Wednesday evening, a biting cold wind swept through, and large snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
Xia Chujian finished school and headed home, taking the Inner City Maglev Train as usual.
But as the train approached an intersection, it suddenly came to a halt.
"What's going on? What happened?"
"Traffic jam ahead."
"How is that possible?! This is the Inner City Maglev lane, how can there be a traffic jam?!"
"See for yourself!"
Xia Chujian had been wearing her earphones, listening to a few passages from her textbooks that her aunt had highlighted.
Noticing the commotion in the train, she took off one earphone and looked out the window.
She saw drones taking off into the airspace ahead, heading towards the west side of Mulan City.
"Where are they going?"
"...The West District, maybe? Seems like the wealthy area."
"It must be. That direction is the West District, no, the most luxurious villa area in all of Mulan City!"
Watching the drones densely pack the sky, encircling the entire district, Xia Chujian's heart stirred.
These aren't combat drones, these are auxiliary drones that can act as base stations and create electromagnetic interference...
She had seen them a few times while on missions with the Association.
Although they weren't from her team, she had heard other teams bragging about them.
What's going on? After a while, the airspace ahead was cleared, and the maglev train resumed its journey.
...
Back home, Xia Chujian quickly opened the Quantum Optical Brain's virtual display screen and started browsing the local Star Network for news.
But despite such a large-scale operation, not a single news outlet reported it.
Undeterred, Xia Chujian went to the local social media.
There, she found people vaguely discussing the day's events.
Without exception, they were using misspelled words or homophones.
And even then, the topics were quickly deleted.
But before the topics were deleted, Xia Chujian managed to glean some clues.
#Fan Estate Villa in the West District of Mulan City Raided#.
#The Fan Family Has Many Hideouts, Three Villas Each in the East, West, and North Districts of Mulan City#.
#Private Starship—How Rich Is the Fan Family, Really?#
#The Fan Family Controls the Disciplinary Department, Ruling with an Iron Fist#.
The last topic, which she only caught a glimpse of, was: #Special Security Bureau in Action, Second Young Master of the Fan Family's Main Branch in Dire Straits#.
This topic was the most sensitive, and it used the correct character for "Fan," not the homophone.
Perhaps that was why it was deleted the fastest.
As soon as Xia Chujian saw it and clicked on it, the topic was gone.
Looks like that topic was definitely true.
I wonder what the Fan Family did.
Xia Chujian didn't think it had anything to do with her.
Because she already knew from Zong Ruoan that Fan Chengcai was under internal investigation, and his subordinates were taking the blame for other matters.
I don't know if Fan Chengcai has gotten into trouble again...
Given that kind of person's habits, Xia Chujian didn't believe he had only "plundered" their team.
While having dinner with her aunt, Xia Chujian used this news as gossip to spice up the meal.
Xia Yuanfang said thoughtfully, "If Fan Chengcai is arrested by the Special Security Bureau, will he still need to go to court?"
Xia Chujian: "... Aunt, you're entering my area of ignorance."
Xia Yuanfang glanced at her, "The few articles on political systems I marked for you, you need to memorize them for me."
"Aunt, what's the use of memorizing them? Rote memorization won't help me understand," Xia Chujian complained, feeling that even the Wild Rhinoceros Pig Si Xi Meatballs weren't as delicious anymore.
"Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will become clear. Don't worry about understanding, just memorize it for me first." When it came to Xia Chujian's studies, Xia Yuanfang was immediately sidetracked and stopped thinking about Fan Chengcai.
...
At this time, in the luxury villa district of Mulan City's West District, the Fan Family's villas were surrounded by Special Security Bureau Action Division personnel in gray field uniforms.
Zong Ruoan led the team, watching as people carried boxes of documents out of the Fan Family villa's basement.
"Pretty impressive... the Mulan City Punishment Department's personnel changes for the past twenty years are all here..." Lu Jianpeng casually flipped through some of the documents.
"Tsk tsk, quite cunning, a copy of the data online, and a copy privately. So, the data you reported to the higher-ups was all fake..."
Lu Jianpeng picked up a storage disk, inserted it into his Quantum Optical Brain, quickly browsed through it, and then sent it to Zong Ruoan.
Zong Ruoan also quickly looked through it and nodded, saying, "It's not entirely fake, most of it is based on merit. However, without exception, important positions are occupied by the Fan Family or their relatives by marriage."
Fan Chengcai had already returned to Da Fu Prefecture for "internal investigation" due to the previous Mulan City checkpoint case and was not in Mulan City.
The Fan Family members left here were all doorkeepers.
The only one who seemed presentable was Fan Chengxin, who had come from Da Fu Prefecture for leisure.
He was a collateral member of the Fan Family, but because he had a sweet tongue, he had a good relationship with the Fan Family's main branch.
At this time, he was huddled in a corner with his three bodyguards, not daring to breathe loudly, no longer having the arrogant air he had at the Private Club.
Zong Ruoan, with his hands behind his back, slowly walked up to him, looking down at him, "You're Fan Chengxin?"
"Yes, Colonel, I am Fan Chengxin. May I ask your honorable name?" Seeing that Zong Ruoan's uniform had the rank of Colonel, Fan Chengxin immediately became fawning.
He knew very well who he could offend and who he couldn't.
He had been good at reading people's expressions since he was a child, which was why he was so successful in the Da Fu Prefecture Fan Family's main branch.
However, Zong Ruoan had no intention of exchanging pleasantries with him, but stared at his leg, which was still in a splint, and asked in a low voice, "What happened to your leg?"
"Colonel, that's a long story! A few days ago, wasn't there an arson and shooting at the 'Feather' Private Club? - Unfortunately, I was a victim of the shooting!" Fan Chengxin pointed to his leg, saying with a bitter face, "My knee was shattered, that guy's hand was really dark! And damn accurate!"
Zong Ruoan's expression softened slightly.
Seeing that Zong Ruoan seemed to have some sympathy for him, Fan Chengxin immediately seized the opportunity to make himself sound even more miserable.
He rolled his eyes, his expression becoming even more distressed, looking like he was about to cry, "Colonel, to be honest, my fiancée died in the arson at the Private Club, it was so tragic! She was burned beyond recognition! Just ashes..."
Zong Ruoan's expression didn't change, and he said lightly, "Is that so? Why was your fiancée burned to death, but you weren't?"
Fan Chengxin: "..."
That didn't sound very friendly...
Fan Chengxin squinted his eyes, trying hard to size up Zong Ruoan, but he couldn't see any emotion on his face, which was even more beautiful than a woman's.
Seeing that Fan Chengxin's expression was not right, Lu Jianpeng quickly scolded him, "The Colonel is asking you a question! Aren't you going to answer?"
Fan Chengxin's mouth twitched, and he said with a smile, "I was injured! I'm a victim! Why would I need to give a statement?"
"Then why was your fiancée burned to death?" Zong Ruoan asked in a flat tone.
It's almost the end of the month again. Reminding everyone to cast all your recommendation votes!
There will be a new update at 0:05 tonight.
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 444+ fanfic and original translations or request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the RandomTranslator community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------