"Oh, now you care about me? Go on, what do you want from me?"
"I want you to use your channels to help me look into a Foreigner named Su Yue, specializes in Puppeteering Technique."
Fake Mo Zhicheng didn’t say anything. He paused for a moment, saw that the call hadn’t been hung up, and couldn’t help but grin happily. There was a strange undertone in his voice.
"Of course, no problem. I’ll help you look into it, but afterwards you have to do something for me. Whatever I ask, you can’t refuse me. I mean it."
Meanwhile, Zhuge Wanjun’s pupils suddenly dilated, then quickly returned to normal. She replied with a sweet smile.
"No problem at all. It’s a deal."
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up. The smile vanished from Zhuge Wanjun’s face as she sat where she was, muttering to herself.
"Just helping him look into it, doesn’t guarantee to find anything, yet I have to promise to do whatever he wants, even if he asks for my life, I still have to do it. That kind of deal, no one would support it; it’s a total losing trade."
Her expression returned to normal, and she let out a snort of laughter.
"I knew it. Glasses—that damn dog that can’t stop eating shit—he’s always ready to seize an opportunity."
Luckily, her professional ability had finally leveled up along with her legal skills, accumulated experience, and rising status. Such ridiculous brainwashing, especially over the phone, could never convince her, nor make her admit anything.
As a lawyer, her essential professional quality when taking cases was never to believe a word clients said.
All she needed to know was what to say to win her clients the biggest benefit.
As for what’s true or false, it really didn’t matter too much.
Zhuge Wanjun was in a good mood, and on the other side, Fake Mo Zhicheng was also in good spirits at finally getting a chance to brainwash Zhuge Wanjun a little.
He pulled out a spare phone, inserted the battery, logged in to a crude little encrypted forum, and sent a private message to someone on there.
"Look into a Foreigner named Su Yue, specializes in puppeteering."
After a minute, he got a reply.
"Hold on, right away."
At the same time, in the Duanzhou Scorching Sun Department’s suboffice, an internal staff member quickly dialed the internal line. He was a little excited, keeping his voice down.
"Minister, the fish’s in the net."
In less than half a minute, Cai Qidong and Feng Yao appeared behind the internal staff, looking at the message displayed on his phone.
Cai Qidong looked calm and nodded in approval.
"Nice work. Just keep doing as planned."
The internal staff immediately logged into his account at his workstation. After verification, he entered the Scorching Sun Department’s database.
He searched for the name Su Yue. In the Foreigner records, there was only one with that name, but he was told his clearance wasn’t high enough to view any related information.
But even getting that message was, in itself, a bit of information—a kind of friendly warning.
The internal staff looked at Cai Qidong, who nodded again.
"Just tell him the truth."
The internal staff replied to Fake Mo Zhicheng, and also asked if he needed to keep digging.
Fake Mo Zhicheng replied, "Noted, no need to pursue further."
Fake Mo Zhicheng logged off fast. Meanwhile, Feng Yao sat beside him, fingers darting over the laptop keyboard almost faster than the eye could see.
Moments later, Feng Yao let out a slightly regretful sigh.
"He sure is cautious. Must’ve pulled the battery, can’t lock down his exact location. Still, this little bit of time was enough to confirm—the sender’s right here in Duanzhou."
"Any chance he isn’t in Duanzhou, and the sender’s not him?"
The internal staff immediately shook his head.
"Impossible, Minister. You don’t know, that traitor wouldn’t trust anyone. These secret contact channels are all one way; he’d never hand a channel over to anybody."
"Good job. Remember, you didn’t see me today, and we didn’t speak." Cai Qidong smiled, patting the internal staff on the shoulder.
The internal staff, excited, dropped his voice further.
Director of the Office of Sanitation and Cleanliness.
The head of a secret little department inside the Scorching Sun Department.
Cai Qidong left quickly, wasting no time sticking around.
In just these two days, they dug out eight more people—field, internal, logistics—all ordinary folks with no professional ability, in Wei State, Duanzhou, Xing State, Yu State, who’d somehow been brainwashed by Mo Zhicheng before and hadn’t been exposed yet.
They were absolutely convinced of a secret department inside the Scorching Sun Department, willing to follow its every instruction, fiercely loyal.
Now, Cai Qidong took someone’s advice and picked this peach for himself.
He transitioned seamlessly from Minister of the Nanwu County Scorching Sun Department to Director of the Office of Sanitation and Cleanliness.
Fake Mo Zhicheng had set this up for ages, who knows how long, looking for every chance to plant his moles, only for everything to get smoothly handed to Cai Qidong after Mo Zhicheng tossed the blame onto him.
Just like that, the newly parachuted leader Cai Qidong’s grip on the Nanwu County Scorching Sun Department jumped up several levels for free, saving at least months of adjustment.
Whether it’s what they should or shouldn’t say, the staff in the Office of Sanitation and Cleanliness felt comfortable telling Cai Qidong outright.
Back at his office, Cai Qidong powered on his computer, pulling up a request Feng Yao had submitted two days before, officially upgrading Wen Yan’s clearance for assisting with the hospital domain and Big Executor Corpse cases.
That was just for show.
In reality, it was because now they were quite certain—the team behind the Water Ghost Domain, the chemical plant domain crew, and Fake Mo Zhicheng, were all directly connected.
The name Su Yue had been made up by Wen Yan on the spot, but the fact that it trickled over from Fake Mo Zhicheng made things clear. All these problems could now be formally combined into one case.
And Wen Yan had already infiltrated the Water Ghost Domain, currently making the fastest intel progress—of course Wen Yan deserved a clearance upgrade.
This time, the clearance was bumped up two levels, right up to where Feng Yao was.
That’s on par with the overall director of an action squad.
He’s been racking his brains for a low-key, reasonable excuse for two days, and now this landed right into his lap.
After all, his number one mission here was the Soul Devouring Beast.
And as of now, Wen Yan was confirmed as the only person not affected by the Soul Devouring Beast.