Under the #Mengyue Tribe# topic, someone mentioned the blood of the Bique race, and the words “Bique race” had just been tied to the Raven on the trending searches two days prior.

Before the heat could even die down, it was mentioned once more in this manner, and the update was quickly pushed to the popular list.

The bickering in the comments section was intense, and various media outlets and independent media began speaking nonsense, fighting to the point of bloodshed to contend for traffic.

【The blogger just obtained news from a reliable channel! There are indeed many places along the border where the blood of the Bique race is circulated. It is said that not only can it extend life, but it can also raise pheromone levels! It’s not even something you can buy just because you have money! [Image][Image]】

【Doesn’t the mass circulation of human blood along the border indicate that the market demand is huge? Besides the Meng-certain tribe, what ordinary, normal person would think of drinking human blood? This proves that they are truly purchasing human flesh and human blood in private. Disgusting enough to vomit.】

【Don’t say it, really don’t say it. The Meng family happens to manage the Nanming Cluster border, directly opening a green channel for their own family and tribe. The border must be their breeding ground, right?】

【Still remember the black and white banner when the Raven caused the terrorist attack on the streets two days ago? It said the royal family slaughtered tens of millions of their compatriots. Could it be that someone else did it? For the sake of drinking blood or something, whoa! The more you think about it, the more terrifying it gets. [Image]】

Li Ji browsed through the popular updates under these topics.

If it were purely a topic like “a type of Bique race blood is circulating along the border, and drinking it can extend life,” it would absolutely be unable to stir any waves online.

First, the Bique race was almost unknown to others.

Second, ordinary people by default assumed the border was a place where bad things were done, where any absurd thing could happen, making it a common sight.

Third, the notion of drinking blood to extend life was too ignorant and would only be treated as a joke.

Yet now, the Raven had just staged a terrorist attack, already pinning the label of a terrorist organization onto the words “Bique race.” Immediately after, the Meng family’s younger brother-in-law’s family, the Qi family, encountered trouble, pushing the Meng family to the vanguard of public storm as well.

The rumor fabricated by Xiao Xiao last night linked the Meng family to human blood, and human blood in turn drew out the Bique race. Combined with the panic caused by the Shengya military heavily pressing down on the border for anti-crime operations these past two days, it was equivalent to stringing all the explosive topics together.

The more panicked the citizens were, and the more bizarre the topic, the greater the volume of discussion, and the larger the impact on the Meng family.

Li Ji: “What if their family comes out to refute the rumors?”

“That’s even better. Not everything these media outlets randomly publish is fake. We can crush the Meng family to death just by releasing a little bit of evidence.”

Li Xiao sat down and spoke indifferently, “The evidence to put the Meng family on trial is not yet enough, but if we want to subvert the Meng family’s public image and make the entire country loathe this family, the evidence in our hands is more than sufficient.”

“They brought it upon themselves.” Song Jin smiled. “If they hadn’t promoted the Bique race’s ‘divine blood’ so high-profilely at the border, we would have had to expend a bit more effort.”

Hearing the underlying meaning in their words, Li Ji was thoughtful: “A complete chain of evidence is indeed not easy to gather.”

Li Xiao nodded: “The time span is too large; a lot of evidence was destroyed long ago.”

Li Ji: “What do you plan to do?”

Li Xiao’s tone was flat: “First, make the myth of the Meng family completely vanish from Danse in every sense.”

Wei Feng nodded: “As expected of my son.”

Just after speaking, he received a sharp glare from Li Ji. Wei Feng turned his head away, pretending not to see.

Li Ji gestured for Old Liu to come over: “Notify Yi Yongning to have the headquarters release the announcement of Meng Jian temporarily taking over as the supervising general of the Xuyang Cluster. Use my personal account to publish a dedicated frequency for reporting, accepting reports from everyone regarding Xuyang Cluster officials and military officers. Once verified, arrests will be executed immediately.”

Xiao Xiao had already taken a massive step forward; he had to keep up as well.

Old Liu: “Yes.”

Song Jin looked toward Wei Feng: “Is the portrait drawn?”

Wei Feng pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket: “I did my best.”

Song Jin glanced at it with disgust, having absolutely no desire to reach out and take it.

It was still Li Xiao who took it and opened it. On the drawing paper were three stick figures.

The first one had downcast eyes, while the other two had raised eyebrows. If one had to describe it, the first stick figure was slightly shorter, but besides that, there was no other information.

Li Xiao: “…”

Song Jin: “…”

Song Jin snatched it away, flipping it up and down in disbelief: “Can we find someone using this thing? Do you think we are immortals?”

Wei Feng clicked his tongue: “I drew it for two hours, I was very dedicated.”

Song Jin crumpled it into a ball and casually threw it to the recycling robot: “Use the auxiliary tools to redraw it!”

Wei Feng: “How about I describe it and you draw it?”

Song Jin: “Did the teacher not teach you to do your own things yourself?”

Wei Feng looked left and right: “The teacher isn’t here.”

Song Jin swiped open his terminal: “I’ll call him over.”

Wei Feng: “…”

Li Ji looked toward Li Xiao: “I prepare to go to the Zifu Cluster tomorrow. Will you guys return to school first, or come with me?”

Li Xiao didn’t reply directly: “I’ll consider it.”

While things were in a clamor online, the military headquarters suddenly issued an announcement regarding Meng Jian temporarily concurrently holding the post of supervising general of the Xuyang Cluster, which instantly rushed onto the trending searches.

Although this announcement spoke of Meng Jian, it disguisedly confirmed the fact that Qi Shoude had already been arrested.

Immediately following, the King’s personal account issued another update, intending to thoroughly investigate the personnel of the Xuyang Cluster government and military systems, opening a dedicated frequency to accept reports from everyone, with arrests carried out immediately once verified.

For criminal personnel who surrendered, or criminal personnel who surrendered and reported accomplices, lenient treatment could be considered at discretion, with a maximum reduction of half the punishment.

At the very end of the update, a sentence was intentionally added.

【The supervising general of the Xuyang Cluster has the responsibility to assist in bringing criminal personnel to justice.】

Not long after the update was issued, it caused a massive uproar online.

Everyone knew the Meng and Qi families were as one. The royal family sending Meng Jian to pull the Qi family out by the roots was simply a calculated stroke to kill their spirit.

Countless netizens went to Meng Jian’s account and other related legions to call out to them, urging the Meng family to quickly clean up the inside moles to re-establish the high, upright, and proper image of the Meng family.

The Meng family could not sever its relations with the Qi family, and their reputation was already in jeopardy. At the same time, Shengya was striking heavily at the border, and the royal family was applying pressure once more, leaving the Meng family under siege from all sides.

Before the Meng family could show any movement, the minds of a group of officials and military officers in the Xuyang Cluster collapsed first.

After the enemy attack, the garrison management level of S1301 had all been arrested, but at least it wouldn’t implicate other planets in the Xuyang Cluster.

But with Qi Shoude arrested, they knew matters were not that simple; the royal family was going to strike ruthlessly.

Everyone was anxiously waiting for the Meng family’s attitude. If the Meng family could protect the Qi family, then they could still lean against the big tree to enjoy the shade; otherwise, they would have to think of a way out.

Imperial Capital Planet, Military Headquarters.

Meng Jian was flying into a rage in his office.

Ever since those rumors erupted online, on his way to work today, he felt that the way others looked at him wasn’t right.

A group of assistants frantically contacted the major platforms to delete the relevant topics.

However, the traffic generated by the rumors against the Meng family was inherently brought about by the Qi family’s rebellion. As long as the Meng family didn’t sever relations with the Qi family, the traffic wouldn’t drop. The more they suppressed it, the easier it was to lose control.

Meng Zai sat to the side smoking a cigarette. Hearing the adjutant mention the update posted by the royal family, he took a look online and couldn’t help but roar in anger: “So insidious! Throwing the matter of arresting people entirely onto our heads!”

If they didn’t make the arrests, it would confirm that the Meng family was also involved in the Qi family’s rebellion. Even if they could clear their name, people would say the Meng family was useless, unable to catch even a single person.

If they truly arrested these people, the Meng family’s reputation would be preserved, but the Qi family would be completely finished.

Meng Zai suffocated a bellyful of frustration, turning his head to look at Meng Jian not far away: “Father, I think you should simply not take over this hot potato of the Xuyang Cluster. It’s enough for us to focus on dealing with the border.”

As long as they could keep the Shengya military out, they would have a way to redeem their reputation. As for those rumors, they wouldn’t be worth mentioning by then.

In essence, what they had to do immediately was sever ties with the Qi family, and wait until the current crisis passed before finding a way to fish Qi Shoude out.

“Easy for you to say!”

Meng Jian’s tone was very poor, “Not taking over the Xuyang Cluster is equivalent to handing over territory to others! And doing so proactively! When the time comes, the Qi family won’t be saved, and the territory will be gone too!”

Meng Zai sat up straight and stubbed out the cigarette butt: “But this Xuyang Cluster is a pit dug for us by the royal family. Truly holding it in our hands will bring a lot of suffering.”

Meng Jian held his hands behind his back and snorted coldly: “I’d like to see what he can do to me!”

“Sir!” The adjutant swiftly projected an announcement into the air, “This is the first batch of wanted lists General Yi just had people release!!”

The Meng father and son looked over. The announcement contained a list of a pile of arrested officials, as well as the list of criminal personnel they had informed on, totaling two hundred people.

【The above personnel are suspected of major crimes, posing an extremely great hazard to society. If they surrender within three hours, lenient treatment may apply. If they defect or resist arrest, the military has the right to execute them on the spot. If members of the public assist in the arrest, a reward of 1 million Star Coins will be given each time.】

Meng Jian’s pupils suffered an earthquake.

He couldn’t believe this was something that Li Ji could do.

The foreign enemy was pressing right against the border line, so why could Li Ji still be this unyielding?!

He originally thought that this time would at most be a standoff between both sides, waiting until Shengya withdrew its troops before resolving the Qi family’s matters. Everything prior was merely bluffing, wanting to take the opportunity to knock him down a peg and make him back down first.

To put it bluntly, it was like children bickering, just wanting to win against him once.

To deal with Shengya, Li Ji had no choice but to borrow his hand, not daring to truly rip faces apart with him at a time like this.

But looking at it now, what Li Ji wanted to do was far more than that.

“Where does he get the confidence?” Meng Zai couldn’t understand it either. “Is he too confident in us, or does he truly not care? Shengya has fought to the doorstep, yet he still has the mind to make sweeping changes to the Qi family?”

The adjutant said with a dark face: “It might be due to Song Jin.”

Something suddenly flashed rapidly before Meng Jian’s eyes, but he couldn’t catch it in time. Knitting his brows, he looked toward the adjutant: “How so?”

Adjutant: “His Majesty is soft-eared; Song Jin must have said something in front of him. Didn’t Song Jin also say during the livestream that Shengya wouldn’t attack?”

Meng Zai thought he was going to say something substantial, letting out a sneer: “A waste is indeed a waste, actually listening to the nonsense of a person from Shengya. He won’t even know when the country is lost in his hands!”

Meng Jian always felt something wasn’t right, but he could no longer afford to think so much, immediately sending a video call to Li Ji.

Once the video connected, Li Ji spoke first: “I just had people send the list to you. It’s hard work, and I can only trust you.”

Meng Jian’s attitude was respectful: “Your Majesty, right now I must first look after the border. Can the matter of the arrests be put on hold for now? It won’t be too late to make arrests after Shengya withdraws its troops.”

Li Ji: “By that time, the people will have mostly run away, won’t they? Won’t the difficulty of the arrests be very great?”

Meng Jian answered patiently: “There’s no helping it either. The border is always more important. In the event it falls, the consequences will be unimaginable. What does it matter if a few of these freeloaders are missed? Since you chose to publish the list, this is also a foreseeable result.”

Li Ji nodded: “Old Meng, you still know how to do things. Let’s proceed that way then.”

Hanging up the video call, Meng Jian let out a disdainful cold snort.

Just as he thought, this brat Li Ji was indeed just bickering, putting on an appearance in front of outsiders but unable to harden up at all.

Before the adjutant could let out his full breath, his terminal suddenly vibrated non-stop. He swiped it open, and his face changed drastically.

“Sir, the Xuyang Cluster has lost control!”

Meng Jian was puzzled: “Where has it lost control?”

Adjutant: “Three officials on the list were shot dead on the street!”

Meng Jian’s mind turned, quickly sorting out the twists and turns within. Wanting to send another video call to Li Ji, the prompt already indicated it could not be connected.

“Li Ji!” Meng Jian smashed his fist onto the table.

Meng Zai’s face was grave: “Who killed them? Were Li Ji’s people already waiting near the targets to ambush them?”

“He didn’t need to act at all.” Meng Jian said with a dark face, “Those people can play themselves to death on their own.”

Among the two hundred people on the list, most wouldn’t receive a death sentence even if caught. However, the announcement explicitly added the phrase “if they defect or resist arrest, the military has the right to execute them on the spot,” which carried deep, murky waters.

Some people who hadn’t made the list yet would definitely try everything possible to eliminate those wanted criminals connected to them to protect themselves. Meanwhile, those who made the list, if they were even slightly smart, would choose to surrender to save themselves. After all, surrendering could reduce sentences, whereas hiding around meant they might accidentally die at anyone’s hands.

This announcement Li Ji had Yi Yongning issue was like a blown whistle; the Xuyang Cluster had begun a survival game of mutual slaughter aimed at the Qi faction.

This was only the first batch. No one knew how many lists Li Ji still held in his hands. If this continued batch by batch, before he even acted, the people of the Qi faction would already be scattered to pieces.

Meng Zai: “Father, it won’t do to go on like this. Let’s catch this batch of people first and isolate them. As for how to interrogate them, that will be up to us.”

To put it bluntly, this gamble depended on whether the royal family or they were more willing to let go, and who could be more reckless.

The royal family had clearly abandoned considerations for the safety of the border to fight to the death over the Qi family matter.

But they couldn’t ignore the border’s condition. Compared to the royal family, Shengya was the greater enemy.

If they allowed Shengya to take advantage of internal strife, the hundreds of years of the Meng family’s operation would flow down the drain.

Perhaps from the moment they proactively unsealed the Xuyang Cluster, they had already lost.

The royal family determined that they couldn’t afford to lose, allowing them to apply pressure time and again like this.

Meng Jian ordered the adjutant with a cold face to issue an announcement, immediately implementing arrests for all wanted criminals.

Having reached this stage, at least issuing an announcement to declare their stance could still preserve the Meng family’s reputation.

The Meng family’s announcement undoubtedly dealt a head-on blow to many whose stances were unstable.

Regardless of whether the Meng family truly made arrests or just put on a show, the Meng family was no longer the winner.

Facts proved that the Meng family could not protect the Qi family.

Hearing that Meng Jian took over the Xuyang Cluster, a large group of people who had prepared to seek refuge with the Meng family turned around and firmly stood on the royal family’s side.

The Qi family had collapsed; the Meng family might be next, and they couldn’t afford to gamble.

When the dedicated frequency for reporting opened, the communication requests were sparse at first, but once the list was issued, it exploded instantly.

The first wave of contacts were entirely Xuyang Cluster officials and military officers, opening up a frenzied reporting mode. Many claimed they held quite a bit of evidence in their hands, requesting personal protection from the military.

Regarding matters related to reporting, Li Ji handed them over to Yi Yongning to take over, while he began preparing for the inspection tour of the Zifu Cluster.

Warship, command cabin.

Monitored by Li Xiao and Song Jin, Wei Feng sat to the side piecing together faces on the software for over an hour. Wiping his face sleepily, he said, “I can’t anymore, I can’t even recognize faces now.”

Li Xiao inspected the three faces he had pieced together: “How much do they resemble them?”

Wei Feng pulled a thin cigarette from the case and held it between his fingers: “Originally I could remember about fifty or sixty percent, but after this mess, I’ve almost forgotten what those three people look like.”

“Were the two people who rescued you out from the Raven?” Song Jin sat on a high stool with one leg bent, browsing the upgraded inhibitor ring program.

Wei Feng: “There are many people in the Raven, I’m not sure.”

Song Jin didn’t even raise his head: “Then how did you get to the Raven?”

Wei Feng: “I was on the Raven’s spaceship when I woke up.”

That day in the meeting room indeed unraveled many questions, but similarly, there were still many questions unresolved. For instance, why did the Z152 abandoned base explode thirty years ago, who tampered with it, and who was the person who rescued Wei Feng?

“Keep these few drawings to work on slowly, no rush.” Li Xiao looked toward Wei Feng, “The mysterious channel you mentioned before, can it still not be spoken of?”

Wei Feng held the cigarette in his lips and hesitated for a moment: “It’s not that I don’t want to say, I don’t know who the other party is either. The contact method changes every time, and it’s basically them unilaterally contacting us.”

Li Xiao: “Basically?”

Wei Feng: “The validity of the terminal number is at most two days each time. If they take the initiative to contact, I can use this frequency to contact the other party within two days.”

This situation was similar to what Li Xiao had thought previously.

Li Xiao: “Then you guys also learned through them that I possess Bique race lineage?”

Wei Feng nodded. Speaking of this matter, his expression was somewhat heavy: “Back then, many tribesmen were killed one after another. Reporting it was useless. We were driven to a dead end, and originally wanted to perish together with the Meng family.”

Hearing this, Song Jin raised his head: “Madness? An ant shaking an elephant, the only ones who could die would be you guys.”

“What else could be done? We were already driven to the point where we couldn’t survive by the Meng family.” Wei Feng held his cigarette and smiled bitterly, “Before the operation, an information came through that frequency, saying the Second Prince possesses Bique race lineage, telling us not to be impulsive, that there was still hope.”

Li Xiao: “When did this happen?”

“Seventeen years ago, I suppose.” Wei Feng felt somewhat sorrowful, “I just didn’t expect it to actually be my lineage.”

Song Jin’s voice was chilly: “You are merely a replica.”

Wei Feng: “Speak more politely to your father-in-law.”

Song Jin: “You count at most as a mother-in-law.”

Wei Feng: “…”

Song Jin looked at him with a beaming smile: “Even a clone won’t be completely identical to the original body, but the degree of resemblance between you and the original body is truly high. Who knows, perhaps the Bique race possesses some bizarre regenerative ability. Any interest in visiting Shengya to play in the future?”

Wei Feng retreated a bit warily: “Go play in your laboratory?”

Song Jin: “You can view the snow scenery along the way.”

Wei Feng: “…”

He actually didn’t deny it at all.

While they spoke, Li Xiao pondered Wei Feng’s sentence from just now.

Calculating based on the time Yan Qing left the palace, rumors of him possessing Bique race lineage shouldn’t have spread within the palace yet at that time.

In other words, this mysterious person was an insider.

Li Xiao: “If he contacts you next time, notify me immediately.”

Seeing Wei Feng nod, Song Jin asked: “From when did you guys begin to suspect the Meng family?”

Wei Feng: “Starting from the Golden Oriole coup back then, a saying circulated within the tribe, stating that the Golden Oriole and the Meng family army held different stances, creating a massive conflict. They also intruded into the Meng family’s territory, so the Meng family wanted to retaliate against our entire ethnic group.”

Song Jin: “It didn’t mention why they intruded?”

Wei Feng shook his head.

Li Xiao opened the map of Z152, zooming in on the area that had been bombed by the military back then.

“It seems necessary to make another trip to Z152.”