Chapter 144: Pinching Yuanxiao
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“What do you want us to do?” Gália Hill asked in a low voice.
The Crown Prince’s mother was from the Hill family. Although Gália Hill was a distant relative, the Hill family and the Fifth Legion had always supported the prince.
“Return to Capital Star,” Leo said. Gália Hill turned his back, saying nothing. Capricciosa spoke first. “I can’t return to Capital Star on my own accord.”
“I can sign a summons order,” Leo quickly offered, sensing there was still a chance. But Capricciosa hesitated. “His Majesty would find out.”
Leo had to explain himself. “General Neumann, I have no plans to stage an armed rebellion. The Zerg have been quiet lately; it’s fine if you’re away for a short time.”
It was all just a precaution. If the emperor’s actions really threatened Leo, he wanted a few strong supporters nearby. Capricciosa and Gália exchanged glances, confirming their thoughts. Hill replied, “Fine, we will come back. The Golden Cross defense line will be temporarily guarded by Carl Hill.”
“Good. I’ll also come back to check on General Luca Neumann. I don’t know him well yet, but the emperor suddenly promoted him,” Capricciosa said. Leo sighed in relief. “Thank you both.”
– –
After returning from planet Z9 to Endymion, Lin Xu first went to pick up Yuanxiao. Arnold handed Yuanxiao over with an apologetic expression, repeatedly apologizing to Lin Xu for not watching him well. Yuanxiao had finished the sea crystals Lin Xu left him in just a few hours.
At that moment, Yuanxiao’s white belly was round and rolly-polly. He flapped his wings a few times and took flight—but before three seconds passed, he collapsed to the ground, letting out a burp tinged with an energy scent. Under Lin Xu’s helpless gaze, Yuanxiao opened his big innocent eyes wide. Lin Xu picked him up and poked his bulging tummy. Yuanxiao burped a few more times. Arnold noticed the red stains on Lin Xu’s sleeve, like blood.
“Mr. Lin, did you… get into trouble?”
Lin Xu caught his gaze and thought the blood on his sleeve probably came from Duke Paris or Gasco Neumann. He didn’t hide it and answered openly, “It’s been dealt with.”
“Good. Please, stay safe.”
Lin Xu put Yuanxiao back into the cat backpack and left. On the way home, he remembered the large exercise wheel he had seen at the pet store a few days ago and ordered one on StarNet. He figured Yuanxiao ate so much every day and needed to move more.
Back home, Lin Xu first moved the package into the living room. As he assembled the wheel, Yuanxiao climbed out of the cat bag and curled up on the carpet, purring softly. Half an hour later, the wheel was ready. Lin Xu picked up Yuanxiao.
“Jiao ao!”
He set Yuanxiao down on the wheel with all four paws touching the surface. Yuanxiao lifted his head and looked around. Suddenly, Lin Xu spun the wheel. The sudden motion startled Yuanxiao, who jumped up in fear. “Roar!”
Once the wheel started turning, it was hard to stop. Yuanxiao had no choice but to run inside the wheel, his white paws tapping rhythmically. After a moment of fright, Yuanxiao adjusted quickly and ran smoothly inside, clearly enjoying himself. Lin Xu relaxed on the sofa and opened his terminal.
Hearing the wheel’s whirring, Blackie and Snowy came down from upstairs, squatting side-by-side in front of the wheel to watch Yuanxiao run. Blackie and Snowy retained the lively traits of rabbit-cats but, having been house pets for a long time, they didn’t overeat or skip meals, so Lin Xu didn’t need to monitor their exercise. Blackie even reached out to paw at Yuanxiao on the wheel.
Leaning back on the sofa, Lin Xu started searching for information about Detective Rolson. The museum murder case a year ago had caused a big stir. Major media outlets had competed to report on it. Lin Xu found images of Detective Rolson among the many news clips.
Outwardly, he had been in charge of the case. The detective’s gaze in the footage was serious and mournful, vowing to bring the suspect to justice. Lin Xu scrolled expressionlessly through the news and began researching the slime murder case at the Perser Hotel.
The keyword “slime” yielded no results, but Lin Xu sorted by date and found scattered reports after the incident. Many media speculated that whoever died at the Perser Hotel must have been either a business magnate or a political figure to warrant such a massive police investigation and media blackout. Rumors ran rampant: fights over inheritance, bloody love affairs, family revenge stories.
Lin Xu guessed either the information was tightly suppressed or the mastermind had silenced everyone who knew. He thought for a moment and decided to call Ika. Connecting with Ika, who was on the edge of the Imperial territory at Haven in Crescent District, took a few minutes. Three minutes later, Ika finally appeared on the screen.
He was breathing heavily, his hair messy from the wind, having just sat down in a lush garden with a tall, imposing white building in the background.
“Ika.”
“Dr. Lin, how can I help you?”
“Can you help me find internal news from the Capital Star Police Department?”
“If it’s online information, yes,” Ika said. “The cybersecurity systems at the police departments are pretty basic.”
“I want to know the progress of the investigation into the Perser Hotel murder case.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been following this case,” Ika said. “The lead investigator was Detective Rolson. The case was filed under the alien laborer incidents and has already been closed. The official conclusion was that the motive stemmed from a feud between one of the criminals and the Slime family, who arrived in the Marion Empire three years ago. The criminal learned that the Slime family had received a large compensation payout, so he decided to murder the Slimes with two accomplices and steal their money.”
If one ignored the fact that this incident happened inside the highly secure Capital Star district and within a high-end hotel, this supposed motive would seem plausible. But the real question was how these three assailants obtained controlled photonic weapons, how they managed to enter the Perser Hotel unhindered, and how the news was deliberately suppressed afterward.
No report meant no one doubted even the simplest logical fallacies. And then there was…
“Detective Rolson?” Lin Xu’s voice turned cold. “He’s a senior police official. How could he possibly be handling such a petty case?”
Ika thought Lin Xu’s tone wasn’t a question but sarcasm. He stayed quiet.
“Ika, help me dig into Detective Rolson,” Lin Xu said. “Check for any suspicious money flows or other signs. He wouldn’t cover up a case for no reason.”
“Understood. Dr. Lin, I have some leads on those three killers too.”
“Tell me.”
“They were all dismissed from the First Legion for dereliction of duty. After retiring, they worked for a security company. On paper, the owner was a self-made man from the Long Whale Region. But I traced his account flows and suspect he’s just a front. The real owner is the Neumann family.”
Neumann… Gasco Neumann was imprisoned, and another Neumann had appeared on the scene. Lin Xu pressed his temple. The Neumanns were nothing but puppets and tools of the real mastermind. Take one down, another sprang up like stubborn weeds after spring rain.
He couldn’t act rashly against Luca Neumann for now, lest he scare the snake away and Luca’s role be taken over by someone even more secretive—then it would be much harder to find.
“Thank you, Ika.”
“No need. It’s my honor.”
“Tell me as soon as you get anything on Rolson.”
“Of course.”
While Lin Xu chatted with Ika for dozens of minutes, Yuanxiao was panting heavily inside the exercise wheel, too tired to stop but too scared to quit. When the screen in front of Lin Xu finally went dark, Yuanxiao let out a playful howl, flapped his wings, and launched himself like a cannonball right into Lin Xu’s arms, rolling around wildly.
Lin Xu patted Yuanxiao’s back, only to have one of his hands grabbed by Yuanxiao and nibbled on like a toy. Thankfully, his other hand was free. He pulled his fingers away and logged into StarNet, continuing to search news and forum pages for information about Detective Rolson.
Rolson had a face that looked honest and upright—maybe even a bit stiff—but that only worked in his favor as a detective chief. Most of what Lin Xu found were images of Rolson attending case press conferences. Piecing together the headlines, it was clear Rolson had risen through the ranks quickly—a shining star on the rise. But that star was destined to fall.
Lin Xu withdrew his fingers from between Yuanxiao’s teeth. Yuanxiao protested softly but immediately quieted down when his eyes caught Lin Xu’s cold expression. He obediently let Papa take control.
Lin Xu flipped Yuanxiao over so that his black-and-white fuzzy back faced up, and his belly rested against Lin Xu’s leg. He closed the news about Detective Rolson and let his free hand glide down the soft, limp fins on Yuanxiao’s back, ready to knead the little dragon from head to tail.
But after returning to StarNet’s homepage, several pushed notifications caught Lin Xu’s eye:
“Ancient Earth inscriptions deciphered! What did Dr. Lin Xu write in his paper?”
“Classical romance: A roundup of contemporary Ancient Earth literature scholars!”
…
Curious, Lin Xu clicked into the articles and found they weren’t clickbait at all. The editors genuinely analyzed the content of his papers—topics that would be dry and confusing to outsiders, yet sparked lively discussion in the comment sections.
Besides debates on Ancient Earth studies, some focused on Lin Xu’s “heiress heir” status and the gossip surrounding Marshal Heinrich Chu. The buzz was soaring. Lin Xu wasn’t sure if the editors used his name because of real academic merit or simply because of the prior gossip about him.
“Yip!” [Knead, knead!]
Yuanxiao, lying on his leg, called out in delight, clearly enjoying Lin Xu’s kneading and asking Papa to continue. Lin Xu shut down the boring news and spent a moment playing with the little dragon. Then he opened StarNet again, closed the regular ports, and connected to the dark web to search for the name Bovajiah.
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