Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 1190 - 1195: Startle the Snake by Beating the Grass

Chapter 1190: Chapter 1195: Startle the Snake by Beating the Grass

The cleaner provided intelligence indicating that the vast majority of Satan’s members reside in New York, including Tyler. But since Tyler’s file lists his hometown, Yang Yi and the team obviously decided their first stop should be his hometown rather than New York.

Going directly to New York would be too blatantly suspicious.

Excitingly, Tyler was indeed in his hometown. Yang Yi initially thought they might be making another futile trip.

Outside Tyler’s house, Yang Yi was adjusting their equipment alongside Anton and Xiao Ran.

The photographic and video equipment was, of course, necessary. Listening devices were essential too, along with equipment for phone interception and monitoring any radio communications—Yang Yi’s team had it all.

In fact, surveillance equipment was just the basics. For cases like this, where the target’s identity is confirmed, and all efforts are concentrated on monitoring a single person, almost no one can escape surveillance.

Of course, this depends on the identity of the individual being monitored.

Take Yang Yi, for example—he dreams with one eye open, always carrying a signal jammer and using more counter-surveillance tools than actual surveillance ones. Catching him slipping up is extraordinarily challenging.

"The target has left the house."

Anton said in a low voice, rubbing his chin. "This guy is still quite cautious, but he lacks professional knowledge. We’re being so blatant, how does he still not notice our presence?"

Yang Yi replied quietly, "We’ve only been monitoring him for three hours. Are you really expecting him to figure it out that quickly? That’s asking too much, isn’t it?"

Xiao Ran murmured, "Why don’t we trail his car? That way, at least he’ll notice us, right?"

Anton shook his head immediately. "No, no, no... right now, we should be installing the listening devices in his house."

After speaking, Anton picked up a listening device and whispered, "Let’s just install one. If it’s going to be discovered anyway, adding more would just be a waste. Better to conserve resources."

With that, Anton swiftly left the hiding car and headed toward Tyler’s residence. Ten minutes later, he hurried back.

"It’s done. I placed it under the bedside table in his bedroom. If he’s cautious and meticulous, he’s bound to notice it."

Anton then said, somewhat helplessly, "Monitoring clueless outsiders like this is honestly such a bore."

Yang Yi adjusted his car seat backward, saying, "Then I’ll take a nap. Wake me up when you think it’s time."

Yang Yi actually took a nap. When he woke up, he found Anton wearing headphones, while Xiao Ran was watching the surveillance footage.

"He’s back?"

Xiao Ran, without looking up, replied, "You slept for two and a half hours."

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Yang Yi chuckled, "Been a bit worn out the past couple days... Hm. Why didn’t you both take a nap? Even if something comes up, we can’t use it right away. Why waste your energy?"

Anton snapped impatiently, "Because I have to keep an ear out for anything concerning Satan. What if something crucial pops up? We’re required to turn over our surveillance data."

Yang Yi shook his head. "Idiot, didn’t I tell you? Give the data to the cleaner first. Once they confirm it’s safe, that’s when we use it."

Anton took off his headphones without hesitation and angrily complained, "You didn’t say that. Next time there’s such an easy option, make sure to tell me first!"

"My bad, I shouldn’t have slept earlier."

After offering an unconvincing apology, Yang Yi rubbed his stomach and muttered, "I’m hungry..."

Xiao Ran spoke in a serious tone, "There are sandwiches, soda, and some snacks."

"I don’t want that."

Xiao Ran shot back irritably, "Then starve!"

Yang Yi sighed and said, "I mean, let’s speed things up. Stop just sitting around. Hm, I’ll call Aaron now and inform him of the plan."

Anton said in a low voice, "Active intelligence gathering is rarely used by spies. Are you sure about this?"

Yang Yi shrugged. "Let’s do it. No point dragging this out."

"If you want to pick up the pace, fine by me."

Yang Yi picked up the phone and dialed Aaron. When Aaron answered, Yang Yi lowered his voice and said, "Sir, I need to report the situation: we’ve located the Pigeon and are monitoring him right now. I plan to use an active approach to force Pigeon into making a mistake and draw Gong Yang out as bait."

Aaron replied indifferently, "Oh? Why take such a risky approach?"

"We’re already monitoring Pigeon—he can’t escape us! But none of us can predict when he’ll contact other Satan members—it could be a day, or maybe a month. I want to speed things up, force Pigeon to lure Gong Yang out!"

The approach Yang Yi referred to, active intelligence gathering, could be summarized by two idioms.

The first is "startling the snake by beating the grass."

The second is "luring the snake out of its hole."

The richness of the Chinese language meant that explaining this to Aaron would require lengthy explanations. But to Li Fan, these two idioms explained everything—such is the advantage of culture and language.

Aaron pondered for a moment before replying slowly, "Very risky. Are you absolutely confident Pigeon won’t slip away? You’ve already obtained unprecedented clues; it would be a shame to lose them."

"Sir, please trust me. I’m absolutely confident. If I feel undermanned, I’ll request reinforcements from you."

Aaron said quietly, "Alright, since you’re determined, proceed as you intend."

Yang Yi hung up the call, nodded, and said, "It’s approved. Let’s do it."

Anton shook his head slightly, then pulled out a passport from a stack of IDs, tidied his hair, and swapped into a pair of leather shoes he had prepared earlier.

"The shoes aren’t dirty enough."

Anton stepped out of the car, walked back and forth on the dirt ground until the dust coated his shoes to his satisfaction. Yang Yi smiled helplessly and said, "No need to go to such trouble. Tyler’s just a soldier; he’s not that cautious."

Anton frowned. "Since he’s part of the Air Force Combat Control Team, you really shouldn’t underestimate him."

Yang Yi replied again, looking exasperated, "Come on, you’re trying to make him think you’re CIA. If the disguise’s too perfect, what if he doesn’t pick up on it?"

Anton froze for a moment, then nodded. "You’ve got a point."

Abandoning the disguise prep, Anton walked to a nearby car, got in, started it, and drove toward Tyler’s house.

After parking in front of Tyler’s home, Anton got out of the car, tapped his chest with his left hand, patted his lower back, then approached Tyler’s door and knocked.