Around noon the next day, when Exusiai—who had been playing games all night—walked out with sleepy eyes, she found that her sister and Jeanne had already left, leaving only a small note to inform her.
"Ugh~ what are those two doing, acting all mysterious all day?"
Exusiai muttered to herself. She could certainly guess that her sister and Jeanne coming here was definitely not as simple as just visiting her; they must have some important mission on their hands.
"You're awake? Hurry up and get ready! I heard there's an urgent internal order for Lungmen today; Emperor handed it over to us."
Croissant's words from the side snapped her back to reality. It seemed her vacation was over, and now she had to start her busy work as well.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Jeanne and Lemuen drove to the entrance of a company and were personally received by the company's management. Information about this company had actually been given to them by the Ursus Emperor, Fyodor; the management of this company was loyal to him, serving a purpose similar to that dessert shop hidden in Chernobog.
"Ms. Jeanne, we have already received the notification from above. We will mobilize all our forces here to assist you in your investigation."
The person meeting them looked at Jeanne and her companion with an expression of pure adoration, as if they had done something world-shaking—a look that Jeanne found somewhat difficult to comprehend. In the eyes of these contact personnel, Jeanne was practically an existence that had accomplished the impossible, equivalent to a hero!
They had received messages from their superiors several times saying the Emperor was sending investigators to Lungmen and telling them to prepare for cooperation. But the result? Every single time, they lost contact with the investigators, followed by news of their deaths. What was terrifying was that those people hadn't even made it out of Ursus territory!
The higher-ups had begun to suspect there was a mole among them; otherwise, why would the investigators die every time after information was passed to them? Eventually, they simply stopped telling them everything, letting as few people as possible know the news, choosing to meet in secret instead.
In this way, after losing several more investigators, three successful investigators finally arrived here. Unfortunately, those three also passed away one after another for unknown reasons. There was even one person who had managed to infiltrate a smuggling gang but died inside the Guard Department before the investigation even began!
By now, how could they not know they were exposed right under their opponent's nose? The only thing that could save them now was the two outside reinforcements in front of them. This was no longer just about loyalty to the Emperor; there was also the hope that Jeanne could sweep up the opponents in one go, allowing people like them to avoid a future of being killed.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Chekhov."
Jeanne smiled and expressed her gratitude to the bear-like burly man in front of her. However, judging by his "looking at a savior" expression, she suspected the things they could actually accomplish might be quite limited.
"So, I wonder if you have any news regarding this smuggling incident? Or did the previous investigators find any valuable intelligence after they arrived here?"
Hearing Jeanne's question, the burly Ursus man in front of them lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly. As a company that had developed within Lungmen for quite a few years, they actually didn't have many investigative tasks. Their work consisted more of vigorously developing the company's internal business and monitoring Lungmen's operational routes, while carrying out intelligence work on the side.
"I'm sorry, we may have already been discovered by those smuggling forces. They have been rooted in Lungmen for much longer than us, which has limited our sources for obtaining valuable intelligence."
Hearing Chekhov's words, Jeanne felt something was not quite right. The forces under those nobles had been here so many years earlier than them? Wasn't that a bit too exaggerated?
"Are you sure? But there shouldn't have been a reason for those people to infiltrate here so early, right? How could those nobles send so many people here without being discovered by the local forces?"
Jeanne wasn't quite aware that it had only been about twenty years since this city completely expelled Kashchey, the ally of those nobles. Given how much this city targeted forces related to Ursus, how did they manage to hide here so discreetly?
"Regarding this point, I'm not too sure either. But as far as I know, they might have arrived here even a bit later than us. Yet looking at it now, their growth speed has been too fast."
Perhaps he really wasn't suited for the work of building an intelligence network? Letting a group of latecomers force him to this point could be considered quite pathetic. But Jeanne felt that things were not as simple as they knew. Even if these people were truly bad at intelligence work, how did those other people cause trouble right under the Rat King's nose?
Jeanne wouldn't think the Rat King was just the kind old man he was when talking to her; as the saying goes, the dark corners of Lungmen were the Rat King's domain.
"There was indeed one investigator who discovered a batch of military weapons in the hands of a smuggling gang. He found a way to join that gang, but unfortunately, he was sacrificed after being caught."
Looking at his sorrowful expression, it seemed this incident had hit him quite hard. Fearing the fallout of this matter, this gentleman probably even had thoughts of committing suicide in advance. Only now did Jeanne learn that among those who had clashed with Exusiai and the others, there was actually an undercover agent? And he was dealt with inside the Guard Department? This could already be seen as contempt for the LGD.
"Are there any records of theirs? Like logs or notebooks? I want to see what information those three investigated before they died and what they did before the incident."
Jeanne guessed that these warriors who dared to come to Lungmen might have already disregarded their own lives when they arrived, so they would surely leave some clues for those who came after.
"Yes, yes, it's just that what those few wrote is a bit much. If you want to check it, please follow me to the room!"
With that, the burly Ursus man stood up to lead the way. Jeanne and Lemuen rose to follow him to the residence of those individuals. Before leaving, Jeanne intentionally or unintentionally glanced at the wall behind them. But only a moment later, Jeanne and Mr. Chekhov disappeared into the hallway.
"Are we really going to pin our hopes on these two little girls? They aren't even soldiers loyal to the Emperor! That Sankta girl alone explains everything!"
If Jeanne had thrown a punch at the wall behind her just now, she would have discovered that what was behind her wasn't a wall at all, but a special one-way glass made to look like one. Inside the glass stood two Ursus who looked to be of considerable age; the hair on their heads had thinned, and in some places, it had turned completely white.
These two were the actual managers of this company and the highest-ranking officials for all members dispatched to Lungmen by the Emperor.
Codenames: "Pangolin" and "Vodka."
At this moment, Pangolin looked in the direction where Jeanne and her companion had left and asked his colleague Vodka beside him. To be honest, he simply couldn't believe these two girls had the ability to change the situation, and believing in them was almost equivalent to sending them to the mouths of those jackals to die. If his old partner hadn't stopped him just now, he probably would have kicked those two little girls out the front door by now to prevent them from pointlessly sacrificing their lives.
"My dear old friend, why do you think the Emperor specifically sought these two to take over the work after sacrificing so many people?"
Vodka was a burly Ursus man with a slight underbite. When Pangolin saw his gray hair, he could recall how handsome that head of black fur had once been. Back then, he could charm almost any noble lady in Deity Grypherburg; he could have had a chance to reach the heavens with just a nod of his head!
"For what? Naturally, he wants to dig out the hidden claws of those wretched nobles! But the interest groups entangled behind those people are numerous; we simply have no possibility of digging them out!"
In fact, one thing Pangolin hadn't told the employees below was that he had long ago received a recruitment letter from the nobles, and the check tucked inside was for a figure he simply couldn't refuse!