“Damn, what a surprise.”
Xu Chuyao’s playful grin was hard to suppress, but her assassin’s intuition made her subconsciously ask, “Since everything went so smoothly, could something have gone wrong over there?”
Minister Long gave her a deep look, then said helplessly, “How do you always manage to guess everything? The tower collapsed yesterday.”
“What? That’s good news, right? Well, I mean, what happened exactly?”
Chuyao pulled her chair a bit closer.
“Watch the video first. Once you see it, you’ll understand.”
Minister Long said as he pulled up the footage on the screen.
Chuyao thought to herself, I already have a rough idea even without watching, but I’ll watch anyway to see what exactly he wants me to understand.
It was clear this was internal footage of the Yaha Tower Battle.
The camera angles were limited, but the development was unmistakable.
Under the radiation of the strange crystals, countless ordinary people mutated into monsters and attacked the few dozen Spirit Power Users present.
Chuyao watched intently, occasionally uttering exclamations like “Wow,” “Ah,” “Tsk tsk,” and “Hiss—”
The video wasn’t long and ended quickly.
Sitting in the audience seats, Xu Chuyao fell into deep thought, silent for quite some time.
Minister Long assumed she was stunned and was about to comfort her when she suddenly asked, “Why was part of it cut out in the middle?”
Minister Long raised an eyebrow.
Who stays so calm seeing something like this? Who has a heart so big?
But he quickly realized Chuyao probably already knew about the mutants this time, since her girlfriend Shen Ning was the first person in the world to encounter mutants.
“Shen really tells you everything, huh.”
“Let’s not talk about her for now. We’re discussing the video.” Chuyao pointed at the screen. “Why was a part in the middle cut out?”
Minister Long frowned.
“This footage was provided by the Rockmorgan Family.
They cut out parts based on subjective judgment to remove potentially sensitive information.
This doesn’t violate any regulations.”
“Is that so? But it feels really strange to me.”
Chuyao waved her delicate white hands in the air.
“Look, before the cut, the scene shows mutants charging forward to attack.
After the cut, the scene still shows mutants attacking, and the camera angle doesn’t change.
It seems unnecessary.”
Minister Long pondered briefly and replayed the video, pausing and comparing the two edited parts.
The scenes were almost identical, except—
“There’s one difference in the setting,” Chuyao said, pointing.
“In the first segment, near the camera’s edge, there’s a large marble wall.
But in the second segment, it’s gone, even though the camera angle remains the same.
There’s no reason for it to be outside the field of view.”
“What kind of logic is that?” Minister Long chuckled at the girl. “Mutants are strong, their bodies are tough.
Knocking down a marble wall casually isn’t a big deal.”
He finally saw some of the expected innocence and simplicity in Chuyao.
“Really?” Chuyao tilted her head.
“But throughout the whole video, mutants never attack anything other than people.
By the way, you said the tower collapsed yesterday. How exactly did it collapse?”
The smile disappeared from Minister Long’s face instantly.
“The Rockmorgan Family said the mutants inside the tower kept attacking indiscriminately, continuously damaging the structure until it reached a critical point yesterday, causing the collapse.”
Saying this, he also felt something was off.
Chuyao clapped her hands.
“So the Rockmorgan Family deliberately cut out the footage showing mutants attacking the walls to keep you uncertain whether they would do that, and only told you after the tower collapsed that they indeed would, thereby achieving the effect of scaring you.”
Is that really the case? Of course not.
No one’s a kid here to mess around with such trivial matters.
Minister Long felt something was wrong but couldn’t figure it out.
“If the wall in the video wasn’t knocked down, then how did it disappear?”
Did it grow legs and walk away?
Chuyao blinked cutely and changed the subject.
“I have something else.
I mentioned before that I went snooping on the Clown Gang Leader and found Professor Swina highly suspicious.”
“Swina?” Minister Long’s expression turned strange.
“He’s the one who came that day as the family’s representative to take Shen Ning away.”
Are you sure this isn’t personal vendetta?
And why the sudden topic jump?
“Yes, that’s him.
Isn’t that a coincidence?
I’m not just talking nonsense—I have evidence.”
Chuyao took out what she had brought, leaving only a press clipping album.
Of course, Minister Long couldn’t see it through the screen.
She had to hold it up to the camera for him to see.
“Swina’s experiences as a student left a seed in his heart, becoming his motive for revenge.
Although he’s the head of the Research Institute with many things to handle, he still had the time to come as the foreign trade delegation leader on his vacation.
The permission document was even approved urgently at the last minute.
Swina once directly gave orders to the Clown Gang Leader through a communicator.
One captive claimed to have heard it with his own ears—that it was him personally.”
After seeing this evidence, Minister Long’s gaze grew even stranger.
These so-called pieces of evidence—if you say they’re conclusive, they’re definitely not.
It’s all circumstantial speculation.
But if you say they’re completely useless, then they do raise a lot of doubts.
“If you use this to accuse him of colluding with the Clown Gang, I can help submit it.
Given his involvement in high-security projects, he might face temporary suspension for investigation,” Minister Long said.
Meaning these pieces of evidence could warrant accusation but not conviction.
He added, “Due to the confidentiality level of his projects, the process will be slow.
He might also be given some time to hand over his work.”
Chuyao pouted.
She obviously wouldn’t accept this.
If it was just a temporary suspension, the institute would be fine switching managers, but Shen Ning wouldn’t be able to come back.
“Play the video of Professor Swina again.
I have one more thing.”
“One more?”
Minister Long thought he was the one bringing issues to Chuyao, but it turned out she had even more on him.
“Yes.
This concerns their high-level secret project.
I also discovered that the Research Institute run by the Rockmorgan Family is connected to many missing person cases over the past three years.”
Chuyao pulled out the last press clipping album.
Little Snow’s three years of painstaking effort were all on it.
Various clippings and notes covered every page with clear logic.
“According to witness testimonies, before the disappearance incidents happened, the missing people’s hometowns all saw a foreign business marked by a roasted sweet potato sign.
That sign is exactly the Research Institute’s logo.”
This chain of evidence was much stronger than the accusations against Swina.
But Minister Long just glanced casually and shook his head.
“Don’t concern yourself with this.
Like I said, it’s highly classified.
Forget it.”
He obviously knew what was going on and also knew these disappearance cases were within the permitted scope above.
“Even if this project has issues,” Chuyao asked, “from the tower footage alone, the Rockmorgan Family concealed some potentially key details.”
After going in circles, the topic finally came back around.
Minister Long fell silent for half a moment and sighed.
“Chuyao, there are things you don’t understand yet.
The Rockmorgan Family’s projects are highly classified and important.
If I interfere rashly, it would be the same mistake as the Yaha Financial Group—crossing boundaries.
You discovered the Yaha Financial Group’s problems, so you should understand…”
Minister Long’s former subordinate was from the Apennines region and had a very long name.
He was used to calling people by their middle names to show closeness.
Now, facing the talented and beautiful young woman he personally promoted, Minister Long planned to teach her some political wisdom.
Today’s reason for showing the video was mainly to let her understand what her girlfriend had been taken to do and to ease her mind.
He didn’t expect Chuyao’s sharp eyes to spot a small issue, leading to so much discussion.
“Conservatively speaking, the Research Institute has captured at least tens of thousands of specimens over these years.
Their research results must be poor, which is why all of them turned into mutants like in the video,” Chuyao smirked.
“Meaning the Research Institute controls at least an army of tens of thousands of mutants, even if their physical strength doesn’t reach Second Rank.”
Minister Long hadn’t expected her to be so persistent.
He was both annoyed and amused by her words.
“Other research institutes are strictly supervised.
Every failed experiment gets destroyed.
I shouldn’t be telling you this.
Just forget it.”
“Really? Then why did the Yaha Tower collapse?”
That jumpy little girl’s question almost froze Minister Long.
“What does the tower have to do with it?”
“Hmm, actually, I have a question stuck in my mind.”
Looking at Minister Long’s confused face, Chuyao’s words jumped again.
“When I was about to ascend the tower that day, Shen Ning stopped me.
From the information we gathered later and what I saw today in the video, she was warned not to go.”
Minister Long nodded silently.
That was exactly why Swina took Shen Ning away.
She could communicate with mutants like those in the video.
“So here’s the problem.
Who told her?
I mean, she has contacts here, so there must be a familiar person, right?”
Chuyao spread her hands.
“Who among the mutants does she know?”
Minister Long’s eyelids twitched hard.
Theoretically, Shen Ning does know mutants.
Quite a few—more than twenty.
Seeing his changing expression, Chuyao knew he understood.
She stood, pinched her skirt, and made an elegant bow.
“Back to our original question: What did the Rockmorgan Family cut from the video?
Could it be that the marble wall exposed to the crystal radiation slowly crumbled and fell off, turning into a plain, middle-aged miner in his thirties or forties?”
Seeing Minister Long’s face gradually change color, Chuyao continued.
“Is it possible the Rockmorgan Family had already discovered Shen Ning was an accident?
It’s impossible to awaken people postnatally using crystal radiation.
But they found the crystals’ true use—to imprison souls and create an infinitely regenerating army.
They sent Shen Ning over to ‘communicate’ with the mutants.
Communicate what?
Could it be commands to control the army?
I know even so, this is someone else’s responsibility.
But what if those commands ended up in the hands of the Clown Gang Leader?”
The little girl fired off three deadly questions in a row, causing Minister Long’s face to contort with all sorts of emotions.
“Wait a moment.”
Minister Long threw down the sentence, grabbed the cigar box from the table, and left.
Chuyao wasn’t anxious.
She looked outside at the midday sky, patted her skirt, and sat back down.
A few minutes later, Minister Long returned to the screen, having finished his cigar.
He sat down and coughed hard several times.
“Ahem ahem! I’ve discussed this with others.
First, all this is just your guesswork.
I don’t know how you think up so many things, but I’d rather believe you fabricated a scary conspiracy just to get your girlfriend back sooner.
But it’s too terrifying.”
After a brief pause, Minister Long tossed the barely smoked cigar aside and grew serious.
“That said, before we have conclusive evidence, interfering with the Research Institute’s affairs is crossing a line for me.”
He paused, then shifted tone.
“I approve your team’s trip to Freiden Free City to investigate the Clown Gang Leader and suspect Professor Swina.
Your operations are limited to non-violent interrogation, unless… you catch someone red-handed.”
Minister Long’s meaning was clear.
He thought this matter was unreliable but too huge to ignore.
So he gave Chuyao an excuse to go investigate.
If nothing came of it, they could say they were just tracking the Clown Gang and Supreme Society.
If something really happened, no one would care about the boundary-crossing—it would already be a scandal.
“Great.” Chuyao rubbed her hands together.
“I guarantee to catch them red-handed!”
What’s in Freiden Free City that Chuyao wouldn’t know?
“Oh right, you told me to bring people.
Where are they?” Chuyao suddenly realized a problem.
“Don’t tell me it’s the Crisis Response Team.”
“No, no, I came today to tell you all this.”
“Your mission is to capture the top Clown Gang Leader, so naturally you must use the Crisis Response Team.
But don’t worry.”
Minister Long sipped his tea.
Seeing Chuyao so impatient, he felt strangely relieved.
You kept teasing me and dodging the subject earlier.
Now you know what impatience feels like, huh?
“How can I not be impatient?
The team only has two or three kittens, but every time they catch someone, it’s practically a death sentence!” Chuyao said angrily.
“Is that so?
According to organizational rules, as the highest officer in the Crisis Response Team, theoretically, you can command everyone inside the team.”
Minister Long leisurely held his tea cup.
“The Crisis Response Team actually inherited the original Ascension Academy Student Special Group’s structure.
Within that structure, the team has two guiding teachers.”
Yu Jing, the form teacher of Third Year Class One, Wind Element, peak of Third Stage.
Cheng Chen, the form teacher of Fifth Grade Class One, Metal Element, peak of Third Stage.
Seeing Chuyao’s adorable “I didn’t know that” expression, Minister Long asked, “So, is that enough for the team?”
“Enough, enough.
I’m setting off now.
I guarantee to catch them red-handed!”