CH 72

Translate by Hua

“Ten years ago, I was the one who was bribed… No, it’s not considered bribery. I just made a request to Wang Weiming, and he quickly agreed. Then he turned around and threatened me with the recording, asking me to give him a large sum of money as well as provide support afterwards…..”

From the recording pen with the green light on, Bisnar Orfield’s voice came out.

Considering that Clarice had already appeared just now, it might be more effective for him, who had just interrogated Bisnar Orfield, to conduct the second wave of persuading the enemy to surrender.

Looking at Wang Weiming, who suddenly collapsed to the ground in front of him, he turned off the play button, squatted down, and looked at the man who was the current director of the institute with interest—like he was watching an ant. His tone was full of regret and encouragement: “Director Wang, is there anything else you want to say? Your ally, however, has very simply shaken everything out before I could put any kind of torture on him.”

Wang Weiming’s lips trembled when he heard those words. His eyes widened in disbelief, as if he had been stabbed in the back by the person he trusted the most.

The most trusted person…

Thanks to Ji Mingjiang, the thought that had just passed through his mind was pulled out, and he shook his head in disgust. He was just an accomplice bound by common interests; how could he have such an illusion?

“Are you really not going to confess? I didn’t expect you, Director Wang, to be such a sentimental and righteous person. Then I really feel sorry for you…”

Although he was extremely disgusted in his heart, Ji Mingjiang still raised the corner of his mouth and deliberately said words that could disgust people like Wang Weiming to death.

From Leiden’s point of view, he could only see Ji Mingjiang’s long, smooth hair and a small spiral at the top of his head. His long, silvery-white hair poured down, almost wrapping up the entire mermaid who was squatting down.

The hem of the shirt of the same color is tucked into the waistband of the trousers. As the body leans forward, the shirt is pulled taut, outlining a strong and thin waistline. It’s full of strength, but at the same time, it’s as thin as if it can be grasped with just a little stretch of hand, making the other person appear particularly lean from behind while a youthful feeling caressed his face.

However, if one looked at Wang Weiming, who was paralyzed on the ground with no image to speak of, one could see the corners of Ji Mingjiang’s mouth were hooked, but there was no smile in his pupils, perfectly interpreting the term “false smile”. This scene, in addition to his voice lines, could be used to dub villain characters in certain films and television works without any sense of inconsistency.

Leiden couldn’t help but think of the image Ji Mingjiang’s fans had due to him being a mermaid on Starnet…

Just like what Menguse Hollimawi said before, when other people mentioned Ji Mingjiang as a mermaid, apart from adding stereotypes to him, they were praising Ji Mingjiang for being smart, lively, sunny, and healthy—which is the complete opposite of the current scene.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He didn’t know how Ji Mingjiang could memorize so many strange lines in his mind in less than a month after getting the light brain.

It couldn’t be by nature, could it?

While Leiden was brainstorming, he still maintained his original posture—that is, he kept looking at Ji Mingjiang’s figure reflected in Wang Weiming’s eyes.

And it happened that after so many years of hard work and precipitation, he had developed the habit of keeping his emotions indistinct when thinking.

So Wang Weiming, who was already uneasy because of Ji Mingjiang and the recorder, had to endure Clarice’s “blood-thirsty and violent” look, which lasted three or four minutes.

Under Ji Mingjiang’s hypnotic whispers and Clarice’s “I’ll kill you if you don’t speak up” gaze, Wang Weiming’s mindset finally completely collapsed in these few minutes.

He violently scuffed his heels on the floor to pull himself away from the creepy mermaid. Ignoring the sharp pain where his back hit the corner of the table, his eyes viciously looked at the wall that had reverted to its opaque form. With the determination to drag others into the water even if he died, he sneered and turned his gaze back to the two people squatting and standing in front of him.

He mainly looked at Clarice.

After Ji Mingjiang noticed where his eyes were pointing, his eyebrows jumped. Before he could react, he heard Wang Weiming say in a very pitiful tone, “Don’t be fooled by that old fox Orfield… Oh no, actually, he’s at least hiding something again. After all, nobles like them will only know how to repent when they see their coffin.”

No longer needing to maintain the gentle and elegant mask of the institute director, and having experienced the joint destruction of Clarice and Ji Mingjiang, Wang Weiming’s face was a little distorted when he spoke, and malice overflowed from the folds of his face.

“Although you haven’t finished playing the recording in your hand, I’m guessing that guy, Bisnar Orfield, didn’t tell you what happened to the Emperor and Empress, did he?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Mingjiang’s pupils shrank suddenly. He turned to look at Clarice, who had arrived directly behind him at some point. “You…” Do you want to go out first?

Realizing what he wanted to say, Leiden shook his head and stretched out his hand towards Ji Mingjiang. After the other person raised his hand with some confusion and inexplicable emotions, he held his wrist and pulled the man who had been crouching for some time to his feet.

After pulling out two somewhat crude chairs from the space button and pressing Ji Mingjiang on them, Leiden looked at Wang Weiming again, his eyes cold. “Tell me what you know.”

The emotions that had originally been brewing during this period of time were abruptly dispersed by Clarice’s series of unexpected actions. When Wang Weiming looked at the two people sitting on the stool in front of him, the breath he was holding suddenly dissipated, and a feeling of dejection and annoyance arose from the bottom of his heart.

Why did he deliberately provoke Clarice? It happened ten years ago, and this cold-hearted emperor must have forgotten the poor couple a long time ago.

The beautiful imagination of seeing Clarice, who wore the same perfect mask as he did on a daily basis, show pain was shattered. Wang Weiming let out a muffled laugh from the depths of his throat, relaxed his back muscles, and allowed himself to lean against the corner of the table. The previously panicked person had a blank look in his eyes and a reminiscing expression.

“Ten years ago, the late Emperor and Empress died in the siege of the Federation?”

Not noticing Clarice’s suddenly clenched fists, Wang Weiming continued, “You should be able to guess. This is not because they were unlucky enough to be caught by the Federation; it was actually the Orfield family secretly passing on messages behind their backs.”

“Of course, the only one I know about is the Orfield family. The Cod family, which was exterminated by you a long time ago, may also be involved. I’m not sure about other noble families; after all, those nobles are, tsk.” Smacking his lips, Wang Weiming, who no longer cared about his image, shrugged and continued, “I don’t know exactly how they connected with the federation, but the final result is that your parents died in the siege, believe it or not.”

“The reason behind it is also very simple. Their last actions and purpose were too obvious. The mermaid named Kiro was still noticed by them. In addition, the development trend of the new nobles during that time was also very good, which probably made them feel a sense of crisis, and so they chose to go straight for it in the end. First, it was to maintain the somewhat deformed character of the mermaid clan under their guidance, and for the other reason, it was naturally to warn you.”

“But…” Wang Weiming chuckled as he remembered the pavement near the Cod Mansion at that time, which was sticky to the feet and left bloody footprints every time he walked. His tone was filled with a sense of schadenfreude. “Who would have thought that your mental state was so abnormal at that time? After that, the group of old people headed by Orfield has settled down quite a bit.”

After finishing these words, there were only three shallow breathing sounds in the torture room for a while. Wang Weiming pursed his dry lips and looked at the expressionless Clarice in surprise. “That’s all I have to say. Anyway, that old guy, Bisnar Orfield, shouldn’t try to save himself by dragging others down. As for the rest, it’s the same as what he said in the recording. I have nothing to add.”

Just as he imagined, after hearing these words, Clarice didn’t say anything in the end. He didn’t know whether he was hiding it very well or if he was really unaffected. Wang Weiming didn’t find a trace of anger or anything else on his face.

But this has nothing to do with him.

Watching Clarice put the two stools back into the space buttons and then leave with the silver-haired mermaid, before anyone took him away, Wang Weiming turned sideways and lay on his back.

Anyway, if he dies, he can drag someone to die with him, which is not a loss.

All the way out of the torture room and the row of cells, Ji Mingjiang paid no attention to the commotion caused by Gus and Menguse Hollimawi. His entire focus was on Clarice.

Although this man’s expression looks very calm now—as calm as if he could go directly to the front line to fight.

But……

The stream that had been placed in Clarice’s spiritual sea told him that the other party’s appearance was all pretense. After all, the spiritual sea could not deceive people. The black dragon inside was already in such a frenzy that it was about to turn that forest upside down again.

With a sigh, Ji Mingjiang released more mental power and first pulled the black dragon that was stumbling around back to the ground as a precaution, forcing it to shut down, and then he pulled Clarice back.

Looking at those rare and dazed golden eyes, what he originally wanted to say swirled around in his mouth and eventually turned into, “Want to see Kiro? Mr. Rowlett should have already made the arrangements. After the treatment is over, I think he’ll be happy to see his loved ones, whom he hasn’t seen in ten years.”

……

When they returned to Ji Mingjiang’s small villa, the guards at the door had not been removed, and there were faint sounds of conversation coming from inside the door, that is…

“Why does it sound like they are still on the first floor?”

Ji Mingjiang was stunned for a moment before pushing the door open and looking inside.

After opening the door, what he saw was the treatment cabin placed in a corner and Rowlett, who was talking to the guard next to him and kept gesturing in the direction of the stairs.

“Mr. Rowlett, what are you doing?”

Hearing the voice behind him, Rowlett used a handkerchief to gently tap the non-existent sweat beads on his forehead. He turned his head and looked at the puzzled Ji Mingjiang. As if he had been caught by his junior in his predicament, he coughed and then stroked his beard.

“No, I’m discussing with Xiao Hu and the others how to move the treatment cabin up smoothly.”

After hearing his words, Ji Mingjiang focused on the location of the stairs…

Ah, almost forgot, his indoor pool and the stairwell didn’t leave much of a gap, and while it now seemed as if it was tailor-made for a situation like his and Kiro’s, it did seem a bit inconvenient for a normal human to try and move things upstairs.

“Let me do it.”

Looking at the two guards, who were increasingly at a loss due to his and Clarice’s arrival, Ji Mingjiang stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, indicating.

“No, this treatment cabin is very heavy. Your Highness—”

Before he could finish his words, a simple and rough action from Ji Mingjiang directly choked back all of his unspoken words.

They saw His Highness the Mermaid, whose face they hadn’t had many opportunities to see beside the live broadcast, paced around the treatment cabin. Then, with a relaxed face, he held onto the protruding part of the outer wall of the treatment cabin with both hands. This large instrument, on which he and his colleagues had some difficulty moving together, took off.

It was really easy, he swore.

The two guards looked at each other, seeing the same shock and confusion in each other’s eyes.

After all, when His Highness, who was rumored to be weak and in need of protection, raised the treatment cabin, the muscle lines of his arms did not even appear to be tense, and the expression on his face remained calm.

Ji Mingjiang really doesn’t feel any strenuousness. Lifting a treatment cabin is no different from lifting a plate. He even needs to constantly remind himself that there is a seriously injured mermaid in this treatment cabin to prevent himself from walking too fast, making it lose balance, and sway from side to side.

Walking up the stairs from that narrow edge was even easier for him.

The two guards watched in near stupefaction as Ji Mingjiang sidestepped and appeared on the stairs with a few light footsteps, as if he had teleported.

“I’m going up first.” Holding a treatment cabin that was taller than him in his arms, Ji Mingjiang even turned around on the not-so-wide stairs and spoke to Clarice from the back of the machine.

***

Ji Mingjiang had not visited the second floor before. After walking out of the corner where the stairs were, he glanced around the space on the second floor with some confusion and finally placed the treatment cabin in his hand on the open space next to the bed.

There is no way; only the area around here is carpeted.

After turning on the dust removal system in the room, he quickly returned to the first floor.

The two guards had already left, and only Clarice and Rowlett were talking about something downstairs. They should be talking about what Wang Weiming just explained.

This is the first time that Ji Mingjiang has seen Rowlett act so out of sorts. Even when Clarice lost control of his mental power, the old man straightened his back, appearing calm and composed despite the anxiety. Yet he was now hunched over, and even his beard was shaking constantly.

He deliberately made his footsteps noticeable, and when the two people looked at him, Ji Mingjiang hesitated for a moment and asked, “Should this matter… be made public or should we continue to investigate secretly?”

After all, Wang Weiming also said that he wasn’t sure if several other families were involved, and now the relationship between the Federation and the Empire is still incompatible. The small-scale war on the frontlines of Energy Star hasn’t stopped. It’s unknown when a war that could affect the whole country will break out. If this incident is revealed now, it’s likely to become the trigger for a war between the Federation and the Empire.

He wasn’t worried about the empire losing or anything, but no matter what, even if the victory would result in a large amount of resources being distributed again, the impact on the lives of ordinary people during the war was still real.

Both of them understood Ji Mingjiang’s concerns, so although they wanted to arrest all the people from those families now and torture them one by one, and at the same time send the mecha directly to the central galaxy of the Federation to bomb them indiscriminately, Leiden eventually repeated a few deep breaths, exhaled a mouthful of cloudy air, and said, “At present, we will only say that the Orfield family colluded with Wang Weiming to kill members of the royal family. Their affairs with the Federation… will be discussed in the future.”