Who Arranged It?

"Boss, why are you investigating these two people?" Yan Chunmi asked cautiously. "Aren't they our Qing family's Shadow Candidate?"

Qing Chen glanced at Yan Chunmi: "You were just following me, so you should have seen Qing Yi too. I'm going to help Qing Yi win this Shadow Struggle."

"I see. You've already chosen Qing Yi. Although we know that Qing Yi might be hiding his true abilities, he's still not the best among all the Shadow Candidate," Yan Chunmi muttered under her breath.

"What, do you have a choice? Who do you want to choose?" Qing Chen asked.

"I don't have any particular thoughts. I'll choose whoever the boss picks," Yan Chunmi said with a smile. "By the way, what about the Kite Falcon over there..."

Qing Chen glanced at her. "Finish those two tasks I mentioned first, then we'll talk about the rest. Alright, go and do your thing."

Yan Chunmi sighed. The new boss seemed to know that the Kite Falcon were getting impatient, so he wasn't in a hurry at all.

It's certainly a good thing to have such a smart boss, but the little schemes in the minds of the Kite Falcon are probably off-limits.

She watched as the new boss's back disappeared into the crowd. He had come to City No. 10 alone and, in just 10 days, had captured both the Secret Intelligence Department's Kite Falcon and the Seventh Group the Intelligence Department One Division.

Such a sophisticated approach requires both exceptional skills and a strong mental fortitude.

Many people want to be as dashing as Qing Chen when they take office, but they can't forcefully subdue Intelligence Department One.

However, the sentence that echoed most in Yan Chunmi's mind at this moment was Qing Chen's words to him, "No one needs to sacrifice themselves to achieve my goal."

Thinking of this, Yan Chunmi smiled. The new boss seems pretty good.

Qing Chen returned to the Utopia Tower. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a girl who was wrapped up tightly ran in.

The girl only realized who was in the elevator after she entered. "Ah!"

Qing Chen stared helplessly at the transparent elevator door, as if he hadn't seen or heard anything.

The girl was none other than Song Niaoniao, the A-list actress he had previously pointed a gun at.

Perhaps what Qing Hua, Qing Zhun, and Yan Chunmi didn't know was that one of the most important reasons Qing Chen had stayed at the Intelligence Department One for so long was that he was worried about running into this female celebrity again when he returned to the Utopia Tower...

To avoid social death.

Despite all his precautions, he hadn't been home for ten days, yet he still ran into them the moment he returned.

At one point, Qing Chen even felt that this might be another plot device orchestrated by someone with ulterior motives.

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence!

At this moment, the atmosphere in the elevator suddenly became incredibly dramatic.

The screams continued unabated, Qing Chen felt that the female celebrity was about to collapse. He earnestly explained, "Madam, I am deeply sorry for frightening you last time, but could you please stop screaming for a moment...?"

The elevator even stopped on the 67th floor. Someone outside tried to come in, but was scared away by the scream and went back out.

Fortunately, no one outside recognized Song Niaoniao, otherwise this would have been big news.

Just as the Outer World has trending topics, the Inner World also has a place that provides the public with a perspective and a space for discussion, called "Frontline".

If Qing Chen and Song Niaoniao were to ride in the elevator together, and Song Niaoniao were spotted screaming, Qing Chen might become the top trending topic tomorrow.

Song Niaoniao took out a delicate miniature pistol from her small handbag and pointed it at Qing Chen with trembling hands.

Left with no other option, he produced his identification. "Hello, ma'am. First of all, I'm not a bad person. Here is my identification. I am Inspector Qing Chen from the PCA (Federal Central Intelligence Agency). Last time, I was handling a case and was being overly sensitive, so I mistook you for a suspect."

Song Niaoniao finally stopped screaming after seeing the identification documents. She cautiously sized up Qing Chen: "Such a young inspector? Your documents are fake, aren't they? And I've heard that not everyone in the PCA (CIA) is a good person!"

After saying that, Song Niaoniao's expression became wary again.

Qing Chen was both amused and exasperated. Had the PCA (CIA) really gained such a bad reputation?

If this were in the Outer World, this certificate would be enough to settle things.

This illustrates from another perspective that the credibility of the government in the Inner World is actually quite poor.

The elevator arrived at the 112th floor, Qing Chen hurriedly stepped out and returned to his home.

Only after Qing Chen's door closed did Song Niaoniao cautiously step out of the elevator.

But then Song Niaoniao nervously passed by Qing Chen's house and then ran back home.

Unsurprisingly, the room was still filled with the rich aroma of tea.

Qing Chen now understands very well that it's not that the Qing family's shadow is just idly coming to his place for tea every day, but rather that the other party knows he has finally left Intelligence Department One, so they are waiting here specifically for him.

Shadow chuckled, "The things that happened on your way home are just as exciting as what happened after you joined Intelligence Department One. I investigated that girl named Song Niaoniao. She has a clean background, no connection with any conglomerate, and seems to have a good personality. Her father is the chairman of the Tax Administration Committee of City No. 3, so she can be considered to come from a respectable family. She's more than a match for a member of the Qing family."

"You've been to my rented place more often than I have," Qing Chen sighed as he changed into his slippers. "Stop playing matchmaker. People in our line of work are better off staying away from celebrities. To be honest, I don't really understand why you're hiring Kite Falcon like Yan Chunmi."

"She has her uses, of course. Powerful people don't care much about a woman's appearance anymore; they value a woman's status more," Shadow said, taking a sip of tea in the dark room.

Qing Chen was taken aback. "You hired her because her identity is more alluring to men?"

"Yes," Shadow looked at Qing Chen, "Are you going to bring up your 'not sacrificing other people's virtues' rhetoric again? What do you think intelligence work is? What do you think everyone relies on to turn their targets? Choosing different methods for different people, that's what I'm doing."

Qing Chen shook his head. "Anyway, I won't use her to gather intelligence like that."

Through these conversations, Qing Chen clearly realized two things.

Firstly, Qing Shi's shadow, like his use of people to grow tea, indicates that he is a very cruel person at heart.

The other party was only being kind and gentle to him.

The second thing: the Qing Clan's ability to gather intelligence was even stronger than he had imagined; everything that had happened to him along the way was under their control.

"Whatever you want," Shadow shook his head. "By the way, why didn't you even bring the tea I gave you to Intelligence Department One? Drink it at work. Remember, divide this can into 15 days' worth of tea. It will only be effective if you finish it all in one go. Drinking too much won't work, and drinking too little won't work either."

Qing Chen calculated the time; there were still 15 days until his return, which would be just enough time for him to finish drinking.

"I didn't expect so many things to come as soon as I reported for duty," Qing Chen explained, sitting on the sofa opposite Shadow, before shifting into a more comfortable position.

Looking at the dazzling neon lights outside the window, he felt that the city was so beautiful it was almost unreal. On the contrary, the dark little house made him feel safer.

With great interest, Qing Shi asked, "I clearly told you that Qing Zhun could be trusted. Why did you say I didn't say that when he came to you?"

Qing Chen looked at the shadow. "When I join the Intelligence Department One, there has to be a hierarchy. What if Qing Zhun takes advantage of being your former subordinate to interfere with my work? Besides, it turns out I don't need your help at all."

"So, when you're assigning tasks, you can give Qing Zhun fewer tasks to weaken his presence in the Seventh Group of the Intelligence Department One, and instead promote Qing Hua, who has little connection with me, to the core," Qing's Shadow nodded.

However, the Shadow Man showed no anger whatsoever; on the contrary, he seemed somewhat appreciative. "People often readily believe certain people, things, or events because of authority. Therefore, those skilled in speaking often like to quote famous sayings or mention their close relationship with certain authorities to increase the credibility of their words. But this is often a sign of insecurity, because needing others to corroborate your claims indicates a lack of authority on your part. It's a good thing that you were able to break free from my influence and didn't choose to easily believe Qing Zhun; it demonstrates the basic qualities of someone in a position of authority."

Qing Chen asked, "What qualities should a person in a position of power possess?"

Qing Shi Yingzi laughed and said, "The first point is not to trust anyone. I told you this a long time ago."

"That would be a very tiring life," Qing Chen didn't quite agree.

Shadow laughed, "You don't agree because you haven't sat in that position yet. By the way, do you know that those two people at the Lottery Center have actually been channeling benefits to some core members of the Qing family's First Branch? Now that you've slaughtered those two fat pigs, many people within the family are complaining about you and telling me to replace you as soon as possible."

Qing Chen looked at the shadow and said innocently, "I was just doing what you ordered."

Shadow waved his hand. "It's nothing serious, don't rush to shift the blame... You haven't been in this workplace long, why are you so adept at shifting blame?!"

Just then, footsteps could be heard outside in the corridor.

"Six people," the shadow said, his expression unchanged, "Not looking for you."

Qing Chen stood up and listened quietly as the footsteps passed by the door and then walked to the end of the corridor.

He sat back down on the sofa.

"They're probably after that female celebrity," Shadow laughed. "These days, it's not uncommon for female celebrities to be kidnapped and forced into slavery by powerful figures."

Qing Chen calmly asked, "You arranged this, didn't you?"

The shadow chuckled, "Guess if I arranged this?"

After saying that, the shadow opened the Shadow Gate and left.

Qing Chen was left alone on the sofa, pondering the question of the shadow's presence.

If he believed it was all orchestrated by the shadows, he could simply sit in his room and watch the show, doing nothing.

If it wasn't arranged by Shadow, then this female celebrity would probably have suffered a terrible fate after being kidnapped.

Qing Chen stood up again and walked towards the door.

That's all for today. Tomorrow I'm going on a business trip to Wuzhen to attend the World Internet Conference. I need to get a nucleic acid test done in advance and bring the report with me. I also have to write a speech and deal with all sorts of other trivial matters.

However, after this event, I should have sorted things out. After I get back, I'll go into seclusion and write, and I won't go out no matter who calls me. I'll start updating like crazy in October!