Then, Let Them Offer Their Loyalty!

Chapter 66: Harvesting Memory Fragments

Chapter 66: Harvesting Memory Fragments

Hearing a scream that echoed through the entire room, Qiu Tu woke up groggily. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Shen Lingshuang beside him. He saw her holding the blanket, shrinking to the edge of the bed, and looking at him with a face full of fear.

Qiu Tu yawned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Shen Lingshuang glared at Qiu Tu, "Why are you sleeping with me?"

Qiu Tu was taken aback, then innocently pointed at his small home, "What else could I do? There's only one bed, and the sofa is so small. I can't sleep on the floor, can I?"

Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Shen Lingshuang was initially stunned, then snorted lightly and turned her head away, "Well, you brought this upon yourself. I won't take responsibility for you!"

After saying this, she put on her pants and left.

Qiu Tu: ??

Now it was Qiu Tu's turn to be dumbfounded.

Thinking this, he was dazed for a moment, then lifted the blanket to check. His clothes were intact, with no signs of being undone. He looked up at Shen Lingshuang walking towards the living room; her earlobes were slightly red, and her expression was a bit unnatural.

Qiu Tu understood.

As expected of a tsundere and masochistic young lady, her mouth was really tough.

Should he tell her that tsundere behavior was outdated?

After silently complaining in his heart for a while, Qiu Tu lay back in bed but couldn't fall asleep. He gave up on trying to sleep and decided to check last night's game results instead.

He called up the Loyalty Game panel, and the first thing that caught his eye was a "Game Over" screen. On the screen, A Tai's pixelated character, holding a small iron hammer, stood with his hands on his hips, laughing up at the sky. Meanwhile, Wang Xi's pixelated character, bruised and swollen, sat on the ground holding his head and crying.

Accompanying this scene was a glowing golden package in the center of the screen.

Seeing this, Qiu Tu realized that A Tai must have won last night's game, and that package must contain the rewards. Without hesitation, he mentally clicked on the package. The next second, several prompts appeared before him.

[Loyalty Game Victory: Rewards Received.]

[Wang Xi Loyalty +5]

[Wang Xi Memory Fragment (Short) +1]

Seeing the game prompts, Qiu Tu's eyes lit up slightly, feeling that the rewards were pretty good. Not only did he gain some loyalty, but he also obtained a memory fragment. If this memory fragment contained the process of Wang Xi committing murder, Qiu Tu felt he could solve the case.

Thinking this, he clicked on the "Memory Fragment" to see what it contained. With the click, the next second, Qiu Tu felt his vision go black, and he seemed to appear in a small room.

In the room was a strange man in a black suit with bright red hair, wearing a clown mask. He held a shotgun, which he was wiping down. After wiping it clean, he tossed the shotgun to "Qiu Tu," then picked up another shotgun and grinned at "Qiu Tu."

"Tomorrow, we’re going to rob the pharmacy. The plan is for you to deal with the staff and customers inside."

"I'll handle the security and reinforcement agents."

At this point, the screen went black again. When Qiu Tu came to, he found himself back in bed. He sat there in a daze for a while, then his mind was filled with disbelief.

Damn! His task force was really a haven for hidden talents!

Four named members: a double agent, a spy, and a... bandit?!

Recalling the scenes from the memory fragment, Qiu Tu quickly searched through his original self's memories. Soon, he found relevant information.

Half a month ago, an official pharmacy on Xiafang Street was robbed. The robbers not only stole valuable drugs and materials worth hundreds of silver dollars but also brutally killed two security guards, three staff members, three customers, and six temporary and two formal reinforcement agents, totaling 16 people.

The incident caused a huge uproar, leading the Investigation Department to receive severe criticism from the Municipal Council.

Qin Zhengguang's Public Security Division also received a serious reprimand, with a deadline to solve the case. However, in an era without surveillance and DNA testing technology, solving the case was not easy. Furthermore, after the robbers killed all the staff and security, a large number of onlookers rushed into the store to loot other valuables, making it almost impossible to discern any traces at the scene. As a result, the case remained unsolved.

Unexpectedly, it turned out that the mild-mannered pharmacist Wang Xi was the perpetrator of this major crime.

Qiu Tu was stunned.

Indeed, you never know what your colleagues might be doing after work.

After silently complaining for a while, Qiu Tu analyzed the information revealed by the memory fragment.

Firstly, Wang Xi's contrasting identity: a bandit.

This identity proved that Wang Xi was not as honest and ordinary as he appeared but was someone who walked on the edge of darkness.

Secondly, Wang Xi was likely part of a small group or organization.

From the scene in the memory, it was clear he was under the command of a clown-masked man, indicating he was not the leader of the group or organization.

Finally, the group's economic source was likely illicit drugs, probably produced by Wang Xi after work.

After the realization, Qiu Tu's gaze became contemplative. Clearly, the robbers had a method to make these drugs more valuable by reprocessing them into prohibited substances. This naturally led to the conclusion that the drugs were being sold to anti-government forces. The question now was whether Wang Xi had connections with these rebel factions and if he had killed the female spy to cover his tracks.

Considering this, Qiu Tu decided that he might really try probing Wang Xi today—if he could still be found.

With this decision made, Qiu Tu sat on his bed, feeling no particular joy. For some reason, he had a vague sense that something was off about this whole situation. He silently analyzed the suspects in the case:

Liu Fuping was almost ruled out after last night's encounter. Song Qing, the seemingly naive girl, came from a good family background and appeared too innocent to be the killer. Wang Xi, however, still held significant suspicion. Qiu Tu was ready to test him.

But the idea of the RUF hiring an assassin seemed unlikely. How would the RUF know that Wang Xi was the pharmacist handling the female spy’s interrogation? After all, the interrogation was arranged on the spot by Jia Shu to trap him; no one could have predicted it in advance.

Thinking along these lines, Qiu Tu felt the situation getting more intriguing. If none of the three were the killer, could it be one of the two duty agents? Or perhaps another agent who had access to the female spy?

Inexplicably, Qiu Tu felt that there might be a bigger conspiracy at play.

Meanwhile, as Qiu Tu quietly analyzed the case, elsewhere, in a secret office within the military headquarters, Qin Shuman stood in a dark green military uniform, straight and expressionless, before a desk. Behind the desk sat a tall man with a broad, full forehead and chiseled features, his expression indifferent but with a ruthless glint in his eyes. He looked at the report and clicked his tongue twice, then looked up at Qin Shuman with a cold smile.

"Rain Butterfly, I can’t even bring myself to sign off on this case report," he said. "To save Fourth Master Qin, you sacrificed a key mole placed next to Yan Chen. And to ensure his safe extraction, you had the Detection Office clean up, directly exposing our Security Division to Yan Chen. In just one day, we lost nearly all our moles in the Investigation Department's upper echelon!"

He tossed the report onto Qin Shuman’s face, "With such a failure, you still have the nerve to ask for my signature?"

The sharp-edged report slashed Qin Shuman's delicate face, but she remained unflinching, eyes straight ahead, letting the cold document slide off her face and fall to the ground.

Seeing her reaction, the man's anger subsided slightly. He coldly issued an ultimatum, "I don't care how you do it, but within a week, I want you to rebuild our line in the Investigation Department and restore our critical intelligence control! It’s a massive dereliction of duty that we didn’t get a single piece of internal information about such a major case like the assassination of Deputy Chairman Tian’s mistress!"

"If you can’t do it, prepare to face a military tribunal."

"Yes, sir!" Qin Shuman saluted crisply.

Seeing her take the order, the man’s expression softened a bit. "Also, about the Qin family," he continued. "Since you paid such a high price to bring someone back, don’t let them go easily. The Qin family has been positioning themselves in the shelters since the last generation. They’ve been expanding their influence in politics and commerce while maintaining ties with Yan Chen and Commissioner Jiang. Now they’re entangled with the RUF, which is suspicious!"

"Investigate thoroughly. I want to know what’s hidden in the muddy waters of the Qin family!"

At the same time, in the dimly lit Director's office of the Investigation Department, Yan Chen leaned back comfortably in his chair, showing none of the fury Secretary Bai had mentioned. He lit a cigarette and asked in a low voice, "How's it going?"

Standing before him, Jia Shu smiled brightly, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, and said, "Very well, Director. We’ve taken the opportunity given by the Security Division to eliminate six of their moles planted around us. Since they struck first, no one can fault us."

"After removing those moles, I released probing information regarding Deputy Chairman Tian's mistress’s death, successfully identifying a batch of suspected spies. We’ve recorded everyone who acted suspiciously after last night’s play, and we are comparing the data one by one. There were some surprising individuals."

Yan Chen raised an eyebrow, intrigued, "Who?"

Jia Shu's eyes glinted coldly behind his glasses. He spoke with a faint smile, "For example, Secretary Bai. Upon learning the news, he immediately called Qiu Tu."

"I'm very curious about what he could have possibly said to Qiu Tu in that brief call."

"Then there's one of my promising subordinates in the Political Division. I didn't expect her to get the information as well, and she hastily met with several related individuals, including Qiu Tu."

Hearing Jia Shu's words, Yan Chen smoked his cigarette and asked with interest, "What about Qiu Tu?"

Jia Shu's smile faded slightly. He replied, "Qiu Tu surprised me. Last night, he went to the Milan Hotel, probably following our arrangement to meet with the Security Division. During the meeting, he received a call from Secretary Bai. After that, he showed no unusual behavior. On his way home, he encountered my esteemed subordinate. They talked and interacted for a while but nothing more happened. Overall, his behavior seemed very normal."

Yan Chen nodded lightly. Tapping his fingers on the chair armrest, he said softly, "To quickly and comprehensively control the security of New Realm City, our department expanded from a few dozen core members to over ten thousand in just one year. In this process, we didn’t strictly control personnel, allowing spies and plants from various forces to mix in."

"Now that New Realm City's order is initially established, we finally have the time to sift through our personnel."

"Identify those truly loyal and useful to us, and weed out those with issues. This is a rare opportunity; we must make the most of it."

Jia Shu nodded slightly, "Understood."

After discussing this matter, Yan Chen asked, "What do you think about Deputy Chairman Tian's mistress's death?"

Author's Note