Chapter 40

The several Legion officials who had reacted found it absurd. Although the people in front of them looked young, they hadn’t expected them to act so childishly.

The Deputy Commander of the Second Legion spoke coldly, “Internal matters of the Legion are not subject to Alliance intervention.”

How could students from military academies not even know this common sense?

According to their report to the authorities, they contacted the backbone of the Alliance in this area. But which junior member of the Alliance would dare to meddle in the internal affairs of the Legion?

Some shook their heads with a wry smile, while others had complex thoughts.

After all, someone capable of eliminating a Legion team didn’t seem to have such shallow intentions.

And several astute officials already had a bad feeling at this moment.

As they exchanged glances, intending to coax the truth from Shixueying’s mouth and clarify who they had reported the information to, they suddenly heard Jifu say, “So, we notified the highest office.”

The room fell silent.

Those who had just thought they were a bunch of children now had stiff expressions.

The highest office operates independently of the Alliance, which means that the regulations of both the Legion and the Alliance do not apply to the highest office.

But it doesn’t mean that the highest office has the authority to handle Legion personnel… The one with the authority is Fang Yanli.

There are a total of three major Legions in the interstellar space. Fang Yanli’s Fang family commands the most powerful First Legion among them.

As for Fang Yanli himself, besides being the highest executive officer, he is also half the head of the Fang family.

… It’s just that Fang Yanli has been recuperating for years and hasn’t been involved in managing Legion affairs.

When Fang Yanli first took over the highest office, he dealt with some people from the Fang family.

As a result, most of the Fang family members rarely interacted with him. This is also the reason why he hasn’t truly taken over the entire Fang family for so long.

It is said that he also has his own intentions.

But regardless of his relationship with the Fang family, the patriarch of the Fang family has always favored him to become the next head of the family. In order to facilitate his succession, there have been several reconciliations and he has been given authority over the affairs.

So this highest executive officer does have the authority to speak for the Legion. It’s just that his focus has always been on capturing high-risk offenders and hasn’t been overly involved.

Now that there’s persecution of military academy students within the Legion, even implicating a Legion team’s private use, with Fang Yanli’s personality that doesn’t tolerate any nonsense…

The Deputy Commander of the First Legion’s eyelids twitched, his face almost unable to hold up.

From the moment Ji Fu mentioned the highest office, silence enveloped the surroundings. When they were taken to the Legion headquarters, several officials left one after another, their expressions solemn.

This star system, far from the disturbance of wormhole consumption, had hardly anyone attending to them after they entered the command center.

Ji Fu casually pulled out a bag of chips and started munching on them, filling the quiet command center with the sound of her crunching.

The secretary responsible for taking their statements felt a vein throb on his forehead.

Shi Xueying leaned over, took a chip from her hand, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, “Wouldn’t it be better not to tell them so bluntly?”

Fang Yanli is currently on the Imperial Star. Even if he rushes over immediately, it will take some time.

What Shi Xueying was thinking was that if they didn’t say anything, when Fang Yanli arrived, they could catch these people off guard.

But if they were informed beforehand, given the current situation of the Legion, they would probably be prepared.

Ji Fu chuckled, her words carrying deeper meaning, “Just wait and see.”

Zhou Lu Hai leaned against the door, looking at her thoughtfully.

She seemed very familiar with this highest executive officer.

Away from the hustle and bustle, and free from the disturbance of wormhole consumption, Ji Fu even found time to take a nap.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw Cheng Hao’s complex expression.

Ji Fu raised an eyebrow and waved to him, “Hello there.”

Cheng Hao: …

“The Executive Director is calling for you.”

Ji Fu got up and followed him outside.

Unlike the quiet interior room, the outside was crowded.

Fang Yanli’s face was solemn, and in front of him, on the interrogation table, was a detained person.

Seeing Ji Fu arrive, Shi Xueying walked a few steps to her side and whispered, “The person responsible for instigating within the Legion has been identified. It’s the leader of a small team from the Second Legion.”

Ji Fu glanced at the leader of the small team without comment.

She felt the gaze of the person opposite and looked up, meeting Fang Yanli’s deep eyes.

After months apart, her talents had skyrocketed, jumping from C to A level.

Fang Yanli looked at her and asked, “Are you the one who killed the S-class mech soldiers in the stellar rift?”

The people present all looked at her incredulously upon hearing this.

Before Fang Yanli arrived, no one had considered this possibility.

They all thought that it was Zhou Lu Hai who had entered the stellar rift and saved Ji Fu and Shixueying.

Ji Fu hesitated before speaking, but Zhou Lu Hai suddenly said, “It was me.”

Ji Fu glanced at him unexpectedly.

Without waiting for her to speak, Zhou Lu Hai admitted it himself, and Shixueying, seeing this, didn’t deny it either.

They had described the features of those S-class mech soldiers to Zhou Lu Hai when they were in the stellar rift. Now, when asked, Zhou Lu Hai was able to answer fluently.

“One S+, two S-classes, all specially made mechs by the Legion.”

Consistent with what the arrested small team leader had said.

Moreover, he confessed to the number of people dispatched, the specific mission, and the execution time.

The only vague aspect was his motive for doing so.

He claimed it was to vent personal emotions.

With such a meticulous plan, ambushing so many assassins, and accurately timing the capture of people in the stellar rift, simply attributing it to venting personal emotions seemed untenable.

But without evidence pointing to other motives and with his own confession, it seemed that this was the only way to characterize it.

… If it were handled internally within the Legion, it would probably end like this.

Everything needed was laid out in front of them.

Plausible testimony, an unreserved confession from the culprit, and clear-cut charges.

Hmm, considering even a little bit of the intertwined family forces behind the Legion, they should follow this lead.

After all, in enforcing the law within the Alliance, consolidating family interests is clearer than the truth of the matter.

Ji Fu’s gaze, passing through all the contemplative people in the hall, landed on Fang Yanli with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Fang Yanli noticed that mocking gaze, his gaze cold and sweeping toward the light brain on his wrist.

Constant streams of information came into the light brain from his almost immobile uncle.

He raised his hand and directly turned off the light brain.

In the bright hall, Fang Yanli’s gaze was cold. “Cheng Hao.”

“With my authority, check the Legion’s monitoring equipment, records of special mech usage, personnel changes on the battlefield… All records must be precise up to the approval of the higher-ups.”

“Additionally, investigate all Legion personnel who had contact with the assassins lurking within the S-class of the Interstellar Academy on the day they arrived in the 1991 star system.”

As soon as this was said, the expressions of numerous people in the command center changed.

The small team leader on the interrogation table urgently interjected, “Executive Director!”

His face turned red, and he spoke anxiously, “I, in order to facilitate our actions, once infiltrated the Legion command center and deleted all the records!”

His breath was rapid as he explained, “And on the day before the wormhole consumed, the vast majority of the Legion received special equipment.”

Fang Yanli threw down the light screen in his hand and looked up at him. “Then who convicted you without finding any evidence?”

The person moved his lips and then said, “It was me…”

“You admitted your own guilt.” Fang Yanli’s expression was cold, devoid of any emotion as he looked at him. “With your capabilities, capable of destroying all evidence, why did you willingly admit to any guilt?”

Before he could defend himself further, Fang Yanli interrupted him.

“Inform everyone to investigate all personnel who have encountered these individuals from the incident until today!”

“The personnel responsible for archiving records, if they cannot produce relevant records, will all be dealt with for dereliction of duty, and those in higher positions will be held accountable!”

With Fang Yanli’s words, the entire command center fell into complete silence.

In this stiff and cold atmosphere, no one spoke.

Ji Fu hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand and forcefully clapped. Under everyone’s gaze, she raised her eyebrows and smiled, “Executive Director, your insight is truly remarkable!”

This was the most interesting point about Fang Yanli.

He firmly believed in fairness before the law, yet he didn’t realize that under the conflict between the Alliance and the aristocratic families, even ordinary citizens couldn’t stand before the law.

Just like today’s incident, if everything went smoothly, this small team leader would have died in prison tonight.

He thought his fair and strict law was flawless, but in reality, it was riddled with holes.

When they first dealt with him, she had tried to persuade him.

Unfortunately, this person only believed in the cold law and couldn’t see the hardships of life.

…But that’s fine now.

The righteousness of the Grand Executive Director is quite useful.

In the next few days, the entire Legion was in chaos.

Fang Yanli dealt with 43 people related to this incident, spanning three legions, all of whom were punished.

However, despite this, the highest level involved was only a battlefield commander.

Anything more couldn’t be uncovered.

The commander only said that someone had promised him a large sum of money to do this, but following his information led to a dead end.

The information corresponded to an anonymous number, and the specific IP couldn’t be identified.

All investigations could only stop here.

Ji Fu didn’t know what Fang Yanli was thinking; she only watched from afar as the highest office personnel escorted these people to the stellar prison.

Fang Yanli wanted to bring them back for punishment, determined to enforce the law. It’s just unknown how he would react when the big aristocratic families reached into the prison to pull people out.

Ji Fu didn’t care either; the reason she reported was to let them fight amongst themselves. Fang Yanli had effectively cleared most of her troubles, saving her from dealing with them one by one.

As for the 43 people…

As for the person who emitted the ultrasonic waves towards her and Shixueying before the wormhole consumed them, she would have her own way of dealing with them.

That person wasn’t among those cleared out by Fang Yanli this time, and didn’t even belong to the Legion.

After coming out of the stellar rift, she hadn’t received any feedback from the markers she sent out.

There were only two reasons for this: either the other party had already left the current area network, or their mech’s level was too high for the information to infiltrate temporarily, so it could only be marked, awaiting her subsequent operation for connection.

Without feedback, she temporarily couldn’t know the other party’s identity.

But Ji Fu had a faint guess.

On the eve of the wormhole’s consumption, when the battlefield situation was most volatile, Legion personnel couldn’t leave the main battlefield.

So besides Legion personnel, it could only be people from the other two major military academies.

And according to Zhou Lu Hai, he was thrown into the stellar rift by Tan Xi’s ultrasonic waves.

Tan Xi was a star-class mech soldier, and the opponent’s strength was estimated to be no lower than Tan Xi’s.

The day Zhou Lu Hai was thrown into the stellar rift happened to be the day when the two military academies jointly attacked their main star.

Shixueying sat beside her, holding a piece of cake she had taken from her, and asked while eating, “I heard a new battlefield commander is about to take office.”

The Legion had suddenly lost 43 people, big and small, and it was a scandal.

Based on Ji Fu’s understanding of the Alliance, they would definitely be furious about this and then, to appease public opinion, appoint someone who was suitable in all aspects to fill this position.

And with this incident having escalated to its current state, apart from them, the students, there was another person who stood out conspicuously.

Zhou Lu Hai walked in from outside and, hearing Shi Xueying’s words, said calmly, “You all know the new battlefield commander.”

Ji Fu stretched lazily, saying nothing.

“It’s Captain Lu.”

Lu Bingyun was also a star-class mech soldier, and this time, she had actively come forward to protect innocent students.

Indeed, there was no better candidate than her.

Ji Fu wasn’t surprised by this.

If Lu Bingyun had ignored the anonymous information Jifu sent her in the first place, then today’s incident would have nothing to do with her.

Despite not knowing the source of the information, she still chose to seek the truth.

Wouldn’t such a person becoming a battlefield commander be much better than being a lackey of the aristocratic families?

In the final phase of the training, due to the events of the wormhole consumption and the stellar rift, the competitive atmosphere between the three major military academies was dispersed.

Also, because of the complete disappearance of the beast tide.

Everyone thought the outcome was already decided, so they didn’t pay much attention anymore.

It wasn’t until three days before the end of the training that the regional forum became lively again.

[If things go as expected, the first place this time will still be the Imperial Military Academy, right?]

[The beast tide has already ended. What else could happen?]

[Haha, I thought the interstellar folks were so “hardworking” this time, they could get a high score.]

By the end of the training, the score of the Interstellar Academy was still more than 60,000 points lower than that of the Imperial Military Academy.

Before Ji fu and Shi Xueying fell into the stellar rift, this number was only slightly over 50,000.

When they came out, it had become over 60,000, approaching 70,000.

The Imperial Military Academy’s people, when the wormhole consumption had just begun and before the beast tide had completely receded, took the opportunity to kill many beasts.

In the last one or two days, the score surged by more than 10,000 points.

In the eyes of many, the first place was already certain.

Because there was no suspense, many people were too lazy to pay attention anymore.

…That was the case originally.

However, three hours before the end of the training, for some unknown reason, the score of the Interstellar Academy suddenly began to skyrocket.

At first, no one noticed. It was only when someone habitually opened the forum that they noticed the total points leaderboard, which had been static for almost a month, inexplicably starting to scroll vigorously.

It wasn’t vigorous, though.

Only the Interstellar Academy was scrolling.

Once the news spread, the regional forum instantly became lively.

[What’s going on? Is it a bug?]

[No way, the training has been going on for so many years, and I’ve never heard of such a bug.]

[Then what’s happening now? Is the Interstellar Academy cheating?]

[You’re the ones cheating! Your whole family is cheating. Come on, everyone, watch closely.]

The final reply from the Interstellar Academy student came with a very exciting video.

When people from the two military academies simultaneously watched the video, they fell silent.

In the video, a familiar starship used a large net made of an unknown material to capture more than half of a planet, specifically low-level beasts.

[???]

[The beast tide has ended, where did so many low-level beasts come from?]

Military academy students still had some common sense; at least they knew that this bunch of low-level beasts definitely came from the beast tide.

The system used in the training couldn’t record scores from outside the beast tide.

They just couldn’t understand where so many low-level beasts came from.

With the score surging dramatically, and with the first place position about to be lost, especially those from the Imperial side were dissatisfied. This included the elite class, who were discussing this matter.

“It’s low-level beasts that were missed on the battlefield before,” someone who had been silent all this time spoke up.

When he spoke, the main star of the Imperial Military Academy suddenly became quiet.

When the black hole appeared, the beast tide didn’t always appear regularly.

Sometimes it didn’t even land on specific planets, and most of the beasts that escaped through such means were ignored.

Only a very small part was intercepted because they were high-level beasts.

And beasts like the ones in the video, below C level, neither of the two major military academies would be interested in intercepting.

In fact, any beasts coming out of the black hole, regardless of their level, were extremely vicious.

The Legion would clean up the battlefield during battles.

But the competition was different; they raced against time just to get higher scores.

To divert energy to intercept these lower-level beasts was simply a waste of resources.

It’s just that they didn’t expect someone to do it.

And the number of missed beasts was far more than they had imagined.

On the main star of the Imperial Military Academy, the person who had just spoken said directly, “…They should have sent people to do this from the beginning of the training.”

Moreover, at the time of the wormhole consumption, that person was driving a starship, and with that special material net, low-level beasts couldn’t escape, resulting in so many beasts being preserved during the wormhole consumption.

But even so, the other party’s actions were outrageous.

Someone next to him looked carefully for a few moments, his face turning green, “Both the net and the starship are coated with invisible material.”

The Interstellar folks did it on purpose!

They knew that the Empire had calculated the total score difference, so from the beginning, they captured this bunch of low-level beasts with a net made of invisible material, and only hovered near the last star of their star system.

This led to the fact that when the two major military academies united and went to the main star of 1991, they didn’t find this thing!

Good, good, good, seen treasure hiding, seen clumsiness, but this is the first time I’ve seen hiding beasts.

[…Are you kidding me?]

Those who knew about these pieces of information were driven mad.

The problem was, the Interstellar folks had held it in so well that even before releasing this video, they had already cleared out all the low-level beasts they had hidden.

Those beasts’ levels were low, and so were the points.

But the sheer quantity was overwhelming!

They released the video after they finished clearing them out. When the two military academies finished analyzing their scores, they looked up and saw that the total score of the Interstellar Academy had directly surpassed that of the first-placed Imperial Military Academy.

They leaped over everyone’s heads!

Even five minutes before the end, it was still continuing to skyrocket.

[“…Damn it, how many did you hide?”]

Not many.

Ji Fu sat on the main star, watching the fireworks continuously bursting in the distance.

Just three hundred thousand points.

Yes, those overlooked fish, those low-level beasts oscillating between 10 and 20 points, which neither of the two major military academies cared about, actually managed to reach a high score of three hundred thousand.

Let alone the two major military academies.

Even their own people were stunned.

“…Now I understand what it means for small streams to make a big river.” Li Yunyi stared at the exploding ground, took a while to find his voice.

Tan Xi’s eyes flickered at his words.

He couldn’t help but turn around and look at the person who had taken out sunglasses from nowhere and was leisurely basking in the moonlight.

Small streams make a big river.

The people who intercepted these low-level beasts were all from the Special Class A.

When they first contacted them, they were very unwilling. It was Wan Fengwan Die who took the initiative to lead the team, and they reluctantly followed.

But they didn’t expect to make such a big splash in the end.

If someone hadn’t stopped them, Sun Yiming would have wanted to fly his starship to the two star systems on the other side and tease them for a while.

Three hundred thousand points!

That was a full three hundred thousand points they had won.

For so many years, not to mention three hundred thousand points, the name of the Interstellar Academy hadn’t appeared in that position.

So, in the end stages of this training, it received the attention of countless people.

Zhang Huan looked at the Interstellar Academy leading the list, overshadowing the Imperial Military Academy, which had been at the top for tens of thousands of years, and he was so excited that his thighs turned red from slapping them.

At the same time, a broadcast sounded in all three major star systems.

The mechanical voice spread to every corner: “The 181st training session of the three major military academies, the Interstellar Academy – victorious!”

At that moment, cheers erupted on the 1991 star system.

What made them happy wasn’t just winning this time, but for the first time in recent years, the name of the Interstellar Academy appeared in the broadcast!

And it wasn’t just that.

With the expansion of the training’s participants, the loot was the most abundant in recent years.

When the loot was distributed to each person, the sense of victory became more substantial.

So much so that even after returning to the Interstellar Academy, people were still discussing it.

Ji Fu, as the mastermind behind this victory, was constantly mentioned.

But after returning to school, she disappeared again.

In addition to the loot from this training, there were also materials she and Qin Chu Yue had collected from various places during this time.

After calculating, Ji Fu planned to break open the gates of the Interstellar Prison directly after the union exams began, whether it was the alliance or the aristocracy, and rescue Wei Lan.

There was still more than half a month until the union exams.

According to the information obtained during this period, Wei Lan was imprisoned on the top floor of the Interstellar Prison, guarded by nearly twenty S-class mechas.

They didn’t have much time left.

All the materials were stored in a small asteroid Ji Fu had recently purchased. She almost rushed to that asteroid as soon as the starship landed at the Interstellar Academy.

Qin Chu Yue was currently on the small asteroid of the Huang family, and she would escort the last batch of supplies and rush over to join Ji Fu.

Everything was arranged.

But before Qin Chu Yue arrived, Ji Fu received a message.

She opened her Light Brain and immediately checked the relevant news.

All the interstellar news at the same time today had been refreshed with a single headline, titled—”Escape of Heavy Prisoners Confined in the Interstellar Prison Last Night.”

The news was broadcast three times in bold black letters.

However, there was no mention of the escaped prisoners in the information.

[Beep beep beep]

Ji Fu opened her Light Brain and received a transmission from Qin Chu Yue.

[“I just received a message from the internal network of the Huang family. The person who escaped yesterday was Wei Lan.”]