Let them offer their loyalty!

If Larilo had felt just now that the entire affair's twist left her a bit bewildered,

now, she felt truly shocked to the point of stupefaction.

'What did Qiu Tu say?'

'He didn't betray us?'

'How could he have the audacity to say such a thing?'

'What? He completed the mission I gave him and discovered the exact timing of Moonlight Lake's congealment?'

'Then... maybe it's really possible that he didn't betray us?'

At this thought, Larilo felt her mind a mess for a moment.

However, she suppressed her wild thoughts and started discussing the matter at hand.

She asked, "You say you have figured out the timing of Moonlight Lake's congealment?"

"When will it be?"

Qiu Tu said earnestly, "In four days."

Qiu Tu said, "You might not know, but I actually have some connections in the Security Department."
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"I can get some inside information."

"Yesterday, we happened to talk about Moonlight Lake and, with a few probing questions, I successfully obtained this intelligence."

He paused, then continued, "My friend mentioned that the aura emitted by Moonlight Lake is getting stronger and there are already signs of it coalescing."

"Thus, through investigation and calculation, they determined that the estimated time for Moonlight Lake's formation should be in four days."

"To prevent the news from leaking, and to avoid anyone coming to steal the 'Tears of Moonlight', both the Xinjie City Military Department and the Eastern City Military Department dispatched a battalion of troops to encamp around Moonlight Lake."

"They've surrounded Moonlight Lake from the inside out."

Hearing Qiu Tu's words, Larilo furrowed her brows tightly, temporarily forgetting to continue the topic of Qiu Tu's betrayal.

After a moment, she looked up at Qiu Tu and inquired, "Is this true?"

Qiu Tu nodded sincerely, "Of course it's true."

... As if.

Of course, this was all made up by Qiu Tu!

Although Qiu Tu had a good relationship with Qin Shuman, they always maintained a bottom line with each other: not to pry into each other's work.

So, even though yesterday Qiu Tu happened to bring up Moonlight Lake with Qin Shuman,

and Qin Shuman happened to mention that there had been recent movements at Moonlight Lake and that both city's military departments had already begun deploying troops,

she didn't reveal the actual time of Moonlight Lake's congealment or the strength of the troops sent by the military departments.

However, with these small details, it was sufficient for Qiu Tu to fabricate a logically coherent fraud.

After all, the "Crisis Countdown" only required him to resolve difficulties within a time limit and fulfill his promise to Larilo—to obtain the timing of Moonlight Lake's congealment.

But it didn't require that the timing he provided be real...

In any case... Larilo had no way to verify it with someone else. So, this became the "real" timing!

While Qiu Tu was thinking this way, possibly because Qiu Tu's acting was too convincing, Larilo hesitated for a few seconds before finally nodding and praising, "Well done, I didn't expect you, Qiu Tu, to really get such a high-level secret."

She continued to lure him as usual, "Rest assured, as long as you can keep this up, the title of Pope will definitely be yours in the future!"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Tu laughed and said, "Your Highness, becoming the Pope is only my dream."

"What I truly wish for is to be by your side at all times."

"So, please don't doubt me any longer."

As he said this, Qiu Tu took the opportunity while the iron was hot to explain the reasons behind his actions from the day before.

He said, "As for Jia Wei's death, I won't say much. I really was jealous that he could always accompany you."

"Furthermore, as Liu Xiongyuan disagreed with only killing Jia Shu and insisted on killing both brothers together, that's why I betrayed him to Liu Xiongyuan."

After a pause, Qiu Tu said, "After all, there will always be sacrifices on the path to fulfilling your grand ambitions."

"So why couldn't the sacrifice be Jia Wei?"

"Therefore, once I decided to sacrifice him, I made my decision: to suffer Jia Wei's agony, to bear the infamy myself! To spare you any discomfort."

After finishing, Qiu Tu pointed at his own body, then said, "Additionally, you must have been angered by me removing your Summoning signs last night, right?"

Although Qiu Tu posed it as a question, he didn't wait for Larilo's reply and directly said, "Your Highness, you have truly misunderstood me there."

"The reason I was investigating you was actually all the Security Department's doing,"

"They knew I had been marked by you, so when the incident was briefly resolved, they were bound to help me get rid of the mark."

"Honestly, I didn't want to remove this mark, but I had absolutely no say in the matter; I had no choice."

"If I objected, it might even reveal my identity."

"That's why my summoning mark was cleansed."

At this point, Qiu Tu even proactively extended his hand, then said, "If you don't believe me, you can mark me again."

"I absolutely won't resist!"

After hearing Qiu Tu explain the entire "ins and outs" of the situation, Larilo couldn't shake off the feeling that something was odd, but had to admit that everything Qiu Tu said was logically consistent.

'So... could it all really be just a misunderstanding?'

'Has Qiu Tu truly become my devout follower?'

For the first time, Larilo felt her brain wasn't up to the task...

But since Qiu Tu had told her the time of the Moonlight Lake's convergence, she could just wait a couple of days to see if the information was accurate, and use that to determine Qiu Tu's allegiance.

After all... there were only four days left.

And so, like that, Qiu Tu once again briefly earned Larilo's trust, and because he didn't need the summoning mark anymore, he no longer had to live in fear in his dreams.

Qiu Tu planned to find a way to communicate more with Larilo in the next two days, locate her current body, and then resolve her once and for all!

And if he couldn't find her?

Then Qiu Tu would just toss away the ancient coin, just like last night, and have no further dealings with Larilo.

—After all, Larilo had no way of dealing with him now.

With that in mind, after hanging up the communication with Larilo, Qiu Tu tidied up, put on his uniform, fastened his buttons, and then drove away from the villa complex.

Arriving at the Investigation Bureau Office Building, the lobby on the first floor was exceptionally lively today, with agents from various departments discussing gossip in groups.

Out of curiosity, Qiu Tu listened in and heard them discussing the new candidates for Minister and Deputy Minister of the Political Department.

"Have you heard? First thing this morning, the Bureau Chief called the high-ranking officials to a long meeting in the conference room."

"The main purpose was because Minister Jia was dismissed, which led to adjustments in the Political Department."

"I've heard the reshuffle will be significant. Not only do they need to select a Minister from among the Deputy Ministers, but they also have to pick a Deputy Minister from among the staff chiefs. Then, a Deputy Staff will take over the position of the vacant staff chief..."

"So a lot of positions will open up."

Another person replied, "Yeah, yeah. I heard about it too."

"Who do you think it will be?"

The first agent thought for a moment, then said, "For the Minister, I definitely favor Minister Cai. After all, he's currently in charge of running the Political Department, and he hasn't made any major blunders."

"These points show that he is capable and has the appreciation of the Bureau Chief behind him."

"As for the position of Deputy Minister... I think Section Chief Guan from the Espionage Division seems very promising."

"After all, espionage is one of the biggest operations in the Political Department. Plus, she's a long-standing member there."

Upon hearing this, another agent countered, "I think Deputy Division Chief Xin has a better chance."

"The Action Division is the ace division of the Political Department. And he has worked in the Action Division for many years, which makes him a strong competitor."

Hearing the agent's counter-argument, another agent chimed in to rebut, "Isn't it possible that they'll bring in a chief officer of Deputy Division Chief level from another department?"

"The Political Department is one of the ace divisions in the Bureau, not only powerful but also high-ranked."

"All the Deputy Division Chiefs from various departments are probably fighting tooth and nail to get in there."

"With such a great opportunity now, they won't give up."

As Qiu Tu walked, he listened. He almost got the full rundown of the candidates from these agents' discussions.

The only pity was... among the many agents discussing the Deputy Minister candidates, not a single one thought he could become Deputy Minister.

After all, in the eyes of most ordinary agents, Qiu Tu had risen too quickly recently. Constantly skipping levels, he had no chance of competing for such an important position this time.

And let's not forget... Qiu Tu had just had a falling out with Yan Chen.

In choosing a Deputy Minister, Yan Chen had a veto vote.

As long as Yan Chen didn't agree, Qiu Tu had no chance of becoming Deputy Minister!

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