When Qiu Tu first saw the hint, his initial reaction was actually to suspect Jia Shu.
After all... based on what he knew about Jia Shu, when he found out that this case was very likely to involve Vice President Tian, Jia Shu would definitely not hesitate to make a move against him.
But after giving it some thought, Qiu Tu felt... in reality, Jia Shu didn't need to personally take action against him. He could just leak a message, and there would be many forces wanting to strike at him.
So... perhaps that was what the hint "the danger may come from within the darkness" was all about.
And this also meant that in the following days, he would have to be extra careful about his own safety.
Perhaps, at any moment, he might encounter a kidnapping, attack, or even assassination!
With this in mind, Qiu Tu adjusted his mood and then looked towards the upper left corner of his field of vision.
Having experienced three crises just now, there were now a total of four hourglasses and treasure chests lined up in the upper left corner of Qiu Tu's view.
The first one was the Crisis Countdown he had triggered a few days ago when he took on "The Yin Caimei Case" from Jia Shu. There were 7 and a half days left.
The second was the Crisis Countdown for "the danger within the darkness" he had just encountered, with 5 days remaining.
The third and fourth were the treasure chests he had obtained in the office.
Without hesitation, Qiu Tu tried clicking on these two treasure chests.
The next second, several prompts popped up before him,
"Survived the crisis, treasure chest reward obtained: Behemoth Ashes."
"Behemoth Ashes: A common Cataclysmic Material, the remnants left in this world after the death of a cataclysmic behemoth, capable of enhancing an item's spirituality and infusing Catastrophe Power."
"Just a certain level of forging skill is required to forge treasures like 'The Thinking Sculpture'."
"Survived the crisis, treasure chest reward obtained: Lucky Joker Card"
"Cataclysmic Treasure: Lucky Joker Card"
"Treasure introduction: This is a deck composed of 21 cards, including 19 Aces and 2 Joker Cards."
"Every day you can draw a card at random. If you draw an Ace, you'll receive a 'Luck Guidance'."
"But if you draw one of the Joker Cards, then you must kill someone at random or commit suicide."
After checking the rewards from these two treasure chests, Qiu Tu's eyes couldn't help but light up a bit, feeling like the dangers he had just faced were worth it.
For the first item, "Behemoth Ashes":
If Qiu Tu remembered correctly, he had recently acquired a piece of Cataclysmic Material called "Memory Clay."
In its introduction, there was a line that it could be used to forge treasures such as "The Thinking Sculpture," "Reverberation Echo Pot," "Starry Beyond Letter," and "Eye of Future Foresight."
So, if Qiu Tu was not mistaken, he could potentially forge a Cataclysmic Treasure called "The Thinking Sculpture" with "Behemoth Ashes" and "Memory Clay."
Though unclear of the precise function of this Cataclysmic Treasure, for Qiu Tu who was still in the initial stages of accumulation: any Cataclysmic Treasure would be a gain.
At worst, it would just add to his "arsenal." One day it would come in handy.
As for the second Cataclysmic Treasure, it was an even more unexpected joy.
Qiu Tu had opened many Crisis Treasure Boxes, most of which contained materials, with only one being a Cataclysmic Treasure. This was the second time, and clearly, this treasure had a more significant effect.
A daily "Luck Guidance" could either act as an "Adventure Creator" or help him with "Assistive Selection," both of which were very useful.
So, just by seeing this Cataclysmic Treasure, Qiu Tu decided to list it as a commonly used tool.
After checking the two major gains from this crisis, Qiu Tu closed the two treasure chests, satisfied, planning to take them out and test them when there was nobody around.
As for now... it was better to first ponder over the actual case:
Two Crisis Countdowns related to "The Yin Caimei Case" were laid out before him, reminding him once more of the complexity of the case at hand.
He had to figure out a way to thoroughly investigate the case, uncover the real perpetrator, and clarify the demands of the involved parties in order to successfully survive this crisis!
With that thought, Qiu Tu quickly returned to the investigation team.
Upon arriving at the temporary office of the investigation team, a bustling scene unfolded: Cao Dabiao, Liu Fuping, Chen Feng, and others were copying documents, organizing files.
Qiu Tu naturally joined in and began the busy work of investigating....
Soon, a day slowly passed by.
During the day, Qiu Tu and the likes of Cao Dabiao and Liu Fuping finished sorting all the files, took a close look, and then discovered several interesting things.
First, by categorizing the itineraries of Vice President Tian and Yin Caimei by location, it became apparent that they often visited the Zhizhen Grand Hotel and a residence on Xintian Road.
The former was a place where the Qin Family and United Front had once discussed cooperation.
Considering most people's habit of frequenting just one or two restaurants, Zhizhen Grand Hotel was very likely a meeting point for United Front, so... Vice President Tian's suspicion was indeed very great.
The latter was most likely one of Vice President Tian's secret safe houses. It likely contained some clues or evidence of wrongdoing.
Second, looking at the gift registry by the people involved with Vice President Tian and Yin Caimei, it was evident that besides frequent interactions with major merchants from the same chamber of commerce, most interactions were with the Qin Family and several major transportation vendors.
Lastly, organizing Vice President Tian and Yin Caimei's itineraries and gift registry in chronological order revealed that in the past year, Vice President Tian's visits to the Zhenzhen Grand Restaurant, as well as his dealings with the Qin Family and major transportation vendors, were becoming less and less frequent.
Initially, he would go to the Zhenzhen Grand Hotel three or four times a month and meet with the Qin Family and major transportation vendors five or six times, but in the past two months, he had only been to the Zhenzhen Grand Hotel once and had only seen Commissioner Qin once.
Qiu Tu guessed... this was probably because Xinjie City had been cracking down on anti-government armed forces; their influence had severely contracted, resulting in diminishing cooperation with Vice President Tian.
Or, could it be that their cooperation had become so close that they didn't need to meet as often?
Due to the shortage of clues, it was impossible to determine the specific reasons for now.
And so, after a busy day sorting through all the clues, Vice President Tian's image in Qiu Tu's mind grew increasingly vivid.
Qiu Tu felt that if he wasn't wrong, there was an 70 to 80 percent chance that Vice President Tian was problematic....
What he was only worried about was whether Jia Shu would take any extreme actions if they arrested Vice President Tian?
Thinking of this, Qiu Tu's brows involuntarily furrowed.
After all, offending one's immediate supervisor was always a troublesome matter—especially when that supervisor was a pervert.
At this time, just as Qiu Tu was deep in thought.
Seeing that the other members of the investigation team had left, Liu Fuping also came to Qiu Tu with a heavy step.
The beautiful young woman was wearing a white strapless dress today, rich and generous. As she moved, it dazzled Qiu Tu.
Qiu Tu came to his senses, glanced at her chest, then suddenly felt weak and collapsed backward.
Liu Fuping was startled and instinctively caught Qiu Tu.
And so... Qiu Tu naturally ended up in the arms of the beautiful young woman. Mmm... she was fragrant and soft....
"Oh my, I feel so dizzy," Qiu Tu pretended to say.
Liu Fu looked puzzled, her face full of surprise, "Why did you suddenly faint?"
Qiu Tu covered his face, his elbow grazing her chest, and then pointed at Liu Fu's strapless dress, "Too big. Dizzy...."
Realizing what Qiu Tu meant, Liu Fu understood that he was taking advantage of her.
Her pretty face blushed, her heart fluttered, feeling that her young superior's methods of taking advantage were becoming more and more blatant.
She gave Qiu Tu an annoyed look, "I have serious matters to discuss with you, and all you can think about is taking advantage of me!"
Qiu Tu smiled and finally stopped fooling around.
He used his strong core strength to stand up straight and then asked curiously, "What's the serious matter Sister Liu has for me?"
Liu Fuping leaned in close to Qiu Tu and said in a low voice, "Tang Feifei wants to meet with you tonight."
Indeed, there is something going on at home tonight, only 4000 words, will return to 7000 words for two updates tomorrow.