Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 124: Anti-spyware Function of the Panel
The barracks not far from the checkpoint.

Milton arrived at the training ground in an armored vehicle, and nodded slightly as he looked at the spirited troops.

Perhaps it won't be long before these armies cause me great suffering...

"'The Godfather' Mr."

Ishimaya, who was in charge of training the sniper team, saluted Milton.

After resting in the hospital for a period of time, her injuries and those of the other two rebel members had almost healed.

Of course, they are no longer considered rebels, but rather Milton's private army.

"Hmm...not bad. At least in terms of discipline, this team is capable of fighting," Milton praised. "You all performed very well. Go collect your wages for this month."

Ishimaya was taken aback: "Salary? Do we still get paid?"

For her and the resistance fighters, wages were a completely foreign concept.

They took up arms to survive, and if they could find any money, they would pool it together to buy equipment and food; there was no such thing as a wage.

From the perspective of Ismya and the other two, they had simply switched allegiance to a different rebel force and had not considered the issue of wages.

"Didn't you all sign the contracts?" Milton asked, frowning. "Did you sign them without even reading their contents?"

“Uh…we really haven’t looked at it much…” Ismya said somewhat awkwardly, “Um, sir, I’d like to make an application.”

That's really the style of a soldier.

Milton neither agreed nor refused: "What application? Speak."

“I request that if our team acquires the M82A1 through various means, I can have priority in using this weapon during combat. If you have access to purchasing it, I can contribute my own funds to buy this weapon.”

M82A1, Barrett...

Actually, this gun is not a bolt-action sniper rifle like the AWM, but a semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle.

It seems that Ismya has used this gun before and is quite comfortable with it, otherwise she wouldn't have specifically come to apply for it.

"This weapon is new, and it's American-made. How did you rebels manage to get your hands on it?" Milton asked casually.

Milton was issued sniper rifles that were mostly SVD or M24.

"In one operation, I killed an enemy with a Mosin-Nagant and captured the gun from him."

This is a very simple statement, without any details, but it allows one to imagine how terrifying it was, and how much of a disadvantage the equipment was in that gunfight.

No wonder he came here to be a sniper instructor.

They certainly have the ability.

Milton now has a lot of red points, more than 2500 million. Since he has useful and handy guns, he should replace them!
A skilled sniper can play an unexpected role in a battle.

“No need for all that trouble.” After changing, Milton waved his hand and took a key out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Checkpoint, warehouse number 2, row 3… locker number 21, your things are inside.”

Ismaila was taken aback, then quickly saluted: "Yes, sir."

This... the equipment of the "Hell Tax Collector" is just too good, too complete!
After she left, Milton went into his office at the checkpoint, opened the panel, and tapped the phone on the desk, as if waiting for something.

Flora asked curiously, "Boss, what's going on?"

“I was wondering how that rebel force is doing now,” Milton said. “If they succeeded in breaking out, they should be back at headquarters by now.”

Milton made this judgment because after nine people were reported dead on the panel, no more deaths were reported.

In other words, they must have successfully broken through.

However, the casualties were greater than expected... Milton originally thought that with Juan's excellent equipment, the maximum number of deaths would be three or four.

How could so many people have died? Did something unexpected happen?
Flora thought for a moment and nodded, "It should be soon... With this kind of equipment, I'm at least 9% confident that I can break through the encirclement if we catch the enemy off guard."

Not long after, Ismya also arrived at the office and stood next to Brandon.

Is there a problem with the gun?

"No, thank you for your generosity."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the phone on Milton's desk was connected.

A voice came from inside that was weary, sad, yet also invigorated... This complex mix of emotions, some of which were even contradictory, was truly remarkable.

“‘Hell Tax Collector’, I’m Juan, do you remember me?”

“Of course.” Milton immediately switched to speakerphone. “Looks like your breakout operation was a complete success?”

"We succeeded, but it wasn't a perfect outcome..." Juan sighed. "We were unlucky. We ran into a well-equipped force, and they outnumbered us. It took nine of our men to break through their lines."

"But! The price they paid was many times worse than ours. We wiped out an entire infantry platoon and some special forces! More than 40 of them! And at least three armored vehicles!"

"The equipment losses are quite severe. There are only four sets of bulletproof vests left that are still intact, two off-road vehicles, almost half of the ammunition has been used, and more than half of the firearms have been lost... But don't worry, I guarantee the enemy won't be able to find them."

"Thank you again. Without this equipment, we would have been wiped out."

"Our Supreme Command is aware of your existence and friendship, and has entrusted me to express our highest respect and gratitude to you."

Milton frowned and nodded: "Hmm... okay, got it. Let's keep in touch."

After hanging up the phone, Milton glanced at Ismaila.

A look of sadness inevitably appeared on her face.

But compared to being wiped out, it's a stroke of luck that nine people were able to return.

Flora frowned, shook her head slightly, and asked, "Ishimaya, based on your understanding of your warriors and the enemy, is this casualty ratio normal?"

"It's normal, even a great victory... But if we take equipment factors into account, I feel something's a little strange?"

“Yes, at least I don’t think the losses should be this great.” Brandon frowned as well. “Even if we accidentally ran into the enemy’s elite, given the element of surprise, why did we only manage a pyrrhic victory?”

Milton then spoke up: "There are only two possibilities. First, the enemy's elite troops are more capable than we thought; second, the enemy is prepared, but for some reason, their preparation is not sufficient."

Which possibility do you think it is?

Ismaila spoke first: "The civil war has been going on for decades. Based on my many years of combat experience, I don't think the enemy's 'elite' troops could be that strong—to be ambushed while being out-equipped and still manage to achieve such an exchange ratio?"

The rebels were equipped with machine guns with armor-piercing rounds, rocket launchers, brand-new rifles, and heavy body armor, which actually gave them a slight edge over the elite regular army.

In the event of a surprise attack, it would be normal to have around 3 casualties, and to annihilate the enemy completely.

Milton nodded and said, "That's the second possibility, meaning the rebels' so-called surprise attack wasn't unexpected. The enemy was prepared, but for some reason, their preparation wasn't sufficient... How could this situation have occurred?"

Brandon and Ismaila were a little confused.

But Flora blurted out, "Intelligence! They obtained intelligence through some channel, knowing that the resistance had received aid, so they intensified their pursuit. However, the intelligence was not clear enough, causing the enemy to misjudge the resistance's strength. In the end, they still failed to stop them, only increasing the resistance's casualties."

There was intelligence, but it was vague, which led the regular army to misjudge the strength of the rebels, thus explaining why this happened.

Milton slowly said, "One last question: where do the regular army get their intelligence?"

“Reconnaissance, such as sentry reconnaissance and aerial reconnaissance…” Flora said without hesitation, “or… espionage.”

Milton asked, "Which possibility do you think it is?" "Both are possible; there is insufficient evidence to determine at this time."

“Then let’s prepare for the worst and assume there are spies in our town,” Milton said. “If the enemy still has remnants in the town, where do you think they would be?”

The system panel only shows the loyalty of allies, but not the loyalty of the townspeople under its rule.

Only after controlling the two towns and unlocking the counter-espionage function can we start monitoring the townspeople as well.

But if there really were spies in town, how could Milton dare to launch a reckless attack on the Lyman checkpoint?!
Therefore, this thorn in our side must be removed before the attack plan can be executed.

Brandon immediately said, "I can access the surveillance footage!"

“Whoever it is, they’re not a core member of our team. They must be some resident of the town.” Flora’s expression was relaxed. “Otherwise, the information they provided wouldn’t have been so vague. The boss’s ‘new triangular trade’ would have been exposed long ago.”

As long as the problem doesn't originate from within the team, everything is fine.

“Fortunately, even after I took control of the town, I remained quite vigilant.” Milton sighed. “I even had special slave wagons for the ‘triangular trade,’ and the aid to the resistance was covered with tarpaulins… But I estimate that after a month, this spy will also be able to sense that the town’s order has not been disrupted and the economy is very stable.”

"He estimated that he could deduce that Lopez and Lyman's bounty and robbery offensive was not working."

"The business of fleecing the enemy will probably be realized and stopped in a few days."

Flora complained, "That's enough, that's enough. You've made $80 in just one month, taking away most of the airport's revenue. I can't even stand it anymore... Sigh, all for the airport!"

Brandon then chimed in, "Boss, I have a plan... We can retrieve the surveillance footage from the day the rebels entered the town and see who was present nearby. This will narrow down our investigation to a limited area."

"We keep all the videotapes for six months before washing them."

As a police officer, Brandon has come to deeply appreciate just how useful the "Sky Eye" system is during this period.

Even petty theft can be solved within a few hours.

“As a resident, the spy must know there are cameras, and he will definitely choose to appear when there are many people around,” Flora said. “It can narrow down the scope, but it may not be enough.”

"What should I do?"

Milton then spoke up: "Eavesdropping... Since Lopez and Lyman don't know the truth about the 'triangular trade,' it means that this spy hasn't passed on the message yet, which means he will still try to pass it on."

“Our radio monitoring system?” Flora pondered for a moment. “But I remember that equipment shouldn’t be able to monitor mobile phones. If he’s transmitting messages via mobile phone instead of walkie-talkie, then we can’t hear him.”

This monitoring equipment lacks the ability to decode digital signals.

“It’s alright.” Milton shook his head. “It’s just another option. I think the most important thing is to lure this person out.”

Flora asked curiously, "What do you want to do?"

"First, Brandon will check the surveillance footage to narrow down the possible suspects."

"Then we create some different false information and spread it to these people separately. This false information must be urgent and important. Otherwise, if the spy is not in a hurry to spread it, our creation of different information is likely to be discovered in the townspeople's gossip. They will wonder why they heard different information, which will arouse the enemy's vigilance."

“In this process, we can try our luck with radio monitoring equipment.”

"If you hear it, make the arrest immediately. If you don't hear it, determine which group of people is at fault based on the enemy's reaction."

After Milton finished speaking, he looked at the others and asked, "Anything to add?"

Brandon thought for a moment and asked, "Then, how do we pinpoint the exact location of that spy?"

“Investigate,” Milton began. “At this stage, we have no choice but to use the brute force method.”

Flora added, "Moreover, anyone who is still willing to pass messages to Lopez at this point, and who hasn't yet felt that life under the boss's rule is good, must have been a beneficiary in the past. At the very least, their relationship with the old station chief and the old director must not be bad."

This way, we can narrow down the scope a bit more.

After listening, Brandon couldn't help but sigh, "That spy never imagined that he would be exposed because of something as small as the unusual losses suffered by the rebels during their breakout."

"Boss, all that equipment you had back then has already broken even!"

If we hadn't discovered this spy and had allowed him to gather intelligence in the town, the losses would have been far greater than the equipment.

Milton chuckled: "Unite all forces that can be united, and one day they will provide you with unexpected help in unexpected places. Do you think I was just joking?"

Flora actually knew who had said that. She coughed lightly and continued, "Boss, what kind of false information do you plan to spread? What kind of false information would force this spy to notify the enemy as quickly as possible?"

“It’s simple,” Milton said calmly. “Spread the word that I’m going to launch a full-scale attack on Lyman’s checkpoint, and then attack his town—the goal is to capture it.”

"Then send out scouts to keep an eye on things and see which day Lyman's soldiers are so focused and alert that they can't even sleep well, and see when they show any signs of doubt."

"Equip our scouts with the best observation equipment, including night vision equipment, to keep an eye on the enemy's every move."

Flora nodded slightly: "That's a good reason... but as soon as Lyman receives the intelligence, no matter when it is, he will definitely start the defense deployment immediately, and will not wait until the day before the attack to make the deployment."

很简单的例子，假如莱曼在在10月2号收到情报，无论情报是10月3日进攻还是10月4日进攻，莱曼听到后肯定都会立刻在2号准备防御，而不是3号4号才开始慢悠悠的准备。

To find the problem, a more detailed and professional investigation is needed.

“Yes.” Milton glanced at the training camp not far away. “So this requires our scouts to be highly skilled, able to find problems from every detail of the enemy. This is a challenge, and also the final test before the war begins.”

Milton originally wanted to test the combat effectiveness of his troops through an exercise.

But now that we have this task, we don't need to do any of this anymore.

If a team can do a good job of reconnaissance and can effectively summarize battlefield situation information, its combat effectiveness will certainly be good.

Ishimaya immediately said, "Sir, your soldiers are in high spirits and very motivated. I believe they can accomplish the mission excellently."

“Then I’ll wait for your good news.” Milton waved his hand and stood up. “Flora, Brandon, you two come back with me… Aurelia is in charge of spreading the information, so you two can work overtime and catch the spy as soon as possible.”

Flora saluted in a proper manner and said, "Yes, sir!"

"..."

Soon, the three returned to the town, pulled Olya along, and went into a small dark room to start working overtime.

To prevent the plan from being leaked, anyone not on the "Allies List" panel will not be able to access this operation.

Brandon and a bunch of officers bought countless cups of coffee and sat in front of the screen, meticulously screening out all the potential spies.

Milton was in charge of the second round of screening—removing those in the "allies' sequence" from the list.

Flora, along with another group of officers who had previously been in charge of solving the case, went through the files and highlighted those who might have had conflicts of interest with Varta and Pedro.

The three groups worked like an assembly line, quickly streamlining the originally complex list.

Olya was also busy. She and her team in charge of public opinion worked together to fabricate several fake news stories that were almost flawless, while simultaneously devising a dissemination plan to prevent the potential spy from noticing any flaws.

The listening equipment is on 24 hours a day, capturing any suspicious frequencies.

Soon, the night was over...

After the initial screening of the list was completed, Olya checked the fake news with Milton, asked Milton to find a way to cooperate, and then went out to start spreading the message.

Milton gulped down his coffee, stood up, and went to Flora's side: "'Bottle,' have you finalized the list of key suspects?"

“It’s out…” Flora nodded. “Come on, take a look.”

Jiang Xiao transmigrated to the interstellar era, where interstellar fleets roamed freely, and individual power traversed the stars. He obtained [Player Mode] and became the only 'Fourth Calamity' in the universe!


(End of this chapter)