Chapter 1202 Rewards

"I wonder what the rewards are."

Han Xiao was a little curious.

The mission requirement was to catch the "culprit," not necessarily the "real culprit." He felt there was room for maneuver, depending on whether the mission's judgment logic was based on objective facts or the Empire's perspective.

If it was the latter, would the mission be completed as long as he successfully proved to the Empire that someone was the culprit?

If so, there might still be a chance to complete it.

Surrendering was out of the question, impossible in this lifetime. A werewolf wouldn't commit suicide, so framing someone else was the only way to make a living.

Han Xiao shook his head. He wasn't obsessive about clearing all missions. In his opinion, it would be best if he could complete this mission, but if he couldn't, he wouldn't bother with convoluted schemes.

Based on the nature of the mission, the reward would most likely be in the form of Empire Contribution Points. In the past, he needed such things to exchange for some of the Empire's technology blueprints, but now that he had Jaybert, he no longer cared about the Empire's faction contribution points. Only political assets could slightly tempt him.

...

The next day, Han Xiao rested and entered the Empire Task Force's online channel on time, remotely projecting himself into a conference room.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw projections appearing one after another, sizing each other up.

There were familiar faces and strangers. Han Xiao saw Clotti, Kant, Ravenlaude, and others.

Before everyone could start chatting, Tarrokov appeared, drawing everyone's attention. He said seriously,

"Everyone here is a member of the Empire Task Force. I won't say anything unnecessary. You all know what you need to do. This group brings together professionals from various fields. All of the Empire's resources in the Shattered Star Ring are available for your deployment. The Empire has only one request: find the culprit and Gao De's whereabouts."

The next moment, Clotti said calmly, "I will temporarily serve as the leader of the task force. All requests for resource deployment can be made to me. As for the specific arrangements of the work, that will be decided by the deputy leader."

At this time, a tall and thin male Empire cadre stepped forward and returned the Empire's greeting to everyone.

"You can call me Sherlock Dirman. I work in the Empire's intelligence department, but I cannot reveal the specific organization. This time, the higher-ups transferred me here to serve as the deputy leader, responsible for coordinating the search work. My strength alone is limited, and I need everyone's cooperation."

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow.

Sherlock? This name sounded like a great detective. This person was definitely not simple and should be a special talent in the Empire's field of solving cases.

The task force didn't need force, only professional skills, so Sherlock became the deputy leader, while the Beyond Grade A was an expert in a different field, or simply a tool.

Everyone introduced themselves. There were three experts in charge of the quantum network search: himself, Kant, and the Empire's direct descendant, Judyth.

Sherlock assigned tasks to experts in different divisions and quickly arrived in front of the three of them, quickly stating the requirements.

"...That's the situation. The virtual domain is the key area for the search. Please be sure to find clues. I'll leave it to the three of you."

Sherlock bowed, his attitude respectful. After speaking, he turned and walked away, instructing others.

Seeing that he had gone far, Kant scratched his head helplessly, "With the two of you, that's enough. I'm not a Virtual Mechanic. What did the Empire pull me here for?"

"The Empire is probably just being polite. They didn't expect you to agree, but I didn't expect you to really come shamelessly." Han Xiao joked.

"...Black Star, you'll lose me as a friend like this."

Kant's mouth twitched.

"Ahem, Your Excellencies, the permissions have arrived. Let's start work as soon as possible." Judyth said from the side.

Han Xiao calmed his mind and received the quantum network permissions shared by the other party.

The Empire had gathered these experts, naturally not to let them fight alone. The Empire had almost opened up all the resources of the Shattered Star Ring.

Taking the three of them as an example, with a single word, they could mobilize all the Virtual Mechanics of the Empire in the Shattered Star Ring. At the same time, all the quantum network base stations built by the Empire in the Shattered Star Ring were opened to the three of them with background permissions, allowing them to directly log into the quantum network of the Shattered Star Ring as administrators.

Even some of the permissions of the Empire's main AI, the Spirit of the Empire, were temporarily opened to Han Xiao and Kant, two "outsiders," while Judyth's mission, in addition to investigating the case, was to prevent the two from messing around after obtaining such high network permissions.

Han Xiao logged into the background permissions, and his mind sank into the quantum network vision, and he felt suddenly enlightened.

Most of the network of the Shattered Star Ring was unobstructed and under his control, as if he had become a processing center, able to read any data stream passing through the base station at any time. He had great power, and even had a sense of omnipotence.

"Comfortable." Han Xiao enjoyed it quite a bit.

Virtual intrusion, no matter how powerful, was a thief who picked locks, but now it was as if the homeowner had directly lent him the entire house, allowing him to do almost anything he wanted.

Although there was Judyth and Kant monitoring each other, with his abilities, he should be able to hide a few tricks from the two of them, but for now, it was best to observe.

More importantly, with this kind of permission, he could completely actively erase any flaws that might exist, further clearing the evidence and establishing his alibi.

Since the Empire gave him such an opportunity, he would naturally "cherish" it.

In the following days, Han Xiao stayed in the quantum network, cross-searching with Judyth and Kant.

Han Xiao originally thought that there would be no clues, but in the past few days, it wasn't a complete waste of time. He discovered that subtle changes had occurred.

Without him even needing to do anything, the Super Star Cluster Alliance and Manison were proactively tripping each other up, wanting to forge clues to establish the other's guilt and started framing each other.

Both sides were doing it relatively secretly. If he hadn't grasped the background permissions of the quantum network of the Shattered Star Ring, Han Xiao wouldn't have been able to discover the actions of both sides.

Now that he had the permission, coupled with his amazing virtual technology, the small actions of both sides didn't escape his eyes.

"Tsk, obviously it wasn't you who did it, but you can't wait to pass the buck..."

The corner of Han Xiao's mouth twitched.

If others saw this kind of behavior, it would be fine, but he was the real culprit. From his perspective, this situation was like two villagers biting each other to death, saying that the other was a werewolf, fighting in the werewolf pit, while the real werewolf was ignored. It was enough to make one burst out laughing.

However, he immediately understood the thoughts of both sides.

The Super Star Cluster Alliance was afraid that the three great civilizations would give them a "trumped-up charge," so they struck first, while Manison was clear about this and prepared countermeasures. As a result, both sides immediately discovered the other's ill intentions and immediately went at each other.

This was precisely his purpose in muddying the waters.

Nailed it!

"Both sides are framing each other and are both suspects, because it's impossible to find the real culprit, so one side will definitely be used by the Empire as a scapegoat..."

Han Xiao's eyes rolled.

Now that both sides had offense and defense, and neither could establish the other's responsibility, he had room to operate.

With the situation developing like this, the difficulty of passing the buck was simpler than he expected.

With his current power, he only needed to gently nudge and do some tricks to influence the Empire's judgment and help one side overwhelm the other. It was equivalent to holding the initiative in his own hands.

"Who should I help..."

Han Xiao secretly pondered and made up his mind.

He had always been at odds with Manison, but on this matter, he intended to give old Manison a hand.

Manison was, after all, the current president of the Beyond Grade A Association. If he was the scapegoat, although it would damage his personal prestige, the Beyond Grade A Association would also be implicated to a considerable extent, and the impact would be very bad. The president secretly attacking new members would make many association members feel insecure and increase their wariness, which would not be conducive to the construction of the association.

Conversely, letting the Super Star Cluster Alliance be the scapegoat could have another effect, making the Beyond Grade A believe that Gao De suffered because he was involved in factional struggles, so people would think that they wouldn't encounter this kind of trouble if they didn't join the faction, which would instead increase some Beyond Grade A's recognition of the association and help its development.

Most importantly, the three great civilizations and the Super Star Cluster Alliance were already at war, and if they were the scapegoats, it wouldn't involve more people.

Although the Empire would not stop searching for the real culprit in the future, for now, letting the Super Star Cluster Alliance be unlucky could minimize the impact of his own risk-taking.

"Hmph, old Manison, I'm not helping you. I'm considering the association."

Han Xiao curled his lips.

Muttering a few words in his heart, he immediately took action.

——No matter how fiercely two good people tear each other apart, the final decision still rests with me, the werewolf cop.

...

"I always feel like a mysterious force is helping me..."

In the Machine Country's secret base, Manison's expression was a little strange.

These days, he noticed that the Super Star Cluster Alliance was indeed plotting against him, so he took countermeasures and harmed each other with the Super Star Cluster Alliance.

Both sides originally only had suspicions and no evidence, but now they had added a lot of "flaws" to each other.

In this silent offense and defense, Manison was actually at a disadvantage. His opponent was, after all, the entire Super Star Cluster Alliance. Although he had strong virtual technology, he was alone and tired to cope with it.

However, not long ago, he discovered an anomaly. Some of the evidence forged by the Super Star Cluster Alliance had disappeared for no reason, as if someone was helping him resist the other party's framing methods.

"Able to discover the battle between me and the Super Star Cluster Alliance, and at the same time have the ability to intervene... Could it be that the three great civilizations are secretly involved?"

Manison's thoughts flew.

The reason why the three great civilizations did this should be because they confirmed that the Super Star Cluster Alliance was the culprit, so they didn't want the other party to successfully frame them and escape responsibility... Thinking deeper, if the Empire couldn't tell who the real culprit was, then this behavior was based on strategic considerations, putting a "trumped-up" charge on the Super Star Cluster Alliance, taking advantage of them and settling accounts secretly in the future.

If he thought deeper...

Manison was thoughtful and fell into a matryoshka doll cycle.

...

Seven or eight days later, on the mother planet of the Crimson Empire, the Office of the President.

Ulan Riel browsed the task force's report and couldn't help rubbing her forehead.

"After these days of searching, you have obtained a seemingly complete chain of evidence, pointing all suspicion to the Super Star Cluster Alliance... But this is not the Empire's original intention."

In front of her was a remote projection of a high-ranking Empire intelligence official, who said helplessly, "Whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter now, as long as this chain of evidence is enough to make the outside world believe it."

"I want the real culprit and Gao De's whereabouts. Otherwise, what's the point of having a task force?"

"But time waits for no one. The real culprit has not left any trace. If we continue to search step by step, the truth is nowhere in sight. The outside world is already questioning whether the Empire can find the culprit. Some people on the Internet have even begun to worship this culprit who angered the Empire but is still at large... We can slowly spend time to find the real culprit in the future, but now the Empire urgently needs results."

Hearing this, Ulan Riel frowned tightly.

After the various tricks that Han Xiao had done, the task force had unearthed a complete chain of evidence pointing to the Super Star Cluster Alliance, but after careful consideration, the task force knew that it was forged and was most likely Manison's trick. The Empire's eyes had not missed this behavior of both sides passing the buck.

But even so, after discussion, the task force still submitted this result to the higher-ups, and the levels of Empire higher-ups knew it, but still handed the report to Ulan Riel's desk.

Now that various rumors were raging in the outside world, what the Empire needed most now was a "result," whether true or false, and the target pointed to by this chain of evidence was in line with the Empire's strategy. The Super Star Cluster Alliance was the best target.

Moreover, the Super Star Cluster Alliance's move was to create a "culprit" themselves. It was the Super Star Cluster Alliance that started it. If it dragged on for too long, they would succeed. The Empire didn't want to see the other party's plan succeed.

Ulan Riel hesitated for a few seconds and did not immediately agree. She sighed, "Call Clotti and Sherlock over. I want to hear their opinions..."

At this time, she paused and added,

"And Black Star."

——

ps: (The moderator has a new event and asked me to promote it. One is the 4th Book Review Event. This time, in addition to fanfiction, there is also a solicitation of fan paintings. The other is the 5th Book Review Area Building. Brothers who are interested can go to the book review area to see the relevant posts, which have detailed introductions)
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