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Stepping out of the room, Qiu Tu followed behind Cui Lan. His pace was steady and unhurried, his demeanor calm and poised. The lights flickering on both sides of the corridor cast his elongated shadow against the wall, like an unfurling scroll painting. Before long, the two arrived outside an elegantly decorated study. Waiting by the doorway was a refined, scholarly middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He was dressed in a well-tailored Zhongshan suit and wore a hypocritical, plastered smile, looking every bit like a smiling fox. Qiu Tu recognized him. He was the Director of the Political Department of the Xinjie City Investigation Bureau, Yan Chen's right-hand man and chief strategist: Jia Shu. Beneath that polite, gentle exterior lay a ruthlessness and brutality known only to those who had truly dealt with him. The fact that the mere mention of the Political Department struck terror throughout all of Xinjie City had a great deal to do with him. At least half of the mutilated corpses carried out of the Political Department every midnight were the handiwork of this smiling fox. He was like a dark shadow cast by the Investigation Bureau's massive bulk, silently seeping into every corner of the city—both unfathomably deep and omnipresent. Seeing Jia Shu, Qiu Tu immediately brought his focus to full alert. He halted and snapped a salute. "Sir!" Jia Shu seemed to have been waiting specifically for him. Sizing Qiu Tu up and down, he asked with a smile, "Qiu Tu?" Seeing Qiu Tu nod, his smile deepened. "The Director is waiting for you. Please." With that, he turned, pushed open the study door, and gestured for Qiu Tu to enter. The light inside the study was dim. Qiu Tu couldn't tell whether it was an illusion, but the open doorway felt like the gaping maw of a giant beast, poised at any moment to swallow someone whole. Yet he had come prepared today to walk through the tiger's den. Taking an imperceptible, deep breath, he stepped inside. Yan Chen's study was large but very dimly lit. Two layers of thick curtains hung over the expansive windows, blocking out the light from outside and leaving massive swaths of shadow. The only light source in the entire study was a desk lamp, and its brightness had been dialed down low, illuminating only a palm-sized patch of the broad mahogany desk. Yan Chen sat in the shadows behind the desk, visible only in vague silhouette. "Good evening, Director!" Facing this overlord of Xinjie City, Qiu Tu straightened his spine and saluted respectfully. Yet... there was no response. Maintaining his salute, Qiu Tu tried to read Yan Chen's expression, but the room was too dark to see anything. He could only sense that Yan Chen had been watching him the entire time, his gaze sinister and piercing, enough to make one's scalp tingle and send chills down the spine. After more than ten seconds passed like this, a muffled grunt came from the shadows. "At ease." Qiu Tu breathed a quiet sigh of relief and lowered his hand, his peripheral vision sweeping across the study. Yan Chen was not alone in the room. Aside from Jia Shu, who had just escorted Qiu Tu in and now stood beside Yan Chen, Fang Ming was also standing not far away. Seeing Fang Ming, Qiu Tu's mind stirred, and an inkling took shape: it seemed the seeds he had planted that afternoon had borne fruit. Sure enough, right as the thought crossed his mind, Jia Shu spoke up slowly from Yan Chen's side. Looking at Qiu Tu with a faint, knowing smirk, he praised, "I heard... Agent Qiu is quite the marksman?" Hearing this, Qiu Tu replied with utter earnestness, "Reporting to the Director: my marksmanship is mediocre at best!" "Oh? Is that so?" Jia Shu put on an exaggerated look of surprise. "That's not what I've been hearing." His gaze swept over Fang Ming standing nearby, his smile lingering. "Do you know that in just a few short hours, word has spread throughout the entire bureau that the Administrative Office produced a sharpshooter who drove off the Reform United Front with six shots? "Even staff at City Hall have caught wind of it. "On my way here, I received at least three calls about you." Rather than answering Jia Shu directly, Qiu Tu looked at Yan Chen and said sincerely, "Director, you personally selected me for the Investigation Bureau back then, so you know my capabilities. "I can drive and handle errands well enough. But shooting is truly not my strong suit." In the shadows, Yan Chen sat upright in his chair, his tiger-like eyes fixed gravely on Qiu Tu, not saying a word. Jia Shu adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and said with a chuckle, "Agent Qiu, are you saying this never happened?" Qiu Tu shook his head. "No, it happened. But there's more to the story." With that, he glanced at Fang Ming beside him and said seriously, "Agent Fang was on the scene. He saw how troublesome the Reform United Front was. "The Special Service Department opened full fire for over a minute without managing to wound a single member of the Reform United Front." Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Fang Ming's expression darkened. But in front of Yan Chen, he didn't dare conceal anything, so he merely gave a slight nod and said in a heavy voice, "Yes." He then took the initiative to admit fault. "It was due to our lack of regular drills, compounded by our inexperience in actual combat, which threw us into disarray. "However, Director, trust me, as long as—" Halfway through his sentence, Qiu Tu cut him off. "Agent Fang, don't sell yourself short." Fang Ming frowned at Qiu Tu, bewildered by what he was getting at. Qiu Tu didn't even look at him, addressing Yan Chen directly. "Director, the agents of the Special Service Department are actually very capable. It's just that the Reform United Front was deliberately dodging their fire today." Hearing that, Jia Shu said with a hollow smile, "Agent Qiu, you jest. In combat, who wouldn't 'deliberately' dodge an enemy's attacks? Are they supposed to 'deliberately' let themselves get shot?" As he spoke, something seemed to click in Jia Shu's mind; he broke off abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Qiu Tu. At that moment, the first smile since entering the room finally surfaced on Qiu Tu's face. He nodded. "A sharp observation, Sir! Those shots of mine were hits they deliberately let me land!" Perhaps because Qiu Tu's claim sounded so absurdly fantastic, the study fell dead silent. A moment later, Fang Ming looked at Qiu Tu, completely baffled. "Qiu Tu, what are you talking about? Deliberately let you hit them?" Before he could finish, Yan Chen, who had been sparing with his words the entire time, suddenly spoke up: "Fang Ming, step outside." Fang Ming looked at Yan Chen in the shadows in shock, having no idea why he was suddenly being dismissed. Yet Yan Chen offered no explanation, merely staring at him with a heavy, somber gaze. Crushing waves of pressure bore down on Fang Ming, causing beads of sweat to form on his brow. After a brief moment, he lowered his head. "Yes, Director!" With that, he saluted and hurried out of the study. As the study door clicked shut, Yan Chen slowly sat up straight, his tiger-like eyes glaring darkly at Qiu Tu. "Tell me what really happened." Qiu Tu answered, then spoke at an unhurried pace, "Director, it's a long story. It starts right after we hung up our call." He continued, "After ending the call with you, I returned to Miss Shuman's side and proactively told her about our conversation. "She was startled, then asked me how I handled it. "I told her I came up with an excuse to fob you off without arousing suspicion, and I expressed my devotion to her once again. "Perhaps thinking this was my pledge of loyalty, she finally dropped the act and subtly hinted that her identity was anything but ordinary. She said that as long as I served her faithfully, she could guarantee me wealth and glory. "And to prove her influence to me, she said she would offer me a meeting gift..."