Short, Light, Free

Chapter 110: Karma III

I became an undercover agent. Slightly different from what you see in the movies, of course.

I was chosen for very simple reasons.

First, during my recovery period, I practically memorized all military rules and regulations.

It was something that my leader kept in mind.

Since I had nothing else I could do in my hospital bed, I started memorizing information to compensate for my lack of training.

Second, I was an orphan and basically had no one that cares what happens to me. Sad, but true.

When I arrived at that special department, there were already four other students.

We trained in a house that our leader rented.

It had three rooms and a hall. Five of us shared two rooms while the other one belonged to our leader.

Unlike in training camp, there weren’t any rules or limitations.

We weren’t required to sleep and wake up early and our monthly salary was decent as well.

We weren’t required to greet our officers and stand at attention.

We could behave comfortably, basically, as long as we knew our place as soldiers.

Initially, I was convinced that my injury was a blessing in disguise until I realized that there really was a lot to learn over there.

I had to cram tons of knowledge within a year.

My results were unsurprisingly the worst among the five of us, mainly because I had a weak foundation.

Yet, no matter the disparity, our leader never got impatient.

His catchphrase: “Slowly, take your time.”

We learned English and even some Meizhou dialects.

Mastering morse code was also part of our program, but we only used it for writing letters.

If we held real conversations by tapping on things, even a fool would be able to sense something fishy going on.

Our team leader even had a drama teacher teach us how to perform.

I was decent when it came to acting, and my makeup skills weren’t bad either.

To get us familiar with gunpowder and weapons, our team leader gave us practical lessons.

Shooting was one thing and disassembling the guns was another.

The guns we practiced with weren’t according to standards – air guns, shotguns and some other modified ones that weren’t taken in by the police department.

Our team leader often explained, “These are the guns we will be seeing in the future so I’ll need you guys to completely understand their structures and not just learn how to shoot.”

Aside from some gunpowder artilleries, we also got involved in other strange items.

“Use whatever you can find around you. I’ll give you a bathroom. Make me a bomb.”

I shook my head in helplessness but the four other men behind me leaped into action.

“Take out the phone battery, the metal chip from the sim card, and attach them together. 30 seconds to explode, half a meter radius.”

“The detergent in the bathroom, 10 seconds, one-meter radius.”

“Clothes and the squat toilet, no delay, four-meter radius.”

“Heat packs, desiccants from food packets, water from the toilet. 30 seconds, two-meter radius.”

They might as well be speaking an alien language for all I understood.

“Tho... those really work?” I asked in shock.

Our leader laughed. “Well, at least blowing you up shouldn’t be a problem.”

...

I don’t know if I should thank or hate Burly for landing me in this state.

After completing our training, our leader gave each of us a new position and identity.

It was then that I discovered that secret agents weren’t people who infiltrate into target groups and attack from within.

They were people who acted independently but had the greatest support from the police.

We started work on graduation day.

Our leader led five of us newbies and named our gang Fortune.

I was made the gang leader while our real leader became my sidekick.

I asked why did they appoint me as the gang leader. The answer? It’s because I was the lousiest member of the team.

Our target was a small town situated close to Meizhou, where gambling and dissemination of porn were severe.

Multi-level marketing was rampant as well and I was utterly shocked by the concept of it.

I had initially mistakenly thought that it was very challenging to be an undercover agent, but in reality, the ease of it was beyond my imagination.

No guns or fights were involved.

We only had to use the government’s money to get people from the criminal gangs to run illegal dens so we could call the cops on them. That was pretty much just what we do before returning to our daily life of chatting and tracking for clues.

Within half a year, we became the biggest criminal syndicate, albeit nominally, in the whole of Meizhou City.

We ran a losing business in order to become reputable.

We were infamous, however, for being busted and seized.

Last year, after receiving our posts, the biggest boss within the syndicate wanted to move on to drugs because pornography and gambling brought too little revenue. He knew a drug trafficker from X nation so he figured that this would be easy.

I was the first to accept this case.

Expectedly, all our goods were intercepted and the manufacturing factory in the X nation was shut down.

As agents, we entered the police station often, but we were released quickly.

We were undercover agents in name but we were more like actors.

But of course, we did not get retakes.

Acting before subordinates was manageable, but the challenge really lay in playing the part in the annual VIP meeting.

I would only bring one along with us at most.

We had worked hard for three years to get to where we were, and the meeting was where we could catch everything with one net.

Our leader and I arrived early at the VIP hall in the hotel and were arranged to sit in the fourth row.

Big shots started entering the place and the backmost one had a subordinate, and that subordinate was none other than Burly.

When our eyes met, Burly jumped in shock.

I was at a loss as well.

That meeting focused on drug distribution among retail stores.

I was the first to stand up when the boss asked for volunteers to take the bulk of it.

My offer wasn’t accepted and we were given some scattered goods instead.

I wasn’t surprised about this since I made them lose a whole bunch of goods the previous year.

Burly’s boss raised his hand and was given the opportunity since no one else volunteered.

Time for revenge.

...

I returned to my own territory and the five of us sat down to discuss the mitigation methods.

It was best to get rid of the source, of course, but it wasn’t that simple since it wasn’t a deal between us and the new manufacturing factory in nation X.

“I know where we can start from, actually,” I started.

“Share it,” our team leader added.

“Remember the subordinate beside the boss who volunteered?”

“He looked fierce.”

I told him everything about Burly and the team leader was willing to use him as a point of attack.

Before we could discuss the plan in detail, a subordinate knocked on the door, “Someone’s looking for you, Boss.”

It was Burly.

The hotel was our temporal resting place and we opened a room in the VIP lounge, where Burly and I sat opposite each other.

“How unexpected. You failed as a soldier so you just resorted to committing evil?” he mocked.

“You as well, no? You’ve finished your national service but you still became a thief.”

“Allocate your subordinate elsewhere and let me replace him,” he stated.

The team leader gave me a look and I smiled. “That’s possible, but I’m not sensing any sincerity from you.”

“What do you want?”

“The address of your boss’ hidden storage.”

“For?”

“Don’t you want to follow me? Shouldn’t your goods tag along, too?” I laughed.

Burly nodded. “That’s not a problem. I’m in charge of them anyway. I’ll bring them over as long as you cover for me.”

“What’s the point of you bringing them? Nation X is doing business with your boss and not us. We’ll have nothing left to earn from when the goods in the storage are emptied out,” I added.

“I’m also a contact person for nation X’s dealer.”

“Why do you want to switch to my side then?”

He smiled. “Because I have the supply. You get to be the boss when we’re out, but we both know that I’m the real boss.”

“Since there’s money, we can talk nicely.” I nodded, smiling.

Burly, too, started smiling.

Half the battle was won.

...

Three days later, the police raided Burly’s den.

For the crime of hiding drugs, he was sentenced to death.