In order to wash away the scolding they had received from the entire interstellar public over their delayed handling of the previous incident, the Alliance could be said to have gone to great lengths.
They had even directly invited out the former chairman, Julien Calverley, who had already retired and was spending his later years in peace.
He was Raymond An’s uncle. He had served as chairman for over a hundred years, working diligently during his tenure and helping mediate many wars. He had always held considerable prestige in the interstellar world.
[My god! The Alliance actually invited Lord Julien too?]
[Lord Julien has rarely appeared in public since retiring, right?]
[Yeah. His last appearance was more than ten years ago.]
[Honestly, with something this serious happening, it feels normal for the Alliance to invite the old man back to take charge. After all, if Lord Julien steps forward, I’m still willing to trust the Alliance one more time.]
It was not only the livestream viewers. When the representatives of the various races saw this highly respected elder being helped onto the podium, surprised expressions also appeared on their faces.
They clearly had not expected the former chairman to attend this conference as well.
They all rose to greet him.
Only the Saint Clan present remained completely unmoved.
Mansendis still sat in his seat with his legs crossed. Since he did not stand, the other Saint Clan members also remained as steady as mountains.
Clearly, the other party was sitting below, while Julien was the one standing onstage and looking down at him.
But the silver-haired sovereign’s presence was far too powerful. His long cloak trailed across the floor, and the golden embroidery on it glittered with brilliant radiance beneath the sunlight.
The black crown, like tangled thorns, rested upon his silver-white long hair, giving off a completely different kind of bone-chilling coldness.
In contrast was Julien’s body, which had already grown increasingly old. Although he stood on the stage, his pale hair and stooped figure made him look more like a subject currently reporting to a king.
Julien seemed to realize this as well.
His gaze darkened slightly, and he vaguely understood why Raymond An had specifically come to him and begged him to preside over this conference.
Julien had once met Mansendis before.
The time the bullet comments mentioned, when he had appeared more than ten years ago, was precisely the first time he had met this Saint Clan sovereign.
At that time, Mansendis had led the Saint Clan in expanding outward, enlarging the Saint Clan’s territory in one stroke until it covered the entire Ninth Star Region. Originally, there had still been some other races living in the Ninth Star Region, but after seeing this, they had hurriedly moved away.
This matter had caused quite a stir in the interstellar world.
The Alliance was worried that the Saint Clan would sooner or later attack them, so they invited Julien to negotiate with the Saint Clan.
Julien went through considerable trouble, but in the end, he still met the Saint Clan sovereign of that time.
Mansendis back then had been younger than he was now, but also colder and more violent. Around him lingered a loneliness that nearly shut out everything in the world.
It was a hollow, withered dead silence.
After hearing Julien’s purpose, Mansendis coldly told him that the Saint Clan would not leave the Ninth Star Region.
Julien brought this message back to the Alliance. When he saw Raymond An, his first words were: The Saint Clan is nothing to fear. There is no need for anyone else to act. They will destroy themselves.
That time might not even be too far away. This group of Saint Clan members clearly seemed on the verge of falling apart.
And in all the years after that, the Saint Clan’s situation had indeed grown increasingly severe. This also made Julien always firmly believe in his own judgment.
Yet he had not expected that when he saw this Saint Clan sovereign again, the situation would already have completely exceeded his expectations.
Mansendis was still cold and powerful, but the dead silence around him had already disappeared.
The same was true of that group of Saint Clan members. The oppressive and despairing atmosphere that had once shrouded them was gone, replaced by an exposed, razor-sharp vitality.
The Saint Clan, having walked out of their former gloom, seemed to have become even stronger than before.
And such an extraordinarily powerful race that was not subject to the Alliance’s discipline...
If they continued staying in the Ninth Star Region, that would still be fine. But once the Saint Clan wanted to begin standing in the interstellar world and coming into contact with external affairs, their existence would inevitably pose a serious threat to the Alliance’s position.
This was clearly not something those Alliance officials wanted to see.
Julien sighed.
His good nephew really had given him a difficult problem.
But since he had already stepped onto the stage, Julien had no room to retreat.
He made a gesture for silence, and the scene instantly quieted down.
This action alone was enough to show that Julien’s status in the interstellar world truly could be considered highly respected.
“The nature of this incident was extremely severe. It caused thousands of casualties and was the most serious disaster in the interstellar world in nearly a hundred years. This matter was due to insufficient supervision on the Alliance’s side and our failure to detect it in time. Here, on behalf of the Alliance, I would first like to offer everyone an apology.”
Unlike Raymond An, Julien apologized the moment he began.
And it was an extremely sincere apology. The old man bent very low at the waist and bowed deeply once in every direction.
“Old fox.”
Someone commented.
Julien was indeed experienced. His prestige in the interstellar world was great enough. By apologizing and bowing first the moment he came up, the representatives of the various races below, who had accepted such a grand gesture, could no longer press too aggressively.
And with the livestream cameras present, Julien’s attitude could also be seen by every viewer watching the conference.
It could be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Compared with his good nephew’s performance, it made a far better impression.
An old fox was an old fox after all.
Unfortunately, the greatest mistake the Alliance had made was inviting the Saint Clan to participate in this conference.
No matter how Julien performed onstage, the Saint Clan merely watched calmly, completely unmoved.
Wen Yuzhi even accidentally yawned.
Although he had only just opened his mouth when he reacted and quickly covered it, those pale golden eyes misted with moisture still exposed the young man’s sleepiness at that moment.
One second earlier, the livestream viewers had still been immersed in the shock of Julien’s bow. The next second, they were led astray by the sight of tears glimmering at the corners of the young man’s eyes.
[Is cub sleepy?]
[He secretly yawned. Don’t think we didn’t see just because he covered his mouth. But he looks way too easy to bully with those watery eyes...]
[Hehe, in holographic mode, you can get close to cub! I secretly poked cub’s cheek. His dad probably won’t notice, right?]
[Now that you mention it, I’m interested! I’m going to poke too!]
[Shh, everyone move gently. Don’t alert the tyrant boss next to him!]
The viewers in holographic mode were only projections. They could not truly touch the people present, nor would they be discovered by the other party. But because Mansendis’s aura was far too powerful, and because the target of their mischief was his child, everyone could not help feeling a sense of caution, as if they could not disturb the boss at the end of the level.
As for why they were being so sneaky...
Of course it was because they wanted the thrill!
Just imagine. In the past, who would have dared think that one day they would have the chance to bully... no, lightly touch the Saint Clan sovereign’s cub right in front of him?
Perhaps the enthusiasm of these viewers was almost becoming tangible, because Wen Yuzhi also inexplicably felt as if his cheeks were a little warm.
He rubbed his face, while Julien onstage had already announced the results of the Alliance’s investigation over the past few days.
The matter was still under investigation, and what was being made public now was only part of the content.
The Alliance admitted that the research institute had indeed engaged in illegal experiments.
Dan’s father, Josh Hecris, was a senior researcher. He had once proposed the concept of “biological soldiers.”
Combined with the background at the time, when the interstellar academic world had been constantly discussing mental-energy potential, Josh’s idea was to select a group of soldiers whose constitutions were superior to ordinary people and use genetic enhancement to increase their mental-energy potential.
This would allow them to display the potential for extraordinary strength, even the ability to fight one against a hundred, like superheroes appearing in television dramas.
And this method of genetic enhancement involved editing advantageous gene fragments. For example, since the Fire Lizard race could breathe fire, the genes responsible for that ability would be extracted, strengthened, and improved.
In the end, these improved gene fragments would be placed inside the transformed subject’s body, allowing the subject to possess that portion of ability as well.
After all modifications were completed, without question, they would obtain a super soldier.
But just thinking about it, anyone could know that such experiments clearly violated human ethics.
Due to restrictions involving human rights and morality, Josh’s experimental concept could not possibly be accepted by the public mainstream, but his experimental data still attracted the attention of certain people.
These people were powerful figures in the interstellar world with wealth and authority. They already possessed unimaginable riches and status, so naturally, they wanted to possess something even more special and different.
Josh’s “biological soldiers” entered their sight in this way.
They secretly established an organization in the dark, and this organization was the Tribunal.
These powerful figures believed that they were like the archangel Michael from myth and legend, holding a sword of judgment, and that they could use the power in their hands to judge others.
They had always supported the development of the black market in secret and had also cultivated some rebel organizations from behind the scenes.
Among them, the person they funded the most was Josh.
But Josh’s personality was not suited to presiding over such an experimental project, so after Kegso appeared, he became an abandoned pawn.
Kegso replaced him. He stole all of Josh’s experiments, and he was also more insane, more unscrupulous, and more without bottom line than Josh.
The Soldier Ant Project came from his hands.
He even called all of this a leapfrog evolution of genes.
However, because he had the Tribunal’s protection behind him, these experiments Kegso conducted in secret had never been exposed.
Until their actions in this incident were completely revealed.
The Alliance’s attitude was also very forceful.
Under the supervision of so many eyes from every interstellar race, regardless of who the Tribunal’s people were or what kind of status they possessed, as long as they were found to be involved in these experiments, the Alliance immediately arrested them.
The wealthy merchant behind the mine Spider Woman had exposed was also arrested because of this.
There were also those twelve elders of the Tribunal. When some of them were arrested, they were still lying in stone coffins, receiving IV drips. And what was being infused into them was fresh blood taken from experimental subjects.
When they saw the Alliance Army break in, these elders had clearly been caught off guard.
They had not expected their deeds to be exposed.
And when they learned that it was Dan’s large-scale experimental test that had exposed them, those elders immediately cursed loudly.
They cursed Dan as a madman.
As of the start of today’s conference, eleven of the Tribunal’s twelve elders had already been arrested. The remaining one was also in the process of being pursued.
It was only at this moment that the Alliance finally learned just how enormous this force truly was.
There were over a hundred laboratories like the one on Blackrock Star across the entire interstellar world. This meant that the residents of over a hundred remote planets had all suffered the persecution of having their homes destroyed by stray beasts.
In addition, there were many powerful nobles who had financial dealings with the research institute, along with the black market and those rebel organizations that had received support.
All of these things together formed a densely woven net.
It could be said that if this incident had not been exposed to the public’s view through a full livestream, and if it had not happened so suddenly, then even if the Alliance had discovered these illegal experiments hidden in the dark, they probably could not have arrested those people as directly as they were doing now.
And even now, the process of arresting them had met with all kinds of resistance.
This was also why the Alliance had chosen to publicly reveal these investigation results at the conference. First, it was to reverse public opinion. Second, once everything was made public, their arrests could proceed more smoothly.
Of course, for the victims who had been captured and used as experimental subjects, the Alliance had also provided help and medical support.
In short, the Alliance had done many things during this period.
After hearing everything Julien announced, whispers also rose below.
The bullet comments were also flooding with demands that those people must be arrested and held responsible, as well as praise for the Alliance’s remedial attitude and actions after the incident.
[The Alliance’s reaction was already very fast. In just a few days, they investigated so many things.]
[They arrested everyone who should be arrested, and they rescued everyone who should be rescued. The Alliance’s attitude can be considered okay.]
[As expected, it still had to be Lord Julien stepping forward. Hearing him say these things makes me feel much more at ease.]
[The Alliance actually hasn’t done little over the years. I think their poor supervision this time is understandable. Who could have imagined so many powerful figures would be involved?]
Xi Heyan opened his light-brain and looked at the bullet comments flashing through the livestream room.
No wonder they said the other party was an old fox.
In just a short while, public opinion toward the Alliance on StarNet had already begun shifting in a positive direction.
While everyone was discussing the investigation results, the Saint Clan’s side remained very quiet.
Wen Yuzhi was still thinking.
He kept feeling that something was strangely indescribable.
Although the explanation the Alliance had given was reasonable and well-founded, and everything had been investigated very clearly...
But...
Was all of this too smooth?
For such a major incident, logically speaking, the investigation alone should require a very long time. Yet from the incident to the arrests, not many days had passed in total, and the people behind the scenes had already been pulled out one after another. A huge gray force had vanished just like that.
The Alliance’s side was almost unbelievably smooth.
This feeling was like returning to the building back then. At this moment, Wen Yuzhi once again had the sense that they were moving step by step according to some already-written script.
He could not help recalling what Blood Shark and Spider Woman had said.
The former had said Dan had tricked him, while the latter had said Blood Shark was not such a reckless person.
Assuming Spider Woman’s words were true, how could someone who was not that reckless rashly run to the laboratory to steal medicine? And even accidentally leak the agent?
Unless someone had deliberately lured Blood Shark into doing these things.
This person had to be someone inside the research institute. Only in that way could he allow Blood Shark, an outsider, to freely enter and leave the laboratory.
And this person’s identity...
Wen Yuzhi thought of one candidate.
Dan.
According to the confessions of those elders, this experimental test on Blue Luster Star had also been planned by Dan alone.
He had not only chosen the timing when every race was attending the conference, but had also launched a livestream on StarNet at that moment.
It was also precisely because of this livestream that everyone learned about those experimental projects, and even more about the research institute behind them.
Following the investigation layer by layer, in the end, those powerful figures hidden in the darkness were dug out.
If all of this had been planned by Dan...
A terrifying guess surfaced in Wen Yuzhi’s mind.
That was—
Was Dan truly dead?
