Chapter 1428: Exposed
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The Outer Frontier, synonymous with savagery and violence.
In truth, n.o.body knew just how large the Ashen Moon Universe was, for their understanding of their universe came from an extremely old star map.
The ancient star map had divided the universe into a total of 12,329 Star Regions, in the shape of a honey melon.
If one used the star map, one would find that the territory of the three federations were in the exact center of the universe, occupying thirteen percent of it. The remainder was called the Outer Frontier, for it was beyond the bounds of civilization.
For several eons now, adventurers had ventured into the Outer Frontier, but they had never been able to reach the end of the universe.
!!
The Chaos Eagle Empire was located only three days away by s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p from the border of the Starcloud Union.
The Natives who occupied this region of s.p.a.ce were called the Eaglites.
The Eaglites had taken the eagle as their totem, and their largest festival every year was the Eagle Flight Festival, when tens of thousands of eagles would be released to take to the skies and hunt herds of deer on the ground. The chaotic dancing of the eagles as they hunted the deer had resulted in the kingdom eventually becoming known as the Chaos Eagle Empire.
——
Eagle City, the Imperial Palace…
As it was near the territory of the three great federations, the Empire was host to bustling trade activity. The locals were greatly influenced by the culture of Ashen Moon, so the cities of the Chaos Eagle Empire were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tall skysc.r.a.pers, exuding modernity.
The natives of the Empire used interstellar communications and rode hovercars, and their girls liked dressing up while their boys liked martial arts and wors.h.i.+ped special ability users. They didn’t seem very different from Ashen Moonites.
The only thing that was different were the local customs and laws.
The Eaglites wors.h.i.+pped the Eagle G.o.d, and they permitted customs like slavery, dueling, looting, and other barbaric practices that the people from the three federations found unbelievable.
At this moment, the 43-year-old newly-crowned emperor of this empire, Eastsea Eagle, was raging within his palace.
“It’s not suicide! It’s not possible!
“To Eaglites, suicide is the act of a coward! My father was a hero! He would never end his life through suicide!
“Someone must have killed my father! It might be the Bearians, or it might have been those accursed pirates!
“Go and find them! If you find the murderer, I will permit you to mine in my territory. Isn’t that what you want!?”
Eastsea Eagle’s face was ashen as he bellowed at a group of Ashen Moonites in uniform.
After learning that the previous emperor had died, Sacred Federation and The Republic had immediately mobilized their Special Bureaus.
Sacred Federation’s Special Bureau wore red uniforms, while The Republic wore white, and the Starcloud Union wore dark blue.
Red, white, and blue were the primary colors of Ashen Moon. The wars that erupted every few centuries had come to be known to the populaces as the Three-Color Wars.
The mining industry was the foundation for all three federations. They had always competed with each other for the Outer Frontier, which was rich in mineral wealth.
The Chaos Eagle Empire was very close to the three federations’ territories, making s.h.i.+pping easy, and it also had a more advanced culture. To call it a strategic location would not be excessive at all.
Sacred Federation and The Republic had sent their best gold rated investigator teams, led by a red-uniformed kindly-faced fatty who went by the name of Wu Zhuo.
Across from him was a white-uniformed slender man with a glum expression. His name was Lang Yonghe.
Wu Zhuo chuckled and stepped forward. “Your Majesty, it’s not that we don’t want to help you, but we really can’t help you on this matter.
“No matter what angle we look at it from, it appears that your father committed suicide.
“I’ve heard the servants in the imperial palace say that your honored father was very emotionally unstable recently, locking himself up in his room every day and appearing very anxious. He would often lash out at servants, and he left all of the empire’s affairs to his subordinates.
“It is highly likely that something went wrong with his mind. Through our investigations of the crime scene, we found that on the night of the incident, your honored father locked himself in his room and even refused to eat dinner. The guards and servants were very concerned, so they stood guard outside the entire night. They did not find traces of anyone sneaking in.
“With such strict security, it’s impossible for someone to have entered the palace and poisoned your father.
“Moreover, the previous emperor even left behind a will before taking the poison, and the handwriting is a perfect match with your father’s. In addition, all of the fingerprints and DNA on the crime scene match with either your father or the people around him.
“In other words, based on the evidence we have, we can only conclude that your father committed suicide.
“Partings and reunions are a part of life. Your Majesty, please restrain your sorrow.”
Wu Zhuo was a slick talker, and even his old foe Lang Yonghe couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Both of the Special Bureaus had investigated, and they had both concluded that the previous emperor had committed suicide.
“I don’t believe it, and you’re not changing my mind!” Eastsea Eagle waved his hand and shouted in anger, “So long as you catch the culprit, I will give you access to mining for all my territory, and give you endless wealth for the rest of your life! Find the murderer!”
Wu Zhuo and Lang Yonghe nodded. They all wanted the mining privileges, and everyone liked money. The problem was that Eastsea Eagle’s task was impossible. Did they have to find a few scapegoats and torture them until they confessed?
At this moment, a guard next to Eastsea Eagle suddenly whispered something to him.
Eastsea Eagle was startled, and then he shouted, “The investigators from Starcloud Union’s Special Bureau have arrived? Send them in!”
A horn blew from the other end of the palace. “Presenting the Investigator squad from the Starcloud Union, Special Bureau’s Logistics Division!”
The squads from Sacred Federation and The Republic Special Bureaus were startled.
The Logistics Division?
Did the Starcloud Union have no people? How could they have sent the Logistics Division?
Even Eastsea Eagle was flabbergasted. He had heard that the Starcloud Union’s people had arrived, but not that they were from the Logistics Division. He was no fool, and he knew what the various divisions of the Special Bureau did.
Xia Fan led a party that consisted of three squads from the Logistics Division and one team each from the Combat, Technical, Intelligence, and Reconnaissance Divisions, a total of fourteen Investigators. They filed into the palace and bowed to Eastsea Eagle.
Before Xia Fan could introduce himself, Eastsea Eagle asked hastily, “Have you read the information on the crime scene I sent you?”
Xia Fan knew that Eastsea Eagle had just lost his father and the entire empire was in mourning, so he did not smile, firmly replying, “I have read it all.”
“What do the Starcloud Union Investigators believe?”
Xia Fan frowned slightly. “Based on the recordings and images, I am somewhat suspicious of foul play. But as they are only images and videos, I still need to get onto the scene to reach a final conclusion.”
Eastsea Eagle was delighted. Although he knew that the Logistics Division wasn’t that reliable, there was finally someone among the three Special Bureaus who suspected that his father had been killed.
“What are we waiting for? Head to the crime scene at once! I’ll go, too!” Eastsea Eagle stood up excitedly.
The old fox Wu Zhuo said nothing, but the stiff Lang Yonghe frowned and asked, “Someone believes the words of a bunch of guys from Logistics? Can you really do it?”
His voice wasn’t loud, but the palace was so quiet that everyone could hear it.
Xia Fan stopped and glanced at Lang Yonghe. Sniffing at him, Xia Fan replied indifferently, “It’s rare to see someone from the military transfering to the Special Bureau.”
Lang Yonghe was taken aback. “How did you know I was from the military?”
Xia Fan chuckled and swiftly said, “Your posture and your hostile gaze tell me that you’ve had strict military training. And while your posture is erect, your left shoulder is 0.3 centimeters lower than your right, meaning that you’ve been injured. Your pelvic bone is leaning slightly forward… Mmm… It must have been an injury from a caseless bullet that managed to hit the primary nerve in your torso.
“But you didn’t retire from the military because of that injury. After all, the military has many civil jobs. You were forced to retire because you’re too promiscuous. This is something that the military can’t accept.
“Last night, you had s.e.x with that blonde woman behind you, and you still have her smell and her perfume on you. It must have been quite the night. You even ate three hundred-mg performance boosting pills. I guess that’s to be expected from a special ability user. A normal person would just need to use a single 25mg pill, but you took twelve times the average dose!
“Unfortunately for this blonde woman, when she woke up this morning, she found that the entire lower half of her body was sore. Look at how she’s standing, her legs slightly apart, and how she’s constantly s.h.i.+fting her weight between her left and right legs. That’s because you two went too hard last night, draining her of her strength. Although she’s put on heavy make-up, there’s no hiding the dark circles around her eyes.
“The pink pearl bracelet on her wrist is quite valuable. Your gift to her, I presume? You seem to have quite a lot of money. Alas, she still has the wrong impression of you. Given your age, you can’t have been married for more than fifteen years, but the wedding ring on your finger has worn away too much, not because it was scratched in battle, but because you often take it off, causing fine grooves to form.
“The blonde girl knows that you’re married, so you must be constantly taking off the ring for some other woman, not her, probably young la.s.ses you find in bars or brothels. You removed your ring to trick these girls into thinking you’re not married.
“As the old saying goes, the more serious one appears on the outside, the more lecherous they are on the inside. I didn’t think that a gold Investigator of The Republic would be such a master flirter. You certainly can’t tell from your face.
“So? Am I right?”
Xia Fan spoke very quickly, and the entire palace was silent as everyone tried to digest his a.n.a.lysis of Lang Yonghe.
As for Lang Yonghe, he felt like Xia Fan had stripped him naked under the sun.
He wanted to argue, but the blonde female investigator behind him he was having an affair with was gradually going red in the face, her legs trembling. It was clear that she was on the verge of confessing the truth.
Xia Fan’s colleagues were also shocked. They knew that Xia Fan was formidable and enjoyed the favor of the Bureau Chief, but they had never imagined that Xia Fan would be this formidable!
With one glance at Lang Yonghe, he had dug up his greatest secrets and completely exposed the man!
Papapa!
Wu Zhuo would never let this chance go past. He clapped his hands, walked up to Lang Yonghe, and wickedly smiling wickedly. “Truly, I would never have imagined, Old Lang, that that stern aura of yours was feigned!
“Hahaha, I’m dying, I’m really dying! What a joke! I don’t think I’m going to feel lonely in the latter half of my life.”
The Sacred Federation’s red-uniformed Investigators laughed together with Wu Zhuo while the white-uniformed Investigators of the Republic were divided into two groups. Half of them felt embarra.s.sed, while the other half secretly rejoiced.
Suddenly, Xia Fan frowned and turned to the laughing Wu Zhuo. “Is it that funny? Would you like me to a.n.a.lyze you too, sir?” Xia Fan sniffed for emphasis.
Wu Zhuo’s smile froze, and his face went deathly pale.
But the old fox was still an old fox. He immediately put on a serious face. Affectionately grabbing Xia Fan, he said, “The Starcloud Union is incredible, producing such a young gold investigator like you.
“Little brother, didn’t you want to see the crime scene? Come, come, come, I’ll accompany you.
“Would you like to see the information I’ve gathered? No problem. We’re all here for this case. It’s only natural to share information.”
As the saying went, it was hard to hit a smiling person. Wu Zhuo had changed faces so quickly that Xia Fan quickly withdrew the idea of causing him trouble.
“Let’s go,” Xia Fan nodded, ignoring the ashen Lang Yonghe as he walked away.