417 Aftermath.
pAnDa (nov)e1
When everyone was fidgeting about how to face the strike force commander, Shi Lang walked out of his playroom with a faint smile and said, “Oh, why the gloom? Did we not complete this task in style?”
Sparrow replied casually, “Boss if I told sister-in-law that you came out smiling after torturing someone, what would she think?”
Shi Lang glared at her and put away the smile. Instead, he said, “What is the gloom for?”
Jill said, “Boss, the Commander wants to do a debriefing. What do we do?”
Shi Lang clicked his tongue and said, “What else can we do?”
He confused the ace division because they had raided the vaults, and all those scenes must have been recorded in their body cams. They were not allowed to take it off when on missions. Shi Lang said, “Do not worry, the body cams can record it all, and you can report it all to the department, but the wealth will still come with us. What do you think, this amount will even attract the attention of the big four?”
The people realized something. Shi Lang smiled and said, “Sonic, dock with ease. I have everything under control.”
Sonic nodded; the spaceship docked with the station, and the people entered. Shi Lang dragged the old leader of the Ikeras clan like a dog. The people in the strike force had all seen pictures of this man, but at this moment, they were shocked. They could not come up with words to describe this scene.
Shi Lang did not care about the gazes and walked with his head held high. A high-ranking Ikeras officer saw this, and his fists clenched. He could not stand this humiliation even if this man were defeated in battle. He was the leader of a great clan. The Officer stepped ahead and said, “Captain Shi Lang, can you treat this prisoner with some respect? If not for his status, be mindful of his age.”
Shi Lang stopped and said, “Officer, do you know your rank is below me? So first, you do not qualify to suggest me anything. Secondly, you mentioned the age of this person. Well, allow me to tell you that in my eyes, every criminal and sinner is the same, regardless of age or status. You would think the same if you knew what they were doing.”
The Officer was stumped and wanted to say more when a feminine voice sounded, “Private Chald, step back.”
The Officer looked to the side and found Harley walking over with her adjutant, Shin. The private nodded and stepped back. Harley asked, “Shi Lang, what is all this?”
Shi Lang replied, “Commander, what if I told you that this perverted old man loved to bathe in the blood of his clansmen? What if I told you that inside the dungeon I discovered, there is a pool of blood and a data registry of who and how many people bathe in it?”
The crowd gasped, and Harley was shocked. She did not expect this guy to disclose it all to the public. She wanted to tell him to stop, but Shi Lang said, “You do not have to stop me. The main family of Ikeras was not compassionate. They always used their clan members for their benefit and perversions. Boss, do you not think that the righteous soldiers of the strike force need to know what sort of horror they are up against?”
Harley could not spot any loopholes in his speech and said, “Yes, I get what you mean. I did not plan on barring this information, but there is a procedure to bring things out in the public eye.”
Shi Lang shook his head and said, “You overthink stuff like this, Boss. Do you think these brave men and women in the strike force do not have any sense of measure? Do not underestimate their spirits of justice.”
Then without waiting for the lady, Shi lang turned to the Ikeran private and asked, “Officer, even after hearing what this man and his offsprings did to your people, you will treat him with respect?”
The man shook his head while staring angrily at Rakth. Harley held her forehead and said, “Take him to the prisoner hold, and Captain Shi Lang, come along.”
Shi Lang nodded and followed the commander after handing over Rakth to a cell chamber personnel. Shin took away the rest of the team while Shi Lang came to a room where Harley glared at him and said, “Did you think it is good to step on my head? Remember this, Captain Shi Lang. You are nothing but a soldier under my command. You will never act out of your place again.”
Shi Lang saluted her and said, “Yes, boss.”
However, his words did not match the smirk on his face. Harley looked at the room; this was her office, and a few articles were placed on the table. Then, Harley picked up a crystal ball and smashed it at Shi Lang. The young man captured the ball and said in a calm tone, “Calm down.”
His tone was low, but the chill it carried was something that Harley had never sensed before. Shi Lang said, “Do not think I care about the designations you have. The strongest always holds the chain of command, and you are not strong enough to command me. I am very low-key and do not wish to attract unwanted attention. That is why I follow all the commands. It is because they are all in my interest.”
Harley could not believe this was the goofy Shi Lang. The young terran walked up to a port hole and, looking outside, said, “I have transferred you a list of things I found while interrogating Rakth. You can send out teams to confirm this. In exchange, I will keep all the stash me and my team gathered from the five vaults.”
The commander sensed her communicator vibrate and checked the messages. She looked at the back of the young man and immediately assigned a few scout teams to scout the locations and verify the facts. Then, she said, “I must discuss this proposal with the high senate.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “I do not wish to attract any attention to myself or the federation, so please do things with that in mind.”
Harley nodded and imagined that Shi Lang might kill her brutally if she failed. Thinking of those scenes sent shivers down her spine. Finally, she shook her head, woke up from the imagination, and said, “You can rest in the quarter rooms on the station.”
Shi Lang nodded and left the place with calm. He had subjugated the commander with his aura. Now he did not need to worry about anything. The imagination Harley had was something Shi Lang cast by his illusionary eye.
…
It took three days for the entire mess to calm down, and the scout teams also sent back reports that the location of the spots was correct and that they had discovered vast amounts of wealth stored in these locations.
The high senate was not willing to chill the hearts of the team that dealt a significant blow to their old ally and helped them grow their strength to another level. So, they let the ace division keep the wealth they found in the Ikeras home planet.
Shi Lang was happy to accept and then resigned from the strike force and his team. The reason stated was to travel the space with his family; after all, this wealth should be used somehow.
Harley was surprised, and after much thinking, she rejected his resignation and said, “You and your team can go on a long leave, but I would like to reserve the right to call you back to duty if the need arose.”
Shi Lang nodded to this, boarded the ship, and left the Ikeran Territory. The Ace division still could not believe what happened, and Jill said, “Boss, you made a loss. We could have handed over this wealth and raided those places ourselves.”
Shi Lang chuckled and said, “Do you think the old fogeys in the big four are fools? They would have tracked us if they had only received this much wealth. Also, who said I made a loss? Did I tell you all that I also found out about ten spirit stone mines?”
The people were shocked and Crystal opened her eyes wide, as she jumped into the void and said, “Yay, we are rich.”
Shi Lang looked at her with amusement and said, “How come you are involved with us? Are you not a spirit beast?”
Crystal pointed her finger at him and asked in a shocked voice, “Boss, you are trying to burn the bridge after crossing it?”
Shi Lang chuckled and said, “If that helps me save money.”