The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 385 Transformation Ceremony

Connor's revenge came quickly. Just two days later, a report about the malaria epidemic appeared in the Lantern.

The extraordinary power behind him left a lot of intelligence for him. The material for this report did not involve the involvement of the Arcane Knights, but the chain of evidence was exceptionally sufficient.

Wu Chang and Raventon were currently sitting in the Secret Security Department, flipping through the Bright Light newspaper published this morning.

The front-page headline in the Lantern newspaper was a report on the origin of the spread of a major malaria epidemic.

According to the investigation of Ming Deng Daily reporters, this malaria pandemic was not a simple infectious disease, but a premeditated arrangement.

The culprit that caused the occurrence and spread of this malaria pandemic is called Hall Pharmaceuticals. Coincidentally, the most famous drug of this pharmaceutical company is the antimalarial drug.

Whenever malaria breaks out in Stellan's colonies around the world, more than 60% of the antimalarial drugs are produced by Hall Company.

After a long undercover investigation by reporters from the Bright Light, they discovered that Hall Company had been adding some special ingredients to the sewage it discharged, so that even if the sewage entered the Hills River, it would still release a special miasma.

These miasma are the source of malaria.

What Hall is doing is suspected to be screening for a specific type of malaria that has a lower mortality rate but is more widely spread, lasts longer, and causes greater pain to people.

They planned to artificially spread this malaria to other colonies of Stirlan, and then make stable profits by selling antimalarial drugs to these colonies.

The Light has reported the matter to the police department, which has now sealed off Hall's company for further investigation.

If you only look at the previous reports, this is not much different from other revealing reports previously issued by the Ming Deng Daily.

But what was different about this report on the Great Malaria was that Connor conducted in-depth tracking of Hall Company behind the report.

Hall Company's behavior towards Grimland cannot be said to benefit the public, but it can at least be said to be outrageous to both God and man.

This level of evil is something that a mere pharmaceutical company wouldn't be able to do even if they had ten times the courage.

So the reporter from the Ming Lantern followed the clues and discovered that Hall Company had joined an organization called the Industrial Entrepreneurs Association.

The Sloan Textile Mill, which previously used drugs to control textile workers and caused them to work to death due to overwork, was owned by Sloan, who was also a member of the Industrial Entrepreneurs Association.

What Hall and Sloan did was not considered out of the ordinary in the industrial association.

More than half of the serious cases that occurred in the entire Stirling factory were caused by the Industrial Entrepreneurs Association.

The reason they could act so unscrupulously was that the vice-president of the Industrial Business Association was an industrial reformer in the Conservative Party.

Furthermore, the vice president is a staunch supporter of Justice Gascon and was very close to him at a dinner hosted by Gascon.

The Ming Deng newspaper did not say what happened next, but as long as people read the entire report, they would have a general idea in their minds.

That is, on industrial issues, the Conservatives and the Liberals are birds of a feather, just in different camps.

And even if regulation of industry is to be established, it must not fall into the hands of the Conservatives.

The Conservative-funded Industrialists' Association has gone to this extent before it even appears in the open. If it had the help of regulatory powers, wouldn't they be completely lawless?

Coincidentally, the day before Connor published this report, Randy was persuaded by Wu Chang to express his position to the public through the Hills newspaper, hoping to run for the next prime minister.

After the new issue of the Light was released, the Conservative Party’s strong base exploded in just half a day.

Connor, who did all this, deserves the most crazy revenge from the Conservatives, but he is not worried at all now.

Because Connor was currently in the Secret Security Department, he sat opposite Wu Chang and Raventon, with an expression that showed he would get more out of his confession, allowing the two to ask any questions they wanted.

Wu Chang put down the Mingdeng newspaper and looked at Raventon. There were so many things they wanted to ask that they didn't know where to start.

Wu Chang had no doubt about the authenticity of the report and whether the culprit was Hall Company.

Because just last night, he received a message from Julie asking for help, and together with Julie's secret police and the police department controlled by the Liberal Party, they surrounded Hall Company.

Since so many people were involved, the Alchemy Association and the Clock Tower Magic Association also joined the action.

It is no exaggeration to say that half of the players completed the second main mission by rushing into Hall Company last night.

Also because the new extraordinary steam engine was obtained by the players, the steam rules of Grimland became further enriched.

For the vast majority of extraordinary people, especially those who are native to the plane, Grimland has become a "forbidden magic area" and even A-level skills cannot be used at this moment.

However, when he was taking action last night, he thought it was Julie's players who discovered the arrangements of the Steam Council or the Church of Tranquility. It was not until he saw today's Light of the Future that he realized it was Connor's work.

He never expected that Connor would come to the Secret Security Department early in the morning and surrender himself to him.

Wu Chang sighed and asked the question that concerned him most.

"Mr. Connor, since you have found me now, you should be ready to tell me which side the extraordinary forces behind you belong to."

Connor said without hesitation:
"The extraordinary person who cooperated with me is Her Majesty Olivia's man."

Wu Chang was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then asked, "All of them?"

This time it was Connor's turn to be stunned. "What do you mean?"

Wu Chang explained: "I am asking you, are the group of thieves in the Songshu Coal Mine and the extraordinary person who gave you the evidence of the Conservative Party all Her Majesty's people?"

When Wu Chang mentioned the thieves at Songshu Coal Mine, Connor's eyelids couldn't help but twitch. He didn't expect that Wu Chang even knew about that.

After a brief moment of surprise, Connor regained his composure. That’s right, if he didn’t have this level of ability, Sir Sean in front of him wouldn’t be able to control the Secret Security Department.

He nodded and said, "They are all Her Majesty's people."

The reason why Connor came to Wu Chang for protection was not only because of the cooperation between the two parties, but also because of the relationship with the Queen.

In his opinion, he and Sir Sean in front of him were both working for the Queen. They had the same client, but one was in the open and the other in secret, but they were all family.

Wu Chang frowned and fell into thought.

Previously, through the power of the root, he had determined that the extraordinary person who met with Connor privately after Nestor's funeral was an illusion.

He didn't expect that Phantom only joined the Liberal Party on the surface, but was actually working for Olivia. It seems that not only he wanted to send his men undercover, but others had the same idea.

When did Phantom get in touch with Olivia?

Is it before the extraordinary gathering or after the extraordinary gathering.

If it was after an extraordinary gathering, then it would be easy to say.

But what if Phantom expressed his desire to join the Mystic Knights before the Supernatural Gathering? Did Olivia not believe him and wanted to entangle him?

Putting aside the identity of the Phantom, the identity of the group of miners is also a problem.

He and Raventon exchanged glances, and they both saw a hint of doubt in each other's eyes.

The miners at Songshu Coal Mine are the only remaining clue in the assassination of the Prime Minister. That group of miners are Olivia's men. Could it be that the assassination of the Prime Minister is actually related to Olivia?

There are many things that don’t make sense and can’t be deduced in this simple way.

Wu Changxian put the matter aside and continued to ask about the real situation of Hall Company.

Connor describes Hall & Co. as being stress-free.

What he wrote in the report was basically the truth, the same inside information that Wu Chang had revealed to him before. What was concealed was only the intervention of the extraordinary steam engine and the extraordinary people.

As for the Industrial Business Association, the Conservative Party is indeed the backer behind them.

The Conservatives coveted the huge profits brought by industry, but they had wealth and ability but did not know much about industry, so they could only cooperate with some factory owners who were not large enough and had their own factories.

The companies in the Industrial Entrepreneurs Association had never been truly accepted by the Liberal Party because their actions were too dangerous and radical. The two sides hit it off and reached an agreement.

After explaining the supernatural forces behind the scenes and the intelligence related to Hall Company, Connor also talked about many things he had done before. For example, the gang of miners entered the Pine Tree Coal Mine intentionally. They first locked several mining areas as suspicious sources through the abnormal flow of coal essence on the black market, and then conducted infiltration investigations.

The two men chatted with Connor briefly, then asked Connor to go and rest first and not to leave the headquarters of the Secret Security Department for a few days.

After Connor left, Wu Chang looked at Ravington and asked:
"What do you think about the assassination of the Prime Minister?"

Ravington's answer was very certain. He said, "The assassin who killed Prime Minister Roan could not possibly be one of Her Majesty the Queen's men."

Wu Chang was somewhat surprised by Raventon's attitude and asked, "What's the reason?"

Ravington said: "The reason is simple, because from the very beginning, Prime Minister Ron has been the Queen's most solid ally."

“Whether it was cutting ties with the Holy Bishop, establishing the University of Grimland, or promoting extraordinary industrialization and fighting the Corn Laws, Prime Minister Rowan made all the decisions together with Her Majesty the Queen.”

"Her Majesty was able to break free from control and become a real queen because of our secret support. But it was mainly Julie and Prime Minister Ron who made her change from a mascot to a queen with a voice who could represent Stian."

Ravington paused for a moment and continued, "Even Prime Minister Ron's contribution is much greater than Julie's."

Wu Chang said, "No matter how good the allies are, there will inevitably be times when they disagree with each other. Can it be that the two sides have a conflict over some major issue, and Her Majesty Olivia has to take action?"

Ravington shook his head and said, "That won't be the case, because Her Majesty the Queen and Prime Minister Ron are the same kind of people at heart."

"People who are willing to do anything to help Stilan rise. They have the same goal and are willing to sacrifice everything for it. Even if their ideas conflict, reason will allow one side to convince the other and not resort to assassination."

Wu Chang tapped the table with his fingers and said:
"Of the three key figures in the Charter Movement, one was killed by the Steam Parliament, one was eliminated by the Liberal Party, and the only one who was Her Majesty Olivia's spy is still seeking our protection."

"It is obvious that the assassination of Prime Minister Ron has nothing to do with the Charter Movement. Based on the conclusion you have drawn now, it could be the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party or the Steam Parliament that did it."

Ravington said: "At present, it seems that the Conservative Party is the most suspicious, followed by the Steam Parliament."

Wu Chang patted the Ming Deng newspaper on the table and said, "In this case, let's go and ask Chief Justice Gascon and Sir Brooke who killed Nestor tonight."

Ravington shrugged and said, "I'm afraid they won't cooperate."

Wu Chang grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

"That's not up to them."

At nine o'clock in the evening, several core members of the conservative party gathered at Chief Justice Gascon's estate to discuss how to deal with the public opinion caused by the report in the Lantern.

The Liberal Party was involved in this incident, and they were determined not to let them get the right to regulate the industry. It was impossible for them to unilaterally cover up the incident and take back the Ming Deng newspaper from the market.

Not only that, tomorrow's morning newspaper controlled by the Liberal Party will definitely report further on the Hall Company incident, causing public opinion to ferment.

Now they can only look for Connor and control him while thinking about how to explain it to the public.

What they didn't know was that while they were thinking about finding Connor, the arcane Knights had been dispersed and surrounded in the fog outside the manor, waiting for Gascoigne to arrive so that they could go in and capture him.

The Arcane Knights are not the only ones preparing to take action tonight.

In the dim light of the Collingwood Processing Plant, a steam carriage made entirely of metal and powered by steam slowly drove into the workshop.

The carriage moved forward along a special passage and arrived at the underground of the processing plant.

snort~
As a large amount of steam was discharged, the steam carriage slowly stopped, the door of the carriage opened, and three men in black robes walked out of the carriage.

"Let's go quickly, the congressmen are waiting impatiently." said a short and fat man in a black robe who was only 1.6 meters tall.

The two men in black robes, who were one step behind the short and fat man in black robe, stretched out their hands from their robes and made an "extremely dangerous" gesture towards each other.

The two men in black robes who communicated with secret codes were Leng Shan and Jian Xing who had infiltrated the Steam Parliament.

During the Great Stink, the two followed the Steam Church and attacked the Royal Small Arms Factory.

They acted without hesitation and worked extremely hard, winning recognition from the Steam Parliament's top brass with their performance, which promoted the two from ordinary peripheral members to the level of quasi-parliamentarians.

However, after becoming quasi-members of parliament, the two did not gain more freedom, but instead came under closer scrutiny.

To be precise, they were placed under house arrest to some extent.

The one guarding them was the short and fat man who brought them here. Without the black robe, he looked plain-looking, but when he put it on, he was an official steam councillor, one level higher than theirs.

According to the short and fat man, they were not untrustworthy and were temporarily under house arrest.

On the contrary, they have passed the assessment of the Steam Parliament and are about to participate in a sacred, noble, and extremely important event.

In order to avoid leaking the news or being discovered, all participants must hide in advance and wait for the day of action.

The short and fat man described what they were going to do in a very mysterious way and emphasized its importance many times, which made Leng Shan and Jian Xing have no choice but to be patient and continue waiting.

In order to avoid being discovered, they had to temporarily lose contact with Wu Chang during this period.

The two waited until tonight, when the steam carriage stopped outside the house where they were hiding, and the three of them left the house for the first time in several days.

They had taken a steam carriage once before when they went to the Steam Parliament base. As long as they got on the carriage, their perception would be blocked and they would not know where they had been.

They guessed that they would also ride in a steam carriage, so they made preparations in advance.

During the few days of waiting, Jian Xing had been accumulating sword energy and sharpening it.

The moment he got on the car, he took advantage of the short and fat man's inattention and poked a hole in the car with his sword energy.

As the carriage was moving, Leng Shan continued to release energy containing the power of the root through the small hole to determine the positions of the two people.

Using this method, the two have roughly determined their location.

If nothing goes wrong tonight, after they finish this job, they can draw a simple map and tell Wu Chang the location of their base.

The two followed the short and fat man, passed through two secret doors, and came to a hidden underground space.

The underground space is huge, and a huge steam machine tool is placed in the center of the space.

As soon as they entered the underground space, they felt the rich power of the steam source from the machine tool. The steam machine tool in front of them was obviously an extraordinary steam engine.

There was excitement in both men's eyes. Not only had they locked onto a secret base of the Steam Council, but there was also an extraordinary steam engine inside the base.

This achievement is quite a big one.

It would be a bit unreasonable if this didn't result in a hidden side quest.

The two men shifted their gazes away from the machine tool and noticed that in addition to the three of them, there were nearly twenty men in black robes in the underground space.

Most of them are natives of the plane, but three or four of them have abnormal physiques, different from the natives of the copy plane. The black robe worn by one of them is a prop, and he is obviously a player of the Abyss Game.

However, the three or four players in the underground space not only failed to reveal the agility of human players, but instead gave people a sense of mechanical stiffness.

What made Leng Shan and Jian Xing feel even more uncomfortable was that they could feel a faint steam root power emanating from those players.

A man in a black robe with a cane walked out of the crowd and said to the two:

"It's nice to meet you. I've been watching your performance."

"We are all companions in the pursuit of the ultimate transcendence. Because you all trust me, you have elected me to manage the Steam Council. You can call me Xavier, or you can call me Councillor No. 1."

Leng Shan and Jian Xing felt more uneasy, and Leng Shan said, "Mr. Xavier, what do you need us to do?"

Xavier smiled and said, "Next, we will do something big. We will seize Stian from those incompetent people and use the power of extraordinary industry to promote the continuous evolution of Stian."

Xavier gestured to the machine tool and said:
“You don’t need to do anything, just follow us, walk into the Stellan Palace, and take over the country.”

"But before that, I need to complete a brief transformation for you to help you become a real steam councillor."

(End of this chapter)