Apocalypse Gachapon - Chapter 2028: Shifting the blame
“The Star-Eye Clan did it!”
The speaker was the Huaitang Clan’s clan leader, Balodeli.
The other eight clan leaders of the Eight Heads glanced at him, and they all understood in their hearts what was going on.
Your Huaitang Clan and the Star-Eye Clan were natural enemies. When something happens, of course, you want to pin all the blame on them.
Three of the remaining seven families didn’t care; if they couldn’t find the real culprit quickly, then framing anyone would do just as well.
Letting the Star-Eye Clan be the scapegoat was also very good; after all, they were a race on the verge of extinction anyway, so it was a good way to make use of waste.
Choosing the Star-Eye Clan as the scapegoat had another benefit: one of their clansmen had just obtained the Novice first place, gaining many good things and having a bit of fat to trim, so it wouldn’t leave the Huo’er Star people with nothing tangible to gain.
It was just that the other few families were a bit unhappy.
“Are you trying to treat the Huo’er Star people as fools?”
The speaker was Erku Chongken, the clan leader of Erku Dedexing. Their race’s strength was considered among the Eight Heads to be quite strong. Erku Chongken’s son was currently serving as the leader of the First City Guard Army, responsible for the safety of Dark Strip City. This time, if they had to pursue joint responsibility, undoubtedly, the people of Erku Dedexing would be unable to escape.
The more this was the case, the more seriously they took this matter compared to other races, because if the Huo’er Star people felt you were just going through the motions, the first race their wrath would burn would certainly be the Erku Dedexing people.
“What do you mean?” Balodeli said discontentedly.
By saying the Star-Eye Clan did it, his meaning was actually already very clear: he wanted to use those detestable assassins as scapegoats. It would be fine if everyone tacitly understood. Being races of the same city, and in an alliance state, was it necessary to rebut so bluntly over such a matter?
“I’m saying, you’re treating the Huo’er Star people as fools, don’t drag the rest of us down with you!” Erku Chongken snorted coldly and looked at everyone, saying, “Gentlemen, think about it. Who were the members of this Huo’er Star team that came here this time? It was Lilaiqiya. His publicly known Furelai index already exceeded seventy thousand. And his subordinates? They were the elite team of the Huo’er Star merchant convoy. Lilaiqiya’s deputy, Furelai exceeded sixty thousand, and the average strength of the rest was also above thirty thousand. Such a team, are you saying it was done by the Star-Eye Clan, whose most powerful expert only has a little over fifty thousand Furelai? And they slaughtered everyone present silently? Isn’t this treating the Huo’er Star people as fools? How else do you treat people as fools? If by any chance they vent their anger on us, can you withstand it?”
Erku Chongken showed no politeness at all, directly criticizing Balodeli’s selfish motives. The others listened and thought it indeed seemed to be the case.
If the Star-Eye Clan mobilized their entire clan’s strength, they might not be unable to do this, but they certainly couldn’t have done it silently. There would definitely have been signs of large-scale team mobilization, and their main figures would have had to go out in full force.
But as everyone knew, on that day, Cheng Liujin, the leader of the Star-Eye Clan’s strongest combat force, the Golden Mask Warriors, along with several of his powerful subordinates and the training chief officer Bashilu, whose personal combat power was even above Cheng Liujin’s, were hosting a banquet at the city’s most famous restaurant for some members of the Eight Heads, thanking them for speaking up for the Star-Eye Clan in the previous matter of the Cave Huo people’s transport team being attacked.
The experts the Star-Eye Clan could put forward were just the two clan leaders plus Bashilu, Cheng Liujin, and a mere six or seven others. Two or three of them had clear alibis. So how could the Star-Eye Clan possibly have the ability to kill the Huo’er Star team and also over a hundred high-priority heirs and guards of the Eight Heads, whose strength, although not high, was equivalent to the Star-Eye Clan’s Golden Warrior level?
“But everyone knows the Changxu Water Race has a perfect relationship with their Novice first place. Weren’t the purposes of many assassinations that recently occurred in Dark Strip City guessed to be covering for the Changxu Water Race? Since that’s the case, then helping the slaves of the Changxu Water Race escape—isn’t that an obvious motive?”
Balodeli was very unwilling and wanted to continue persuading everyone from another angle.
“Does having a motive mean they must have done it? They would also need the capability. Even if they had the intention, they wouldn’t have the courage. Also, Clan Leader Balodeli, please also pay attention to the news. At the same time the incident occurred, the Novice first place, whom you think had the perfect motive, was waiting for a ship at the spaceport with his people, and White Robe was seeing them off. Did they do it? Can they split into multiple bodies?”
These words were quite impolite, making Balodeli’s face turn red.
The remaining families, who had recently received favors from the Star-Eye Clan, also spoke up one after another, saying that even if looking for a scapegoat, they should find a reliable one; the Star-Eye Clan clearly didn’t have that capability.
“Fine, since you say the Star-Eye Clan isn’t suitable, then name one that is! The Huo’er Star investigation team could come at any time. How will we explain then?”
Balodeli simply leaned back in his chair, putting on an air of “I don’t care anymore, you all figure it out.”
The others were left a bit speechless by the question. They looked at each other but seemed to have no good solution.
“I do have an idea.”
Erku Chongken, who had been refuting Balodeli all along, suddenly spoke.
Everyone looked at him together, always feeling this guy had an arrow to shoot.
“Actually, one sentence Clan Leader Balodeli said earlier was not wrong: that this mysterious person or force killed people at the manor precisely for those ten Changxu Water Race people. Previously, we all thought the Changxu Water Race was close to that kid named Ye Zhongming, so we suspected he did it, but he couldn’t do so. Then… if someone had the ability to do this, couldn’t they also gain the support of the Changxu Water Race?”
Upon hearing this, everyone nodded thoughtfully.
“But, as you just said, wanting to is one thing; being able to do it is another. Looking across the entire Dark Strip City, apart from our eight families, it seems no one else could do it, right?”
Balodeli temporarily set aside his prejudice and began analyzing together.
The clan leader of Erku Dedexing gently tapped his finger on the table and said slowly, “Who said we must look within Dark Strip City?”
Huh?
The others were stunned in unison, still not quite understanding Erku Chongken’s meaning.
“The Changxu Water Race is not only desired by the Huo’er Star people; others want them too. It’s just that there aren’t many with both the capability and the courage to compete with the Huo’er Star people. This time, killing an entire team of Huo’er Star people silently clearly shows some strength. And among all the cosmic races, who would be qualified…”
“Reina Star people!” one clan leader suddenly shouted excitedly, but the others all cast him a look that said ‘this idiot’.
The Reina Star people naturally weren’t afraid of the Huo’er Star people, but they were a super-strong race; they wouldn’t set their eyes on the Changxu Water Race and simply wouldn’t do such a thing. Besides, even if you pinned the matter on the Reina Star people, the Huo’er Star people similarly couldn’t do anything to them, and their final wrath would still fall on Dark Strip City’s head!
“The Changxu Water Race has a good relationship with Ye Zhongming. Ye Zhongming has a good relationship with White Robe. White Robe has a sworn brother named Jie Su, and Jie Su… is a member of the Su Race.”
