Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Chapter 894 - 516: River Snail Girl (Part 2)

When he said these words, Han Mingqi had not been harmed by the dark energy carrier, indicating that he was telling the truth, the truth as far as he knew.

Shen Jingye continued to ask, "Where did you get Kang Zhenchang’s address?"

"He Jiaqing told me." Han Mingqi’s answer was very clever.

Within his knowledge, this was indeed the truth.

And He Jiaqing had long been wanted by the Dark Star Bureau, so another offense wouldn’t matter much.

However, this trick could fool the dark energy carrier, but not Shen Jingye: "Did He Jiaqing tell you directly?"

Han Mingqi’s lips trembled, making it difficult to answer.

Shen Jingye asked again: "Did he tell you directly, or did someone convey it?"

Faced with a choice between two answers, Han Mingqi could only answer truthfully: "Someone conveyed it..."

"Who conveyed it to you?"

"It was..." Han Mingqi hesitated slightly, feeling as if another layer of skin had been stripped off his body.

"It was Zhu Junlong." Han Mingqi was forced to tell the truth.

"What does this Zhu Junlong do?"

"He, he’s the owner of Tea Mountain Hotel..."

The interrogation came to an end, Shen Jingye exited the interrogation room and issued an order: "Immediately arrest Tea Mountain Hotel’s general manager Zhu Junlong, seal off the hotel, and everyone in the hotel, staff and guests, will be detained for questioning."

For this capture operation, Shen Jingye called in Li Qi.

In the car, Shen Jingye asked Li Banfeng, "Director Li, how was your relationship with He Jiaqing when you were in Puluo State?"

Li Banfeng slightly shook his head: "In Puluo State, I didn’t have much contact with him, so I don’t know him very well."

In this car, there was also a Virtue Cultivation Spiritual Object that could force others to tell the truth, around the Eighth Layer, and Li Banfeng could feel its power.

Unfortunately, this Spiritual Object had no effect on a Cultivator Above the Clouds, and Li Banfeng was indeed telling the truth; he had almost no contact with He Jiaqing in Puluo State, and he really didn’t understand He Jiaqing very well.

This Spiritual Object’s spiritual wisdom was limited, with a considerable gap from reaching the level of a magical treasure. Li Banfeng could detect, using the Insightful Spirit Sound Technique, that it couldn’t distinguish who its master was.

Shen Jingye nodded: "That makes sense. I heard from Chief Envoy Liao that when you joined the ranks of the nobility, He Jiaqing was mostly in Yuezhou,

his roots there are deep, and Tea Mountain Hotel is one of his important bases. This time, we’ve gained a lot, likely being able to capture the whole group in one sweep."

Li Banfeng deliberately asked: "How did you find out about Tea Mountain Hotel?"

"It was the result of collective efforts in the bureau..." As he spoke, Shen Jingye’s right hand reached for the switch beside the car door.

A very ingenious switch, it appeared to be for controlling the car window.

But in fact, this switch had nothing to do with the car window; it was used to control the Virtue Cultivation Spiritual Object.

He wanted to turn off the Judge’s dark energy carrier, otherwise he would also be affected by the dark ability and only be able to tell the truth.

Before he could reach the switch, Li Banfeng put a bottle of water into his right hand: "Little Shen, there’s no need to talk about achievements, let’s discuss specific work, how exactly did we find the lead on Tea Mountain Hotel?"

"This was through our long-term investigations and surveillance, an important result..." Shen Jingye was a bit anxious, he put down the water bottle and again reached for the switch beside the car window.

He successfully turned off the switch, and Li Banfeng quickly turned it back on.

Because Li Banfeng moved so quickly, Shen Jingye didn’t notice at all, and continued talking nonsense: "To prepare for this operation, the entire bureau, three months ago, had already developed detailed strategies against Tea Mountain Hotel..."

An electric current ran through Shen Jingye’s body, causing him to tremble momentarily, he looked towards the switch by the window, and then at Li Qi beside him.

Li Qi sighed: "Little Shen, no need for pretenses, just explain the work more specifically."

Shen Jingye wiped the sweat off his brow: "Director Li, as for the specific work, we’ll discuss it back at the bureau; some content is classified."

Li Banfeng nodded: "Okay, once the operation is over, come to my office."

In fact, even if Shen Jingye said nothing, Li Banfeng could still deduce seven or eight parts of the situation.

Earlier, Big Head left the data room and immediately went to Tea Mountain Hotel, clearly to deliver a message to He Jiaqing.

The message he delivered was an address, instructing He Jiaqing to find someone.

He Jiaqing sent a guy named Han to find this person, which led to Han getting caught directly.

The reason for his capture was simple; the address Big Head stole from the Dark Star Bureau was actually a trap, similar to the nature of the Magnetic Quake Cannon.

The guy named Han went to that villa, frequently scouting without finding anything suspicious, until he triggered the trap, was trapped in the villa, and effectively delivered himself into Shen Jingye’s hands.

Shen Jingye captured the guy named Han, interrogated him thoroughly, and tracked down Tea Mountain Hotel.

Further investigation from Tea Mountain Hotel would ensnare He Jiaqing’s subordinates in Yuezhou, and the Brotherhood Alliance’s influence in the Outside Provinces would be severely hit.

The twelfth-floor data room should be renamed the Twelfth Floor Fishing Pond.

Just like Shen Jingye’s bug-catching operation, it lured in capable traitors through a challenging selection process, and through these traitors, completely exposed the opponent’s network of power.

Li Banfeng was indeed curious to see how extensive He Jiaqing’s network of influence was in the Outside Provinces, but upon reaching Tea Mountain Hotel, they couldn’t find Zhu Junlong.

Shen Jingye had sent someone to scout beforehand, Zhu Junlong had been at the hotel these past few days, why was he suddenly missing today?

Not only was Zhu Junlong gone, but several important hotel staff were also missing.