Book 4, Chapter 49: Investigation

Multiple cars from the Resolution Department stopped in the square across from United Might, and more than a hundred Resolution Department officers came out of them.

They were implant-enhanced combatants with both inspection- and combat-type implants, so they weren’t weak. Also, they not only had a law enforcer leading them, but had also brought with them a large number of heavy and light weapons. Once they stepped out of their cars, they settled into a battle stance.

If United Might hadn’t received an inspection notification, they would have thought that these people were about to attack them.

The assistant walked out with a few security guards. The Resolution Department had sent officers to inspect them the moment their motorcade arrived. This showed just how hostile Jibei Road’s Central City was toward them.

The company had predicted this, so they were prepared and didn’t choose to resist. Instead, the assistant calmly went forward and conversed with the person-in-charge from the Resolution Department.

They spoke for a bit, and after the Resolution Department showed their search warrant, the assistant stated that she would cooperate with the search, but the company’s legal team would be following them throughout the investigation so that they could provide legal protection.

The person-in-charge was Captain Bao, the captain of the investigation team and a Third Limit martial artist. Captain Bao was in charge of investigating United Might from before Chen Chuan took over the case. He had a wealth of experience, and the previous lead investigator trusted him so much that Captain Bao was his confidante. After Chen Chuan took over, he didn’t switch him out and continued letting him be in charge.

Captain Bao looked around once he was inside and sent a message to Chen Chuan based on protocol.

Captain Bao: Lead Investigator Chen, we’ve entered the company building and will begin our investigation.

Then, he made a sign, and the team members who had surged in spread out according to their combat teams.

They had inspected United Might several times before and knew the place like the backs of their hands. They had even confiscated plenty of things before, and had also returned some of the non-important ones after United Might paid their penalty.

This time, their focus was on domain equipment and items brought by the motorcade.

After checking them, the group went to the basement and saw a ceramic box that was slightly taller than an average adult man.

“What’s this?” Captain Bao asked.

“An embryo of an active biosentient entity,” the assistant answered calmly.

She showed no intention of hiding it. The municipal government had approved of them bringing an active biosentient entity into Central City. They had also promised the municipal government that they would purchase all their calorie and nutrient-dense nutritional fluid from the channel they provided.

Besides, active biosentient entities were an intimidation factor, so they weren’t worried about the Resolution Department learning about it.

Captain Bao’s expression turned stern as he asked an officer to examine it using a domain inspection device. Even though the municipal government had reviewed and approved it, the Department of Administrative Affairs had the right to get information about it and examine it.

Chen Chuan watched the entire thing from the back. With Safe Shield linking him together with the officers, he could observe the entire inspection process.

He noticed that Captain Bao only asked the officer to go forward to inspect the box with a device, but didn’t ask United Might to open it.

While this wasn’t a problem, the inspection was meant to put pressure on United Might and give them a warning. If Captain Bao understood his intentions, he should have been more aggressive instead of doing everything by the book. This wouldn’t put any pressure on the obviously prepared United Might.

Chen Chuan started thinking about reassigning Captain Bao after the operation.

After checking everything, the inspection team started verifying the employees’ information.

Most of it fit what was recorded on their registries, but when they inspected a Third Limit martial artist serving as the security guard captain, they found that he wasn’t in any records, so they immediately demanded answers.

“Based on the agreement made between the world governments and companies, all Third Limit martial artists need to submit a detailed report of their activities the moment they step outside. Why is your report over the past three days empty?”

“I was hired recently and only came to Central City today. I hadn’t had time to report to the Department of Administrative Affairs,” the security guard captain replied.

“It’s been three hours since you entered Central City. You should have submitted your report the moment you entered,” the inspector snapped.

“I did it for my employer. As an employee, I need to prioritize my employer’s safety,” the security guard captain defended himself.

Captain Bao made a gesture, and a few Resolution Department officers surrounded him with guns while chasing the other people away until they were a certain distance from the security guard captain.

Then, he said sternly, “Put down all your weapons. You’re under arrest.”

“What?” The security guard captain instinctively grabbed the sword by his waist, only to have a few guns trained in his face immediately. He turned to his employer.

“I’m sorry, Captain Bao. We’ve neglected this,” the assistant said.

Then, she turned to the security guard captain. “Please don’t draw your sword, but go with the Resolution Department. Since this isn’t entirely your fault, we will continue paying you and will give you the compensation you deserve.”

The security guard captain raised his hands and let the Resolution Department take his weapons away. He even let them put special handcuffs on him before bringing him out.

Chen Chuan saw everything clearly.

It seemed like the inspection team had found a mistake and successfully intimidated United Might while also giving them a warning, but he could tell that United Might had actually made this “mistake” intentionally.

They knew that if the Resolution Department didn’t find anything during the inspection, they would look for other ways to give them trouble.

This was their way to “appease” the Resolution Department.

The inspection continued, and they came up to two private security guards with special security passes. They were a man and woman, and their codenames were Wild Beast and Eel, respectively.

Both were Black Steel grade security guards.

Black Steel was a grade used across the private security service industry. It meant that the two were martial artists who had fought against royally appointed warriors in the merged space.

If compared to the ranking system in the Resolution Department, they would be Class One to Class Three law enforcers, though Chen Chuan couldn’t give a direct evaluation of their strength. Before this, United Might had never sent martial artists like these to Jibei Road’s Central City. Based on what was stated in their reports, the two were in charge of protecting the new general manager.

After verifying all the armed combatants’ information, Captain Bao said to the assistant, “If you make any adjustments to your weapons or domain entities, you must submit a report to the Resolution Department. The same goes for your armed forces.”

“Of course. We’ll obey the city’s laws,” the assistant answered and looked to the side. “We do have a first-class legal team with us.”

Captain Bao cast a glance at the legal team before going to the side and saying into his Realm Pass, “Sir, we’ve inspected all their items and found no contraband. The armed forces’ information all fit what is written in their records. I request that the team withdraw.”

“Captain Bao, please ask their general manager some questions. I need to know a few things,” Chen Chuan said.

Some hesitation appeared in Captain Bao’s eyes, but he looked up and said, “Where’s your general manager? We need to meet her to get answers about certain things.”

“The general manager isn’t a combatant and isn’t carrying any weapons. She has a special travel pass given by the municipal government and has no obligation to cooperate with you for your inspection,” the assistant countered.

“Even so, I hope that you will cooperate with us,” Captain Bao insisted.

“This is against established protocol. If you insist, we will be forced to sue you,” the assistant threatened.

While the legal team said nothing behind her, they started recording and sending information.

Captain Bao scowled.

Just then, a section leader came forward and said grimly, “The city is in a special operational period, and all departments are allowed to carry out the emergency protocol from the Department of Administrative Affairs. If you want to sue us, you can complain to the Department of Administrative Affairs, but right now, please cooperate with us, or we will assume that you are refusing to cooperate.”

Captain Bao glared at him in slight displeasure but said nothing.

The assistant put a hand on her Realm Pass; she appeared to have heard something. After a while, she looked up. “Please come with me.”

After a brief pause, she added, “Only you, Captain Bao.”

Captain Bao nodded and said, “No one is allowed to act on their own without my orders.”

He followed the assistant into the elevator and went to the office on the top floor.

The other Resolution Department officers waited downstairs. After around twenty minutes, Captain Bao came back down and said into the Realm Pass, “There was a domain interference entity upstairs, so I couldn’t pass any information. But I’ve seen her, and I will give you a detailed report once I’m back, Lead Investigator Chen.”

“You can withdraw now,” Chen Chuan said.

“Understood.”

“Return to the headquarters!” Captain Bao shouted to the rest of the team. Immediately, all of them left the company building in an orderly manner. Once they returned to their cars, they headed back to the Resolution Department.

Chen Chuan turned off his screen. Based on the inspection, most of the officers in the operation acted just like he thought they would. They only completed their tasks according to the rules. If they didn’t receive additional commands, they wouldn’t interfere unnecessarily and initiate anything.

Honestly, he could understand that. Subordinates just needed to act according to the rules. At the very least, they wouldn’t make any mistakes that way. But Captain Bao’s performance was substandard. As an experienced captain, he should have known everything and not needed his subordinates to speak up for him. The reason he stayed silent was because he didn’t want to create extra complications.

As for the section leader...

Chen Chuan cast a glance at his name.

Xu Changfeng.

Even though he was just a Second Limit martial artist, this was actually the norm. Most of the officers in the inspection team hadn’t even reached the First Limit, so he was already pretty good to have reached the Second Limit.

Chen Chuan could use him. Xu Changfeng had even fought for that opportunity himself.

He wanted to give him a chance to shine.

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