Chapter 409: Steward Yun Is Brilliant

"Old Wei, I personally think Zheng Chunhong is the only real criminal among these people. Mind your own business and give Director Ji your reasoning."

Another Sixth-Rank officer rolled his eyes, his tone somewhat annoyed.

Chief Constable Wei shook his head with a smile, swept his gaze across the surroundings, then looked toward Ji Kongliu, his tone brimming with confidence:

"Director Ji, Li Ming has provided extremely detailed accounts of the crime time, crime location, and crime details. Based on my twenty years of Ironclad Department experience, he has the highest likelihood of being the criminal."

"Mm, assessment failed."

Ji Kongliu nodded slightly.

The smile on Chief Constable Wei's face froze instantly.

His subordinates exchanged awkward glances, their expressions tinged with embarrassment.

"It was wrong... that doesn't make sense..."

Chief Constable Wei muttered softly to himself.

Another Sixth-Rank officer mused:

"Director Ji, I determined Zheng Chunhong was the criminal based on my gut instinct."

"Your instinct is wrong. Assessment failed."

"Oh."

This Sixth-Rank officer said nothing more. After all, the other one hadn't passed either.

If nobody passed, then everybody passed.

Ji Kongliu turned his gaze to the group of Seventh-Rank agents, questioning them one by one.

These Seventh-Rank agents each chose different people and provided their own reasoning.

Not a single one was correct.

Out of more than a dozen people, only a scant three remained in the running.

And among those three was Wang Ergou.

The courtyard fell very quiet.

The two Chief Constables and over a dozen Seventh-Rank officers from the First Division, Public Security Department of the Capital Ironclad Department had been completely wiped out in the assessment.

This made the Ironclad agents present feel their faces burning with shame.

At the same time, curiosity grew stronger within them—which of the remaining three was the true criminal?

"Director Ji's assessments are always this difficult..."

"I saw others speaking with such conviction, and they weren't the criminal?"

"They're not ordinary people either, right? Otherwise, how could they lie without revealing a single weakness in front of Sixth-Rank and Seventh-Rank Ironclad agents?"

After a brief silence, fragmented whispers arose.

Li Huaiyi couldn't help but look toward Yang Ling:

"Who did you choose?"

Everyone's gazes fell on Yang Ling in unison.

A flicker of expectation appeared in many Ironclad agents' eyes.

They hoped Yang Ling had also chosen wrong.

That way everyone could get along fine, and the First Division's reputation wouldn't be completely shattered.

Ji Kongliu said flatly: "He chose Wang Ergou."

"Wang Ergou? The one who only stole a few taels of silver?"

The Ironclad agents' bodies stiffened, some unwilling to believe it.

"That's not right—do we not know every petty thief in the Capital?"

"The others either committed murder or were kidnappers. This Wang Ergou, I thought from the start he was just there to fill numbers. Yang Ling chose him? He didn't make a mistake too, did he?"

The Eighth-Rank and Ninth-Rank Ironclad agents whose exam papers had been torn up earlier stirred.

"You chose Wang Ergou?"

"Yeah, you too?"

"Right..."

They had a feeling they might have guessed correctly, but because they couldn't provide proper reasoning, they'd still failed the assessment.

"Tell me your reasoning."

Ji Kongliu said with a faint smile.

Yang Ling felt somewhat impressed inwardly. This Director Ji was a man of real ability.

The assessment he'd designed had nearly made Yang Ling lose face too.

He could only use the Insight Technique four times a day. If he'd used that move directly, he'd only have had four chances, yet there were over a dozen choices on site.

Fortunately, he'd reacted quickly and used the process of elimination.

First, he used the Insight Technique to confirm that Li Ming and Zheng Chunhong were masterful liars who could lie without batting an eye.

Then he used that standard to filter out the other liars among the rest.

By combining his perception with the Insight Technique, he'd finally been able to pinpoint Wang Ergou.

"As for my reasoning..."

Yang Ling thought for a moment, then smiled at Ji Kongliu:

"Director Ji, aside from Wang Ergou, everyone else is a masterful liar. Their words might be so convincing that even a Lesser Master couldn't tell truth from falsehood face to face.

"But they're too skillful—that's precisely their weakness.

"I didn't directly find Wang Ergou. I simply found every liar except Wang Ergou."

Li Ming, Zheng Chunhong, and the others looked up in shock, staring blankly at Yang Ling, completely unaware that their weaknesses were so obvious in his eyes.

"So it really is Wang Ergou?"

Chief Constable Wei and the others were somewhat stunned.

The Ironclad agents present secretly gasped sharply.

Inwardly, they couldn't help but feel a bit of resentment.

How did their own Director end up choosing such an ordinary thief, paired with over a dozen masterful liars?

Ji Kongliu nodded slightly and glanced at Yun Buchuan:

"Director Yun, what's your reasoning for choosing Wang Ergou?"

He also chose Wang Ergou?

Everyone silently looked toward Yun Buchuan.

Yun Buchuan smiled: "No particular reasoning. I just noticed Yang Ling had spent a few extra breaths of time near Wang Ergou."

"..."

The crowd fell into silence.

Ji Kongliu couldn't help but laugh:

"Director Yun, brilliant."

Then he swept his gaze across the Ironclad agents present:

"The correct answer is Wang Ergou. Only two people passed today's assessment: Yun Buchuan, Director of the Third Division, Public Security Department, and Yang Ling, Chief Constable of the First Division, Public Security Department."

"Sir, I also chose Wang Ergou..."

An Eighth-Rank Ironclad agent whose exam paper had been torn up couldn't help but raise his hand.

"You got lucky. Go copy the Ironclad Code ten times."

Ji Kongliu said.

The other let out an "oh" and fell silent.

"The reason you all chose wrong is one important thing—you were biased from the start, believing you knew every petty thief in the Capital.

"But this Wang Ergou only stole a few taels of silver on a whim. He wasn't in this line of work before.

"I happened to run into him that day, so I brought him here today to test the waters with you all."

Ji Kongliu stated slowly.

Chief Constable Wei and the others couldn't help but grumble inwardly.

"As for Li Ming, Zheng Chunhong, and the others, I'd already started preparing this assessment several months ago.

"Li Ming was handled by the Eighth Division of the Bandit Apprehension Department.

"Zheng Chunhong was handled by the Third Division of the Bandit Apprehension Department.

"He Xianwei was handled by the Sixth Division of the Bandit Apprehension Department.

"Yu Jiaxing..."

Ji Kongliu listed them off like counting family treasures, then said with a faint smile after finishing:

"As long as you don't slack off on your duties, you'd hear some rumors here and there. Those rumors would have become a form of evidence for today's assessment, letting you see only the surface, not the substance."

"So cunning! Damn!"

Many Ironclad agents cursed inwardly.

Chief Constable Wei said awkwardly: "Director Ji, I admit I did hear about Li Ming's case earlier. I didn't expect you'd prepared it in advance..."

"Director Ji, where did you dig up these people?"

Yang Ling couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Right—where did these people come from?

Everyone subconsciously sized up Li Ming, Zheng Chunhong, and the others, only to discover that in their memories, they had absolutely no record or information about this group.

They were Ironclad agents of the First Division, Public Security Department of the Capital Ironclad Department.

Case files they couldn't normally see elsewhere, they could access at any time.

They had priority handling rights for all kinds of cases.

Yet this group of such masterful liars—they knew absolutely nothing about them?

The corners of Ji Kongliu's mouth curled upward slightly as he glanced at Yang Ling:

"This group of masterful liars you mentioned—all of them have successfully deceived Fourth-Rank Grandmasters before."

Hiss—

Yang Ling and everyone else gasped sharply in unison.

"Let me introduce you all. These thirteen individuals are intelligence agents our Department Head had placed among the Rong tribe.

"Not long ago, they completed an important mission and returned safely.

"From now on, they are colleagues of the Ironclad Department.

"Today, besides incidentally testing you all, this is also to welcome them into our First Division, Public Security Department."

When Ji Kongliu spoke again, the entire large courtyard fell completely silent.

Yun Buchuan's face was full of astonishment—he'd only just learned of this news himself.