Let them offer their loyalty!

Chapter 77 Innate Consort Holy Body (7k for follow-up reading!)

At that moment, Liu Fuping thought she was hallucinating.

Who would attempt to kill her and then casually ask about her superior as if nothing had happened?

But seeing Qiu Tu's serious expression and probing eyes, Liu Fuping knew the man before her was not joking.

'What a bastard!'

She cursed in her heart, but the lingering fear from her near-death experience stopped Liu Fuping from outright rejecting Qiu Tu, and she evaded the question, "Why do you ask about my superior?"

Qiu Tu leaned against the windowsill, looking at her with a half-smile, "You and your superior have been exposed. Jia Shu won't let you off. So hiding your identity is useless now."

"Why not come clean with me? Right now, we're in the same boat. Who knows, I might come up with a way for us to escape from this desperate situation."

Liu Fuping didn't immediately respond to Qiu Tu's words.

She first straightened her disheveled clothes, even pulling up the loose collar over her chest—considering Qiu Tu's recent treatment of her, he didn't deserve to 'take advantage' of her!

Then she pushed herself up from the ground.

As she did these things, she was constantly thinking about what Qiu Tu had said.

So when she stood up, she naturally asked, "What do you mean when you say that you've also fallen into a trap and that we're both 'grasshoppers on the same string'?"

Qiu Tu fiddled with the communicator in his hand, his eyes slightly deep, "The reason I took on this case is because of Jia Shu's arrangement."

"He didn't want me to solve the case, just to investigate casually, fabricate some evidence, identify a suspect, and close the case."

"I didn't understand it at first, but afterwards, the more I thought about it, the more wrong it felt."

"With such high-profile attention on this case from the Xinjie Chamber of Commerce, City Hall, and the military, could simply pinning the crime on someone really cover it up?"

"And if it didn't cover up, would Jia Shu and Yan Chen choose to protect me, or to sacrifice me?"

"So, after much thought, I decided to first clear up the case, find the real culprit, and then make a slow decision."

Having said that, Qiu Tu paused and then picked a cigarette up from the ground, putting it back in his pocket, "And who knew, just as I started on the case today, I found that something is even more amiss."

"Allowing Yin Caimei, such an important suspect, to carry personal belongings?"

"And among those personal items, there was a book with extremely strong seductive power, suspected to be banned?"

"What's more unsettling is, for an important suspect like her, the department didn't care about her death after 24 hours: no investigation was conducted, no suspects were detained, they didn't even conduct an autopsy."

"This completely contradicts her status as an important suspect and doesn't match up to the department's level of concern for this case."

At this point, Qiu Tu glanced at Liu Fuping, "You must have also realized that you had fallen into a trap because of this, right?"

Liu Fuping nodded slightly.

Qiu Tu continued, "Following these suspicions, if I investigate backwards, it seems like the higher-ups' attitude towards this case is problematic."

He pointed to the ceiling, "They seem not to care about the truth of this case."

"That's really not right."

Qiu Tu said, "Even for a rigged case, shouldn't they start falsifying it only after finding that the case couldn't proceed, with no clues left, or after they've found the culprit but realized the implications were too vast to pursue further?"

"To not investigate the case at all and directly request a fake case, isn't that a bit exaggerated?"

Liu Fuping had actually sensed something peculiar about the case earlier, but felt overwhelmed by the complexity and couldn't find a breakthrough.

Now, with Qiu Tu piecing together the clues, a bolt of lightning flashed through her mind, and she understood his point.

She looked at Qiu Tu with astonishment and said, "So... you suspect Yin Caimei was silenced by the Political Department themselves?!"

Qiu Tu nodded slightly.

With this line of thinking, Liu Fuping suddenly understood the "trap" and the "grasshopper on the same string" references Qiu Tu had been making. Her brain whirred, rapidly piecing together information.

After a moment, she widened her eyes at Qiu Tu, "So, you've realized you're in a no-win situation?"

"If you investigate further, you might reach the higher-ups."

"If you conceal it, you're likely unable to keep it hidden?"

Finally, Qiu Tu nodded in satisfaction, "You've finally caught on."

"You!" Liu Fuping glared at Qiu Tu, her chest heaving rapidly with anger.

Qiu Tu's gaze swept her and then drifted away, somewhat deflated in spirit. Not that Liu Fuping's impassioned demeanor wasn't moving, but Qiu Tu really wasn't in the mood right now.

Besides, he wasn't trying to belittle Liu Fuping. Compared to Qin Shuman, Liu Fuping's abilities and professional quality indeed fell far short.

With many matters, all it took was a glance from Qiu Tu, or even... no glance at all, and Qin Shuman would guess Qiu Tu's intention and thoughts and then cooperate accordingly.

As for Liu Fuping...

After realizing she had fallen into a trap, her first action was to actually come and confront him?!

This seriously made Qiu Tu question how much professional training she had undergone.

If not for the fact that intelligence couldn't be transmitted by "X", Qiu Tu really wanted to help her smarten up forcefully.

Meanwhile, just as Qiu Tu was mentally criticizing Liu Fuping, she had finally made up her mind.

She looked at Qiu Tu and then said, "I can't tell you who my superior is."

Seeing Qiu Tu's puzzled look, she quietly explained, "Because he might not have been exposed."

"The information this time didn't come from him."

"But from a higher-up in the department who admires me."

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Gossip is human nature, so when Qiu Tu heard it, he immediately became interested, "Which high-level official?"

"Does he know you're a spy?"

Liu Fuping's face showed a bit of struggle, and after a moment, she said, "It's... Deputy Director Tang."

"Deputy Director Tang?" Qiu Tu blinked and looked utterly baffled.

He quickly rifled through his memory for information about this big shot.

After a moment, he froze, then looked at Liu Fuping with a shocked expression, "Deputy Director Tang? You two?!"

There was a rare blush on Liu Fuping's cheeks, but as a married woman, she was different. The next second, she composed herself and instead questioned Qiu Tu, "What?! Is there a problem with that?"

Qiu Tu:.....

"It's not that it's impossible. It's just unexpected...." Qiu Tu wore a strange expression.

He didn't finish his sentence, but Liu Fuping understood his meaning...

Deputy Director Tang, whose real name was Tang Feifei, was the only female among the nine high-ranking officials of the Xinjie City Investigation Bureau.

She was just over 30, with a pretty face but wheat-colored skin, and her short hair added to her spirited bearing.

Apart from some impressions of her appearance, Qiu Tu's other memory of her was... her "good" figure.

This "good" wasn't the same as Liu Fuping's delicate and feminine curves, but rather... agile like a female leopard.

Her chest was robust, and her limbs were covered in streamlined muscles. Just one look and you could tell she was brimming with explosive power, the type that could run 1000 meters in one breath without getting winded.

She was a woman who had climbed to the top of an aggressive organization like the Investigation Bureau; no one dared to underestimate her.

And now, unexpectedly... she was involved with Liu Fuping?!

Thinking of this, Qiu Tu inexplicably felt a chill down his back.

Was he falling into a den of mistresses of the high and mighty? Having provoked the Bureau Chief's mistress was one thing, but now he had gotten entangled with the Deputy Director's significant other?

Good heavens, was he genetically destined to be rebellious?

Moreover, Yan Chen was already troublesome enough, but Tang Feifei, a woman in a high position, was even more so. Her dark and calculating thoughts were no less than Yan Chen's.

Plus, given a woman's extreme nature, if she found out about his ambiguous behavior with Liu Fuping, who knows, she might chop him into pieces and feed him to dogs.

Out of nowhere, Qiu Tu thought of his first day at the Interrogation Section, recalling the gossip about Liu Fuping and the neighboring Section Chief Liu.

He wondered if that gentleman was still safe and sound....

As he entertained these wild thoughts for a while, Qiu Tu looked at Liu Fuping with a complex gaze and remarked, "I knew Sister Liu you were lethal to men, but I never imagined that even women couldn't escape your charm."

Liu Fuping gave Qiu Tu an annoyed glance, not bothering to explain, but asked, "Now you know who's on my side. What do you think?"

Qiu Tu propped his chin and fell into deep thought.

If he remembered correctly, Tang Feifei was the Deputy Director of Administration at the Investigation Bureau, primarily responsible for training, organization, finance, and administrative tasks.

But because Yan Chen was domineering and had many confidants, Tang Feifei spent most of her time effectively sidelined.

Thus, there was a natural conflict between Tang Feifei and Yan Chen.

And this case with the female spy was most likely engineered by Yan Chen's camp. If Tang Feifei knew, was there a chance she'd take the opportunity to act?

Thinking of this... Qiu Tu's eyes brightened as he suddenly felt a breakthrough in thought.

Yan Chen already knew Tang Feifei leaked intelligence to Liu Fuping, a spy whose allegiance was unknown, holding leverage over Tang Feifei.

And if Tang Feifei got ahold of evidence implicating Yan Chen and Jia Shu in a cover-up to silence a key suspect...?

If both sides thought they had leverage over the other, they might engage in some interesting conflict that would throw the entire situation into chaos?

And if things got chaotic, he might have the chance to fish in troubled waters and make his escape? Perhaps then, the "Countdown Crisis" would be resolved?

The more he contemplated, the more feasible the idea seemed to Qiu Tu...

However, the one thing he had to be careful about in this plan was that he, being at the center of the storm, had to ensure his own safety. He didn't want to become collateral damage before the war even began.

But that wasn't hard to achieve.

Essentially, it boiled down to one strategy: stalling!

After all, he knew the final deadline for this case: 10 days.

He had to keep investigating within these 10 days but never conclude the case.

Then, if he could present evidence of Jia Shu's cover-up to Tang Feifei one step ahead, the matter would turn into a showdown between two strong factions, unrelated to him.

Besides, the key to this entire affair was... he couldn't give either faction a chance to reconcile or negotiate.

He had to drag Tang Feifei down with him and make sure she couldn't get out.

To achieve this...

With that, Qiu Tu's gaze fell upon Liu Fuping...

Perhaps Qiu Tu had been silent for too long, and Liu Fuping had gotten a bit distracted. Suddenly sensing Qiu Tu's profound gaze, she couldn't help but look up, "What is it?"

Hearing Liu Fuping's words, Qiu Tu smiled very gently,

"Sister Liu, do you want to survive? Do you want to continue with your mission?"

For some reason, looking at Qiu Tu's handsome smile, Liu Fuping felt a shudder.

She had the feeling that Qiu Tu at this moment was even more terrifying than the brutal Qiu Tu before. Like a devil getting ready to toy with people's hearts.....

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