After returning to National Security, Chen Bin quickly received the news.
Zhao Rucheng had taken poison before being sent to the hospital, and he couldn't be saved.
With a slight sigh, he felt a deep sense of helplessness.
To Chen Bin, Zhao Rucheng had a truly difficult life.
An unhappy marriage, unfilial children.
He was about to retire and enjoy his later years, yet was dragged down by his son into becoming a spy.
Ultimately ending with a fate of committing suicide in fear of punishment, it was truly tragic.
At this moment, Chen Bin suddenly felt a tinge of regret, wishing he had captured Zhao Rucheng when he went to steal Core Sample No. 2.
Perhaps then, he'd still have a way out.
It was just bad luck that the other party had sharp eyes, easily discerning that the contents in the safe were fake.
Just then, news came from the interrogation room.
Han Shanyue refused to say anything, and the core sample wasn't found on her.
Chen Bin went to the monitoring room and said something directly to a female investigator inside.
Not long after, she returned with three other female investigators, appearing in the interrogation room.
Two of them pinned Han Shanyue down on the table, while the other two reached out to remove her pants.
During this time, Han Shanyue kept struggling, but she was powerless to resist.
When her pants were taken off, her snowy white, shapely bottom and thong were exposed.
Zheng Junjie furrowed his brow upon seeing this, not understanding why Chen Bin seemed to be humiliating her.
But before long, a female investigator retrieved a small bottle from within Han Shanyue's body.
Upon learning it contained the core sample, he realized what was happening.
With solid evidence, Han Shanyue quickly confessed everything.
Yet, upon examination, there was only 2.5 grams in the bottle, meaning half of it was still missing.
After further interrogation, Han Shanyue finally revealed that there was another woman behind her, and the other half of the core sample was with her.
But the other's identity was too mysterious; she had never actually met her.
This news made Chen Bin's face look very grim, and he decided to interrogate Zhao Yu again.
However, Zhao Yu responded that he did not know Han Shanyue's superior.
But before Zhao Rucheng died, he mentioned that before stealing the core sample, a woman had threatened him.
Her name was Ma Anna!
Chen Bin never imagined that his university classmate could become a spy.
Could she be the "Old Ghost" who had previously contacted Fang Mingkun?
But since Sun Xiaojing had monitored Ma Anna for so many days, how could there be no findings?
As he couldn't make sense of the situation, Chen Bin decided to hold a case discussion meeting overnight.
At the meeting, everyone, including Zheng Junjie, thought Ma Anna should be captured quickly.
Because to them, the core sample was extremely important and couldn't be allowed to flow overseas.
After a long silence, Chen Bin slightly shook his head.
"We can't capture Ma Anna now!"
"Why?" Everyone was puzzled by his decision.
"Given the current situation, Ma Anna is very likely a spy leader. Arresting her now could alert the enemy. I believe we shouldn't move until we can catch them all at once."
This statement made sense, and Zheng Junjie immediately asked.
"Then what should we do next?"
"Ma Anna returned to the Imperial Capital from the Beautiful Country to start a company, likely just as a guise. Her subordinates must also be lurking within the company. We need to infiltrate the company and investigate the situation thoroughly."
"So who would be suitable for this task?"
Zheng Junjie looked around, feeling momentarily uncertain.
Chen Bin sighed slightly and said, "I'll do it!"
This statement shocked everyone.
Zheng Junjie hurriedly objected, "You're the head of the special case team and also a leader in the department. If you get caught, it would be a big problem. Anyway, I'm firmly against you going undercover."
Soon after, others also expressed their support for his opinion.
However, Chen Bin was determined, "I must do this! Because Ma Anna and I were university classmates, I can gain her trust in a short time. Who among you has a better advantage than I do?"
No one expected there to be this connection between Chen Bin and Ma Anna.
They exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond.
In truth, Chen Bin's decision wasn't made impulsively.
He knew that to find the other missing half of the core sample in the shortest time, he had to take the risk himself.
Zheng Junjie felt that infiltrating the enemy was extremely dangerous for Chen Bin as a leader.
But with so many people present, he didn't dare to say anything more.
In the end, he could only report the situation to Ju Jun, hoping Ju Jun would intervene to make Chen Bin abandon the idea of going undercover.
Ju Jun also took the matter seriously and specially found Chen Bin to have a talk.
He clearly expressed his strong disagreement with Chen Bin going undercover.
Chen Bin knew Ju Jun was concerned about his safety, but he explained why he had no choice but to go.
In the end, Ju Jun couldn't refute him and could only say.
"You can go, but you must ensure your own safety. If something happens to you, it would be a far greater loss than that core sample!"
"Understood!"
After leaving Ju Jun's office, Chen Bin began to make arrangements to enter Ma Anna's company.
He decided to resign from his position as Party Secretary of the Imperial Capital Aerospace University.
After all, it was a nominal position that served no real purpose.
When Zhao Xinmei learned that Xu Qiang wanted to resign for business, she became a bit upset.
Because this meant they would see each other even less.
Ma Juan, on the other hand, was very happy, thinking Chen Bin had finally come around.
However, upon learning that Chen Bin didn't plan to join her company, she was sad for a long time.
Before long, the news of Chen Bin's resignation spread and caused quite a stir.
Several people who were close to him called to ask what was going on.
Chen Bin gave everyone the same explanation, saying he wanted to go into business.
He turned down all their invitations to dinners, except for Ma Anna's.
When they met at the restaurant, Ma Anna immediately asked about her doubts.
"Why would you resign from such a good job?"
To her, Chen Bin, who had risen to a deputy minister at over forty, had unlimited prospects.
His sudden resignation was truly baffling.
Chen Bin sighed and replied.
"If anyone else asked, I'd say I wanted a change of environment. But because we're so close, I'll be honest with you; I've made enough money, and only in business can I truly spend freely."
Nodding her head, Ma Anna found this reason quite believable.
After all, it's quite normal to skim a little off the top in politics.
So she proactively asked: "What do you plan to do next? Rest for a while or start working right away?"
"I'm not one to stay idle; I want to join a company and start my own venture."
Ma Anna didn't reply, just smiled and nodded.
Over the next few hours, they drank and chatted, and before long, Chen Bin drank too much.
Seeing him collapse on the dining table, Ma Anna sighed helplessly.
She arranged for a waiter to take him to her car...
