Across the web, immortals and true beings, their thoughts and energy creating the heavens.

Chapter 118 Visitors from Afar, Farewell in Three Days

"Don't send emails while eating. What's the rush?"

Hearing her father say this, Min Xinrou smiled gently, turned her phone upside down on the table, and explained, "I just saw the work schedule sent by my company. A band that I really like is coming to Hongshui, so I was thinking of inviting some friends to listen to the concert."

As her mother stuffed smoked meat into the steamed buns, she joked, "Who did you invite? Your blind date?"

"Another new friend." Min Xinrou covered her mouth, her eyes crinkling. "But this person is related to my little sister. It would be nice if he could become her blind date."

"Cough cough cough!" Min Pei'er, who was drinking soup, nearly choked. She grabbed a tissue to wipe her face. "What does this have to do with me? Who are you talking about?"

"The great musician you brought that night."

The entire family, young and old, pricked up their ears, watching Min Pei'er, who seemed completely at a loss.

"It's completely irrelevant! I don't even know him. Did he agree?"

Min Xinrou nodded meaningfully.

"Arou, what's the name of the person you're talking about?" The father took the roujiamo (Chinese meat sandwich), not in a hurry to eat it, and asked while taking out his vibrating phone from his pocket to check email messages.

Min Pei'er quickly changed the subject loudly: "Let's not talk about these things. Hey, Second Brother, stop laughing and hand me the fried dough sticks."

"Tell me your name, what's wrong with that? You're being so mysterious. Anyone who didn't know better would think you're dating a criminal suspect." Second Brother was humorous and witty, but he was also often outspoken.

Upon hearing this, Min Pei'er became even more nervous. Just as she was about to make an excuse, her father suddenly got up from the table, without explaining anything, and immediately put on his police uniform jacket and strode towards the study.

The family was already used to his unexpected situations. His mother quickly prepared a lunchbox and stuffed it into his briefcase. His father came out of the study with a stack of documents and casually asked his wife, "Did you organize the documents on the table for me?"

"No, I didn't touch it."

Min Pei'er raised her hand and admitted, "Dad, I did it. Don't worry, I didn't rummage around."

"It's not exactly important information that you guys can see, but you still can't go around talking about it," the father warned.

The children responded in turn, some seriously, some lazily.

His wife touched his face worriedly, took out some antibiotic ointment and applied it to his lips, and whispered, "You came home so late last night and didn't get much sleep. Your body can't take it, can it? Couldn't you have declined the offer?"

"The comrades from the Orbital Army came today. I can't refuse; I have to go with them to the crime scene."

The second son, with his sharp ears, asked excitedly like a child, "The Dragon Riders are coming to Redwater? Really?"

"What do you mean, 'real' or 'fake'? Just pretend you didn't hear that, understand?"

The director of the Hongshui City Security Bureau took his hat off the shelf by the door, put it on his head, slipped on his leather shoes, and went out. He chatted with the neighbors along the way, took the skyrail to the police building, met up with several yawning colleagues, took the elevator to the top floor, and lined up at the ground station entrance leading to the space elevator, whispering among themselves.

At around 7:15, three tall figures walked out of the corridor at the ground station exit. Light flowed over their silver-gray metallic power armor, and the red star paint of the Human Community Orbital Assault Force shone brightly on their chests. Two black eyepieces were embedded in the visors of their fully enclosed helmets, and the inner lenses of their jewel-red lenses were faintly visible under the light.

"Colonel Shao! Major Zhou, Major Xu! You three have come from afar and have worked hard! On behalf of the entire Hongshui City Security Bureau of Cuirangxing Commune, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the three comrades from the Orbital Army for traveling thousands of light-years to assist in the investigation of this major espionage case."

"Comrade Min Weixing, fellow police officers from Hongshui City, thank you for your warm welcome." Shao Shigang and his two companions saluted. "Let's get straight to the point. Could you take us directly to the scene?"

The bureau chief nodded repeatedly and led the way.

Looking at the helmet display screen, Shao Shigang saw that the auxiliary intelligence built into the armor system was connected to the network and was communicating and coordinating with the local supervisory intelligence.

Instead of using public transportation, the group boarded a police airlift vehicle, whose spacious interior could accommodate the three armored warriors, each over two meters tall and as imposing as towers.

During the journey, the bureau chief took the initiative to start a conversation about the key points and doubts that they had investigated and compiled.

"A mysterious figure was witnessed killing an alien armored warrior with his bare hands —"

Shao Shigang and his two comrades looked at each other in bewilderment upon hearing this.

The director quickly added, "This person must have used some kind of weapon, but the weapon wreckage has been recovered. There was no useful information left at the scene. The trace amounts of blood and biological information collected have been checked through the citizen gene banks of all cities on the entire planet Cuirang, but none of them matched the target."

"It's probably just a dogfight among giant corporations," Major Zhou chuckled in agreement.

"Our diplomatic corps has already let in a cybernetic soldier. If we let in another unknown individual who can kill a cybernetic soldier, then the whole organization will be rotten to the core. If the organization investigates, too many people will be involved." Shao Shigang's sigh was filtered through his helmet, mixed with the static of electricity like sandstorms.

The bureau chief quickly tried to smooth things over, saying with a smile, "It was a lucky accident. If it weren't for this mysterious figure, our Emerald Planet would have been in danger this time."

Shao Shigang smiled and said, "No, the gravitational parameters of the Cuirang Star Commune have always been safe."

The bureau chief and officers were stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized the unspoken meaning behind the officer's words. They looked at each other and tacitly thought of the phrase "entrapment."

"Ahem, I see. Comrade Chijiang didn't tell us this detail beforehand. It made us so nervous. Nobody expected this operation to catch such a big fish, and we almost lost our comrades on the mission."

"We really have to thank that mysterious figure. Without him, there wouldn't be any survivors at the scene. Those armored soldiers who work for the giant corporation have absolutely no morals or shame." Shao Shigang was also extremely curious about the mysterious figure's motives.

According to intelligence transmitted by Comrade Chijiang from the Hongshui City Management Intelligence Center, the mysterious figure was clearly intentionally protecting the witnesses and physical evidence at the scene, especially showing extra care for the children involved in the case. Every detail revealed goodwill, and it is undoubtedly a question mark to ask which force the mysterious figure belongs to.

The hovercar landed, and the abandoned tunnel near Hongshui West Station remained sealed off. When the armored warriors appeared, they drew gasps, cheers, and enthusiastic applause from the curious crowd in the distance.

Shao Shigang and his two companions saluted the enthusiastic people of Hongshui City, crossed the cordon, and arrived at the scene of the crime.

Deep inside the shelter, a huge hole is clearly visible in the concrete wall at the end of the corridor. Scattered cement debris and broken metal fire extinguisher boxes are still intact. The dust on the ground is covered with many messy footprints, but they have not completely covered up the original traces.

The armored warriors carefully collected images from the scene, and the AI ​​began to attempt to reconstruct the battle scenario.

"Boom! Bang!" The simulation was silent, but Shao Shigang seemed to hear the explosive force. The mysterious person launched an attack from a meter away, and the huge kinetic energy impact sent the alien armored soldier flying backward, crashing through the wall.

Passing through the hole and entering the pilot tunnel, the battle intensified. Scattered bloodstains on the ground, according to the chief, were all the blood of the deceased. The mysterious man's blood sample was found at the end of the battle and was extremely rare.

"This is from punching the armored vehicle with a fist. The metal cuts through the skin, blood flows onto the knuckles, and then it's smashed down again, splattering everywhere." Shao Shigang squatted down to simulate the punching motion. "The deceased was completely crushed and unable to get up. He was killed by punching him through the armor."

"Really bare-handed?" His comrades were shocked.

Suddenly, an action suggestion popped up in Shao Shigang's mind. After a moment's thought, he decided to adopt it, saluted the director, and said, "Comrade Min Weixing, this case is too dangerous and it is no longer suitable for you to continue to follow up. I will apply to Comrade Chijiang to transfer this case to my department for full responsibility. Thank you for your hard work for the organization and the people, and please understand and cooperate with our work."

The officers were taken aback by what they heard. The chief had no choice but to stand at attention and return the salute, saying, "Hongshui City Security Bureau, obeying orders from superiors."

They shook hands and said goodbye.

"Company commander, what do we do now?" Major Zhou took off his helmet, revealing the face of a young soldier.

"Write a briefing and send it back to the brigade headquarters. We will continue our investigation and await further orders and instructions."

"How often do the interstellar communication ships from Emerald Land make their rounds?" Major Xu asked, arms crossed, his long tail swaying from side to side.

"I asked Comrade Chijiang, and he said that if I submit the email today, I should receive a reply from the military headquarters in less than three days at the earliest." Shao Shigang looked around the dimly lit tunnel pit. "Let's stay in Hongshui City for the next couple of days. The comrades here are quite hospitable. We can also take the opportunity to see the local customs and culture of Cuirang Star."

The two comrades clapped and cheered happily.

[Chijiang]: Comrade Lin Zhuo, the investigators from the Rail Assault Army have arrived in Hongshui City [7:15] [Read]

[Chijiang]: I have sent your enlistment application through emergency channels. You should receive your official conscription notice in about three days (depending on the interstellar communication ship's travel time, it may be 24 hours earlier or later). [7:33] [Read]

Lin Zhuo replied to Chi Jiang with "Received," and put his phone back in his pocket.

He sat at his workstation in the Jianlan Library. Qiao Mingyang had been arrested, but the employees were unaware and would continue to come to work as usual. The library was still quite deserted at this time of day. Lin Zhuo was writing a farewell letter by hand, a kind of modern tradition of leaving a job, using a letter to express his reluctance to part with his colleagues and his blessings.

After writing, they posted the letters on the bulletin board. There were quite a few farewell letters posted there, since most of the staff at the library were temporary, and people coming and going was all too common; very few people would stay here for five or ten years.

Lin Zhuo had been working here for less than half a month and hadn't yet developed any deep friendships with any of his colleagues. After he left, the empty workstations and the letters on the bulletin board were enough to make everyone understand.

"Xiao Lin, are you leaving already?" a regular customer greeted him.

"Yes, I found a new job."

"Oh, that's great! You young people are still willing to take risks, that's good. I wish you all the best!"

Lin Zhuo smiled and waved goodbye.