Chapter 1053: Chapter 1024: Rumors Escalate
No one knew where Director Mo Luo had gone!
August 3rd! Just another ordinary first day back after a day off. After Director Mo Luo left the station with two unfamiliar men, he never showed up again, and his phone had been switched off. The rumors started in the director’s office and spread through the whole station, all kinds of fun guesses slipping into people’s ears without the slightest verification or logic.
On some floor, in some department, in some corner of the station, sat a guy who looked busy but didn’t really have any substantial work to do. He carried coffee around and set it down by every staff member who needed it. People called him Tang, a very quiet and hesitant boy. His deep eyes always seemed half‑shut and droopy. He didn’t talk much, but he worked hard. Word was he’d used personal connections to get planted in the most "no secrets at all" paperwork unit of the station as a gofer.
"Hey, Tang! Have you seen our big‑ass director today?" Tang shook his head, then nodded, and his little performance drew laughter from a few of the older sisters. "Come on, tell us, did you see him or not!"
"He got in a car at the back door."
"You all hear that? Sounds like our director really did something this time. I heard that old spinster say the other side seemed to be CIA."
"What’s the CIA from the United States doing here? Did our director really commit a crime?"
"That’s not exactly impossible. Just look at his big moves lately."
Tang quietly turned and walked away, not forgetting to glance at the clock on the wall as he went. It was his quitting time.
Half an hour later, the new buzzword "CIA" began to drift quietly through the station, and the big‑ass Director Mo Luo was again labeled as someone who’d messed up. But this time he wasn’t so lucky—because this involved the CIA, the rumor mill had already decided he was gone for good. Who would succeed him became another rumor spreading around the station, with Deputy Director Meisai seen as the Black Horse with the best odds.
"Tang! You’re here early today!" Meisai had a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he browsed news online on his computer. For most people the first day back after the holiday was insanely busy, but for this deputy director, he was pretty relaxed.
"Give me five more minutes and I can clock out. Right now the whole station is busy doing rumor‑spreading work. There’s nothing for me to do." In fact, Tang wasn’t someone who spoke little; on the contrary, he could talk a lot—it just depended who he was facing. Like now, standing in front of Meisai, he had a strong urge to open up.
"Heh, then we really ought to thank our dear secretary Wanna for having such a nice, tight mouth." Meisai let out a sarcastic chuckle.
"I’m pretty sure nobody in their right mind would want a secretary like that hanging around right now. I can only insist that Mo Luo is an idiot!"
"Tang, that kind of honesty is how you lose a job."
"Even so, it still doesn’t change the fact that he’s a stupid greedy bastard, does it?"
"Tang, where exactly do you think Mo Luo is stupid? Because he hired a big mouth as his secretary? The best thing about that woman is the pair of lethal weapons on her chest. If it weren’t for that mouth of hers, I might have considered keeping her around just to look at."
Tang gave Meisai a helpless look. "Mo Luo’s stupidity lies in his greed, and the stupidest part is that he picked the wrong people to get greedy with. Looking at it now, the side in the worst spot might just turn out to be a Black Horse."
"You hinting I shouldn’t back the wrong city?"
"There’s one line in the outside gossip that might actually be true: once Mo Luo steps down, you’re the most likely candidate to become director. And that means you’ll be the one everyone tries to win over. Things are always easier with a cop on your side, aren’t they? It’s the same in any country—black and white are always tightly intertwined."
"But what if I don’t want to get caught up in all this mess? Then what?"
"That depends on whether Mo Luo is stupid or not. If it were me, I’d use this chance to slip out. But a guy as greedy as him is bound to get dragged in deep, and in the end, he’ll only wind up with a crushing defeat."
"I actually like greedy people. They’re easy to handle. Tang, that big shot you’re always talking about—what kind of person is he, really?" Meisai switched the subject, a sharp light flashing in his brown eyes.
"Meeting him was the luckiest thing in my life." A blush suddenly flashed over his quiet face. The kid’s worship of his master only made Meisai more curious.
"Then use that smart brain of yours to analyze the current situation. What odds would you give Xiao Lin? From where I’m sitting, his chances of winning are much higher than that Shao Weihua. After all, the black forces in Sicily are leaning his way."
"The winner will definitely be my master."
The two of them were cut off by the noise outside. Tang suddenly muttered something under his breath. "Meisai, did you just hear someone mention Xiao Lin’s name?"
"Oh, yeah. Problem with that?"
"Ah, no, it just sounded really familiar."
"Of course it’s familiar, you’re the one who told me about him. Don’t tell me you forgot?"
Tang shook his head. He remembered everything—except those two characters. "Looks like Mo Luo’s back."
Mo Luo strode into the station, and right at quitting time too. He stormed straight for his office, and ran head‑on into Wanna, who was just about to grab her bag and leave.
"Secretary Wanna, you’ll have to stay a bit longer. I need an arrest warrant, and get me all the files on the two murder scenes in the ’Bessade’ case. I need them right now."
"But, Director, I was supposed to—today I..."
"Secretary Wanna!" Mo Luo snapped her name, then slammed the door shut with a bang.
Fifteen minutes later, Wanna put what he’d asked for on his desk. "May I leave now?"
"Oh, yes. Before you go, call Rochester back. I need him to handle something."
"I’ll call him on the way, tell him to come back to the station." Wanna had been checking her watch over and over; she looked unusually anxious.
"You got a date tonight?"
"Yes, Director. Thanks to you, I’m about to be late."
"Oh! My apologies then. Off you go, and have fun tonight."
Wanna froze for a second. She felt like Mo Luo was a different person. Since he’d come back from outside, it was like someone had peeled him open and rebuilt him from the inside out. "Director, did something good happen to you?"
"Oh, yes! Off you go, my lovely Miss Secretary." Mo Luo’s face was practically covered in smiles, making him look much younger.
As Wanna was leaving the station, a group of traffic cops rushed into the lobby. There’d been a multi‑car pileup on the expressway to the airport, and at the scene they’d found bullet marks. A simple traffic accident was instantly upgraded into a murder case. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
