Let them offer their loyalty!

At that moment, seeing Qiu Tu lost in thought, the few confidants in the office stopped speaking.

They exchanged glances and then stood there in silence, waiting for Qiu Tu to make a decision.

For this young superior of theirs, they had long held absolute faith and were willing to follow Qiu Tu's progression.

This was evident from their loyalty scores, all above 80 points.

In the past few months, they had been through so much with Qiu Tu. Thus, they had full confidence in him.

They believed that no matter the difficulty or trouble, it would be readily solved once it reached Qiu Tu.

Even if the enemy might be Yan Chen, the top official of the Investigation Bureau...

At that time,

Qiu Tu, upon whom many hopes were pinned, had his mind racing at high speed.

He was weighing the cards in his hand, trying to determine which one to play for the best effect....

Although Qiu Tu's power was still weak compared to Yan Chen, he had known from the start that they would confront each other. So, he had been diligently gathering evidence of Yan Chen's crimes and leverage against him.

However, most of the leverage was insignificant for someone of Yan Chen's stature.

If brought to light, it would only expose Qiu Tu without posing any threat.

Therefore, after much consideration, Qiu Tu realized he only had two pieces of leverage that could possibly control Yan Chen.

One was Secretary Bai.

Back then, he had hinted to Secretary Bai, leading him to defect to the Evil God Larilo and become an Evil God Cultist.

Over this past year, Secretary Bai had done many bad things for Evil God Larilo, covering up numerous loose ends.

Although Yan Chen's ultimate goal was to Devour the Evil God, he had not succeeded.

Thus, some actions taken by him and Secretary Bai over the past year had crossed the line for the Sanctuary.

If exposed, it would likely have a significant impact on Yan Chen.

Besides Secretary Bai, the other piece of leverage Qiu Tu had against Yan Chen was the recording on the night of Jia Shu's death.

At the time, Qiu Tu had asked Yan Chen whether to save Jia Shu. It was Yan Chen who, after weighing the pros and cons, decided to use Jia Shu's death to pit Liu Xiongyuan against Huang Shangzong.

This recording could make it clear to the entire Investigation Bureau what kind of person Yan Chen was, and could also turn Huang Shangzong against Yan Chen.

Displaying either piece of leverage to Yan Chen could make him hesitate, preventing him from pushing too aggressively.

Thinking this, Qiu Tu felt a bit of hesitation: maybe he should use these two pieces of leverage to threaten Yan Chen?

'Might that be insufficiently persuasive and instead expose me?'

With that thought, Qiu Tu took a deep drag on his cigarette, his gaze growing somber.

At first glance, these two pieces of leverage seemed to have some effect. Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

But upon closer consideration, they seemed unlikely to be decisive.

The "Secretary Bai" leverage, although Qiu Tu had already figured everything out, had two issues: one, Yan Chen had not directly ordered Secretary Bai to do those things; and two, Secretary Bai would not testify for Qiu Tu.

Thus, even if the Sanctuary were to investigate, it seemed like they would not be able to uncover anything.

The "recording of Jia Shu's death" leverage could indeed drive a wedge between Huang Shangzong and Yan Chen.

But both of them were, by now, significant figures who'd long placed interests above personal feelings.

Would they really fall out over a person who had died?

Even if they did fall out, don't forget that they belonged to the same faction. The bigwigs in their faction, once they learned of this, would 100% step in to mediate.

Thus, neither incident seemed capable of posing a significant threat to Yan Chen.

Instead, it risked laying bare Qiu Tu's actual situation to Yan Chen....

With this in mind, Qiu Tu closed his eyes, continuing to ponder.

Besides these two pieces of leverage, did he really have nothing else on Yan Chen?

Maybe... he should seek out Tang Feifei and The Five Elders?

Apply collective pressure directly to Yan Chen?

Thinking this, Qiu Tu's brows furrowed deeply.

'Something's off! Something's off!'

'There's something strange....'

While he felt the oddity inside, he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was.

So he sat there with closed eyes, thinking in silence for several minutes.

Several minutes passed, until the cigarette butt was nearly burning his fingers, before Qiu Tu suddenly opened his eyes with a shocked expression!

'Bloody hell! Could all of this be a trap?'

With that thought, Qiu Tu's gaze flickered as he meticulously recalled Yan Chen's every move over the past year, and soon he started to pick up on the clues and signs....

Just as Qiu Tu had previously analyzed, Yan Chen was in fact a very savvy political operator.

Though he was adept at conspiracy and deceit, his biggest habit was "using minimal force to move a heavy object."

Yan Chen was particularly skilled at using a simple trick to create a snowball effect, ultimately leading to massive consequences.

His subjugation of the Qin Family; blackmailing Vice President Tian; paving the way for Deputy Division Chief Qiu Tu; and the almost successful Devour plan for the Evil God....

All used this tactic.

Therefore, today's flamboyant suspension, forcing Qiu Tu into desperation, was simply not his style!

Although... it was possible that Yan Chen, having been outmaneuvered severely by Qiu Tu, had reacted against his usual habits and struck back with force; Qiu Tu preferred to believe—it was a trap within a trap.

Yan Chen was still using the tactic of "using minimal force to move a heavy object" against him.

It was just that this "minimal force" was so substantial that it had initially escaped Qiu Tu's notice.

Realizing this, Qiu Tu felt everything falling into place.

He snuffed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray that Song Qing had brought over, and a flicker of realization crossed the depths of his eyes.