Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 159 - 79: Two-Star Anti-Company Element

Chapter 159: Chapter 79: Two-Star Anti-Company Element

The approach Jiuyue had taken proved correct—the kidnapper did indeed show up at the bathhouse. However, what was completely unexpected was that disagreements erupted within the kidnapper gang, leading to Mr. Li De suffering a betrayal, leaving not even a body behind.

Now, here comes the problem.

The diamond-faced minister "committed suicide" on the rooftop of the Emerald building, and Mr. Li De disappeared from Yu Quan Bathhouse. These two locations shared one thing in common.

Both were key parts of the Third Prince’s industries, which he used to entertain envoys from beyond the heavens.

Duan Mingyuan felt that even Mouri Kogoro could pinpoint the criminal suspects in these two cases.

If the person manipulating Li De from behind the scenes was the Third Prince, then everything seemed to make sense. This was also why Li De dared to casually visit such a public place as the bathhouse after having killed a minister and kidnapped an envoy from the Red Star Chamber of Commerce, in their view, it was just an extra reward from their employer.

The famous Yu Quan bath service also provided food and beverages free of charge.

But it took lives.

At that moment, the Third Prince also arrived at the Yu Quan Bathhouse with an anxious look.

"I heard that a space felon slipped into the bathhouse?"

He immediately went up to Cai Hui and inquired, "How are the other envoys? Is anyone hurt?"

"... No."

Cai Hui’s brows were knitted tightly, clearly disgusted by the Third Prince’s act. Anyone with eyes could see that the Third Prince couldn’t be uninvolved, but the stance of the Cosmic Relations Coordination Department prevented her from interrogating a potential heir to a planetary throne.

Accusing a prince of hiring assassins to kidnap envoys from other planets was a serious allegation, and without sufficient evidence at hand, she could only maintain her silence.

The Third Prince was different from his elder brothers; although he had many dealings with the company in the business world, he was not a devotee of Universe Company like Ying Tian. Otherwise, with his skills, if he could gain the support of the strategic department, he would also become a strong contender for the throne.

"That’s good to hear, that’s good!"

The Third Prince breathed a sigh of relief, "This is the negligence of the bathhouse’s security personnel. I’ll discipline them afterward."

Huh?

The attending head of security was incredulous upon hearing the Third Prince mention himself.

All he could think was that it was fortunate the space fugitive, known as Li De, had used a false identity; otherwise, had he really gotten into a conflict with him, his body would probably be ice-cold by now.

The bounty on that man’s head was a whopping 72 million, ranking him in the top five most wanted criminals across the entire Star Zone. Just a quick online search would yield pages of news. Up until today, Li De had evaded Universe Company’s dragnet eleven times—a true hardened criminal.

He fight against Li De?

He was hired as a security guard for a leisure establishment in the Imperial Court, not as an interstellar bounty hunter!

"You can’t fully blame the head of security, though. After all, Li De had been evading the company’s security department for so long and had extremely strong counter-surveillance skills."

Out of sympathy for the head of security, Duan Mingyuan tried to smooth things over, which reminded him of his own experience of being asked to meet unreasonable demands by a supervisor in his previous work life.

On this matter, he supported no one and was the purest bystander.

Grateful for the support, the head of security immediately sent a look of thanks Duan Mingyuan’s way.

The captain felt that workers around the world should unite like this and stand up against unscrupulous bosses!

"What Mr. Mingyuan said does make some sense."

The Third Prince stroked his chin, "Now that the kidnapper is dead, and no one else is injured, you can go back and write a self-criticism, and we will consider this matter closed. Chief Cai Hui, what do you think of this solution?"

No way!

This B is muddling things up!

Cai Hui still had many questions that hadn’t been resolved in her mind.

Why did an interstellar fugitive with a bounty of 72 million Bei die quietly in the compartment, where did the kidnapped envoy from the Red Star Chamber of Commerce go, and, more importantly, the purpose of the Third Prince for hiring someone to kidnap them.

According to the intelligence held by the company, the Third Prince didn’t have skilled individuals capable of easily killing an interstellar fugitive.

However, before she could ask her superiors for instructions and get the company’s approval, she couldn’t lay a hand on the Third Prince.

"Let’s leave it at that."

Cai Hui replied curtly and left the bathing area with Tian Yun.

After the Third Prince had dismissed the people around him, he then said to Duan Mingyuan, "I apologize for the inconvenience. It’s your first time visiting Yu Quan Bathhouse and to think you would encounter such an incident. As an apology, I hope you can accept this."

The Third Prince took out a document and handed it to Duan Mingyuan.

"What is this?"

"Yesterday, Mr. Mingyuan, you mentioned that your visit was aimed at rebuilding the Royal Hunting Court. This is the guild registration document I had someone find for you. As long as it’s processed by the Guild Management Bureau, they shouldn’t make things difficult for you. However, according to the guild’s requirements, you need to meet the most basic standards when processing the documents."

Duan Mingyuan hadn’t expected that the Third Prince would bring the registration document overnight, having said yesterday that it was difficult and he didn’t want to offend the company because of it.

However, compared to what he had done and his attitude towards Cai Hui, this was trivial.

If we’re talking about offending the company, beating them to the punch by killing their target before they could act was enough to thoroughly offend them.

"I know that Mr. Mingyuan might still have many doubts in his heart, but now is not the time. I assume you’ve also noticed the chaos within the Imperial Court, and with your caution, you would not believe any person’s one-sided story."

The Third Prince hinted at something with his words, which was as good as confirming Duan Mingyuan’s suspicions.

After a pause, the Third Prince added, "I believe you are someone who can bring change to this chaos. Therefore, I hope you can make your judgment following your own heart, without the interference of anyone else."

Duan Mingyuan put away the document, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

What was it he said?

This Third Prince was definitely a deeply hidden anti-company faction member.

Once you get involved with such a person, when "Heaven" sends down Heaven’s Punishment, they will also have to bear the brunt together.

Luckily, so do they.

Following the principle of auto chess, when three deeply hidden anti-company faction members gather together, they can combine into a two-star anti-company member with a passive skill that allows them to immune to Heaven’s Punishment once.

"By the way, the director of the Cosmic Relations Coordination Department has arrived, and tonight the palace will hold a welcome ceremony. The power holders of the Imperial Court will be present. I hope you will also attend as this may give you an insight into the current environment within the Imperial Court."

"Mr. Mingyuan."

Jiuyue tugged at Duan Mingyuan’s arm from behind, "This kind of banquet sounds pretty boring."

"I forgot to mention, the Chamber of Commerce has recently imported a rare Bai Yu chicken from another planet. Adult Bai Yu chickens are over ten meters in length, and for this welcome for Director Qing Hua, we will serve this Bai Yu chicken as the main dish at the banquet..."

"Looks like we have to go now."

Jiuyue wiped the corner of her mouth, making a slurping sound, "After all, we’ve just arrived at the Imperial Court, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to learn more about the environment here."