As the town hall was reoccupied by the Third Orbital Airborne Brigade, this battle of independence finally came to an end.
Mayor Xiao and his staff Gao Ruiming, as well as those senior town hall leaders who survived the killers sent by the foundation, were taken on board the cruiser Qinling, and they were heading to the Tianzhou spaceport in the Earth-Moon system.
As the main war criminals of this war, they would be tried in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city group, the political center of the Pan-Asian Cooperation.
In order to help the colony restore order as soon as possible, the Third Orbital Airborne Brigade stayed behind.
The current town hall had been taken over by the administrative commissioner appointed by the Pan-Asian Cooperation. At the same time, the public facilities damaged in the war had also begun to be rebuilt.
But when the administrative commissioner appointed by the Pan-Asian Cooperation investigated the accounts of the town hall, he found something very interesting by “accident”…
It was a fund account.
Like the former Mayor Xiao Hong said in his confession, the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation indirectly sponsored the uprising through the transfer of funds…
In the residential area of Tiangong City…
The gate of a mansion in the wealthy suburb had been surrounded by an armed police force.
When Wang Peng rang the doorbell, Gladstone was doing morning exercises in the front yard.
After hearing the doorbell, he went to the hallway and opened the door.
Looking at the face standing in front of the door, Gladstone’s face showed a confused expression.
“Hello, you are…”
However, this confusion did not stay on his face for long, because soon the person in front of him showed a holographic ID card.
Looking at the badge on the card and the line of text printed below the badge, Gladstone’s expression was slightly stiff.
Obviously, he was no stranger to what Wang Peng was holding.
“Wang Peng, agent of the Security Bureau.” Wang Peng retracted the holographic identity card. Wang Peng looked at Gladstone and continued blankly, “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Gladstone.”
“Nice to meet you too… You know, in this turbulent and special period, there is nothing more pleasant than seeing the badge of the Pan-Asian Cooperation.” The expression on his face was obviously not happy. Gladstone pretended not to know anything and said, “Of course, enough small talk, I believe you are on official business. Then may I ask… What do you want from me?”
Wang Peng didn’t want to talk nonsense with this guy. He asked straightforwardly, “Mr. Gladstone, don’t you think you should explain yourself?”
“Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“Don’t pretend to be stupid.” Wang Peng pushed a holographic screen in front of him and continued blankly, “This is the financial account of the town hall. There are five billion credits of funds from your company’s account. It was directly transferred to the account of the town hall. The money was used to purchase security equipment… You should know what I’m implying.”
Looking at the holographic screen in front of him, an unnatural stiffness flashed across Gladstone’s face.
But soon, he concealed the unnatural expression behind his clever smile.
“Oh, was it discovered? Actually… we were forced to.”
Wang Peng raised his eyebrows, looked at him with curiosity, and motioned him to continue.
The gears in Gladstone’s head began to spin as he defended himself.
“You know, the entire Tiangong City was in Mayor Xiao’s hand. Ever since he was elected mayor, he has gotten worse. Powerless businessmen like us have no way to deal with his arrogant demands. Of course, I don’t want to use investors’ money to pay for the debts of the town hall…”
“Powerless?” Wang Peng raised his eyebrows slightly. “Mr. Gladstone, you are too humble.”
“Humble? No, I’m talking about—”
“Okay, stop acting. I know you belong to The Spirit of The Universe Foundation.” Too lazy to continue listening to his story, Wang Peng interrupted him and said, “Hand over Academician Lu, this is your only chance of surviving.”
Hand over Academician Lu?
Didn’t you guys take Academician Lu away a long time ago?
Gladstone was stunned, but he realized that this might be a trap.
“Sorry, I do not understand what you mean…”
“I will make you understand.”
Wang Peng waved his hand and said only one word to the special police officers behind him.
“Search.”
Several heavily armed policemen rushed into the house.
“Wait, what are you guys doing?!”
Gladstone quickly tried to reach out to block them, but he was pushed away.
“Hey, you don’t have the right to do this!”
Wang Peng ignored the guy’s furious yelling. He didn’t even look at him.
Soon, the special police turned the house upside down.
However, to his surprise, they did not find any valuable clues in Gladstone’s house.
Especially the clues about the whereabouts of Academician Lu…
“Sir, Academician Lu is not here.”
Listening to the report by his subordinate, Wang Peng frowned and asked, “Have you checked the basement? Are there any hidden doors?”
“We have checked everything, I can assure you that there are no secret hide-outs.”
Looking at the investigator in front of him, Wang Peng’s eyebrows frowned slightly.
The building of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation had been searched, including the companies that had a partnership with them. But there wasn’t a trace of Academician Lu.
Maybe…
He was transferred outside of Mars?
This doesn’t make sense…
The spaceport in orbit was still under the control of the Third Orbital Airborne Brigade. Forget a living person, even a fly couldn’t leave the colony.
Seeing the two whispering, Gladstone stepped forward and spoke in a dissatisfied tone.
“Whatever foundation you’re talking about or Academician Lu, I don’t know anything! All I know is that you broke into my home without a court search warrant, and you made a mess here… Listen, for what happened today, I need an explanation!”
Wang Peng glanced at him and was about to say something, but at this moment, an agent of the Security Bureau came over with something.
It was a virtual reality helmet. The style was quite old, and judging by the traces of paint falling off the surface, it had to have been passed down from decades ago.
“Sir! We found this thing in his study room.”
Gladstone looked in the direction of the person, and the moment his gaze fell on the helmet, his face instantly lost color.
This is the key to the “meeting room”!
The admission ticket to the highest level of The Spirit of The Universe Foundation!
But…
Why is it here?
Impossible, he clearly remembered that he hid it in a secret place. This place was in a secret area of his office instead of his home.
What is going on?
After capturing the changes on his face, Wang Peng raised his eyebrows.
“This is yours?”
Gladstone squeezed a smile on his face and explained stiffly, “This is just a gaming headset… I personally like to play games, so I collected this first-generation device. It’s not cheap, so be careful…”
“I will be careful. After all, this is important physical evidence.”
Gladstone was extremely nervous when Wang Peng smiled lightly. Too lazy to deal with him anymore, he reached out his hand directly to the agent.
“Give it to me.”
Wang Peng took the helmet over in his hand and weighed it. He then put it on his head without hesitation.
Because Wang Peng’s actions were so sudden, even if Gladstone wanted to stop him, he had no time to react. He could only watch his secrets being exposed in front of him…
Soon after, Wang Peng took off the helmet and threw it back into the detective’s hands.
Looking at the completely pale Gladstone, Wang Peng suddenly smiled.
“You are under arrest.”
