The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2704 Mysterious Object

2704. Mysterious Object
"Sith? Heh. Kid, not everything in this world is black and white. On the palette, there's another color... called gray," the voice said coldly.

“What do you want to do?” Carl-Kestis’s face darkened.

He realized this person was definitely a Force-sensitive individual, and absolutely powerful. If the person hadn't spoken up, he wouldn't have even sensed their presence!

However, this also suggests that the person doesn't seem to have any intention to kill him. Because if they truly had murderous intent, even if they hid it well, they would still sense the danger.

"Stop your curiosity and keep a close eye on this. Don't let it fall into Tang Xiao's hands before I find another way," the man said.

“Tang Xiao? The Angel of Death?” Karl-Kestis frowned.

"You used to be a Jedi, didn't you? Your ability to conceal your presence is quite good. If you hadn't left a Force imprint on this thing, I wouldn't have been able to detect the Force within you," the man said. "And judging from your behavior, you're not the dark side."

"Are you so sure?" Carl Kestis retorted.

"Heh." The man sneered. "If someone is a follower of the dark side and is willing to come to the Kingdom of Dawn, then they must be here to serve the Angels of Death, and they would certainly be highly valued. Why would they need to be fixing screws in such a small company?"

Karl-Kestis remained silent, unsure of what to say. After all, the man was right; the Kingdom of Dawn wasn't currently attracting many Jedi Knights, Dark Jedi Knights, or Dark Cultists. While the situation was much better than a few years ago, many Dark Cultists still chose the Galactic Empire for their own privileges.

Previously, it was due to the strength of Darth Sidious, but now it is due to the different political environments on both sides.

Anyone with eyes can see that the Kingdom of Dawn isn't that corrupt now, its politics are quite transparent, and its social environment is extremely competitive. As believers in darkness, what they want is to enjoy themselves and do whatever they want using their own power; why would they want to come to the Kingdom of Dawn and be subject to others' constraints?
"Since you were once a Jedi Knight, you should know that Tang Xiao is one of the most powerful Sith Lords in this galaxy. Moreover, the very existence of a Sith Lord is a destructive force against the Force," the man said. "You should also know about the massacre that occurred on Palancy, right?"

Karl-Kestis's expression began to darken. "I know... the battle between the Fallen Angels and Darth Sidious resulted in the deaths of over a million civilians in Palancy Space City."

"And the deaths of hundreds of thousands of soldiers resulting from this pointless military operation," the man added. "So, if their power is allowed to continue to grow, the outcome may be a complete imbalance of the Force, which could even lead to the destruction of the galaxy."

Carl-Kestis looked down at the communicator in his hand, weighed it in his hand for a moment, and said, "So you mean this thing can make them stronger?"

“Especially the dead angels,” the man emphasized.

“Then why not destroy it?” Carl-Kestis asked.

“Because I can’t do it.” The man paused, then said, “Alright, I’ve said more than I should have. Don’t ask any more questions. If you want to see the Sith Lord ultimately destroy the Force and the galaxy, then you can give this to the Angel of Death. But rest assured, once you do that, even if you escape to the edge of the universe, I will come looking for you and kill you!”

Carl-Kestis looked down at the memory, and in that instant, that ethereal yet ferocious face suddenly appeared, lunging at him! He quickly threw the memory onto the table.

"Hide it away, don't let anyone find it, and don't keep it to play with. If this thing is opened, the Angel of Death will sense it immediately. Then the people of the Twilight Covenant will come knocking on your door right away, remember that!" the man instructed.

Carl Kestis nodded. It wasn't that he trusted the man, but he understood that preventing Tang Xiao from obtaining this item was definitely the right thing to do.

In the past, he might have hesitated, after all, the Kingdom of Dawn had given him a peaceful life. But after witnessing the disaster on Planet Palancy, he no longer thought that way…

The existence of the Sith Lord is a threat to all life in this galaxy; there is no other possibility! Even a seemingly diligent and ambitious leader like Tang Xiao, after gradually delving into the pinnacle of the dark side, would still take such crazy actions!

Seeing that Karl agreed, the man seemed relieved, and his tone softened. "Alright, don't worry. This thing has been specially treated and isn't easy to detect. It seemed to have some Force leakage before, but that was because my friends in the underworld were wiped out, and many people died around here. It should have calmed down a lot now. Of course, if you have other ways to conceal the Force's aura, then I suggest you use them."

“I will,” Carl Caseis said.

"Kid, your training isn't over yet, is it? And then you ran into Order 66?" the man said.

“That’s all in the past. I’m not… the same person I used to be.” Cal-Kestis had meant to say he was no longer a Jedi Knight, but that would be tantamount to admitting it, so he quickly changed his words.

The man seemed to sigh softly as well, and said, "I have some data here, videos of several Jedi Masters giving lectures. I'll give it to you next time I have the chance. I hope it will be helpful to you."

“This… I already…” Carl-Kestis wanted to say something, but didn’t know how. After all, he had never met this person before, and although he had shown a very sincere attitude, he still couldn’t just trust him like that.

However, the voice did not reappear, indicating that it had obviously left.

Cal-Kestis took a deep breath, stood up, turned off all the lights in the apartment, closed his eyes, and carefully extended his Force senses.

But he found nothing; there were no clues around him. Instead, he sensed a faint threat coming from the front of the apartment building.

Peeking out the window, I saw blue and red flashing lights at the front entrance of the apartment building, which looked like police officers.

Carl-Kestis glanced at the memory in his hand, then quickly crouched down and pulled up a floor tile from under the bed. Underneath was a hidden compartment containing a small holographic projector and a lightsaber!
He put the memory card in there too, and covered it with the floor tiles. Then he quickly took off his clothes, changed into his pajamas, and lay down on the bed pretending to be asleep.

After a while, there was a commotion outside the door, and then the doorbell of the apartment was rang repeatedly and impatiently.

Carl-Cestis got up and opened the door, only to see two sheriffs standing there with several B-2 super combat robots. These B-2 super combat robots were painted in alternating dark blue and white, their right hands retracted to their chests, but the barrels of the twin-mounted blaster guns mounted on their hands were clearly visible.

"Name? Age? Occupation?" the sheriff asked impatiently. "Carl Casetis, 26 years old, mechanic, currently working for Sunrise Recycling Company," Carl Casetis answered honestly.

The sheriff picked up a scanner and rudely flashed it across the man's face. After verifying the information and confirming it was correct, he said, "A spy from the Galactic Empire has infiltrated this area. Be careful not to wander around. Don't go out at night unless necessary. Report any information, big or small, immediately!"

“Uh, okay,” Carl-Kestis replied.

“Alright, routine check,” the sheriff said, pulling out a scanner to scan his apartment.

Carl-Cestis tried to block them, intending to say something about them invading his privacy, but the blaster rifles on the wrists of the B-2 super combat robots clicked and were chambered. The mechanical impact snapped Carl back to reality, and he quickly dodged to let them scan him.

The sheriff, holding a scanner, carefully swept the pale green light across every room. Carl-Cestis stared intently at the light, fearing his hidden belongings would be discovered, but thankfully, the scan yielded nothing.

The sheriff put away the scanner and said, "That's enough. Kid, be careful! Never touch anything that doesn't concern you. This is deadly."

Although Carl-Kestis knew he wasn't referring to the memory he had just hidden, he was still a little nervous. He quickly nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay. I won't do anything unnecessary."

Without saying much, the sheriff went over and knocked on the door of the house next door. However, no one was home. The sheriff reported to the owner through his communicator for a while, and then an octopus-like robot came over. It extended many sophisticated tools from its robotic arm, connected them to the door's circuitry, opened the door, and went inside to scan.

Carl-Kestis peered out and saw that the scale of the operation was truly impressive. Several Destroyer robots were pacing back and forth downstairs, and a faint buzzing sound could be heard in the air. However, when he looked up, there was nothing there. Clearly, Banshee fighters were circling overhead.

This made him somewhat worried.

The next day, Carl Caseys went to work as usual, only to hear his boss, Zhang Guomin, locked himself in his office and cursing wildly, using extremely offensive language.

“What happened?” Carl turned to ask one of his colleagues, Milner.

Milner shrugged and said with a sneer, "What else could it be? The Sheriff's Department came and took away that core mainframe from yesterday. They gave the boss 500,000 No. 4 coins."

Two million turned into five hundred thousand, no wonder he was cursing. Carl-Cestis curled his lip.

At that moment, Zhang Guomin, who had seen Karl enter through his office computer, opened the door and came out. He hurriedly pulled Karl into the office, slammed the door shut, and whispered, "My dear little Karl, that thing! How's that thing? Have you deciphered it?"

Carl-Cestis shook his head, not wanting to involve his boss, and said, "No, the police came last night and surrounded our apartment building. The memory device was also confiscated."

"Those bastards! Vampires! Damn it!!" Zhang Guomin stomped his foot and cursed, "And then what? Did they give you money?"

"1000 dollars," Carl Caseis said casually. "Boss, you're not going to ask me for it back, are you?"

"Forget it, keep it, keep it." Zhang Guomin waved his hand. "These guys are completely insane. They've set up roadblocks everywhere today, searching many places. I don't know what angered them this time."

“A spy from the Galactic Empire,” Karl-Kestis said. “I heard it from the sheriff yesterday.”

"Hmph! The Galactic Empire." Zhang Guomin said coldly, "Once we crush them completely, all this trouble will stop!"

Karl-Kestis nodded. This was the mindset of Zhang Guomin, and indeed many other civilians of the Fourth Civilization. They disliked the current government of the Dawn Kingdom, yet they also hoped for its victory.

The day passed by in a daze, everyone was distracted. In the afternoon, Zhang Guomin simply announced that he would leave work early.

This was finally a good thing. Cal-Kestis, who was also preoccupied, quickly took public transportation home.

After much thought, he felt that this matter was still very unreliable. Especially the memory device, which not only Zhang Guomin but also several other colleagues had seen.

If the police really want to investigate further, the situation could get even worse.

The next morning, Carl-Cestis was woken up by a beeping sound from his communicator before he could even get out of bed. He opened the communicator and found that it was Zhang Guomin calling him.

After the call connected, the boss's obese figure appeared on the projector. He was sweating profusely and said anxiously, "Little Karl! What's going on over there? The National Security Bureau came today! They heard you took the memory chip. I said, 'Didn't you take it?' They immediately asked the sheriff, and it turns out they didn't take it at all!"

He then lowered his voice, "Don't have any other ideas! You know it might be related to imperial spies! Stop hiding it, hand it over. The National Security Bureau is coming for you now!"

Carl Caseys felt a sudden chill; it was exactly what he feared. The NSA had found them so quickly!

Faint police sirens began to sound outside the building, growing louder as they approached; they were clearly aimed at him.

So... what to do? What to do?
Carl-Kestis went to the bedside, opened the floor compartment, took the memory in his hand, but his gaze fell on his lightsaber.

"Should we hand this over? Or... run away?" Karl-Kestis hesitated.

At that moment, the ethereal face reappeared, baring its fangs and claws before him, then vanished in an instant. Cal-Kestis's expression gradually hardened.