The light beam in front of Li Yao poured out the intelligence that had just been collected in the past few days, including the pictures that the devil huntresses of the Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils secretly took from the streets and alleys of the capital of the Imperium.
From the messy and shaking pictures, it could be seen that the entire Imperium had entered a half-alert state. The sky was full of assault warships that were painted with the lightning trident emblem of the Imperium of True Human Beings and the emblems of the four Kurfürst families. Now and then, supersonic shuttles would rush past like a swarm of bees. A lot of Crystal Suit Legions wearing the emblems of the four Kurfürst families had been deployed to critical locations, as if they were faced with a great enemy.
Since the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance took place, the four Kurfürst families, especially the Dongfang family where Dongfang Tuo, the main victim and an elder of the Imperium, belonged to, reacted very quickly, if not suspiciously. They almost made a very tough counterattack as fast as lightning.
The Council of Elders of the Imperium defined the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance as a despicable act of treason at the earliest opportunity. They also established a special investigation committee and granted it the terrifying power to execute anyone who resisted on the spot without any mercy.
They also secretly transferred the most elite private soldiers from their own family's territory to the special investigation committee as the sharp sword of the committee.
Then, the special investigation committee waved the bloodthirsty sword and searched for the "henchmen of the Blood Oath Alliance" in the entire Imperium.
After only a few days, thousands of famous people from various fields of the Imperium had been arrested with "direct evidence", and a hundred times more people were invited back to "assist in the investigation".
For a moment, the entire Imperium was caught in uncanny fear. Everybody was in danger.
"The Blood Oath Alliance is a very simple organization of the young bottom-level officers in the frontline. It was established spontaneously by the young bottom-level officers who could not see any hope of promotion. It has nothing to do with the major forces in the Imperium. Even we are merely guiding them and providing assistance occasionally. We have absolutely no direct connection with them."
"Moon Devil" Yue Wushuang, leader of the Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils, sounded even colder and creepier than Li Linghai's voice. She was clearly standing before Li Yao, but her voice seemed to be mixed with cold air blowing from the back of Li Yao's neck. "The Council of Elders of the Imperium established a special investigation committee so quickly, mobilized the most elite family armed forces to form a battle squad under the committee's command, and captured so many people according to the clues. This is not normal!
"Please take a look at the list of people who have been arrested and 'assisted in the investigation' that we have just collected. Most of them have nothing to do with the army or the young officers of the Blood Oath Alliance, but they are the progressives in various fields of the Imperium who object to the four Kurfürst families' dictatorial behavior and hope to expand the power of His Majesty and the peripheral worlds. They are all likely to agree with, or at least sympathize with, the reformists.
"In short, they are all the political enemies of the four Kurfürst families.
"Of course, a lot of them really belong to the reformists and have been contributing to our cause on various levels. Now that they have been arrested and asked to assist in the investigation, not only will we be greatly constrained, our space of activity in the capital will be greatly reduced, and it is possible that they will leak our details.
"Although they do not know much, with so many people, as long as each of them confesses part of the intelligence under interrogation, it will be possible for the four Kurfürst families to piece together most of our trump cards."
After saying that, Yue Wushuang pursed her lips that were as sharp as blades and hid her face in the cloak again.
"This is not an investigation but a fight, or even a purge!"
Li Linghai said coldly, "The smell of a scheme is getting more and more intense. What are the four Kurfürst families up to exactly? Are they trying to intimidate the ministers and nobles who are loyal to His Majesty, as well as the Sector Masters and warlords who are relatively independent at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium?
"Even if they do not have the courage to kill all the people who have been arrested, they can still give those people a hard warning so that those people will not go against them and obey their will in the process of dividing the dozens of Sectors later. Do you think that's the case?
"Or … is it possible that the four Kurfürst families have been targeting us since the very beginning, hoping to completely eliminate the reformists and annihilate all of us with the opportunity?"
The members of the reformists took a deep breath.
"The intelligence from the frontline is exactly the same."
Jin Yuyan, the chairman of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, said casually, "Quite a few fleets from the peripheral worlds of the Imperium have been relocated from the defense areas where they have been stationed for almost a year and deployed to a completely unfamiliar space zone. They are surrounded by the fleets of the four Kurfürst families, but they have been monitored closely.
"Unfortunately, of the fleets that are being monitored in secret, quite a few of them have been infiltrated by us after a lot of efforts. Once they completely break off, it is very possible that they will take our side.
"But right now, even if those fleets join us, I'm afraid that they won't be of much use. Besides, it is impossible for the fleets that are ambushed and besieged to join us without caring about anything.
"Also, our secret accounts in multiple banks of the Imperium have been frozen almost at the same time. Many of the accounts shouldn't have been related to us. Does it mean that the enemy has been watching us since a long time ago and has been studying us deeply in secret?
"Also, there is another piece of news that I received recently that I haven't had the time to confirm yet. It is said that the special investigation committee has launched a comprehensive search on the troops in the frontline, and the first person that they have invited back for investigation is General Lei Chenghu."
The name "Lei Chenghu" made the temperature in the secret communication room drop to zero. There was weird silence. Li Yao seemed to have sensed that everybody's heart was twitching hard.
It seemed that this "Lei Chenghu" must be a very important person in the army of the Imperium.
Li Linghai narrowed his eyes. His killing intent was ten times sharper than before as he said, one word after another, "Is the special investigation committee bold enough to target General Lei Chenghu? It seems that the storm that is sweeping across the sea of stars is much more intense than we expected. What's their reason for inviting General Lei Chenghu?"
"They invited him to investigate the damage of the four 'volcano-level' arsenal warships of the Third B Squadron under General Lei's command."
Jin Yuyan said, "Of course, the four arsenal warships were not really damaged, but they were shipped back to their hometown and hidden with our help. They were then reported to the base of the expedition army under the pretext that they had been completely obliterated. It was a common trick.
"However, the four arsenal warships were discovered by the inspection troops sent by the base during their transfer."
Li Linghai frowned. "When was it?"
"The day before yesterday, but the enemy's assault was very neat and clean. We did not receive the news until this morning."
Jin Yuyan said, "It was obvious that the enemy did not run into the warships by accident during their patrol. They were targeting the four arsenal warships after receiving precise intelligence.
"A lot of people were involved in the incident. Not only were the Sector Leaders of the Sectors that the four arsenal warships belonged to punished as an example, even General Lei Chenghu, the highest commander of the coalition fleet that they belonged to, was invited back for investigation. The reason was absurd. The special investigation committee believed that the four arsenal warships were secretly transferred to the Blood Oath Alliance in order to create a greater treason operation.
"Of course, our people were responsible for the transfer of the four warships. They all fell into the hands of the special investigation committee. God knows how many secrets they would reveal."
Li Linghai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "General Lei left with the special investigation committee just like that?"
"Yes. Everybody knows what General Lei Chenghu is like."
Jin Yuyan was still smiling, but there was more or less bitterness in his smile. "Now that the enemy had the authorization of the Council of Elders, even if they did not send anybody but only sent an order, General Lei would've bound his arms and walked right into the trap."
Li Linghai was silent for a whole minute before he focused his eyes again. He looked around and said, "Everybody, that's all the intelligence we have so far. Does anyone have anything to say? If none of you have anything to say, I'll do it!
"Based on the intelligence, it is very obvious now.
"The so-called 'incident of the Blood Oath Alliance' was not a simple assassination of a radical officer in the frontline at all but a sordid and shameless scheme that the four Kurfürst families directed and performed themselves. Their purpose was to completely strike the reformists and purge all their political enemies in the capital and in the army!
"The Blood Oath Alliance might not have known the truth, but they must've been taken advantage of by the four Kurfürst families for two reasons.
"Firstly, the young, bold, young bottom-level officers of the Blood Oath Alliance were not capable of infiltrating the Green Wind Sector to such an extent and accomplishing such a complicated assassination. If they were not assisted by us, somebody else must've been assisting them!
"Secondly, the situation in the capital and the frontline has been so intense in only three days that even General Lei Chenghu, an extraordinary person with high prestige in the military, has fallen into the enemy's hands. It is indicative enough of the determination of the four Kurfürst families. Such determination couldn't have been made in only three days.
"Therefore, fellow Cultivators, please abandon your fantasy. The incident of the Blood Oath Alliance was not an accident but a scheme carefully planned by the four Kurfürst families against all their political opponents, especially the reformists, hoping to fish up all of us in a thunderous manner!
"I'm done. If you have any objections, please point them out."
Li Linghai glared at everybody with his colorless, transparent eyes.
"Moon Devil" Yue Wushuang coughed softly.
Li Linghai turned his eyes to the leader of the assassins.
"I have no objection to Your Grace's analysis, but I just received the latest intelligence from the capital."
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