Obtaining a Cataclysm Creature: Silver Key Hive

With that thought in mind, Qiu Tu could not help but take a deep breath before probing Jia Shu's current mood.

"How's the minister's mood today?"

Hearing Qiu Tu's question, Liu Fuping propped her left hand beneath her right elbow and stroked her chin with her right hand. After a brief moment of thought, she said, "Seems like... you can't really tell."

"When I saw him, he had just returned to the department from outside. He stopped me when he saw me and asked whether I'd seen you."

"I couldn't lie, so I could only say that I had."

"Then he told me to bring you to his office."

After recounting the whole affair, Liu Fuping gave Qiu Tu a teasing look and asked with a smile, "Who would've thought that even an all-powerful Superior like you could worry about something?"

Qiu Tu glared at her. "This isn't worrying. This is knowing yourself and your enemy, so you can fight a hundred battles without defeat."

With that, he said, "All right, lead the way."

Liu Fuping curled her lips, then turned around with an expression of undisguised delight at his misfortune. Swaying her slender waist with captivating grace, she led Qiu Tu toward Jia Shu's office.

As they walked, Qiu Tu watched Liu Fuping's hips swaying before him. After a brief thought, he gave them a hard slap.

Smack!

Liu Fuping jumped in fright with an "Ow!" and covered her butt as she darted aside.

She glanced around. Only after confirming that no one had noticed them did she scold him indignantly, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Doing that in the hallway? What if someone sees us?"

Qiu Tu said indifferently, "So what if they see? The man's unmarried, the woman's a widow. Even if there's a little ambiguity between us, what does it matter?"

Qiu Tu's words were rather crude. Liu Fuping shot him an annoyed glare and opened her mouth, intending to trade a few barbs with him.

But just as she opened her mouth, she seemed to remember something. She froze for a moment, then abruptly changed her tone. "Superior, look at you. You're always fooling around like this."

"If you really can't stand it... you can come to your subordinate's home. Your subordinate will definitely help you relax then~~"

"After all, that counts as assisting a Superior with his work."

Hearing Liu Fuping's suggestive words, Qiu Tu smiled. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be relaxing. I'd be drained dry instead."

"Just lead the way, Sister Liu."

Hearing Qiu Tu's outrageous innuendo, Liu Fuping pursed her lips in embarrassment and annoyance, then continued leading the way ahead.

As she led him along, Liu Fuping secretly analyzed why Qiu Tu kept rejecting her.

She felt that Qiu Tu was definitely just putting on a tough front.

Over the past few days, Qiu Tu had been laying out plans, breaking deadlocks, and matching wits against so many influential figures in New Realm City. The pressure on him had to be immense, and he desperately needed an outlet.

Otherwise, he would not have just made her serve him with her mouth, only to tease her again now.

And after studying beside Qiu Tu for so long, Liu Fuping had already understood one principle: if you wanted to "control" a target, the best way was to figure out what they truly desired.

As long as she understood that, she could effectively guide his emotions and influence his mindset, gradually... bringing him under her control.

And right now, Qiu Tu wanted some kind of release. Then she should intensify her guidance, constantly seducing him like she was igniting a volcano on the verge of eruption!

Of course, to "control" him better, she would definitely have to pull away at the critical moment and not let him truly get what he wanted.

With that give and take, she should be able to hook her Superior successfully!

Well... if Qiu Tu could hear Liu Fuping's thoughts, he would certainly praise her aptitude and ability to learn.

Liu Fuping was indeed right about one thing: manipulating a person's desires was one of the most powerful weapons.

But the problem was that she had to identify that person's desires correctly.

Take Qiu Tu, for example. She had analyzed him completely wrong.

Previously, when Qiu Tu made Liu Fuping kneel, he had deliberately been punishing her, making her understand that she had to be more careful when acting before him. Otherwise, she could easily lose the bait along with the fish.

As for Qiu Tu slapping Liu Fuping's butt just now, it was because he was summoning a Cataclysm Creature.

In last night's Salvage Game, the subordinate Qiu Tu had assigned was A Kun.

And this time, A Kun had finally not disappointed Qiu Tu again. He had successfully salvaged a reward Qiu Tu had never seen before: a Cataclysm Creature.

When he first obtained this reward, Qiu Tu had been quite surprised.

He had never expected the Salvage Game to be able to yield Cataclysm Creatures!

So he checked the information on this new reward.

"Cataclysm Creature: Silver Key Hive"

"Creature Description: This is a low-level Cataclysm Creature born from the Boundless Mind Sea. It resembles a six-limbed insect—namely, a bee—but is only about the size of a grain of rice."

"Its body is covered in a shell that gleams like a deep-sea emerald, densely covered in complex geometric runes that help it travel between the Material World and the Boundless Mind Sea."

"Each Silver Key Bee has three compound eyes, each composed of roughly 5,000 tiny eyes. They can directly monitor and record events occurring in the Real World from within the Boundless Mind Sea."

"When you place a Silver Key Bee egg in contact with an object, the Silver Key Bee will begin to hatch and record everything that happens around that object over the next 36 hours."

"Once the recording is complete, it will fly back to the hive. As long as you crush it, you can view the 36 hours of video information recorded inside its body."

"Note: Each Silver Key Hive is only the size of a thumb and can store up to eight Silver Key Bees. The birth and continued existence of each Silver Key Bee requires the consumption of certain resources."

After reading the introduction to this Cataclysm Creature, Qiu Tu gained a much deeper understanding of the diversity of life in this world.

Ever since transmigrating here, he had remained in New Realm City. He had never ventured into the vast lands beyond it, nor had he explored the Boundless Mind Sea in depth.

So, he had only learned of this world's uniqueness and the terror of Cataclysm Creatures through scattered remarks from Qin Shuman and Jia Shu.

He had always thought Cataclysm Creatures were like the "villains" in anime, bent on destroying the entire world. But now, it seemed that not all Cataclysm Creatures were disasters.

Some Cataclysm Creatures appeared to possess all kinds of miraculous abilities. As long as they were used properly, they could bring humanity considerable help.

As Qiu Tu recalled this, the "grain of rice" attached behind Liu Fuping's butt slowly split open within his line of sight.

A bee-like insect so tiny that it was difficult to see even when looking closely unfolded its two pairs of wings, then vanished without a trace with a flap.

Qiu Tu looked around and only slowly withdrew his gaze after confirming that he could no longer see the Silver Key Bee. He guessed that it had likely traveled into the Boundless Mind Sea and was now monitoring and recording Liu Fuping's every move from the spiritual world.

The day after tomorrow, I'll be able to see what Liu Fuping has been doing over this day and a half.

With that thought, Qiu Tu gradually pulled his mind back.

Using the Silver Key Bee on Liu Fuping had merely been an impulse. His real intended targets were Yan Chen, Jia Shu, and Wang Xi.

But just as he always planned thoroughly before doing anything, whenever he used a sensitive method like this, he would first test it to see whether there were any drawbacks or whether it could be detected.

That was why he had used it on Liu Fuping first.

Thinking this, Qiu Tu followed Liu Fuping to the door of Jia Shu's office.

After knocking on the office door, Liu Fuping pushed it open first and reported to Jia Shu, "Minister! Section Chief Qiu has arrived!"

Jia Shu gave a fake smile and said, "Thank you," before instructing, "Go get busy first. I'd like to speak with Section Chief Qiu alone."

"Yes!" Liu Fuping saluted Jia Shu, then walked out of the office.

As she brushed past Qiu Tu, Liu Fuping's right pinky hooked slightly and lightly brushed against his palm.

At that moment, Qiu Tu felt an electric current travel from his palm to his waist, leaving him tingling and numb.

This woman... really knows what she's doing!

Sighing inwardly, Qiu Tu calmly withdrew his hand and lightly rubbed it against his pants. It was not that he disliked Liu Fuping. He was... genuinely itchy.

Itchiness was far harder to endure than pain. It was simply unbearable.

After Liu Fuping left, Qiu Tu closed the door behind him and looked toward Jia Shu.

For some reason, Jia Shu looked a little tired today, making the smile on his face seem even faker.

But Qiu Tu did not let that lower his guard. He kept his mind operating at peak capacity, not daring to relax for even an instant.

He respectfully saluted Jia Shu. "Minister!"

Then he waited for Jia Shu's move.

But Jia Shu did not follow the usual script.

He first adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, then looked at Qiu Tu with a fake smile. "Qiu Tu, I have a temporary case for you."

As he spoke, he picked up a document from his desk and gestured toward Qiu Tu with it.

Qiu Tu paused, then quickly said, "Yes, Minister!"

As he spoke, he stepped forward and took the document from Jia Shu's hand.

After taking it, Qiu Tu's gaze naturally fell to its title.

Then he froze, because it was actually a Cooperation Request from the Public Security Department.

A Cooperation Request was an application issued between different departments within the Investigation Department when they encountered a difficult case, intended to improve investigative efficiency and accelerate the case's resolution.

Generally speaking, such requests were sent by weaker departments to stronger ones. The stronger department would then dispatch elite core personnel to lead an Investigation Team in the weaker department.

But... New Realm City had only recently been established, and every department was quite busy. On top of that, in these chaotic times, no one cared about case-solving rates. Each department was only concerned with its own affairs, so such requests were extremely rare.

This also meant that whenever such a request appeared, it was certain that a major case had occurred.

Thinking this, Qiu Tu carefully read through the case details in the document.

After finishing, Qiu Tu raised his head blankly. Only one thought remained in his mind: This is fucking too much of a coincidence!

Because the case for which this Cooperation Request sought assistance was the Pharmacy Robbery Case from over a month ago.

The Pharmacy Robbery Case had caused a huge stir some time ago. The robbers had not only stolen medicines and medicinal materials worth several hundred Silver Coins, but had also brutally murdered sixteen people, including two official detectives and six Temporary Detectives.

As a result, the Investigation Department had received harsh criticism from the Municipal Committee. The Public Security Department had also been hit with a severe disciplinary penalty and ordered to solve the case within a deadline.

But a month and a half had passed without any news of progress in the case. It seemed that the Public Security Department truly could not solve it and was under too much pressure, so it had come to the Political Department for reinforcements!

But... that was not the part Qiu Tu found coincidental.

What he found coincidental was that the Public Security Department did not know who the killer was, but he did!

It had been his subordinate who held several jobs and still worked hard after getting off duty: Wang Xi!

Qiu Tu had even "personally" participated in Wang Xi's operation with the suited masked man.

So... after dealing with his Superior, was he finally getting ready to deal with his subordinate?

Thinking this, even Qiu Tu found it rather unexpected.

But ever since discovering Wang Xi and the suited masked man's brutality last night, he had been preparing to deal with them. So now, he could conveniently claim some credit as well!

Thinking that, Qiu Tu looked up at Jia Shu, intending to accept the case.

But the instant he raised his eyes and met Jia Shu's gaze, Jia Shu suddenly spoke.

"Qiu Tu, do you know the list of spies our Investigation Department has planted in the Military Department?"

To be honest, Jia Shu was indeed an interrogation expert. He asked the question precisely during a gap in Qiu Tu's train of thought.

So Qiu Tu almost answered reflexively.

Fortunately, Qiu Tu had remained vigilant throughout this time. At the critical moment, just as the words were about to leave his mouth, he came to his senses.

He bit down hard on his left cheek, using the pain to force himself to keep silent and clear his mind. Then he hurriedly put on an expression as if he had not yet snapped out of his thoughts.

Only after a moment did he ask blankly, "What?"

"Sorry, Minister. I was too absorbed in the case and didn't quite catch what you said."

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

Qiu Tu carried the act through and continued asking, "Did something happen?"

Jia Shu rested his elbows on the desk, clasped his hands beneath his chin, and stared intensely at Qiu Tu. With a half-smile, he said, "A week ago... I used the Yin Caimei Case to fish out a large group of spies planted in the Investigation Department by the Military Department and City Hall."

"Originally, I intended to find an opportunity to catch them all in one sweep."

"But who would have thought that two days ago, a colonel from the Military Department came to see me and handed me a document."

"The document recorded the list and information of the spies I had painstakingly planted in the Military Department over the past year."

Jia Shu looked at Qiu Tu with a half-smile. "So I'm quite curious. Who could possibly be so capable as to obtain the Political Department's list of spies, and who leaked that list out? What did they use to do it?"