Chapter 011: The First Exposure Review

While Chen Jiehua replied aloud, his mind raced, "Damn it! He actually knows me!"

Chen Jiehua was still too inexperienced; the old man's cry of "Qing Xuan" shattered his composure. Although he responded in Japanese with a Miyazaki accent, his eyes darted wildly as he thought—what was he doing? His tone and emotion were out of sync. The old man had merely called "Qing Xuan," yet his voice trembled as he responded. Why was he so agitated?

"I have your photograph. Your father sent it to me. I am your grandfather," the old man's voice was gentle.

Apparently, the old man hadn't noticed Chen Jiehua's emotional slip. Perhaps, nearing home and unexpectedly meeting his direct grandson on the train, he let his guard down and overlooked the details.

"Grandfather? You are my grandfather?!"

Chen Jiehua, still a novice, continued to betray his emotions. This time, the old man, Aoki Nobumasa, noticed the discrepancy, his brows briefly furrowing before relaxing again.

Truly worthy of the title 'father of spies,' his emotional control was masterful.

Without betraying his thoughts, Aoki Nobumasa reached out, grasped Chen Jiehua's right hand, pulled him closer, and naturally stroked the inside of his wrist with his thumb.

Suddenly, as Aoki Nobumasa prepared to exert force on Chen Jiehua’s wrist, he abruptly stopped!

Right then, the system’s voice echoed in Chen Jiehua’s mind: “Alert! Host, please control your emotions! Aoki Nobumasa has discovered that you are not the real Aoki Qing Xuan and is about to kill you. However, you are lucky—Aoki Nobumasa has suddenly died of a heart attack!”

There was no time to reflect on this sudden twist, but Chen Jiehua distilled the keywords from the system’s warning: sudden heart attack, Aoki Nobumasa is dead!

With Aoki Nobumasa dead, things became much easier. As long as he didn’t face the old man directly, he could act.

“Grandfather! Grandfather, what’s wrong?” Chen Jiehua crouched down, pretending to check Aoki Nobumasa’s condition.

The two men sitting beside Aoki Nobumasa noticed the anomaly and turned to examine him.

“General! General, what’s happened?”

These two were the bodyguards who had accompanied Aoki Nobumasa home.

It was a close call. How had the old man recognized him as an impostor? If not for the system, wouldn’t this thrilling journey through time have ended as simply ‘Chen Jiehua was here?’

Damn, so all those anti-Japanese dramas really are nonsense.

Chen Jiehua steadied his emotions and decided to deal with the immediate crisis.

The two bodyguards confirmed that Aoki Nobumasa had died.

“Grandfather!~~~”

This time, Chen Jiehua’s reaction and emotional expression were right on target.

With the two bodyguards present, the situation became simpler. When the train stopped at the next station, one bodyguard stayed with Aoki Qing Xuan at the general’s side, while the other went to the platform to retrieve documentation and contact the station. Using the station’s phone, he reported Aoki Nobumasa’s sudden death from illness back to headquarters, and then notified the Aoki family.

On December 12, 1924 (Taisho 13), General Aoki Nobumasa, on his way home from Beijing, China, to visit family and pay respects at ancestral graves, unexpectedly encountered his direct grandson, Aoki Qing Xuan, on the train from Tokyo to Miyazaki, became emotionally agitated, suffered a heart attack, and died!

The train started again, continuing toward Miyazaki Prefecture.

For the two bodyguards, Aoki Nobumasa was supposed to return home to visit family and pay respects, so now they would simply deliver him back to his hometown. Conveniently, the general’s grandson was present to confirm his death was due to a sudden heart attack and not negligence on their part.

Chen Jiehua sat in the center of the bench, holding Aoki Nobumasa’s corpse by the window, his spirits low—not because the old man had died, but because his own mistake had been exposed. To the bodyguards, however, it appeared to be the grief of a grandson who had just met and immediately lost his grandfather—how tragic!

Chen Jiehua said nothing, carefully maintaining his persona yet acting out the appropriate emotions.

The two bodyguards stood upright; Chen Jiehua didn’t invite them to sit.

Staring blankly, Chen Jiehua thought, This is way too hard! I thought the first stage would be tough, but now I realize this is hell-level difficulty!

The path of infiltration in Japan would be long. Ahead lay more formidable opponents and unknown challenges.

If, after graduation, he was assigned domestically to the Kwantung Army, what then? What if the worst happened and he ended up in Unit 731’s Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department? How would he handle witnessing Japanese atrocities against his compatriots? What if he was ordered to interrogate or even execute underground resistance members?

Worst of all, what if faced with female underground agents? Could he steel himself to do what was required?

Chen Jiehua realized there were many things he could not do.

First of all, emotional control needed much more practice! This persona of Aoki Qing Xuan’s reclusiveness was actually an excellent disguise. If he could hold onto this persona, fully understand the inner world of a solitary person, and act accordingly, he could transform himself completely into a genuine recluse.

In his mind, Chen Jiehua and the system reconstructed the scene, analyzing how he had been exposed.

“First, I came from behind; as I passed by, the system alerted me that my emotions were turbulent, but I didn’t turn to look at him, did I? Could he sense my agitation anyway? That’s too much! Impossible!”

“Second, as soon as I came out of the restroom, stepping across the carriage connector, he called me. That means he did notice me earlier and recognized me—just from my back? How could that be? Yet his call was indeed inquisitive and confirming in tone!”

“What was my reaction then?”

“At that moment, the host hesitated for 0.23 seconds, then turned and asked if he was calling you.”

“There were at least two mistakes in the host’s behavior.”

“The host shouldn’t have hesitated; hesitation didn’t fit the situation. Normally, the natural reaction would be to turn immediately. Hesitation implied that earlier, when you first passed by, you had already recognized him.”

“He is, nominally, your grandfather. If the host had recognized him, the first reaction should have been to confirm, not to go directly into the restroom. When he called you, hesitation was illogical.”

“The host’s hesitation of 0.23 seconds was too slow.”

“After hesitating, the host asked, ‘Are you calling me?’—a further mistake. The host’s persona is reclusive; a reclusive person, even if wanting to confirm whether they’re being called, would naturally just turn to look, not speak.”

“Damn it, this is so hard! Not only must I learn the persona, but also situational dialogue!”

“Did the host think being an agent was easy?”

“System, please continue the review.”

“Alright! Next, when the host exclaimed, ‘Grandfather! You are my grandfather?!’ both the emotion and tone were completely wrong.”