Saint Laurent Prison Warden

Chapter 35 It doesn't matter if it's true or not.
Smuggling refers to violating the laws of the Silver City-State, evading state supervision, illegally transporting, carrying, and mailing items that are prohibited or restricted from entering or leaving the Silver City-State, and evading the payment of taxes.

Smuggling cases come in all sizes.

The smallest smuggling case is nothing more than some ignorant and unpatriotic hawkers around the land border. They rely on their shoulders and two legs to smuggle a pitiful little load from the gathering and distribution points of contraband goods, bypass the checkpoints like rats, and finally arrive in foreign cities to make some petty profits.

Larger smuggling cases are extremely exaggerated, and they hide huge profits that ordinary people dare not even dream of.

Porto Petro is a super large port city with a total population of over 20 million, and its daily sulfur consumption is huge.

The amount of sulfur smuggled by the other party is enough to affect the sulfur price of the entire port city, which is simply shocking.

This is no longer an ordinary smuggling case, it is a major case!

Must be scrutinized!

After realizing this, the two agents from the Star-Moon Society immediately contacted their superiors and formed a special task force of 15 people for the "Port Pietro Smuggling Case" to conduct a secret investigation in Port Pietro.

At that time, the investigation team was full of ambition and ready to make great contributions.

They didn't expect that they were cautious enough to dispatch 15 elite agents. But even so, they still greatly underestimated the terrible conspiracy behind Porto Pietro.

……

At the beginning, the task force's investigation in Porto Pitro did not go smoothly.

They spent two full weeks staking out key buildings such as ports and resource markets, hoping to catch people and evidence of smuggling sulfur from abroad in Porto Pitro.

But they found nothing.

There is no abnormal import and export trade in the entire Port of Pitro, and the amount of sulfur circulating in the market has always been within the normal range.

This made the task force very confused.

Why is the price of sulfur so cheap in Porto Pietro if there is no smuggling from abroad? This is impossible.

The task force believed that they must have missed monitoring a key location.

So they expanded the scope of surveillance and even included some islands off the coast of Porto Pietro in their surveillance.

This trick really worked. After three months of surveillance, they finally caught an anomaly.

But this anomaly overturned their previous conjecture.

The task force found the smuggling ship in Porto Pitro, and the smuggled cargo on the ship was indeed sulfur.

But, the direction is wrong!
All the smuggled sulfur was not imported into Porto Pietro, but was shipped out from Porto Pietro! Moreover, the amount of smuggled sulfur was very large!

This discovery shocked the task force so much that their heads were buzzing.

Based on the market demand theory.

When the amount of sulfur on the market is less than the normal local demand and there is no human intervention, the price of sulfur will naturally rise.

Logically speaking, such long-term and large-scale smuggling of sulfur abroad will inevitably lead to a shortage of sulfur in Porto Pitro and a sharp rise in prices.

But the price of sulfur in Porto Pietro is lower than normal?
There is a big problem! Why is there no shortage of sulfur in Porto Pietro?

The task force suddenly realized that their previous guesses were too simple.

So, they came up with a new hypothesis - there is a hidden super-giant sulfur mine in Porto Pietro, but this sulfur mine was hidden by some people in Porto Pietro and used for smuggling abroad for personal gain!

After a large amount of sulfur production was smuggled out, a super-giant sulfur mine whose remaining sulfur was still enough to cause a drop in sulfur prices in the entire city was embezzled by someone, and the embezzlement has been going on for three whole years!

The sky is falling. This is no longer just a major case, it is a major case! It is a case of heaven!

The special agents and wizards of the task force immediately realized that this was no longer a case that their small task force could solve.

So they quickly contacted the Star-Moon Society headquarters in the Silver City-State through the communication conch and reported their investigation results.

That's the coincidence.

On the second day after the task force gave its report, before the Star-Moon Society headquarters had even discussed the outcome, a fire broke out in Porto Pitro.

It was a huge fire that affected hundreds of people. Fifteen secret mages from the Star-Moon Society were all killed in the fire, and all the investigation evidence was burned.

This was undoubtedly a counterattack from some guys in Porto Pietro.

Sometimes fate is just so unfortunate.

There is only one day left.

If the task force had asked their superiors for help one day later, the secret of Porto Pitro would have really been lost in the sea of ​​fire.

It would take some time for the Xingyue Society headquarters to figure out whether the death of the task force was an accident or not. It was unknown how much time would pass before the Xingyue Society's personnel returned to Porto Pitro. It was possible that Porto Pitro, which was on guard, would be more cautious and let them pass this hurdle.

Unfortunately, no if.

Even though hundreds of innocent lives were sacrificed along with the task force, the Xingyue Society headquarters, which had already received the investigation report, was still extremely certain that this was a case of silencing!

Fifteen secret mages from the Star-Moon Society were killed!

This is outrageous! It's lawless!
In the territory of the Silver City-State, Xingyue has always been the one who bullies others. How could Xingyue be bullied by others?

Not only was the Xingyue Society furious, even the [Nine-Ring Magician Senate] was alarmed.

The Nine-ring Mage Huo Lin made the golden statement that the [Pietro Port City Arson Incident] was a rebellion against the Silver City-State!
As we all know, cracking down on organized crime requires evidence, while suppressing rebellion only requires coordinates.

The enraged Silver City-State dispatched three magic legions, six constructed Titans, and a total of sixteen magic trains that day. They rushed to the city of Porto Pietro overnight, and with lightning speed, they controlled the top leaders of Porto Pietro, took over all key positions in Porto Pietro, and launched a semi-counterinsurgency-style violent investigation.

Even with such efforts, the Xingyue Society's investigation still encountered unexpected resistance:
Grassroots mages pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed, many warehouses caught fire for unknown reasons, various bills disappeared, and large-scale shipwrecks occurred in the offshore areas...

Even the local residents of Porto Pitro were extremely uncooperative with the Star-Moon Society's special agent mages' visits and investigations - they told lies and often provided false information to mislead the investigation team.

This situation made the Xingyue Society's headquarters even more alarmed.

All signs indicate that the city of Porto Pietro is very likely to have formed a perfect network of interests from top to bottom.

Everyone on this network prospers together and suffers together. And their interests have been strongly connected for a long time. Otherwise, they would not have such a tacit understanding.

But the more this happened, the more ruthless the Xingyue Society became.

A month later, as more and more Star-Moon Society secret agents and mages gradually arrived at Porto Pietro and the investigation became more and more in-depth, a breach was finally opened in Porto Pietro.

Three months later, the truth came to light.

The final result is shocking.

The Star-Moon Society still underestimated the courage of those people in Porto Pietro.

What they hid was not a giant sulfur mine, but a mythical natural wonder!

As early as eight years ago, officials of Porto Pietro discovered a mythical natural wonder, the Sulfur Lake, on the seabed outside the city of Porto Pietro.

As long as you invest gold coins, [Sulfur Lake] will generate a large sulfur mine with huge reserves every once in a while. With [Sulfur Lake], it is equivalent to having an inexhaustible supply of sulfur.

For a huge country, this is an extremely rare strategic advantage.

But for the officials in Porto Pietro, this was unimaginably huge profit.

With greed in their hearts and evil in their hearts, they managed to control all parties in Porto and conceal the existence of the "Sulfur Lake".

Sulfur is a very important strategic resource, but if it is all sulfur, it will not be of much use.

They had to trade the sulfur for gold coins so they could buy the various things they wanted for their enjoyment.

This is a mythical wonder! The sulfur produced is enough to cause fluctuations in the sulfur market of the entire Silver City.

If such a large amount of sulfur were sold to the Silver City-State, it would be discovered by the superiors of the Silver City-State in an instant.

So they could only smuggle the sulfur out.

The Holy See, which is hostile to the Silver City-State, naturally becomes their largest customer.

The people of the Holy See were very smart. They quickly discovered the strangeness of the smuggling of people in Porto Pietro and used this opportunity to contact the officials of Porto Pietro.

For eight years, with the help of the Holy See, the smuggling operation in Porto Pietro went smoothly, and the entire city made a lot of money.

Under the deliberate guidance of the Holy See, officials in Porto Pietro became increasingly greedy.

In addition to sulfur, they also began to smuggle some rare magic books, magic scrolls, banned materials and the like.

In this port city with a population of over 20 million, including the elderly and children, more than 90% of the people have provided assistance to the Holy See directly or indirectly.

If the standards were stricter and people were killed according to the law, there would be countless heads and blood flowing everywhere, and nine out of ten houses in the entire port city would be empty.

What shocked the investigation team the most was that such large-scale smuggling and rebellion had lasted for nearly nine years without revealing any flaws.

If two agents from the Star and Moon Society had not carefully discovered the slight discrepancy in the price of sulfur and investigated it carefully, this major case would have remained covered up.

How is this possible? With such a big commotion, how could there be no flaws?
Pull out the radish and bring out the mud.

There must be an umbrella behind Porto Pietro!
Porto Pitro was suppressed, but the matter was far from being over so easily.

There are so many officials involved in the [Porto Pietro Sulfur Corruption Case], from top to bottom, that we must investigate it thoroughly!
The higher up the Xingyue Society investigates, the more people will be implicated and their levels will be higher, making it more difficult to get to the bottom of the matter.

Therefore, the case went on for three whole years, all the way to the City of Travel, before it was finally closed on the Saint of Chastity.

……

"In May of the 1017th year of the Astral Ring Calendar, the head of the General Logistics Department of Crescent City, Crescent City, and the Five-ring Mage Walton Barrett committed suicide at home. All clues were cut off, and the investigation went underground again.

In April of the 1018th year of the Astral Ring Calendar, the Lord of Fire Sea City, the legendary wizard of the seventh ring, Guabaston Piev, disappeared, and all clues were interrupted. Before his disappearance, there was evidence pointing to the City of Travel.

In June of the 1019th year of the Astral Calendar, all the evidence regarding the [Port Pietro Sulfur Corruption Case] ​​pointed to the same person—the Chaste Saint who was hiding in the City of Travel and controlling the national situation remotely. And the one who helped the Chaste Saint was the Anthony family who had been entrenched in the Silver City-State for many years.

The reason why the [Porto Pietro Sulfur Embezzlement Case] ​​has been concealed until today is not because any of the Star-Crescent Society’s senior councilors or even permanent members covered it up, but because of the full support of the Holy See and the remote control of the Saint of Chastity and the Anthony family.

We are still pure and flawless within.

This seems to be a perfect result.

The Star-Moon Society can accept it, the Nine Rings Council can accept it, and officials at all levels in the Silver City-State can accept it.

But, I can't accept it.

Like I said before, what a coincidence! "

Xingge lowered her eyelids and whispered to the halfling:
“Arnold, you’ve been with me for so long, you must have the ability to judge the situation.

Let me ask you. If the Saint of Chastity was not discovered by us, but she took the initiative to become the end of the [Porto Pietro Sulfur Corruption Case], what does that mean? "

Facing Xingge's question, the halfling Arno looked bitter:
"That means she is using herself to cover up a mastermind who is more important than her."

Xingge then asked, "Who do you think is the mastermind behind our Sky Dome Cities Group who is more important than the Saint of Chastity? Arnold?"

Who else could have asked this question? Damn it, this is a multiple choice question, and it's also a fatal question.

The halfling shuddered and replied tremblingly:

"Miss, I don't dare to guess. But you are smart, you must know it.

I mean, you are too suspicious, Miss. If there is something wrong with him, can we still survive?"

"No matter if it is or not, we have to check it out. What if we find something?"

Xingge stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked out the window with her back to Arnold.

The moonlight shone on her, casting a long shadow.

“According to my intuition, the easiest point to break through is Richard.

But when I was about to test Richard, the teacher intervened.

Warriors' Tomb, Saint-Laurent Prison.

He openly stood against me and told me that the matter should end here and not to investigate further.

Arnold, tell me, is the teacher confessing himself, or is there another reason?"

Oh, Miss, you are my living father! How dare I answer this question if you dare to ask it?

The halfling Arno quickly covered his mouth:

"Don't ask me, I'm dumb and can't speak."

"Hmph. You're so timid." Xingge snorted and said no more.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

After a long while, the halfling finally couldn't hold it in anymore and frowned:

"Miss, let's not talk about the case anymore, let's talk about something personal.

Richard sounded very sincere when he confessed to you like that.

Miss, do you think that he loves you, is it true or false? "

Xingge shook his head with a complicated expression, raised his head, faced the moonlight and said:

"Whether it's true or not, does it really matter? It doesn't matter if it's true, and it doesn't matter if it's false. Even if he doesn't have the stigmata, he is still just an ordinary person after all."

(End of this chapter)