"Someone come and talk to me!" Preton pulled out his pistol and pressed it against his temple, "Or I'll shoot myself!"

He emphasized again, "I'm not joking!" His expression was indeed serious, and after speaking, he brazenly sat down on the steps at the entrance.

Not long after, a middle-aged man in formal attire walked out from the room opposite. He looked displeased, apparently the leader of the group.

He approached Preton, pulled out his credentials, "Federal Security Committee, may I ask how you discovered us?"

The leader of the Security Committee's Operations Group thought his setup was so flawless that even the Lord couldn't find any fault, yet Preton saw through it instantly.

Preton didn't immediately respond but seriously took the credentials and then posed his question, "Can I call to verify the authenticity of this identification?"

The Operations Group leader hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Of course, but don't play any tricks!"

Preton returned to the room, dialed the local police station, and briefly explained what he was told—that he needed to cooperate with a national secret operation and someone showed him credentials.

He was unsure about the authenticity of the credentials and hoped the police station could assist.

A few minutes later, the operator informed him that the credentials were genuine.

This answer allowed Preton to breathe a sigh of relief. He reopened the door, placed the gun slowly on the ground, kicked it out, then slowly lay on the ground, raising his hands as high as possible to ensure he posed no threat.

While the agents were applying some restraints on him, he said to the leader of the Security Committee's Operations Group, "Your car's windows are dark-tinted..."

The Operations Group leader suddenly turned around, looked at the commercial vehicle, and showed a somewhat absurd expression.

They had meticulously arranged this capture plan, only for it to be seen through because the vehicle's windows were tinted dark, something he hadn't even considered, even though the vehicles he saw every day going to and from work had transparent windows, he hadn't paid attention to this detail.

"All logistics people should be fired!" he muttered a comment, then personally escorted Preton onto the commercial vehicle.

The agents came quickly and left quickly. Not long after, people in the community began gathering and chatting, speculating about matters related to the newly moved-in family.

Meanwhile, on the car, the two men began another conversation.

"Are you waiting for us?" The leader had sensed early on from Preton's proactive appearance, his straightforward admission of their identity, and verification of his credentials that Preton didn't seem to have intended to escape or resist in any way. He was very curious.

What kind of thought supported Preton, if he truly wanted to surrender, why didn't he proactively contact the local Investigative Bureau earlier?

Preton straightforwardly admitted, "You've already found me, hiding is meaningless, as long as you're not Gafura's people, I'm willing to cooperate!"

If caught by Federation people, he could still survive because he would always become a blemish on Gafura's shiny exterior, his existence constantly nauseating Emperor Gafura. As long as he held this value, the Federation wouldn't let him die but would instead periodically show him around.

If caught by Gafura's people, there's basically no way he'd survive.

The Emperor would kill him out of anger, and the Minister of the Navy definitely wouldn't spare him either. Perhaps even other nobles who took his money already dispatched assassins worldwide to seek him out.

No one among these people wished for him to stay alive; everyone hoped he would die.

The appearance of Federation agents here today meant Gafura's spies could soon find him too. He didn't know how he exposed himself, but once exposed, hiding was impossible.

"Have you never thought about resisting?" This was the first time the leader captured such a directly submissive person. He was also quite curious, "Run away?"

Preton smiled but said nothing.

The Federation found him because all his substitutes had been identified, those substitutes had either died or been captured, and none of them were the real Preton. So the Military Intelligence Bureau and Security Committee went through the clues again, all reaching a conclusion: Preton might never have left the country.

The Preton who left the country was fake, a substitute. The real Preton was still hidden within the Federation.

With Gafura and Bail Federal, two major military powers simultaneously applying pressure, no bank could withstand such immense pressure.

Under high-intensity work, they traced from accounts already identified as belonging to the local division, obtaining a batch of possible anonymous accounts and verified those anonymous accounts' opening and transaction signatures, finding some leads.

Many accounts were found not to belong to Preton. No one was disappointed because this was just a process, which could be arduous and long, possibly yielding no good results, but they had to keep probing.

This time, they didn't expect to catch Preton so quickly, directly tracing based on the usage of anonymous bank accounts found this way.

Preton also posed his question, "How did you find me?" he laughed, "Just a small curiosity of mine, of course, you don't have to tell me!"

The leader ultimately decided to inform him, given his cooperation, "Your accounts hadn't been used for years. Understand what I mean?"

Preton was very clever, immediately reacting, "So that's it! I hadn't considered this issue before!"

Preton had prepared these anonymous accounts very discreetly to guard against unexpected events, ensuring he wasn't completely penniless.

The preparation timeline was long, with some accounts set up years ago, even over a decade ago. He didn't believe anyone could trace back that far.

But it was precisely this caution that exposed him.

Accounts with no flow for years or decades suddenly had transactions during his hidden period, and these accounts' payment signatures had similarities with his details. Filtering through this information wasn't difficult.

If he switched to an account with regular transactions, he could have at least escaped this major capture.

News of Preton's capture quickly spread among a few individuals, and Mr. Truman abruptly interrupted a phone meeting underway, obtained authorization directly from the President, and rushed to the Security Committee.

Now, he's both the chief of the International Affairs/Policy Research Office and a key advisor to the President. The President only needs to issue an authorization command for Truman to attend the interrogation as his representative, giving him the authority to intervene in the matter.

Before seeing Preton, Truman erroneously believed this capture was thrilling, until the Operations Group leader informed him that Preton offered no resistance beyond verifying the credentials.

This greatly surprised Mr. Truman, because capturing those substitutes was already difficult, and they found Preton to be very shrewd, arranging not just one substitute to move around and attract attention, along with various small rumors.

He was very clever, making the capture exceedingly challenging, yet he chose a way that no one expected to end his "running" life. This gave Mr. Truman a very clear judgment of the current situation.

During their conversation, the two arrived at the interrogation room's entrance. Mr. Truman kicked the door open, and as the interrogators behind him prepared to enter, he stopped them with a raised hand and then closed the room's door.

Inside the room was only Preton, bound to the chair, and Mr. Truman, who had just entered.

"I recognize you, I often see you on television..." Preton wasn't surprised at having Mr. Truman as his inquisitor. He was about to continue speaking when Mr. Truman pulled two handkerchiefs from his pocket.

One was for immediate use, and the other was a spare.

The end of September in the Federation remained very hot, a single handkerchief couldn't manage it.

He unfolded the handkerchief and covered two cameras and disconnected the monitoring line, an act that promptly prompted those monitoring to report upwards.

However, those responsible for this case at the Security Committee weren't surprised; this was strategic.

Inside the room, Mr. Truman left his chair and returned to the interrogation table, sitting down, "No one's watching us now, nor can anyone hear us, so let's have an honest conversation."

"What do you want, Mr. Preton?!"

Preton nearly didn't hesitate to respond, "I just want to live."

This didn't surprise Mr. Truman because everyone wants to live, including himself. He nodded noncommittally, "Then tell me something I'm interested in, like the dealings and lists between you and Gafura's high-level ministers."

"Will I be able to survive if I do?"

"You should understand that you have more value alive than dead!"

The two talked in the room unknowingly for almost an hour before Mr. Truman left with a valuable statement, and Preton seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Almost that evening, Gafura's Minister of Construction had just finished dinner when his home's phone rang.

The resplendent room exuded elegance and luxury everywhere, even the wall corners' borders were lined with gold.

The Minister of Construction held a lucrative position; any "official project" involving the Empire is hosted and constructed by the Minister of Construction, providing many opportunities to profit.

He walked into the study and picked up the phone, a local call.

Cross-border calls required switchboard operators, couldn't be connected at will, and are entirely recorded, but domestic calls aren't as complicated.

Just as he sat down, before he could savor the enjoyment dinner had brought him, his expression turned grim.

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