Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

In the cramped cabin of 302, the air seemed to thicken because of the words "green hat," carrying an inexplicable and eerie feeling.

Lin Qinghan sat on the edge of the bed, her hands instinctively protecting the suitcase. She pushed up her black-rimmed glasses, her brows furrowing slightly as she looked at the unseemly man sitting backwards on the broken wooden chair, her tone filled with an indescribable confusion:

"Mr. Shen, although I've lived abroad for many years, I know that 'wearing a green hat' in Chinese doesn't seem to be a compliment. Are you sure we want to put this on American agents...?"

"Warfare is based on deception. On a tactical level, instigating trouble in the enemy's rear, making them fight amongst themselves, is tantamount to cuckolding them."

Shen Jinghong pulled out a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket—they were just picked up on the deck earlier—and started cracking them open on his own, regardless of whether Lin Qinghan ate them or not.

A crisp "snap" sounded particularly abrupt in this tense atmosphere where even breathing had to be done carefully.

Lin Qinghan's lips twitched involuntarily as she looked at his nonchalant demeanor. This guy was nothing like a patriotic hero with extraordinary skills; he was practically a reckless street urchin.

"Think about it, right now on this ship, the FBI is watching you, the CIA is watching me, and even a waiter carrying a tray might have a gun on his belt."

Shen Jinghong spat out two sunflower seed shells, but her eyes gradually sharpened. "We're like sheep surrounded by wolves. If we only think about how to hide, we'll be torn to pieces sooner or later."

"So?" Lin Qinghan didn't respond to the unfunny joke, but quickly grasped the key point.

"So let them fight like dogs."

Shen Jinghong leaned forward and lowered his voice, saying, "That Ruth just now was a high-ranking CIA agent. And the man smoking in the corridor was an FBI agent. What's even more interesting is that these two departments have always been at odds, both vying for the credit."

"You want to exploit their conflict?"

Lin Qinghan reacted extremely quickly. Her eyes, usually used for deciphering complex codes, instantly lit up, and her intelligence regained its dominance. "Create a false impression, make the FBI think that Ruth has embezzled the information, or make Ruth think that the FBI is planning to double-cross her?"

"Bingo! You got it right, but there's no prize."

Shen Jinghong snapped his fingers, his face full of admiration. "It's so much easier talking to smart people. We may not have guns or cannons, but we have brains. As long as we create a little chaos, they can splatter their brains out."

Lin Qinghan remained silent for a moment.

Looking at Shen Jinghong's profile, which appeared somewhat blurry in the dim light, she suddenly realized that this man possessed a very special aura.

Despite being in dire straits, surrounded by enemies on all sides, he remained as relaxed as if he were strolling in his own backyard. This kind of relaxation is either the mark of a madman or that of a top-tier hunter with absolute control.

"If we're going to cooperate, then we need to share information."

Lin Qinghan took a deep breath, emerging from the panicked state of being passively protected, and regaining her composure as a top scholar. "Besides Ruth and that smoker, the head waiter in the second-class restaurant is also problematic."

"Oh?" Shen Jinghong raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"He had calluses on his hands and feet, and he walked very lightly, which were characteristics of long-term handling of guns and combat training. Also, his gaze was off; he habitually scanned the waist and armpits of his guests first."

Lin Qinghan said calmly, her fingers unconsciously stroking the cover of the black notebook, "Also, the radio operator in the captain's cabin sends a long-wave telegram every four hours. The frequency is too fixed. It doesn't seem like normal maritime communication. It's more like a scheduled report."

"Wow, you're quite observant."

Shen Jinghong was genuinely surprised this time. "It seems that our great mathematician Lin is not only good at solving problems."

"I work with cryptography, so I'm sensitive to abnormal data." Lin Qinghan adjusted his glasses, his tone calm. "On this ship, anything that violates the common sense of probability is a threat."

"Since this ship is already riddled with holes, we need to be more aggressive in our planning."

Shen Jinghong threw the sunflower seed shells in her hand into the wastepaper basket, patted the dust off her hands, and moved closer, reducing the distance between them to a dangerous level.

"Ruth just got humiliated by me, and she definitely won't let it go. She desperately needs to redeem herself. If I give her a little 'clue,' making her think that your box doesn't contain some boring blueprints, but rather..."

"What is it?" Lin Qinghan asked subconsciously, holding her breath.

"It's a clue to the stolen gold from the Federal Reserve."

Shen Jinghong chuckled wickedly, a calculating glint in his eyes. "Think about it, if Ruth thought she could keep this huge sum of money for herself, or find its whereabouts, would she still cooperate with that rigid FBI agent? She would want to kill everyone who knows the truth and claim all the credit for herself."

Lin Qinghan was stunned.

gold?

The Federal Reserve theft was making headlines, even the newspapers on the ship were reporting on it, so she naturally knew about it. But she never expected that Shen Jinghong would dare to use it as bait.

That's incredibly audacious.

"That's a really underhanded tactic."

Looking at the man in front of her who was smiling like an old fox, Lin Qinghan's tense nerves finally relaxed, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, revealing a very faint but stunning smile.

"Thank you for the compliment."

Shen Jinghong, shameless as ever, clasped his hands in a fist salute, his smug expression making Lin Qinghan shake his head. "To deal with thugs, you have to use thug methods. That's called learning from the barbarians to subdue them, understand?"

"How exactly does it work? What do I need to do?"

"You don't need to do anything, just keep your aloofness."

Shen Jinghong stood up, stretched her stiff neck, and her joints cracked. "As for how to 'inadvertently' reveal the clues to that blonde foreign woman, that's my area of ​​expertise."

He pointed to his head, a smile on his face that made you want to grind your teeth in hatred, yet also strangely reassuring:

"Don't forget, I'm an aerodynamicist, and my specialty is creating 'turbulence.' Once the airflow is disrupted, even pigs can fly, let alone a few greedy agents."

Just as the two exchanged a smile, the tense atmosphere from before dissipated considerably.

The old-fashioned loudspeaker hanging above the door frame suddenly emitted a piercing electrical sound, like someone scratching a blackboard with their fingernails, sending chills down one's spine.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

Immediately afterwards, the captain's anxious voice, thick with an accent, rang out:

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast!"

"Attention passengers, an elderly passenger in First Class has suddenly fallen seriously ill and is in critical condition! If there is a doctor on board, please proceed to First Class immediately to assist with treatment! Again, if there is a doctor, please proceed to First Class immediately!"

Shen Jinghong and Lin Qinghan exchanged a glance, their smiles fading simultaneously.

"First class?"

Shen Jinghong narrowed his eyes, his gaze instantly turning deep and unfathomable. "Most of the people staying in first class on this ship are Chinese with some connections. For them to suddenly fall ill like this... could it be the work of spies?"

"Possibly."

Lin Qinghan stood up, his brows furrowed, his expression turning grave. "But it could be true. The medical conditions on this ship are very poor, and many of the returning professors are in bad health. If no one goes, those elderly people might really not make it."

"Let's go take a look."

Shen Jinghong made a decisive decision without any hesitation.

This wasn't meddling; rather, his intuition told him that this matter might be the perfect entry point for his "cuckoldry plan." Chaos was the best cover for taking advantage of the situation.

"You know medicine?" Lin Qinghan looked at him with a hint of doubt in her eyes.

"Won't."

Shen Jinghong pushed open the door with an air of self-righteousness, turned around and winked at her, looking as utterly irritating as could be:

"But I can do magic. Come on, Miss Lin, the show's about to begin. Let's add fuel to the fire in America's mess."