Qiu Tu had good reason to feel that something was off.
He had specifically applied to use this morgue to store Yin Caimei's body separately.
And judging from Zheng Tao's footsteps just now, he had not been making rounds on the floor. He had come straight for this morgue.
But the Yin Caimei Case had been assigned to Qiu Tu alone by Jia Shu. It had nothing to do with the Interrogation Section.
And Zheng Tao was not a member of the Investigation Team. He had no reason to come to this morgue.
With that in mind, Qiu Tu quietly took a few steps back, creating the illusion that he was not standing by the door. Only then did he call out, "I'm inside."
Zheng Tao was clearly familiar with Qiu Tu's voice too. The moment he heard it, he hesitantly asked, "Deputy Section Chief Qiu?"
Qiu Tu put on a look of sudden realization and said, "Oh. Section Chief Zheng. What is it?"
As he spoke, Qiu Tu gave Qin Shuman a look.
Qin Shuman tacitly handed the Mist Index Book to Qiu Tu, then scanned the entire morgue.
Finally, she climbed into one of the corpse drawers.
At that moment, Zheng Tao's puzzled voice came from outside. "What are you doing in the morgue?"
Qiu Tu quietly shut the corpse drawer, then walked to the door and opened it.
Sure enough, Zheng Tao stood outside with a puzzled expression.
Standing in the doorway, Qiu Tu smiled and said, "What else would I be doing in a morgue? Examining a corpse. Did you think I came here to become one?"
After getting rebuffed by Qiu Tu without any room to push back, Zheng Tao frowned deeply. He peered into the morgue twice before asking, "Deputy Section Chief Qiu, are you investigating a case?"
Qiu Tu frowned slightly but nodded. "Yes."
Then he asked in return, "Why is Section Chief Zheng wandering around the morgue this late instead of going home?"
Zheng Tao gave an "Oh" and said, "Nothing. Just making routine rounds."
"When I came over here, I saw that your morgue was still lit up. I also vaguely heard people talking inside, so I came over to take a look."
As he spoke, he gestured with one hand. "Would it be convenient for me to go in and have a look?"
Though he was asking, before he had even finished speaking, he had already stepped into the morgue.
Qiu Tu's gaze darkened, but he did not stop him.
In his riding boots, Zheng Tao paced through the morgue with a steady tap-tap-tap, slowly inspecting the furnishings. "Deputy Section Chief Qiu, are you alone?"
Qiu Tu smiled and gave a quiet "Mm."
The moment he realized Zheng Tao was outside, Qiu Tu had actually been considering whether to let Zheng Tao meet Qin Shuman, or rather Su Xiaowan.
But he had not truly established contact with Tang Feifei yet. If he exposed Su Xiaowan now, it could easily lead to all sorts of unforeseen complications. So in the end, he had decided to let Qin Shuman, or Su Xiaowan, hide while he handled Zheng Tao at the door.
Originally, he had thought he only needed to brush Zheng Tao off with a few words and send him away.
Who would have thought that Zheng Tao had come over because he had vaguely heard voices? Worse still, he ignored Qiu Tu's clear unwillingness and barged right in. He showed Qiu Tu absolutely no respect.
Perhaps sensing Qiu Tu's resistance, Zheng Tao lifted the white sheet over Yin Caimei's corpse and gave it a glance. Then he looked back at Qiu Tu and smiled. "Don't misunderstand, Deputy Section Chief Qiu."
"It's not that I'm meddling."
"You know there are many strange and mysterious forces in this world."
"And corpses are especially attractive to such forces."
"I really did vaguely hear some strange noises earlier. For peace of mind, I had to investigate thoroughly."
With that, he went to the corpse drawers along both sides of the morgue and began pulling them open with a scrape.
Because this morgue had been cleared out specifically for Yin Caimei, all the corpse drawers were empty.
Zheng Tao opened one, glanced inside, closed it, then opened the next.
Seeing this, Qiu Tu took out the Mist Index Book and said, "Could the sound Section Chief Zheng heard have come from this Cataclysmic Treasure?"
He added, "I was using it to examine Yin Caimei's body just now."
Upon hearing Qiu Tu's words, Zheng Tao stopped in front of the corpse drawer where Qin Shuman was hiding.
He turned and looked at the Cataclysmic Treasure in Qiu Tu's hand, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes.
A moment later, he nodded decisively. "That's possible."
"After all, Cataclysmic Treasures can make all kinds of strange sounds while in use."
As he spoke, he suddenly yanked open the corpse drawer Qin Shuman was in!
Inside the drawer.
There was nothing.
Zheng Tao slowly closed the drawer, then continued opening the remaining drawers one by one.
Very soon, he had checked every corpse drawer.
Zheng Tao looked around the morgue once more before finally smiling at Qiu Tu. "It seems the strange noise really did come from the Cataclysmic Treasure."
"I was being overly sensitive."
After saying that, he walked over to Qiu Tu, patted him on the shoulder, and said reassuringly, "You've worked hard, Section Chief Qiu."
"You didn't leave work early tonight like you did yesterday. Instead, you voluntarily worked overtime. That makes me very pleased."
"As investigators, we should make the most of every second and work hard. Only then can we become the director's right-hand men in the future."
Qiu Tu:
There might not have been a saying like "serve the people" in this world, but Qiu Tu was still a little surprised by such blunt eagerness to become a Superior's lapdog.
So he smiled as well and said, "Section Chief Zheng, you're overthinking it. I'll make up for tonight's overtime with leave tomorrow."
"I won't be coming in tomorrow morning."
Zheng Tao, who had been about to walk out, stumbled and nearly tripped.
He shot Qiu Tu a hateful glare, snorted coldly, then strode out of the morgue.
But after he left, Qiu Tu did not let down his guard.
He took a deep breath and muttered to himself, "Sigh, I still need to compare the murder weapon."
With that, he also walked out of the morgue to retrieve the evidence.
After he left, the entire morgue slowly fell silent.
No one knew how long passed. Perhaps one minute, perhaps five.
Then, in the silent morgue, the door handle suddenly began to rattle with a click-click sound.
But perhaps because Qiu Tu had locked the door before leaving, the morgue door did not open after several twists.
However, the person outside had clearly come prepared this time.
A key was inserted and turned twice. The door opened, and Zheng Tao, who had just left, returned.
His gloomy gaze swept across the morgue. Then he opened every corpse drawer and lifted the white sheet covering Yin Caimei.
After the second inspection confirmed that there really was no one else there, Zheng Tao's brows knitted tightly.
He restored everything to its original state, left the morgue, and used a spare key to lock the door again.
Standing outside the morgue, Zheng Tao's eyes flickered for a moment before he took out his communicator and made a call.
A moment later, the call connected.
Zheng Tao said in a low voice, "Minister. Qiu Tu was the only one inside."
Jia Shu's amused voice came through the receiver. "Oh? Is that so? Did you check carefully?"
Zheng Tao said, "Very carefully. I checked once before he left, then checked again after he left. There was no one."
"He should have been investigating the case alone tonight."
Jia Shu said with an ambiguous smile, "Good. Good."
Zheng Tao was clearly somewhat confused. He cautiously asked, "Minister, did you discover something?"
Jia Shu said with a smile, "No. I was just a little worried. It seems my worries were unnecessary."
For some reason, Zheng Tao actually heard a hint of disappointment in Jia Shu's words.
He wanted to ask what Jia Shu had been worried about, but knowing his superior's personality well, he opened his mouth and ultimately asked nothing.
Meanwhile.
Jia Shu Suspicion -1, Satisfaction -3
In the Investigation Team's temporary office, Qiu Tu had just picked up the book Brave New World when a Loyalty Game notification appeared in front of him.
He froze, his mind full of question marks.
Suspicion -1? Satisfaction -3?
Was he hallucinating?
Why had suspicion decreased while satisfaction had decreased too?
Qiu Tu truly felt that he could not make heads or tails of Jia Shu's game values at all.
What the hell was this supposed to mean?
Could Jia Shu actually be a spy?
Had Jia Shu been disappointed after discovering that Qiu Tu was loyal to the Investigation Department?
Or was Jia Shu a pervert who would only be satisfied if Qiu Tu betrayed the Investigation Department?
Qiu Tu felt that twisted people really were impossible to understand!
While silently cursing Jia Shu in his heart, Qiu Tu took the evidence to the morgue.
Arriving at the morgue, he unlocked the door with his key. Inside, Qin Shuman stood beside the corpse drawer where she had been hiding, looking at Qiu Tu with a complicated expression.
Qiu Tu locked the door behind him before softly asking, "Did he come back?"
Qin Shuman nodded slightly.
A smile appeared on Qiu Tu's face.
Fortunately, the instant he realized Zheng Tao was suspicious, he had decisively used his Calamity Ability, Order Space. He had set a rule for the day: other than himself, no one could see, hear, smell, touch, sense, or otherwise perceive Qin Shuman, or Su Xiaowan.
And after leaving the morgue, he had not lifted that rule.
That was why Zheng Tao's two searches had completely overlooked Qin Shuman's existence. In truth, Qin Shuman had been lying quietly inside that corpse drawer the whole time.
What made Qiu Tu even more relieved was that both Su Xiaowan and Zheng Tao were ordinary people.
If either of them had been a Calamity Descendant like Qin Shuman or Jia Shu, Qiu Tu's ability would have failed. He would not have been able to deceive them so completely.
At that point, he would have needed to make up even more excuses and lies to smooth things over.
Calamity Abilities really could change the world!
Thinking that, Qiu Tu lifted his Calamity Ability and handed the Mist Index Book and Brave New World to Qin Shuman.
Feeling the discomfort of his Mental Power being completely drained, Qiu Tu forced himself to say, "Help me check whether this book is the murder weapon."
Qin Shuman gave him a complicated look, took the book, and used the Mist Index Book.
A moment later, just as Qiu Tu felt the side effects of his Calamity Ability gradually fading, Qin Shuman's voice sounded by his ear. "I checked. This book really is the murder weapon."
Qiu Tu raised his head and looked at Qin Shuman.
Qin Shuman smiled at him and said,
"Since this book was the weapon used to kill Yin Caimei."
"Then there is only one final mystery left in this case."
"Who gave this book to Yin Caimei?"
"As long as we figure that out, we can most likely determine who the murderer is."
"And..." Qin Shuman paused, a cold glint flashing through her eyes. "That murderer is also most likely a planted agent of the Anti-Government Armed Forces!"
Hearing Qin Shuman's words, Qiu Tu nodded slightly and asked, "Then who do you think gave her this book?"
After thinking for a moment, Qin Shuman shook her head slightly. "Hard to say. Too many people are suspicious. Vice President Tian, those transport merchants, perhaps one of her friends."
"You should investigate the people close to Yin Caimei or Vice President Tian."
"Find out when this book first came into her possession."
"That will help us narrow down the possibilities quickly."
At that, Qin Shuman paused before adding, "I hope she did not bring it with her when she left the Anti-Government Armed Forces."
Hearing Qin Shuman's words, Qiu Tu looked thoughtful. He shook his head slightly. "It probably was not something she had from the beginning."
"Based on the earlier testimony, her meeting with Vice President Tian had been an accident."
"The Anti-Government Armed Forces probably did not have enough money to give every ordinary informant a Cataclysmic Treasure that could silence them, right?"
Hearing Qiu Tu's analysis, Qin Shuman nodded slightly as well.
Just as the two were talking.
Qiu Tu's communicator suddenly rang.
Qiu Tu took the communicator out of his pocket and glanced at it. A bright smile appeared on his face. "The person delivering the information is here."
As he spoke, he showed Qin Shuman the caller ID.
It clearly read: Tian Xiaotian—
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