36: Missing plane

After listening to these people, County Magistrate Geng Yun sighed slightly and said, "This County understands the feelings of all the Family Heads. The nature of this incident is indeed extremely vile. Although that Fusang People has been captured, he remains arrogant and infuriating! This County also wants to behead him publicly as a warning, but…"

"But what?!" Ye Yuhuang asked urgently.

"Brother Ye, you may not know, but Fusang Country is supported by Snow Eagle Empire, and its strength has grown rapidly in recent years. A new Martial Commander has even emerged within their country recently!"

"What?!" Everyone was shocked to hear this.

As soon as this news came out, Ye Yuhuang and the others' expressions immediately darkened, feeling a slight sense of unease.

For those who held power, they naturally understood what Geng Yun's words implied. On Blue Star, Martial Commanders were basically the highest cultivation level openly acknowledged in the Martial Dao of various countries. Only experts of the Martial Commander level were qualified to enter the ranks of major powers and strong nations, and the number of Martial Commanders signified the strength of that nation's national power.

Currently, on Blue Star, the four strongest nations in terms of overt national power were Snow Eagle Empire, Battle Bear Empire, Flying Lion Empire, and Great Ming Empire. According to available data, they possessed twenty, nineteen, eighteen, and eighteen Martial Commanders respectively, forming a situation where four First-Tier Empires led all other nations. Beyond these four First-Tier Empires, there were numerous Second-Tier Empires, Third-Tier Empires, and smaller countries. Due to their weaker strength, these countries adopted strategies of forming alliances or clinging to powerful nations for mutual support, seeking opportunities for survival and development.

What Ye Yuhuang and Luo Pingchuan and others did not expect was that, although Fusang Country was rumored to be closer to Great Ming, they did not come to cling to Great Ming's leg. Instead, they allied with Snow Eagle Empire. Moreover, they not only already had Martial Commanders, but now they had a new Martial Commander, indicating their strength was rapidly increasing. In this case, wanting to make an example of the Fusang People would likely not be as simple as just doing it. After all, in today's Martial Dao world, everything depended on strength. If it required the involvement of a Martial Commander, that would absolutely be a major national affair. The small Fengyang County was not qualified to make such a request to Great Ming Empire. And if Fusang Country was determined to rescue this culprit, then what should Fengyang County do?

"County Magistrate, has this news been confirmed?!" Ye Yuhuang asked, pressing the matter with a stiff upper lip.

Geng Yun nodded and said, "Absolutely! The superiors have already conveyed the intentions of South Capital Yingtian Prefecture to me, stating that this matter involves the Empire's diplomatic level, and the culprit must be escorted to Yingtian Prefecture, where they will negotiate with Fusang Country!"

"Negotiate?! Is Yingtian Prefecture planning to hand this culprit back to Fusang Country?" Ye Yuhuang asked incredulously.

"That... it certainly won't be handled so simply. I estimate they will demand some compensation from Fusang Country. After all, little nephew Ye He only suffered severe injuries and did not perish. If Yingtian Prefecture considers the issue of diplomatic peace, demanding compensation is more likely!" Geng Yun mused.

"Is that so? Then didn't little He suffer for nothing? He is now a cripple; whether he can recover fully depends on fate..." Ye Yuhuang said angrily.

Geng Yun quickly waved his hand and said, "Brother Ye, calm your anger. This is just my personal speculation. Perhaps the superiors' intention is the same as yours, to behead the culprit to establish authority. However, the superior's order has just been issued. This culprit is not someone we can touch now. He must be escorted to Yingtian Prefecture. Not doing so would be an act of defiance, and the consequences are likely beyond what we can bear..."

"This..." Ye Yuhuang and the others exchanged glances, momentarily speechless, a surge of resentment blocking their chests...

They never expected that the culprit was right before their eyes, yet they couldn't touch him, and even had to send him away. Who knew what would happen later?

If the superiors, for the sake of diplomatic peace, used him to demand some compensation to calm things down, then Ye He would truly have suffered that palm for nothing...

The County Government meeting naturally ended unhappily, but what happened afterward was something even the attendees dared not imagine...

A few days later, a shocking piece of news spread on the Martial Arts Home forum: Fengyang County dispatched a special plane to escort the Fusang People culprit to South Capital Yingtian Prefecture, but something went wrong midway, and the plane disappeared without a trace!

One stone stirred up a thousand waves...

This matter first spread within the Martial Dao circle. Subsequently, due to the continuous demands from the families of the prisoners and accompanying personnel on the special plane to the County Government to find the people as soon as possible, insisting on seeing them alive or finding their bodies, and with some people exposing the matter on other media, this incident quickly spread among the Mortals!

In addition, the occurrence of this incident also put other special investigation teams, where similar attacks on Genius youths had occurred, on high alert. Most of these special teams had not yet caught the culprits, but if it was confirmed that Fusang People were responsible for all of them, then attention must be paid to the final stage of escorting the prisoners. If they did not want to disappear without reason midway, it would be best to detain them on the spot or deal with them directly...

After the incident, the Fengyang County Government immediately became the center of focus for major media outlets and the public. Reporters rushed from all over to dig for information. The reason Fengyang County Government was targeted was because most people believed that unless the plane itself had a quality issue, something must have gone wrong here, and it was very likely the work of an inside traitor!

This speculation was actually quite reasonable. After all, the news of the Fengyang County Government escorting the culprit was extremely secretive. Even if someone knew in advance, they would still need to further ascertain the exact escort time, as well as the strength and equipment of the escort personnel, and so on. All this information would almost certainly not be easily obtained unless there was an inside traitor.

Furthermore, such a large target as a plane disappeared without a trace in broad daylight, with its whereabouts unknown. How many problems and hidden dangers did this expose? Did the plane crash and no one has found it yet, or did someone hijack the plane and rescue the culprit?

Whichever possibility it was, a closer look filled one with immense dread. No wonder the entire Great Ming Empire, from top to bottom, was almost going crazy!

Due to the significant impact of this incident, which also involved Xuan Practitioners, the Southern Division of the Great Ming Jianxuan Envoy Department was ordered to act, dispatching two special investigation teams. One immediately rushed to the area where the special plane disappeared to investigate, while the other came to Fengyang County Government, directly taking over the entire case!

The special investigation team that arrived at Fengyang County Government was composed entirely of Great Ming's Xuanwu Guard. The leader was named Qi Huaiyi, a member of the Qi Family, one of the five super families of South Capital Yingtian Prefecture. He possessed the cultivation of a Martial Ancestor at the early stage, was extremely powerful, and had a certain reputation in the Martial Dao circle.

A figure like him, if he entered local officialdom, could already guard some relatively ordinary Second-Tier base cities, serving as the Family Head or Old Ancestor of an ordinary Second-Tier Family. However, he served in the Jianxuan Envoy Department, which showed how much the officials relied on his ability to solve cases.

Indeed, after Qi Huaiyi arrived in Fengyang County with twenty Xuanwu Guards, he acted decisively. Within a few days, he had a thorough understanding of the entire incident's ins and outs. Then he quickly focused his attention on the County Government meeting that night.

According to confirmed investigations, the Family Heads of the five major families of Fengyang County and their retinues were present at that meeting. County Magistrate Geng Yun revealed at the meeting the news of escorting the Fusang People culprit to South Capital Yingtian Prefecture. Just three days after the meeting, Geng Yun arranged for eight County Government Guards to escort the culprit, along with ten crew members, totaling eighteen people on the plane. Now, all eighteen of these people were missing, their fates unknown...

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