Chapter 1980

In less than ten minutes, all 29 important officials were present, and the door of the council hall slammed shut.

"Cough."

The Old Saint King coughed lightly, and the council hall immediately became quiet. All officials looked at the Old Saint King with respectful expressions.

"At 5:00 this morning, the immortal crystal goddess statue in the cathedral was stolen."

As soon as the Old Saint King said this, most of the officials were stunned for a moment, while others had known the news earlier.

"Regardless, the immortal crystal goddess statue must be found today. The Simoro envoy will arrive tomorrow morning. This concerns post-war reparations, and the lockdown of Dawn City must be lifted before tomorrow morning."

The Old Saint King's expression was serious. It could be seen that he was also having a headache over the theft of the immortal crystal goddess statue. If this matter reached the Simoro Empire, it would be a huge embarrassment.

"The Saint King is right. Before tonight, the immortal crystal goddess statue must be found, by any means necessary."

The Moon Goddess also spoke. Because the Eagle Marquis had been eliminated, her power struggle with the Old Saint King had come to an end, at least for a few days. The three giants had just lost the Eagle Marquis; before the subsequent matters were dealt with, if one of them fell, it would cause big problems.

"What do you think?"

The Old Saint King looked around at all the officials present. Wherever his gaze fell, the officials lowered their heads, saying nothing. No one dared to take on this matter. In the eyes of the officials, it was simply an impossible task to solve something within a day that even the Moon God Monastery couldn't handle.

"If I can't find the immortal crystal goddess statue in one day, I'll bring my head to see you."

Su Xiao spoke, and both the Old Saint King and the Moon Goddess looked at him.

"Kukulin..."

The Old Saint King sighed. At this critical juncture, the Ninth Unit had stepped forward.

Including the Old Saint King, no one present felt surprised, because if such a thing had happened in the past, this meeting wouldn't have been held at all; the Ninth Unit would have taken over immediately. But now, the Ninth Unit was almost completely disbanded, leaving only the Commander, the Adjutant, and a branch department, Crow Eye.

"There's no need to bring your head. If it were a month ago, if you couldn't find the immortal crystal goddess statue in a day, you would indeed have to bring your head."

The Old Saint King knew the situation of the Ninth Unit very well; now it was just an empty shell.

"Commander Kukulin, from today until tomorrow morning, you can freely enter and exit most areas of the monastery."

The Moon Goddess also expressed her stance. Compared to the Old Saint King, she felt somewhat ashamed in her heart. The Ninth Unit was destroyed by the two of them, but at a time of crisis, they still had to rely on the Ninth Unit.

"It is my duty."

Although Su Xiao was calm on the surface, he was actually feeling somewhat terrified, because the immortal crystal goddess statue was in his team storage space.

Obviously, neither the Old Saint King nor the Moon Goddess suspected Su Xiao, because in their view, unless Su Xiao was crazy, it was simply impossible for him to steal the immortal crystal goddess statue.

Moreover, even if Su Xiao really wanted to steal it, he had no opportunity. Around Su Xiao's residence, at least 30 Moon Apostles were secretly monitoring him. The Moon Goddess could be sure that Su Xiao was resting in his residence last night, and the only time he went out was in the opposite direction of the Moon God Monastery; that trip out had no problems.

As for where Su Xiao went when he went out last night, it was a coincidence: he received a secret summons from the Old Saint King last night to deal with the remnants of the Eagle Marquis, and he didn't return to his residence to rest until 2:00 AM.

Whether it was motive, time, or location, Su Xiao had no opportunity to steal the immortal crystal goddess statue.

In fact, the theft of the immortal crystal goddess statue was truly an accidental event. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang saw that the statue was relatively large, so he stole it on the spur of the moment, just not expecting the effect to be so good.

The meeting adjourned at 8:20, and all departments gave Su Xiao the green light, of course, only for today.

Su Xiao took the Little Adjutant and Baha and left the Lulunfei Palace. The Little Adjutant didn't feel anything unusual, because this kind of thing was once the duty of the Ninth Unit; they didn't know how many times they had handled it, and they had encountered even trickier ones.

"Adjutant, Crow Eye is temporarily under your full responsibility. Bring the map."

Hearing this, the Little Adjutant took a map of the imperial capital from her backpack.

"Here, here, and here—set up checkpoints. All merchants, thieves, and the like in the capital related to antiques, cultural relics, and art must be investigated. By noon today at the latest, I want a clear answer. During this period, send someone to retrieve 'those things'."

"Yes!"

The Little Adjutant ran away in a hurry.

"You are called..."

Su Xiao looked at the one-armed Moon Apostle. The other party was the representative sent by the Moon Goddess and had fought him before.

"Tree Wolf."

Tree Wolf's teeth chattered, because it was Su Xiao who had severed one of his arms, and it was a free cut at that—the kind where seeking revenge would be very embarrassing.

"Take your unit and search the entire city's underground drainage system. If you find ropes, lifting devices, and the like, send them to me immediately."

"Underground... drainage system!"

A trace of fear appeared in Tree Wolf's eyes. He had mysophobia, a very severe case of mysophobia, and Su Xiao was asking him to search the sewers.

"Any problems?"

"No, prob, lems."

Tree Wolf answered word by word and turned to leave.

"Baha, with the Moon God Monastery as the center, search for all suspicious transcendents in the sky."

"OK."

Baha spread his wings and flew up, heading toward the Moon God Monastery.

"Imperial socialite..."

"I am Sonia, the Flower of the Empire."

Sonia hurriedly corrected him; she was not a socialite.

"Take me to the cathedral."

Now that there was an opportunity to enter the Moon God Monastery, Su Xiao would of course not miss it. It had to be said that the timing of the immortal crystal goddess statue theft was very subtle; tomorrow was the negotiation between the two countries.

For Su Xiao, finding the immortal crystal goddess statue was extremely simple, but the key was in what way it was found.

From the Moon Goddess's attitude today, it could be seen that her mentality had almost collapsed; this was no longer a question of embarrassment.

The immortal crystal goddess statue was of course not just a simple statue. It had been worshipped by thousands of believers for hundreds of years. Even if it were a piece of ordinary granite, under the influence of so much power of will, it would become a transcendent item, not to mention that it was the largest immortal crystal on the continent.

When Su Xiao arrived at the Moon God Monastery, it was already under complete lockdown, but Su Xiao had dual authorization from the Old Saint King and the Moon Goddess.

Passing through the front hall, then through a courtyard and the ritual building, Su Xiao arrived in front of the cathedral.

At least a thousand Moon Apostles were guarding outside the cathedral; now, not even a fly could fly in.

Walking into the cathedral, what came into view was a large area of tiered benches. The area here was several thousand square meters. The innermost part was a high platform paved with oily oak boards, and at the center position behind the high platform, there was a solid wood base three meters wide and half a meter high, where the immortal crystal goddess statue was originally placed.

The solid wood base was covered with golden patterns; just from what Su Xiao perceived, there were six layers of defensive barriers.

Alas, for Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who had stolen the World Core in the Black King Hall, these defensive barriers were just average and couldn't stop him at all. It was precisely the existence of these defensive barriers that made Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang feel that the statue on top was valuable.

Su Xiao stood on the high platform, looking up and down at the solid wood base.

"Who has been here last night?"

Su Xiao was following the normal process. He had been considering one thing all along: who should the theft case be blamed on? The Eagle Marquis, who was already cold, was of course the first choice; dead people wouldn't argue.