Chapter 1008: To save his own life, did he even betray his own family?

Keerwa, Hui Guang City, Planetary Enforcement Force Headquarters, Underground Detention Zone.

Grand Duke Aldridge sat on a metal slab bed, wearing a gray prison uniform.

The majesty and composure of the past were gone, leaving only an aged shell.

"How could it be... how could it be like this..."

Aldridge could not understand how that secret meeting in his study, which he believed to be absolutely confidential, could have been recorded word for word and delivered into the hands of Sheng Wolun.

Everyone who participated in the conspiracy was a member of the inner circle; who was it? Who betrayed him?

Just then, a roar came from Sike in the neighboring cell.

"Let me out! You bastards! Do you know who I am? I am Sike! The president of the Keerwa Mining Association! You cannot treat me like this!"

Immediately following that was the wailing of Lady Lina.

"I am innocent! I was framed! It was Aldridge! It was all him forcing me! I want to see the Governor! I want to expose everything!"

Curses, weeping, and pleas for innocence came one after another from the other cells as well.

Aldridge closed his eyes.

It was over; everything was over.

Not only him, but the entire core stratum of the old Keerwa nobility had been almost completely wiped out.

Sheng Wolun's methods were more decisive and more... efficient than even the most ruthless scenarios he had imagined.

Amidst the chaos, a relatively young noble suddenly shouted.

"Wait! Have you noticed? Where is Pake? Why is Viscount Pake not here?"

Another voice responded.

"That's right... Pake... he was also in the Grand Duke's study last night! I remember it clearly!"

"Could it be..."

Sike's roar erupted once again.

"Pake! It's that little bastard! It must be him! He is the one who betrayed us! He is the one who secretly recorded the audio!"

Lady Lina also began to shriek.

"That's right! It must be him! I felt he was acting strange last night! He didn't say a word the whole time, and his eyes were shifty! This damn traitor! Coward! May he die a horrible death!"

"The Parker Family actually did something so beneath contempt!"

"To save his own life, did he even betray his own class and his own ancestors?!"

"I knew that kid couldn't be trusted! He usually puts on a decent front, but when it counts, he's just a spineless coward!"

"Does he think he can curry favor with the new master by betraying us? Dream on! Sheng Wolun won't let any noble go! He will come down to join us sooner or later!"

For a time, the cell block was filled with curses and denunciations against Viscount Pake.

They poured all the responsibility for their failure and their resentment onto this "traitor."

Listening to these angry insults, Aldridge recalled Pake's silent demeanor last night... So, from that moment on, or perhaps even earlier, that young man had already made his choice.

Just as the nobles were immersed in their verbal assault on Pake, the alloy gate at the outermost layer of the detention zone slid open slowly.

Footsteps sounded.

Three interrogators wearing Sintila uniforms, but with shoulder patch patterns different from ordinary soldiers, walked in.

The appearance of the interrogators brought the cursing and wailing in the cell block to an abrupt halt.

The lead interrogator's gaze swept across the cells, finally landing on the area holding core figures such as Aldridge, Sike, and Lady Lina.

He signaled to the interrogators behind him.

A Sintila interrogator opened a data pad and began to call names from a list.

"Aldridge, Sike, Lina, Baron Ba'er..."

Every time a name was called, an enforcement soldier would step forward, open the corresponding cell, and escort the prisoner to the specially prepared interrogation room next door.

Inside the interrogation room, the lights were pale, and there was only a metal table and a few chairs.

The Sintila interrogator sat in the main seat, with two deputies sitting on either side, while a recorder and a biological indicator monitor ran silently.

Sike, the first to be brought in, roared at the interrogator as soon as he entered the door.

"This is illegal detention! I want to see my lawyer! According to traditional Keerwa law..."

The lead interrogator cut Sike off directly.

"Mr. Sike, the old Keerwa legal system has been replaced by the Xiuluo Basic Law and the 'Provisional Regulations for the Governance of Newly Recovered Areas.' What you need to answer now are the charges brought against you in accordance with Xiuluo law."

The Sintila interrogator pulled up the data pad and listed Sike's crimes.

"According to the evidence already in our possession, in your No. 3 and No. 7 mining areas, over the past five years, you have cumulatively used over twelve thousand involuntary slave laborers, and the recorded number of 'accidental' deaths is three hundred and forty-seven, with the actual figure expected to be higher.

Through falsifying accounts and bribing former Fengqi officials, you have evaded mining taxes totaling approximately seventy-eight million Standard Energy Units. Furthermore, you are suspected of illegally encroaching on the mining veins of others and manipulating the market..."

Sike retorted with a flushed, red face.

"Nonsense! It's all a frame-up! Those were normal work-related injuries! As for taxes... there was some reasonable tax avoidance! The mining veins were acquired legally!"

The Sintila interrogator did not argue with Sike, but merely signaled for his deputy to play an audio clip, which was a snippet of a conversation between Sike and a former Fengqi tax official discussing how to falsify accounts.

He then displayed several blood-and-tear accusations provided by the families of miners who had been persecuted to death, along with some physical evidence.

"Your private financial officer, as well as several key officials from the former Fengqi Star Alliance Mining Department, are already cooperating with our investigation. Do you need me to bring them here to confront you? Or, shall we conduct a detailed audit of the flow of assets you have hidden in seventeen anonymous offshore accounts?"

Sike's complexion turned from red to white, cold sweat dripped from his forehead, and he finally slumped into his chair.

"... I... I admit... some... of the situation is true..."