Translator: Deyonna
Meanwhile, on the third floor of the station affairs office, in the largest office, Chen Xinyue’s face wore a gloomy expression as she tightly clenched her fists.
It is obvious that the situation has reached a deadlock.
Bard is dead, the gifted person is also dead, and there is no one, nor any evidence, to prove that there were any human factors involved in this invasion of the supply station by the king creature.
Perhaps sending the body of the king creature to the research institute of the otherworldly creatures in the main city will uncover some clues. If not, it is very likely that Chen Xinyue may never uncover the truth.
She may never be able to uncover the truth about her deceased team members and seek justice!
After some time, Chen Xinyue closed her eyes, as if she had reached a decision, and spoke calmly.
“Liang Kun, you know deep down that this incident is not simple, you also know about those dirty tricks Bard was playing behind the scenes, but you chose to protect them. However, this matter concerns all my deceased team members, so I will not let it go just like that.”
Chen Xinyue stared fixedly at the man sitting in the main seat, emphasizing every word.
“Team Leader Liang, you have violated the rules, and I will report you by name.”
Liang Kun suddenly laughed, as if laughing at a joke told by a child.
“Of course, Captain Chen. You may do as you wish.”
Most people opens one eye and close the other to such matters, after all, there are many who embezzle and withhold death gratuity funds.
Moreover, Liang Kun is not greedy; he simply crossed the line by trading with human lives, and those dead soldiers volunteered for it.
Therefore, during the audit conducted by the inspection department, Liang Kun’s actions were considered a violation, but not deemed a criminal offense.
Even if there is a punishment, it would only result in a demotion of one rank.
Chen Xinyue stared at him and smiled as well.
“Team Leader Liang, I am now a lunatic. Of course, I will not report through normal procedures.”
“Captain Chen has been serving in the army for many years, and I am aware of your connections and relationships, but you may go and look for them.”
Liang Kun’s expression remained unchanged, showing no signs of worry.
Chen Xinyue suddenly changed the topic, and she spoke.
“Team Leader Liang, as you know, I belong to the Eastern Military District. Why do you think I suddenly ran to the southern border of your district?”
The curve of Liang Kun’s lips stiffened, but he remained silent. Meanwhile, the smile on Chen Xinyue’s face widened slightly. She slowly enunciated her words, as if gradually leading the other party to think deeply.
“Who do you think has the power to directly deploy a team across military districts?”
Bang!
He Li stood up directly, looking shocked.
At the same time, the smile on Liang Kun’s face gradually disappeared.
The atmosphere suddenly tensed up, and upon noticing this, Hu Changchuan realized the situation was not good, so he promptly stepped in to smooth things over.
“Aiya, aiya, let’s talk nicely, let’s talk nicely. We are all comrades. There’s no need to make things look so ugly…”
“—Officer Hu.”
Chen Xinyue was not in the mood for another tug of war, so she interrupted him directly.
“I know you’re a person with integrity and understand the rules, so I originally intended to remind Team Leader Liang of the rules out of respect for you. However, since he does not adhere to the rules, I see no point in doing so either.”
Jon stood by the side, his head spinning from the countless rules mentioned by the captain.
Hu Changchuan smiled awkwardly, wanting to say something, but he saw Chen Xinyue directly turn to look at Liang Kun, whose expression was not too good.
“Team Leader Liang, think it over carefully. After all, the orders of the royal court cannot be violated. We will set off early tomorrow morning.”
After saying that, she turned around and briskly walked out of the door.
Jon didn’t understand, but he knew he had to keep up with the captain, so he also quickly caught up.
Hu Changchuan sighed sadly, but as he turned around, he saw Liang Kun giving him a keep calm and don’t get excited kind of look, then he softly chuckled before speaking.
“Chen Xinyue… is quite a character.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“By the way, old brother, remember to bring me a couple of good bottles of wine when you come back from the main city!”
“Get lost!”
Hu Changchuan sat down on the side in a bad mood, unable to help but sigh at the pile of troubles he was about to face.
On the other side, Chen Xinyue, after quickly walking out of the station affairs office, did not immediately go to the parking area but instead took a detour.
Jon could never guess the captain’s thoughts, so he had become accustomed to silently following along without asking too many questions.
The two of them entered a small alley, one after the other. Chen Xinyue, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped, turned around, and said coldly.
“Come out.”
“Ah?”
Jon inexplicably turned around and followed, only to see a young man in a combat uniform of military investigators slowly emerging from the dark corner of the alley.
“Ah! You’re the one from earlier…”
The curly-haired puppy may not be smart, but his eyesight is good. With just one glance, he recognized the military investigator who had just retrieved the identity tags.
“He… Hello, Captain Chen Xinyue.”
The young military investigator walked over and respectfully saluted.
“My name is Lin Qing, just an ordinary soldier. I didn’t mean to follow you; I just have something I want to return to Officer Chen.”
“Return?”
Chen Xinyue, as always, focused on the key point.
“Yes.”
As he spoke, Lin Qing cautiously and solemnly took out a box from his pocket and opened it to show Chen Xinyue.
This approach was very prudent and very thoughtful, to prevent Chen Xinyue from suspecting that there might be any dangerous items inside.
Jon curiously stretched his neck, and the next moment, his face suddenly froze in shock.
“This… this is…”
Chen Xinyue also paused for a moment. She reached out and took the box, seeing eight neatly arranged identity tags with bloodstains inside.
Lin Qing explained gently.
“We found these when we retrieved the bodies and the identity tags. I noticed they had the logo of the Eastern Military District, so I thought they must belong to your team members.”
Chen Xinyue’s fingertips trembled as she caressed those cold metal tags. In the scorching summer heat, she felt a chill creeping into her heart.
She checked each piece one by one until she finally found the one belonging to Wang Yuan.
When Wang Yuan saved her and severed his arm, he lost his identity tag. She never expected it would be found.
Chen Xinyue managed to control her emotions, with only the rim of her eyes slightly red. However, Jon beside her couldn’t hold back; his tears streamed down in large drops.
“Thank… Thank you!”
He earnestly and warmly expressed his thanks to Lin Qing.
However, Chen Xinyue remained motionless. After looking at it for a moment, she closed the lid. When she looked up again, apart from her slightly reddened eyes, her expression had already returned to normal.
“Captain Chen, I have actually heard about you. You’re a good captain.”
Lin Qing looked at Chen Xinyue, and was somewhat moved.
“Four years ago, you fought for the death gratuities for the families of your two team members, which offended the second-class executive officer of the Eastern Military District.”
Chen Xinyue paused.
Indeed, this incident happened, so she was later reassigned to a more remote location. While it was stated that the higher-ups valued her abilities and wanted her to explore more dangerous occupied areas, in reality, it was just a way to make her suffer.
It was also because of this that Chen Xinyue gained so much from her last mission.
The more remote the occupied areas, the more dangerous they are, and the better and more abundant the resources are in it.
However, Chen Xinyue had encountered all kinds of people and could tell at a glance that these words were just a prelude, with the other party’s real intentions yet to be revealed.
Plop!
“I’m sorry, I… I overheard some of the conversation between you and Team Leader Liang just now.”
Without any warning, the young man suddenly knelt down.
“So I had to come to you. Captain Chen must have known… You must have known the plight of us low-level military investigators. We are not like you elites, unable to integrate foreign bodies to become mutants, and we don’t have many firearms and supplies.”
“The salary may be considerable for ordinary citizens, but for us military investigators who are constantly risking our lives, getting injured, sometimes even the medical expenses are not enough.”
“As we grow older, we are forced to retire, and suffer from illnesses and pains. Not to mention those who have lost their hands and feet…”
Chen Xinyue listened quietly to Lin Qing’s grievances, without saying a word.
“Team Leader Liang is a good person. Although he did some things that were indeed not clean, he did it all for us. He didn’t take a single penny for himself. And this matters this time…”
Talking about this, Lin Qing showed an expression of extreme indignation and sadness.
“——It’s all because of that bastard Bard!”
Chen Xinyue quickly grasped the crucial point. Her eyes suddenly sharpened, gripping the young man’s shoulder.
“What did Bard do? Explain clearly!”
“He… He said he has connections from the higher-ups, and with just the identity tag, he can help apply for a high amount of death gratuity. Initially, no one believed it, but he gave the money in advance, along with official sealed documents.”
“Many retired veterans and disabled soldiers are short of money, and the identity tag is just a useless piece of metal to them… Besides, Bard himself took a lot, saying we are all in the same boat…”
“He, he was very good at stirring up public sentiment by false statements, so eventually everyone believed him.”
Lin Qing knelt on the ground, clenching his fists tightly.
“That was all dirty money, but it was also life-exchanged money. When Team Leader Liang found out, it was already too late…”
The young man closed his eyes in regret and hatred.
“Bard, that bastard, dragged everyone down in the water.”
At this moment, Chen Xinyue’s heart sank to the bottom.
She understood that Bard held the handle of deceiving so many people for death gratuity, using it to threaten Liang Kun into joining him, which is why Liang Kun protected him in this incident.
As soon as this crucial logic point emerged, Chen Xinyue immediately understood the unusual death rate among the investigators in this incident.
“Therefore, when Liang Kun discovered Bard’s involvement in the king creature’s attack, even attracting the attention of the royal court, he realized the seriousness of the matter. So, he wanted to withdraw immediately, and now the only way to withdraw is…”
Chen Xinyue paused, her tone suddenly becoming strained.
“To let those soldiers who used their identity tags to fraudulently obtain death gratuity truly die here?”
Lin Qing closed his eyes in pain and nodded.
“So I beg you, do not report. I beg you to keep this a secret. They did indeed receive a large sum of compensation, but they have already paid the… due price.”
“……”
Chen Xinyue fell silent, unable to express her feelings at the moment, only feeling sorrowful.
The inexperienced young lad, Jon, was completely dumbfounded, just like his stereotypical impressions of decontamination officers before. He also had a very glorious and positive imagination of the investigation corps.
So when he first encountered this kind of real, harsh, and heartbreaking truth, Jon’s worldview once again showed cracks.
He even thought about it for a long time before slowly starting to understand a little, but then it seemed like he didn’t quite understand.
Seventeen-year-old Jon didn’t understand why the righteous armed forces that should protect humanity appeared so lowly and corrupt.
He did not understand. Those people obviously once fought and risked their lives to protect. Why did they end up with such an outcome in the end?
In the end, Chen Xinyue did not refuse, but she also did not express her agreement. She just tightly held the cold identity tags in her hand and walked away.
“Let’s go, Jon.”
“…Okay.”
Jon was dazed for a few seconds, staggering away as he followed the captain, but couldn’t help looking back as he left.
Lin Qing was still kneeling in that dark alley, not getting up.
The curly-haired puppy walked far away, turned back seven or eight times, and could still see the young man kneeling.
When Jon looked back for the last time, he suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart—
That person’s back… seemed to have been broken by someone.
Crunch.
The curly-haired puppy, who frequently kept looking back, didn’t pay attention to his feet for a moment, tripped over a stone, and fell forward.
Bang.
He bumped into his captain’s left shoulder, and the next second, Captain Chen grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up.
“Watch the road!”
“Oh… Oh!”
Jon’s face slightly flushed with such a foolish mistake. He held back for a long time, and only after getting on the off-road vehicle, he couldn’t help but ask.
“Captain, do you still want to report to the higher-ups…?”
“Do you think if Liang Kun didn’t want me to know about this, that person named Lin Qing could speak so openly?”
“Ah?”
Jon didn’t respond.
Chen Xinyue turned around and looked at him with a complicated expression in her eyes.
Jon is inherently innocent and kind-hearted. Although not very clever, he is trustworthy at critical moments, which is also the main reason why Chen Xinyue chose him in the first place.
In fact, she originally wanted Jon to grow slowly under the protection of the team, to learn gradually. However, now that almost all of their team members have died in this mission, she has no choice but to make this child grow up quickly so he would have a better chance of survival.
“Lin Qing is just Liang Kun’s speaker. Otherwise, how could he have collected and found the identity tags of all our team members in such a short time?”
Chen Xinyue’s tone became a bit cold, but she still carefully analyzed it for Jon to listen to.
“The meeting just now was all prepared by Liang Kun. Everything he showed in that office, even every word he said, was just a formality to give an explanation to the people behind the scenes.”
“He can’t afford to offend them, nor can he afford to offend me. He can't let the fish die or the net break. So, Lin Qing’s move is his way of giving me an explanation.”
“……”
Jon was stunned, feeling like his brain was completely overwhelmed. It took him a while to collect his thoughts and hesitantly speak up.
“So… So, Captain, what do we do now?”
“Bard is just a small fry, and Liang Kun is just being used as a pawn. The people behind can easily mobilize a gifted person, find internal loopholes in the investigation corps to commit fraud and obtain high death gratuities. They also seem to have the means to accelerate the hatching of king creatures…”
Chen Xinyue suddenly sighed and started the car.
“This is no longer something we can handle. We need to return to the main city and report to the royal court as soon as possible.”
“Oh…”
Jon nodded, half understanding and half not understanding. He looked at the scenery rapidly receding around him. Suddenly, he remembered something and asked again.
“Will Officer Yuan Ye go with us? The royal court’s order just now did mention that he could participate in the escort mission. Should I go ask him if he would like to follow us along the way?”
“……”
Chen Xinyue felt that if she wasn’t driving, she really wanted to give Jon a good knock on the head. It was such an obvious thing, yet he still had to ask.
But in the end, she still calmly spoke up and asked in return.
“Jon, in your opinion, if that person is not with us, what are the chances of us returning to the main city alive?”
“……”
Jon took a deep breath, then suddenly understood something, feeling a chill run down his spine.
how many tickles does it take for a squid to start laughing? Ten tickles!
Lol
Thank you for the chapter! ❤