Chapter 502 Investigation

The lights in the corridor shone on the hand-woven carpet.

Tom De stood in place, his gaze scanning like a radar, landing on that little boy from the Eastern Country.

He noticed the scrutiny in the child's eyes.

This undisguised curiosity made him instinctively feel a trace of wariness.

Long Dagui also sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere.

Although he was a pot-bellied businessman, having spent years navigating the cutthroat business world, his intuition was quite sharp.

He hurriedly reached out his thick palm and pulled Long Aoao behind him.

Taking the opportunity, he used his massive frame to completely block that extremely uncomfortable gaze from the other person.

"What are you looking at? Get into the room."

Long Dagui muttered in a low voice.

Then he took out a key card from his expensive suit pocket.

He pressed it against the sensor area of the electronic lock.

A crisp beep sounded.

The indicator light turned green.

He pushed open the door and, like herding chicks, hurriedly stuffed his wife and child into the guest room directly across the hall.

Click.

The solid wood door closed heavily, completely blocking all lines of sight in the corridor.

Tom De withdrew his gaze.

The muscles on his cheeks twitched slightly twice.

The corridor returned to absolute silence once again.

Immediately, he turned his head and beckoned to a subordinate in black standing guard at the end of the corridor.

The agent codenamed Old Turtledove understood immediately.

He stepped on the thick carpet, making no sound, and walked up quickly.

"Sir."

"Go, check the background of that family across the hall through the internal system."

Tom De lowered his voice, his tone revealing a sense of professional suspiciousness.

In the mind of this experienced CIA officer.

The current timing was just too sensitive.

Although the news that Professor Liu was under house arrest on the top floor of this hotel was currently under the highest level of lockdown.

But the intelligence agencies in the Eastern Country were no pushovers; they must have already started searching the world for him like sharks smelling blood.

Yet at this most critical moment where mistakes were most likely to happen.

A family of Eastern Country-faced travelers suddenly appeared.

And they just had to check in and stay in a guest room on the same floor as the target.

How could such a coincidence happen in this world?

In the intelligence business, if you believe in coincidences, it's like having one foot in the grave.

He absolutely would not allow any uncontrollable variables in his mission.

Old Turtledove nodded and was just about to turn to execute the order.

Tom De frowned, as if he had thought of some loophole.

He reached out and called the other person back.

"By the way."

Tom De spoke in a tone tinged with annoyance and interrogation, "I remember that in order to ensure Professor Liu was completely isolated, shouldn't we have booked the entire floor?"

According to their standard operating procedures.

Guarding such a high-value, strategic target.

Clearing the area was the most basic minimum standard.

Only by driving away all irrelevant personnel and cutting off all staircases and elevator access could they ensure not even a fly could fly in.

Yet now, ordinary tourists could still walk around the corridor openly with key cards.

This made him feel a strong sense of dissatisfaction and irritation in his heart.

Hearing his superior's questioning.

A trace of undisguised embarrassment appeared on Old Turtledove's face.

He stopped and hesitated for a moment.

He swallowed his saliva and answered stammeringly.

"Sir, the funding approved from above is limited."

As soon as these words came out.

The air in the corridor seemed to go quiet.

The corners of Tom De's eyes twitched violently.

He felt as if he had swallowed a green-bottle fly, disgusted to the extreme.

A sense of speechlessness surged in his heart like a tide.

Limited funding?

Such a hellish excuse would actually appear in a top-tier world-class intelligence agency like theirs!

Back in the day.

In the golden age when Country A was at its peak and dominated the world.

As long as it was an advanced mission involving national security.

Budgets were truly abundant enough to stun anyone.

Let alone booking a floor of hotel rooms.

Even booking an entire building was a common occurrence.

But in recent years.

Country A had gradually shown signs of fatigue in various fields.

Stirring up trouble everywhere, causing military spending to skyrocket.

Even recently, on the Middle East battlefield, they were fooled by Hassan's armed group with a few graffiti drawings and a pile of QR code balloons, losing everything.

Massive amounts of expensive missiles were all wasted on the mud.

The national treasury was tight.

Causing the operational funding for their frontline departments to be repeatedly squeezed by superiors.

"Then don't book the whole floor, just use our authority to make the hotel management forcibly clear out the people on this floor, wouldn't that work?"

Tom De gritted his teeth and questioned in a low voice.

In his view, was there anything they couldn't get done on Country A soil?

Just find an excuse like a fire inspection or anti-terrorism drill, and they could drive ordinary people away.

Old Turtledove wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

He explained with a bitter smile.

"Sir, please."

"This is the top five-star hotel in the area."

"The holding consortium behind it involves several powerful figures in Congress, with all sorts of intertwined interests."

"Without a high-level enough document, how could we dare to forcibly clear the area?"

"If we piss off those big shots, none of us will have a good time."

Hearing this hard truth from his subordinate.

Tom De was completely speechless.

He waved his hand irritably, signaling the other person to hurry up and check the information.

He walked to the window at the end of the corridor, watching the bustling traffic below, fuming in silence.

Ten minutes later.

Old Turtledove walked back quickly, holding a military tablet computer.

"Sir, I've checked it out."

He handed the tablet to Tom De, the screen displaying the entry and exit records and background check report of Long Dagui's family.

"This family's surname is Long."

"The father is a businessman from the Eastern Country, the mother is a housewife, and that little boy just started elementary school."

"The background is very clean."

"They applied for visas through a legitimate travel agency, and their itinerary is perfectly consistent with ordinary tourists."

After listening to his subordinate's report.

Tom De took the tablet and swiped his finger on the screen twice.

He carefully checked several key pieces of information.

After confirming there was no suspicious military or intelligence background.

His tense nerves finally relaxed a little.