LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 221 - Even More Ruthless
After the captain and his team entered the interrogation room and scanned the first mercenary, the device immediately displayed a glaring red. Not only the soldiers but even the captain was startled.
As they continued their checks, every mercenary they scanned showed the same red result. The captain and his soldiers’ expressions shifted from shock to extreme seriousness.
Once it was confirmed that all the mercenaries in the interrogation room were marked as dangerous with red, the soldiers administered an unknown drug to them, which Mai Dongzi did not recognize. Then, the captain retrieved a stack of transparent protective bags from the space device, and the soldiers placed each mercenary into these bags.
The captain’s team did not move the mercenaries; instead, they left them in the protective bags in their original positions and placed monitoring equipment around them.
After completing this, the captain and his soldiers exited the interrogation room, closed the door, sealed it with a security tape, and positioned four soldiers to guard the entrance.
Mai Dongzi used her spiritual power to “observe” the mercenaries in the transparent sleeping bags. Their breathing and heartbeats had become slow and regular, indicating they were in a deep sleep. This was likely due to the drug the soldiers had given them.
The captain’s team had uncovered the parasitic beast situation, which caused the military personnel aboard the ship to become tense. Even through the transparent face masks, everyone could sense the gravity of their expressions.
After leaving the interrogation room, the captain headed to the command center and used the ship’s public address system to announce that the military would temporarily take control of the entire ship and conduct a thorough inspection of everyone aboard.
He warned everyone aboard the ship to stay in their own rooms or in the designated areas of the hall and not move. Anyone who disobeyed the order would be killed.
Perhaps the captain’s tone was too severe, or maybe it was because all the soldiers were armed and exuded a murderous aura, but everyone who saw them felt that something extremely serious had happened aboard the ship.
It could also be because most of the people on the ship were civilians and there was no immediate threat to their lives, so they all obediently complied.
In any case, while the soldiers were conducting a thorough search, no one on the entire ship dared to cause trouble or take any risks.
The room where Mai Dongzi was staying was one of the first places to be inspected. It was relatively close to the captain’s office.
The officer who checked her room was a lieutenant. When he saw Mai Dongzi, he paused for a moment before opening his holographic computer, clearly comparing her image to the one stored in the system.
Mai Dongzi could tell from the lieutenant’s expression that he must have received instructions from General Su.
Sure enough, after confirming, the lieutenant saluted Mai Dongzi and asked, “Are you Miss Mai Dongzi?”
“I am,” she replied.
“The Commander-in-Chief has dispatched another starship to pick you up, Miss Mai Dongzi. However, we must conduct a thorough check before you can leave this ship,” the lieutenant said.
“Thank you,” Mai Dongzi responded cooperatively.
The inspection was a necessary procedure; no one could afford to risk bringing a parasitic beast to the military.
Mai Dongzi later learned the details about the parasitic beasts from Lieutenant Chen. This was because she had discovered the issue; otherwise, even though she was Lieutenant Chen’s sister, he wouldn’t have told her.
Among the people on the ship under Wu Youqi’s command, everyone from the Dark Gold Mercenary Group had been parasitized by the parasitic beasts, and five passengers were also affected. However, no crew members had been infected.
This was because the mercenary group had attacked right after leaving the Imperial Capital, and Mai Dongzi had discovered their actions. She saved two military academy students and exposed the incident.
If she hadn’t discovered it, by the time the ship reached its final destination five months later, at least ten thousand people aboard would have been infected.
This doesn’t even include the ships from other space travel companies that were infected.
After the mercenaries from Wu Family’s 1800 spacecraft were found to be parasitized by the parasitic beasts, the security and military departments of the Blue-Black Empire launched an emergency operation.
Within half a month, they had thoroughly searched all the ships and starships of the three major space travel companies.
In the end, they discovered that not only was the Dark Gold Mercenary Group involved, but there were also two other large mercenary groups with similar issues.
These problematic mercenary groups carried parasitic beasts on their ships and targeted specific individuals on board.
The Dark Gold Mercenary Group targeted military academy students, while the other mercenary groups aimed at high-level cultivators, and many had already been infected.
Lieutenant Chen did not mention whether the involvement of the Dark Gold Mercenary Group with parasitic beasts had affected Queen Du.
Due to the parasitic beast issue, Mai Zixuan’s mercenary group was forced to undergo rectification and could not go on missions for a short time.
As a result, Mai Zixuan stayed on Imperial Capital Star, where he overheard a lot of information. For instance, two factions of the Du family were in conflict, with the head of the family suppressing the queen’s father and brothers. The second prince was also punished by King Gujia and “exiled” to a third-tier star.
But that’s a different story. Let’s return to the current topic.
After Mai Dongzi and Zhuang Huaiya were cleared of any issues, they were escorted by the lieutenant to a starship.
About half an hour later, two military academy students, Wang Liri and Zong Qingping, were also brought on board.
It was then that Mai Dongzi learned that these two military academy students were the nephew and niece of Lieutenant Wang, who served under General Su.
Over the next seven hours of the journey, they didn’t encounter any further problems and smoothly arrived at the Third Army’s headquarters.
Although this was Mai Dongzi’s first time at the Third Army, it seemed like every officer she met there knew her. Upon seeing her, they all saluted her and addressed her as Miss Mai Dongzi.
The two military academy students, who didn’t know her background, looked at her with admiration, but it was unclear what they thought of her identity.
What Mai Dongzi didn’t expect was that General Su would specifically wait for her.
Although it had been nearly a year since their first meeting, there was no sense of estrangement between the mentor and disciple. After all, if nothing special had happened, they would have video-called every ten days.
Seeing how quickly Mai Dongzi had advanced in cultivation, General Su’s happiness was unmasked. Her disciple was disciplined and hardworking, and as her mentor, she couldn’t bear to be overly strict with her anymore.
Although General Su’s military duties kept her busy, now that her disciple was by her side, she managed to set aside two or three hours each day to teach her.
Starting from the second day of their arrival at the Third Army, Mai Dongzi entered an intense, devilish training regimen.
Mai Dongzi’s unique cultivation method, which combined martial arts and spiritual cultivation, was beyond Zhuang Huaiya’s ability to follow. He and the two military academy students, all male and at similar cultivation levels, stuck together.
Mai Dongzi’s saving the two military students made Lieutenant Wang deeply appreciative, and he eagerly took on the responsibility of training Zhuang Huaiya.
Lieutenant Wang was an eighth-level martial artist, and when he trained the three boys, it was like hellish training, even harsher than General Su’s methods.