“Chapter Eighty-Six”

"Chapter Eighty-Six"

"After several days of intense work, Baisha finally sent out the final design of 'Zhuyan.'"

"She didn't receive an immediate response from the buyer. This wasn’t surprising, as the buyer had mentioned being busy with the quad-school election and would respond after it ended."

"When exactly would the restarted quad-school election end?"

"Baisha opened her holographic computer to check her friends’ statuses. Cen Yuehuai, Xino, Yu Yan, and others were still showing as disconnected, indicating the competition was probably still ongoing."

"Just then, a message popped up on Baisha's screen—it was an invitation from the Emperor to visit his study."

"Baisha glanced at the time instinctively. It was half-past nine in the morning. Usually, at this hour, the Emperor would be busy discussing matters with his ministers or handling affairs."

"She left the palace, stepped into a hovering car, which automatically set its course for the Emperor's palace. As she landed, she looked up to see a familiar figure and waved, 'Ji Lun, long time no see!'"

"The slightly dark-skinned young man stopped in his tracks, turned around, his bright golden eyes reflecting Baisha's figure."

"Ji Lun and Baisha knew each other well; he was the one who had rescued Baisha from the Federation's prison. Though they hadn't seen each other much since Baisha's return to the Empire, she always remembered the unique fluffy feel of his psychic form... cough."

"'Big cat' and 'little cat' were indeed different."

"The cats Baisha kept were domestic, characterized by their sweetness and elegance. But Ji Lun’s black panther was different—when petted, the big cat would cross its front legs elegantly, squinting its golden eyes slightly. A smooth and soft layer of fur covered its toned muscles, radiating a wild strength, yet its movements were filled with a gentle spirit—a touch once experienced, never forgotten."

"This directly caused Baisha to transfer some of her fondness for the black panther onto Ji Lun."

"As Ji Lun turned, Baisha almost mistook him for a sharp black panther."

"'Long time no see, Your Highness,' Ji Lun bowed his head, performing a simple greeting, his demeanor as calm as ever, 'Are you also summoned to see His Majesty?'"

"'Also?' Baisha asked reflexively, 'Uncle just asked me to meet him in his study, but he didn’t specify why.'"

"'It might be related to the recent incident on Lu Yin Star,' Ji Lun nodded, 'A few days ago, His Majesty ordered a thorough review of Lu Yin Star's defense affairs. Then he checked several other planets frequently used for military academy exercises, but found no presence of Star Worms.'"

"Baisha nodded, already aware of this news."

"Ji Lun continued, 'His Majesty considered that our previous actions might have been too conspicuous, potentially alerting the enemy, so he had me conduct an internal disciplinary inspection within the military's Star Worm control system... I'm here to report the results.'"

"Ji Lun is based on Tianji Star and serves as the deputy commander of the Empire's Tianxuan Fleet—since the Emperor is the supreme military leader of the Empire, he is nominally the chief commander of all fleets. The Tianxuan Fleet usually patrols near Tianji Star and also heads to the frontlines during wars. Therefore, Ji Lun is both a general of the legion and the officer responsible for maintaining order on Tianji Star."

"In simple terms, his job is to protect the homeland and serve the Emperor, being one of the Emperor’s most trusted subordinates, often tasked with important duties."

"Baisha asked, 'What do you mean by disciplinary inspection?'"

"As they walked, Ji Lun explained, 'It's counter-infiltration surveillance.'"

"Baisha was slightly surprised."

"'There’s no need to be surprised, Your Highness. As of now, the most effective tool to destabilize the Empire remains the Star Worms,' Ji Lun opened the door for her, his tone solemn, 'Once our Star Worm control system becomes negligent or infiltrated by malevolent forces, the ensuing troubles could be unimaginable.'"

"Battles against Star Worms seemed distant, but the mucilaginous creatures Baisha had previously encountered, and the recent incident with the Star Worms, demonstrated that they were undergoing unimaginable evolution."

"If there were problems within the Empire’s Star Worm control system, or if it had been tampered with by ill-intentioned individuals..."

"'What were the results of your inspection?' Baisha asked."

"Ji Lun hesitated briefly before shaking his head, 'While some systemic reforms may be needed, everything appears normal for now.'"

"In other words, the possibility of foreign spies being involved was temporarily ruled out."

"Such extensive investigation was undertaken because Cecil Roning firmly believed that the anomaly on Lu Yin Star was not just a coincidence."

"As they talked, Baisha and Ji Lun entered the splendidly decorated palace, proceeding one after the other into the Emperor's study."

"'Everyone’s here?' Cecil Roning was seated behind his desk, with Wei Li standing beside him. The Emperor got straight to the point, handing out a document, 'Take a look at this.'"

"It appeared to be an investigative report."

"The subjects of the investigation were the students from the Western Military Academy on Lu Yin Star, whom Baisha and her team had rescued. The Star Worms had first appeared around them."

"Baisha raised her eyebrows slightly: 'Have they finally woken up?'"

"'They're awake,' Wei Li glanced sideways, his golden glasses chain swaying with the movement. 'We’ve arranged for psychologists to interrogate and subtly question them. The Western Military Academy has been very strict about their security, so all this had to be done in their hospital rooms…'"

"Baisha’s gaze shifted to the holographic screen."

"On the screen were several pale, somewhat bewildered faces."

"'With the help of specialists, they meticulously recalled their journey to Lu Yin Star, as well as all the items they carried with them,' continued Wei Li in a measured tone, 'One of the students, a mech engineer, remembered buying a can of sealed repair paint at a discount from an online second-hand marketplace before heading to Lu Yin Star. She brought this paint to the competition and used it. But during the Star Worms attack, the paint can was lost in the chaos.'"

"'We traced the source of that paint and found that the seller used a fake identity. These cans appeared out of nowhere on the marketplace, and their buyers were all military academy students.'"

"Ji Lun furrowed his brows: 'Was there something wrong with those materials?'"

"Wei Li nodded."

"'We managed to retrieve a few cans and found dormant Star Worms inside.'"

"'The individual Star Worms are extremely small, nearly invisible to the naked eye. They only undergo noticeable mutations after absorbing sufficient nutrients or transforming enough biological matter.'"

"The target for these materials was almost exclusively students from the Western Military Academy, with a few from the Nami Military Academy."

"'...If the materials were only sold to students from these two academies, it would be too obvious. The perpetrator didn't use such a foolish method. The only explanation is that they manipulated the algorithm of the second-hand trading website to achieve precise targeting,' Baisha said. 'Are there any signs of the website being hacked?'"

"Wei Li slowly shook his head."

"'The peculiarity of this case lies in the fact that all the clues were uncovered after meticulous and lengthy comparisons,' Wei Li said with a sigh, 'With standard investigation methods, we wouldn't even have reached this step. The culprit buried all the abnormalities in a sea of information, making everything appear coincidental.'"

"It was coincidental that students brought the repair paint to Lu Yin Star."

"The academies themselves provide various materials for free... But this particular type of repair paint, especially favored by some mech engineers, comes from a small factory and isn’t widely available in the market. Students buy it but don't use it all the time—saving the 'good steel' for the blade’s edge, so to speak. Hence, bringing the paint to the quad-school competition was quite normal."

"According to the mech engineer's recollection, their team first went near the mangroves where they fought with Star Worms, and the engineer used some of the repair paint on their arrows. The whole can of paint was lost there. Afterward, the mech engineer didn’t participate in the battle for a while until she used the repaired arrows to shoot a mutated frog—"

"In the video footage, the mech engineer recalled earnestly, 'After being shot, the mutated frog did act strangely but quickly fled. The situation was chaotic, and it disappeared in an instant; I didn’t pay much attention.'"

"A frog?"

"Baisha suddenly remembered the giant tumorous tree they had attacked, which had spawned numerous frogs to assault them."

"Initially, they thought the tree had absorbed many frogs... Could it be that the frogs were the real entity?"

"Were these Star Worms holding a grudge?"

"'Wait a minute,' Baisha suddenly thought, 'You said there were multiple cans of this paint? What if some cans weren’t recovered and they were brought into the training grounds with Star Worms inside?'"

"'We've considered that as well,' Wei Li rubbed the bridge of his nose, 'Fortunately, the new quad-school competition involves hunting mechanical creatures, not Star Worms.'"

"Although Star Worms are the Empire’s main threat, battle mechs, being technological creations, are also used for student training and are more controllable. However, deploying mechanical creatures in a large-scale event like the quad-school competition is extremely costly and was not initially considered. It was the Emperor who, not wanting to see similar accidents, instructed the four military academies to temporarily use mechanical creatures for trials. This decision now seems extremely wise. Otherwise, they might have had to blow up a few more planets."

"As for the matter of recovering the paint, it could only wait until the quad-school competition temporarily concluded, followed by a unified notification for inspection."

"'Speaking of which, why did they target mainly the students of the Western Military Academy?' Baisha glanced at her uncle. 'Because the students there are rebellious?... Is this to sow discord?'"

"'Did the Greiz family cause trouble in front of you?' The Emperor’s expression wasn’t very pleasant."

"'Not really, just some friendly exchanges,' Baisha said with a smile, 'After the last incident, Caxin Greiz still owes me a favor. I just haven't decided how to use it yet.'"

"'You could ask him to bark three times like a dog,' said Cecil Roning with an indifferent expression, 'People from the Greiz family hate it most when others call them dogs.'"

"Baisha: '...Uncle, you’re really vicious.'"

"Using that tactic would probably lead to a relentless feud with Greiz!"