Just as Yang Ming felt he couldn't easily make any judgment, for fear of being used as a pawn, another set of photos surfaced at the intelligence organization's information exchange center.
The photos were taken five days ago.
The professional assassin met with a white-haired elderly man in a park's corner, where they quickly exchanged a few words.
The identity of the elderly man had already been identified, and Yang Ming had once met him before.
Elder Court, the trusted lackey of the Great Elder, Elder Pison.
Grass is a type of green plant.
Could this really be the work of that bunch of old bastards?
Yang Ming, of course, understood that such a flood of information suddenly appearing could very well be the Emperor orchestrating some scheme.
The incident where he seized the Han Yin communication device might have been exposed.
Now, after careful consideration, Yang Ming realized that he couldn't directly unravel the complex web at hand.
The corner of his mouth twitched lightly.
Why make it so complicated?
It had now been determined that the only person the murderer had contacted before the incident was Elder Pison, and there was no washing that off.
Yang Ming slammed the controls, and his police hover car broke away from the escort convoy, charging towards the real-time location of Elder Pison he had found.
Emperor Star Manor module 0024, surface area.
Building several secret rooms in one's own residence was a common hobby among the Great Nobles.
Although Elder Pison's honorary title wasn't particularly high, and he wouldn't normally qualify for residence on Emperor Star, he managed to secure a place for himself here through years of servitude at the Elder Court.
This elderly elder was originally whiling away his time in a daze, still muzzy from the hangover;
however, a communication invite from the Great Elder of the Elder Court jolted Elder Pison awake.
Another opportunity to lick the Great Elder's boots?
Ah, he meant another opportunity to serve the Great Elder?
Elder Pison grabbed a stimulant spray and sprayed his face several times, quickly answering the video call, with the half-body image of the Great Elder appearing before him.
The latter's expression was dark as water, as if he had lost a relative.
The Great Elder was almost yelling,
"You stupid, stubborn, self-proclaimed genius idiot!" Follow current novels on NoveIꜰire.net
Pison was dumbfounded by the scolding.
"Great Elder, what... what did I do?"
"You still dare to ask! Don't try to play dumb and blunder your way through! You are now being watched by His Majesty's people!"
The Great Elder threw several photos at him, continuing to roar,
"This is the intelligence I intercepted; you better take a good look! Are these your men?"
Elder Pison frowned in concentration, hurriedly speaking, "This... this is one of the cleaners I was responsible for connecting with... this was all raised as a group of Assassins according to your order..."
"Shut up! When did I ever ask you to raise Assassins!"
"Yes, you didn't, it was my own initiative," Elder Pison quickly said.
However, such Assassins had been raised by the tens of thousands by the Elder Court, spending most of their time as intelligence agents, mainly operating throughout the dozens of Administrative Stars within the Emperor Star Circle, occasionally undertaking some risk mitigation tasks, which is why they were called cleaners.
"Is there something wrong with him?" Elder Pison asked with a trembling voice.
The Great Elder suddenly calmed down and said coldly, "He was the one who planted that bomb. A few days after contacting you, he carried out the bombing plan."
Elder Pison's old face turned deathly pale in an instant.
"Great Elder, I didn't do it! I definitely didn't give him such orders! These photos... these photos are from when I met with him to deal with the problem of the Princess's private photos leaking... Great Elder, you have to believe me! I couldn't possibly do something so foolish! I... I wouldn't even know where to get a bomb..."
The Great Elder's face was dark as water, "Look at me!"
"Yes, Great Elder, I..."
"You know the drill. Raising cleaners must never be exposed, and now you've been targeted."
The Great Elder spoke gravely,
"I remember, you have two sons, one daughter, and four grandchildren, granddaughters, and an out-of-wedlock granddaughter, correct?"
Elder Pison nearly couldn't stand upright.
"Great Elder, this truly is a setup..."
"That doesn't matter! What matters is that you've been exposed!"
The Great Elder stared at Pison, his gaze seemingly lethal.
"You know the rules! We must use any means necessary to uphold the honor of the collective!"
Elder Pison's breathing became unsteady, his eyes reddening slightly, but gradually, he regained his composure, looked down at his hands, and revealed a bitter smile.
"The men I've sent will be arriving at your place in three minutes. You might want to have a drink, but make sure you don't communicate with anyone, or else..."
The half-image of the Great Elder slightly distorted.
The communication was abruptly cut off.
Suddenly, lights in the room went out, and the emergency lighting quickly activated.
The heavy sound of something vibrating came from the thick alloy doors of the secret room.
Elder Pison turned to see a significant inward bulge on the sturdy alloy door.
It sounded as if heavy objects were repeatedly hitting the alloy door.
Elder Pison instinctively rushed towards the desk where the laser pistol was kept, but as soon as he moved, the alloy doors burst open with a loud roar!
Seven or eight guards flew backward simultaneously, screaming as they flew past Elder Pison and crashed into the wall, their strong bodies nearly twisted into knots.
Bloodstains marred the alloy door, and the floor was strewn with a dozen corpses.
Yang Ming, wearing sunglasses, slightly raised his head.
Elder Pison stood frozen in place, as if turned to clay.