bookandnovel Chapter 141 The Storm in Tinggen
Chapter 141 The Storm in Tinggen
Chapter 141 The Storm in Tinggen
Since the corruption scandal broke out in the Department of Defense, MI9 and the military's internal oversight departments have taken direct control, and newspapers have been filled with eye-catching news every day since.
As the news gathered, everyone gradually focused their attention on one person, and now the entire Kingdom of Rune knew about one thing.
That was a master swindler who possessed multiple disguises and was skilled at disguise. He managed to swindle the entire procurement department of the Ministry of Defense, ultimately leading to the largest corruption case in the Kingdom of Rune.
As a result, Defense Secretary General Merlin resigned, several people within the Ministry of Defense were taken away from their work posts, and an investigation team was dispatched to Pritzker Shipyard for a full investigation.
As the investigation deepened, key figures in Ruen received secret investigation reports from MI9.
The report concludes that the mastermind behind this corruption scandal in the Ministry of Defense was actually a fortune teller from the Eighth Bureau of the Homeland Security Committee of the Republic of Intis, a Sequence 6 'Faceless Man'.
His mission was to corrupt the upper echelons of the army and shipyard, gather relevant intelligence, and retaliate against the Kingdom of Rune for seizing Byron City from Intis.
King George III was furious and dismissed Lieutenant General Grant, the head of MI9, from his post. He also ordered MI9 to find this unknown fraudster and give the kingdom an explanation.
These events had nothing to do with Tingen, which was far from Backlund, but the final identity of the big swindler revealed in the newspapers was that of the businessman, Laneus, who had recently stirred up a lot of trouble in Tingen.
When the Tingen Candor newspaper reprinted an exclusive article by Carl Woodward, a reporter from the Daily Observer, it caused an uproar in Tingen.
At the end of the report, Carl Woodward added a note: "Our reporter inquired with a Department of Defense spokesperson about whether Laneus was the final identity of that notorious conman, but as of the time of this report's publication, there has been no response."
This statement offers the last glimmer of hope to those who read the report, since there has been no official confirmation.
However, the final attempt to appease them was unsuccessful. Everyone who saw the report, everyone who still held shares in Lanruus Company, or any related companies, flocked to Lanruus Company's headquarters in the western part of Tingen City, all hoping to get their money back, or still clinging to a sliver of hope to sell their shares to the middlemen who had previously acquired them.
But the reality was devastating. When they arrived, everything at the Lanluus Company's premises had been moved. The middlemen who had gathered there joined them in besieging the building's manager, demanding an explanation of where Lanluus had gone.
The building manager kept explaining that he was the one renting out office space, not someone from Lanius Company, and that he didn't know where Lanius had gone.
After a morning of commotion, the deceived people learned that Mayor Dennis and Councilor Maynard had disappeared, with the official explanation being that someone from Backlund had come to understand the situation and assist in the investigation.
But those in the know understand that this is simply another way of saying he was brought down.
This news also shattered the hopes of all those who cited the last sentence of the report, those who stubbornly refused to believe the facts, and those who insisted that the authorities had no concrete evidence.
Suddenly, share certificates scattered by the wind filled the air in Tingen, and people who couldn't accept reality lined up to jump off buildings.
Some desperate individuals even launched a frenzied attack on the city government. After being driven back by the police, they went on to loot surrounding shops and set them on fire. Everyone was venting their despair and desires, and Tingen spent the day amidst flames and riots everywhere.
As evening fell, the troops stationed not far from Tingen finally received orders to move in, entered Tingen armed and took over the city's order, and Tingen officially entered a curfew.
Although the arrival of the army prevented the security situation in Tingen from deteriorating again, the three extraordinary teams of the church had no time to rest. There were too many suicides, and they all had to be dealt with. Otherwise, the resentment that filled the city might give birth to terrible "evil spirits." Therefore, with the help of the army, they had to gather all the bodies of the dead in Tingen and then process them in a centralized manner.
Klein led a group of soldiers into a house in the West End. Although it was not a villa, it was indeed a detached house with its own small garden, and the family could be considered wealthy by any measure.
But in Klein's territory, there are bodies of people who died today.
Having broken into the house, Klein, who had successfully ascended to the status of the clown, relied on his intuition to lead his soldiers through the living room to the dining room next to the kitchen, where he witnessed a scene he would never forget.
The table was laden with exquisite food, and even lit candlesticks symbolizing romance. The surrounding area was decorated with ornaments that only appear during the New Year, creating a warm and cozy scene typical of a New Year's dinner party.
Sadly, all those who attended the dinner collapsed haphazardly at the table, bleeding from their mouths and noses, and fell silent. The hostess and hostess clasped hands tightly, facing each other, while the three children, knife and fork in hand, seemed to be enjoying their last meal.
One of the little girls was smiling as she held her brand-new doll.
Klein looked at the family at the dining table, and after a preliminary check, found no influence from any mysterious force. He then closed his eyes to begin the divination.
"The cause of death for this family."
Klein silently recited the content he wanted to claim seven times before entering the dream.
In the dream, Klein saw the master of the house attend an investment presentation by Lanius and invest 100 gold pounds with some skepticism.
Then came the arrival of Laneus, who became famous in Tingen, with Mayor Denis and Councilor Menasen representing the government.
His initial investment of 100 gold pounds yielded returns of ten to several dozen times.
Seeing the value of his shares increasing, the man couldn't resist the temptation of huge profits and converted all his assets, investments, and houses into cash, investing it all in the venture.
But less than a week later, everything vanished. Standing outside the Lanius Company headquarters, watching all the people shouting "Refund!", the male owner threw away his share certificates in despair and left in a daze.
The husband returned home and told his wife that Lanius's investment was a scam. The two embraced and wept, and finally decided to commit suicide together.
The husband and wife took out the last cash in their house, paid their maid a week's wages and sent her away, then used the remaining money to buy groceries and make one last dinner, which they then mixed with sleeping pills.
They put the children to sleep first, and then painfully forced them to drink poison one by one, simply because they were afraid the children would suffer too much from the poison.
After feeding the child poison, the couple poured out their hearts to each other, then drank the poison together and held hands as they passed away.
After emerging from the dream, Klein stared at his family at the dining table in silence for a long time until an officer who looked like a squad leader called to him, bringing him back to his senses.
"Mr. Klein, is there a problem? Is it necessary to hold any ceremony?"
Today, this officer had witnessed far more than he would have otherwise seen in his life, so he held the officer in the utmost awe for the probationary inspector in the highest esteem, and dared not even raise his voice.
"No problem, let's collect the body!"
Klein's voice was hoarse, as if he had exhausted all his strength to say those words, or as if he was enduring something. After saying those words, he quickly left the house.
The officer in charge breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they didn't encounter ghosts like before, everything would be fine. He then ordered his men to carry the body to the carriage that was following them, just like throwing away trash.
After they threw the bodies of the family of five onto the carriage, the coachman, seeing that the carriage was already full, whipped the horse to turn it around and take the bodies to a cemetery in the suburbs, where professional priests would purify the bodies to prevent any abnormalities.
The departing coachman prayed, hoping the family were believers in the goddess; otherwise, he would have to take them to the cemetery of the followers of the god of storms or the god of steam and machinery, a journey that would take countless kilometers.
After working all night, Klein's eyes were as red as a rabbit's. He wanted to continue working, but he received a forced rest order from Dunn Smith.
When he met Leonard, who was also in a very bad mood, Klein said with a wry smile:
"What have we two done in the past two weeks? All of this could have been avoided!"
I feel like we're 'clowns,' manipulated by a shameless fate. We wanted to save Tingen, but instead, we destroyed their hope for survival and their beautiful lives. Was what we did really the right thing?
Leonard looked at the pained Klein and didn't know what to say for a moment. In the end, he could only say in a hoarse voice, "If we do nothing, then Tingen will suffer an even more terrible disaster. No one who is drowning will give up struggling, even if they know that doing so may make them die faster."
Klein nodded without saying anything more, and ran past Leonard. All he wanted now was to go home and get a good night's sleep.
As Klein watched the wolf-fox leave, Leonard lowered his head and seemed to be saying something, or even arguing, but eventually calmed down and continued to lead the army's soldiers to search the houses to see if anyone had committed suicide at home.
Meanwhile, the storm in Tingen seemed to have nothing to do with Backlund. To the people of Backlund, Tingen was just a small place, and any changes were like a storm in a teapot to them, leaving them with no real feeling.
The military control of Tingen is less interesting than the arrests or suicides of high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Defense. The numerous inside stories that have been revealed during this period have provided plenty of juicy gossip for onlookers.
The chaos in Backlund and the disorder at the Pritz shipyard finally attracted the attention of intelligence agencies from various countries. They also strictly ordered their personnel infiltrated in Backlund to take advantage of this opportunity to obtain relevant information about the ironclad warship "Pritz" at all costs.
Backlund, the city of spies, was once rife with espionage.