Let them offer their loyalty!

In times of chaos, the most important and direct way for a person to win favor from those above is by showing their ability!

Whether it's Dai Yukang from the military or Commissioner Jiang from City Hall, didn't they notice Qiu Tu because of his abilities?

Therefore, if he wanted to continue scoring points in front of these two bosses, and leave a deep impression on the three dignitaries from the Supervisors brought by Tang Feifei, the best way was to crack the [8.19 Pharmacy robbery case], and try to obtain as many clues related to the Evil God as possible!

With this in mind, after Qiu Tu had dispatched his subordinates to carry out "publicity work", he began to look into the interrogation records of Wang Xi and Suit Man.

In both interrogations, Suit Man was uncooperative, no matter what Cao Dabiao asked, he just smiled and said nothing.

Cao Dabiao used various methods, but apart from getting a piece of information that "God will definitely come and will definitely punish mankind", he got almost nothing.

By contrast, Wang Xi was much more honest.

Perhaps he had witnessed Qiu Tu's methods, or perhaps Liu Fuping's interrogation skills were truly superior.

Anyway, he pretty much laid everything he knew out on the table, without holding back.

According to him, he had encountered the Masked Man in Suit half a year ago.

At that time, Xinjie City had been established for seven months, and the Xinjie City Investigation Bureau was conducting its second recruitment drive.

Coincidentally, he had fled from the Disaster Zone to Xinjie City.

With knowledge of potions and alchemy skills, plus offering a small yellow fish as a bribe to the selecting officer, he was successfully recruited into the Investigation Bureau and assigned to the Interrogation Section of the Political Department as a Pharmacist.

Once he secured a position with an imperial stipend, Wang Xi indulged in pride. Apart from work, he spent his time in Xinjie City eating, drinking, and living it up.

Then... one day, he met an extraordinarily beautiful woman in a bar.

That woman was indeed beautiful and charming. He fell in love with her at first sight and started to pursue her.

At first, she didn't take much interest in him, dismissing him indifferently. It was not until she found out that he was a Pharmacist, and an operative of the Investigation Bureau Political Department, that she finally smiled at him.

Therefore, under the assault of his sweet talk and money, two days later, he finally won the beauty over.

What he didn't expect was that this marked the beginning of his nightmare...

The next morning when he got up, he found a man with dyed red hair and a clown mask sitting by his bed.

Wang Xi was initially startled, almost thinking that he had slept with someone's wife and the aggrieved husband had come after him home.

Later he learned... he had actually slept with him.

Yes... the beautiful woman that Wang Xi had so desperately pursued in the bar that night was actually an avatar of Suit Man.

While recalling this memory, Wang Xi's expression was very tranquil, as if he didn't mind the relationship he had with Suit Man.
Stay connected through empire

This did not match the normal attitude straight men have towards same-sex relationships, so Liu Fuping asked out of curiosity.

And, surprisingly, her inquiry revealed important intelligence.

Wang Xi explained that he didn't mind having had relations with Suit Man because the woman was actually a Puppet controlled by Suit Man's Cataclysmic ability.

Suit Man's Cataclysmic ability is likely of the [Mystery] pathway, related to [Devour] and [Puppet] abilities.

Therefore, to create avatars, Suit Man couldn't split into another body directly as Wang Xi's [Mitosis] Cataclysmic ability could.

Instead... he must select a target, devour their soul, reconstitute it, and then spit out a soul in complete control!

This soul would then reconnect with the original body, start to form a connection with Suit Man, becoming an entity both controlled by Suit Man and yet possessing some independent thought...

So... although he indeed slept with Suit Man's avatar, it can also be said that he was with the original beautiful woman.

Even though the one manipulating the woman's body, engaging with him in a night of passion, might have been Suit Man, the body was still that of the real woman.

So he was still a straight man!

Wang Xi's declaration stunned the interrogators, Liu Fuping and Song Qing, for a few seconds, almost forgetting to continue the interrogation....

Compared to the explosive beginning, the following story was much simpler.

Just like in countless stories written before—when someone with supernatural power, who claims they can also bestow such power on you, appears before an ordinary person, most ordinary people are unable to resist such temptation.

Thus, Wang Xi gradually began to fall into Suit Man's trap.

Suit Man first had Wang Xi help craft some ordinary potions; then he had him concoct some Cataclysmic Potions with miraculous abilities; next, they used these Cataclysmic Potions for theft, robbery...

Once Wang Xi was deeply ensnared, Suit Man began to extract information about the Political Department from him; then he had Wang Xi spy on Political Department's secrets, and finally, started making Wang Xi worship the Evil God...

With this "boiling frog" strategy, Wang Xi was slowly ensnared. By the time he finally realized something was wrong, it was too late for him to turn back...

So, when Suit Man told him to pull off one last heist, claiming they would quit for good after this final job, he had no choice but to follow Suit Man down a path of no return...

As a result, the two of them created the [8.19 Pharmacy Robbery Case] that shocked the entire Xinjie City, as well as the subsequent Evil God incident!

After reading all the interrogation records of Suit Man and Wang Xi, Qiu Tu wore an expression of sudden understanding, feeling he had gained a lot.

For example, he finally learned Suit Man's secret: why he could produce so many different looking, gender-varying avatars, each one strong.

Looking at it now, it should be the unique effect of his Cataclysmic ability.

'Devouring other people's souls and making a different kind of Puppet, huh?'

'That is indeed powerful...'

'Six Second-Order Cataclysmics...'

Thinking of the scene where Suit Man's original body and five avatars all appeared together! Suddenly, Qiu Tu felt his own Cataclysmic ability wasn't so strong anymore...

With this thought, Qiu Tu glanced again at the name Suit Man was referred to in Wang Xi's interrogation record...

'Jia Wei?'

Qiu Tu murmured the name, his gaze slightly darkened...

'So... Suit Man is actually Jia Shu's brother, the murderer?'

With this thought, Qiu Tu couldn't help but recall the information about Jia Wei he had seen in Jia Shu's files.

According to the records, Jia Shu's brother Jia Wei had also been a student at the Sanctuary's Military Officers' Academy. His prospects were as immeasurable as Jia Shu's.

But during an off-campus practice, he brutally murdered several civil servants in the Planning Area.

Although these civil servants were not high-ranking and hadn't made it into the Sanctuary's records, Jia Wei was not any bigshot himself, just an ordinary student. Murder was a crime that demanded retribution.

Thus, in his first trial, he was sentenced to death by Commissioner Yan Chen, the presiding judge.

Later, it might have been that Jia Shu pulled some strings, or perhaps bribed Yan Chen. The death sentence was changed to exile during the second trial.

And so, he was expelled from the Eighth Sanctuary...

The case didn't have many details recorded in the files, but it still gave one an inkling that something was amiss.

But, Qiu Tu's attention wasn't focused on the saga of love and hate between the brothers Jia Shu, Jia Wei, and Yan Chen over the past decade or so.

What he was interested in was... the current relationship between Jia Shu and Jia Wei.

According to the hints from Crisis Intuition, though the two seemingly belonged to different factions, antagonism appeared to outweigh cooperation between them.

So why would Jia Shu join Jia Wei in attacking him?

And why was Jia Shu so interested in him?

------

Extra update today, an update of 11,000 to 12,000 words! Still 3 chapters. Tonight, 2 chapters of 8k words. Another chapter of 3-4k words will be posted around 20:00.

Before I knew it, it's already dawn... off to sleep. Please vote for Monthly Tickets, subscribe!