No strange things are allowed to evolve!

However, because Snow Queen's performance was too deliberate, even if it was because the situation was urgent and she didn't have time to think, the loopholes were still too big, and Sebastian still couldn't pretend that he hadn't heard anything.

It's important to know that sometimes you can't play dumb. You need to add a little stimulation to make the other person feel like they are competing against someone of equal strength, thus gaining a greater sense of experience and accomplishment.

So he feigned confusion and asked, "Why are you the one who notified the chairman that he wants to see the young master?"

As expected, the Snow King was momentarily at a loss for words and became slightly flustered.

But she quickly came up with an excuse.

"Uh... I just happened to run into the person who was looking for him on my way here, heard about this, and then I sent the person back and came here myself."

“I see.” Sebastian lowered his head slightly, smiling with his eyes downcast. “It seems you were in a hurry when you came, your hair wasn’t even dry.”

"this..."

Snow King blushed slightly.

"Alright, alright, this isn't important." Jiang Shu waved his hand, interrupting their conversation.

He had already roughly guessed that Sebastian had guessed the Snow King's identity, so he now knew that Sebastian was cooperating with the Snow King's performance in a special way.

Normally, he, who loves watching a good show, would definitely get involved, but now he clearly has more important things to deal with and no time to enjoy this kind of pure pleasure.

So after giving Sebastian a few instructions, he left with the Snow King to go to the Chairman's place.

A moment later, the two arrived outside the chairman's office.

At this moment, Jiang Shu actually felt a little ashamed.

Not long ago, the president had helped him resolve a similar situation, and that time it was done before it attracted so much attention and before the situation escalated.

Besides helping him clean up his mess, the other person also acted very kindly, asking him if he needed anything else besides that.

Repaying evil with kindness is the right thing to do.

As a result, he turned around and created an even bigger news story. Overnight, everyone was talking about the upgrade of the incubator and discussing how to replicate this phenomenon. Everyone was trying to find the pattern in this accident and leave a strong mark on history.

It gives the feeling that a great pirate era has begun, and everyone is starting to search for "ONE PIECE".

While it's hard to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, it will definitely give the Sanctuary, which is fighting against the incubator's operation, or rather, the president, a real headache.

But there was no way around it; Jiang Shu was just too responsible.

Even if you say you can run away, you can't escape it.

However, his proud, unyielding, and true-man personality certainly played a major role.

In short, he ultimately pushed open the door alone and walked into the chairman's office, intending to face the mess he had created.

He had already figured out how to comfort the chairman.

Anyway, from beginning to end, no one thought that this was caused by an individual. Everyone thought it was a mechanism that already existed in the incubator but had not yet been discovered. So he thought he could start from this angle and persuade the chairman to turn a bad thing into a good thing, and turn this into a perfect marketing campaign against the incubator.

All I have to do is cooperate, and the Holy Temple will be able to claim that it has mastered the technology. I'm sure the guild leader won't pass up such a good opportunity to gain reputation for free.

Although I feel somewhat sorry for the director, since I sided with outsiders and let the Holy Temple get the first piece of the pie, there was no other way. If I didn't do this, the chairman might not have let it go so easily this time.

So he could only secretly vow that when he returned to the Bureau of Different Principles, he would do something even better to repay the director's kindness and the camaraderie with his fellow administrators.

However, what Jiang Shu found strange was...

The president didn't mention it at all, which rendered all the lines Jiang Shu had prepared useless.

He summoned Jiang Shu for something that Jiang Shu never expected.

"I heard from Ci Xue that you have a steward from Ditang, right?"

Xue Wang's real name is Zhao Cixue. This is something Jiang Shu learned after the first time he met the president and the two talked.

Although he still habitually calls Xue Wang Xue Wang, after he attended Xue Wang's family banquet last time, Xue Wang's parents only call Xue Wang by her real name in front of him.

“There is such a person.” Although Jiang Shu didn’t understand, he still nodded.

"Did you say anything you shouldn't have in front of him?" the president asked seriously, adding as if he could anticipate Jiang Shu's answer: "I'm not talking about swear words or nonsense. I mean, about your identity, your purpose for coming, and your relationship with me and Ci Xue."

"No, how could I say that?" Jiang Shu denied it outright.

At first, Jiang Shu found it strange, wondering why the chairman was asking this, until he remembered that Sebastian was given to him by the head of the Earth Hall.

At the time, he thought that the head of the Earth Hall was trying to curry favor with the chairman by paving the way for his associates. Although the head of the Earth Hall's practice of having Sebastian report to him on time was a bit suspicious, Jiang Shu didn't think much of it, considering that Sebastian had already become one of his own through "dedication". As time went by, he forgot about it.

Considering the president's attitude at this moment, Jiang Shu couldn't help but have some guesses, and tentatively asked, "What, is there something wrong with this person?"

The chairman did not answer directly, but instead pressed down on a document in his hand and pushed it in front of Jiang Shu.

Jiang Shu curiously opened the document, read two pages, and then looked somewhat surprised.

How did you get your hands on these?

The president shrugged: "It's easy for something to go wrong if someone has too much power. So I won't concentrate all the power in one person for any important department or position, not even myself."

The same applied to this competition. Although it was nominally overseen by the Underground Hall, various other departments were involved in every aspect, so in the end, they successfully uncovered the shady dealings.

"This can't be explained simply by the involvement of other departments," Jiang Shu said suspiciously.

The president raised his eyebrows upon hearing this: "Of course there are other methods, but don't worry about the specifics of how they are implemented. In short, this information is true and reliable."

Seeing that the chairman had already said this much, Jiang Shu wisely stopped asking questions and instead began to carefully examine the details of the intelligence.

This is an intelligence document regarding the list of participants for the qualifying rounds.

There are more than ten names on it, each with its own page. Some have more content, some have less, and some simply have a name.

Without exception, these people were all labeled as high-risk.

It's not because they are extremely destructive or have antisocial personality disorder, but because they all share a common identity—rebels.

Jiang Shu felt that he hadn't seen the name of this organization for a long time since [Town of Lies].

Although not much time has actually passed in reality, it has indeed been a long time when you add the time spent in the incubator.

However, Jiang Shu was not surprised to see rebels in the competition. After all, rebels are keen on causing trouble everywhere, so it was only natural that they would appear in such a grand event as the competition.

Moreover, it is quite reasonable for them to appear on the qualifying list.

Compared to the points-based tournament, the qualifying rounds have lower entry requirements and less stringent identity verification. Anyone who meets the standards can participate. In addition, the number of participants in each qualifying round is large, making it the perfect place to take advantage of any loopholes.

This is the real reason for Jiang Shu's doubts. To obtain this list and find only a dozen or so people from so many individuals, it is impossible to explain it simply by the fact that "multiple departments are involved in the competition."

However, since the president wouldn't say, Jiang Shu didn't ask.

So there's really only one problem left.

"So what are they planning to do?" Jiang Shu asked.

The president clearly didn't know the answer to this question either, and was currently troubled by it, so he immediately said irritably, "How would I know?"

Upon discovering that the president had summoned him for reasons other than what he was worried about, Jiang Shu retorted without any politeness, "Don't you know why you called me here?"

The president narrowed his eyes.

"Since Ci Xue didn't tell you any reason, why did you obediently come here? I don't need to remind you, do I?"

Then Jiang Shu narrowed his eyes as well.

Great, so I wasn't really okay after all, just placed on probation...

So Jiang Shu changed his tune: "What I mean is, let's discuss and study the matter of the rebels together."

The president, who had already figured out Jiang Shu's personality, didn't care about anything.

Changing the subject, he asked, "Do you remember when you were pulled into Lie Town last time?"

"Of course I remember," Jiang Shu nodded.

This event can be considered a turning point in World War II that changed Jiang Shu's strategic value in the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, and he certainly wouldn't forget it.

"Aren't you surprised that the rebels are inside my sanctuary?" the president asked again.

He thought Jiang Shu would be like a good child, staring with her clear eyes and saying she didn't know, but to the president's surprise...

"Not surprising at all," Jiang Shu said dismissively. "It's normal to have moles; we have them in our Bureau of Different Affairs too!" (Proud face)

"..." The chairman remained silent for a long time: "You'd better watch out, your bureau chief might hear this and kick you to death."

"Don't kick me to death yet, let me ask you a question first."

Jiang Shu slightly raised his hand:

Do you know how many KGB agents were in MI6 during the Cold War?

"I don't know, how much?" the president answered instinctively.

Jiang Shu shook his head: "I don't know either. I told you I was just asking a question."

"...?"

"What I mean is, it's normal to have a mole."

"..."

By this time, the president's patience had been almost completely worn off.

He finally lost his temper: "Alright, shut up and listen to me. I'm about to say something very serious and confidential!"

"Go on," Jiang Shu nodded, neither humble nor arrogant.

He seemed more like a big shot waiting for his subordinates to report on the situation.

But the president had no time to complain. He simply continued the previous topic and explained, "Ever since that incident, I've been more cautious and have been secretly investigating all the officers, including the members of the elders' council."

Not long ago, I finally discovered some clues and confirmed that your experience was completely accidental. The rebels were not originally targeting you; you just happened to run into them and suffered an undeserved misfortune.

The rebels' real purpose that time was to connect with a high-ranking official from the underworld to finalize the list, ensuring that those on the list could participate in the competition.

"A cadre from the Underground Hall?" Jiang Shu instantly understood everything.

Although the chairman only mentioned that the mole was a low-ranking official, how could an official have the guts to do such a thing?

Even though the president didn't explain the details of nepotism or factional connections, Jiang Shu could roughly guess that the final target might be the head of the Earth Hall.

That's why the guild master came to me to ask if Sebastian from the Underworld had learned any important information from me.

If the rebels find out that the Director of the Bureau of Heresy and the President of the Holy Church were jointly training him, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"That's right, that's all I have to say. I think you can figure out the rest yourself."

The president paused, then continued:

"Although the safest thing to do right now is to transfer the person next to you, the mole is unaware that he has been exposed. So, to avoid alerting him, we can't do that for the time being. You'll have to rely on your own resourcefulness."

"Besides reminding you to be very careful, there's another reason I called you here."

"what?"

"Do you see any familiar names on this list?" the president asked intently.

"No." Jiang Shu shook his head: "I don't know any of them."

The guild leader seemed unwilling to give up and further confirmed, "Isn't the name of the person who entered Lies Town with you last time?"

Seeing that the president seemed unconvinced, Jiang Shu simply said, "That person's name is Strawberry Milkshake. She's not on this list. If she really is, then it means this list is inaccurate, or that she used an alias."

"It's unlikely that he would use an alias."

The president explained regretfully:

"Even the rebels will be shown under their real names after entering the incubation facility, which cannot be hidden from the judges who control the equipment, so there is no need to use pseudonyms on this list."

Since it's not there, then it's probably true that it's not there.

"Are you planning to use this as a pretext to capture her?" Jiang Shu understood the chairman's intention from his tone and asked curiously, "Is this person special?"

"You've had contact with her, what do you think?" the president countered.

After thinking it over carefully, Jiang Shu couldn't find anything special about the other person besides their identity.

She's just an ordinary, cunning, naive, and pretty girl.

Thinking of this, Jiang Shu replied, "She has a slight tendency towards violence, like being strong enough to throw bricks, but otherwise she's alright. What, do you know her?"

“I don’t know her, but I know her father.”

The president seemed to be recalling some unpleasant memory as he said this, and he couldn't help but grit his teeth:

"Anyway, he's a really annoying guy."

Chapter 253 Destiny is what you hold in your own hands