Chapter 544 - The Informant

In her nightmares, the government troops attacked, the Australians were routed, and the Chiefs were dragged one by one to the execution grounds to be beheaded. Somehow, her entire family was there too—her father, mother, brother, even the younger brother lost in childhood and her grandparents dead for years—all bound with execution placards thrust into their backs. The earth ran red with blood. She tried desperately to explain to the officials that her family weren't hair-shaven bandits, merely refugees swept up in the chaos. But her voice failed her. Later, she tried to run—she wasn't tied, and no one was guarding her—yet her feet were heavy as lead. She shouted in silent desperation.

Similar nightmares plagued her repeatedly. Waking in a cold sweat, she resolved countless times to quit school the next day, go home, warn her family, and flee far away from this place.

But by daylight, hesitation returned. Flee? To where? There was no paradise under the Great Ming sky. Let alone paradise, for commoners like ants, finding a place just to survive was a struggle. Lingao wasn't heaven, but at least it allowed her family to live in peace, with food, clothes, and shelter. It gave them hope. were they to return to that wandering life of displacement and near-starvation?

So what if it was rebellion? Lu Cheng thought. Without the Australians, the family might have died in the gutters long ago, and she would likely have fallen into the hands of human traffickers, sold to suffer somewhere unknown. She steeled her heart: even if it meant rebellion, she would follow the Chiefs. Even if it meant death—at least she had lived a few good days. If they could defeat the government troops, the future would be brighter still.

"The Australian Chiefs saved our whole family. Even if it means beheading for rebellion, we'll follow them," Lu Cheng sighed. "What else can we do?"

"I just don't know if the Chiefs can hold out," Yao Yulan said. "My dad moved our whole livelihood to Lingao. If the Chiefs can't beat the government troops, our family is finished." Unlike the refugees who had suffered enough, Yao Yulan lacked the desperation to burn her bridges completely.

"You have a family. So do I," Lu Cheng said. Suddenly she remembered something. "The Chiefs have such good firearms; the government troops surely can't beat them."

"And that big iron ship. The government troops can't even beat pirates; they definitely have no chance against the Australian iron ship." Yao Yulan seemed to be trying to convince herself, but then she sighed again. "It's just that the Chiefs have too few soldiers. If the government sends a swarm, I'm afraid they can't hold."

"It doesn't matter if the Australians have few soldiers; aren't we all 'soldiers'?" Ke Yun, sleeping on the bunk adjacent to the upper bunk, had been woken by their whispers. She was the youngest of them all, only fifteen, and looked very thin and small. Ke Yun never mentioned her family; Yao Yulan assumed she was an orphan.

"We count as soldiers?" Yao Yulan dismissed the idea. "Women fighting—don't the Chiefs think it's bad luck? Women aren't allowed in the army."

"They have female officials; what's a few female soldiers?" Ke Yun whispered. "Haven't you seen them?"

"I have. A Chief Dong—pretty, but her frame is really big!" Yao Yulan gestured. "And that chest..." She pulled her shirt exaggeratedly high. "This big!"

Several girls giggled, waking up the others. Woman talk was infectious; one by one, they joined the conversation.

"Chief Dong is formidable. I saw her practice with a steel spear. Heard she even went to the countryside and killed bandits."

"So fierce? Was she a street performer?"

"Nonsense. Chief Dong is very learned and manages many villages. She comes to our village often."

"Isn't it Chief Du who goes to the villages often? A tall female Chief with very long legs," Lu Cheng recalled. This Chief Du acted decisively and had very short hair, but she spoke entirely in incomprehensible "Newspeak." The village headmen were all terrified of her.

"There are quite a few," Ke Yun said. "Besides, once we learn to shoot, I won't be afraid of any great general in full armor, let alone a small soldier. With the Chiefs' Six-Star Repeater, anyone who comes is dead."

The "Six-Star Repeater" was actually a revolver. The large batch of pistols the transmigrated collective purchased through the North American branch included many S&W 9mm revolvers. Many transmigrators found this pistol convenient and handy—especially the women, who almost all carried one.

"That belongs to the Chiefs. Would they give them to us?" Yao Yulan, having been in Bairen Commune for over half a year, knew that things issued to indigenous people, while superior to anything in this timeline, were far inferior to the Chiefs' personal gear. "Besides, even if they gave them to us, I wouldn't dare take a gun to battle. Hearing hundreds of men shout during army drills terrifies me."

"Yeah, fighting and killing on the battlefield—I wouldn't dare." Other girls agreed.

"What do you know?" Yang Cao, sleeping on the bunk below Ke Yun, also woke up. She had remained silent until now. "What the Chiefs want us to do is the work of the Australian Jinyiwei and Eastern Depot."

"What are Jinyiwei and Eastern Depot?" Most girls didn't know, but Yao Yulan and Lu Cheng did; their faces instantly drained of color.

The Jinyiwei had branches in the provinces, but the Eastern Depot operated mainly in the capital; traces of Eastern Depot agents were rarely seen locally. But since Wei Zhongxian took power in the Tianqi era, even remote places saw men in "fresh clothes and angry horses, speaking the capital dialect." The terror of the Eastern Depot had spread from the capital to the entire country.

"You mean we're to be female agents?" Yao Yulan turned pale as a flower.

"What are agents?"

"Spies for the court," Yang Cao explained bluntly. "Specializing in investigating officials and commoners. With an arrest warrant from the Ministry of Justice, they can arrest, interrogate, or just kill you."

"That fierce!" The girls gasped in unison.

"We have to kill people too?" Yao Yulan was practically scared out of her wits—she wanted to be a "cadre," not an assassin.

At that moment, footsteps sounded in the corridor. Everyone shut up simultaneously—chatting without permission at night was a serious infraction.

Early the next morning, amidst the chaos of breakfast in Fangcaodi Education Park's No. 1 Canteen, Ke Yun slipped away quietly. A few minutes later, she appeared in a windowless room behind the canteen. This was one of several "safe houses" set up by the General Political Security Bureau within the Education Park. Such rooms were nestled within building clusters, accessible only to those who knew the path. Political Security personnel met their informers here to debrief and issue instructions.

Wu Mu was waiting for her. Ke Yun was actually a "Ten-Man Group" mole Wu Mu had planted in the girls' squad. Ke Yun was trained specifically for "internal control." This orphan, physically only fifteen, had been plucked by the Guangzhou Station from a pile of corpses in the Nanhai County charity graveyard. Now she was a seasoned informant who wouldn't blink at betraying anyone.

She reported the girls' squad's ideological trends to Wu Mu, noting any serious disciplinary violations. Wu Mu listened intently. In fact, Ke Yun's Mandarin was passable; her heavy dialect was a deliberate disguise.

In her report, the focus was on the recent wavering thoughts in the girls' squad. Ke Yun gave a low evaluation of Yao Yulan, considering her worldly and glib, a person who unknowingly influenced opinion within the squad.

"Yao Yulan's stance is unstable; she often spreads wavering remarks," Ke Yun said, listing many of Yao Yulan's statements. Because most indigenous personnel had low education levels and couldn't write accurate reports, Ran Yao had focused on training Ten-Man Group members in verbal repetition, verifying the subjects' words directly.

Wu Mu noted the key points of her report. He asked no questions during the process, waiting until she finished to avoid interrupting her flow. Then she reported Yang Cao's suspicious points—her older age, her claim of being an opera singer despite never singing, and her surprising knowledge of government secret services like the Eastern Depot and Jinyiwei—even knowing the agents were called "Fanzi."

Wu Mu wasn't interested in Yao Yulan's case; whether to expel her or observe her was a minor administrative detail. But Yang Cao's case was distinct—could this woman be a spy?

Wu Mu decided to review her file immediately upon returning.

"Lu Cheng often has nightmares," Ke Yun continued. "She wakes up frequently. She never talks about what she dreamed, but once I heard her talk in her sleep: '...were swept up.' I think her stance is wavering."

"Swept up" implied that working for the Australians wasn't voluntary but forced. It suggested Lu Cheng had little confidence in the transmigrated collective, believing they would eventually be suppressed by government troops—otherwise she wouldn't have such dreams.

She then reported on the other girls' thoughts and offered her own evaluations. Wu Mu took notes while listening, secretly admiring Ran Yao: without the foundation Ran Yao laid, he wouldn't know how to conduct this work. Just training the personnel was a massive achievement.

"You've done well." Wu Mu nodded in praise. Ke Yun immediately stood up. "Thank you, Chief."

"Sit down. Continue monitoring them, focusing on Yang Cao," Wu Mu instructed. "Report who she contacts most, what she says, and where she goes."

"Understood."

"As for Yao Yulan's wavering tendencies, pay attention to neutralizing her negative influence," Wu Mu added. "Give everyone confidence."