Volume 2: Empire Chapter 1: Quiet Entry into the City
After a night of sailing, the airship carrying Luke and his party docked at the airship transfer tower at the western suburbs airport in Saint-Lon City.
When they walked down from the tower, there were no flowers, no applause, no crowds lining the streets to welcome them, only guards checking their documents.
There were also airships flying in and out overhead.
This surprised Shelley who was accompanying them. She repeatedly checked the surrounding environment and landmarks, and after confirming that this was indeed the imperial capital, she complained dissatisfiedly: "Chief Inspector, what happened to the people in the imperial capital? No one came to greet you, and you are the actual controller of the Raging Waves City..."
Luke sent out a spark to stop the outspoken Shelley from continuing. He looked at the imperial soldiers who were checking their IDs and said to the imperial spies who came with him, "We are imperial spies. It's normal that no one came to greet us! Saint Lun City is different from Raging Wave City, and it's even more different from the Cape District. Everyone, restrain yourself a little, don't act like crabs, walking sideways everywhere."
Shelley, who was reprimanded, immediately corrected his attitude: "Yes, Chief Inspector. It's not like I haven't been to the imperial capital before. I know that there are people with backgrounds and status everywhere here. Don't worry, it's not my turn to investigate any cases here."
"You are responsible for keeping an eye on your people."
Luke looked around.
The Western Suburbs Airport is different from the Royal Airport where Qingkong had landed yesterday. This is a civilian airport and is very busy. Imperial soldiers and airport management personnel maintain order and keep everything running smoothly.
Although due to Luke's special status and the recent events in Nutao City, all parties in Nutao City did not dare to come to greet him openly, and even the eldest princess did not send anyone to avoid irritating Emperor Augustine. But Luke still saw a few eyes from the people around him that kept looking here quietly.
Even the Imperial soldiers checking his ID could tell at a glance that he was very powerful.
The imperial capital seems to be indifferent to me, but he is not indifferent at all!
Luke opened a candy bar and ate it while waiting.
After a while, Kalina came over after finishing her negotiations with the imperial soldiers.
"Chief Inspector, our identities have been confirmed and we can enter Saint Lun City. The Secret Service Headquarters did not arrange a vehicle for us, so we need to leave the airport and find a car to leave.
Chief Inspector, this is not what I expected... We do not seem to be welcome."
Luke took out his pocket watch to check the time, and then said, "No, we are facing the best welcome now. Let's go, Viscount Iscolan has arranged a car and accommodation for us.
Let me settle down first, and then see how the imperial capital is going to deal with me."
Putting the pocket watch in his pocket, Luke lowered his hat and walked forward with his cane. Kylena, wearing deerskin boots and a short skirt, followed him with a briefcase.
Following behind are the Imperial spies led by Shelley and Pisco.
It would take several days to arrive by overland with sandpaper, boiling and heavy equipment.
After leaving the Western Suburbs Airport, the convoy boarded the vehicle arranged by Viscount Iscolan and headed towards the center of Saint Lun City.
On the way, Shelley, who was sitting in the passenger seat, kept looking at the young man driving, his hand never leaving the gun handle.
The feeling of being stared at by a venomous snake made the young man laugh and say, "Black Mamba... No, it should be Miss Shelley. Don't be so wary of me. It makes it impossible for me to concentrate on driving.
Please introduce yourself.
My name is Fast Legs, a first-level blade of the Blade Brotherhood. The Viscount felt that the Chief Inspector needed more people in the imperial city, so he asked me to obey the Chief Inspector's orders. I am quite familiar with the situation here, especially the lower city area that the bigwigs disdain to pay attention to.
You can trust me.”
"Whether to believe you or not is up to the Chief Inspector." Shelley still maintained a posture ready to take action at any time and turned to look at Luke who was sitting in the back.
Luke had already recognized the fast legs.
"Fast Legs... His real name is Priestley Harold. He was born in the lower city of Saint Len and became an orphan at the age of 7. At the age of 9, he was adopted by an orphanage run by the Brotherhood of the Blades and received assassin training.
He completed his first mission at the age of 14 and officially became an assassin of the Blade Brotherhood... Drive steadily, a good assassin should not be so unfocused.
At the age of 18, due to a mistake, a part of the muscles and tendons in your legs were melted by magic during a mission. Your assassin career should have ended there, but you met the father of Viscount Iscolan, who not only spent a huge amount of money to reshape your legs, but also carried out a comprehensive transformation of your entire body.
So the Brotherhood of the Blades lost Priestley Harold and gained an assassin named Fast Legs."
Luke's words made the cynical Quick Legs look tense. He steadied his shaking hands and asked in a bad tone, "Only the old master and the master know this secret, they probably won't tell you.
How did you know that?
"Hehe..." Luke smiled and didn't answer, continuing to look at the street scenery outside the car.
After Shelley knew that the fast legs were trustworthy, she relaxed a little. She smiled and said, "There is nothing our Chief Inspector doesn't know. You don't know that when I first met the Chief Inspector, he stripped my underwear off completely."
"ah!"
The fast driver who was driving and Kylena in the back seat exclaimed together and looked at Shelley in disbelief.
Shelley realized that his words had caused misunderstanding, and quickly added: "It's just a metaphor... I was talking about my secret, a secret that only Her Royal Highness the Princess and I know."
oh……
Speaking of the eldest princess, Kylena asked Luke in confusion: "Chief Inspector, why didn't His Highness send someone to pick you up? This is not the way to the headquarters of the Imperial Secret Service. Shouldn't you report to His Highness first?"
Luke answered casually, "We went too far in Raging Waves City and made Her Royal Highness the Princess a little unhappy."
"I don't understand."
Shelley joined the conversation: "I don't understand either...Grover is dead, and his accomplices are either dead or captured. The entire City of Fury is under the control of the Chief Inspector. Your Highness should be happy to receive such a rich city as a gift."
Luke replied: "Too much is as bad as too little. The changes in the situation in Fury City have caught me off guard, not to mention Your Highness, our Emperor, and the ministers of the Empire.
For many people in the empire, Raging Waves City is a balance point of power and interests. The new nobles in the empire are huge and have complicated relationships, and cannot be considered a whole. With Raging Waves City in their hands, all parties in the empire can benefit from it. Therefore, although His Majesty knows that the wealth of Raging Waves City is seriously flowing out, he can accept this situation.
Now the beneficiary has become one person. Even though the Empire can obtain more wealth from Raging Waves City than before, Your Majesty cannot rest assured as before. "
"Raging Waves City has caused His Majesty to suspect Her Royal Highness the Princess!" Kylena suddenly realized, but asked doubtfully: "Isn't Her Royal Highness His Majesty's daughter, and the closest daughter to him?"
At this time, the fast leg replied in front: "People who care about family affection cannot sit on the throne. We are at... No. 236 Tongsangshu Avenue."
Kylena still didn't understand, but she forgot to ask after hearing the address. She looked at the big house next to her through the car window, her expression seemed to be taken away by her soul.
"here……"
"This used to be your home, but it was later auctioned off. I asked Viscount Iscolan to help me buy it, and it's my temporary residence in Saint Lun City... It's not bad." Luke opened the car door and walked out: "Get out of the car, help us arrange a room. Shelley, arrange for someone to be on duty."
"Yes, Chief Inspector." Shelley pointed to a few people and asked them to enter the courtyard first.
Pisco led the rest of the people to carry the luggage.
Kylena walked out of the car, tears welling up in her eyes. To her, the house was still the same, but the people in it were gone.
"Thank you... I thought I'd never be able to come back here again."
"What are you thanking me for? This is the house I bought for myself. If you want it, work hard and earn more bonuses, and then you can buy it back."
"Yes, Chief Inspector." Kylena wiped her tears: "I will work hard."
"Come in, have a cup of coffee, and see who our first visitor will be."
Kylena's old house is not as big as the museum that Augustine gave to Qingkong, and its location is not as good as the museum, but it is also a luxurious private villa in the upper town of Saint Lun City. It can be seen that the Lindbergh family was once powerful.
The capital of the Golden Shield Empire, Saint Lun City, is divided into three districts.
The Imperial City District consists of the Imperial Palace and the surrounding urban areas. Most of the properties here are owned by the royal family, and important functional departments of the empire are concentrated here. Those who can live in the Imperial City District are extremely prestigious people. The Purple Gold Flower Avenue where Qingkong's museum is located is part of the Imperial City District.
The Upper City is located on the outskirts of the Imperial City, and most people living here have stable jobs.
The Lower Town is concentrated in the eastern part of the Upper Town, radiating to the northeast and southeast.
Originally, Saint-Lun City did not have a lower town. However, with the advancement of technology, large-scale industrial production caused large-scale bankruptcy of artisans and small farmers. There is a large landfill in the east of Saint-Lun City, and urban sewage is also discharged here along the river. The bankrupts who left the city and the land settled here and lived on garbage.
Later, garbage and sewage refining formed an industrial chain here, and the lower city of Saint-Lon was formed as a result. It expanded and swelled rapidly with the arrival of more and more bankrupts.
Compared with the Cape area where people can still make a living by going out to sea, the downtown area of Saint-Lun is a typical slum. Pollution has reduced the average life expectancy of people here to only 34 years old. When Saint-Lun City withdrew the last security personnel from the downtown area, violence and the deteriorating environment caused the average life expectancy here to continue to decline.
The upper town and lower town of Saint-Lun City are separated by a towering city wall, and the two sides of the wall are completely two different worlds.
Luke, who was staying at 236 Copper Mulberry Avenue, was lying on the recliner in the room, looking at the information related to the lower city of Saint Lun City on his mobile phone.
As the saying goes: poor people rely on mutation, rich people rely on technology.
Garbage and sewage treatment technology has allowed people in the lower city of Saint Lun to create many strange things. Some people also become strange because they are contaminated with certain things intentionally or unintentionally.
Luke felt that he would be left out for a while by the Emperor of the Empire to reduce his prestige. If the Emperor of the Empire did not summon him to make a statement, people from other parties would not dare to contact him openly, not to mention Agatha who also wanted to cool down the relationship.
There was no way he could cause any trouble in the Upper Town during this period. He was now standing in the spotlight, and any move he made could cause unnecessary trouble.
But downtown is different.
Saint Lun City had almost no spies, not to mention control over the lower city. If you did something there, as long as it wasn't too noisy, you wouldn't have to worry about being noticed.
Before coming to Saint Lun City, Luke asked Iscolan to help him find a helper who knows the situation in the downtown area. But he didn't expect that he would send a fast runner directly. It seems that he also knows that Saint Lun City is full of crises.
Just as Luke was browsing the information and thinking about where to start in the downtown area to kill time, Kalina walked into the room.
"Chief Inspector, someone is visiting."
"Who is it?" Luke asked.
"It's Yorminton."
"He..." Yumington 's visit was somewhat unexpected to Luke, but after thinking about it carefully, he was indeed a suitable visitor. Luke said to Kylena: "Tell him to wait for me in the living room and tell him that I will go to see him after I finish writing the materials to be presented to Her Royal Highness the Princess."
"Yes, Chief Inspector." Kylena looked at the empty desk and asked, "Do you need me to help you write?"
Luke continued to lie comfortably in the recliner, closed his eyes and said, "No need... I'll take a nap, call me back in two hours."
Kylena understood what her chief inspector meant: “I understand, Chief Inspector…I’ll come back in two hours.”
Luke waved his hands and really fell asleep.
Kylena covered him with a blanket, then walked out quietly and slowly closed the door.
Yomington, who was allowed in, was taken to the living room. Kylena poured him a cup of coffee and told him that Chief Inspector Meteorite was writing materials to be submitted to Her Royal Highness the Princess.
"When will the Chief Inspector finish writing? I have something important to discuss with him."
Shelley, who was doing her nails on the other side, said sarcastically: "No matter how important the matter is, it can be more important than our Chief Inspector writing a report to Her Royal Highness the Princess. If you don't want to wait... just leave!"
Kylena said politely: “I’m sorry, Lord Yomington. This material is very important, and the Chief Inspector doesn’t want to interrupt his train of thought.”
Yomington ignored Shelley and said to Kylena, "I am no longer the staff officer of the Prime Minister of the Empire. I am a civilian now. You don't need to call me 'Sir'."
"Oh... You were dismissed?" Shelley became interested. "I remember you were so impressive when you went to Raging Waves City, but how come you even lost your position when you came back? Did you come here to join our Chief Inspector this time... You are not stupid enough to be blind.
Come, call Sister Shelley first, and I will say a few good words for you in front of the Chief Inspector."
Yominton frowned.
She's a pretty lady, but why does she speak in such a gangster-like tone?
He kept in mind his mission this time: "Although I no longer hold an official position, I am still assisting Prime Minister Gabriel. I came here this time to understand what happened in Raging Waves City. It would be good for everyone if some misunderstandings were cleared up. We all work for the Empire, and timely communication will prevent His Majesty from worrying.
Please inform Chief Inspector Meteorite again and tell him what I said."
Kylena didn't move: "I'm sorry, Mr. Yomington, I don't understand what you said. The Chief Inspector asked you to wait. If you want to be summoned by him, please wait patiently."
