"Yes."
Long Yangjun turned around and said, "But on the other hand, the Federation must be aware of the Black Wind Fleet's infiltration within the Federation, too. It is not hard for them to infer that the Black Wind Fleet will launch an assault very soon. But the Federation cannot postpone the election forever just because of the temporary instability, can it?
"Besides, if we can predict the enemy's future, it is possible that it will be a great opportunity to crush the main force of the Black Wind Fleet!
"Otherwise, why do you think the rebellion of the Immortal Cultivators happened to happen on Firefly at such a moment?"
Li Yao thought quickly and blurted out, "You don't think that it is an isolated incident?"
"I went to the branch of the Secret Sword Bureau in the Uranian Ring Sector today and read a lot of important cases in the past hundred years, especially those about the 'CFIA' and their president 'Lu Qingchen'. I don't think that Lu Qingchen is a reckless, brainless man, nor do I believe that he would instigate Ding Zhengyang and Cheng Xuansu to launch a rebellion that was destined to fail without any follow-up plans.
"If he were to rebel, wouldn't it have been better to do it when the Black Wind Fleet invaded the Federation on a large scale and caught the Federation unprepared?
"Regardless of the relationship between the CFIA and the Dim Moon Fund, whether or not Lu Qingchen is Jin Xinyue's subordinate, and whether or not the rebellion is a trick to lure the enemy out of its hole, the whole thing is not so simple. It is likely to be the first part of a certain enormous plan, the 'first move' that the Federation, or at least Jin Xinyue, has made against the Black Wind Fleet.
"Therefore, I feel that it won't be long before the Black Wind Fleet and the Federation take action. Both parties will make their moves. Right now, the election has entered the climax, and there is only one month to go before the voting begins. It is impossible that the Black Wind Fleet will wait until then to take action. Therefore, it is not just a matter of urgency but also the most sordid fire that is about to burn our eyeballs!"
Li Yao kept rubbing his nose and fell into deep thought. He muttered, "That makes sense. I think we should speed up our progress. It would be best if we could find an excuse to reach the Tian Yuan Realm as soon as possible. We should reach the heart of the Federation before all the schemes break out!"
…
That night, Li Yao spent a long time in Long Yangjun's room. The two of them had been deducing the follow-up plans of the Federation and the Black Wind Fleet.
Sometimes, Li Yao played the role of the Black Wind Fleet, and Long Yangjun represented the Federation. Sometimes, it was the other way around.
However, the information they had was still too little for them to make precise deductions about the unpredictable situation in the coming month. Most of the information they had was empty talk.
It was not until three o 'clock in the morning that Li Yao returned to his room and fell asleep in the bizarre dreams.
He did not sleep well that night. Sometimes, he dreamed that the Black Wind Fleet tore apart the sky and appeared directly above his hometown in the Federation. Sometimes, he dreamed that bizarre-shaped fiends crawled out of the Spiritual Nexus and grinned hideously above everybody's head. Then, he had the uncanny dream that he had not had for a long time, where he returned to the seemingly peaceful Earth without spiritual energy or Cultivators but only 'technology'.
However, the Earth was covered in a vague mist. However hard he searched, he could not find the thing that the Vulture Plan asked him to destroy …
When Li Yao was woken up by the noises outside the window, he thought that he had slept for half a day. But when he raised his wrist and looked at it, he discovered that only three hours had passed. It was not even seven o 'clock in the morning yet.
Even in the circular cities that did not pay much attention to day and night, it should still be early in the morning when most people were sleeping.
"What's going on?"
Li Yao opened the window and looked inside, only to be shocked by the overwhelming crowd outside.
Almost a thousand people had gathered outside the hotel that they were staying in. Hundreds of shuttles were floating in the sky.
Judging from the recording magical equipment in their hands and the powerful mobile transmission bases of the Spiritual Nexus on the shuttles, they were all reporters from major news media.
"Kacha kacha, kacha kacha!"
"Hello, we are reporters from 'Uranian Ring Current Affairs'. Are you a member of the delegation of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic? Can you share your opinion on the scandal? "
"We are from 'Frontier Military Observation'. Will the incident affect the deep military cooperation between the Star Ocean Republic and the Xing Yao Federation? Will the two parties really work together to resist the Imperium?"
"We are from 'People'. Were you aware of the incident in advance? Does it mean that you will definitely support Ding Ling Dong in the election to come and do not want to see Jin Xinyue come to power?"
The reporters were like vultures that were hovering in midair and searching for rotten corpses. Li Yao, the real vulture, was discovered the moment he opened the window.
Although two entire squadrons of special agents of the Secret Sword Bureau and the local police were guarding the window, countless reporters still crowded forward crazily and threw all kinds of floating loudspeaker magical equipment at Li Yao.
At the same time, they threw all kinds of questions that greatly surprised Li Yao, who did not know how to respond to them.
What the hell was going on?
The delegation of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic visiting the Xing Yao Federation was not a clandestine affair but an open, friendly visit.
Naturally, there were spokespersons in the delegation, who had held a press conference a few days ago to introduce the mission and the purpose of the visit. Naturally, it was all on the surface.
The reporters and the general public of the Xing Yao Federation knew that the delegation was coming, but they did not consider the visit to be of paramount importance. At the very least, compared to the heated election of the Supreme Speaker in the Federation and the threat of the Black Wind Fleet, Firefly was not the most popular topic.
A few days ago, some reporters had tried to interview the members of the delegation, but they had never been so crazy. The regular press conference every three days was more than enough to deal with them.
What had happened exactly?
Scandal? What scandal?
Hardly had Li Yao closed the window and blocked all the noises and noises behind him when his mini crystal processor began to tremble quickly.
He received a message from Long Yangjun, which contained only three simple words.
"It's begun."
Below the message was a series of URLs. They were all the biggest news websites and military and political discussion forums of the Xing Yao Federation, the kind where billions of people were online at the same time every day.
Li Yao opened a few random websites, only to discover that they were all the same. The same piece of news had filled the entire page.
"The shocking scandal of the Dim Moon Fund!"
"For a very long time, the Dim Moon Fund led by Jin Xinyue has been in an ambiguous relationship with the CFIA led by Lu Qingchen. They have been playing the game of 'keeping the enemy for themselves'. They even secretly instigated Lu Qingchen to raise the rebellion of the Immortal Cultivators on Firefly, hoping to wipe out the parliament of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic, our ally. Then, the Dim Moon Fund would clean up the mess and clear the last obstacle for the Star Ocean Republic to join the Xing Yao Federation. It would be Jin Xinyue's greatest achievement in her election as Speaker!
"Jin Xinyue betrayed our ally, the Federation, and the ideology of the Cultivators. She is a second Lu Zui. She does not deserve to be the leader of the Xing Yao Federation!"
With a gloomy face, Li Yao read the news articles one after another, only to discover that the source of all the news was an anonymous confidential report.
The person who wrote the confidential report claimed to be 'Moonfall'. Last night, she sent the confidential report to quite a few influential and trustworthy media outlets of the Federation at the same time.
What the confidential report described was similar to what Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and the rest of them had speculated in advance.
The confidential report did not state that Lu Qingchen was definitely Jin Xinyue's subordinate, but it provided some seemingly trustworthy evidence that proved the deep connection between the CFIA and the Dim Moon Fund.
For the development of the Dim Moon Fund, the second intelligence bureau of the Federation, Jin Xinyue intentionally nurtured the rebels and indulged the expansion of the CFIA so that she could ask for more funding from parliament so that her Dim Moon Fund could be expanded and upgraded at the same time. She also established a deeper connection with Lu Qingchen in the process.
There was no need to talk about the past. This time, for example, Jin Xinyue asked Lu Qingchen to instigate the Immortal Cultivators on Firefly to start a rebellion so that the Immortal Cultivators and the diehards in the government-in-exile would suffer heavy losses. Then, her subordinates would show up and take advantage of the situation on Firefly.
If the plan worked out, not only would Firefly and the techniques and secret treasures from the center of the cosmos be incorporated into the Federation's system, but Jin Xinyue's prestige and capability would also soar, too, and the victory of the election would be secured in advance!
The confidential report from 'Moonfall' was not a groundless speculation. A lot of documents, files, and even videos were attached as evidence.
Li Yao, as someone who had been through the whole thing in person, analyzed the evidence with the most suspicious attitude. He did not see any possibility of falsification, either.
The whole thing was probably a trap set up by Jin Xinyue, as described in the confidential report.
Of course, as to whether her relationship with the CFIA was' nurturing the rebels for her own sake 'or a bait that she intentionally released to attract the Immortal Cultivators so that she could catch all of them, it remained to be seen.
"In any case, Jin Xinyue's plan failed," Moonfall concluded.
"The rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic saw through the scheme of the internal rebellion of the Immortal Cultivators a long time ago. They merely played along and lured the snakes out of their holes so that they could catch all of them! Not only have they suppressed the internal rebellion neatly, they have also seen through Jin Xinyue's scheme!
"As the minister of the Ministry of Development of the Federation, the president of the Dim Moon Fund, the second intelligence agency of the Federation, and a strong competitor for the next Supreme Speaker of the Federation, Jin Xinyue has done such a thing to our closest ally in order to ascend to the throne of supreme power. She has caused an irreparable gap between us and our ally! Is such a bottom-line violation any different from Lu Zui, the director of the Secret Sword Bureau a hundred years ago?
"Right now, the incident has raised the serious dissatisfaction of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic. If Jin Xinyue is really elected, the cooperation between the two parties will likely be greatly reduced or even completely aborted!
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