Chapter 361

“Looking for an excuse to slack off a little?”

After hearing Leon’s suggestion, the female police officer couldn’t help but feel a slight stir in her heart and instinctively wanted to agree. After all, even if it was just an extra hour of sleep, it would be quite luxurious right now.

But just at that moment, there was a loud bang nearby. The male police officer who had been nodding off like a chick pecking at rice suddenly face-planted into his plate. If not for his companion holding him back, he might have fallen straight to the ground.

“Never mind…”

Looking at her unlucky colleague, the female police officer sighed deeply, her face full of regret as she said: “Everyone is working hard, so if I slack off alone, I’d feel really guilty… Moreover, I’ve been promoted fast enough these last two years. Many people in the bureau already think I rely on connections, I don’t want them talking behind my back anymore.”

“That’s true.”

Glancing at the female police officer with a hint of admiration, Leon, who could do nothing to help, could only continue eating quietly. Then the female police officer, after scooping up a spoonful of mashed potatoes, suddenly seemed to remember something and asked with concern:

“Oh yeah, the last time you asked me for an order, saying you wanted to take a few people on a dangerous mission and needed to borrow some stuff from the Secret Investigation Bureau’s spare parts warehouse, have you returned those things yet?”

Those things… Although Senior Pione reported back to the bureau yesterday, the permits and uniforms should still be in the hands of the rebels…

“Not yet…”

Leon’s eyes wandered slightly as he replied, knowing what he had used those items for: “What’s up? Is your bureau going to check the spare parts warehouse?”

“Normally no.”

The female police officer shook her head:

“The management of the spare parts warehouse is very loose, sometimes they don’t check for years. Yesterday when I helped reconcile accounts, I even found that the custodians of the spare parts warehouse were embezzling. They’ve been secretly selling some non-taboo items since three years ago.”

Leon, tested by various situations, kept his voice steady. The female police officer, busy eating, didn’t notice any abnormalities and casually complained to Leon as if chatting about family matters:

“You know? A lot of people in our bureau basically don’t care about anything. If no one attacks the boarding tower, these two rats can easily get away with it. Those who only think about arresting people wouldn’t notice the problems with the spare parts warehouse.

But now everyone is working overtime crazily, and all kinds of supplies are being consumed too much. Things in the spare parts warehouse are also being used, and we noticed a big difference in quantity, so we did an inventory over the past few days. I was even called in to help.

Not long after I submitted the report this morning, the two custodians who were secretly selling supplies were arrested. So if you’re done using those things, it’s best to return them, write down the reasons for borrowing, and make a record.

Although those two custodians have sold a lot of stuff and made fake accounts over the past three years, it doesn’t matter compared to what you took, but it’s still best to confirm the quantities. Otherwise, it would seem like I’m helping you steal from the bureau.”

“Ah…”

It’s still impossible to return them, never possible in this lifetime. The numbers of those passes were recorded when passing through checkpoints. Returning them would be disastrous.

In three or four bites, he finished everything in the plate, picked up the bowl of soup from the female police officer’s plate, drank a big gulp, and managed to push the piled-up food down his throat before hurriedly saying goodbye:

“Then… I have tasks today, I’ll go first!”

“That’s my soup! And you… forget it, go ahead, go ahead!”

She eats so hastily; it seems Leon has a tough job at the Clearing Bureau…

Watching Leon leave in a rush, then glancing at her colleagues snoring in their chairs nearby, the female police officer sighed sympathetically, quickly ate the pudding in her plate, collected both hers and Leon’s plates, sent them to the washing area, and hurriedly walked back toward the Secret Investigation Bureau.

…

“Isha! Come with me!”

Just as she entered the first floor hall of the Secret Investigation Bureau, a familiar middle-aged female police officer jogged over, beaming with joy: “Go to the small meeting room on the third floor! The bureau just made a major discovery!”

Major discovery?! That means there’s a possibility of catching the criminals, recovering the lost items of the Crocodile Kingdom, and then we won’t have to work overtime like hell anymore? Hearing her colleague’s words, the female police officer couldn’t help but brighten up, rushing into the stairwell like a leopardess, taking two steps at a time to the third floor, heading straight to the small meeting room marked “Temporary Command Center”.

“Everyone! I have three exciting pieces of good news!”

The middle-aged man on the podium, upon seeing the female police officer rush back with a joyful expression, kindly nodded at her and continued speaking spiritedly: “Over the past few days, I led a team to complete investigations and interviews of all 2,300 members of the guard force at the seven checkpoint groups of the boarding tower, obtaining the list of all personnel who passed through the checkpoints that day.

The first good news is that after three days of tireless efforts by the investigation team, we ruled out 37 groups of people with normal schedules, narrowing down the target to five suspicious groups!”

Only five groups left? That’s truly great news!

Upon hearing the announcement from the newly appointed Director of the Secret Investigation Bureau, the female police officer couldn’t help but glow with excitement, her dark circles fading somewhat.

At the current efficiency of the bureau, let alone five groups, fifty groups could be investigated thoroughly within a week! One could say that the case of the rebel attack on the boarding tower was almost solved!

“What?!!!”

“Isn’t that locking down the target already?”

“My goodness! Finally, no more overtime!”

“The director is awesome!”

Seeing the subordinates below first burst into chaos, then look at him with admiration, the middle-aged man on the podium couldn’t help but forcefully press his lips together, trying to maintain the dignity of being the director.

But thinking about the great credit he would receive after solving this case, and the inevitable promotion, he eventually couldn’t hold it in and grinned broadly as he announced:

“Yes! We have preliminarily locked down the target. Once we find this group of people, there will be a high probability of closing the case directly!”

“Fantastic!!!”

“The director is amazing!”

“Arrest! Arrest!”

No mistakes inside content in 69 Book Bar!

“Calm down!”

The middle-aged man waved his hand downward to suppress the overly jubilant atmosphere, then looked at the equally excited Isha sitting below, remembering her connection to the Minister of Defense, and smiled kindly at her.

“Finally, besides my own and the investigation team’s efforts, discovering this good news also thanks to one person…”

After the female police officer went up to the podium confusedly, the middle-aged man smiled and said: “When everyone was extremely busy and no one was willing to pay attention to other matters, only Isha diligently reconciled accounts, finding most of the missing items in the spare parts warehouse! To be honest, when she handed in the reconciliation results this morning, I thought she was making a fuss over trivial matters, checking supplies no one cared about during such a critical time.

But out of a sense of responsibility, I still glanced at the report she handed over, and was shocked to discover that the numbers of the several police ID cards lost exactly matched the ones used by one of the five groups!”

Emphasizing his seriousness and meticulousness in always keeping suspicious numbers in mind, the middle-aged man happily said:

“Previously, although we also checked these numbers, once we confirmed they were abandoned police IDs, we treated them as high-quality fakes, focusing on investigating suspicious characters who had contact with seals, without further digging.

Thanks to Isha’s diligence, we now have new important clues! Everyone, give applause!”

“Wow!!”

“Isha! Isha!”

“If I keep working overtime, I’ll die… Isha, you saved my life!”

“This… It was just a coincidence, no need to exaggerate so much…”

Blushing slightly under the grateful gazes of her colleagues, the female police officer, unable to hide her joy, modestly waved her hands, then quickly changed the subject: “Director, you mentioned there were three pieces of good news earlier, what’s the last one?”

“The last piece of good news is that we’ve identified part of the key suspect’s appearance!”

The middle-aged man smiled and said: “According to the confession of the two custodians, although they didn’t keep records, they vaguely remembered that before the boarding tower attack, someone presented a note from a member of the Secret Investigation Bureau and took away those IDs and some clothes.

Although the lighting in the spare parts warehouse was dim, and it seemed like there was a haze over the person’s face, they didn’t remember much, and the note later mysteriously disappeared. But it seems to be a young man wearing a black old coat, slightly slim in build! Once we find this person and learn the whereabouts of those items, there’s a high probability we can catch them all! Now we’re really just one step away from closing the case!”

“Great!”

“Closing the case! Finally closing the case!”

“Isha! Isha! My savior goddess!”

Among the excited cheers of the secret police below, the middle-aged man laughed loudly, patted the female police officer’s shoulder, and praised her with obvious admiration: “All this is thanks to you!

If you hadn’t been diligent and thorough, we would have wasted at least another month investigating the wrong direction, by which time the criminals might have escaped! Ahahaha, truly worthy of… um… remarkable! Next time I see your father, I’ll definitely tell him… uh? What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”

“Happy… Very happy!”

After hearing the middle-aged man’s question, the female police officer, who had heard many familiar descriptions in the director’s words, couldn’t help but bite her little white teeth hard, then forced a smile full of murderous intent: “I’m thrilled beyond measure!!!”

(End of Chapter)