Chapter 484

Standing in the hallway of Happiness Apartment, after hearing the female police officer recount the threat from the Crolock ambassador, Leon instinctively touched his cufflink upon seeing Isa who had come directly to him so early in the morning. He then deflected the topic with, “But I’m on vacation right now. If you want me to help you look for something, you should file a report with the Clearing Bureau and wait three workdays…”

“Pfft, stop dodging!”

Seeing Leon trying to evade her again, the female police officer stomped her foot in anger and hissed, “I’ve already investigated thoroughly—it was you who attacked the Boarding Tower! Others might not know, but I do. The credentials and uniforms used during the attack were all real, taken from the Secret Investigation Bureau’s supply storage, and you just happened to ask me for a requisition form before that!”

“…”

So he’d been found out…

Looking at the female police officer who had been working overtime since the incident at the boarding tower, her eyes darkened like a national treasure, Leon felt a twinge of guilt. He cleared his throat awkwardly and explained:

“Well… sorry, but there was a reason I kept this from you…”

“I don’t care about your reasons! Is it true that what the Crolock Kingdom is looking for is with you?”

Grabbing Leon by the collar, the female police officer whispered irritably, “I know you wouldn’t recklessly mess around. There must be a reason why you did this, so even though the Public Security Bureau traced it back to the supply storage, I didn’t expose it and have been covering for you. But what now? Even if I don’t understand international relations, I know how important Crolock Kingdom’s technology is. Since the Public Security Bureau hasn’t found the attackers yet, they’re panicking and threatening sanctions. What will the kingdom do?”

“You don’t need to worry, let me think.”

After patting the female police officer’s hand as a sign of comfort, Leon furrowed his brow and analyzed the current situation.

Crolock Kingdom had probably processed the wreckage of the airship and realized that Arthif 128 had already been taken. Since they couldn’t find its whereabouts, they could only apply official pressure on the kingdom.

For a weaker kingdom, the best solution would be to hand over Arthif 128, but the problem was that it absolutely couldn’t be handed over. Its “brain” likely contained the kingdom’s energy exploration records.

If it were returned, whether or not he himself was exposed was trivial; if the kingdom’s possession of “volcanic energy” became known, Crolock Kingdom would definitely choose war. For a kingdom that had just begun to show signs of vitality, this would be a fatal blow. So…

“The item is indeed with me, but it absolutely cannot be returned.”

?! Upon hearing the first half of the sentence where Leon admitted having the item, the female police officer sighed in relief, but before she could finish exhaling, she was cut off by Leon’s next words.

“To explain simply: if we don’t return the item, the kingdom will merely face sanctions. But if we do return it, war between the two countries will be inevitable.”

After roughly explaining why the item couldn’t be returned, Leon reassured the somewhat bewildered female police officer, saying, “Also, regarding these so-called sanctions, you don’t need to worry too much. Crolock Kingdom’s situation is a bit special. The Clearing Bureau is preparing an investigation and will take action once the investigation is complete.”

“…”

“The bureau won’t act directly.”

After giving an unexpected answer, in Leon’s slightly baffled expression, the red-haired director reminded him helplessly, “Although the matter of the Crolock Kingdom is important, Honorable Taurus is about to ascend the palace. Regardless of other things, at the very least, everything has to give way to this for the next month. The bureau intends to focus on investigations first, and make decisions after confirming the situation.”

“That’s fine.”

Leon thought for a moment and said,

“It’s only a month or so anyway. Once Honorable Taurus successfully ascends, one or two months of sanctions won’t mean much to the kingdom.”

“Not just one or two months, possibly even six months or longer.”

“Because there are more than just the Crolock Kingdom whose royal families have issues. It’s not wise to act rashly. They’ll likely wait until the situation is fully investigated before collectively striking.”

The red-haired director explained,

“Leon, during your few days off, Archer Director ordered each division to conduct a self-inspection. It turns out that besides Crolock Kingdom, there are also…”

“Wait!”

Upon hearing the red-haired director’s words, Leon couldn’t help but interrupt,

“Conduct self-inspections? That iron doll said there was another traitor in our bureau, right? If we conduct self-inspections, what if the news leaks out?”

“Relax, the bureau won’t make such a basic mistake… well… generally speaking, it shouldn’t.”

After adding a less confident note, the red-haired director continued,

“After you uncovered Aquarius Director and found out he was also the Gemini Division Director, all eleven of us directors from the Zodiac Divisions underwent some inspections. We used two numbered anomalous items to temporarily impose linguistic constraints.

Since using those two items consumes a lot of energy, the number of linguistic constraint slots is limited. We can’t say much about the smaller divisions outside the Zodiac, but we larger division directors are mostly assured of loyalty. After all, if even that couldn’t be guaranteed, the Clearing Bureau wouldn’t have lasted until now.”

Not a single mistake in the content on 69 Book Bar!

“…”

I see, impressive my bureau… But may I ask, which bureau did the Gemini Division Director betray? Cleaning Bureau? Handling Bureau? Anyway, it’s definitely not our Clearing Bureau, right?

“Hmph… In short, after the twelve Zodiac Divisions responsible for guarding the kingdoms conducted internal self-inspections, it was discovered that four royal families, including Crolock Kingdom, had problems.”

“Ah?!!!!”

With Leon’s shocked expression, the red-haired director similarly expressed helplessness, “The royal ship of the Thousand Sails Sea Country Sai Ao has been completely turned into a ghost ship. Whenever it’s under the full moonlight, everyone aboard instantly turns into ghosts. If it weren’t for the dense fog above Veiled Moon Sea that never dissipates, it would have been finished long ago;

Magic Spell Kingdom of Mi Falaa also has issues. Their royal family has always been a single line of descent. The current Great Mage King is over 130 years old and is expected to die soon, but her only daughter has disappeared, leaving behind a fake. It’s unclear if the real person is still alive.”

“…”

“Moreover, Twin Kingdom of Karlevin also encountered problems. The former East and West Karlevin Kingdoms had completely different beliefs, worshiping light and darkness respectively. After the East Karlevin Kingdom fell due to the Ophiuchus Division incident, the Luminary Church that worshipped light should have disappeared.

But recently, this church has resurfaced and gotten entangled with the Profound Church of the local darkness worshippers in West Karlevin Kingdom. They seem to be attempting to restore the former East Karlevin Kingdom by modifying the state religion, which poses a significant risk to the royal family.”

“…”

So, counting the mechanical city Crolock that suffered a mechanical intelligence crisis, one-third of the world’s twelve kingdoms have been compromised? What exactly are the twelve Zodiac Divisions doing?

It’s absurd! And the Clearing Bureau never makes low-level mistakes… Indeed, low-level mistakes aren’t often made, but they sure seem to keep making fatal ones, huh?

(End of Chapter)