Chapter 1311: 745: So They Weren't Human After All

Chapter 1311: Chapter 745: So They Weren’t Human After All

The Great Sage left.

Gu Hang was still deep in thought.

He neither agreed to Kao’er’s proposal nor outright refused it.

What was there to refuse? The first thing they did was give a piece of information, believe it or not.

The second matter was simply about signing a trade agreement, which for now was at most an intention. Even if it were really to be signed, it would require many rounds of negotiations, involving billions and even trillions worth of trade, with countless details to discuss.

There was no point in refusing or not refusing, business is business. Why not do it?

The third matter, there was even less to say.

They offer you a High Lord, do you not want it?

Gu Hang found that he really had no room for refusal.

And once he accepted it, the relationship between the Alliance and the Martian Sect would inevitably grow very close.

By then, Mars might very well be the Alliance’s largest trade partner, and politically, they had strongly expressed support for Gu Hang as the High Lord. In such a situation, how could the Alliance not respond when something happens?

Politically speaking, it would be unacceptable.

Of course, if one truly lacks any sense of shame, one could still refuse. After all, Gu Hang hadn’t promised anything.

But he suspected that there would always be some reason that would compel him to go when the time came.

The prophecy spoken by Great Sage Kao’er revealed some terrifying content. When it really comes to that point, it might be beyond his control.

…

Things must still be dealt with step by step.

Regarding what the Great Sage mentioned, everything else could wait, but the news that Yasida had once assigned the Assassin Court to assassinate him had to be handled.

Gu Hang didn’t take Kao’er’s words at face value.

Perhaps the Sect of Mechanics had just cooked up some false information to deceive him?

This had to be verified.

On one hand, the Foreign Affairs Bureau people were keeping a close watch on Yu Jinwen.

This man is Yasida’s representative on Holy Terra.

As the Cosmic Domain Chair, Yasida indeed held the position of High Lord, but he couldn’t possibly stay on Holy Terra all the time. The affairs of the Space Domain Government were his foundation.

It’s not only the Cosmic Domain Chair acting as High Lord who does this, even representatives of Interstellar Warriors often do the same.

It’s quite common for high-ranking officials, due to their responsibilities, to be unable to stay long-term on Holy Terra. Generally, such High Lords would appoint trusted aides to stay there on their behalf.

The High Lord would maintain constant communication with their trusted aide, ensuring that this representative fully executes their will.

This position is actually quite important.

In situations where the High Lord cannot be reached, this representative must autonomously make judgments and even cast critical votes according to the High Lord’s intent and past protocols.

To some extent, this representative could be considered a half High Lord. If they went rogue, they could temporarily exercise all the High Lord’s powers by exploiting timing and informational gaps, provided they were unconcerned about the consequences.

For this reason, the representatives chosen by High Lords must be people they can trust implicitly and who would certainly not cause trouble.

Yu Jinwen is such a person to Yasida.

The Devouring Stars Sector President has served as High Lord for twenty-three years now. By comparison, he’s held the position for a relatively long period among examples of Cosmic Domain Chairs serving as High Lords. And Yu Jinwen has been his representative for the past fifteen years.

If Yasida wanted to do something, it’s right to keep a close watch on Yu Jinwen.

In addition to mobilizing his forces to keep an eye on people, Gu Hang also attempted to contact the Assassin Court to verify this information.

Predictably, there was no response.

Gu Hang didn’t get angry.

He turned to Galaraldo to come and consult together.

Upon hearing that it was Yasida’s doing, Galaraldo was quite surprised.

He proposed a very unpleasant hypothesis: Could it be that Yasida was acting under the Prime Minister’s orders back then?

Everyone knows that the reason Yasida could serve as High Lord, and serve for so many years at that, is because his position was boosted by Zebert.

Given that the conflicts between Gu Hang and Yasida were not sufficient to warrant such an extreme measure as assassination, if this matter were true, it might have been commissioned by someone else.

The only person who could commission Yasida is Prime Minister Qi Bodu.

It’s not impossible.

After all, the improvement in the relations between Gu Hang and the Prime Minister began only recently. When Gu Hang received the warning from the Assassin Court, the Reyadoces campaign had just concluded. At that time, it wouldn’t have been impossible for Prime Minister Qi Bodu to contemplate resolving his issues.

But Gu Hang reckoned that the likelihood of this was quite low.

If Prime Minister Qi Bodu truly had such intentions at the time, why would he need Yasida to assign the task to the Assassin Court?

Not going through the Supreme Council is understandable, as bringing it to the council would make things public. However, Prime Minister Qi Bodu himself had much greater authority than Yasida to command the Assassin Court to act. If it was Qi Bodu who gave the direct order back then, what Gu Hang would have faced wouldn’t have been a mere letter, but a full-scale assassination attempt from the Assassin Court.

As the two discussed it further, they found the matter increasingly thorny.

“I’ll go have a chat with the Prime Minister,” Galaraldo suggested, “to sound things out from his side.”

“Alright,” Gu Hang agreed, “but we might not get the information we want. As for Yu Jinwen, I’ll put in more effort.”

“You… you need to be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

…

Yu Jinwen was tied to a chair, his eyes vacant.

In front of him were several members of his office’s core team, who lay collapsed on the ground.

Gu Hang’s foot was placed on one person’s head, his smile playful.

“So… you aren’t human.”

The person under Gu Hang’s foot squirmed, their outer skin appearing to peel away under the pressure, exposing the dermis beneath.

Gray-black in color, with long ears.

This was the Dark Spirit Race.

It was Gu Hang’s first time directly dealing with the Dark Spirit Race.

He had to admit, these ancient aliens possessed unique and advanced technological prowess.

To minimize risk, they hadn’t replaced Yu Jinwen himself, but instead used some method resembling but distinct from Spiritual Energy to keep him in an abnormal controlled mental state that was hard to detect. Meanwhile, they used disguising technology to replace some of the core members around Yu Jinwen for close monitoring.

The Foreign Affairs Bureau’s surveillance yielded nothing for a while and even resulted in the loss of several personnel.

So Gu Hang decided to come personally.

He didn’t possess any special agent skills, but he didn’t need them either.

He followed and then quietly released his Spiritual Energy to carefully inspect the situation.

Honestly, at first glance, even his Spiritual Energy failed to detect anything particularly unusual. Especially with Yu Jinwen, everything seemed fine.

It wasn’t until Gu Hang was very close to someone replaced by the Dark Spirit Race that he realized this was not human.