Chapter 133: Another Encounter |
The massive iron warship emerged from the clouds, its pitch-black shadow completely engulfing the City Hall. The appearance of this gargantuan entity left everyone frozen in shock.
Samuel Adams and John Hancock, in particular, turned deathly pale.
"How... how can this be... Why..."
Hancock stared at the warship in the sky, unable to piece together a coherent sentence. The Continental Congress had chosen to meet in Feihat City, far from the ports, precisely to prevent the Imperial Army from launching a surprise raid and wiping them out in one fell swoop. But they never imagined the Empire would deploy an aerial battleship.
Hancock knew such things existed, but the Melisia Region was relatively remote. To them, aerial battleships were like the theoretical space forces of a modern world—imposing in concept, but utterly detached from their daily reality. Now, they realized they had completely miscalculated from the very beginning.
Swoosh! Several thick steel cables shot down from the airship, slamming heavily into the plaza out front. The sudden impact sent the local militia scrambling back in a panic, clutching their rifles with bewildered expressions, utterly at a loss for what to do. It looked exactly like a scene from a sci-fi film where earthlings face an alien invasion.
For the people of Melisia, the difference between the two scenarios was practically negligible.
Next, several diamond-shaped structures resembling drop pods slid rapidly down the cables, crashing heavily onto the ground. The thick hatch doors slammed open onto the pavement, and a squad of burly Ironclad Soldiers stepped out from the dust.
Indeed, they were clad in metal.
"Whoa!"
The sight of these sudden metal giants sent the militia screaming in terror as they scrambled backward. It was hardly surprising; though the Ironclad Soldiers were few in number, each stood incredibly tall and exuded an immense aura of pressure. Combined with their bizarre, terrifying helmets and weapons that clearly meant business, they looked like demons descending upon the earth.
If such soldiers appeared on a conventional battlefield, they could easily paralyze an enemy with fear, let alone these poorly trained militia members who were a far cry from regular troops.
"Lock down the perimeter! No one enters or leaves!"
The leading soldier bellowed the order, then turned and walked toward Levi. Caught in the shadow of this terrifying metal figure, Adams and Hancock instinctively took a few steps back. Compared to these seemingly soulless metal monsters, Levi suddenly looked a whole lot friendlier.
However, the Ironclad Soldier did not even spare them a glance. He marched straight up to Levi and flipped up his visor, revealing a very familiar face.
"Hey, Levi, long time no see."
"Good to see you, Mr. Henry. I didn't expect to run into you here."
Levi offered a slight smile at the sight of the burly man. The last time he had worked alongside Henry was during the Imperial Bridge incident, and this was the first time he had seen Henry operating in his official military capacity. He certainly looked the part of an Imperial soldier.
"Do you already know the details?"
"I do."
Henry nodded, then cast a contemptuous glance toward Adams and Hancock.
"Are these the two traitors?"
"Yes."
"Take them away!"
Without a second word, Henry waved his hand. Two Ironclad Soldiers stepped forward immediately and marched the despairing duo away. It was highly likely they would never return.
"Is everyone else inside?"
"I believe so, but you'd better ask someone else for the specifics."
"Don't put it like that, Boss."
Right then, the main doors of the City Hall swung open again, and a young man dressed like a low-level errand boy sauntered over with a sly grin.
"Your entrance was so flashy, and you've already wrapped up everything important. What's left for me to do?"
Anthony smiled widely at Levi and gave a casual salute.
"You're amazing, Boss. I spent so much time just trying to find a way to infiltrate the Continental Congress, and here you come, storming straight in and crashing the party right in front of everyone. I have to hand it to you, I'm truly impressed."
"It was just an accident. I didn't expect you to be here either," Levi replied with a shrug.
As he said, it really was a coincidence. He had only realized this errand boy was actually Anthony after entering the convention hall.
"Well, I have my own assignment. That's what happens when different departments don't share intelligence; there's always some bizarre mix-up or unnecessary trouble."
Anthony threw his hands up in resignation. Just as he said, Levi was here on behalf of MI7, Henry was clearly on a marine deployment, and Anthony had likely been sent by another department to investigate the Continental Congress undercover. None of the three had communicated beforehand, yet they all ended up crossing paths at the scene.
"But I did get results!" Anthony added quickly, squaring his shoulders and lifting his chin. "Listen closely. According to my investigation, the reason the Continental Congress chose to defy the Empire is that they have a secret connection with the Republic of Francis..."
"I know."
"Huh?"
"On my train ride here, I encountered a Francis snoop. I managed to recover a letter from him written by the Francis Foreign Minister to the Continental Congress regarding a loan agreement for purchasing arms."
"...Where is that snoop now?"
"I killed him in a duel."
"Boss, you're a detective. Why are you dueling a snoop? No, never mind, it doesn't matter. Can I see that letter? Just a quick look! Just one glance!"
Levi didn't mind. He pulled the letter from his coat and handed it to Anthony, who drew a notebook from his own pocket, comparing the contents of the letter while making various marks and notes before nodding emphatically.
"Perfect. With this, we have these traitors cornered by the tail! By the way, Boss, how did all of this happen exactly?"
"Oh, it wasn't anything special..."
Levi gave a brief, casual summary of how he met the snoop on the train, how the man challenged him to a duel, and how he subsequently dealt with him.
After listening to the explanation, Anthony looked utterly defeated.
"For this mission, I stayed in this godforsaken place for half a month, even forced myself to drop my Imperial accent, just to blend in as a common errand boy for the Congress. And yet, Boss, you got more out of a single train ride than I did from all that work..."
"It was pure luck."
"If possible, I'd love to have that kind of luck. Completing a mission while just eating, drinking, and sleeping... where can someone find a deal that good?"
"Mm... true enough."
Strictly speaking, Levi really had eliminated the Phantom Killer while eating, drinking, and sleeping. Thinking back, it had indeed been incredibly effortless.
"Can I take this letter with me?"
"I intend to bring it back to MI7."
"Ugh... alright."
Hearing Levi's response, Anthony reluctantly handed the secret correspondence back. Henry, growing impatient, stepped up and slapped Anthony on the shoulder.
"Alright, we can catch up on the rest later. Lead us inside to round up the targets!"
"Easy! That armor you're wearing could kill me with one punch!"
"Are you coming with us, Detective?"
"I still have some loose ends to investigate. I'll catch up with you later."
Levi waved them off. On his way out earlier, he had already questioned Adams and Hancock about the Phantom Killer and knew the location of the assassin's residence. He had originally planned to look into it later, but since the Imperial Army had already taken action, he might as well take care of his own business now.
"Alright then, please be careful. Our current orders are to lock down the entire city. Ah, but don't worry, if you need to leave, just tell the guards. I'll inform them ahead of time."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it... Alright, let's go, Anthony. I'm waiting for you to point them out to me!"
"Don't push so hard, you big brute, what's the rush? They can't run away anyway..."
Watching the two walk through the main doors of the City Hall, Levi shook his head slightly, turned, and walked down the opposite side of the street.
The streets were currently in a state of utter chaos. Not long ago, one could see crowds bustling back and forth, children shouting out the morning news, and street vendors selling food. Now, the entire avenue had fallen into a deathly silence, leaving behind only deserted stalls and loose newspapers fluttering across the ground in the wind—a stark contrast to the lively scene from earlier.
Evidently, the direct appearance of the Imperial forces in Feihat and the total lockdown of the city came as a terrifying shock to the local citizens. But from Levi's perspective, the Continental Congress had brought this entirely upon themselves. This was the consequence of a total lack of political foresight.
In truth, if the Continental Congress had been truly clever, they would have swallowed their pride, bowed their heads obediently, and gone to the Queen to play the victim and beg for financial aid. As long as they didn't give Her Majesty a valid reason to strike, the Queen couldn't have done anything drastic to Melisia. After all, she couldn't exactly execute the entire population of the region.
By doing so, Melisia would have lost some political autonomy, but they could have lived comfortably by bleeding resources from the Empire. Instead, the leadership of Melisia only saw the current resurgence of the Empire and panicked, thinking that if they didn't secure independence immediately, they would lose their chance forever.
Did they honestly think the resurgent Empire would just let them walk away? The Empire wouldn't grant them independence even when it was on its last breath years ago; now that it had recovered and returned to its full strength, how could it tolerate Melisia dancing in its minefield?
This was no longer the declining nation from a century ago that couldn't even manage its own borders; this was an Empire revitalized by the industrial might of the Steam Revolution.
The current Empire was like the protagonist of a web novel who had just acquired a legendary cultivation manual and a cheat system, rapidly leveling up by the day. If you chose not to kneel and cling to their coattails, did you really have to deliver yourself to their doorstep just to be face-slapped? Now, they had been wiped out in a single move.
Whether the Queen decided to deal with these rebels harshly or leniently from here on out was her business; Levi didn't particularly care. His priority right now was to pay a visit to that small wooden cabin outside Feihat City.