Playing With Human Hearts (Ten Thousand Characters—Please Vote!)

Qiu Tu keenly sensed Tan Huimin's breakdown. With a gentle pull, Tan Huimin's trembling body fell into his embrace.

Qiu Tu held her half in his arms and lightly patted her back, soothing her. "Madam, don't be afraid."

"As long as you listen to me."

"I won't hurt you, and I won't hurt your husband either."

Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Tan Huimin raised her head with reddened eyes and asked, "R-Really?"

Qiu Tu smiled and nodded.

Then he released Tan Huimin of his own accord, returned to his desk, and said, "I actually don't want to be enemies with Director Zheng either."

"In official circles, having one more friend is always better than having one more enemy."

"Don't you agree, Madam?"

Even though she felt that Qiu Tu was deceiving her, Tan Huimin truly had no other choice now.

So she could only nod obediently.

Seeing that he had finally brought the woman under preliminary control, Qiu Tu did not rush to continue brainwashing her. He understood that too much was as bad as too little.

So he pointed toward the lounge inside. "All right. Since we've reached a preliminary cooperation agreement, Madam, you can continue serving as my secretary for now."

"First, help me clean up the entire office."

Household chores were indeed something Tan Huimin was good at, so upon hearing Qiu Tu's instructions, she hurriedly answered obediently and went into the lounge to tidy up the room for him.

After Tan Huimin left, Qiu Tu reached up and took the recorder from the bookshelf.

He opened the recorder's tape compartment. Inside was only a "completely untouched" Recording Tape.

Expressionless, Qiu Tu removed the blank Recording Tape, took out a fountain pen, and wrote the three characters "Tan Huimin" on it.

Then he opened a drawer and tossed the Recording Tape inside.

He was not Zhuge Liang, nor was he so divinely calculating that he could foresee Tan Huimin actually admitting her identity. Naturally, it was impossible for him to have pressed the record button in advance.

But... it didn't matter. Once he wrote those three characters, that Recording Tape existed in this world!

After cleaning the entire office, Tan Huimin's emotions had clearly stabilized considerably.

Seeing this, Qiu Tu did not keep her any longer. After leaving her a phone number, he told her to get off work and go home.

Tan Huimin did not dare show Qiu Tu any defiance, so she obediently left the office.

After Tan Huimin left, Qiu Tu also briefly sorted through some documents before getting up and leaving the office, preparing to keep his appointment with Qin Shuman that evening.

However, just over ten minutes after he left.

The lock on his office door suddenly began to turn slightly.

Before long, there was a click, and the door to Qiu Tu's office was opened from outside.

Tan Huimin, holding a key, slipped quietly inside.

She turned on the lights and walked straight toward the recorder on the bookshelf.

Carefully taking down the recorder, she opened its tape compartment. It was completely empty.

Tan Huimin could not help lightly biting her lip.

She looked around, then could only bend down and inspect the drawers one by one.

Very quickly, she opened the leftmost drawer, the one used to store Recording Tapes.

When she saw the Recording Tape with her name written on it lying quietly inside, Tan Huimin's eyes lit up. She hurriedly took it into her hand and began restoring everything to how it had been.

But just as she had restored things halfway, her communicator suddenly rang. "Ring, ring, ring!"

Tan Huimin jumped in fright. Her guilty conscience nearly made her throw the Recording Tape in her hand.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, she still managed to control her emotions.

She carefully set the Recording Tape on the desk, then reached out and took out her communicator to check it.

The moment she saw it, her expression changed drastically.

Because the caller displayed on the communicator was none other than "Qiu Tu"!

Tan Huimin was startled. She did not want to answer it, but thinking of how terrifying Qiu Tu was, she ultimately accepted the call with trembling hands.

But the moment the call connected, something even more terrifying happened.

Qiu Tu said, "Madam Zheng, you've disappointed me."

"I never expected you to leave, then come back to steal the evidence."

"But you underestimated the vigilance of a Political Department Deputy Minister."

"Every one of your actions was recorded by hidden surveillance devices. And the tape you took was also a blank Recording Tape I arranged in advance."

"Take care of yourself."

With that, Qiu Tu hung up.

At that moment, hearing Qiu Tu's words and the beeping from the receiver...

Tan Huimin stood there, completely dumbfounded.

She held her phone and stood frozen for a full two seconds before seeming to suddenly snap out of it. She hurriedly put the recording tape labeled with her name into the recorder and pressed play.

Qiu Tu had never recorded her conversation with him in the first place, so naturally, there was no sound on the tape.

Of course, Tan Huimin did not believe this was the actual recording tape. She naturally assumed Qiu Tu had taken the real one with him and deliberately left this behind to toy with her.

So, after listening to the tape, Tan Huimin completely fell apart.

She felt that Qiu Tu was like a demon who toyed with people's hearts. She herself had practically been played to the point of breaking.

Ever since Qiu Tu had discovered her identity, one trap after another had made her utterly like a puppet on strings, led along bit by bit, step by step into the abyss.

Now, Qiu Tu had both recorded and filmed her. Her identity as a spy had been completely confirmed.

Both she and her husband were now firmly in Qiu Tu's grasp. Their futures and their lives all depended on a single thought from him.

She had never felt so alone and helpless.

Meanwhile, Qiu Tu shook his head as he drove and withdrew his ability.

He had only gotten the recorder today. How could he possibly have installed surveillance or recording equipment in his office?

He had merely guessed that Tan Huimin would highly probably come back to take a gamble, so he had placed that Specialized Communicator in a hidden corner of the bookshelf.

Afterward, he activated his evolved Calamity Ability, Order Space, and set a condition.

"When the recording tape is moved, the communicator will automatically call the first number—the communicator number assigned to Qiu Tu by the Investigation Department."

That way, Qiu Tu could immediately learn that Tan Huimin had secretly entered his room and was preparing to steal the recording tape.

The only difficulty with this rule was the "cost" required for waiting a Long Time.

Fortunately, after becoming a Second Order Calamity Descendant, Qiu Tu could reduce and control the range of Order Space.

This effectively reduced his Mental Power consumption.

With that thought, Qiu Tu shook his head. Feeling almost no discomfort at all, he started the car and headed for the Milan Hotel.

When he arrived at the Milan Hotel, a waiter stepped forward and handed Qiu Tu a room key card as soon as he entered the lobby.

This was the usual procedure, so Qiu Tu took the card with practiced ease, entered the elevator, and headed upstairs.

This time, the room number Qin Shuman had left for Qiu Tu was 618.

However, once he arrived on the sixth floor, Qiu Tu became alert.

He thought of the two times he had met Qin Shuman at hotels.

Once, Qin Shuman had dragged him into an unfamiliar room. The other time, she had "assassinated" him with a knife.

In any case, this woman always liked to indulge in some unusual kink.

So Qiu Tu was curious what trick she would pull this time.

But perhaps Qiu Tu had overthought it. He made it all the way to room 618 without anything unexpected happening.

Qiu Tu hesitated for a moment, then took out the key card and held it against the lock.

"Beep." "Click."

As the lock clicked, the door slowly opened.

Qiu Tu pushed the door open and saw Qin Shuman sleeping soundly on the bed.

She truly seemed to have been rather tired lately. Her stunningly beautiful face was filled with exhaustion, and she had not even taken off her clothes before lying down to sleep.

Whether the sound of Qiu Tu entering had disturbed her, or whether it was a spy's instinctive vigilance, her thick, slender eyelashes trembled slightly, as though she might wake at any moment.

Seeing this, Qiu Tu did not dare move carelessly. He simply stood where he was until Qin Shuman's breathing became steady again, then gently closed the door and walked inside.

When he came to Qin Shuman's side, Qiu Tu noticed several documents on the bedside table.

They were all things he had asked Qin Shuman for, or that she had promised to give him.

There were Old Master Qin's interrogation records, investigative materials on the Evil God Girl La Riluo, and basic information on Jia Shu's backer, Huang Shangzong, the future State Council Speaker of East Industry State.

There was also the information on Zheng Tao and Tan Huimin that he had requested from Qin Shuman over the phone while on the road.

During his time with Tan Huimin tonight, Qiu Tu had actually noticed a crucial clue from her words and behavior.

That was, Tan Huimin did not seem to be from a shelter like Zheng Tao. Rather, she appeared to be an ordinary person born and raised in New Realm City.

That made the relationship and marriage between the two of them rather intriguing.

Three chapters, ten thousand characters. Chapter Three will be updated between 11 PM and midnight. Please vote with monthly tickets!