Chapter 766: Message from Fang Xiaoxiao

“I’m afraid if this drags on any longer, something will happen to Zhou Bin and Li Zhaowen. If you see this message, and if you still care about the bond we shared in the Fourth Squad, please help us.”

Xu Wuyi furrowed his brows slightly as he finished reading the message.

Zhou Bin was the steady and reliable vice-captain with a military background who never made mistakes. Li Zhaowen was the frail, bespectacled scholar—an intelligence analysis genius whose fingers were nimbler than anyone else’s. Xu Wuyi had worked with these two men for over three months, solving dozens of cases and braving life and death together.

Now they were in trouble, detained by the Song family.

Xu Wuyi set down his personal terminal, stood up, and walked over to the window. Outside, the sun was shining brightly, and the river sparkled under the light. But right now, what he saw was not the beautiful scenery, but the faces of those people from the Inspection Department’s Fourth Squad office a few months ago.

Zhou Bin, Fang Xiaoxiao, Sun Jing, Li Zhaowen, and Chen Yunxuan. Five people with five distinct personalities, yet they had all treated him as their true captain.

Taking a deep breath, he turned and walked back into the room. He pulled out a metal box from deep within his wardrobe. Opening it revealed a black-and-white mask and a solid black identity card resting quietly inside. The mask felt slightly cool to the touch and was incredibly light—almost weightless when worn. The two pale blue crystalline eye pieces remained clear and transparent, offering an unobstructed view of the outside world.

He stared at his masked reflection in the mirror in silence for a few seconds. Then, he took off the mask, placed it back into the box, and brought it along with the black identity card.

Before leaving, he sent a message to Qiao Tongyu.

“Uncle Qiao, something came up. I need to leave for a few days.”

Less than a minute later, Qiao Tongyu’s reply arrived.

“Alright. Let me know anytime if you need help.”

Xu Wuyi put away his terminal and left the apartment. A dedicated military vehicle was already waiting downstairs. After getting in, he only said one sentence.

“The spaceport. We’re going to Xingjing.”

The car started and merged onto the high-speed transit rail.

Xu Wuyi leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, pondering his next steps. The Song family was a top noble family in Xingjing, deeply entrenched in the city for over a century. Their network of connections was intricate and sprawling, completely on par with the Zhao family.

Song Qingwu himself was an Innate Martial Artist with a high official status, holding an important post in Xingjing. For him to directly detain Zhou Bin and Li Zhaowen meant he was completely fearless and unconcerned about the Inspection Department causing trouble for him.

As for why he detained them, the reason was hard to say. It was possible Zhou Bin and the others had actually found something, but it was equally possible they had found nothing and merely provoked the Song family instead. Detaining Inspection Department investigators outright was an incredibly rare occurrence. It was tantamount to directly defying the Federation government, even if the severity wasn’t overly extreme. If someone were truly guilty, they would rarely dare to act so boldly; fleeing to another Star Realm as soon as possible would be the sensible choice.

Conversely, if the Song family had nothing to hide but the Inspection Department kept hounding them, deciding to teach them a lesson after repeated provocations made more logical sense. Song Qingwu’s actions seemed too confident, which ironically lessened the suspicion on him.

Perhaps this was exactly why the Inspection Department hadn’t taken any action after the Song family detained their people, forcing Fang Xiaoxiao to seek his help. Of course, these were all purely logical deductions. Handling a case required evidence. Since Fang Xiaoxiao couldn’t possibly explain all this in her message, Xu Wuyi still needed to visit the Inspection Department himself.

The vehicle sped along the high-speed transit rail, the scenery outside blurring past.

Arriving at the spaceport, Xu Wuyi strode into the departure hall. He wore a baseball cap pulled low, and though his face was entirely exposed, the people around him only shot him hurried glances without recognizing who he was.

Half an hour later, the flight to Xingjing took off.

He had not taken a private jet using his Grandmaster status, doing his best to conceal his whereabouts. Outside the window, the view of Linjiang grew smaller and smaller until it completely vanished beneath the clouds.

Over an hour later, the flight landed at the spaceport in the eastern suburbs of Xingjing. Xu Wuyi walked out of the terminal and immediately got into a taxi waiting at the entrance.

“West District. The Comprehensive Affairs Administration Bureau,” he said.

The driver, a middle-aged man, paused for a moment upon hearing this and glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “You mean that petition reception office?”

“Yes.”

The driver asked no further questions and started the car, merging into the traffic.

Xingjing’s traffic was far more congested than Linjiang’s. The taxi stopped and started, taking nearly an hour to reach that familiar street in the West District. Xu Wuyi paid the fare and got out.

Before him stood the same dilapidated old building. It had dusty cement walls, old sliding windows, and rust-mottled communication antennas. On the faded plaque by the entrance, the words “Ninth Office of the Federation Comprehensive Affairs Administration Bureau” were still clearly legible. Everything looked exactly the same as when he had left.

He stood on the curb observing it for a few seconds before crossing the street and pushing open the glass doors.

The lobby was just as it had always been. On the left was the reception window with a note taped to the glass reading, “Please ring the bell.” On the right were several plastic chairs occupied by two middle-aged men, both staring down at their personal terminals.

Inside the reception booth, the old man in the security uniform was still nursing his thermos, sipping his tea slowly. Hearing the door open, he raised his eyelids for a quick glance before lowering his head to resume drinking.

Xu Wuyi walked up to the window, pulled the solid black identity card from his pocket, and placed it on the counter.