Adeline is the president of the Federation's "Southern Chamber of Commerce". The chamber of commerce she founded is not an official organization, but a non-governmental organization spontaneously formed by private entrepreneurs from many southern galaxies, including the Celtic Mineral Company on planet B73.
She and her twin brother are both S-level healing guides, and their spiritual form "Orchid Mantis" has the ability to become invisible.
Five years ago, her brother "died of illness", and she built the Twin Palaces in the capital planet in memory of him. Now it seems that after her brother faked his death, he actually turned to the underground black market, secretly smuggling rare crystals, and even using fake auction items to pass off as genuine ones.
The "charitable foundation" they set up ostensibly helped children in remote galaxies go to school, but in reality it laundered money through auctions and took countless fortunes for themselves.
Yu Ran calmly crawled back to the bathroom, put on his suit jacket, and straightened his clothes in front of the mirror.
Five minutes later, Yu Ran came out of the bathroom with a calm expression.
Lu Zexuan asked with concern: "Are you okay?"
Yu Ran smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, I just have a stomachache. Is the banquet about to start?"
Lu Zexuan said: "It officially starts at 8 o'clock."
The two returned to their seats in the corner and sat down.
After a while, it was 8 o'clock.
"I am deeply honored that the generals have come to attend this charity dinner in person." As the soft voice sounded, the owner of the Gemini uterus, Ms. Adeline, wearing a red diamond-studded evening gown, walked down the stairs surrounded by bodyguards.
"It's really rare that today's dinner is even more lively than the Federal Military's New Year's Eve Party." The female general of the Star Legion said calmly.
"It's a rare occasion for all of you to get together, and this is not a meeting, so don't be so nervous. Spirits, calm down and have a peaceful midnight snack." The one who spoke with a smile was Lu Zexuan's father, Lu Tingyu. He always had a mild temper, and seeing that the atmosphere was a bit strange, he came out to smooth things over.
His wife didn't say anything, but expressed her intention directly through action by putting away her spiritual body.
After the cardinal disappeared, the golden eagle returned to the mental image. Lions, snow leopards, sharks and other beasts also went back to rest. The atmosphere on the scene was indeed much more relaxed.
After all, in addition to them, there are other guests who are A-level sentinels and guides. Their spiritual bodies stay here all the time, which will give people a strong sense of oppression.
Adeline smiled and said, "General Lu is indeed very thoughtful." She swept her eyes across the room and bowed politely, "Thank you all for coming to our Gemini Charity Dinner today. Please take your seats. The auction will begin soon. Please forgive us for any inadequacies in our hospitality."
The lights in the small auction room next door were turned on, and the guests moved there and sat down in an orderly manner.
Lu Zexuan took Yu Ran to sit in a corner. He didn't want Yu Ran to attract too much attention. Coming to the banquet today was just for socializing, so there was no need to show off.
The auction officially started at 8 o'clock sharp.
The auctioneer walked onto the main stage and began to display one exquisite piece of jewelry after another.
Rare diamond necklaces, crystal clear jade bracelets, unique sapphire earrings...
Since it was a charity auction, the organizer promised to donate all the money from the auction to a charity foundation to help children in remote galaxies. People with some spare money gave Gemini face and spent generously, and most of the exhibits were sold at high prices.
"The next item to be displayed is the last item of this auction - a natural red crystal necklace!"
The spotlight was on the center of the stage, and inside the blue velvet box, a necklace lay quietly. The pendant in the middle was as red as blood, and the crystal was as round as a raindrop, emitting a dazzling light under the spotlight. This kind of crystal was extremely rare, not to mention that this "pure natural teardrop-shaped crystal" was priceless.
"The starting price is 1 million, and the increment is 100,000."
"1.5 million!"
“Two million!”
"3000000!"
Many guests raised their placards, and the price kept rising. Finally, a wealthy boss won the necklace at a price of 8 million. The man said happily, "This necklace is perfect for my wife as a wedding gift for our 20th anniversary."
Yu Ran thought to himself: What a fool! You bought a fake one.
The Adeline siblings were bold enough to pass off fake items as real ones at the auction.
After the auction, the guests were invited to the dinner hall next door. Everyone could bring their partners to dance. For those who didn’t want to dance, there was a rich and exquisite buffet for guests to enjoy.
Yu Ran followed Lu Zexuan silently to get food, but his eyes glanced towards the bathroom.
He wanted to find out who went to the bathroom to get the chip.
Not long after, Ms. Adeline got up and went to the bathroom.
Just as she opened the bathroom door, a huge black spider suddenly appeared in the corridor, followed by Zhu Tianyi, dressed in black, who slowly walked out from the shadows.
The man said expressionlessly, "Ms. Adeline, I am Zhu Tianyi, the chief of the Federal Investigation Department. Please assist me in the investigation."
Adeline's expression changed slightly: "What are you investigating? How did you get in?"
Zhu Tianyi winked at his subordinate, Kane, who immediately went into the bathroom and searched the room carefully. Soon, he found that the ceiling on the roof could be opened. Kane stretched out his long arms to remove the ceiling, put his head up to carefully check for a moment, and then said to Zhu Tianyi: "No."
Zhu Tianyi frowned: "Continue searching."
Kane went to search other bathrooms but still found nothing.
Adeline took a deep breath and said unhappily, "Chief Zhu, it seems that the information here is wrong? What are you investigating?"
Zhu Tianyi's face darkened slightly, and he said calmly: "Isn't your auction item lost?"
Adeline was stunned: "… What auction item? How come I don't know?"
After Zhu Tianyi finished speaking, he turned and headed for the banquet hall. The man's sharp eyes swept across the dinner scene. In addition to some officials, military generals and their families and dance partners, he unexpectedly discovered a person - Yu Ran.
The 18-year-old Yu Ran was wearing a suit, looking particularly young and innocent in such an occasion.
He and Lu Zexuan were sitting in a corner eating, holding a plate of exquisite pastries in his hands, and he lowered his head to eat seriously, looking like an innocent lamb that had strayed into a pack of wolves. Occasionally, he would smile at Lu Zexuan, saying that the pastries were delicious.
Lu Zexuan took care of him considerately, and the atmosphere between them was harmonious, just like a couple in love.
Zhu Tianyi withdrew his gaze. It seemed that it was Lu Zexuan who brought him in.
When Yu Ran noticed the black spider coming, the nerves in his mind immediately tensed up - that was a close call.
If I had not been careful and placed the chip directly on the roof of the bathroom, Zhu Tianyi would have caught me red-handed.
He had been to that restroom. As long as Section Chief Zhu carefully checked every guest who had been to the restroom, Yu Ran would never be able to clear himself. Fortunately, he was careful and ate the chip directly.
Sure enough, the next moment, Zhu Tianyi said, "Dear guests, excuse me, I am the chief of the Federal Investigation Department. This is the highest investigation order signed by the Presidential Office." He took out a document with a seal and said, "Now, everyone please stay where you are and cooperate with the investigation. We suspect that the precious items at the auction have been stolen."
The guests looked at each other in bewilderment.
At this time, the spider's white web had silently covered the entire venue, making it impossible for anyone to move.
Zhu Tianyi was accompanied by a young woman, who was the deputy chief of the investigation department and an attack guide. Yu Ran had never seen her before.
Her spirit body was the Queen Bee, which was dozens of times larger than an ordinary bee. After the spiders temporarily trapped all the guests, the Queen Bee suddenly summoned a swarm of densely packed bees to fly into the venue.
Bees have compound eyes, which is a common feature of insects. In addition to summoning a swarm of bees to carry out large-scale attacks, a Class A queen bee also has a special ability - group surveillance.
Their eyes can see every detail in a 360-degree range without blind spots.
In other words, every little movement of everyone present can escape the detection of the swarm of bees.
Yu Ran pretended to be confused, but he was actually very calm. Fortunately, he noticed something was wrong in advance and put a protective film on the chip and ate it in the bathroom. Otherwise, he couldn't make any moves at this moment. If the chip was found by the investigation department on the spot, not only would all his efforts be wasted, but he would also be arrested by Zhu Tianyi immediately!
How did the Investigation Department know that he was going to hand over the chip here
He only mentioned this information when he sent a message to the contact person in the organization - could it be that the investigation department intercepted the message and cracked the code? !
No wonder Zhu Tianyi has been quiet recently, it turns out he is just waiting for something to happen.
Yu Ran remembered that he almost put the chip on the roof just now, and he felt a chill down his spine. On the surface, he continued to pretend to be confused and did not move.
There were less than a hundred guests at the scene, so the joint search by the queen bee and the spider was quickly over.
What surprised Zhu Tianyi was that he didn't find anything suspicious.
Is the intelligence wrong
So many important people came today. Who wants the information? Military generals, government officials, business tycoons... or Ms. Adeline, the owner of the Gemini uterus
The generals at the scene looked unhappy. After all, no one would be happy to be asked to stay where they were and be searched by the queen bee.
However, the Investigation Department is an independent federal agency that specializes in investigating secret cases related to Sentinel Guides. It is not under the jurisdiction of the military. Zhu Tianyi has the highest investigation order signed by the President, so they can only cooperate.
After a moment, Zhu Tianyi frowned and said respectfully: "Everyone, I'm very sorry to bother you."
He led his men out of the venue and continued searching outside, and the guests at the scene finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Some people whispered, "What on earth was lost?"
"I don't know. Judging from Ms. Adeline's expression, she must have lost a very valuable item."
Lu Zexuan frowned slightly as he listened to these discussions.
Zhu Tianyi would not be idle and help Adeline find some "lost items". The most likely possibility is that he came here for the information that was stolen from Sentinel Academy last time.
Is it true that someone brought documents with him to the dinner today
It's been two months. Why is such important information only being handed over now
Yu Ran whispered, "Today's guests are all powerful people, so no one should steal anything, right?"
Meeting Yu Ran's curious gaze, Lu Zexuan withdrew his thoughts and said, "It's possible that it was taken away by a traitor."
Yu Ran pretended to be innocent on the surface, but in his heart he was quickly thinking about the next countermeasures.
—What is certain is that the news leaked out.
He could no longer use the special code to contact anyone. He could return the chip and spit it out. As for how to hand it over, it would depend on the other party's arrangement. He had to keep calm and not reveal any flaws in front of the investigation department.
Zhu Tianyi left the banquet and asked Ms. Adeline to retrieve the surveillance footage to find out who had gone to the bathroom tonight. He actually found a familiar figure, Yu Ran.
Yu Ran went to the bathroom with Lu Zexuan and came out only 5 minutes after entering.
Nothing was found in the bathroom, so he had no reason to suspect Yu Ran. In addition, during the banquet, there were several people who came near the bathroom, including Joseph, General Xie of the Star Legion, a congressional official, and Ms. Adeline.
No trace of information was found on any of them.
Could it be that the other party realized something was wrong and changed the plan temporarily
Not long ago, the information department of the Investigation Section deciphered the code that was intercepted from the special channel and learned the important information "Twin Uterus Charity Dinner, chip handed over in Restroom No. 3". He had been deploying for a long time and thought he could catch the criminal red-handed today.
Unexpectedly, the other party changed his mind at the last minute and did not hand over the chip. Maybe that person did not go to bathroom No. 3 at all
What a cunning opponent.
Zhu Tianyi frowned and left the Gemini Palace with his subordinates.
Lu Zexuan originally wanted to take Yu Ran to meet his parents, but the sudden incident today reminded him of the violent mental interrogation that Yu Ran had experienced. He must protect Yu Ran. Besides, Yu Ran was not ready to meet his parents. With so many officials and generals at the scene, it would not be a good idea to rashly take Yu Ran to meet them.
Seeing Yu Ran's frightened look, Lu Zexuan cancelled the plan to bring him to meet his parents. It would be better to find a suitable time in the future to formally visit his parents at home. Meeting his parents in such an occasion would be too hasty and Yu Ran would be very embarrassed.
Thinking of this, Lu Zexuan took Yu Ran away from the venue.
Adeline was seeing off a guest at the door. The moment Yu Ran brushed past her, a light blue thought tentacle silently climbed up the back of Yu Ran's neck.
Yu Ran only felt a slight pain at the back of his head, and her clear voice came into his mind—
"The code may have been cracked by the Investigation Department. Zhu Tianyi knows about our actions. Fortunately, you were cautious enough and did not put the chip in the bathroom. Don't use code communication recently. After next weekend, go to the Garden Restaurant on the outskirts of the city and give the chip to the waiter in black."
"Also, Zhu Tianyi has been keeping an eye on me. Someone will contact you later, so stay alert."
"Got it." Yu Ran said in his mind.
He pretended to be innocent and left the venue with Lu Zexuan.
Adeline had just used the orchid mantis's invisibility ability, and the high-level sentinels around her automatically ignored her existence, and no one noticed the mental tentacles she extended towards Yu Ran.
After returning to the student dormitory of the Guidance College, Yu Ran pretended to have a stomachache and went to the bathroom to dig his throat.
The violent vomiting made his face pale and tears almost welled up in the corners of his eyes. He finally vomited out the chip wrapped in the protective film.
Yu Ran tore off the protective film and put the chip away again, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes—
The brother faked his death and went underground, while the sister pretended to be a philanthropist on the surface, but in fact the two of them worked together to do all kinds of greedy and vicious things behind the scenes. However, it is clear that the brother and sister are just pawns, and who is the supreme leader behind the scenes needs further investigation.
Behind Zhu Tianyi is the Presidential Palace. There are many officers hiding in the dark in the Investigation Department, and they are very powerful. We must be more cautious in the future.
(End of this chapter)