Chapter 697: The Dumbfounded Organizations

On the other side, somewhere in the Star Glory Empire, a Small fleet was slowly navigating.

The insignia on the outer Armor of the Spaceship showed that this fleet belonged to "Sapal," a rather famous merchant guild in the Star Glory Empire.

Like most merchant guilds, they had countless ties with the High Echelon of The Empire, providing funds in exchange for protection.

Its nominal head of security, Jonas, stood in front of the bridge's porthole with his arms crossed, gazing at the Starry Sky outside the window.

And beside him, his trusted subordinate was awaiting orders.

"How much longer until we can leave the Star Glory Empire?" Jonas asked without turning his head.

"Leader, probably about another day's journey." The subordinate replied.

"Keep an eye on that guy, he is the key." Jonas said in a deep voice.

"Understood. He has already been injected with Inhibitory Agent and has fallen into a coma, completely unresponsive to the outside world." The subordinate reported.

"This is what the organization exchanged at a huge cost, there must be no mistakes." He emphasized again.

Indeed, this Sapal Merchant Guild, which was quite famous within the Star Glory Empire, was actually a Hidden Agent of The Reformers.

Not long ago, they received orders to investigate the framing of Dragon Sovereign and the A-Tier Alliance incident.

They finally had some gains and were about to rush him out of the border urgently to continue the subsequent operations.

Right at this moment, the Spaceship's Radar suddenly sounded.

"Warning, there is a Space Anchoring area ahead, unable to maintain Warp Mode, please stop Warp or detour..."

He was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly became tense.

This route was specially opened by them for cross-civilization commodity transportation, there shouldn't be a Space Anchoring area here.

An accident happened!?

Jonas's expression was Moody. Just as he was about to order the fleet to detour, the Spaceship suddenly received a communication.

"This is the Imperial Fleet, conducting a temporary inspection of all passing personnel. Please stop the Ship immediately to cooperate. Repeating, please stop the Ship immediately..."

"This..." Jonas had a guilty conscience and was naturally nervous.

But after hesitating for a moment, he still had the fleet stop.

He didn't know what had happened, but directly fleeing would obviously be even more inappropriate.

They dropped out of the Jump State, only to see a Defense Line composed of imperial warships outside the window, seeming to have blockaded a large area ahead.

Several imperial Ship immediately approached, activating various detection equipment to scan Jonas's fleet.

At the same time, a projection of an Imperial Soldier resembling a Military Officer appeared on the communication screen. Looking at Jonas and the other, he said expressionlessly:

"Please present your Identity code, navigation permit, crew list, navigation log..."

Jonas frowned slightly, saying: "We are the Sapal Merchant Guild, holding a cross-civilization operation permit, and have a relationship with Senior Executive Inst..."

"This is an order from The Empire's supreme council hall. Regardless of your background, execute the above requirements immediately!" The other party scolded mercilessly.

Jonas's expression flickered, and he stopped talking. He subtly exchanged glances with his subordinate and began to accept the inspection.

The imperial Military Officer began the inspection. He discovered Jonas was an A-Tier Lifeform, his expression slightly changed, and he questioned closely:

"For ordinary commodity transportation, why use such high-specification guards?"

"The Interstellar has been turbulent recently, to avoid danger." Jonas was displeased and retorted: "What exactly are you doing? I am a senior Citizen of The Empire and have the right to know!"

"Routine inspection!" The imperial Military Officer was unwilling to say more and continued to bury his head in the inspection.

Just at this moment, he suddenly discovered traces of tampering in Jonas's navigation log, and they had come from an already designated high-suspicion zone.

His pupils instantly contracted, and he shouted in an unquestionable tone:

"You have tampered with the navigation log. Everyone immediately leave the Spaceship and accept further inspection!"

"Otherwise we will enforce it!"

Saying that, the Imperial Fleet in the rear activated their Weapon arrays without another word, aiming their ship cannons at Jonas's fleet, adopting a posture of firing at the slightest disagreement.

"Just for a Military Officer, is it worth mobilizing such a grand display?"

Jonas gritted his teeth. Their actions were very secretive, the Star Glory Empire shouldn't be able to discover them In a short while.

It was just that there was really nothing to be done about tampering with the navigation log. They needed to pass normal inspections before.

But the Imperial Fleet's tools were very advanced and could easily detect that they had tampered with the navigation log.

What exactly is going on?

Should we make a move?

If it really was a routine inspection, paying some price might allow them to muddle through.

If they forcibly made a move...

"Boss, look at this..."

Just as Jonas was hesitating, his subordinate suddenly brought over a Smart Terminal.

Jonas frowned, temporarily suppressing his anger, and only then saw the latest news, his expression instantly changing drastically.

Lyman went missing?!

Who did this? Too audacious!

Jonas's body trembled violently, immediately realizing that this current situation was not for that Military Officer at all, nor was it a routine inspection, but for Lyman!

At the same time, he also understood that today, making a move was the only choice.

With such a major incident, no imperial Military Officer would dare to let go of any clues, not to mention they themselves were guilty.

"Do it!" He shouted in a deep voice, his body erupting with intense Energy Fluctuation, taking the lead to rush out of the warship and charge into the Imperial Fleet's formation.

The other Reformers disguised as merchant caravan members also followed suit.

The battle erupted with a boom!

.........

"In summary, I guess... although they had the intention to attack Your Highness Lyman, someone should have beaten them to the punch and attacked in advance, causing them to Missed the Mark..."

Loren made his analysis. Based on the clues at the scene, he had roughly deduced the context of the entire event.

"Besides The Forerunners, there was someone else ambushing in secret?"

This was a core High Echelon meeting, not only the highest eight-person group, but also the supreme leaders of various departments.

The one speaking at this moment was a certain general. He was very dumbfounded. Had the Star Glory Empire already reached this stage?

It was one thing to attack a candidate successor of The Empire, but to think there was more than one party doing it?

"Can it be confirmed?" Loyd spoke up. He actually knew who did it, but he couldn't say it now.

Because on the surface, he was one of the prime beneficiaries. Lyman was already considered a relatively threatening heir to him.

Now that he was captured, the threat to him completely vanished. If he were to directly say it was Li Yu who did it.

No matter how much the High Echelon trusted him, they would probably have some suspicions in their hearts--

This matter wouldn't be something you and that kid Li Yu planned together, right?

So he could only remain silent for now and wait for Li Yu to be found out later.

"Basically confirmed, of course, the possibility of them deliberately setting up a decoy cannot be ruled out." Loren basically wouldn't speak in absolute terms, to prevent a slap in the face afterwards.

"No matter who it is, they must have their own purpose. Simply capturing Your Highness Lyman does them more harm than good." Someone added.

They could understand The Forerunners attacking them. After all, they were slapped back and forth by the Star Glory Empire and the Other-Dimensional Camp joining hands.

They couldn't find the Other-Dimensional Camp, nor could they determine Li Yu's location, so they could only target them.

But a hidden third party in the dark, they really couldn't understand. What was the significance of capturing Lyman?

For the Star Glory Empire's secrets?

With Lyman's Identity and Status, it wasn't enough to access the most core secrets. Just grabbing any Noble Descendant would yield roughly the same.

They really couldn't figure it out!

Can't figure it out, right?

Loyd looked at the High Echelon deep in thought, involuntarily sighing inwardly. What will make you even more unable to figure it out is yet to come!

"In addition, the news of Your Highness Lyman being attacked has already been spread to the Interstellar. It must be someone secretly leaking it, otherwise it shouldn't be known to the outside world so quickly."

"According to our investigation, the news was spread from the Black Hole Network." The head of the intelligence department turned and said:

"We have already asked the Black Hole Network to Trace Source, but they said the appearance of this message was very bizarre. It appeared directly in their core Database, with no source."

"This matter is not important. The news was bound to leak sooner or later. Their original plan was to find out who made the move as soon as possible before the news leaked, and ideally snatch the person back."

"Issue an investigation announcement to the public, asking Major Civilizations to cooperate." Loren pondered slightly and said.

"I think that's not quite appropriate." Loyd spoke, drawing everyone's attention.

If an investigation announcement were issued now, then there would be no room for maneuver.

When the time comes and Li Yu reveals himself, everyone will be forced to respond with a high profile.

So an investigation assistance announcement cannot be issued now, they must remain silent.

He was purely considering this for The Empire, otherwise it would just be another mess then.

"We don't know the other party's purpose. I think there's no rush for the time being. If we can use mild methods to welcome Lyman back, then this incident of being attacked within our borders never happened."

He gave a superficially plausible reason. Everyone's expressions flickered, seeming to agree with the logic.

If the person who made the move wanted something, they would inevitably contact them. If they reached an agreement in secret then.

Then the humiliating incident of an Imperial Heir being attacked and captured within the civilization's borders could be treated as if it never happened, a mere interstellar rumor.

Loren frowned slightly, turning his gaze to Loyd, seemingly holding deep meaning. Controlling the Mirror of Omniscience, he had a far keener intuition on certain matters than others.

However, Loyd's reason was superficially plausible, and he didn't say much more.

Summarizing the intelligence of the past few days, the meeting ended. The subsequent actions were nothing more than continuing the search or waiting for the attacker's contact.

The Emperor, as in most meetings, did not express an opinion.

.........

"Someone beat us to it!? You didn't capture Lyman?"

The Pioneer Chief was equally dumbfounded. When the news of Lyman being captured was exposed In interstellar space, he was initially quite excited.

He thought his subordinates had succeeded and was preparing for the next steps of the plan.

Although the Second Forerunner hadn't contacted him before, he didn't think much of it, assuming the other party was evading pursuit within the Star Glory Empire's borders.

As a result, having just gotten in touch today, he received a piece of news that made his head spin.

He thought sending people to ambush Lyman was already quite radical.

He didn't expect someone else to have the exact same thought, and even positioned themselves ahead of the route they were ambushing, causing them to Missed the Mark.

"Indeed. Loren personally searched along the route. The Strength of the person who made the move should be very high. He must have realized it wasn't us who did it, otherwise he wouldn't have let me go without paying a price."

The Second Forerunner reported. His background noise was very loud, not knowing where he was.

"It's good that you're alright..." The Pioneer Chief offered a word of comfort, but his mind was engaged in a Brainstorming session. Various figures flashed through his mind, but he couldn't pinpoint a suspect.

"I'll send someone to bring you back..." The Forerunner restrained his thoughts. Although hearing this news made him dumbfounded, he didn't feel too much disappointment.

He even felt fortunate that the Second Forerunner hadn't been caught, otherwise their losses would have been huge.

"No need for now. Star Glory Empire Internal Affairs is under martial law now. It's not easy for me to be exposed alone. Let's wait until this wind blows over before leaving." The Second Forerunner hung up the communication.

Due to The Forerunners' special system, these Forerunners enjoyed a high degree of freedom and didn't have to completely obey the Leader's orders.

He contacted the Pioneer Chief merely to report the general situation.

The screen went dark. The Pioneer Chief frowned tightly. Li Yu's figure flashed through his mind but didn't stay for long.

"Who exactly is it, so crazy..."

If it weren't for The Forerunners suffering such immense humiliation, causing Public Outrage throughout the organization, demanding an explanation.

He wouldn't have really wanted to target Lyman either; the cost-effectiveness was just too low.

Belonging to a guy whose Status in the enemy camp was very high, but once captured, became completely useless.

In just a few days, this news swept across all Star Sector like a hurricane, causing a sensation among countless civilizations!

It became the number one trending topic and possessed the heat of a nationwide discussion.

Some Interstellar Media backed by Major Civilizations began setting up special columns, riding this wave of popularity. The sheer scale of the response was staggering.

There was even a Marauder organization with water in their brains who openly claimed responsibility for this matter.

However, in less than a day, they were bizarrely annihilated, not a single survivor left!

Many factions fell Silent as a Winter Cicada, keenly smelling the approaching storm; it seemed the sky was about to change.

But the bizarre thing was, the Star Glory Empire never made a direct response to this news, neither denying nor admitting it.

This made the development of the incident even more confusing and complicated.

(End of Chapter)