Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

Day four in the military detention center. The monitor in the control room is divided into four sections, with the central section facing the interrogation room.

Zhou Weiguo sat half a step to Shen Zhong's right, his fingers resting on the edge of his notebook, not writing anything. Military interrogator Lao Han sat in the presiding judge's seat, turned a page of the interrogation outline, and looked up at the man in the iron chair.

The middleman, surnamed Qin, sat ramrod straight, his hands resting flat on his knees, the veins on the backs of his hands bulging. For the first three days and nights, six rounds of the usual pitch had been rehearsed, but this man hadn't uttered a single word.

Shen Zhong stared intently at the screen, his fingertips tapping twice on the armrest. "Turn off the audio."

Zhou Weiguo raised his hand and pressed the listen button, and the monitoring room immediately fell silent.

On the fourth day in the military detention center, the screen was divided into four sections, with the middle section facing the interrogation room.

Pre-trial investigator Lao Han sat in the presiding judge's seat, turned a page of the pre-trial outline, and looked up at the Qin-surnamed middleman sitting in the iron chair.

The man sat very upright, his hands resting on his knees, the veins on the backs of his hands bulging. After six rounds of questioning over the first three days and nights, having gone through all the standard scripts, he accepted the role of the proxy and refused to respond to a single other word.

Shen Zhong sat in front of the monitor and tapped the armrest twice with his knuckles.

"He is not afraid of torture."

Zhou Weiguo closed the notebook: "It's the fourth day. He's confessed everything that needed to be confessed, and he hasn't missed a single word that shouldn't have been confessed."

Shen Zhong did not respond.

On the screen, the middleman surnamed Qin licked his chapped lips. He hadn't done this for the past three days.

"He was afraid of being handed back."

Shen Zhong stood up and pulled his sleeves down to flatten them.

"In military detention centers, the higher-ups can't get in. Once he's transferred to civilian hands, he won't live more than 24 hours."

Zhou Weiguo's finger rested on the cover of the notebook.

Having said that, he understood.

Shen Zhong picked up his briefcase: "Keep the surveillance footage on, I'm going in."

The interrogation room door was swiped open from the outside.

Old Han stood up to offer his seat, and Qi Tongwei entered through the side door, standing by the one-way glass. New gauze was placed under the cuff of his uniform, and his left arm was raised somewhat unnaturally.

Shen Zhong did not sit down.

He walked to the opposite side of the iron chair and stopped a step and a half away. At this distance, the other person couldn't reach him, yet had to look up to obey.

The middleman, surnamed Qin, raised his face.

Shen Zhong said, "Your superior already knows you're in the military's hands."

The middleman surnamed Qin retracted his fingers slightly.

Shen Zhong pulled an evidence bag from his briefcase and placed it on the interrogation table.

Inside the bag was a metal badge.

Number: Q7-HZ-003.

"Number 003".

Shen Zhong pressed his index finger against the evidence bag and pushed it forward two centimeters.

"Your number is 019. It's in the same number range, on the same line."

The middleman, surnamed Qin, looked down at the emblem, his neck stiffening.

"Last month, the wearer of number 003 was intercepted overseas." Shen Zhong spoke very calmly, "He was carrying an organizational chart."

No one spoke in the interrogation room.

Qi Tongwei stood to the side, his fingers pausing briefly at the cuff of his sleeve.

It is true that No. 003 was intercepted.

The statement about an architecture diagram lacks supporting material.

Shen Zhong was betting on the information gap. The middleman surnamed Qin had only heard that Agent 003 had been arrested, but didn't know what exactly was found during the search.

Shen Zhong continued to press down.

"The agent layer communication nodes, command cycles, and secure house coordinates are all on the diagram."

He tapped on the table.

"The room you're sitting in right now is also in that picture."

The middleman, surnamed Qin, was breathing erratically, but his hands, still pressed on his knees, were not shaking.

Heavy and unhurried.

Old Han held the pen up to the paper, while Zhou Weiguo watched the recording light in the monitoring room. The second hand on the wall ticked forward, and the only sound in the interrogation room was the hum of the ventilation fan.

Eight minutes later, the middleman surnamed Qin spoke up.

"I want to live."

My voice is terribly hoarse.

Shen nodded: "They can survive. Give them the supplies first."

"I don't know the name."

"Then I'll give you the rules you know."

The middleman, surnamed Qin, raised his head, his voice dry.

"Each proxy layer has three windows per year."

Old Han's pen fell onto the paper.

"February 15th, account verification. March 3rd, instructions received. March 30th, confirmation receipt."

Shen Zhong leaned forward two inches: "Where did the instructions come from?"

"Encrypted email address".

"suffix."

The middleman, surnamed Qin, paused for two seconds.

"gov".

Qi Tongwei's fingers gripped the edge of the table.

Internal email system of the government.

This is something that those outsourced white gloves in Haizhou can't touch.

Shen Zhong continued, "What if there's a delay?"

"If more than four hours have passed, the cleanup process will be triggered automatically."

Old Han looked up: "Clean up what?"

The middleman, surnamed Qin, closed his eyes.

"People, accounts, devices. Cut off everything that can be cut off; those that can't be cut off, silence them."

The interrogation room was silent for a few seconds.

Qi Tongwei took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Shen Zhong.

Shen Zhong took it and unfolded it.

On the photocopy of the fragment of Chu Pingshan's black book, one of the dates listed as unregistered visitors to Sha Ruijin is March 3rd.

The two sources collided on the same day.

Shen carefully folded the paper and stuffed it into the inner bag.

"Transcribed verbatim."

Old Han responded and continued writing.

Shen Zhong turned and walked out.

The middleman, surnamed Qin, called out from behind, "Secretary Shen."

Shen Zhong stopped, without turning around.

"Does that architecture diagram really exist?"

Shen Zhong did not answer.

The iron gate closed, and the latch clicked shut.

The corridor lights were pale.

Qi Tongwei caught up and lowered his voice: "The dates match."

"Just matching the previous one isn't enough."

Shen Zhong walked to the fire cabinet, took out the paper, and pointed to "March 3rd".

Qi Tongwei took it and glanced at it: "Email logs are the only evidence. To access the sent and received records, we need to go through the Cyberspace Administration of China."

"Don't take that road."

Qi Tongwei paused for a moment: "Is there a loophole with the Cyberspace Administration of China?"

Shen Zhong took the paper back: "Whether it's clean or not, don't gamble yet."

Qi Tongwei did not ask any further questions.

Shen Zhong pushed open the door to the duty office: "Record the audio, seal it, and make a copy of it from Old Xu."

Zhou Weiguo responded from behind, "Understood."

Shen Zhong sat down at the table and took out the original black book fragment from the drawer.

"In addition, check the corresponding abbreviations for QC in all the internal departments of ministries in Beijing."

Qi Tongwei took the tattered page: "Was this written by Chu Pingshan?"

Shen Zhong: "Flip it over."

Qi Tongwei turned the paper over.

There was a faint line of marks on the back of the paper, which could only be seen by tilting the paper to the side. The words were scratched out with a fingernail, the strokes were crooked, and the pressure was very deep.

"QC is not a code name, but an abbreviation for the department."

Qi Tongwei finished reading the line of text, his hand hovering in mid-air.

"He had a backup plan all along."

"A pen will be confiscated, and scratches won't be detected on the first look." Shen Zhong put the tattered page away. "Chu Pingshan isn't stupid. Before he collapsed, he left himself a lifeline."

Qi Tongwei: "Then why didn't he just say so directly?"

Shen Zhong pressed the torn pages into the file folder.

"If he had said that, he wouldn't be alive now."

The phone on the table rang.

Zhou Weiguo answered the call, listened for a few minutes, and then turned to Shen Zhong: "Secretary Shen, the interrogation video has been encrypted, and Old Xu has received a copy."

Shen Zhong: "What's the abbreviation for QC?"

"The results of the third round of investigation have just come out. It involves internal departments of seventeen ministries, and four of them have the exact same abbreviation."

"Send the list over."