Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 1189: Section 727: Facing (Part 2)

Chapter 1189: Section 727: Facing (Part 2)

"The deceased... were they here to attend the Harvest Festival?" Malin, being a Red Pole of the Goddess of Harvest, naturally thought this way.

"Even under Thainan’s reign, the wilderness isn’t truly safe. After all, there are roaming thieves and solitary spirits, so initially, we thought it was just an isolated case. The authorities of New Hangzhou simply dispatched a team of patrol officers to handle it. But three hours later, we received a call that the deceased were members of the Golden Ship music group here to perform at the Harvest Festival; all of them were dead there."

Malin frowned: "... So you’re saying that the members of the Golden Ship music group who entered New Hangzhou were impostors."

"Yes, to avoid alerting the enemy, I went to the guards to confirm who the inspector was when the Golden Ship music group entered the city. Then I went to his house and found him and his family dead in the basement, already starting to rot." At this point, Sage Yu looked at Malin.

His hesitation was something Malin understood: "The Golden Ship music group is fake, this inspector is also fake... When did the members of the Golden Ship music group arrive?"

"The afternoon of the day before yesterday," Sage Yu replied, "The temperature in the inspector’s basement was around six degrees, and their bodies had already started decaying. They died much earlier than the members of the Golden Ship music group. Someone used the Harvest Festival to sneak in, and we must find him. I heard you had solved several cases in Westland, so I want to borrow your strength."

Sage Yu seemed genuinely out of options, and Malin felt it was his duty to take on this matter—after all, it’s the Harvest Festival, even though being a Westlander, he might not have much say over the Eastern Land’s festival, but anyone trying to cause trouble would be Malin’s enemy.

With this in mind, Malin walked over to the blackboard in the hall.

"First, we must establish a motive for these uninvited guests, meaning why they came here," Malin said, looking at Sage Yu.

"Wait, I’ll call the detectives from the patrol office in," Sage Yu seemed to want Malin to conduct a live teaching session.

Malin nodded, and when all the detectives had entered the hall, Malin repeated the previous question and then looked at them: "Think about it, why did they go through so much trouble to enter New Hangzhou?"

"To cause destruction," the first answer was very standard.

"To assassinate a specific target," the second answer carried some very reasonable suspicion.

"To sacrifice innocent lives as offerings," the third answer made Malin nod, though it sounded a bit far-fetched, it indeed wasn’t wrong, as it was a possibility.

The detectives’ responses pleased Malin—look, there was no person who just sat around doing nothing, which was a good thing.

Since they came with a mission, the issue became very straightforward; they couldn’t be sure if their disguise could fool everyone, especially the inspector. So they acted before the Golden Ship music group departed, killing the inspector’s entire family and then finding someone to impersonate him. This person must be very skilled in disguise, as even the inspector’s colleagues didn’t notice the swap.

Malin shared his thoughts with everyone: "First, we need to know how many people are aware of the Golden Ship music group’s route and investigate all the hotels they stayed at along the way."

"I’ll arrange for people to investigate," said Sage Yu.

"Secondly, the Golden Ship music group has dozens of members. If they were gathered together, they would be too conspicuous, so I suspect they must have split up. Now the question is, who helped them disperse, or who could help them disperse?" At this point, Malin looked at the detectives: "I think you should have a better idea than I do."

"Yes, Your Highness, we are currently suspicious of three areas. The first is the residential area, densely populated with many tenants; apart from the neighborhood police, hardly anyone knows their neighbors," the lead detective stood up and began to answer Malin’s question: "The second suspected location is the commercial area. With many hotels standing and the festival approaching, as long as there’s money and an early hotel reservation, dispersing would not be difficult. Moreover, if there is an insider, this is the easiest place to hide their identity, and the most likely method."

"And the third? Malin asked with a smile.

"... The wealthy district, but we don’t have the authority to investigate there," the lead detective said.

Malin looked at Sage Yu: "After the meeting, I’ll lead a team for a look, and I assure you it will be just a look. If there’s an issue, I won’t take action; you’ll have to do it yourself. How about that?"

"Alright, thank you so much, Sir Malin," Sage Yu visibly sighed in relief.

"Then let’s continue. The current situation is the enemy is in the shadows, and we are in the open. Ten days remain before the Harvest Festival; we must find these uninvited guests and eliminate them all," Malin said, looking at the detectives below: "My plan is for you to coordinate closely with the neighborhood police while Sage Yu sends in some powerful operatives. First, turn the residential area inside out."

"Aren’t we checking other places, Sir Malin?" a detective asked with a puzzled expression.

"Startling the enemy, since they’re in hiding, we need to scare them out. If they’re in the residential area, it allows us to capture them all in one sweep; if not, we plan to announce an entire city investigation to flush them out. Once they start moving, our plainclothes officers can identify who these movers are precisely," Malin said, looking at Sage Yu: "Do you have an underground waterway system here?"

"Yes, I understand. I’ll take the mechanical guard unit down for a thorough search," Sage Yu proactively took on the most challenging task.

"Any other questions?" Malin looked at everyone.

After receiving no question in return, Malin indicated the meeting was adjourned: "All detectives, please cooperate well with the neighborhood police. Also, could the third person in the second row, the eleventh in the third row, and the twenty-fourth in the third row stay behind?"

The three looked confused as they stayed behind, along with the deputy chief responsible for managing the detectives.

"What did you do before joining the patrol office?" Malin asked with a smile.

The young man initially didn’t speak until controlled by Malin, then revealed his true identity: "Infiltrator from the Thainan United Chaos Countermeasures Division, An Zaitian."

The deputy chief of the patrol office was taken aback, then angrily pointed at the young man: "Damn you, Countermeasures Division fish! Do you know how highly I regarded you?"

"Deputy Chief, please don’t get angry; after all, he’s one of ours," Malin said with a smile.

This made the deputy chief pause and awkwardly scratch his head afterward: "I apologize, Sir Malin, I was overthinking. Although our relationship with the Countermeasures Division isn’t great, we’re both humans, and you aren’t wrong."

Malin nodded with a smile, then looked at the eleventh person in the third row, who, unlike the scholarly young man before him, was a middle-aged man with at least twenty years of work experience, with a face resembling Takeshi Kaga.

"Could you introduce yourself truthfully?" Malin asked.

"Thainan United, Anti-Corruption Special Action Division Investigator," the middle-aged man said as he lit a cigarette: "Young An was psychically controlled by you, right? So I’ll just say it myself. Everyone calls me Old Gao, but my surname is actually Qian, Qian Zhijiang."

The deputy chief of the patrol office was silent for a while, eventually holding his head in his hands and sighing deeply: "Old Gao, I advocated for you to become a lead detective, and you..."

"Deputy Chief, he’s still one of us," Malin said with a smile, then turned to the third person who had drawn their gun: "And who are you?"

"Hahaha, I’m the mole you’ve been looking for! But you didn’t expect this! I’m immune to spiritual energy! Die, false god!" he said, pointing his gun at Malin.

But in everyone’s eyes, the mole had pointed the gun at his own head.

"Stop," Malin instructed.

So the finger pulling the trigger couldn’t complete its motion, and Malin smiled as he walked over to the immobilized mole and took the gun from him.

"Don’t worry; we have many questions to ask you. I won’t let you die until we get the answers."

With that, Malin, still smiling, handed the gun to the deputy chief of the patrol office.

"What are you standing around for, Deputy Chief? Give our mole a taste of justice!"