Let them offer their loyalty!

Chapter 59 Testing the New Golden Finger (7k for subscription)

Seeing the prompt that suddenly popped up before his eyes, Qiu Tu suddenly remembered that his new Golden Finger ability allowed him not only to see the loyalty changes of his subordinates but also to notice how his superiors' attitudes toward him changed.

So, after having such an enthusiastic chat with Jia Shu and acting for so long, Jia Shu was completely unmoved?

When he saw Jia Shu looking at him with appreciation just now, he almost thought that Jia Shu truly believed in him and intended to cultivate him as a confidant.

It turns out that in the drama of life, it's all about acting.

You act me, I act you, and no one knows for sure who is sincere...

And when he thought about the incident of Jia Shu draping a coat over his shoulders, Qiu Tu felt even more chilled—he suddenly remembered that Jia Shu never wore a uniform.

So Jia Shu had put on his uniform just for him...?

Thinking of this, Qiu Tu's gaze sharpened, and he once again resolved in his heart: he must take out Jia Shu.

Having such a venomous snake watching over him meant he could never sleep peacefully!

After encountering Jia Shu and inexplicably receiving a task to be a double agent, Qiu Tu returned to his original "mission line"—to test out his newly acquired Golden Finger.

His first target, of course, was the numerous subordinates in the Interrogation Section.

The Interrogation Section had one Principal Staff, two Deputy Staffs, and Qiu Tu was the third Deputy Staff.

Since he had just joined the Interrogation Section yesterday, his management scope hadn't been defined yet, so theoretically, everyone in the Interrogation Section with a lower rank than him counted as his subordinate.

Thus, Qiu Tu simply took advantage of his position to inspect each work team in turn.

[Song Yan, Loyalty: 35]

[Wang Xue, Loyalty: 37]

[Cheng Jianxin, Loyalty: 31]

[Chen Fan, Loyalty: 32]

[...]

As the newly appointed chief in the department, most agents took an attitude that was neither offending nor overly friendly towards him.

So everywhere Qiu Tu went, the agents all stood up, saluted, and greeted him. Although they were polite, they were not very enthusiastic.

This indeed matched their loyalty ratings of around 30.

After making his rounds, Qiu Tu guessed that "30 Loyalty" might be a threshold, indicating that they recognized Qiu Tu as their superior and were willing to follow his orders.

If Qiu Tu assigned tasks or scolded them, they wouldn't openly defy him; after all, they still needed to have a place in the department.

If the loyalty rating was below 30, it could mean that Qiu Tu couldn't even maintain his authority as a chief in front of them, and they might covertly resist his orders.

If the loyalty rating was above 30, for example, 40, 60, 80, they would become increasingly convinced by Qiu Tu and follow his instructions.

Even at a certain high level of loyalty... if Qiu Tu asked them to defy the orders of the Investigation Bureau or betray the Bureau, they would comply.

With this thought, Qiu Tu gained some general understanding of what the loyalty rating numbers meant.

With this understanding, he went specifically to check on the five agents of the "Female Spy Special Task Force" he had led personally last night to see if they would differ from the others.

After checking, Qiu Tu discovered that two agents from the service team had loyalty ratings not much different from the rest: 39 and 40.

But the Pharmacist, Wang Xi, and the record keeper, Song Qing, were more interesting.

Wang Xi had the highest loyalty rating he had come across on his way: 45.

Contrastingly, Song Qing was at the opposite end, with only... 28. The lowest in the entire department.

This left Qiu Tu puzzled. He had no idea how he had offended this girl.

Hadn't he not done anything yesterday? Are women truly this unreasonable?

And throughout the whole process of testing the Golden Finger, the only disappointment for Qiu Tu was that he hadn't run into Liu Fuping.

It seemed like the beautiful young wife had taken the day off again to catch up on sleep at home.

Honestly, Qiu Tu was very curious to know how much loyalty this beautiful young wife had toward him, whether it was higher or lower than an ordinary agent?

This would determine how Qiu Tu would perceive her...

....

In no time, a day passed.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Qiu Tu finished work on time.

After slacking off the entire day, he felt energetic and was ready to go home and get ready to meet up with Qin Shuman.

However, just as he left the department, he bumped into his superior, the Chief of the Interrogation Section: Zheng Tao.

Zheng Tao was a man in his early thirties and a confidant who had come down from the Sanctuary along with Yan Chen and Jia Shu.

Being able to serve as the chief of the ace section of the ace department of the Investigation Bureau, he was deeply trusted by Yan Chen and Jia Shu and was cultivated as a key figure by both.

He did not disappoint Yan Chen and Jia Shu's trust, working in a steady and meticulous manner, with the ability to unearth and cultivate talent.

This could be seen from the orderly completion of the interrogation by several agents of the "Female Spy Special Task Force" last night.

It should be noted... these agents were merely ordinary people recruited from Xinjie City just last year.

To be able to train them to the point where they could independently complete complex interrogations in less than a year is proof of his capability.

Comparing this to the agents in the Special Service Department who hadn't even mastered how to handle a gun... the difference was instantly clear.

Thinking this, Qiu Tu didn't act arrogant but saluted respectfully, "Good day, Chief."

Zheng Tao seemed preoccupied, nodded expressionlessly, and brushed past Qiu Tu, ready to leave.

Qiu Tu, who offered a warm face only to receive a cold shoulder, didn't mind. He shrugged and prepared to continue on his way home.

But just after he took a couple of steps, Zheng Tao behind him seemed to snap out of it and suddenly turned around, asking, "Chief Qiu, are you leaving work now?"

Qiu Tu let out a bewildered "Huh?" He stopped in his tracks and turned around, baffled, "Yes, it's time to get off work."

Zheng Tao glanced at his watch and frowned slightly, "You leave as soon as it's time? Do you see anyone else leaving?"

Qiu Tu was full of question marks.

He had worked overtime all of last night, and he was scheduled to work overtime again tonight as a double agent—not to mention he was simply leaving at the regular quitting time. What was wrong with that?

Was Zheng Tao taking out frustrations on him that he faced elsewhere? Or...was his management technique to pua his subordinates into working overtime?

With these thoughts, Qiu Tu didn't indulge him. He pretended to look around, then feigned realization, "Indeed, no one's leaving. Chief Zheng, I get it. Don't worry, I'll call everyone to leave together right now!"

With that, Qiu Tu made as if to rally the investigative teams to leave work together.

Upon seeing this, Zheng Tao got anxious. He quickly grabbed Qiu Tu and lowered his voice, "Chief Qiu, what are you doing!"

"What do you mean by leaving work! As agents of the Political Department, we should be working overtime and dedicating every second to the department, to the Bureau! To relieve the Minister and the Bureau Chief of their worries!"

Hearing Zheng Tao's words, Qiu Tu was full of question marks again.

You say serving the people, that's understandable, but working overtime to relieve the worries of the Minister and Bureau Chief?

Could the person in front of him be a brown-noser?

However, those were thoughts he could only afford to keep to himself, so Qiu Tu said with a puzzled look, "But we can't just work without rest either."

"The value of work is not measured by time."

"Only with proper rest can we have the energy to throw ourselves into our work."

Saying this, Qiu Tu paused, then smiled and waved his hand, "Anyway, I'm off."

"Goodbye, sir."

After speaking, Qiu Tu turned around and left the Interrogation Section with a flourish.

Working overtime was out of the question; he had lived through the 997 grind in his past life and if he had to go through that again in this life, it would make his reincarnation pointless.

He was in this world to enjoy life, not to suffer.

If Zheng Tao wanted to work late, that was his choice, but Qiu Tu was not going to oblige.

And seeing Qiu Tu just walk away from the Interrogation Section like that, Zheng Tao's face turned blue with anger.

He pointed at Qiu Tu's retreating figure, sputtering "You... you... you..." for quite some time, eventually letting it go, frustrated.

Meanwhile, an array of prompts popped up in front of Qiu Tu.

[Zheng Tao Satisfaction -5....]

[Song Qing Loyalty +3]

[Wang Xue Loyalty +1]

[Cheng Jianxin Loyalty +4]

[...]

Seeing this array of prompts, Qiu Tu nearly missed a step as he walked downstairs.

His head was filled with question marks: ??

Well, it turned out that bunch of investigators had been eavesdropping on his conversation with Zheng Tao.

But...just by firing off a few comments about overtime, he gained so much loyalty?

Just how much were that group oppressed by Zheng Tao normally...?

Thinking this, Qiu Tu paused for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered the Female Spy Special Task Force working through the entire previous night and continuing work today.

It dawned on Qiu Tu... perhaps this was a way he could leverage change in the Interrogation Section...

.....

As he thought this over, Qiu Tu drove back to his own place.

He was meeting with Qin Shuman tonight and needed to prepare in advance.

After parking his car at the end of the alley, Qiu Tu locked it and, swinging his car keys, walked toward his house.

However, as soon as he entered the alley, a scream pierced his ears, "Oh my God! A ghost!"

Qiu Tu jumped in shock and quickly looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a neighbor scramble away in panic.

Confused, Qiu Tu looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Touching his head in puzzlement, he continued to walk down the alley.

Initially thinking the neighbor was just ill, he was taken aback to find that everyone who knew him ran faster than monkeys at his approach.

More question marks formed over Qiu Tu's head as he failed to understand what was happening.

He looked down at his attire, and though the black uniform of the Political Department might be quite intimidating to ordinary people, it shouldn't be enough to make anyone flee at the sight of it, right?

What on earth had happened?