Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 590: 372, Appointed, Central Intelligence Agency Inspector_3 Chapter 590: 372, Appointed, Central Intelligence Agency Inspector_3 The courtyard’s main gate was as daunting as a prison’s, with a massive iron door beneath which there was a smaller door.

Qing Chen stepped forward and pressed the doorbell; with a beep, a middle-aged man inside opened the small iron window of the door and asked expressionlessly, “Who is it?”

Qing Chen glanced at the man calmly and presented his letter of appointment, saying, “Newly appointed Inspector.”

The middle-aged man immediately put on a smile, “Oh, why didn’t you say so earlier? Look at this fuss.”

With a clank, the small iron door that only allowed one person to pass through opened, and the middle-aged man led Qing Chen inside.

The middle-aged man said with a grin, “The Seventh Unit you’ll be in charge of is on the third floor. The whole floor is yours, and your detectives are all here; no one went out on a case today.”

“Mm,” Qing Chen nodded.

Upon reaching the third floor, the middle-aged man called out, “The new Inspector has arrived.”

However, the atmosphere was a bit odd because of the ninety-something detectives at their desks, not a single one stood up; all were engrossed in their own tasks with expressionless faces.

Seeing the mood was off, the middle-aged man quickly excused himself. Suddenly, Qing Chen realized an issue: all other Shadow Candidates taking over were awaited by detectives eager to brownnose, while his own detectives, along with Kite Falcon, were all waiting to size him up…

Just because, in Intelligence Department One, there was no room for gold-brickers to coast; if the leader was too weak, then the whole team would suffer.

At that moment, a middle-aged man came forward and extended his hand to Qing Chen, “Hello Inspector, I was the acting head of the Seventh Unit before you arrived, named Qing Hua, Trainee Inspector.”

Another man in his thirties stood up, smiling, “Hello Inspector, I am the Seventh Unit’s Trainee Inspector, named Qing Zhun.”

Qing Zhun was the man Mr. Shadow had mentioned, someone who could be trusted.

Qing Chen sized him up and saw that the man had a handsome appearance, a well-proportioned figure, and looked very competent.

The organization of Intelligence Department One was somewhat different from the others; in Intelligence Department Three, a Trainee Inspector could already independently manage 36 detectives.

In Intelligence Department One, however, a unit of 96 detectives also included a full-time Inspector and two Trainee Inspectors.

The standard was much higher.

Qing Chen turned to Qing Hua, “What do I need to do now?”

Qing Hua seemed well-prepared, as he led Qing Chen into the Inspector’s office, saying, “Your identity code is the username and password; it can be used to log into the electronic archives to query all PCA files. Only you, I, and Qing Zhun have this access here in Unit Seven. Have a look at the past files first to get a rough idea of the cases we’ve dealt with before, which will facilitate your work.”

Qing Chen asked, “What cases are you currently investigating?”

Qing Hua replied with a smile, “You better take a look at the information database first.”

Qing Chen nodded and sat down decisively.

He opened the vast sea of information in the database and suddenly realized this was the first act of initiation by his subordinates.

A normal person who tried to get through all that past data might not finish until eternity.

In the meantime, if he tried to meddle in the affairs of Unit Seven, they could brush him off with “You are not familiar with the situation.”

This was probably a common tactic of internal politics in the office, not very conspiratorial but extremely effective.

Qing Chen was patient, too, sitting there for seven hours.

Outside the door of the Inspector’s office, someone whispered to Qing Hua, “He must be the person arranged by Mr. Shadow here, right? Are we going to have a problem giving him a hard time like this?”

Qing Hua looked calmly over all the detectives, “We are all pawns of Qing’s Family in PCA. If the leader is incompetent, none of us will have good days. If he can’t even handle this little matter, I will ask the clan to replace him. But if he proves exceptional, I, Qing Hua, am willing to kneel and offer an apology. It’s not your concern.”

After saying this, the detectives had no further objections.

Qing Hua was not wrong; over a decade ago, Unit Seven had an extremely stubborn Inspector who led the detectives at that time into a trap set by Deer Island, resulting in ninety percent casualties in the unit.

No one wanted a repeat of that situation.

That evening, after receiving a message, Qing Chen walked out of the office and headed straight for the exit.

After he left, the detectives exchanged glances, “He’s not about to clock out, is he? Not saying a word, might be he’s upset about the initiation.”

“If I was made to look at that much data, I’d get upset too.”

Qing Hua thought for a moment and said, “Wait and see.”

What they didn’t know was that after leaving the main office, Qing Chen didn’t leave the building of Intelligence Department One; instead, he went to a certain interrogation room on the seventh floor.

All the video and audio equipment in the interrogation room had been turned off, and a middle-aged man was waiting quietly.

Qing Chen pushed the door open, and the middle-aged man courteously stood up, “Good to see you, sir. Chief Li Yunshou sent me to convey his regards.”

Qing Chen calmly said, “Does he have any message for me?”

The middle-aged man spoke courteously, “Nothing specific, just wanted me to get acquainted with you. My name is Li Yunqu. If there’s anything you need assistance with in the future, do tell me, and I will do everything within my power to cooperate.”

Qing Chen nodded, “I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t need help at the moment. By the way, which floors are Jindai, Deer Island, and Chen Clan located on?”

Li Yunqu said, “Jindai is on the fourth floor, Deer Island on the fifth, Chen Clan on the second, and our Li Family is on the sixth. At the moment, Jindai and Deer Island are probably fully engaged in investigating a missing persons case from the first half of this year. It might be related to Qing’s shadow, and they’re likely trying to find clues connected to Qing’s shadow.”

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, “I see. What is the Li Family investigating?”

Li Yunqu replied, “We’re investigating the Mechanicus. We suspect that the backers of the Mechanicus are connected to Jindai.”

“Thank you,” Qing Chen nodded, “And if you need help with anything, feel free to tell me.”

After that Qing Chen turned and went back to the third floor.

Li Yunqu stood in the interrogation room and respectfully watched Qing Chen leave. To someone from the Li Family faction like him, Qing Chen was one of the few individuals in the entire consortium who mattered at the decision-making table.

He was a true VIP, a presence as unreachable as clouds in the sky.

Many thought Qing Chen came to Intelligence Department One alone, possibly even Mr. Shadow thought so.

But that was not the case.

…

A five-thousand-word chapter, another one coming at 11 PM.