One day later.

A small team from the Qingyi Bureau's Action Division arrived in Manchester by plane and were picked up by Gwen's men at the Fifth Division headquarters.

Around one o'clock in the afternoon.

After finishing a meeting, Gwen met with the people from the Qingyi Bureau in her office.

"Hello, Director Gwen, I am Li Xinghai, the captain of the first squad of the Qingyi Bureau's Action Division." The man from the Qingyi Bureau extended his hand.

Gwen, out of consideration for Kang Dinghuang's reputation, still smiled and shook hands with Li Xinghai, and took the initiative to say, "Please sit down!"

"Okay!"

Li Xinghai bent down and sat down, going straight to the point: "Director Gwen, we are here mainly to discuss the issue of Liu Cong. These are some documents we obtained from the Confidential Department, including the review of Liu Cong and some records from his development period..."

Gwen took it and glanced at it roughly: "Hehe! Actually, there's no need for this. The work ability of the Qingyi Bureau is obvious to all. Your judgment is convincing."

"Thank you for your trust." Li Xinghai replied politely.

"Yesterday, when your bureau called me, I told my people to quickly transfer Liu Cong. But the people from our action team reminded me." Gwen looked at the other party with her hands clasped. "This Liu Cong's, ah, the timing of his… discovery was not good. The China Federation of Commerce is about to be established, and there are certain hidden dangers in the safety of the Wu family and his son, because we caught an enemy intelligence officer, and we learned from him that the An family, Huagong Society, and the All-Unification Bureau are about to send people to Manchester. So, Liu Cong's matter involves a lot of points."

Li Xinghai said somewhat speechlessly: "He is just an informant we placed in the Commerce Federation. I guarantee you..."

"This matter cannot be concluded with your guarantee or my guarantee." Gwen interrupted. "We are the Fifth Division, and our superior department is the Central Bureau. Now the situation outside is turbulent, and the higher-ups are very nervous about any issues involving the China Federation of Commerce. Our review of Liu Cong also needs to be reported to the higher-ups. We can't just release him without knowing anything. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, no one can take the responsibility."

"Then… what about your side?" Li Xinghai asked patiently.

"Stay here for two days first." Gwen said softly, "We will do a good job in the review work here, gather all the information, and then apply to the higher-ups for the transfer. It's not a big problem."

"Alright, I'll wait for now. Please expedite things on your end as well. I have to report back." Li Xinghai replied.

"Okay!" Gwen raised her head and shouted to her people, "Come, send Liu Cong's information to the interrogation department for them to refer to."

"Yes!" A middle-aged white man walked over, took the information, and left.

Gwen stood up, smiled, and extended her hand: "Then, that's it for now. You can rest here for a while."

"Thank you for your trouble!"

After a few polite exchanges, Gwen turned and left.

...

Gwen's main considerations for holding onto Liu Cong were twofold. First, from a public perspective, Liu Cong could indeed be a multi-faceted spy, because currently, many high-level people in the Commerce Federation are secretly taking money from political forces. It's not uncommon for one person to be eating from several sources.

Moreover, even if Liu Cong's phone call was indeed suspicious, even if he revealed a little bit of a flaw and was suspected, Gwen couldn't just hand him over without knowing anything.

The interrogation hasn't completely ended, and you, the Qingyi Bureau, are already here asking for him? Is that reasonable? What's more, the higher-ups are aware of Liu Cong's existence, so it would be an absolutely stupid move to hand him over to a competing department without figuring things out. If any important information is missed, the higher-ups will definitely hold her accountable.

Secondly, out of selfish considerations, Gwen also wanted to make something out of this matter. If Liu Cong is a multi-faceted spy, that's even better. But if he's not, then she'll find a way to make him one.

The Qingyi Bureau and the Central Bureau are in fierce competition. If she can give Kang Dinghuang a hard time at this time, the higher-ups will definitely be delighted.

Everyone's getting about the same military spending. The Central Bureau is solving cases, but the Qingyi Bureau is harboring internal spies, and it's happening right when the China Federation of Commerce is being established. When you compare the two, the difference is obvious.

For all the above reasons, Gwen delayed the other party and kept hinting to the interrogation department to hurry up and pry open Liu Cong's mouth, preferably asking him how long he drank milk when he was a child.

...

Evening.

Gwen continued to hold meetings with various departments. The main content of the meeting was to make preparations for the prevention and suppression of Huagong Society and An family members entering the city tomorrow.

That night, many judicial units received orders to assist in the arrest of people, and all participating members' phones and other devices were confiscated.

With everything arranged, Gwen quietly waited for tomorrow to arrive.

...

Washington D.C., Qingyi Bureau headquarters.

Kang Dinghuang was sitting in his office, preparing to doze off for a while.

"Knock, knock!"

A knock on the door resounded, and Kang Dinghuang raised his head and shouted, "Come in!"

The secretary pushed the door open and walked in, standing next to the desk and saying, "Li Xinghai called back."

"Ah?" Kang Dinghuang was stunned for a moment, not even remembering the case of Liu Cong.

The Qingyi Bureau is a regional-level intelligence department, and Kang Dinghuang is the top leader. He has too many things to worry about every day, and cases like Liu Cong are just tiny problems in his eyes, not worth mentioning at all.

Seeing that Kang Dinghuang didn't react, the secretary immediately reminded him, "It's the case of our internal informant in the Commerce Federation, Liu Cong!"

"Oh!" Kang Dinghuang picked up his teacup: "Li Xinghai from the Action Division went there, right? What did he say?!"

"Li Xinghai said that Gwen is stalling him with words and doesn't want to hand over the person." The secretary replied.

Kang Dinghuang paused for a moment: "You're right, Gwen probably wants to use this to give me a hard time!"

"I think so too!"

"Take out Liu Cong's informant file. Tomorrow morning, you personally go to the Central Bureau and find their foreign affairs负责人 (fùzé rén - person in charge) and explicitly tell him that this is our person and needs to be transferred as soon as possible." Kang Dinghuang looked up at the secretary: "After getting the approval! Immediately let Li Xinghai pick up the person! A division-level unit is not qualified to have an equal dialogue with us! Stupid Gwen, just bypass him."

"Yes!" The secretary nodded.

"That's it. I'll rest for a while!" Kang Dinghuang leaned back on the sofa.

...

Panama City.

Su Tianyu stood by the window in the conference room, feeling a little nervous.

The door opened, and Lu Feng walked in, looking up at him and saying, "Everything's arranged!"

"Okay, then let's wait for tomorrow!" Su Tianyu sighed deeply: "The winner will be decided tomorrow!"

At the conference table, An Qiqi raised her head and greeted, "Alright, the plan has been finalized. Let's eat something. The takeout I ordered is almost here."