Chapter 1246 Confession and Doubts
"You played a part in making the Tragedy Of The Pinnacles happen?"
After hearing the interrogation results, Han Xiao could not help but size Sorokin up with surprise.
"I"ve changed many ident.i.ties and have always been trying to reduce the number of Beyond Grade As in the universe. But as you can see, the Holy Accord and the Underworld found ways to revive them, so that"s a dead end."
Sorokin was hopeless.
After entering the Underworld, there were no secrets that he could keep anymore. Plus, Hila could control him anytime.
Reducing the number of Beyond Grade As was his old goal. However, as he found out about the Holy Accord and the Underworld, he immediately knew that there was no way this plan would ever work. He was forced to change his mindset.
Sorokin shared all the other ident.i.ties he had once used and confessed the fact he secretly a.s.sisted in making the Tragedy of the Pinnacles happen. He knew his situation very well; no matter how unwilling he was inside, he knew that this past of his had the potential to become a ticking time bomb in the future, so he actively brought it up.
If he kept it hidden, although he might have a chance to mess with Han Xiao, if the Underworld was damaged because of it, he would be affected too. As the saying went, if he could not resist, he might as well enjoy it. At least the Underworld Hero Spirits had almost infinite life. Although it was not what he really wanted, it was not too bad either. He had no choice but to protect this only remaining privilege he had.
After hearing the various ident.i.ties Sorokin shared, Han Xiao tutted and said, "So, they were all you. You really love causing chaos."
Initially, he had been thinking about how to frame Sorokin for what happened to Gaud, but now it seemed easy. Sorokin had so many ident.i.ties in the past and a history of guiding the Tragedy of the Pinnacles. There was his motive!
As for clues and evidence, with Sorokin right there, he was not worried about not finding them.
Han Xiao put this thought behind him for the time being and said, "Let"s put this aside first. Tell me the resources you have, such as secret warehouses, internal intelligence of the Limitless Financial Group, business secrets… Be honest. If you cooperate, I might consider leaving you some."
Sorokin knew that Han Xiao had his eyes on his a.s.sets and wanted to get all the benefits he could get from him. He was unwilling in his heart, but Hila was right beside them, and he had no choice but to truthfully share everything.
Han Xiao noted them down and could not help but be impressed.
"Not bad, not bad. You"ve acc.u.mulated quite a lot of good things. Other than technology, blueprints, and knowledge, you even secretly collected eight Universal Treasures…"
If not because I have Jayz"s treasure trove, my inventory would also be about this much.
Being rich is really nice!
As for the Limitless Financial Group, it was a huge cake. Although Han Xiao wanted to eat it all, he had to control his appet.i.te, or it would cause suspicion.
After Sorokin "escaped due to fear of having what he did to Gaud discovered", the Limitless Financial Group would definitely be severely impacted and dissected by tons of organizations. Han Xiao did not plan to enter the scene in advance. He planned to have the Germinal Financial Group act together with the other organizations after Sorokin was discovered to have gone missing. Making sure he could get a piece of the cake was enough; being too greedy was not a wise idea.
However, as for the "backup plans" Sorokin secretly prepared by using the Limitless Financial Group"s funds, he could take all of them.
After Sorokin was done, Han Xiao put away the notebook with satisfaction and grinned.
"Alright, what needs to be said has been said. Spend some time getting used to staying here… Hila, take care of this guy. I"ll be going back."
Hila nodded with a poker face. "Don"t worry, I"ll take care of him."
She emphasized the words "take care". Han Xiao instantly remembered how much of a battle maniac Hila was and could not help but secretly pity Sorokin.
He did not have the time to spar with Hila, while as the only Hero Spirit who had Beyond Grade A strength in the Underworld, Sorokin was clearly the perfect opponent. Since he could not be killed, she could kill him again and again!
Han Xiao gave Sorokin a weird glance, shook his head, and disappeared in his King suit.
Seeing this, Sorokin sighed. He felt that life was so magical. All he could do now was adapt to the new life.
This time, the seven Hero Spirit Kings approached him, smiling.
"Eighth, let"s chat. How about you start by telling us what big things happened in the universe in these years? We"re so curious."
Sorokin"s face turned black.
"Who"s Eighth? Don"t disturb me. Scram!"
…
Days pa.s.sed one after another. Not long after Sorokin went missing, the galactic society finally noticed that the head of the Limitless Financial Group had not appeared in quite some time.
Although very few people could see Sorokin to begin with, he was the head of a top consortium in the universe and was quite famous. Sooner or later, people were bound to notice.
Without the orders from their leader, the Limitless Financial Group was becoming quite chaotic.
While the entire galactic society was wondering, the Crimson Dynasty suddenly announced a wanted order. The target was indeed Sorokin!
The dynasty claimed that they had made a breakthrough in their investigation. They disclosed Sorokin"s real ident.i.ty and his many ident.i.ties, listed the many crimes he had committed—including guiding the Tragedy of the Pinnacles—and even claimed that Sorokin was deeply connected with Gaud going missing. They stated that Sorokin was missing because he had fled, so they announced a wanted order to find him.
Ever since Han Xiao hinted Sorokin"s ident.i.ty to the dynasty upper echelons, the dynasty had been secretly investigating Sorokin in every way possible. Using this opportunity, Han Xiao left some related evidence provided by Sorokin. He did not do anything personally but instead secretly guided the dynasty to discover the evidence in the process of the investigation, exposing what Sorokin had done.
As soon as the news was announced, the entire galactic society was in an uproar. Countless galactic residents and organizations were shocked by this news!
All along, Sorokin"s image in everyone"s eyes was a wildly successful businessman, the owner of a universal consortium, and a Beyond Grade A who did not like violence. His business talent overshadowed his Beyond Grade A ident.i.ty in the eyes of the galactic society. No one had ever thought Sorokin had such a big secret, that a universally renowned businessman was the secret mastermind of so many incidents!
For some time, the popularity of topics surrounding Sorokin shot through the sky. His history was too legendary. Almost everyone uncontrollably made wild a.s.sumptions and speculations; conspiracies became popular.
As this went on, the galactic society gradually began to look at it as a form of entertainment. More and more people started to make fun of Sorokin.
In the words of the galactic residents, Sorokin seemed to have become the biggest conspiracist ever in history, and everything became related to him. Even the pig next door giving birth to seven babies was part of his secret big plan.
A new meme was born on the internet—no matter what matter they were talking about, it would all end with "this is all part of Sorokin"s conspiracy!"
While the public was having fun, the Limitless Financial Group was filled with tragedy and worry.
As the consortium"s head had run away with the money, the dynasty"s strategies came right after. The negative impact of the news caused the consortium to not be trusted. Tons of creditors came to collect their debts, the stock market price plummeted, all their business partners and galactic banks stopped granting loans, and the capital flow gradually started to show signs of breaking apart. It was doomed.
Sensing the difficult situation the Limitless Financial Group was in, the hunters everywhere sharpened their knives and started moving, biting off the Limitless Financial Group"s enormous business empire bit by bit.
Tons of organizations came to enjoy this festival, countless talents of the Limitless Financial Group left one after another, and numerous businesses were taken over; its size shrank rapidly. The product of Sorokin"s blood and sweat over many years fell like dominos.
Approved by Han Xiao, the Germinal Financial Group also took part and shared the cake as a shareholder. Old Manison, Kasuyi, and the other shareholders also feasted on the remains of the Limitless Financial Group.
Sorokin was a member of the Beyond Grade A a.s.sociation, after all, so the a.s.sociation had to host a meeting for this matter and discuss how to deal with it.
…
A meeting was going on in the round table conference room on Planet Finn.
"It"s hard to imagine that Sorokin, who always pretended to be weak, was hiding such a big secret… He"s a Primordial Ones who lived all the way till now. Who knows how strong he really is? We never saw it coming," Kasuyi said with disbelief.
"He"s indeed very well hidden. I always thought he"s really weak, even laughed at him. He probably thinks I"m just a joke." Sun Hunter scratched his head.
"Actually, I"m a little doubtful. Would Sorokin really do this? Could someone have framed him? After all, some people have a history of that…" A neutral Beyond Grade A peaked at the dynasty"s direct members. It was easy to read between the lines of what he said.
"We have solid evidence," Clotti replied calmly and was not angry about it.
They discussed the matter for quite a while when Han Xiao suddenly coughed, expressing that he had something to say. Everyone immediately became quiet.
Seeing this, Han Xiao slowly said, "Sorokin"s conspiracy is already proven to be true. He once guided the Tragedy of the Pinnacles, so attacking Gaud might be his attempt to do the same again. No matter what, despite being an upper echelon of the a.s.sociation, he"s not only not on our side but even wants to split the Beyond Grade As. He broke the principles of the a.s.sociation, causing extremely negative influences… I suggest canceling his members.h.i.+p as punishment. Let"s vote on it."
Hearing this, the others exchanged looks. After quite some time, someone finally raised their hand.
"Seconded!"
"Agreed!"
Beyond Grade As voted one after another. The people who agreed with it quickly became the majority. Manison was the only one who had yet to make a stand.
"Old man, what do you say?" Han Xiao raised his brow.
Manison glanced at him and said with a poker face, "I concur. From today onward, Sorokin"s members.h.i.+p will be cancelled. He"s no longer a member of the Beyond Grade A Development Union."
…
On the Crimson Dynasty mother planet…
"I see, the Beyond Grade A a.s.sociation cancelled Sorokin"s members.h.i.+p… They"re wise."
Marbruce finished reading the report and nodded slightly. He did not react to it much, as if he had expected this.
Opposite him was Bekorodi. They were the only two people in the room.
Bekorodi said softly, "Do you really believe that Gaud was attacked by Sorokin?"
"No," Marbruce replied without hesitation.
"Then, why did you…"
Marbruce knocked on the table and slowly said, "The evidence came too easily. Think about this. If you were Sorokin, would you have left so much information behind? This evidence is very odd. Although it"s not fake, someone secretly guided us to find it. It might be an attempt to use a real lie to hide the real culprit."
"But Sorokin is indeed missing. If it is really as you say, maybe the person who made Sorokin disappear is the same culprit who attacked Gaud?"
"Hmm, it"s very possible." Marbruce pondered. "Don"t you think all of this is too coincidental? It"s like an invisible hand is controlling everything. Do you… really think Black Star did it?
"I can"t say easily." Bekorodi hesitated. "Logically, Gaud only tried to copy the Evolution Energy, and there"s no need for Black Star to make such a big deal out of it. He has no reason to…"
"Maybe there are some things we still don"t know about." Marbruce"s eyes flickered. "I have a feeling that there might be a powerful force hidden in the universe we have yet to discover…"
"What do you mean?"
"Hehe, that"s confidential."
Marbruce smiled and shook his head. He recalled a certain piece of information he only found after becoming the ruler that had the highest confidentiality level.
As a Primordial One, the Soul Emperor somehow lived till now. Is he really the only one?