Participating Member #1: “He Yishu’s performance in the Mecha Athletic Competition really shocked the entire rune card world, and as far as I know, several major families in the rune card world are now secretly investigating him, which shows the huge impact he has.”
Participating Member #2: “A rune card that can enhance the maker’s spiritual energy is an anomaly that has never appeared in the rune card world, including the other special attributes of those rune cards, all of which are unheard of; I believe that the Ministry of the Army needs to conduct an in-depth investigation into this matter.”
Participating Member #3: “He Yishu was only eighteen years old, before entering the First Academy, he had never shown any talent in making rune cards, and from my investigations, he was admitted by the First Academy on an exceptional basis. Under these circumstances, for him to suddenly display such strong strength in making rune cards is quite out of the ordinary. The military department has to pay more attention to this matter.”
Participating Member #4: “What you guys are saying is very reasonable, but He Yishu is after all a first-year student of the first academy right now. On the premise that he hasn’t violated any imperial regulations, even the military ministry doesn’t have the qualifications to conduct a mandatory investigation on him unless he himself is willing to cooperate with the military ministry’s investigations and research, but that’s obviously very difficult to do.”
……
After nearly half of the people had expressed their initial opinions, Arman’s gaze landed on a middle-aged man sitting diagonally across from him: “Admiral Barton, do you have any opinions?”
Admiral Barton, who had been sitting there in silence, pondered for a while after hearing Arman’s inquiry and slowly spoke, “Every citizen of the Interstellar Empire possesses their own rights that they can exercise, and if He Yishu is unwilling to cooperate with the military department’s investigations and research, we don’t have any qualifications to force him to do anything.”
Arman narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, “So what you are saying is that we don’t need to do anything now?”
Barton replied with a serious attitude, “I didn’t say that; what I’m suggesting is that the Ministry of the Army can first try to send someone to communicate with He Yishu, but if He Yishu refuses to cooperate, even the Ministry of the Army doesn’t have the right to continue to pursue anything.”
Arman stared at Barton for a few more seconds before moving his gaze away and scanning the room once again. “I understand, so next, there is one more piece of information that needs to be looked at by everyone.”
In the next instant, a static image was displayed on the virtual screen. The image looked like a very ordinary room, but someone quickly recognized the scene: “If I’m not mistaken, this should be the First Academy’s student apartment; even after so many years, the First Academy’s student apartments have remained unchanged.”
“That’s right; anyone who attended the First Academy should be able to recognize it.” Arman nodded, and just as he spoke, the static image that had just been there suddenly became dynamic because someone walked into it.
And this person wasn’t a stranger to everyone here, as they had just watched a video of him making a rune card before.
After seeing He Yishu’s figure appear, the gazes of everyone involved in the meeting subconsciously fell on Arman.
The student apartments of the First Academy didn’t have the habit of installing monitors in the bedrooms of the attending students, and from this angle, it was obvious that someone had taken the liberty of installing a full range of monitoring equipment in He Yishu’s apartment bedroom.
Thinking back to the person who produced this video, everyone immediately shifted their focus.
Although such behavior didn’t comply with the relevant regulations of the Empire, if the person who did this was the military marshal, they wouldn’t have any opinions to express.
For some unconventional things, one could indeed consider using unconventional means.
And among these people other than Arman, there was only one person whose expression was different from the others.
Barton realized the seriousness of the problem immediately after he saw this video, but he didn’t show the slightest panic; after all, the exposure of this matter itself was also within the scope of his plan.
But he was likewise unable to make that kind of shocked-with-a-slight-minute-of-embarrassment expression like everyone else, so he could only slowly lower his gaze so that his expression would be hidden.
The video was very short; after all, Arman had no intention of exposing He Yishu’s personal privacy, and after playing the video, his gaze paused for a moment on Barton before he spoke in a deep voice, “You should all be able to see where this video came from, but the one who installed the surveillance equipment in He Yishu’s bedroom wasn’t me.”
Only then did the generals involved in the meeting focus on Arman. Since the marshal had said this, it was obvious that this matter couldn’t have been done by him, or else he would never have drawn a line in the sand and laid out this video.
Immediately after that, Arman had his subordinates play another video, and this video was the one that Qiao An had recorded when he was forced to do such a thing by his father.
However, this video had already been processed and didn’t reveal where Qiao An was; it only recorded his father’s words and actions completely, including his remarks about the Brandt family and the scene when he handed over the surveillance equipment to Qiao An.
After this video was played, the expressions of everyone present didn’t change in the slightest. If it was the marshal personally monitoring He Yishu, they would have been surprised, but if it was changed to the Brandt family, then it was very easy to understand and accept.
As the number one family in the rune card world, the Brandt family’s reputation in the rune card world was unrivaled, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it controlled the lifebl-ood of half of the rune card world.
The appearance of He Yishu was obviously a very powerful impact for the Brandt family and might even directly subvert the Brandt family’s position in the rune card world. Under such circumstances, it wasn’t hard to understand why the Brandt family would try to monitor He Yishu.
Participating member #5 voiced his opinion: “If enough evidence is gotten, the Brandt family is required to pay the legal price for this, and this matter will have a very bad impact on the Brandt family if it gets out.”
Participating member #6 said somewhat proudly, “But the marshal chose to release this video at this time, so he should have other plans, right? Many of the rune card masters equipped by the military department come from the Brandt family, and most of the rare rune cards acquired also come from them, for which the military department has given up a lot of benefits; in this case, this video is a good bargaining chip.”
Arman then turned to Barton once again: “Barton, what do you think about this matter?”
Barton’s fists clenched slightly. Arman had asked for his opinion several times; could it be that he already knew something?
However, on the surface, Barton didn’t reveal the slightest difference. After a moment of silence, he spoke with a normal expression: “If the military department can use this to seek benefits, I am of course very supportive of it, but after all, the Brandt family is the number one family in the rune card world, so it would be best for us not to offend them completely.”
Arman’s fingertips tapped on the metal table, and after a moment, he slightly raised an eyebrow. “It seems that I still have one more piece of information that I haven’t provided you guys with. Do you guys know where the surveillance equipment that the Brandt family used to monitor He Yishu came from?”
Hearing these words, Barton’s hands subconsciously clenched tighter.
Arman’s eyes faintly swept over Barton and continued, “Model CM739 surveillance equipment; none of you should be unfamiliar with it, right?”
Once these words came out, the entire conference room suddenly fell into silence. CM739 model surveillance equipment was commonly used by the Ministry of the Army for surveillance and was only available for military use.
The most distinctive feature of this surveillance equipment was its ability to capture the surrounding signals, as well as its strong anti-detection function.
This set of surveillance equipment was actually used in the apartment of a certain student at the First Academy.
This made the matter very serious.
Arman deliberately paused for a while before continuing, “After discovering this set of surveillance equipment, I directly counter-monitored the information on it, and after counter-monitoring for a period of time, I successfully located its signal receiving end, and the coordinates of the location were precisely one of the Brandt family’s properties.”
Hearing this, everyone involved in the meeting didn’t relax because they knew very well that Arman’s words weren’t finished.
Even if it was the Brandt family, if they wanted to obtain this monitoring equipment, they could only obtain it from the military department, and this would inevitably involve some of the military department’s personnel.
Sure enough, Arman’s next words directly verified their speculation: “But after further investigation, this information receiving point was just a relay station, and the information provided by the surveillance equipment was transmitted to another place after passing through the relay station.”
Barton’s hands were already clenched tightly together, and then he heard Arman continue, “There was a long-deserted vacant lot, and in a thick patch of grass, a signal receiver was found.”
Hearing this, Barton’s hands instantly loosened. Such an outcome was only normal; after all, his plan was very well thought out, and he had hidden himself so well that he would never be found out, but it had to be said that just now, Arman’s eyes did give him a lot of pressure.
But so what?
Even if Arman suspected him, as long as he didn’t have enough evidence, he couldn’t possibly do anything, and in this matter, the one who was involved was the Brandt family, and even if Arman had even more enmity towards the Brandt family, he also had to take into account the power of the Brandt family, so he would never be able to make a big deal out of this matter.
So no matter what, he was absolutely safe.
However, not waiting for Barton to completely relax, he heard Arman sternly continue: “Although it is impossible to determine who the final receiver of the signal is, this matter is bound to be related to a certain member within the military department; therefore, after finding out about this matter, I directly used my own privileges to comprehensively monitor the light device of the Brandt family’s head of the family, Baird Brandt.”
Before Barton could breathe a sigh of relief, he held his breath again at these words from Arman.