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Roughly ten seconds later, the lights disappeared entirely. I could feel the SP around me rise, but only ever so slightly. A mere second later, it vanished, as if those lights never existed.

Zuoqiu Shanming’s soul had vanished, scattered to the winds, as some would say… And how easygoing can that fellow get? I thought he would at least wait till I got revenge for him before leaving…

Meh. Time to put aside that reporter for now. I can just send the video evidence to aunty Xinqing when I have more time. Once that’s done, that committee member is doomed.

Now was a rather extraordinary time for Southern Plains; the entire world’s eyes, and perhaps a few other planets as well, were focused on this single city. As long as I released that video to the public, that scoundrel Li would find himself hard-pressed to cover up such a scandal.

Even if the other committee members did not wish to blow this matter up, the other planets would be more than happy to use this opportunity to weaken the Federation’s position. Regardless of whether it was for their own interests or the planet’s, those fat cats on the committee had to kick out this scoundrel.

With that little saga over and done with, I led Lixiang and Floater on another search throughout the warehouse of the factory. We ended up finding quite a few useful materials in the end.

Our next task was to find a more reliable base to house the survivors. The defensive systems itself weren’t an issue, seeing as the system just unlocked a new trump card for me.

The system underwent its usual routine maintenance, then, as expected, new, foreign products were introduced to the Marketplace. Of note was a 50000 point item that could guard against any monster invasion -perfect for building a base.

Bastion Crystal:
With this bastion crystal as the core, a single region could be designated as a protected zone. Within this area, any attack under Nine-star will be nullified.

Pricy, to be sure, but since it could be employed multiple times, this was definitely a bargain.

While points might be hard to earn, Southern Plains, as it was now, was a heaven for point farming… Sorry, dead people of the city, but it’s true… For my current self, 50000 wasn’t that tall of an order anymore. Just strengthening one of the girls’ bloodlines would set me back 100000.

Points? They aren’t even an issue for your big brother over here.

Now that the underground factory was swept clean, I summoned my inferno lioness to burn that food processor down to ashes, after which I had them buried.

Even though his ghost was no longer present, which made this series of actions rather unnecessary, but I still wished for his remains to at least receive some measure of dignity. Even if the result was austere, at best…

Having done all that, I was now ready to contact aunty Xinqing.

“Yo~ Ke, my dearest, what news do you have for me today? It hasn’t been that long since you last contacted your aunty, do you miss her that much already?”

The moment the holographic screen popped up, the bubbly figure of my aunty Xinqing stood ready to tease me. Although, using bubbly to describe a middle-aged lady like her seemed odd…

“Aunty Xinqing, we’ve reached the factory General Rodenas told us about. Like he said, it’s abandoned, and common sense would dictate that abandoned factories would be empty, am I right?”

“Ahaha, so it’s empty then? Sorry about that, Ke, you had to make a trip for nothing… Don’t worry, someone is going to pay for this transgression. Anyway, it’s General Rodenas who suggested that you visit the factory, Ke. If you have any complaints, you should take it up with the general. I’m sure he would be more than happy to entertain you. After all, the general is no match for our Ke’s beauty.”

“Aunty… enough with the teasing… let’s get back to business for a second… The factory wasn’t completely empty…” My face immediately darkened at the thought of Zuoqiu Shanming’s tragedy. “Or maybe it would have been better if the factory was empty…”

Realising that my expression had turned grim, aunty Xinqing reined in her usual flippant attitude as well. “What happened on your side, Ke?”

My knuckles turned white from clenching. “Something very serious… Aunty, I’m sure you’ve heard of Zuoqiu Shanming.”

“Zuoqiu Shanming? Is that some celebrity?” Being a professional shut-in, as known as a researcher, aunty Xinqing did not seem to know of the reporter. Thus, she had to pull up the data herself to have a quick look. “Zuoqiu Shanming… reporter for the FBS, reported missing five years ago… Ke, are you referring to this person?”

“Yup, that’s him. He didn’t actually go missing at all.” My eyes narrowed. “He was murdered.”

“Murdered? Who was it?”

“The details are in the video I’m sending to you, all the answers are in there as well.” I tapped on the screen to upload the video to her, then continued, “Once you’re done watching the video, I hope that you can upload the video to the web. I’m sure there will be opposition, but I want the story of Zuoqiu Shanming to be known to the world.”

“Oh? Seems like this Zuoqiu Shanming person offended someone powerful.”

“Quite powerful, he’s the most popular running candidate for Chairman.” I looked at the holographic image of aunty Xinqing with concern. “If this video is released, he should be finished… right? I mean, he won’t try anything crazy in a fit of desperation?”

“It will be fine!” Aunty Xinqing, however, did not seem to share my apprehension. I could practically hear her leaping for joy on my end as she said, “Who would’ve thought that it would be a scandal regarding Committee Member Li. Good, I’m sure this video would cause an uproar in the public. This is a great gain for our bureau’s reputation!”

“You have no idea how tense things have been at the bureau, what with the eyes of the entire world on us. Everyone is scared stiff of making a single mistake. Well, now we have Committee Member Li to share the burden with us. Let alone stop it, I want him to suffer more. And besides, our bureau is definitely in a safe spot right now. Even if that worm wants to do anything, he can’t…”

“On that front, you don’t have to worry, aunty Xinqing. There’s more than enough evidence to convict him.” Had it not been for society harping on proof and all that nonsense, I would have already sliced the scumbag into eight pieces.

Naturally, that was just an expression. Not to be taken literally. I couldn’t even fly out of Southern Plains right now. Until the safety of the girls had been confirmed, there was no way I would ever take the risk of abandoning them to danger!

Now that I was done reporting to aunty Xinqing, it was time for us to return to the surface. Our mission was over, and what was left was to escort the survivors to the hot springs inn.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE