First Interstellar Guide Chapter 28: After the Charity Banquet

Chapter 28: After the Charity Banquet

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Adeline was the president of the Federal “Southern Chamber of Commerce”. The chamber she established was not an official organization, but a grassroots organization formed spontaneously by many private entrepreneurs from the southern galaxies, including the Celtic Mineral Company on Planet B73.

She and her twin brother were both S-class healing guides. Their spirit body, “Orchid Mantis,” had the ability to turn invisible.

Five years ago, her brother “passed away due to illness”. To commemorate her brother, she built the Twin Palace in the capital. Now, it seems that after her brother’s fake death, he actually moved into the underground black market, secretly smuggling rare minerals, and even passing off fake auction items as genuine.

The “charitable foundation” they established ostensibly helped children in remote galaxies to go to school, but in reality, they laundered money through auctions and seized countless wealth for themselves.

Yu Ran quietly crawled back to the bathroom, put on his suit jacket, and straightened his clothes in front of the mirror.

Five minutes later, Yu Ran calmly emerged from the bathroom.

Lu Zexuan asked with concern, “Are you okay?”

Yu Ran smiled and shook his head, “I’m fine, just an upset stomach. Is the banquet about to start?”

Lu Zexuan replied, “It officially starts at 8 o’clock.”

The two returned to their seats in the corner.

After a while, it was 8 o’clock.

“The generals are actually here to attend this charity banquet in person. I am truly honored.” With a soft voice, the hostess of the Twin Palace, Ms. Adeline, wearing a red jeweled evening gown, descended the stairs under the escort of bodyguards.

“It’s rare for everyone to gather together. It’s not a meeting, so let’s not be so nervous. Let’s have a peaceful late-night snack with our spirit bodies.” Speaking with a smile was Lu Zexuan’s father, General Lu Tingyu. He had always been mild-tempered and, sensing the strange atmosphere, he came out to smooth things over.

His wife didn’t say anything and directly took action, retracting her spirit body.

After the Red Sparrow disappeared, the Golden Eagle followed back into the mental landscape. Lions, snow leopards, sharks, and other fierce beasts also returned to rest, and the atmosphere on the scene indeed eased a lot.

After all, besides them, there were other guests who were A-level sentinels and guides. Their spirit bodies had been here all along, giving off a strong oppressive feeling.

Adeline smiled, “General Lu has indeed considered everything thoroughly.” She scanned the room and politely bowed, “Thank you all for coming to our Twin Palace’s charity banquet today. Please take your seats. The auction is about to begin. Please forgive any inadequacies in our hospitality.”

The lights in the adjacent small auction hall turned on, and the guests moved there orderly to take their seats.

Lu Zexuan took Yu Ran to sit in a corner. He didn’t want Yu Ran to attract too much attention. Coming to the banquet today was just a social obligation; there was no need to stand out.

The auction officially began at 8 o’clock.

The auctioneer walked onto the main stage and started showcasing one exquisite piece of jewelry after another.

Rare diamond necklaces, translucent emerald jade bracelets, uniquely shaped sapphire earrings…

Since it was a charity auction, the organizers promised to donate all the proceeds to the charitable foundation to help children in remote galaxies. Those with some spare money were generous, and most of the items were sold at high prices.

“Next up for auction is the final item of this auction—the natural red crystal necklace!”

The spotlight shone on the center of the stage, where a necklace lay quietly in a blue velvet box. The pendant in the middle was as red as blood, the crystal droplet-shaped, emitting a dazzling light under the spotlight—this kind of crystal was extremely rare, let alone the “naturally formed droplet-shaped crystal,” which was even more invaluable.

“Starting price is 1 million, with increments of 100,000.”

“1.5 million!”

“2 million!”

“3 million!”

Many guests raised their paddles, and the price kept rising. In the end, a wealthy businessman secured the necklace with a bid of 8 million. He happily said, “This necklace is perfect for my wife as a 20th-anniversary gift.”

Yu Ran thought to himself: What a fool, you’ve bought a fake one.

The Adeline siblings were audacious enough to pass off fakes as genuine at the auction.

After the auction, the guests were invited to the adjacent banquet hall. They could dance with their partners, or if they didn’t want to dance, there was a rich and delicate buffet for guests to enjoy at their leisure.

Yu Ran silently followed Lu Zexuan to get some food, but his peripheral vision glanced towards the direction of the bathroom—

He wanted to find out who had gone to the bathroom to retrieve the chip.

Not long after, Ms. Adeline got up and headed to the bathroom.

Just as she opened the bathroom door, a huge black spider suddenly appeared in the corridor. Following closely behind, Zhu Tianyi, dressed in black, emerged slowly from the shadows.

The man said expressionlessly, “Ms. Adeline, I am Zhu Tianyi, the head of the Federal Investigation Division. Please cooperate with the investigation.”

Adeline’s face slightly changed, “Investigate what? How did you get in?”

Zhu Tianyi signaled to his subordinate, and Kane immediately entered the bathroom to search carefully. Soon, he found that the ceiling of the room could be opened. Kane reached out his long arm to take down the ceiling’s false covering, peered up to inspect for a moment, then said to Zhu Tianyi, “Nothing.”

Zhu Tianyi frowned, “Continue searching.”

Kane went to the other bathroom and searched around, but still found nothing. Adeline took a deep breath, displeased, and said, “Director Zhu, it seems your intelligence is mistaken? What exactly are you investigating?”

Zhu Tianyi’s face darkened slightly as he said calmly, “Wasn’t your auction item lost?”

Adeline was taken aback, “…What auction item? Why don’t I know about it?”

With that, Zhu Tianyi turned and headed to the banquet hall. His sharp gaze scanned the banquet scene. Besides some officials, military officers, their families, and partners, he unexpectedly found one person—Yu Ran.

The 18-year-old Yu Ran, dressed in a suit, appeared particularly young and innocent in such a setting. He and Lu Zexuan were sitting in a corner, eating. Yu Ran held a plate of delicate pastries, his earnest eating resembling an innocent lamb among wolves. Occasionally, he would smile at Lu Zexuan, indicating that the pastries were delicious.

Lu Zexuan took care of him considerately, and the atmosphere between them was harmonious, resembling that of a couple in the honeymoon period.

Zhu Tianyi withdrew his gaze. It seemed that Lu Zexuan had brought him here.

Yu Ran sensed the arrival of the black spider, immediately tensing his nerves—close call. If he hadn’t been cautious earlier and had directly placed the chip on the ceiling in the bathroom, Zhu Tianyi would have caught him red-handed.

He had been to that bathroom. As long as Director Zhu carefully investigated every guest who had been to the bathroom, Yu Ran wouldn’t be able to clear himself. Luckily, he had been cautious and swallowed the chip wrapped in protective film just now.

Sure enough, the next moment, Zhu Tianyi said, “Ladies and gentlemen, excuse me for the interruption. I am Zhu Tianyi, Director of the Federal Investigation Division, and this is the highest investigation order signed by the President’s Office.” He took out a stamped document and said, “Now, please everyone remain in place and cooperate with the investigation. We suspect that valuable items from the auction have been stolen.”

The guests looked at each other in confusion.

Adeline, who followed behind him, could only roll her eyes in her heart—what stolen items? This was just an excuse! The Investigation Division clearly had ulterior motives!

At this moment, the white spider webs quietly enveloped the entire venue, rendering everyone unable to move.

Beside Zhu Tianyi was a young woman, the Deputy Director of the Investigation Division, an A+ attack guide whom Yu Ran had not seen before. Her spirit body was the Queen Bee, several times larger than ordinary bees. When the spiders temporarily trapped all the guests, the Queen Bee suddenly summoned a dense swarm of bees into the venue.

Bees had compound eyes, and besides summoning swarms for large-scale attacks, an A+ level Queen Bee had a special ability—group surveillance.

Their eyes could see every detail within a 360-degree range without blind spots.

In other words, every movement of everyone present couldn’t escape the scrutiny of the bee swarm.

Yu Ran pretended to look puzzled on the surface but remained calm inside—fortunately, he had detected something was wrong beforehand and had wrapped the chip in protective film and swallowed it in the bathroom. Otherwise, if he couldn’t make any moves and the Investigation Division found the chip on him, not only would his previous efforts be in vain, but he would also be arrested on the spot by Zhu Tianyi! How did the Investigation Division know he was going to hand over the chip here?

He had only mentioned this information to the contact person of the organization—could it be that the Investigation Division intercepted that message and decoded the password?! No wonder Zhu Tianyi had been inactive recently; he had been lying in wait.

Yu Ran recalled how he had almost placed the chip on the ceiling just now, feeling a chill down his spine, but he continued to pretend to be puzzled and motionless.

With fewer than a hundred guests on-site, the joint search by the Queen Bee and the spider quickly ended. To Zhu Tianyi’s surprise—nothing suspicious was found at all. Was the intelligence mistaken? Who among the big shots who came today wanted that data? Military officers, government officials, business tycoons… or Adeline, the owner of the Twin Palace?

Several generals on-site had somewhat unpleasant expressions. After all, being immobilized and searched by the Queen Bee wasn’t something anyone would be happy about.

However, the Investigation Division was an independent federal agency specializing in the investigation of secret cases related to sentinels and guides. They were not under military jurisdiction, and with the highest investigation order signed by the president, they could only cooperate.

After a while, Zhu Tianyi frowned and said respectfully, “Everyone, I apologize for the disturbance.”

He and his men withdrew from the venue to continue their search outside, and the guests at the scene finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Someone whispered, “What exactly was lost?”

“I don’t know. Judging from Ms. Adeline’s expression, it must have been a very valuable item.”

Lu Zexuan listened to these discussions and frowned slightly.

Zhu Tianyi wouldn’t be idle and help Adeline find some “lost item.” The biggest possibility was that he had come for the data stolen from the Sentinel Academy last time. Was there really someone carrying the data at the banquet scene today? It’s been two months already. How could such important data be handed over only now?

Yu Ran whispered, “Today’s guests are all high-ranking and influential people. No one would steal, right?”

Meeting Yu Ran’s curious gaze, Lu Zexuan retracted his thoughts and said, “It’s also possible that it was taken by an insider.”

Yu Ran pretended to look innocent on the surface but quickly thought about the next steps.

—It’s certain that the information has leaked.

He couldn’t use the special password to contact anyone anymore. The chip could be regurgitated later, but as for how to hand it over, he had to follow the other party’s arrangement. He must remain calm now and not reveal any clues in front of the Investigation Division.

After Zhu Tianyi left the banquet scene, he went to Adeline to retrieve surveillance footage and find out who had been to the bathroom tonight—surprisingly, he found a familiar figure, Yu Ran.

Yu Ran had gone to the bathroom with Lu Zexuan and had come out after just five minutes.

Since nothing was found in the bathroom, Zhu Tianyi had no reason to suspect Yu Ran. Additionally, during the banquet, several other people had also visited the bathroom area: Mrs. Joseph, General Xie from the Starlight Legion, a congressman, and Adeline herself.

None of them showed any traces of the data.

Could it be that the other party sensed something was amiss and changed the plan at the last minute?

Not long ago, the Information Department of the Investigation Division decrypted the password intercepted from a special channel, learning the crucial information about “handing over the chip in the Twin Palace charity banquet, restroom No. 3.” Zhu Tianyi had been preparing for a long time, thinking he could catch them red-handed today.

Unexpectedly, the other party changed their mind at the last minute and didn’t hand over the chip. Perhaps the person hadn’t even gone to restroom No. 3?

What a cunning opponent.

Zhu Tianyi frowned and left the Twin Palace with his subordinates.

Lu Zexuan had intended to introduce Yu Ran to his parents, but the sudden incident today reminded him of the violent mental interrogation Yu Ran had experienced before. He must protect Yu Ran. Besides, Yu Ran wasn’t prepared to meet his parents, and with so many officials and generals present, it wasn’t wise to introduce him hastily.

Seeing Yu Ran looking startled, Lu Zexuan canceled the plan to introduce him to his parents. It would be better to find a suitable time in the future to visit his home formally. Meeting parents in such circumstances would be too rushed, and Yu Ran would feel very awkward.

Thinking of this, Lu Zexuan left the venue with Yu Ran.

Adeline happened to be seeing off guests at the door. As Yu Ran and her passed each other, a light blue mental tendril silently crawled up the back of Yu Ran’s neck.

Yu Ran felt a slight pain at the back of his head, and he heard her clear voice in his mind—

“The password may have been deciphered by the Investigation Division. Zhu Tianyi knows about our actions. Fortunately, you were cautious enough not to leave the chip in the bathroom. Don’t use the password for communication from now on. Next weekend, go to the garden restaurant in the suburbs and hand the chip to the waiter in black clothes. Also, Zhu Tianyi has set his sights on me. Someone else will contact you later. Stay vigilant.”

“Got it,” Yu Ran replied in his mind.

He pretended to look innocent and left the venue with Lu Zexuan.

Adeline had used the invisibility ability of the Orchid Mantis just now. The high-level sentinels around automatically ignored her presence, and no one noticed the mental tendrils she extended toward Yu Ran.

Back at the student dormitory of the guide academy, Yu Ran pretended to have a stomach ache and went to the bathroom to gag. The violent vomiting made his face pale, and tears almost welled up in the corners of his eyes. Finally, he managed to regurgitate the chip wrapped in protective film.

Yu Ran tore off the protective film and stored the chip again, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes—

Her brother had faked his death and gone underground, while his sister pretended to be a philanthropist on the surface but collaborated with him to commit greedy and malicious acts behind the scenes. However, this sibling duo was obviously just pawns. The real mastermind behind the scenes needed to be investigated more carefully.

Zhu Tianyi was backed by the presidential palace. The Investigation Division had many skilled officers hidden in the shadows. Yu Ran needed to be even more cautious in the future.