CH 84

Fallen Sun (3)

“…….”

Cold sweat rolled down from the tip of Staff Officer Duke’s nose, while the eyes of the young man in front of him…..was always calm and profound.

He realized that he was wrong, this young master did not seem to be easy to handle, but instead was an unsheathed sharp sword that was thirsty for blood, a black fox lying dormant and waiting for its prey…..Perhaps from the moment the group meeting was held, this kid was waiting for an opportunity to show his prestige, while he was the rabbit who proactively bumped into the muzzle of the gun, the chicken in the “kill the chicken to scare the monkey”! (TL: a metaphor to warn others by punishing one person)

“Please answer me.” Jiang Jianming stood in front of him.

Staff Officer Duke’s Adam’s apple squirmed, and the beads of sweat on his forehead became increasingly dense.

He bowed his head unwillingly and said, “I can’t.”

“Pretty well.”

Jiang Jianming knocked on the table with his index finger, and said lightly, “Obeying orders is a soldier’s bounden duty—this sentence, go back and copy it twenty times, then hand it to me tomorrow.”

“Copy…!?” Staff Officer Duke suddenly raised his face, his eyes almost popping out.

Copy it twenty times!?

He couldn’t help but doubt his own ears. This kid, which certain school did bring up such a brat?

There were a few murmurs of laughter in the conference room.

Lieutenant General Luther coughed hard, and the surroundings fell silent.

“Inspector Excellency, I have heard the Commander-in-Chief mention you before.”

The veteran stood up and swept his gaze solemnly over Jiang Jianming’s body, “The Commander-in-Chief said that you are someone who was appreciated by the late His Highness the Crown Prince. I am very curious.”

“It is said that when you were at the military academy, you were proficient in tactical strategy…. There is a simulated confrontation machine in this building of the Golden Sun Wheel, how about a round of match with me?”

Old Lieutenant General Luther pointed to the Golden Sun Wheel military emblem on his chest, “You don’t need to win, as long as you hold on for 20 minutes, all Golden Sun Wheel officers will acknowledge your ability.”

Jiang Jianming lowered his head and smiled.

“I’m sorry, I’m very moved by this chance to receive guidance from the general, but I can’t accept this challenge at this moment.”

A sigh sounded in the conference room.

Old Lieutenant General Luther frowned. “Why is that?”

“Because I judge that this round of match will be of no benefit.”

“Old General, I am here to monitor Golden Sun Wheel’s internal military discipline, not to be your field commander. If I lose, I will lose my prestige, which will not be conducive to my next operations.”

“And if you lose,” Jiang Jianming said calmly, the bottom of his eyes sinking, “the one losing his prestige will be you. After I finish my business and leave Golden Sun Wheel…..Lieutenant General Luther, may I ask how else will you control your subordinates?”

“You!” A deputy general became furious,  pounded the table and jumped to his feet.

“——Please understand one thing.” Jiang Jianming’s expression was slightly cold and raised his hand, creating the illusion of pressuring him down, and for a moment he was so deterred that he did not dare to speak up.

“It’s not that I intentionally want to interfere in your affairs, but that there is a lesion inside the Golden Sun Wheel that you can’t clean up by yourselves, which is why I am here to help you solve the problem.”

“During my tenure, I will have higher authority than anyone else. If you are not convinced, please go directly to the old marshal to appeal for grievances.”

“……” Lieutenant General Luther’s face was a bit unsightly, signaled the deputy general with his eyes, and then two of them shut up and sat down together.

Jiang Jianming: “Does anyone else have a problem?”

It was a stretch of silence, some of the idle officers reluctantly lowered their heads, and no one made any provocative words.

After a while, the Old General Luther’s face twitched, he slowly put his hand to his chest, and lowered his head. “…All the officers and soldiers of the Golden Sun Wheel branch stationed in Aslan, obey the orders of Inspector Excellency.”

“Thank you.” Jiang Jianming nodded, his brows and eyes gently stretched out, and the cold and fierce aura that suppressed the audience just now disappeared in an instant.

He walked back to the stage, looked around, and said unhurriedly, “Then now…..let me first recognize you all. Please, everyone, introduce yourself for one minute.”

****

By the time this group of people came out of the conference room one after another, it was already past meal time.

The officers were so hungry that their chests stuck to their backs, and their eyes were even dull, as if they had endured a cruel mental torture.

“Damn it, this guy actually asked for a self-introduction—”

Finally, a high-ranking military officer was the first to collapse and roared out, his face full of doubts about the whole world, “Since I was admitted to Golden Sun Wheel twenty years ago, no one dared to ask me to introduce myself!”

The person next to him said dumbfoundedly, “Come to think of it, this inspector is the one who attended the banquet held by His Excellency Lance the other day.”

“Pfft, that scene, anyone who has seen it will never forget it.”

“Is it really a formidable character? The commander-in-chief has sent such a person over here, could it be that there are really…..moths within our Golden Sun Wheel?”

“However,” the corners of the mouth of a dark-skinned middle-aged man twitched, it was the deputy general who got angry and struck the table halfway, “I think this kid is crazy and not quite average.”

“Everyone thinks that no matter how powerful the inspector is, it’s still a ‘temporary’ appointment, and one day, he will have to leave. But this kid, actually confronting Lieutenant General Luther and not giving him some face, could it be that he’s not afraid…”

The deputy general glanced around and lowered his voice, “Not afraid of not being able to work in the army in the future?”

A group of people walked like this while discussing, when suddenly, there were chaotic sounds of footsteps ahead!

“You…who are you talking about!?”

The one who rushed up was a young man with a pale face, who was it if not the big young master of the Brandon Family.

Big Young Master Brandon’s eyes were bloodshot, and the muscles on his face twitched. “Who is the inspector sent from above?”

Several high-ranking military officers looked at each other, each frowned, and turned their faces.

Apparently, they didn’t have a good impression of this dude who was not a high-ranking military man but relied on his family background to be arrogant in the army, however it was inconvenient for them to reprimand him bluntly.

Staff Officer Duke squeezed out from the crowd and pursed at Big Young Master Brandon with a gloomy expression. “Young Master Brandon, don’t be rude in front of the officers.”

Big Young Master Brandon’s eyes flashed, “Staff Officer Duke, I…”

In a few seconds, he clearly understood something, shut up and saluted, and backed away.

Soon, the officers also waved their hands and dispersed. Some went to the elevator to return to their posts, some rushed to eat, and some who had already finished their day on duty, went straight home.

There were numerous personnel, and the sounds of footsteps were interlaced with the sounds of conversation.

No one realized that Staff Officer Duke who was holding on to his electronic glasses, the direction of his departure was not any of the elevators, cafeterias or doors, but to the corner where Big Young Master Brandon walked to.

****

That afternoon, news of the new temporary inspector spread like wildfire inside the Golden Sun Wheel.

At the same time, Inspector Jiang himself, who had “educated” the senior officers of Golden Sun Wheel, naturally moved out of the dormitory of the military academy and lived in the assigned dormitory in the Golden Sun Wheel military.

“Since that batch of real crystal ores were delivered to the empire, all the data of Golden Sun Wheel’s starship base in Aslan are here?”

In the evening, Jiang Jianming sat at the newly allocated desk. The virtual screen in front of him was magnified to a size of about forty inches, and more than a dozen small windows were neatly squeezed into it.

The window placed in the upper right corner was a video communication with Zheng Yue, who was talking quickly on the other side. “It’s all here, Little Excellency. In addition to the data of the starship base, I also investigated the information of civilian starship ports. In addition to the largest Beluga Starport in district 1, there are two civilian starship ports in Aslan, but no abnormalities were found either.”

“There is too much data for this, so I didn’t send it to you.”

Zheng Yue squeezed the military cap hesitantly, “If you want to check it again…”

“No need.” Jiang Jianming rubbed his temple with his index finger thoughtfully, “Of course you are more familiar with these starship data than I am. Since you don’t think there’s anything abnormal, even if you give it to me, I won’t be able to see anything either, you can make the decision.”

Zheng Yue’s heart warmed up. “Yes…!”

Life was so magical, if someone told him a week ago that a young man in his twenties would give him a sense of pride of being trusted, Zheng Yue would definitely laugh back on the spot.

But at this moment, Zheng Yue only felt a hundred times more motivated, and immediately straightened his back.

“Little Excellency, I also sent people to investigate other open areas in Aslan Star City where starships can land, but it will take two days to receive the results.”

But just after he finished speaking, he himself smiled bitterly and shook his head, “Heh, but judging from this manner, there’s not much hope either.”

“Hm…” Jiang Jianming pondered silently, his eyes were sometimes bright and sometimes dim.

A starship……it was an imperial military starship, not a single person or a wild dog, it is absolutely impossible for it to disappear out of thin air.

But now, there’s no record that could be found.

Where can it go?

Zheng Yue: “You see, either or we start from Duke’s side?”

“Wait a little longer. Without conclusive evidence, it will be inconvenient to do anything, and perhaps you will be bitten back and slandered instead.”

After Jiang Jianming finished speaking, he frowned and thought to himself: At this point, the other party may not only use power and money, but also some insidious tricks.

If one wants to find out things quickly, perhaps one should break free from inherent thinking.

“Let’s do this, Old Zheng.”

Jiang Jianming closed his eyes and exhaled lightly, then stood up, “First, contact the port in Albourne Star City to see if the starship has returned on time.”

“It is getting late as well. After you finish checking it, send me the result, and then go to bed first.”

“Yes!” Zheng Yue saluted.

After a few seconds, the communication window went dark.

Jiang Jianming was still sitting in front of the table, but he didn’t look at the data on the screen, he was just in a daze and lost in thought.

He was originally not physically strong, although the current work intensity was far less than that in Silver Big Dipper, but the busyness and high mental concentration throughout the day were real.

When the feeling of fatigue rushed up, he really wanted to roll into bed and lay paralyzed, close his eyes and talk about everything tomorrow.

After about five minutes, Jiang Jianming stood up and made himself a cup of coffee, casually loosened the collar of the military uniform, and sat back in front of the chair.

…It’s a pity that there was no time to relax, and there was still work to be done.

Time passed minute by minute as the night grew thicker, and the first district of Aslan Star City was illuminated with bright lights, and a cool breeze blew gently.

In the middle of the night, the lighted windows went dim.

At three o’clock in the morning, the streets were silent. Only the window of a Golden Sun Wheel senior officer’s dormitory was still lit.

Until a certain moment…

There was a rustling sound, someone jumped down from the roof without a sound, climbed on the window with one hand, and stepped on the narrow window sill with their boots.

Bang bang!

The palm of a hand slapped the window pane rapidly.

“—who!?”

Jiang Jianming, who had fallen asleep at the table, woke up suddenly. In the middle of the night, someone slapped the window, making his heart almost not jump to his throat.

He turned around subconsciously, the palm of his right hand had already touched the holster around his waist——

Then he stiffened for a second, but the whole person then softened and fell back on the chair.

Facing the emerald eyes glowing faintly in the darkness outside the window, Jiang Jianming did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Your Highness! What are you doing knocking on my window in the middle of the night?”

“……you.”

Garcia’s face was cold, he stared straight at Jiang Jianming, and the corners of his lips were tense. “I told you not to go to the front line, so you simply entered the Golden Sun Wheel instead?”

After he said this, his expression became even uglier.

But it seemed that he also knew that he had no position to interfere with Jiang Jianming’s affairs, and was left unable to say more.

“I was originally a military academy student, Your Highness.”

Jiang Jianming walked to the window, and intentionally or unintentionally pressed his index finger against Garcia’s palm. The body temperature of the two was only separated by a layer of glass.

“Being able to enter the Golden Sun Wheel is a great honor for most military students in the empire.”

“…….”

A few seconds later, Garcia turned away coldly.

He kicked the window sill. “…open the window, here’s something for you.”

Jiang Jianming opened the window obediently.

But when the night breeze surged in, the hand he used to push open the window was suddenly caught by Garcia.

The prince grabbed his forearm and quickly put a silver bracelet on his wrist. It’s style was very familiar——

Jiang Jianming’s eyelashes trembled.

“… Snow Dove.”

“Listen, although I will never fall in love with you like Ryann.”

Garcia leisurely withdrew his hand and coughed lightly.

He turned sideways at the window, looking down at the sporadic street lights in the urban area, and spoke in a slow and logical tone, “But…”

“Since the secret may involve myself, of course I also want to know.”

Garcia said softly, “As long as you agree to that deal, we are allies.”

It’s better not to argue anymore. His Highness thought to himself bitterly.

He said a lot of things that night. That wasn’t his original intention, he just wanted…..to force Jiang Jianming to stop chasing, like a moth to a flame.

But some of the words were still too hurtful.

There was no sound from the other for a long time.

Garcia quietly glanced over.

Jiang Jianming stood at the window in a daze, and his eyes were slightly blurred.

“Mecha.”

“Folding Mecha.” He said twice.

This is it!

The next moment, Jiang Jianming took big steps, rushed back to the desk and opened the virtual screen!

A shivering sensation rushed up his spine, his breathing was slightly rapid, and he tightly pursed his lips——

Why can’t the starship landing records be found?

If……

What if the starship never landed in the first place!?

On the opposite side, Zheng Yue’s communication was quickly connected.

“—it’s possibly a folding mecha!”

Jiang Jianming’s voice was tense, and he didn’t even bother to explain the cause and effect. “As long as a large number of folding mechas are pre-loaded in the starship, and all the real crystal ores are transported down in batches in mid-air, landing on a starship port can be avoided!”

However, something strange happened.

On the opposite side, Major Zheng Yue, who had always been very reliable, gradually showed a certain expression of confusion and emptiness.

If translated in words, it’d be “Am I not awake?” along with “What kind of dream am I having?”

Behind him, a soft sound of someone stepping on the floor from the window came.

Garcia gritted his teeth and sneered, “Jiang, Jian, Ming—”

“……ah.”

Jiang Jianming blinked, only to feel light under his feet, and at the same time there was something around his waist…

He was directly…..picked up by His Royal Highness’s crystal bone.

“—Is this what you are busy with? Opposite is your new subordinate after Xie Yuduo?”

The crystal bone quickly retracted, and Garcia grabbed him with both hands instead. “Jiang Jianming, where to work is your freedom, but it’s three o’clock in the morning, do you think you have the physique to stay up late!?”

“Your…..Your Highness!” Jiang Jianming was startled, angry and amused, and stretched out his hand to block the communication camera, “You…you don’t have any cover…!”

On the opposite side, Zheng Yue’s eyes were blank.

His mouth opened and closed, like a malfunctioning broadcasting machine. “Your your your…”

The sneer in Garcia’s eyes was even worse. “What, am I not fit to be seen? Whether to put on a cover or not, what position are you taking on me?”

Zheng Yue: “High high high…Ry ry ry ry…”

Jiang Jianming: “You also know that it’s the middle of the night, what should I do if my deputy is scared to death? Wait, let me go first—”

“……”

Zheng Yue stuttered for a long time, and then rolled his eyes——

“Don’t faint, don’t faint, let’s get to work.” Jiang Jianming didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and while pushing Garcia, he turned his head and said, “Go and check the air traffic surveillance for those few days, quick quick quick!”