So, she couldn't be bothered with the act Xue'er was putting on and decided to go chat with Yanyan again.
She believed that if she probed a little more, she could probably extract relevant intelligence from Yanyan's mouth.
Who knows... there might be a big harvest!
Just like that, a day quickly passed.
During this day, Ai Li barely went anywhere, just dragging Xue'er around and pestering Yanyan.
She knew she couldn't ask directly, so she beat around the bush with her inquiries.
Like what Qiu Tu and Yanyan had talked about, where Qiu Tu had gone during the meeting, whether Qiu Tu had any improper designs on Yanyan, and so forth.
Yanyan seemed genuinely annoyed by the pressure.
So, by 5 p.m., when Ai Li once again asked what Qiu Tu had for dinner last night, Yanyan finally spilled everything.
When she heard that Qiu Tu would send a confidant to deliver a precious item tonight, and that this item was related to the Evil God,
Ai Li's interest was piqued.
She checked the time; there was still an hour until 6 p.m.
She simply didn't have time to make various arrangements and had to intercept it herself!
This made her suspicious.
Sitting in the car on the way to The Military, Ai Li looked over at Yanyan beside her and said with some suspicion, "Yanyan... we're good friends, right?"
"You wouldn't harm me, would you?"
Yanyan, hearing this, lifted her angelic face in confusion and asked, "Of course we're good friends... so why would I harm you?"
"The news I heard was eavesdropped on."
At this, Yanyan detailed the moment she eavesdropped.
According to her story, Tang Feifei had come to the Investigation Bureau to look for Qiu Tu.
She didn't dare seduce her man in front of Tang Feifei, so she took the initiative to leave.
But as she left Qiu Tu's office, she kept a wary eye out, and intentionally blocked the door with her heel as she closed it.
So the door was left ajar.
Pretending to be Qiu Tu's secretary, she stood by the door, but in fact, she was all ears for the conversation inside.
She overheard Qiu Tu's plan to transport a precious item he used to communicate with the Evil God, to The Security Department for archiving.
She also heard Tang Feifei mention that the item should not be exposed; if it was, some of the things Qiu Tu was doing would be uncovered.
Although Qiu Tu's intentions were good, privately contacting the Evil God was always going to be problematic, potentially giving others something to hold against him.
Just as she overheard this, Tan Huimin returned.
She couldn't eavesdrop anymore and promptly left.
Her initial reluctance to tell Ai Li stemmed from simple reasons: she had only heard half the intelligence.
She didn't know the full picture of the intelligence and whether it was a decoy or not. She was worried about harming Ai Li.
Honestly, the entire story Yanyan fabricated was logically consistent and well explained.
Moreover... it perfectly left a way out for herself.
In case something did go wrong, she could extricate herself.
But it was precisely this kind of behavior that made Ai Li feel strange.
After all... only someone who already knew there was a problem would be so careful to leave themselves a way out.
Yanyan's action was actually a bit dubious.
Moreover... even if she was wrong in suspecting Yanyan, even if Yanyan hadn't betrayed her,
She couldn't believe that Qiu Tu, as cautious as he was, would let Yanyan overhear such important intelligence...
Therefore, after hesitating for a few minutes, Ai Li still didn't dare take the risk herself.
So, she took out her communicator, right in front of Yanyan, and spoke with Yu Zhengyi and Lin Chuan.
The underlying message was simple: she was sharing an intelligence to see if anyone was bold enough to risk pissing off Qiu Tu and investigate the item being transported.
Both Lin Chuan and Yu Zhengyi had also gotten wind of this news from other sources.
Which meant... something so secretive was now known by all of Qiu Tu's enemies.
'There must be some trick to it!'
With this thought, Ai Li felt pretty sure her speculation was on point!
She didn't know what Qiu Tu had hidden in that package,
But... she assumed it was most likely not an object but a trap.
But... was it really a trap?
Thinking this, Ai Li started to hesitate again.
After all, everything was too abnormal.
If Qiu Tu had only told one person, it might be a trap. To tell all his enemies...
Wasn't that just blatantly telling all his enemies that he was setting them up?
What good would that do Qiu Tu?
'Could it be that he's doing the opposite of what's expected?'
'Maybe he's really delivering an important item to The Security Department, wanting to clear his name?'
'But because we've all been watching him lately, he's worried we'll catch on to the ruse.'
'So, he opts for a feint, making us think it's a trap, so we don't dare check the item...'
Truth be told, there were far too many logical directions and reasonable deductions one could make about a situation.
So... with two completely opposite conclusions before her, Ai Li found it hard to decide.
And so, until 5:30 p.m., Ai Li arrived at the gates of The Military Camp.
The vehicle stopped, and she sat quietly inside, eyes closed, deep in thought...
Not far off, within the military camp, there was a watchtower. Major General Lin Chuan, Lin Ting, and Yu Zhengyi were standing there, quietly watching Ai Li's motorcade.
After a moment, Yu Zhengyi turned to Lin Chuan beside him and inquired, "Colonel Lin, if it were you, would you check or not?"