Chapter 300: Doubts, Escape, and Authority
"This is the Imperial Star Radio Channel, and we have an urgent news broadcast.
“A military transport vehicle exploded violently during transportation, and the explosion affected the palace module. Fortunately, His Majesty did not suffer any injuries.
"According to rough statistics, the explosion has caused 362 deaths. There are traces of human bodies evaporated at the center of the explosion. Six to seven people are missing. The relevant departments are actively investigating the reason why the arms transport vehicle appeared near the palace.
"The surface of the Imperial Star will enter a Level 3 alert state from now on. Defense forces will be stationed at all intersections to maintain stability. Please do not panic, citizens of the Empire."
Hamton!
When Catherine rushed to the explosion site, a large area had been under martial law by the public security police.
All she could see was that a section of unsupported suspended expressway was almost broken, and the road pipe looked like a piece of sugarcane that had been eaten in half, leaving only a narrow area barely connected.
The buildings and vehicles in the missing area seemed to have disappeared out of thin air, and the hovercrafts stacked everywhere also showed varying degrees of deformation.
The shrill sound of sirens echoed everywhere as police officers and semi-automatic machines worked hard to separate the charred bodies that were stuck to the metal.
"team leader!"
Several super reformers came upon hearing the news, and two female team members supported the staggering Catherine.
"Is there any news about him?" Catherine asked in a trembling voice.
Several super reformers shook their heads at the same time.
One person said: "The explosion affected an area with a diameter of ten kilometers, injuring thousands of people. The windows of many buildings of the same height were shattered. It is suspected that it was the power of a military standard shaped charge bomb. The characteristic of this shaped charge bomb is that the energy is violently released in a relatively narrow area..."
"If it was a car bomb, even if it was an ancient god life form..."
Catherine took a half step back and grabbed the female team member's arm with her backhand .
"Control me." Her eyes were bloodshot, her body was shaking, and her breathing became a little disordered. "Control me!"
The two female team members looked at each other, and the one on the right took out a magnetic handcuff from her waist bag and handcuffed Catherine's arm to her own arm together.
…
The Imperial Palace module is the meeting hall most commonly used by the emperor.
A group of old men bowed in front of the old emperor who had not spoken for more than ten minutes.
The three highest-ranking generals of the military stationed on the Imperial Star, the six elders of the Council of Elders, the Archbishop of the Civilization Development Church, and the main leaders of various departments were neatly lined up in eight rows below. Everyone remained silent, but in the silence there seemed to be a volcano that was about to erupt.
Ping, dang dang dang.
The old emperor smashed the handicraft in his hand to the ground.
The maids and musicians in every corner of the hall hurriedly knelt and prostrated themselves, as if they were afraid of being caught by the emperor's gaze.
"Oh, the Imperial Star, this is the Imperial Star! This is the Imperial Star of my Sherman Empire!"
The old emperor cursed angrily:
"Every one of you shouts the glory of the Imperial Star and the great Majesty every day, but what's the result? You place a shaped charge bomb on my head, trying to blow up the hero of the empire!
"Who gave you the courage?
"Who on earth has indulged you step by step to the point where you are today?"
The elder's legs trembled, and he knelt down: "Your Majesty! I, I am guilty!"
The old emperor pointed at the elder several times and said coldly: "Tell me, what crime have you committed!"
The Great Elder shouted in a trembling voice: "The Council of Elders represents the Imperial nobility, and the Imperial nobility are followers of the Sherman family. We should have fought to the death to protect His Majesty, but in the end such a terrible bomb incident occurred! This is an unforgivable mistake and omission on our part."
The five elders behind the great elder all knelt down tremblingly.
"Beautiful," the old emperor laughed in anger, "Why, are you telling me clearly that you were the ones who blew up the person? If you can't find evidence, then don't make fun of your Council of Elders?"
The two military leaders on the side looked at each other and saw the confusion in their eyes.
They had actually reviewed the situation carefully before coming. So far, the relationship between the emperor and the Council of Elders was far from tense enough to require the emperor to break the sword in his hand.
This explosion was most likely arranged by the emperor. As long as White Ghost knew the news in advance and was not on the hovercraft and hid away from the spotlight, the emperor would have an excuse to take ruthless action against the Council of Elders.
The political ecology of the empire is actually divided into two parts.
Outside the Imperial Star and inside the Imperial Star.
The political ecology outside the Imperial Star is extremely complex. The honorary nobility, hereditary nobility, local defense forces, and local administrative units all have overlapping powers. With domestic and foreign capital constantly exerting their power, all kinds of extreme events can easily occur.
However, the political ecology within the Imperial Star is a transparent and very simple triangular structure.
Imperial power, military power, and political power constrain each other and constitute the stable internal political structure of the empire.
Even after the empire experienced several coups launched by princes and princesses for power, it imposed great restrictions on the emperor's descendants. Anyone who attempted to get involved in politics would lose everything.
In the Sherman family, only the emperor possesses actual power, while some princesses and princes are at most just ambassadors for the department.
——For example, Princess Rona.
Simply put, if the Council of Elders wants to deal with the White Ghost, there are plenty of ways to do it. They can directly get rid of the White Ghost through political manipulation, and there is no need to place a hovercraft bomb near the palace.
This is irrational behavior and does not make sense.
After much deliberation, several senior military officials came to the conclusion that the only possibility was the emperor's "trick of inflicting pain on one's self".
But if this is true, the emperor must have prepared various responses. At this moment, he has already arrested the elders of the Council of Elders in anger...
Unusually, the emperor was very restrained and did not intend to take action against the elders.
Everyone could feel that the emperor was trying hard to control his anger at this moment, and this anger did not seem to be acted or pretended.
Because the emperor didn't need to act in front of anyone, the old emperor's acting skills were far inferior to theirs.
So here comes the question;
It doesn’t look like the emperor did it;
It is also unlikely that it was done by the Council of Elders;
Of course, it is even more impossible that it was done by their military. The military is directly responsible to His Majesty the Emperor. The fleet directly controlled by the Emperor is also very powerful. They will attack whoever the Emperor tells them to attack. There is no conflict of interest or power.
Who could be the murderer?
“Go check!”
The emperor took a deep breath:
"Military, Council of Elders, Ministry of Justice, I don't care who you are, everyone, go investigate! Give me an answer within three rotation cycles of the imperial star! The heroes of the empire must not die in vain!
"Whoever did this, I will skin him alive! I will reduce his entire family to slavery!"
A group of old men lowered their heads even lower, and as the emperor waved his hand, they left the hall in a hurry.
A hover car bomb appeared near the palace module. This is definitely a huge event that has not happened in thousands of years.
In front of the upward elevator of the palace module, three military leaders approached the Great Elder with frowns on their faces and seemed to whisper something. The Great Elder shook his head repeatedly and explained with a wry smile.
This is definitely not a bomb planted by their Elders Council.
But the White Ghost had just gone to the Legislative Court of the Council of Elders and arrested three elders, and now these elders are the most suspicious.
Even if it was just one elder acting on his own initiative, the elders in their Council of Elders would inevitably be implicated.
Although these things do not seem to be done by the emperor;
But at this moment, the emperor completely took the initiative.
…
Damn!
Which bastard did this!
Not far from the crime scene, in a private room of a hotel, Yang Ming kept pulling off the gauze bandages on his body. The bandages peeled off pieces of burnt skin, revealing new white and tender skin.
This has been fried and shelled!
It really hurt, but his life was not in danger. Yang Ming turned his head and looked at the window. There was a beautiful woman standing there quietly. She was the one who found him when he was injured the fastest and brought him to this hotel.
The emperor's maid.
"Is this all arranged by Your Majesty?" Yang Ming asked with a frown.
"No," the maid shook her head gently and turned to look at Yang Ming, "In fact, the news that I am staying with you just reached His Majesty's ears half an hour ago."
Yang Ming was stunned: "Why?"
"I can't explain it either," the maid pulled out a pendant from her chest and whispered, "About ten minutes before the explosion, I was on my way back to the palace when I suddenly received an anonymous message asking me to wait for you in a certain area."
Yang Ming: …
The maid said, "His Majesty doesn't like to be in charge of our specific activities outside the palace. He only likes to hear the results. I don't have to report everything to His Majesty, so I decided to go to the area marked by the information. I had just arrived for less than two minutes when an explosion occurred. Soon you rushed over from the explosion area."
Yang Ming suddenly asked: "Are you His Majesty's intelligence officer?"
"Yes," the maid crossed her arms, "I am just handling some small matters for Your Majesty that are inconvenient to hand over to others."
"What's your name?"
"Hanyin, don't set your sights on me. His Majesty is very concerned about people around him betraying him," the maid Hanyin said calmly, "Everything I have belongs to His Majesty. It is His Majesty's private property."
Yang Ming nodded and continued to remove the bandages on his body, saying with a smile: "Um, can you move aside for a moment? I'm about to remove the vital parts."
The maid Han Yin's mouth twitched a few times and she turned her back to Yang Ming.
"I must stay with you until His Majesty gives the order... An explosion of this magnitude only burned your entire body, and your burns healed so quickly..."
She whispered:
"You are a real freak."
"Watch your words," Yang Ming said fiercely, "I can kill you now and no one will know."
"The Imperial Star Module will record everything," the maid said slowly, "Don't worry, His Majesty will quickly find out everything. Such a serious attack occurred outside the palace. This is a direct provocation to the Sherman Empire's imperial power."
Yang Ming was a little speechless, so he simply lowered his head and continued to remove the bandage.
He actually wanted to send a message to Catherine, but his communicator and the watch Lu gave him were destroyed in the explosion.
Fortunately, they used shaped charge bombs, not real large-yield fusion nuclear bombs, otherwise they would really have to rely on cell regeneration.
By the way, is there something wrong with the security level of Emperor Star?
A shaped energy bomb appeared near the palace...
Yang Ming looked at the maid's graceful figure, and felt in his heart that this might be a trap set by the old emperor. But he also felt that if the old emperor wanted to set one, there was no need to do it so suddenly.
Every link is full of doubts.
Better not to let him find out who planted the bomb.
Otherwise, no matter what kind of kings, princes, generals or ministers they are, he will make them understand what the anger tank of ordinary people is!
"hiss--"
Yang Ming took a deep breath, and his movements of peeling off the dead skin suddenly became much gentler.
…
In the Imperial Star Religion module, in the hall where the previous archbishop was hanged.
The old emperor sat on the floating sofa, looking at the news in his hand, with a smile on his face.
"This guy, he wasn't even killed by the explosion. He must be an ancient god..."
Up ahead, the new archbishop nervously prepared for the prayer ceremony. She repeatedly confirmed that she could activate the scepter before she reluctantly breathed a sigh of relief.
An elderly maidservant at the side whispered, "Your Majesty, based on our preliminary investigation and analysis of the brain waves of everyone in the hall just now, there is an 80% chance that the bomb incident was not caused by everyone present."
"Not the Council of Elders? Nor the Military?" The emperor frowned in confusion.
The old maid whispered, "It's possible that they didn't know about it, and their subordinates did it privately."
The emperor stroked his chin and kept thinking: "No matter what, this matter must continue to be investigated. This is a good opportunity to tear open a hole in the Council of Elders."
"But your majesty, what is the meaning of your doing this?"
The old maid seemed to have a close relationship with the Emperor, and she asked this question without any doubt or hesitation.
The old emperor smiled and said slowly: "Do you really think I want to mess up the empire? Or that my ambitions have suddenly expanded and I want to control this country? I am the emperor, and the military power is in my hands. I can take back the power whenever I want."
"Then you...please forgive me for not understanding."
“It’s dignity.”
The old emperor said softly:
“My starting point is for this little bit of dignity.
“But when I set my sights on the Council of Elders, I discovered that they were so corrupt and despicable. They were even more depraved than I was.
"Do you know why the empire's economy has been declining continuously? Why are people unwilling to have children? Do you know why the population decline has caused many main administrative planets to be downgraded to small administrative planets?
"The root of the problem lies with the collective nobility represented by the Council of Elders."
The old maid whispered, "This is the inevitable result of the development of civilization, and it is also a chronic disease left over from the empire's long existence."
"Yes, my teacher, you study and teach history, so you must understand this," the old emperor said with a smile, "So, my starting point is my remaining dignity. The bloated bureaucracy of the empire is not a problem that can be solved in a few decades."
The old maid was a little puzzled.
"Oh, yes, you were not here last time," the old emperor said with a smile, "Let me show you... Can we pray?"
The new archbishop, who was of exaggerated stature, turned around and prostrated himself before the old emperor.
"Your Majesty! It's ready!"
"Don't repeat your sister's tragedy. Be obedient and I will give you enough benefits. Let's get started."
"I will obey your orders! Your Majesty, the wisest man in history!"
The archbishop shouted, walked to the square platform with the scepter in his hand, aimed the scepter at the groove below, and inserted it forcefully.
A blue halo, module vibrations, darkness on all sides and the appearance of firefly-like spots of light, the mature-looking 'Imperial Defense System' once again appeared beside the Emperor.
She opened her lifeless eyes and murmured:
"A serious terrorist attack on the Imperial Star has been detected, and the detection procedure has been initiated."
The emperor looked at this virtual appearance with fascination and immediately said, "Now, follow my instructions and investigate the truth of this incident!"
The mature image of Reasoner focused his attention on the emperor.
A cold voice came from the surroundings again:
"Insufficient target permissions."
"I am the emperor of this generation ! I am the descendant of Levi Sherman!"
A sharp light flashed in the old emperor's eyes: "I order you to open my authority!"
That cold voice appeared again:
"Insufficient target permissions."
The new archbishop was so frightened that he was shaking all over and didn't even dare to raise his head.
"Please explain how I need to gain the authority to command you," the old emperor asked calmly.
The mature Li fell silent, his eyes were out of focus, and the voice coming from the surrounding was still cold:
"Sorry, I can't answer that question.
"We have completed the investigation into the truth of the incident, have sent the murderer's information to the public security department and have started the arrest operation."
call out!
The mature figure of Li disappeared, leaving only a few fluorescent spots that disappeared into the surrounding darkness, and the light was slowly returning everywhere.
"look."
The old emperor exhaled softly: "I don't even have the authority to consult."
The old maid also looked thoughtful and whispered, "Logically, this shouldn't be the case. There are dozens of records in history showing that the emperor could unconditionally and directly order the empire's entire defense system to start a foreign war... What do you think is the problem?"
"New calendar reform, where else could the problem lie besides this reform?"
The emperor sneered:
"I need complete imperial power. I am the emperor of the most powerful empire in the galaxy. No matter whether it is real or virtual, whoever I want to conquer will be conquered by me."
The old maid lowered her head and sighed, continuing to think about the question raised by her student.
