Zhang Lei paused, glanced down at the half-finished report in her hand, and immediately smiled sheepishly, "Not yet, I'll continue writing right away."
Seeing Zhang Lei, who was as proud as a swan, be so meek and submissive to Zhou Xuan, the two female employees were even more surprised. This was unlike Zhang Lei's personality. A rich young master had pursued Zhang Lei before, but she completely ignored him. Could this Zhou Xuan have such a powerful background? If he did, why didn't he even have a rank? If those rich young masters were just there to gain experience, their own ranks wouldn't be too low, would they?
Zhang Lei continued writing her report diligently. In her opinion, no matter what Zhou Xuan's identity or background was, at least his current performance impressed her; he was brave, invincible, and unafraid of power.
Zhou Xuan continued playing his Four Kingdoms Chess game. This time, because he was more focused, he actually won a game. After winning, his opponent didn't leave because he had won, while one of his two opponents ran away, leaving only the other arrogantly challenging him.
Zhou Xuan couldn't help but laugh. The two female employees in the distance were talking in hushed tones. One said she would report to Director Liu again, and the other said she would take pictures of Zhou Xuan playing games with her phone so that he would have no way to deny it later.
After agreeing on their plans, the two divided their tasks. One pretended to go to the restroom to report to Liu Xingzhou, while the other took out his phone and pretended to make a call. After adjusting the camera settings, he slowly walked towards Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan naturally didn't stand on ceremony. He activated his superpower and waited until the woman walked three or four meters away from him, pretending to press a button but actually taking pictures of him. He immediately used his superpower to transform and devour the main components and screen of her phone.
The woman's phone was an iPhone 4, which she had just bought for over seven thousand yuan. It was the best-selling model on the market. She had initially set it to record video, but after Zhou Xuan transformed and devoured her phone, she was unaware that the recording function had been disabled. She even pretended to look for numbers or send text messages in front of Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan didn't say anything to her, continuing to play his game and letting her take pictures non-stop. When she thought he had taken enough, Zhou Xuan suddenly looked up at her and smiled, "Please take a nice picture of me, thank you."
The woman was startled, realizing that Zhou Xuan had already noticed her actions. She immediately turned around and returned to her seat, feeling embarrassed. Although she knew Zhou Xuan had discovered her, she still hid her phone under the table, intending to retrieve the video she had just taken. However, after pressing the phone's buttons, she found that the screen did not display anything. She was a little puzzled, thinking that the battery was dead. She then pressed the power button several times, but the phone still did not display anything.
The female employee was surprised. Luckily, she had a spare battery in her bag, so she quickly found it and replaced it. However, the phone still didn't display anything when she turned it on, which made her heartbroken. This phone cost her more than two months' salary. Could it be broken already?
Zhou Xuan had anticipated her situation. If she took it to an Apple retailer, it would be covered under warranty. Zhou Xuan intentionally cut off her escape route. His supernatural ability had transformed and devoured the manufacturer's seal inside the phone. Without this seal, the manufacturer would not provide warranty service. Moreover, once it was opened, the repairman would find that it was definitely caused by human error and was not covered under their warranty. Therefore, it would not be covered under warranty. At that time, the woman would have no way to complain. She must have been watching the repairman disassemble the phone, so she couldn't blame him.
Forget about blaming others, she's already feeling extremely uncomfortable. Her phone, worth over seven thousand yuan, suddenly broke for no reason, and she's heartbroken. She doesn't even know what's wrong with it, and she's lost all interest in taking pictures of Zhou Xuan as evidence.
Zhang Lei was writing her report diligently by herself, while Zhou Xuan, undisturbed, played a few games of chess in a good mood. Time passed quickly without him noticing. After Zhang Lei finished writing her report, she read it aloud to Zhou Xuan.
Another female employee returned at this time; she had gone to Liu Xingzhou to report him. As soon as Liu Xingzhou returned, he immediately called his subordinates to inquire about what had happened that day. Upon learning the details, he was utterly shocked.
No wonder Deputy Director Luo was furious when he called. If everything Fu Yuanshan did today was true, then it could be said that Deputy Director Luo and the other deputy directors were powerless to reverse the situation and could only watch as Fu Yuanshan's power grew. No wonder Deputy Director Luo was so angry. Even if he were in Deputy Director Luo's position, he would probably be even angrier than Deputy Director Luo.
As soon as the female subordinate entered Liu Xingzhou's office, she started talking about Zhou Xuan in a mysterious way again, saying that she could even take a video as irrefutable evidence of Zhou Xuan playing games for Director Liu. However, Liu Xingzhou turned on her and scolded her severely, saying that she not only did not know how to do her job at work, but also deliberately came to cause trouble and sow discord among colleagues. The female subordinate was so embarrassed that she ran back to her office with her head in her hands, her face dark as she faced another colleague.
Another phone inexplicably broke, and they were both in a very bad mood, with dark expressions on their faces.
Zhou Xuan was initially angry when he heard the two of them whispering, but now he felt relieved and was in a good mood to listen to Zhang Lei read the report. However, Zhang Lei glanced at the other two ill-intentioned colleagues, immediately stopped reading, and handed the report to Zhou Xuan, telling him to read it himself.
Zhou Xuan took it and read it through. Fortunately, the report was not too long, only a little over a thousand words, and he finished reading it in a few minutes. Zhang Lei's report was well written. Most importantly, she was really obedient and did not mention anything Zhou Xuan had instructed her to do. She only said that she had taken on the arrest mission after receiving the task order from the municipal bureau leaders.
During the arrest, there was a minor altercation with several resisting security guards from the club. However, when the criminal was finally caught, it was much simpler. The criminal had taken a woman hostage, but after Zhou Xuan distracted him, Zhang Lei jumped over the plane, grabbed the criminal, and rescued the hostage, thus completing the mission.
The process was unbelievably simple, because the whole thing was so simple that even now, Zhang Lei still couldn't be sure what kind of criminal she and Zhou Xuan had arrested, and she simply couldn't believe that the criminal was the cruel murderer in the case file.
After reading it once, Zhou Xuan immediately smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay, no problem, that's how it's written. The writing is quite good. Hehe, to celebrate successfully completing the mission, why don't you treat me to a meal? I'm starving."
Zhang Lei was speechless with disbelief. If it was a celebration, why did Zhou Xuan expect her to treat everyone? His expression was so nonchalant; he didn't seem to realize that as a man, she was a woman and he should be the one to handle everything. He had absolutely no gentlemanly manners.
Despite her thoughts, Zhang Lei was still very happy. She was happy to accept the offer to treat, but she said with a smile, "I can treat you if you want, but let me make this clear beforehand: my salary is quite low, and I'm always short of money. So, if you want me to treat you to a meal, that's fine, but I can only afford something under fifty yuan."
“Okay, fifty it is. As long as you treat me, it’s just a few steamed buns and mantou, it doesn’t matter,” Zhou Xuan replied with a smile. When he came in the morning, he had already ripped Zhang Lei off, and he paid for everything at KFC.
When Zhou Xuan heard Zhang Lei openly stating the standards, he suddenly felt a sense of kinship. Zhang Lei was much easier to get along with than his other colleagues, much better than those who only cared about promotions and flattery and loved vanity. At least she made him feel comfortable and not stifled when he was with her.
The two of them planned to hand in the report to Fu Yuanshan and then go out for dinner. Zhang Lei could now clearly see that Zhou Xuan genuinely disregarded the rules of the Municipal Bureau. Whether he was at work or not, he did everything himself and could leave whenever he wanted. Especially the scene where Zhou Xuan had Director Liu Xingzhou speechless and red-faced made Zhang Lei feel particularly comfortable and happy.
However, as the two were waiting at the elevator, by sheer coincidence, Fu Yuanshan called Zhou Xuan's phone. After Zhou Xuan answered, Fu Yuanshan simply chuckled and said, "Come to my office right away."
Zhou Xuan stroked his chin, but didn't tell Zhang Lei. Anyway, they were both going to Fu Yuanshan's office, so it wouldn't make a difference whether he told her or not.
Zhang Lei knocked lightly on Fu Yuanshan's office door again. This time, Fu Yuanshan didn't answer from inside; instead, he came to open the door himself. When he saw that it was Zhang Lei who had knocked, he paused for a moment, but then, seeing Zhou Xuan standing behind her, a smile spread across his face. He waved his hand and said with a grin, "Come in, come in, come in and let's talk."
After sitting down on the sofa, Fu Yuanshan glanced at Zhang Lei intentionally or unintentionally. Zhou Xuan understood what he meant. He was asking if it was inconvenient to talk about the matter at hand with her there.
Zhou Xuan knew what Fu Yuanshan was about to say; it was definitely about the confessions of the criminals arrested in those seven cases. Judging from Fu Yuanshan's expression, it was likely that the criminals had already confessed. Even if Fu Yuanshan didn't say it now, others in the Municipal Bureau, or even higher-level leaders in the city, would definitely find out the outcome through various channels. There was no point in hiding it, and there was no need to hide it at all. What Fu Yuanshan needed to do was immediately spread the news widely, letting the city's top leaders know how sensational his achievements were. Moreover, this was only his first day in office. Such achievements would be unprecedented in history for anyone else. It was easy to imagine that no one had ever performed so outstandingly.
"Director Fu, just say what's on your mind, no problem," Zhou Xuan said with a smile.
Fu Yuanshan was merely inquiring about Zhou Xuan's intentions. He himself understood that catching the criminals was only the first step; the entire operation would be considered complete once they confessed and signed their confessions. Fortunately, these criminals had committed capital crimes. Although the police hadn't discovered any flaws, they had long been restless and uneasy. Now that they were caught, there was countless pieces of evidence, and Zhou Xuan had meticulously recorded their crimes in the notebook he gave to Fu Yuanshan. With that notebook, Fu Yuanshan's interrogation process became much faster and easier. Moreover, the interrogators he arranged were all extremely experienced veteran criminal police officers. After catching these criminals, they believed that the police had too much evidence against them, otherwise they wouldn't have been caught so easily. The interrogators would occasionally bring up a word or two from Zhou Xuan's written records of the crimes, which made them lose all sense of caution and confess their crimes.
It was simply unbelievable. In the interrogation monitoring room, Fu Yuanshan couldn't help but burst into laughter as he watched the scene on six or seven monitors. All the suspects in the six cases had confessed and signed their confessions within two hours. Just as the interrogation was ending, another group of arresting officers called back to report to Fu Yuanshan that the suspects had been successfully apprehended at the second location and were now being escorted back.
Fu Yuanshan was overjoyed and immediately sent the written testimony and video recordings of the interrogation to Wei Haihe. Wei Haihe was completely relieved and summoned the main leaders of the municipal party committee, and then summoned several leaders of the public security bureau to the municipal party committee office, all waiting for Fu Yuanshan's testimony to arrive.
After Fu Yuanshan handed over the evidence to Wei Haihe, he was so overwhelmed with emotion that he immediately called Zhou Xuan and asked him to come to his office. Zhou Xuan and Zhang Lei then came over together.
Seeing Fu Yuanshan's expression, Zhang Lei immediately handed the report to him respectfully and said, "Director Fu, this is my and Zhou Xuan's action report... Shall I go out now?"
Seeing Zhou Xuan's indifferent attitude, Fu Yuanshan also considered that once these cases were over, there was basically no need to keep them secret. It didn't matter if she knew. Besides, regardless of her thoughts or background, she was still a police officer, a colleague working with Zhou Xuan, and there was no need to be wary of her. Moreover, Fu Yuanshan could already foresee the current situation; the outcome was already decided.
"Hehehe, Lao... Xiao Zhou, Xiao Zhang, hehe, I have some good news to tell you. After the hard work of our comrades in interrogation, the suspects in the six cases we have arrested have all confessed. I have also arranged for people to investigate and verify other physical evidence that we do not yet know about or have obtained, based on the suspects' confessions. Today is a complete victory for us. Hehehe, normally we should celebrate this properly, but I have to go to Secretary Wei's meeting at the municipal government later. When things ease up in the next few days, I'll treat everyone to a meal."
Zhang Lei found it quite strange, because Fu Yuanshan's attitude towards Zhou Xuan was definitely not the expression of a superior treating a subordinate. Moreover, Zhou Xuan's rank was the lowest level, several levels lower than hers. Compared to Fu Yuanshan, it was like comparing heaven and earth, there was no comparison.
But Fu Yuanshan's expression and tone towards Zhou Xuan... Zhang Lei found it strange. There was a hint of intimacy, but it didn't feel like an older brother to a younger brother. Instead, Fu Yuanshan seemed to show a degree of respect and deference towards Zhou Xuan. Zhang Lei felt that Fu Yuanshan didn't act like a superior, but rather Zhou Xuan did. It was as if Fu Yuanshan, the subordinate, felt a sense of superiority towards Zhou Xuan.
Volume 1, Chapter 546: Playing the Tiger to Eat the Pig
Chapter 546 Pretending to be a tiger to eat a pig
Zhang Lei had that feeling; her keen intuition as a girl allowed her to detect the unusual relationship between Zhou Xuan and Fu Yuanshan. Seeing Zhou Xuan's relaxed, casual, and unrestrained demeanor, she became even more certain.
“Oh… there’s one more thing I need to tell you, I almost forgot.” Zhou Xuan suddenly remembered the conflict with Liu Xingzhou, and then told Fu Yuanshan the details of the conflict.
Fu Yuanshan snorted and said, "Don't worry about this guy. I know all six departments of the Municipal Bureau, especially Liu Xingzhou in the fourth department. Once everything is settled, I'll deal with this guy first."
Fu Yuanshan's face darkened upon hearing Zhou Xuan's words. Complaints against Liu Xingzhou were not uncommon in the Municipal Bureau. However, the Municipal Bureau was like the Three Kingdoms period: one director and three deputy directors. Among the three deputy directors, one was strong and two were weak. The strong one was close to the director, while the two weak ones were not weak in any way, but rather suppressed. One of them was Deputy Director Luo, who was considered relatively strong among the weak. The other, Deputy Director Zhang, was exactly sixty years old this year. Regardless of whether he was strong or not, he was already past his prime.
Liu Xingzhou was working under Deputy Director Luo. With the Director transferred, the Municipal Bureau is now divided into three parts: Deputy Director Luo and Deputy Director Zheng are the most powerful, while Old Zhang is the weakest and basically has no intention of competing for the Director position.