Then let them offer their loyalty!

Fortunately, Qiu Tu remained vigilant throughout, so he reacted just as he was about to speak.

He bit his left cheek hard, letting the pain force him to stop and come to his senses. Then he quickly pretended to be still in a daze.

After a moment, he asked, looking completely bewildered, "What?"

"Excuse me, Minister. I was so engrossed in the case that I didn't quite hear what you said."

Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Jia Shu smiled and waved his hand, "It's nothing. I was just asking casually."

Qiu Tu, playing his part to the fullest, continued, "Has something happened?"

Jia Shu rested his elbows on the desk, crossed his hands under his chin, and stared intently at Qiu Tu, saying with a half-smile, "A week ago, I used the Yin Caimei case to lure out a large number of spies planted in the Investigation Bureau by the military and the city government."

"Originally, I wanted to find an opportunity to wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

"But who knew that just two days ago, a colonel from the military found me and gave me a document."

"The document contains a list of spies and information that I painstakingly planted in the military over the past year."

Jia Shu said with a half-smile, "So, I'm very curious, who exactly is so resourceful as to get their hands on the Political Department's spy list, and who, and what, leaked this list?"

Qiu Tu had guessed that Jia Shu might test him today, or he might make things difficult for him.

------

今天还是3章1w字，先发2章7k字，第3章估计最晚19点前发哈。

Chapter 131 Jia Shu's Suspicion Reaches Maximum (10,000 words, seeking monthly votes!)

But he always thought that Jia Shu's "attack" would be about yesterday's events.

Unexpectedly, Jia Shu completely deviated from the expected approach, first distracting him with a "Request for Assistance in Investigation".

Immediately afterwards, taking advantage of his inattention, they directly used the list of spies to test his true intentions.

Fortunately, Qiu Tu's acting skills are now quite superb.

So when faced with Jia Shu's probing, Qiu Tu feigned ignorance and threw the question back at him, "But... why would the minister ask me this question?"

"I'm from the interrogation department..."

Most people who are not good at lying are prone to making a fatal mistake: adopting a God's-eye view.

Because they have a "God's-eye view," liars find it difficult to detect the traps in the other person's words when faced with questions that contain hidden agendas.

The question Jia Shu just asked was, on the surface, a request for Qiu Tu's opinion.

But in reality, it was a test of Qiu Tu's understanding of the leaked spy list incident.

Because...theoretically, the spy list has nothing to do with Qiu Tu's half-copper coin!

He was an interrogation officer with absolutely no experience in espionage, and having just joined the Political Department, he was completely unfamiliar with the various departments. What right did he have to analyze the murderer for Jia Shu? To provide Jia Shu with any insights?

Therefore, if Qiu Tu were there to help with wild guesses or analyze the spy leak incident, his identity would be exposed. Asking a question or not answering... is actually the correct response.

However, Jia Shu was clearly no ordinary person. After hearing Qiu Tu's answer, he smiled, then simply adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and continued, "But... that military colonel told me that the list was provided to them by you."

At this point, Jia Shu pointed at Qiu Tu with his index finger and said with a forced smile, "He told me that you were cooperating with the Security Department's Investigation Section. In order to cover for you, the Investigation Section was forced to send people to help you cover up. This led to the exposure of most of the military's spies."

"This also led to severe criticism of the Investigations Division within the Security Department."

"So, in order to prevent these spies from being caught in one fell swoop, you painstakingly obtained this list of spies and handed it over to the Investigation Department, hoping that the Investigation Department could redeem itself through meritorious service."

At this point, Jia Shu smiled, but a chilling glint flashed in his eyes. "May I ask... how do you explain this?"

It must be said that Jia Shu's speculations and probing were indeed very intimidating.

At least for that moment, Qiu Tu believed it!

But the problem is... Qiu Tu isn't fighting alone. He has a "cheat code."

He betrayed the intelligence agency, handing over its spy list to the military. No matter which city he was in, he would face a secret execution.

But the problem is... the countdown to the crisis facing Qiu Tu hasn't started yet!

In the upper left corner, there are still only those two countdown hourglasses.

One is the deadline for closing the Yin Caimei case, which has 5 and a half days left; the other is the danger in the dark, which has only 2 and a half days left.

So... based on this alone, Qiu Tu knew that Jia Shu was bluffing him!

This gave him no time to panic and allowed him to discover more loopholes in Jia Shu's words.

Whether a statement is a lie or not depends primarily on the amount of detail it contains.

The more details you have, the easier it is to make mistakes, so people instinctively reduce the amount of detail when they lie.

Although Jia Shu had already boldly used details like "reconnaissance department" to intimidate Qiu Tu, since the colonel had already revealed the source of the intelligence to Jia Shu, there was no need for him to deliberately conceal who Qiu Tu's "superior" was.

Even without naming him, he could be referred to as "the head of the investigation section".

However, Jia Shu did not mention the head of the investigation section or "Yu Die" by name. This proves that he only guessed that Qiu Tu was most likely cooperating with the investigation section, but did not know who within the investigation section it was. That's why he used such a vague description.

Thinking this way, Qiu Tu became even more certain that Jia Shu was bluffing him!

So he feigned surprise and anger, and said furiously, "Minister, who is spreading rumors!"

"How did I end up cooperating with the Security Department's investigation section?"

"I only contacted the security department after you authorized it!"

"Besides... how would a lowly deputy section chief like me know about those spy lists?"

"How can I hand over the list of spies to the security department without knowing it?"

Hearing Qiu Tu's barrage of questions, Jia Shu carefully observed Qiu Tu's expression. After confirming that he found nothing amiss, his brows furrowed slightly, a rare occurrence for him...

But at this moment, Qiu Tu became relentless, "Minister! You must stand up for me in this matter!"

"If this label were pinned on me, I wouldn't be able to get a promotion or a raise, and I'd probably be completely unable to hold my head up in the Security Department or the Detective Agency!"

"So tell me which colonel is spouting such nonsense! I'm reporting them to my superiors!"

Seeing Qiu Tu so agitated, Jia Shu didn't take it seriously. He smiled and reassured him, "Section Chief Qiu, don't get agitated. Perhaps the colonel misspoke or I misheard."

"Or perhaps he's deliberately trying to drive a wedge between us."

"This kind of thing is very common in these other departments."

"Besides, I didn't choose to believe it, did I?"

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have entrusted such an important task to you, would I?"

At this point, Jia Shu reached out and pointed at the document in Qiu Tu's hand.

Upon hearing this, Qiu Tu, though still indignant, finally stopped clamoring to report him.

After comforting Qiu Tu with a few more words, Jia Shu waved his hand, indicating that Qiu Tu could leave.

Qiu Tu knew when to stop. After saluting Jia Shu, he took the documents and left Jia Shu's office expressionlessly.

After Qiu Tu left, Jia Shu's smile slowly faded, and he stared intently at the slowly closing office door.

His face was filled with deep thought...

After a moment of quiet contemplation, Jia Shu slowly opened a notebook on the table.

The notebook contained several pages of writing and drawing. It listed in detail all the events that occurred after Master Qin's escape.

Then... Jia Shu wrote a bunch of comments and conjectures on it with a red pen.

For example... Master Qin was actually forced out by Qiu Tu.

Qiu Tu had already established a partnership with the security department at that time. That's why the security department had to clean up Qiu Tu's mess.

For example... on the day Yin Caimei died, Secretary Bai must have guessed that Qiu Tu's identity was problematic and was worried that Qiu Tu really did kill her, which is why she secretly called to tip him off.

For example... the list of spies within the military from the Investigation Bureau was leaked by Qiu Tu. The purpose was to remedy the situation after the fact.

However, Jia Shu had a very low opinion of how Qiu Tu obtained the list, clearly unable to guess where Qiu Tu got the spy list from.

For example... in the case of Director Qin Heng yesterday, Qiu Tu pretended to be investigating the case seriously, but in fact, he had already told the security department all the details of the case. This led to the scene of the security department making a large-scale arrest later.

Regarding Qiu Tu's motives for doing so many things, Jia Shu also clearly wrote down two names: Qin Shuman and Yan Chen.

And under Qin Shuman's name, they added the two words "missing," and then... pointed to Fourth Master Qin.

Clearly, even though Yan Chen thought he was wrong, Jia Shu still believed that Qiu Tu and Qin Shuman were having an affair.

Some even suspect that Qiu Tu forced Master Qin away in order to take the opportunity to rescue Qin Shuman.

Everything that followed, including targeting the Qin family and weakening Yan Chen and him, was all for this irreconcilable conflict.

If Qiu Tu were here right now and saw this notebook, he would probably break out in a cold sweat.

After all, apart from some minor discrepancies in details, what is recorded in this notebook is almost the truth of the whole incident.

After quietly reviewing the information recorded in the notebook for a while, Jia Shu slowly closed it, a remarkably relaxed and carefree smile appearing on his face....

'This fruit is really mischievous; it's still putting on an act even now.'

"But...it's almost time to reap the rewards...I can't wait any longer..."

[Jia Shu's suspicion level +0, satisfaction level +0]

........

at the same time.

After leaving Jia Shu's office, Qiu Tu glanced at the pop-up notification and then frowned slightly.

[Satisfaction level] There was no improvement, which Qiu Tu found understandable. After all, few people can fathom the thoughts of a twisted person.

But... the [suspicion level] hasn't increased at all? That's a bit strange, isn't it?

Qiu Tu wasn't stupid; Jia Shu had openly laid bare his suspicions today.

They even fabricate lies to test themselves without any attempt at concealment.

This is almost a sign that things are about to break down completely.

If that doesn't change the level of skepticism, then...

......Wait a moment!

Thinking of this, Qiu Tu suddenly had a bold guess: Damn it, could Jia Shu have been suspicious of him from the very beginning?!

So he never believed in himself?

So... no matter what I do, his level of suspicion doesn't change at all?!

Thinking of this, Qiu Tu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine!

He couldn't help but turn around and look. For some reason, he felt that Jia Shu, with his hands crossed and his chin resting on his hands, seemed to have his gaze piercing through the barriers of the walls and falling on him without joy or sorrow.

It's like an incredibly patient predator, calmly watching its prey struggle before it dies!

'Damn it, we really can't delay any longer! We have to kill him now!'

Thinking this, Qiu Tu hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked towards the high-rise elevator of the Exploration Bureau on the ninth floor!

He planned to have a serious talk with that dangerous woman, Tang Feifei...

After all, when it comes to life, "innocence" is worthless...

...

Taking the elevator to the ninth floor, Qiu Tu walked towards Tang Feifei's private office and rest area.

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今天还是3章1w字，先发2章7k字，第3章估计最晚19点前发哈。

Chapter 132 Stay with me tonight (10,000 words, please subscribe!)

As one of the three deputy directors of the Investigation Bureau, Tang Feifei still held a certain rank and status, even though she was constantly suppressed by Yan Chen.

Therefore, the size and decor of her private office and lounge were almost second only to Yan Chen's.

Standing in front of the office door, which was at least four meters high, Qiu Tu knocked on the door.

As Qiu Tu knocked on the door, a rustling sound came from inside. However... a good ten seconds passed before the office door was opened from the inside.

As the door opened, Tang Feifei's assistant appeared before Qiu Tu: Su Xiaowan, a junior spy from the security department and one of Qin Shuman's possession targets.