Let them offer their loyalty!

Chapter 57 Golden Finger Refresh +1 (7k Seeking Follow-up Reads!)

Hearing Jia Shu's question, the shadow replied softly, "Everything is normal."

On the other end of the communicator, Jia Shu "hmm" in acknowledgment but remained silent for a long time, without revealing his signature laughter.

Sensing something unusual about Jia Shu, the shadow asked, "What's wrong? Did the investigation last night not go smoothly?"

Jia Shu came back to his senses upon hearing this and said with a chuckle, "It went very smoothly. It's just... the outcome was a bit unexpected...."

....

At 10 a.m., in Yan Chen's Garden Villa in the City Center Garden.

That dimly lit study.

The desk lamp cast a dull yellow glow, the whole room was haze-filled, wisps of smoke entwining in the air, constantly rising and spreading over time.

Yan Chen was half-shrouded in darkness, the other half... with a hand holding a cigarette, he smoked and squinted, deep in thought.

Jia Shu stood in front of him without saying a word.

The room was immersed in an eerie silence.

Time passed in this way, perhaps a minute, or perhaps fifteen minutes had elapsed.

When only the cigarette butt remained in Yan Chen's hand, he stubbed it out in the ashtray and then hoarsely asked, "So... have we been misunderstanding Qiu Tu this whole time?"

Jia Shu wasn't smiling anymore. His face was devoid of any expression, and the gold-framed glasses added to his severity.

He shook his head, "I didn't say that."

"But... there certainly is that possibility."

Having said that, he explained, "Last night, we started our search with Old Fourth Qin and his wife and child. It took us to many places."

"But the more we searched, the less it made sense."

"When we backtracked and started over, we realized that a lot of the key clues and information had been erased."

"After hours of searching, we could only confirm that Old Fourth Qin vanished from the Milan Grand Hotel, and we had almost no other leads."

Speaking to this point, Jia Shu adjusted his glasses and said earnestly, "This irrational phenomenon, however, has pointed us in a new direction."

"The few of us are the elite from the Sanctuary, with professional detective training. Which forces in Xinjie City could possibly escape our sight, who are more professional than us?"

"The military...?" Yan Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and quietly uttered two words.

But in a moment, he shook his head and corrected himself, "Not just the military. It should be the Security Department of the military."

Jia Shu nodded in agreement, "Yes."

"Most of Xinjie City's other forces are country bumpkins; even the best among them are only at an amateur level."

"They couldn't possibly erase all traces and sever all clues within a short 30 minutes, leaving us with no leads to follow."

"This level of professional technique could only be accessed by mid-level management from the Sanctuary. That means people from the Investigation Bureau, the military, and City Hall."

"Although City Hall is the highest authority and has the most middle management, most of them are civil servants and do not possess such professional means."

"And the people from our Investigation Bureau were all summoned by me last night; they didn't have time to commit the act."

"So it can only be the military, or rather, the Security Department of the military that has this capability."

At this point, Jia Shu paused, then continued, "We've been rivals with the Security Department for many years and are familiar with each other's tactics. So once we zeroed in on the target and investigated in this direction, we quickly found some subtle traces."

"So, it's confirmed that the mastermind behind last night's actions was indeed the Security Department."

Hearing Jia Shu's words, Yan Chen's expression changed unpredictably.

He lit another cigarette and slowly said,

"Last night, Master Qin Si set the Qin Family estate on fire and took Qin Shuman away. Shortly afterward, the Security Department stepped in to cover their tracks."

"That indicates Master Qin Si and Qin Shuman are with the Security Department...."

"And Qiu Tu initially said he suspected something was off with Qin Shuman, suspecting her of having another identity."

"So, he... didn't lie to me?"

By the end, Yan Chen's brow was deeply furrowed.

Jia Shu didn't know what to say either. He fell silent for a moment before adding, "Last night, Old Fourth Qin deliberately held back, refraining from burning the main Qin residence and from killing the agents guarding Qin Shuman, indicating he was being coerced."

"So he's more likely not the mastermind behind the whole plan, but rather just an executor."

"So..."

Yan Chen's eyes narrowed further, "So, is it likely that the mastermind of this plan is Qin Shuman?"

"Does this further confirm Qin Shuman's identity?"

At this, Yan Chen paused, "However, Qiu Tu still got Qin Shuman's identity wrong. She is not with the Municipal Committee as he had guessed, but with the military."

Jia Shu nodded slightly and continued, "And... if Qin Shuman really is from the Security Department."

"Then it makes even more sense that she could offer something like the Aurora Stone as an awakening material to bribe Qiu Tu."

Yan Chen nodded and replied in a low voice,

"Indeed... the Security Department is the one responsible for handling extraordinary affairs."

Just as Qiu Tu had analyzed and predicted before, Yan Chen and Jia Shu had never trusted him, and thus they had never believed that Qin Shuman was a spy either.

But when the Security Department got involved and Qin Shuman's identity as a spy was confirmed, all of the logic the two had previously held was overturned.

This shock made them inherently start analyzing the situation from Qiu Tu's perspective.

As a result, the more they analyzed, the more they felt Qiu Tu was wronged and that Qin Shuman was the root cause of everything.

This would also make them overlook many flaws and details in Qiu Tu's lies—or even if they noticed them, they would find reasons to gloss them over.

So... the room once again fell into silence for a time.

Now that the situation was "clear", the two realized they had reached an impasse.

They initially didn't trust Qiu Tu and had not controlled Qin Shuman immediately.

Now that Qin Shuman had escaped, they no longer had any pretext to confront the military about it.

After all, as long as there was no person caught red-handed, the military would not acknowledge Qin Shuman's identity, and there were too many reasons they could use to whitewash the whole affair.

For instance, Qin Shuman was just an ordinary person, and Yan Chen had irritated Master Qin Si, so in his escape, Qin Si could've abduct Qin Shuman, made Yan Chen a cuckold, and then killed her.

Then, the Investigation Bureau would not only fail to achieve anything good but would also be embroiled in an even bigger scandal.

"One wrong move in the game..."

Yan Chen silently sighed and then looked toward Jia Shu, asking, "What do you think?"

By then, Jia Shu had gradually returned to his state of strategic command. His eyes behind the glasses were flickering with a cold light,

"I feel... there are still many suspicious points in the whole matter. Qiu Tu's facts are too coincidental, and some anomalies on his person are indeed difficult to..."

Yan Chen raised his hand to interrupt him, saying a bit wearily, "Stop focusing on Qiu Tu for now."

"No matter how many doubts he has. His judgment of the whole matter is correct. Indeed, someone is causing trouble by my side."

"He is all merits and no demerits. It's us who did not trust him."

Yan Chen said, "What I'm asking is, how should we deal with the Security Department matter?"

After crushing a cigarette butt in the ashtray, he regained the demeanor of one of Xinjie City's Three Giants, and said deeply, "I can't just swallow this loss."

Jia Shu's face wore a smile, and he said with a semblance of jest, "I have two suggestions."

"One is... we also have our moles in the military, in the Security Department."

"Let them investigate who is secretly probing you. Is it General Ye? Director Dai? Or some department head who's out of his place!"

"After that, we deal with it specifically."

Yan Chen nodded slightly and asked in a low tone, "And the second one?"

Jia Shu's smile grew even brighter, "The second is... didn't Qiu Tu say that Qin Shuman had approached him?"

"Let's go with the flow and simply turn him into a double agent. Let him continue to interface with the Security Department."

"We could let him feed the Security Department some non-critical intelligence to gain their trust."

"As for the task we give him, it's simple, just one, that is to find out the other moles the Security Department has by my side, inside our Investigation Bureau..."

"This task can most simply discern his allegiance and also solve problems for you..."

Hearing this, Yan Chen's eyes flickered slightly, and finally, he nodded slowly...

....

After teasing Liu Fuping and having a bit of fun, Qiu Tu returned alone to the Interrogation Section.

As the Deputy Staff Officer, he had a leadership position, but not a private office.

Therefore, he could only find a random meeting room to catch up on sleep.

He had exhausted a lot of brainpower, energy, and physical strength the previous night. Using "Spiritual Vision" and his "Cataclysmic ability" had worn out his spirit. He desperately needed some sleep now.

So he went to sleep deeply, and in his dreams, Qiu Tu vaguely sensed someone entering the meeting room.

Then they covered him with a coat and left...

He felt the person was familiar, but perhaps too tired, he couldn't recall who it was...

And like that, he slept until 2 pm, when Qiu Tu slowly awoke from his sleep.

He stretched, feeling revitalized!

But just then.

Suddenly, a few lines of prompts appeared before him.

[Acquired Cataclysmic ability, became a Cataclysmic. Golden Finger position +1, the number of refreshes +1.]

[Current 2 Golden Finger positions, 1 fixed position, one random position. Refreshing frequency once per month.]