Chapter 360

After glancing at Leon’s mountain of plates, the female police officer nodded somewhat speechlessly, then while eating from Leon’s plate, leaned over and whispered mysteriously: “Leon, the Secret Investigation Bureau has finished investigating that big commotion from a while back. It was probably done by the radical rebels!”

A while back?

“The Gold Nightingale Marquis who drowned herself in the lake?”

“Even earlier!”

If we go even further back…

Upon hearing this, Leon’s heart stirred slightly, then he probed: “Could you possibly mean…”

“Of course, it’s about the burning of the Boarding Tower! Haven’t you read the newspapers?”

“…”

“You really haven’t read them?”

Incredulous, the female police officer couldn’t help but criticize:

“Although our job content is different, you’re still part of the Public Security Bureau, right? Even if you don’t read other papers, you should at least subscribe to the ‘Police Special Edition,’ shouldn’t you?”

“…”

The problem isn’t whether I subscribed or not; it’s that I burned the boarding tower myself! Moreover, the artificial intelligence inside the airship is now idling in my Mirror World.

And actually, there’s something involving you too, since the fake credentials and uniforms I used to infiltrate the defense lines were all obtained from your unregistered inventory at the Public Security Bureau…

“Never mind, if you didn’t read it, you didn’t,”

Unaware she was an accomplice in the attack on the boarding tower, the female police officer shook her head, gave up explaining the importance of the newspaper to Leon, decided to include him when subscribing next time, then said solemnly: “If you don’t know about the boarding tower incident, just know that it got burned, and along with it, a very precious special airship was lost.

When the Crocodile Kingdom learned of the news, they became extremely angry and directly pressured the kingdom through their ambassador, demanding results within two months. Even if the criminals can’t be identified, at the very least, the lost core components of the airship must be found.”

“So… did this task land on your heads?”

“What else?”

Scooping up a large spoonful of rice pudding into her mouth, she chewed fiercely as if venting her anger. With a weary expression, she said helplessly: “To find criminals and search for things, wouldn’t you rather look for the police of the Public Security Bureau than those worms in the Ministry of Finance?”

“Leon, do you know? After the Crocodile ambassador issued a formal note stating that if there are no results within a month, economic ties will be severed and airship transport routes temporarily closed, all the high-ups in the capital got worried!

The princess, prime minister, defense minister, diplomatic minister, finance minister… In these few days, many high-level officials have taken turns applying pressure. Except for the princess offering some help, the rest had increasingly severe tones. In just a few days, the hair of the public security minister turned white from worry…

Don’t just listen to me, hurry up and eat! It’ll get cold otherwise!”

“Oh oh!”

Forking a piece of fried cod into his mouth, Leon chewed tastelessly a couple of times before furrowing his brows deep in thought…

“Exactly!”

Taking a forkful of apple pie from Leon’s plate, the female police officer said with a gloomy face: “Especially our Secret Investigation Bureau, since we’ve been handling the rebel issues, we’ve been scolded the most. The new director gets summoned daily by the public security minister to be berated, then comes back covered in spit to yell at us… Look over there!”

While speaking, the female police officer pointed with her fork to the side of the two. Following her gesture, Leon saw a policeman with darker circles under his eyes than Isa sitting hunched over at the dining table, absentmindedly scooping mashed potatoes with a spoon, his head nodding occasionally.

Honestly, watching him eat like a chicken pecking rice, Leon doubted if he even knew where the spoon was, feeling he might shove the spoon into his own nose at any moment.

“He was on duty yesterday for our external operations team and just returned from patrol this morning. He’ll have to attend a meeting after finishing eating…”

Sympathetically looking at the utterly exhausted colleague, the female police officer said fearfully: “He was only on the third round of patrols, which was already easier. Those of us on the first round didn’t sleep for over 70 hours, running through half the capital. When we came back, we felt like dying…

I’m really impressed! Those rebels must be brain-dead! Why not just assassinate the finance minister instead? Or even storm the royal palace! Why attack the boarding tower? Honestly, I’d rather they kept trying to assassinate my dad like before than endure this overtime again… Over 70 hours! I don’t even know how I managed to survive it back then!”

“…”

Ah Zhe… Sorry, I didn’t realize there would be such consequences when I attacked the boarding tower…

“That… Isa…”

Not missing a single word of content on 69 Book Bar!

Looking at the female police officer chewing angrily on fish bones, ready to curse the “rebels” at any moment, Ri·Boarding Tower Incident Mastermind·Cause of Overtime Across the Police Department·Ang couldn’t help but feel guilty and asked:

“You haven’t said what you need me to help with yet.”

“Oh right, almost forgot…”

Spitting out the fish bone un-ladylike, the female police officer looked up at Leon hopefully:

“Does your Clearing Bureau have anything particularly good at finding people? Or… someone especially skilled at finding things?

Although there’s still more than a month until the Crocodile Kingdom’s deadline, I have to participate in the fourth round of patrols tomorrow. If we keep failing to find anything, I’ll have to do eight or nine more rounds… Waaah…”

After swallowing a huge mouthful of beef stew, whether from the heat or the foreseeable hellish overtime for the next two months, the female police officer tearfully begged: “Please, Leon, can you help me? Even if we can’t find the criminals who attacked the boarding tower, recovering what the Crocodile Kingdom lost would be fine! If this keeps going, I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold on much longer…”

“…”

I’d love to help you, but the criminal who attacked the boarding tower is sitting right in front of you eating dinner, and what the Crocodile Kingdom wants is right here in my cufflink… I can’t exactly turn myself in to you, can I?

“Sorry, I doubt I can help with that…”

Apologizing mentally to Isa, who was caught up in this mess, knowing she wouldn’t find anything no matter how hard she searched, Leon tentatively suggested:

“How about this, I’ll ask our director for a note, saying there’s a special situation requiring assistance in the investigation, then you can take leave using that note, come to my office, and catch a few hours of rest?”

(End of Chapter)