure annual salary, drove a BMW 730, often with a beautiful girl sitting in the front seat; it seemed like he had a great life…
At least on the surface.
His jealous relatives and friends didn’t know that he had another identity.
He was a field intelligence officer for the CIA…
Also known as a spy.
This sounded ridiculous or outrageous; after all, why would a social elite want to become a spy?
But then again, the reason why he was able to become so successful was partly because of his alternate identity.
Over the past five years, thanks to the support from the CIA, he was able to build a huge intelligence network in China, especially the eastern region. This was mainly to collect information from the Yangtze River Delta city group, Jinling, Beijing, and Tianjin. He even had connections with local officials.
On a Sunday afternoon, he brewed himself a cup of delicious coffee, downloaded a compressed data file titled “the Jinling materials investigation report”, and typed a password on his keyboard.
Every weekend, his people would gather and collect information for him. After screening and filtering the information, he would report it to his superiors—the CIA.
At the same time, he would also take a few hours and arrange new tasks for his company departments according to the CIA’s instructions.
He had always been a careful person. Whether it was online or offline communication, he always used an encrypted email and an overseas bank account. Even the CIA agent who had worked with him for five years didn’t know his real identity.
He was able to survive until this day precisely because of this attitude.
“The quantum computer project from the Chinese Academy of Sciences? I see.”
Xie Yong read the email from the higher-ups.
He had heard about this event recently. Apparently, it caused quite a lot of noise on Facebook and Twitter. Many Americans were afraid that the Chinese government would use this as a weapon for cyber warfare. Media outlets such as CNN might have been responsible for manipulating public opinion.
Considering the fact that the White House was definitely paying attention to this story, he started to collect intel in this area. However, it was difficult to find information on the scientists involved in the research project.
First of all, this was a state-funded scientific research project, and trying to gather information about an esoteric field was difficult for a layman like him. Without the help of professional consultants, it would take a lot of effort just to find out the identity of the scientific researchers…
After he read the email, he deleted the email and heard a doorbell.
Xie Yong stood up from his office chair and walked to his door. He saw a mailman standing with a box outside his house.
“Is anyone home? Package delivery.”
Xie Yong spoke through the door.
“I didn’t order anything, do you have the right address?”
“117, Jinxiu Street, Mr. Xie… Should be correct,” the mailman said as he read the house number on the wall.
Xie Yong frowned. Even though he was a little suspicious, he wasn’t worried.
After all, he had perfectly concealed his identity. No one had ever doubted his true identity. If he did not open the door, it could arouse suspicion.
Therefore, he said, “Okay, give me a second… I’ll put on some clothes.”
Xie Yong turned around and began walking back.
However, the second he turned around, he heard a loud explosion from behind. The explosion blasted the door down, and he heard a loud voice from outside.
“Don’t move! Let me see your hands!”
A group of undercover policemen stepped through the explosion smoke and went inside. Xie Yong’s ears were still ringing when he was pushed to the ground and handcuffed.
Xie Yong was baffled, and he asked in a panic, “Who are you guys? What are you doing?”
“Quit the acting,” a man in front of him said. The man squatted down and looked at him for a long time. He said, “Xie Yong, CIA intelligence spy, or should I call you… Adam Liu?”
When Xie Yong heard this, his face turned pale.
Adam Liu was his real name.
Ever since returning to China, he had never used this name; his name on his passport and ID card were both Xie Yong.
No one knew his real name except the top executives at the CIA!
The only explanation for this was that the CIA’s senior management was infiltrated…
All he wanted to do right now was to inform the CIA of what had happened.
However, this was obviously not possible.
While Xie Yong was being handcuffed, a nearby high-end gated community was being swarmed by police cars.
The security guard of the gated community was standing at the side as he watched the armed police officers escort people into their cars.
People nearby looked at the handcuffed people with black hoods over their heads, and they began to gossip.
“What is going on? Some kind of telecom fraud?”
“They’re catching spies apparently.”
“Spies? No way, spies live in such a nice neighborhood?”
“I heard from my neighbor’s son’s mother-in-law that the Ministry of State Security in Beijing received a report that someone had set up a radio monitoring base station in this neighborhood, and apparently, they’ve been spying on phone signals for a year now!”
“A year? F*ck, that’s a long time!”
In less than half a day, more than a dozen rumors had spread around the neighborhood.
Inside an interrogation room.
A small man sat behind iron bars. Even in the face of ironclad evidence, he still insisted that he was just an ordinary plumber and did not know anything about spies and receiving foreign funds.
The interrogation officer threw a document at him.
The second this man saw this document, his face froze; his eyes began to shake.
The names of everyone he knew and even people he didn’t know were written on this document. His entire organization had been infiltrated.
After he realized this, he broke down.
‘”There’s no way… No, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
The interrogation officer spoke in a joking tone.
“I suggest you be honest and confess. We’ve already arrested your bosses, so there’s no point hiding. Now is the time for us to clean up the dead bodies… Don’t be so nervous, your crime isn’t severe enough for the death sentence, but you’ll be in jail for a few years, and that depends on your cooperation.”
The man finally gave up.
He wasn’t the only one who was caught. Xie Yong and the other major spies in China were all caught in this operation.
After years of investigation, they were finally able to get their hands on the list of names.
The interrogation officer read the names on the list and spoke.
“This is… going to cause a lot of trouble.”
They had no idea that there were spies in city council committees.
Some of them were enticed by relatives living overseas, while others were bribed. Regardless of the reason, the fact of the crime stayed the same.
It seemed like China’s political and business climates were going to change because of this list of names…