Chapter 54: There Is a Mole in S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Passat slowly made its way back into the city.

On the road, Lu Ye asked, “Brother, how does it feel to be a secret agent?”

Lin Zhongze took a towel from his bag, wiped the cold sweat seeping down his back, and complained, “Damn it, I’ve never been so tense in my life—terrified I’d slip up and blow my cover.”

Lu Ye burst out laughing. “No need to be nervous. Your performance just now was absolutely brilliant. You had the expressions and aura down perfectly. The next Oscar for Best Actor has your name on it!”

“To hell with your Oscar! I’m here to be an agent, not an actor!”

With a laugh and a curse, Lin Zhongze asked, “So what do you need me to do next?”

“Do what you do best—cause a scene!”

Lu Ye was acting as brazen as ever, having already thrown down the gauntlet. If he didn’t smash up a few of Du Sheng’s strongholds, wouldn’t he just be all talk?

Of course, this didn’t require Lin Zhongze’s personal involvement—Chen Xi and Beauty Meng would take care of the arrangements.

Starshoot Shooting Club.

This was the contact point between the Apostles and the Shield Bureau. Some time ago, Huang Yu—the one Lu Ye had dragged out for a beating—was the person in charge of this location.

That afternoon, he assembled two teams, placing them under the leadership of Beauty Meng and Chen Xi.

Through the Skyeye system, Liu Yiyi quickly pinpointed two new strongholds set up by Hongying Society: one was the Yijun Bar near the seaside bathing area, and the other was a machinery factory on the western outskirts of Mingzhu City.

Chen Xi and Beauty Meng split up, each targeting one of the bases.

It wasn’t long before Du Sheng received devastating news…

The Yijun Bar had been thoroughly wrecked, and all Hongying Society members stationed there had vanished without a trace.

The machinery factory on the outskirts was a horrific scene of carnage, like a living hell on earth. Not a single one of the dozens of thugs stationed there survived.

The corpse facing the main door still had a swallow-shaped shuriken embedded in its neck—a clear signature of Chen Xi.

Recalling Lin Zhongze’s casual yet chilling words, “We’ll wipe you out,” Du Sheng finally felt genuine fear and dread.

Lu Ye’s arrogance and audacity weren’t an act—they really were willing to go all out.

He was left with two clear options: either compromise by handing over Hongying Society’s operational plans in Guangdong East to Y6 and seek cooperation, or fight Y6 to the bitter end—there could only be one spy organization in Mingzhu City.

What to do?

Compromise? Du Sheng was unwilling.

Go to war? Du Sheng lacked the confidence.

“I don’t even know how big Y6 really is, but they’ve already dug up all my secrets. If it comes to a real fight, how could I possibly be a match for Lin Zhongze?” The sense of defeat was overwhelming.

After weighing the pros and cons, Du Sheng decided to compromise with Lin Zhongze.

But just as he picked up the phone, Xu Fugui burst into the office in a panic. “Boss, we’ve been duped! Lu Ye and Lin Zhongze aren’t Y6 at all!”

Du Sheng’s pupils dilated sharply. “What did you say? Where did this information come from?”

Xu Fugui took a deep breath. “It just came in from our mole inside the Shield Bureau—Lu Ye isn’t Lin Zhongze’s subordinate, he’s an agent! All those people who’ve been fighting us alongside Lu Ye—they’re all agents from the Apostles!”

This news was nothing less than an atom bomb. Du Sheng had to force himself to breathe deeply to steady his nerves, then ordered, “Inform all our people—evacuate Mingzhu City immediately!”

After a moment’s thought, a cold and cunning smile crept onto his lips. “If we expose the identities of Lu Ye and the other agents, do you think they’ll be hunted endlessly?”

Xu Fugui slapped his thigh in excitement. “Boss, I’ll post their information online right away!”

The desk was already littered with photos and personal details of Lu Ye and his group. Xu Fugui frantically snapped pictures with his phone and prepared to upload the data, clearly marking them as agents…

But as he was about to upload, he muttered, “Weird, why won’t the Wi-Fi connect?”

Du Sheng frowned. “If Wi-Fi doesn’t work, use mobile data! Hurry!”

Xu Fugui shook his head. “I tried! Mobile data’s not working either!”

Alarm bells went off in Du Sheng’s mind.

Was the network signal for Fugui Real Estate’s building being jammed?

He kicked Xu Fugui. “Forget the files—move!”

“Old Du, where are you off to in such a hurry?”

Lu Ye’s voice drifted lazily from the hallway outside. Du Sheng immediately turned and dashed for the window, intending to escape from the third floor.

But just then, a rope dropped from above.

With a swish, Beauty Meng rappelled down, landing a kick that sent Du Sheng sprawling back into the room.

Lu Ye pinned Xu Fugui’s upper body to the desk, snatched the phone, and saw the screen display “File transfer failed.”

Only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

…

A dozen minutes earlier.

Liu Yiyi had called Lu Ye in a panic, “There’s a mole in the Shield Bureau!”

Without stopping to ask for details, Lu Ye immediately called Beauty Meng over to cut off Du Sheng and Xu Fugui’s escape route.

Fortunately, Liu Yiyi managed to hack the signal base station for the entire street in time, preventing the Apostles’ agents’ identities from being exposed.

“We originally wanted to get your operational plans for Guangdong East before dealing with you, what a pity.”

Du Sheng and Xu Fugui exchanged terrified glances, both knowing their end had come.

Crack. Crack.

The only sounds were two crisp snaps from their necks—Beauty Meng was swift and efficient.

Even though the leak had been permanently sealed with the deaths of Du Sheng and Xu Fugui, Lu Ye’s heart still pounded with lingering fear.

Leaving Beauty Meng to clean up, Lu Ye immediately drove to Apostles headquarters.

“Sister Yiyi, how did you know there was a mole?”

“I received an anonymous email…”

As she spoke, Liu Yiyi opened her inbox on the computer.

The email contained a single line: “There’s a mole in the Shield Bureau. The Apostles’ identities are exposed. Intercept them immediately!”

No signature, no sender, and the IP address was fake.

Lu Ye rubbed his forehead, feeling dizzy. “Where’s my sister?”

“The mole who tipped off Xu Fugui has already been eliminated by me!”

Chen Xi had just returned to Apostles headquarters as well, and the atmosphere turned heavy.

What was terrifying was that the Shield Bureau had a Hongying Society informant.

Even more frightening was that they would have known nothing about it, if not for an anonymous email that barely let them escape disaster.

This was truly a nerve-wracking moment, worse than being on the brink of death.

After a moment’s thought, Lu Ye made a firm decision. “Sister Yiyi, erase all our official records—there might be other moles in the Shield Bureau.”

This meant that all Apostles members would lose their official agent status, becoming nothing more than a scattered, unofficial force.

He added, “It’s only temporary.”

Liu Yiyi nodded silently and did as he asked.

Chen Xi said, “I got the locations of the last three Hongying Society strongholds from the thugs at the machinery factory: 108 Mingzhu Avenue, 76 Shilian Road, and 335 Guantong Alley. What should we do?”

Lu Ye’s expression darkened. “Wipe them out!”

…

1 a.m., Su Residence.

Su Qianqian sat in the living room, her face cold as stone, because Lu Ye had only just returned at this late hour.

“Coming home in the middle of the night again—you haven’t picked me up from work in a week!”

Lu Ye looked up at her.

Su Qianqian froze; she had never seen Lu Ye looking so dejected and utterly exhausted.

“Old woman, I’m so tired…”

Su Qianqian’s heart softened involuntarily. She pulled his head into her arms and said gently, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Can I hold you for a bit?”

“Mm, you can.”

Breathing in the faint fragrance on her body, Lu Ye’s tangled thoughts slowly began to unravel.

Du Sheng, Xu Fugui, and the mole were all dead.

Du Sheng was Hongying Society’s top leader in all of Guangdong East, and news of his demise in Mingzhu City would undoubtedly shock their headquarters.

His final report, sent before his death, confirmed Lu Ye and Lin Zhongze as members of the Y6 organization, and that they had destroyed two of Hongying Society’s strongholds with ruthless efficiency.

All Apostles agents had erased their official credentials. In Hongying Society headquarters’ eyes, they were undoubtedly Y6 members now.