From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

If Inspector Douglas and his current supervisor Victor weren't old partners, he would have every reason to complain about his workload.

After the cunning suspect Ryan Hall escaped from Flamingo City, he thought he had proven the man dangerous enough to hand the case over to a higher-ranking team for further pursuit.

Then he can probably return to Holy Crown City and enjoy the entertainment of the average middle class in the Federation, such as TV talk shows, magazines, and weekend operas or new movies.

But in reality, he soon received a completely unexpected new mission: to travel to the Principality of Prishini within the territory of the Moral Union as a special observer for the Ninth Bureau of the Federation.

This duchy itself is unremarkable, with a population and territory smaller than even a large province in the Veridian Federation, but Grand Duke Prishini comes from another distinguished family.

The patriarch of this family, who is also the elder brother of the Grand Duke, is the king of the Kingdom of Dushi, one of the four most important kingdoms within the Moral Union.

Henry Norbuso Ren, the "Crown of the Golden Lion," is a fourth-tier "Lord" worthy of bearing such a prestigious title, and can be considered a high-end combat force even in the entire Western Continent.

Crown Prince Prishini disappeared after the attack on the Silver Bell Palace. As a blood relative, the king would naturally not sit idly in the palace, and the situation on the continent would undergo a slight but sensitive change as a result.

Although he still couldn't understand why Victor had put him on the mission, Douglas reluctantly boarded the Federal Republic's mission to the Kingdom of Dusch.

Since Prishinni had closed the airspace near the capital, the plane landed in Dusch.

The envoy and a second-tier transcendent being from the Ninth Bureau were left in the Kingdom of Dushi, while he and several other members of the delegation transferred to a special train provided by the Kingdom of Dushi to travel south.

After crossing the border between the two countries, the special train slowed down quickly, and there was a security check at almost every station along the way.

Douglas could see armed soldiers and ritualists carrying metal boxes patrolling around looking for traces of the supernatural through the car window.

Upon arriving at the heavily guarded capital station, the military police meticulously inspected the train and boarded to verify the passenger list and identification.

By the time he finished tinkering, Douglas had already read the newspapers in the car over and over again.

After leaving the station, he boarded a car arranged by the Royal Household Department and arrived at the Royal Guest House, where armored vehicles were parked at the entrance, half an hour later.

It wasn't until around 4 p.m. that the federal delegation was granted an audience with the Grand Duke.

They were not the only guests; several diplomatic vehicles bearing different national flags drove out of the guesthouse one after another, passing through the blocked palace district under the escort of military and police.

Most of the shops along the street have reopened, but military police can be seen checking vehicles every few hundred meters.

As the car crossed a stone bridge, Douglas looked out the window and saw the Silver Bell Palace on the other side of the river.

Outside the solemn and complete palace, part of the outer wall was covered with a white curtain, and several uniformed ritual masters seemed to be collecting something from the wall bricks.

After undergoing another check, Douglas followed the federal delegation into the still-open east wing of the Silver Bell Palace.

The Royal Household Office arranged a simple reception in a small banquet hall where envoys from various countries would wait, and then be led in turn by officials to the inner hall to meet the Grand Duke.

Inside the hall were several long tables with drinks and cold food on them. The two corridors leading to the west were closed off by iron gates, and the door frames were covered with temporary silver seals.

Douglas followed the other members of the delegation, watching them idly as they greeted diplomats from other countries, before taking a sip of his drink.

The Ninth Injunction observer was somewhat tasked with gathering information, and he was certain that a glass of wine would make the job seem a little more respectable.

Among the crowd, the elegantly dressed delegation from the Kingdom of Dusch stood out the most. A counselor from the federal delegation was talking with the deputy envoy from Dusch. Douglas took a few steps closer and overheard them discussing the follow-up actions.

"The Kingdom of Dush will support Prishni in pursuing the attackers and making those cultists pay the price," the Deputy Envoy of Dush said firmly.

The federal counselor nodded in understanding: "I've heard that His Majesty the King is also following this investigation."

"His Majesty attaches great importance to this. His Highness the Grand Duke will meet with His Majesty the King in person later."

"His Majesty the King has arrived in Prishni?" The counselor glanced out the window with slight surprise, after all, the capital of Dushi was hundreds of kilometers away from here.

Vice Envoy Du Shi raised his wine glass, a subtle smile appearing on his face: "You will all know when the meeting begins."

He was clearly satisfied with the effect of this answer, and no matter how the counselor tried to probe further, he refused to reveal anything more.

Douglas wasn't surprised by this; a fourth-tier lord didn't need to travel between the two places by train like an ordinary diplomat.

Just as he was pondering which method—projection, ritual, spiritual passage, or some form of remote manifestation through blood ties—best suited the Dush royal tradition, the door to the inner hall opened.

Several Oligarchs returned to the banquet hall along the corridor. The man at the head of the group looked terrible, his steps hurried and unsteady. The military attaché behind him spoke in hushed tones, the badges of several military-industrial companies on his chest clinking with each movement. The group headed straight for another lounge.

Douglas looked at the closed door and guessed that the meeting had not been pleasant.

Orichalcos has a history of selling large quantities of weapons within the Union, and this attack may be related to their products. The Grand Duke probably has no interest in appreciating the Corporate Federation's legal interpretations regarding distribution contracts and end-user liability.

Douglas finished the rest of his drink and continued walking along the edge of the hall, soon finding two courtiers by a semi-open terrace.

Douglas presented his Ninth Bureau badge and, as a federal observer, asked if it would be convenient for him to learn about the case.

The older of the priests examined the documents and then spoke: "The Royal Household Agency is preparing to release the preliminary investigation results tonight. We have not been instructed to conceal any confirmed information. What would you like to know, Inspector?"

"The identity of the attackers." Douglas was also curious about what kind of force dared to provoke a national government.

"The Abyss Order." As he uttered this name, the injured elder beside him glanced subconsciously at the closed west corridor. "They worship high beings deep within the Riftheart Sea and are skilled at manipulating the dead, the sea, and the rifts in the spirit world."

Douglas had heard of this before; there were many records about the Deep Ones in the Ninth Bureau's archives, but the organization had rarely launched such a public attack before.

"How did they manage to do that? Logically, such an oversight shouldn't exist."

The elder priest coughed lightly: "Ahem, actually... some guards and priests have been controlled by them using unknown means."

The injured priest beside him added indignantly, "One of the deputy captains of the guard has already been captured. According to the information he provided, the cultists initially only planned to steal some important documents, but the orders suddenly changed before the banquet. They secretly set up many nodes here to construct a large-scale ritual to drag the palace into the gap between the spirit worlds."

"Currently, none of the core members of these people have been captured," the elder elder continued. "However, we have discovered a detail: the cult originally planned to send a batch of 'Quiet Tide Ash' to cover up traces of the ritual, but it never arrived."

Douglas had heard of this before: "They used a substitute?"

The injured priest forced an ugly smile: "No, His Highness Conrad was thus able to discover and destroy several key points before the banquet began, creating gaps in the ritual structure. His subsequent ability to escape from inside the Silver Bell Palace and coordinate with the Grand Duke's reinforcements was also related to the absence of these materials."

Douglas glanced at the empty glass in his hand, sensing the haste of the matter.

These types of cult members usually don't do such crazy things; they either have a goal worth taking the huge risk for, or something makes them unable to wait any longer.

Neither of these scenarios is good news for the missing crown prince.

"Where did that batch of still-tide grey liquor originally come from?"