481: So this is your identity.

Shen Bei had always been curious about Two Headed Vine's true identity.

Limited by his own intelligence-gathering capabilities, he had no choice but to seek help from Big Ears.

Shen Bei said into the phone, "I'll send you the photo of the person I want you to investigate in a bit. Investigate as thoroughly as you can."

"Let me ask one more question, is the person you want me to investigate Two Headed Vine?" He switched to a serious tone.

"Yes," Shen Bei did not hide it. Although admitting this would significantly increase the commission, for him, investigating a "regular resident of the Black Zone" and investigating a "peer" were two different levels of difficulty.

If Shen Bei had hidden it to save money, it would have lowered his work efficiency.

"Give me some time." Big Ears didn't dawdle either. He accepted the commission and then hung up the phone.

For Big Ears, when it came to intelligence, anyone's information was his commodity, except for his own.

There was no room for sentiment, and of course, the price was non-negotiable.

...

The next day.

Shen Bei and Jian Tong were eating at a restaurant on a food street near Beijing Martial Arts University.

The restaurant had taken photos of all its dishes and displayed them on a wall for customers to choose from.

Shen Bei found a seat and sat down. Jian Tong ran to the wall with the photos. A woman who looked like the proprietress walked up to her and first asked, "How many?" She replied, "Two."

As she spoke, she continued to pick dishes.

Suddenly, Shen Bei's phone vibrated.

He opened it to see a text message from Big Ears, saying that he had sent all the previously collected "intelligence on Two Headed Vine's true identity" to Shen Bei's email and asked Shen Bei to check it.

Shen Bei clicked his tongue and muttered, "Quite efficient!"

Then he logged into his email on his phone to view the intelligence on Two Headed Vine's true identity.

After just a few glances, all of Shen Bei's doubts about Two Headed Vine vanished.

According to the detailed intelligence provided by Big Ears:

Two Headed Vine's real name was Jiang Ruochu.

This matched Shen Bei's guess; her surname was indeed Jiang.

Jiang Ruochu worked for the Beijing "Newspaper Group" as a professional field reporter, primarily serving the Beijing Morning Post, the highest-selling newspaper in Beijing.

She was a top student who graduated from the journalism department of a local prestigious university. After starting her career, she quickly made a name for herself in Beijing's news industry, thanks to her "daring and outspoken" personality and the connections of her parents' generation.

Initially, Jiang Ruochu was mainly responsible for entertainment news, but by chance, or rather, as an almost inevitable progression for an entertainment field reporter, she came into contact with the dark side of the entertainment industry.

Jiang Ruochu showed no inclination to collude with it. On the contrary, she unhesitatingly exposed a famous entertainment company's cruel persecution of one of its female stars. Afterward, she didn't just walk away like Ultraman after defeating a monster; instead, she helped the female star find a new path, doing her best to ensure a perfect conclusion.

Her troubled superiors could neither persuade her nor fire her due to her parents' status, so they had to assign her other work.

But this restless woman couldn't settle down anywhere; she caused a ruckus wherever she went.

After some time of this, one day, it's unclear whether her superior wanted her to learn about the "cruel reality of society" or if it was purely a work assignment error, but she was assigned to investigate gang news.

However, no one expected her to deliver a result far exceeding everyone's expectations. Not only did she emerge unscathed from this dangerous work, but she also exposed several secret collaborations between gangs and government departments, ultimately successfully sending some officials to prison and sparking a considerable rectification movement in Beijing.

Not to mention officials, even the military had used Shen Bei a few years ago to fish out and purge a large number of corrupt elements.

In this regard, Shen Bei felt a sense of mutual appreciation with Jiang Ruochu.

The name "Jiang Ruochu" was no longer just that of a news investigator; she herself became a walking, talking news story. She thus naturally rose to become a star reporter in Beijing.

However, fame is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Her parents believed that if she continued to hog the limelight, she would inevitably encounter misfortune.

Now, standing in the spotlight, she could certainly prevent certain officials who saw her as a thorn in their side from acting openly, but history had long shown that in this world, open spears are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against. Her parents were well aware of this.

In the past, she had avoided many difficulties thanks to her parents' social connections. Now, her parents, in turn, collaborated with the Newspaper Group to systematically sideline her, preventing her from making further rapid progress.

Her work also gradually shifted from interviewing the government and investigating local gang activities to investigating trivial civil disputes and petty theft.

More recently, after much effort, she had only managed to secure an assignment to the Patrol Bureau to interview about the specific progress of the serial killer "Sheepskin Assassin" case.

Shen Bei scanned the intelligence at a glance and gained a general understanding of Two Headed Vine.

The debut time of "Two Headed Vine" as an intelligence broker roughly coincided with the time "Jiang Ruochu" began investigating gang news.

In other words, the identity of "Two Headed Vine" was probably initially fabricated by "Jiang Ruochu" to facilitate her investigation of gangs.

The main purpose was to allow her to penetrate deep into the heart of the Black Zone as a resident of the Black Zone, rather than as a field reporter, to gather the news she desired.

Why did Two Headed Vine's resume include records of instigating infighting among several gangs?

Because she wasn't a person from the Black Zone at all; on the contrary, from the beginning, she stood against the gangs, wanting to fish in troubled waters during gang infighting to collect evidence of their collusion with officials.

Why did most of the Black Zone residents Two Headed Vine had cooperated with in the past mysteriously fall?

Because a reporter like her, living in surface society, naturally couldn't truly mix with Black Zone residents. After witnessing the "dirty deeds" of certain Black Zone residents, or rather, certain criminals, she decided that after using them, she would use the intelligence and leverage gained during their cooperation to lead them to a disastrous end.

Why did Two Headed Vine investigate the Sheepskin Assassin's intelligence in depth even before knowing his connection to a mysterious organization?

Because that was originally the work she had recently secured as a reporter. According to Big Ears, when she was interviewing at the Patrol Bureau, the patrolmen, in order to reduce potential public panic, even specifically provided some internal documents that could be publicly disclosed, actively asking her to publish them in the Beijing Morning Post.

Regrettably, she was subsequently hunted by people sent by the mysterious organization and no longer had time to resume her reporter work.

Shen Bei thought about it. The reason she kept the identity of "Two Headed Vine" was probably because having two identities simultaneously helped her journalistic work.

"Two Headed Vine" could collect intelligence that "Jiang Ruochu" could not, and conversely, "Jiang Ruochu" could collect intelligence that "Two Headed Vine" could not.

The two identities mutually benefited each other, allowing her to see an Opportunity to re-emerge after being sidelined.