Novels like Underhanded Struggle
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Underhanded Struggle, best match first.
- 101 Espionage: From the Start, I Personally Betrayed My Comrades 谍战：开局我亲手出卖了同志 Shanghai, 1942. On the first day Shen Gui was dragged into Unit 76, bamboo splinters were driven beneath his fingernails. For three days and three nights, he didn't give them a thing. On the fourth day, he confessed. The contact station was destroyed, and six comrades were killed. Overnight, he went from an underground Party member to a traitor despised by everyone. The organization wanted him dead, and the enemy didn't trust him. He became a wandering ghost with nowhere to go. But no one knew t 1.4kReads6.8Score105Shelves
- 102 Espionage: Daybreak 谍战：破晓 When night falls over the newly born land, two fated adversaries are forced to join forces. The brilliant Lin Nan is a forgotten gem from the old era, versed in criminal psychology and codebreaking. The battle-hardened Zheng Feng is the blade of the new order, devoted to discipline and absolute loyalty. This is a war that begins with conspiracy and ends in faith. When the enemy holds the city’s pulse in its grasp, and humanity’s fate hangs by a thread, they wield their wits as spears and their c 139Reads—Score—Shelves
- 103 Fuzhou: Blades and Bloodshed in 1949 福州：刀光血影一九四九 A few words in a local dialect, as indistinguishable as the wind. Once their eyes meet, the hunt and counterhunt begin. Messages whispered on the wind, blood and chaos, a fight to the death... At the end of February 1949, the Huacha secret team, entrusted with a vital mission, encountered an accident on its way to Rong. Team leader Hu Dayi vanished without a trace, and his guard, Wu Erzhu, was captured. At the same time, the Kuomintang's Secrecy Bureau System was carrying out its covert Thunder 149Reads—Score—Shelves
- 104 The Kite That Flew Away 远去的风筝 Han Yong, the last disciple of Chinese martial arts master Gong Baotian, is wanted by the Kuomintang for avenging his family. With no other choice, he joins the Communist Party. During an ambush, a traitor’s tip-off leads to the annihilation of the Party’s intelligence company, and Han Yong is branded a traitor. But he does not lose heart or give up. After drifting to Meixian and Shaoguan in Guangdong, he receives support from like-minded martial artists and the working masses, and establishes t 973Reads—Score100Shelves
- 105 King of Espionage: My Deadly Simulations 谍战之王：我能夺命模拟 Tang San obtains a Spy King System with five major categories of skills. First, killing enemies earns him their remaining lifespan. Second, the lifespan he gains can extend his own life. Third, he can spend lifespan to avert disasters and injuries that would otherwise befall him. Fourth, he can use lifespan to simulate lives, not only his own but other people's as well. Fifth, it has other incredible functions. 292Reads7.3Score108Shelves
- 106 Espionage: Blade of the Isolated Island 谍战：孤岛之刃 My soul transmigrates to 1937, where I become a rookie in the Military Statistics Bureau. From the start, my superior sells me out, and the whole city is hunting me down! Qin Mo thinks he won't survive past the third episode, until the “Merit System” activates. [Ding! Mission “Escape the Tiger's Jaws” complete. Reward: 200 merit points. System shop unlocked!] [Danger Sense], [Firearms Mastery], [Codebreaking]... As long as I have enough merit points, I can redeem any top-tier spy skill! A mole h 3kReads7.3Score242Shelves
- 107 Undercover in Enemy Camp: My System Can See the Future 卧底敌营：我的系统能预知未来 [Spy intrigue + System + War of Resistance + power fantasy + mind games + ensemble cast + alternate history + anti-war] Ling Feng transmigrates to 1940 and awakens the “Diplomatic Legend” System. He can read minds, simulate scenarios, and reason through history. He becomes the most dangerous undercover agent in the Wang puppet government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He tricks the Japanese into diverting their main forces away from Midway, forges intelligence to prompt an American and British e 20Reads—Score—Shelves
- 108 The Cannon-Fodder Villainess Turns the Tables 炮灰女配咸鱼翻身， Shen Yueyao was twenty-four, a graduate of the Foreign Languages Department at Hujiang University. Her father, Shen Jingting, was a well-known industrialist in the city. But none of that was what truly made Yueyao’s heart skip a beat. What nearly froze the blood in her veins was another, clearer and colder memory: she had transmigrated into a spy novel she had read just days ago. She had become a minor female character with the same name as her own, a disposable character who was killed off bef 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 109 Espionage: The Ultimate Agent, Starting by Becoming Zheng Yaoxian's Disciple 谍战：最强特工，开局拜师郑耀先 Su Minming turned his head and looked at the somewhat timid girl before him. A smile unconsciously tugged at his lips. She stood beside him in a plain white dress, her hair outlined by the moonlight, soft as clouds. Her large, bright eyes were like the clear water of a pond, able to see straight through to the stirrings in his heart. 214Reads5.4Score—Shelves
- 110 Espionage: You Were Told to Go Undercover, So How Did You Become the Boss of Shanghai? 谍战：让你潜伏，你成淞沪大佬？ [Espionage + no System + no brainless plot + loyal revolutionary roots + multiple identities] In the twentieth year of the Republic of China, the head of the Red Party's Third Special Section was arrested and immediately defected. Overnight, around a hundred outstanding Red Party comrades were arrested. Within a year, spies had uncovered nearly all of the Red Party's secret safe houses in Shanghai. Whenever the nation is in peril, heroes always step forward. Zhang Mingxue, only twenty-five years 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 111 The Military Statistics Bureau's Iron Wall: The Japanese High Command's Lament 军统之铁壁：日军大本营的哀叹 Rebirth and transmigration + military intelligence + golden finger: Churchill: We’re broke. Fine, give him two million pounds’ worth of weapons for those two pieces of intelligence. He can pick them up himself; no delivery. Hitler: How did he find out that our Japanese allies are holding secret talks with the Soviets? Fine, let’s buy the meeting notes. Roosevelt: He can get us a Zero fighter? Write him a check, and ask if he’d like to switch sides while we’re at it. The Japanese: Who on earth le 1.6kReads7.8Score102Shelves
- 112 The Little Spy's Successful Comeback 谍战小特务的成功逆袭 The extraordinary life of a little spy: I can identify and control spies. The great demon Li Shiqun of No. 76, the Eastern Witch Yoshiko Kawashima, and the Empire's Flower, Yun Zi Nanzō, all turn pale when they see this little spy. 78Reads5.9Score—Shelves
- 113 Espionage: Telling Jokes in Republican-Era China 谍战：我在民国说段子 After staying up all night ranting about spy dramas, 996 office drone Cheng Ming wakes up having transmigrated to Shanghai in 1938, now under occupation! From the start, he's an abandoned pawn of the military intelligence service, pursued by traitors at No. 76 and surrounded by Japanese agents. He just transmigrated, and already he's about to get himself killed? Fortunately, he awakens a historical-commentary golden finger. While others rely on marksmanship and strategy to go undercover, he uses 51Reads—Score—Shelves
- 114 Republican Era: A Shadowy Web of Espionage 民国：谍影迷云 [Pocket Dimension + One Female Lead + Competent Characters + Consistent Logic + Historical Accuracy] The rating has just gone live, so please give it a chance. (Onion Orange salutes!) Su Xin, a historical researcher, transmigrates to the years of the War of Resistance and becomes a minor secret agent in the Military Statistics Bureau. The bureau gains an ace operative skilled at hunting down Japanese spies, while the Communist Party gains a “deep-cover agent” hidden in the enemy's heart! Trackin 368Reads7.9Score—Shelves
- 115 The Spy Hunter 猎谍 Espionage is an ancient profession. Ever since wars first began, spies have been the only way for opposing sides to obtain each other's intelligence. Some say that spy warfare is the only kind of battle in the world without gunpowder smoke. But the truth is that almost no battle in this world is free of it. Even covert struggles are full of bloodshed and sacrifice. My surname is Tang. My name is Tang Cheng, though you can also call me Tang Wulang. My father was with the Juntong, the organization 2kReads8.6Score202Shelves
- 116 Espionage: Starting from Above the Cliff 谍战：从悬崖之上开始 Though the nation lies broken, its mountains and rivers remain. Ding Ran transmigrates to a hundred years in the past and becomes a triple agent. The island nation: “That man is a demon, an out-and-out demon.” The Baldies: “How can someone so perfect exist in this world?” The Beautiful Country: “Get his identity at any cost.” In the end, Ding Ran writes his own legend in that era. 2.4kReads8.7Score136Shelves
- 117 Espionage: Starting Out as a Nobody 谍战：从小人开始 A modern young man is reborn in 1937 with a System. From a timid young secret agent to a renowned anti-Japanese hero, it only takes a few short months. Along the way, Ye Chen has killed no shortage of Japanese soldiers. If the System weren't holding him back, Ye Chen really would have kept killing until... 1.2kReads6.6Score100Shelves
- 118 Republican-Era Spy War 民国谍战 "Need to move people or cargo? I'll fix up a manure cart for you. Short on medicine? The military police hospital is ready to help. Food? Got it! Guns and ammunition? Got them! A tank? Come on, are you kidding me? The Republican era is full of remarkable people, and the righteous lead the way. Watch Lu Xiao turn the tide and show what a true hero is made of." 1.6kReads9.0Score159Shelves
- 119 Blood and Intrigue 谍血风云 [Decisive and Ruthless] [Absolutely No Saintly Do-Gooder] [Fired with Passion] Returning to the war-torn Republic of China, the protagonist uses his slight head start to navigate between the various factions. On the secret front, every move is fraught with danger; between black and white, he repeatedly risks his life, earning achievements that no one will ever know about… 15Reads7.3Score—Shelves
- 120 The Hidden Front of the War Against Japan 抗日之隐蔽战线 Kudo Yuan is the head of Japan’s spy agency, yet no one ever imagined he was Chinese! His adoptive father is an Army lieutenant general, and his uncle is a Navy admiral. Can he complete his covert mission in the face of temptations from a seductive femme fatale and challenges from old devils and clowns? 167Reads6.8Score—Shelves
- 121 Espionage: Code Name Big Dipper 谍战：红色特工代号北斗星 In 1936, an era of turbulent waves! There was a group of people feeling their way through the darkness, using the flame of their faith to light up the pitch-black night sky. Jiang Huo, code-named Polaris, went undercover in the Special Service Office, walking on thin ice and teetering on the edge of a cliff! In the narrowest of spaces, the struggle was cruel and merciless! In the dark of night, it was a tale of hardship and greatness! Their names may have been forgotten amid the years of raging 565Reads8.2Score—Shelves
- 122 Back to 1937: Kill Japanese Invaders to Recharge the Nation's Fortune 重回1937，杀鬼子充值国运 Transmigration to 1937 Shanghai + a light System element + espionage + resistance against Japan + urban warfare and purging traitors + no romance. If you don’t mind the protagonist being a woman, this book is for readers of all genders. You could call it a female-led story. A lecturer at the police university transmigrates to 1937. She has 72 hours to complete her mission, or she dies. By day, she’s an angel in white, saving lives. By night, she’s a grim judge, delivering death. She kills Japane 5.3kReads7.6Score517Shelves
- 123 Espionage: The Black Dog Gets a System 谍战：黑狗子获得系统后 He was a retired military doctor, but his soul crossed over into the body of a secret police agent. With the System at his side, he can carry out covert assassinations and gather intelligence without a trace. He has no organization, yet his heart belongs to his country. He infiltrates enemy ranks, but remains loyal at heart. For his country, he kills his wife and accepts an enemy as his father. He bears humiliation and hardship, drifting through a life of wine and excess! With the System at his 155Reads—Score—Shelves
- 124 A Sea of Spycraft and Mystery 谍雾谜海 When faced with known history, some follow it faithfully, while others want to change it! This is a war between two transmigrators! A contest between light and shadow! But who will emerge victorious in the end...? 3.9kReads8.9Score394Shelves
- 125 Espionage: The Thousand-Faced Agent, a One-Man Army 谍战：千面特工，我一人成团 Li Fei transmigrates to Shanghai in a parallel world and awakens the Many-Faced Agent System. Every time he completes a mission, he gains a new face. From then on, Shanghai has a new elusive Communist agent: Many Faces. Captured courier who turned traitor: Every time I meet him, Many Faces has a different face. Military Statistics Bureau: Many Faces is an organization, maybe even a whole regiment. Our bureau has been infiltrated like a sieve. There are Many Faces everywhere. Special Higher Polic 2.2kReads8.5Score194Shelves
- 126 Endless Shadows of Espionage 谍影无涯 Back in an age torn apart by war, he must keep himself alive by navigating between powerful factions. Little by little, he becomes a capable soldier, hiding deep in the enemy’s heartland and turning into a sharp blade driven behind enemy lines. 1.5kReads6.9Score105Shelves
- 127 The Sand of Theseus 忒修斯之砂 The Sand of Theseus is a post-apocalyptic allegory blending sci-fi suspense with philosophical speculation. While investigating a series of severed-finger murders, Detective Lin Xia accidentally uncovers her father’s legacy: a quantum utopia project. The entire city is actually a virtual cage imprisoning human consciousness, and every case is a cruel enactment of the System’s self-checking procedure. When she discovers that her memories have been altered and her body pieced together from forty-t —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 128 Bane of Japanese Spies: From the Start, I Awaken a Lie Detector System 日谍克星，开局觉醒测谎仪系统 Before he was reborn, those damned secret agents acted with impunity, buying off traitors and trading intelligence, causing one battlefield defeat after another as brave men died in vain. After he was reborn, the damned secret agents wailed in agony and trembled in fear, shouting that they wanted to go home. Warning, warning. Lie detected, lie detected. Accept the mission?… 324Reads6.4Score—Shelves
- 129 The Savvy Little Soldier 小兵油子 Beacon Bones Beyond the Great Wall: Twenty-Five Years of Fighting Japanese Invaders on the Grasslands [Warlords, War of Resistance, Searching for Family, No Overpowered Cheats, Spy Warfare, Logic and Intelligence, Ruthless] 1921–1945: The land is in turmoil, and China is engulfed in endless flames of war. Adopted as a child by a top undercover spy, the young man is meticulously trained for over a decade to become his other hand. There is no System and no mindless overpowered cheat. Every struggl 233Reads—Score—Shelves
- 130 Espionage: It Begins with Kite 谍战：从风筝开始 Li Baoguo transmigrated into a sprawling world of treacherous spy dramas, where the stories of Kite, The Disguiser, The Rebel, and others all converged... As Boss Dai's trusted confidant, his first mission was to keep an eye on Zheng Yaoxian, the sixth brother of the Military Statistics Bureau! To hold fast to his red ideals and save the country by working from within, Li Baoguo resolutely ventured along the blade's edge, even to the brink of a cliff! From then on, an ace agent codenamed “Abyss” 220Reads7.9Score106Shelves
- 131 A Contest of Wits in the Spy World 谍海较量 By a twist of fate, a psychology graduate student returned to 1937, a year torn apart by war. As he sought out the underground organization and held fast to his red ideals, he contributed what he could to his country's liberation and rejuvenation in a turbulent era, embarking on a legendary career as an undercover agent in the world of espionage. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 132 Espionage: I Can Eavesdrop on Everything 谍战：我能窃听万物 He's an agent for the Military Statistics Bureau, yet his superiors have ordered him to save the son of a Japanese military bigwig. He's a marginal figure in enemy intelligence circles, yet time and again he gets wind of the Japanese side's top-secret plans. He's timid, greedy, and lecherous, yet he repeatedly becomes the key to foiling the enemy's schemes. And the only reason he can do all this is that he has an extraordinary pair of ears, able to hear the sounds around him... 9Reads6.5Score—Shelves
- 133 I Led My Troops in a Raid on the Imperial Capital, and Dad Called Me Crazy 带队掀了帝都城，爹说我疯了 Reborn on the eve of a looming war, I watched my elder brother fawn over actors while my father put his faith in shady wanderers. I’d had enough. I emptied the family coffers to buy a System, spending 500,000 silver dollars to build a heavily armed German-style brigade. The day I surrounded the marshal’s residence, a hundred heavy cannons took aim at Yangcheng. Father smashed his teacup. “Third Son, are you trying to kill your old man?” I slapped an abdication letter down in front of him. “Fathe 26Reads7.3Score—Shelves
- 134 Shadows on the Jianghu 江湖谍影 A traditional spy thriller, with no transmigration and no golden finger for the protagonist. Please don't flame me if that's not your thing. A legendary espionage tale set during the War of Resistance, starring Du Yunfan, a Shanghai street punk, and Shen Peiyao, a Communist agent. After an accident draws Du Yunfan into a deadly clash between the Military Statistics Bureau and Japanese spies, he is forced to pose as Shen Peiyao's husband. Little does he know she is the childhood sweetheart he los —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 135 Shanghai's Spies and Bandits 上海谍匪 He is a “slacker” major in the Secret Service, yet secretly controls the underworld order in Shanghai. He is the Japanese “nightmare,” a phantom who massacred a merchants' association in a single night and struck terror into the invaders. He is the Green Gang magnate's “harbinger of death,” a King of Hell who can make a gang vanish with a few words and a smile. He is the “dream lover” of countless socialites and wealthy ladies, and the devil for whom they are willing to give up everything. The J 423Reads—Score—Shelves
- 136 Espionage in the War Against Japan: Code Name God of Wealth 谍战抗日：代号财神爷 The orphaned child of an elder of the Tongmenghui joins our organization as an undercover operative while studying in Japan. Sent to Shanghai to procure supplies for the War of Resistance, he is unexpectedly recruited by the Juntong as an intelligence agent. Song Zhiren awakens the “Espionage Supplies Assistance System,” and a legendary tycoon takes his place on the stage of history. 49Reads—Score—Shelves
- 137 Back to the Republican Era as a Secret Agent 回到民国做特工 Chen Feng, an esper who fought zombies in the apocalypse, runs into the Zombie King during a mission. With no other choice, he blows himself up to take the Zombie King with him. But Chen Feng never expected that his spatial ability would cause his soul to travel back to the Republic of China, where he possesses a military intelligence agent. From then on, Chen Feng begins a battle of wits and courage against Japanese and puppet-regime spies. 91Reads—Score—Shelves
- 138 War Against Japan: The Road to Annihilation 抗日：灭国之路 Wei Mingyang: Special Operations Forces He vanished in front of his fellow soldiers while on a mission. After transmigrating to a battlefield, he began with a defensive campaign and wrote a blazing tale of war. 17Reads8.9Score—Shelves
- 139 Espionage and Intrigue: My Skills Have Attributes! 谍战风云，我的技能有属性！ Overnight, I transmigrated and became a Juntong agent? No, it turned out I was just a small-time hood in Shanghai! And I was a spy controlled by the Japanese! How could I escape their control? How could I turn the tables on the edge of a blade? How could I survive a world of double agents? How could I claim money, power, status, and women for myself? Fortunately, I had a Wheel of Fortune! Life and death are fated, wealth and rank are up to heaven! Oh, heavens, please let me draw a Dongfeng Expre 497Reads6.7Score100Shelves
- 140 Republican Era: I Come from the Modern Age 民国：我来自现代 Volume One: Fighting for Victory. Song Xiaotang is a modern soul who accidentally transmigrates to 1938, during the Republican era, into the body of a six-year-old girl named Song Xiaotang. She isn't a Nationalist agent or a Communist underground operative. She only came here to help her parents, who are working undercover in Shanghai. But before long, she ends up becoming one of them... Volume Two: Raising Funds for the Nation. This volume tells the story of a family of three sent to Hong K 6.8kReads8.6Score721Shelves
- 141 Transmigrate to the War of Resistance: From the Start, I’m Hunting Yan Shuangying 穿越抗战：开局追杀燕双鹰 [Yan Shuangying] [Zheng Yaoxian] [Ruthless and Decisive] Yang Xiao, a college student suffering from stomach cancer, wakes up after a failed surgery to discover that he has transmigrated into another world and taken over the body of a traitor with the same name. Less than half an hour after transmigrating, before he can even figure out what's going on, he receives orders from his superior: lead a team to surround Yan Shuangying. At the sound of that name, Yang Xiao nearly curses out loud. But wi 25Reads—Score—Shelves
- 142 Shadows and Spies: An Undercover Agent in the War of Resistance 暗影谍影：抗战卧底 From 1939 to 1944, the War of Resistance Against Japan entered a stalemate. In Central China, the Japanese military established its intelligence hub, the “Plum Blossom Bureau,” and colluded with the Wang Jingwei puppet regime to hunt down underground intelligence agents and destroy resistance organizations. At the same time, they secretly advanced “Operation Cold Star,” building hidden weapons depots and training agents in an attempt to completely blockade the resistance bases in Central China a 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 143 No Return Call 无回电 In 1949, on a besieged island battered by storms. He is Jin Tie, deputy director of the Communications Department of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, codenamed "Fisherman." After twelve years undercover, he suddenly loses contact with his organization overnight. A piece of intelligence that could save hundreds of lives is trapped inside him, like a bomb with its fuse nearly spent. The enemy has arrived. Gu Shenyan, codenamed "Hound," is a top agent who trusts data, not human nature. H 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 144 War of Resistance: Ripping Japanese Soldiers Apart from the Start 抗战：开局手撕鬼子 [Bright Sword] + [Snow Leopard] + [My Chief and My Regiment] + [Various Film and TV Series] + [Killing Enemies to Get Gear] Modern soldier king Ye Wenlong stayed behind to cover his teammates during a mission, fighting a horde of enemies alone. He thought he was doomed, but unexpectedly, his soul transmigrated to the time of the Nancheng Massacre, where Japanese invaders were everywhere. At the critical moment, Ye Wenlong awakened a System that rewarded him with gear for killing enemies. From th 1.5kReads6.9Score100Shelves
- 145 Espionage: The Fog 谍战之雾蒙蒙 The sudden withdrawal of Shen Junfei, a senior Communist agent deeply embedded in the enemy's ranks, leaves behind an immature “young swallow.” And so it is cast into the vast, perilous world of espionage... 402Reads8.7Score101Shelves
- 146 Reborn in Republican China: Reporting for Duty at the Military Intelligence Bureau! 重生民国，军情处报到！ Chen Lixiao once owned a small public relations firm and had seen all sorts of people. In the end, he failed the test of alcohol and died, only to be reborn in a time of war in the body of a young man with the same name and an extraordinary background. He becomes a section chief in the Military Intelligence Department and, to his surprise, discovers he has a pair of mysterious, uncanny X-ray eyes… 125Reads7.4Score—Shelves
- 147 The Cowardly Agent 鼠胆特工 Lin Jie transmigrated into the body of a cowardly traitor. Then Juntong used a honey trap on him, and he became an undercover agent for the organization. To hide his identity, he pretended to be greedy and lecherous, embarking on a very different path. 878Reads7.0Score103Shelves
- 148 Espionage Agent: From the Start, I Was Just a Nobody in the Juntong 谍战特工，开局军统当混子 [Republic-era espionage + building an independent power + a male lead who never takes a loss + special operations] Shen Lang bites the dust and unexpectedly is reborn in the Republic of China era. The descendant of a veteran of the War of Resistance, he is determined to become a Communist spy. But the original owner of his body was a useless errand boy in the military intelligence service... A complete deadweight, too... And now someone has a gun to his head, about to use him as a scapegoat... H 444Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 149 Espionage: Infiltrating the South Manchuria Railway as a Junior Train Conductor 谍战从潜入满铁当小乘警开始 Synopsis One: A train is a world of its own. What is espionage? To borrow an old saying from Zhang: espionage isn’t about fighting and killing, but about human relationships and worldly affairs... This is the story of a family of three who transmigrate into a world of spy dramas and films... Synopsis Two: A HUAWEI Mate 50 and a 22-month-old orphan appear in Dalian, under Japanese control in 1912… 1.3kReads8.4Score104Shelves
- 150 Espionage! My Female Instructor in the Military Statistics Bureau Is a Force to Be Reckoned With 谍战！我的军统女教官太猛辣 This work is dedicated to the eightieth anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance. [War of Resistance] [Espionage] [Reborn] [Transmigration] [System] Xiao Zhan, a firefighter from the twenty-first century, is tragically engulfed by flames. But he is reborn from the fire and transmigrates to the Battle of Shanghai in August 1937. He becomes a member of a special operations squad under Ye Lei, a female instructor at the Lixing Society’s Secret Service Division, and fights the Japanese invad 1.8kReads7.6Score211Shelves
