Volume 1: Raging Waves City Chapter 196 Information Gap
Luke deliberately used the word "old friend", and the other two parties had no problem with it.
From Pan's perspective, he and Yin were assisting in the negotiations as members of the Rio royal family, and the Lookouts were a special army dedicated to protecting the Rio royal family. Calling them "old friends" was correct!
From the perspective of the lookout, Pan is the monarch he is loyal to. Since the Golden Shield Empire has not yet recognized Pan's identity, it is not wrong for the Meteorite Inspector to use "old friend" to refer to him.
As for surrender?
The lookouts were a little puzzled.
These death warriors of theirs are acting according to the plan. If the imperial spies and sheriffs do not attack after tomorrow, they will execute all the people here and then rush out to fight for their lives.
Show the world the courage of the lookouts and let the clarion call of the holy war for national restoration resound through the sky.
Our subjects have not surrendered yet, why do you want to surrender, Your Highness?
Without knowing what exactly happened, the lookouts dared not communicate with Pan. Seeing Pan's silence, they agreed with the words of the Meteorite Inspector. Could it be that something major had happened outside in the past two days?
Let’s gather the people together first.
"Okay, Inspector Meteorite, we'll gather in the lobby right away. The chief will be looking forward to the news you bring us."
The lookout closed the door respectfully and the carriage started moving again.
Pan listened to the conversation between Meteorite and the lookouts.
They actually listened to Meteorite's order and asked everyone to gather in the hall. Meteorite's progress in persuading them to surrender was obviously far beyond his expectations. I'm afraid that even if he didn't come, Meteorite could make them surrender in another night .
It was too long since the Rio Kingdom was destroyed, and these lookouts who claimed to be loyal to the Rio royal family had long lost their respect for the royal family. I actually believed the oath they read out, thinking that they would really dedicate themselves to the revival of the country.
Pan said to Luke: "These lookouts seem to respect you very much."
After meeting with the Lookout without revealing any flaws, Luke was even more confident about tonight's action. He was just creating a mismatch between Pan and the Lookout, making the Lookout think that their master was here to arrange their surrender; while Pan would think that the Lookout's cooperation was the result of his own negotiations.
The lookouts guarding the fog gathered in the consulate hall, and the attacking team prepared outside could enter the fog to arrange the secret technique to break the fog.
Luke replied to Pan: "The Lookout still wants to restore the country, but it is nothing more than that he cannot let go of his obsession and has no pursuit for the future. There is a very special course in the Imperial Intelligence Academy called "Spiritual Revelation", which uses language to guide thoughts.
I did well in this course.”
"'Psychic Revelation'? Is it a mental attack spell similar to Charm?"
Luke said nonsense in a serious tone, "No, this is not magic, nor is it a mental attack. Once the recipient notices it, it will only backfire. You can think of it as a negotiation technique, making the other party think along your lines and accept the ideas you have instilled in him."
Such a powerful and secret skill makes Pan even more wary of meteorites.
"I wonder if Inspector Meteor has used 'Psychic Revelation' on me and Yin?"
Yin also looked at Luke with great curiosity, waiting for his answer.
Luke laughed and said, "I'm just kidding you. How can there be a way in this world to change a person's mind simply by talking? The Imperial Intelligence Academy does have psychology, but there is no such thing as 'spiritual enlightenment'.
The surrender intention of the Lookout was the result of my negotiations ...
We are here, let’s get off.”
Pan looked at Luke, and became more convinced that he must have used "psychic revelation" on the Lookout.
Pan followed Luke out of the car and said, "Inspector Meteorite has a really good attitude. He can still joke with us in such a dangerous place."
Yin walked down and said, "This must be the reason why Inspector Meteorite is superior to ordinary people. It makes me think that we can easily make the Lookouts surrender this time."
Sandpaper jumped out of the car yawning, "I just want to go back to bed early."
Luke took out his pocket watch to check the time, then walked toward the consulate ahead.
"Let's go, the lookouts should be waiting for us."
The fog trapped the main building of the consulate in the center. It was gray and nothing could be seen in the fog. After calculation, the thickness of the fog was only 100 meters. 100 meters away was the blockade established by the sheriff and the imperial spies.
Shelley stood at the outer edge of the fog. She had been staring at the watch in her hand since the carriage carrying the inspector entered. The second hand jumped one by one, and the minutes moved slowly.
In other directions outside the fog, many sheriffs and imperial agents were also staring at their watches.
When the agreed time came, the first group of occult preparation personnel walked into the fog with mysterious props.
In the middle of the fog, Luke walked into Consul Leo's hall with Pan, Yin, and Sandpaper.
The hostages who had originally filled the place were gone, and the lookouts who had attacked the consulate were all gathered here, a bit more than Luke had seen the first time he came in. Thirty-four people in total, even if there were other lookouts scattered around the building, there wouldn't be too many.
Luke strode forward, greeted the leader who called himself the Lookout, and said, "I first need to confirm that the hostages are safe."
The leader saluted Luke and Pan who were walking behind him, “I said that they would be executed in three days. As long as you haven’t attacked yet, they are absolutely safe.
The hostages were taken to other places.
Inspector, please explain your purpose. And who are these two...?"
The fact that the hostages were not in the hall was inconsistent with the previous investigation. But Luke also had a plan for the Windwatcher to move the hostages to other places, so he turned his head and looked at the sandpaper beside him.
The sandpaper hair slowly floated up.
After letting Sandpaper sense the hostages' location, Luke introduced them to the leader of the Lookouts: "This is Pan, this is Yin, they are the Shining Gold. Before they were taken away by the Shining Gold, they were members of the Rio royal family.
When they knew that you were still fighting for the Kingdom of Rio, they took the initiative to ask me to persuade you to surrender. I think this is a good thing, because this crisis can be resolved without war.
If you don’t believe me, you can confirm their identities.”
When the leader knew that His Highness Pan and Inspector Meteorite came to persuade them to surrender, he was puzzled. This was not in line with the plan. Did something big happen outside, forcing His Highness Pan to change the plan?
And Inspector Meteorite hinted last time that he knew who the owner of the Lookout was. Could it be that His Highness Pan and Meteorite had reached some consensus in the past two days...
No wonder the sheriff and imperial spies outside have not attacked. His Highness and Meteorite came together, maybe they really agreed on something.
Various factors made the leader let down his guard, and he followed Meteorite's words and gathered all the lookouts here.
The leader, who thought he had understood, saluted Pan Heyin again and said, "No need to confirm. It was a big deal for the Rio Kingdom at that time that His Highness Pan and His Highness Yin were taken away by the Golden People. Although His Highness Pan and His Highness Yin are already Golden People, we have been paying attention to the news of the two highnesses.
The lookout greets the two highnesses. "
The other lookouts saluted Pan Heyin together.
Pan took a step forward and said to the lookouts, "Yin and I have been Gold Stars since we left Rio Kingdom, and our previous identities are no longer related. However, Rio Kingdom is the place where we were born, and we still have deep feelings for Rio and its people.
This time, I and Yin came as members of the Rio royal family to resolve this crisis."
Pan turned his back to Luke and secretly made a gesture to the leader of the Lookouts.
The leader of the lookouts understood and said, "I don't trust foreigners, but I trust His Highness Pan. I would like to talk to His Highness Pan alone and hear your opinion on the Kingdom of Rio."
Pan said to Luke: "This leader wants to talk to me alone. I wonder if Inspector Meteorite will allow it."
"Of course..." Luke made a gesture of invitation: "You Rio people should discuss your Rio affairs. I just want to resolve the crisis as soon as possible."
"Thank you, Inspector Meteorite." The leader of the Lookout thanked Luke, and then said to Pan, "Your Highness Pan, please follow me."
Pan told Yin not to run around, and then followed the leader of the lookouts.
Sandpaper walked closer to Luke, tiptoed and whispered in Luke's ear: "We found them, they are all safe..."
Luke whispered, "We'll take action . Try to hold back the people here and prevent them from harming the hostages."
"There are a lot of people." Sandpaper looked at the lookouts in the hall.
"Opportunities are fleeting, so do your best."
"Yes, Chief Inspector."
Yin heard Luke and Sandpaper whispering and asked curiously, "What happened?"
"You'll know soon enough."
Luke took a step forward and sternly ordered all the lookouts in the hall: "In the name of the Chief Inspector of the Secret Affairs Bureau of the Golden Shield Empire's Fury City, I order you to surrender immediately! Otherwise... I will kill you on the spot!"
…
In another room of the consulate, the leader of the lookouts closed the door, turned around and knelt on one knee in front of Pan.
"The lookout greets His Highness."
Pan accepted the salute from the leader of the Wind Watchers, and then asked him sternly: "Are you so afraid of death?"
Pan's rebuke stunned the leader of the lookouts for a moment. He asked in confusion: "Your Highness, I don't know what you mean by this. The lookouts here are loyal to you and are ready to sacrifice their lives for you at any time."
"Loyal to me? Loyal to me... Why are you negotiating with Meteorite continuously? Why are you ready to surrender to Meteorite?!"
Pan's words made the leader of the Lookout even more confused.
"Your Highness! I, I only met with Meteorite once as planned, and spread the news of the start of the holy war for the restoration of the Kingdom of Rio to the outside world. After that, I never met with Meteorite again.
And we never thought of surrendering to a falling star...
Aren't you here to persuade us to surrender?"
Upon hearing the answer from the leader of the Lookouts, Pan's face turned pale instantly and his hands began to tremble.
"What did you say? Are you lying to me? You released the hostages three times in a row. How dare you say that you only met Meteorite once?"
The leader of the Lookouts was confused at the moment: "Your Highness, I really only met with Meteorite once. He said at the time that the hostages from the Golden Shield Empire had nothing to do with our restoration of the country and asked me to release them. So I released them all at once, not in three batches."
"Then why..."
At this moment, Pan suddenly understood.
It was Meteorite who released the hostages he had rescued once in three batches, creating the illusion that his negotiations with the Lookout were fruitful. Why did he do this? Why did he let the outside world believe that he could persuade the kidnappers in the consulate to surrender?
No, no, no… He didn’t do this for the outside world to see; he did this for me to see.
He asked me to send Yin to test him, and then he asked Yin to tell me that he was sure to make the kidnappers surrender. I believed him and offered to help persuade them to surrender...
Finally, he used me to make the lookouts here think that things outside had changed and that I was really here to persuade them to surrender. In this way, the scattered lookouts followed his orders and gathered together, and relaxed their vigilance against the outside world.
All this was within his calculations.
But...how did he know it was me? I was the master behind the Lookout.
When Pan was wondering how his identity had been exposed, the leader of the lookouts looked behind Pan in horror. He pointed out the window and said in disbelief, "Your Highness, the fog has dissipated, and the secret technique you set up has been lifted!"
Pan turned around and saw that the fog outside had completely dissipated, and he could clearly see the encirclement formed by the sheriff and the imperial spies a hundred meters away. Searchlights erected on the surrounding tall buildings shone in, and there was also the rumbling sound of war machinery running.
The people outside the encirclement have already launched an attack. Without the obstruction of the fog, they can reach the target in an instant over such a short distance.
Strong light shines in from the window.
Pan said to the leader of the Lookouts: "We have all been deceived by Meteorite. No matter how he knew my identity, he has no way to prove it. The premise is... you all have to die!"
The sudden change made the leader of the Lookout very depressed. He did not expect that it would end up like this.
"Your Highness, are our deaths meaningless?"
"No, your death is meaningful. Let the traitors see the courage of the lookouts who are ready to die. Your blood will scare the traitors who occupy the royal court. Facing the lookouts who are not afraid of death, they will be afraid and they will retreat!"
Pan's words inspired the leader of the Wind Watch. He knelt at Pan's feet and stretched out his head.
He formed a hand seal and golden light shone between his hands. After reciting a passage of ancient golden language, he pulled out a golden sword from the golden light.
With one sword, he cut off the lookout's head.
Then Pan looked out the window and saw a tide of sheriffs and imperial agents rushing in.
The sword turned into golden light and dissipated in his hand.
"The war has begun, and all the blood will not be shed in vain. Lookouts who are loyal to me, one day I will make the Falling Star pay for your hatred and the humiliation I have suffered here!"
Imperial spies climbed in through the window. They pointed their weapons at Pan and asked him sternly, "Tell me who you are!"
Pan raised his hands and said in a calm tone: "My name is Pan, the Golden Man, and I am the director of the World Bank's branch in Fury City. I am here to assist Inspector Meteorite in handling the attack on the Rio Consulate. The body under my feet is the leader of the kidnappers."
The Imperial agent sheathed his weapon and corrected, "It's Chief Inspector of Meteorite."
"Yes, Chief Inspector of Meteorite."
