Shelley's revelation left everyone in the room stunned, their gazes fixed on the young man beside her.
"He's our new detective?"
Luke was also taken aback by Shelley's sudden act of shooting the "new detective" dead.
Shouldn't they have deceived him and taken care of the situation in a secluded place?
But now...
A lifeless body slumped on the chair, blood pooling around it.
As the one in charge, should I sit or not?
Shelley, oh Shelley, you were plucked out of prison by Princess Agatha but never given a chance to prove yourself. Don't you ever reflect on that?
Luke turned to Pisco and said, "Go, dispose of the body and bring me another chair."
"Yes, Detective!"
Pisco, strong as ever, carried the body of the "new detective" and the chair out, returning shortly with a new chair.
Amid the watchful eyes of everyone in the room, Luke walked behind the detective's desk and took a seat.
He placed his cane to the side and put the appointment letter in a drawer.
Then...
"I am extremely dissatisfied with your way of doing things! Originally, this person should have been secretly disposed of, and then I would have arrived with the appointment letter, following the proper procedure without alerting anyone."
"But due to your reckless arrests, we now face a significant mishap during the inauguration, which seriously hampers the progress of the mission bestowed upon me by Princess Agatha!"
Shelley and Pisco immediately stood at attention.
"We apologize, Detective."
Luke waved his hand, his tone slightly softened. "Since the incident has already occurred, I don't want to deal with my future subordinates on my first day in office. Today's events... someone came here with a forged appointment letter to deceive us. They were recognized by all of you and promptly killed."
"Does anyone have any objections?"
Turning an incident where someone took a "envelope" and sat in the office with an appointment letter into a case of deception was undoubtedly a significant mishap during the inauguration. And there were secret tasks from Princess Agatha behind it.
If the Bureau of Secret Affairs were to investigate further and uncover the cause of the incident, the Cape Area Secret Affairs Bureau would bear significant responsibility.
However, if this incident were portrayed as a fraudster trying to deceive them, not only would the Bureau of Secret Affairs be blameless, but they would also gain credit.
The new detective takes office as planned.
Happy endings for all.
Writing "case reports" was the specialty of the Cape Area Secret Affairs Bureau.
As for Luke's identity, nobody in the room had any doubts.
Pisco had already greeted them in the morning, advising them not to rush to confirm the "new detective's" identity and not let him wander around.
Everything would be settled once the Black Mamba arrived.
It indicated that he had known there was something wrong with the "new detective" all along.
The Black Mamba arrived late today and came with the real detective.
It was safe to say that the Black Mamba and Pisco knew that the detective and the appointment letter would arrive separately.
However, there was a mistake in between, resulting in the "envelope" coming in with the appointment letter.
It would be best if this matter were turned into a case of fraud, making the Cape Area Secret Affairs Bureau not only blameless but also deserving of credit.
The detective took office as planned.
Everyone was pleased.
"Okay, you don't have to introduce yourselves. I know the details of each and every one of you. If there's nothing else, you can all leave and carry out your respective tasks."
"Yes, Detective!"
Luke's "subordinates" exited the office one by one.
As Shelley was about to leave, Pisco called her back and said to Luke, "Detective, last night there were two vicious murder cases in our Cape Area. One happened in the storage area at the end of Wind Block Alley, and the other at the headquarters of the Raging Axe Gang. Many people lost their lives."
"Especially the Raging Axe Gang... their leader, Bullhorn, the Demonic Sprout, is dead, and nearly half of their core members are gone. They're severely weakened!"
Luke thought to himself, wasn't that my doing?
Moreover...
"Why is that our concern? Shouldn't the Cape Area Security Bureau handle it?"
Pisco looked at Shelley.
Shelley hadn't expected such a significant incident to occur last night.
She explained on Luke's behalf.
Houtu City had a total of six districts, each with its own branch of the Secret Affairs Bureau.
Although the branch bureaus were directly under the Imperial Bureau, they had no hierarchical relationship with each other. However, the branch bureaus' operational funds, apart from a portion from the Imperial Bureau's allocation, mostly came from the city's finances.
Thus, the allocation of these funds fell into the hands of the central branch.
"Detective, the allocation we receive from the Imperial Bureau barely sustains our regular operations here. Once the funds are in our hands, they're easily exhausted on a few drinks. We also have to pay the undercover agents and informants who aren't on the official payroll, not to mention various visible and invisible expenses."
"But the central branch... using taxpayers' money to protect the taxpayers, they prioritize allocating funds to the new city districts and affluent areas. Despite our district being three times larger, we receive only one-tenth of the funds allotted to other districts, if not less."
"Other branch bureaus have over a thousand secret agents under their care, not including the undisclosed ones. Our bureau, both overt and covert, has only around four hundred personnel. How can we manage such a large district? It's simply not enough."
Therefore, they had accepted support from some businessmen and gangs.
The Raging Axe Gang was one of their major sponsors. With their leader gone, countless individuals would seek to seize control of the industries under their influence.
And as the backers of the Raging Axe Gang, if they couldn't protect them at this time, other sponsors would lose confidence in them.
Pisco provided further details on the development of the events. "I've already sent a team to the Raging Axe Gang headquarters and blocked off the Security Bureau officers. We must respond quickly, or the Security Bureau will swallow up the Raging Axe Gang headquarters!"