Chapter 1429
The previous emperor, Skyraiser Eagle, had lived in the depths of the Imperial City.
The building was a modern glass structure that was very difficult to climb. Alas, the glass was one-way, only allowing the people inside to look out. The people outside were incapable of seeing what was going on inside.
The previous emperor had been killed on the third-floor bedroom. He had been discovered lying on his bed, his eyes wide open as they looked up at the ceiling, white foam dribbling from his mouth.
The cause of death was a poison that caused cell death. Once the poison was taken, it would take only a few seconds for every cell in the body to atrophy, leading to organ failure, leaving not even gods able to save the victim.
Xia Fan entered the emperor’s living chambers alone. Upon entering the living room, he sniffed once, and then he proceeded to the second floor, third floor, and then the roof.
!!
The previous emperor had been killed five days ago, and his body had been put away in cold storage. The smells on the scene were all mixed up.
When he emerged from the living chambers, all his colleagues immediately surrounded him.
Xia Fan indicated for everyone to be quiet, and then he whistled, summoning all the nearby animals. The imperial city was heavily guarded and usually kept very clean, so even a mouse couldn’t be found.
The whistle summoned the dogs of the imperial city, as well as some birds who were resting nearby, but these animals lived outside of the living chambers, so they could not provide any useful information about what had happened in the bedroom that night.
Xia Fan questioned them about the situation lately, and he came to know that the previous emperor had fallen under depression one month ago. Before then, he had been very healthy and gregarious.
Wu Zhuo saw that Xia Fan could control animals, his cunning little eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Waving his hand, Wu Zhuo called over a bearded Investigator and whispered, “What sort of Beast Control Art is Xia Fan using?”
The bearded Investigator solemnly informed him, “It seems to be the legendary Beast Aria.”
Wu Zhuo was startled, his small eyes widening. “Wasn’t the Beast Aria lost?”
“Indeed. According to the databanks, the last inheritor of the Beast Aria was a criminal wanted by the three Federations, commanding a bounty of 750 million dollars. His nickname is the Ghostface Beast King, but he hasn’t shown himself for more than a hundred years now. It’s speculated that he’s no longer alive,” the bearded investigator confirmed.
Deep wrinkles appeared on Wu Zhuo’s forehead. “If that’s the case, why does Xia Fan know how to use the Beast Aria?”
“Not sure.” The bearded investigator shook his head. “But Xia Fan is definitely worth our attention. After all, the Beast Aria is a top-class Beast Control Technique. The higher its rank, the stronger the high-frequency Aria he can make. It’s said that at the highest level, the Beast Aria can control all beasts in the universe.”
“I see.” Wu Zhuo whispered to his subordinate, “Include this matter in the report. In addition, I need to know everything about Xia Fan.”
“Yes,” the bearded Investigator nodded, and silently withdrew.
...
Xia Fan had no idea what sort of name Hunter Grandpa’s Beast Control Technique had. Otherwise, he definitely would have been more secretive when using the Beast Aria.
Xia Fan’s ability to communicate with animals was shocking to Emperor Eastsea Eagle. The imperial hunting dogs that had been specifically bred to have the best bloodlines acted like Xia Fan’s personal pets!
The hunting dogs were all trying to get in Xia Fan’s good graces, rolling over and exposing their bellies to Xia Fan so that he could scratch them. Even their beast tamers did not dare to act recklessly around those hunting dogs. Just how had Xia Fan managed to do it?
Once Xia Fan had grasped the situation, he stood up and said, “Bring over the imperial city’s steward.”
The chief steward of the imperial city, a fat old man with very white skin, was summoned to Xia Fan’s side.
“Does the imperial city have any Moon Orchids?”
“Moon Orchids? We grow some in the rear gardens.”
“Take me there.”
Everyone followed Xia Fan to the rear gardens. Xia Fan visually estimated the distance between the garden and the living chambers, and then he carefully smelled the perfume given off by these Moon Orchids.
“The scent is off.” Xia Fan shook his head, seemingly confused.
Xia Fan then said to the steward, “I need your help with a few things.
“First, I’ve heard that all of His Majesty’s daily life is recorded. I need to see those records.
“Secondly, gather some men to search imperial territory and the surrounding star system for any large fields of wild Moon Orchids. Remember, wild ones. Mark down the locations and give them to me.
“Thirdly, please take out His Majesty’s body. I need to perform an autopsy.”
An autopsy on the emperor’s corpse!
After Xia Fan stated his third task, the scene fell into chaos. The Eaglites were a very superstitious people. Performing an autopsy on the corpse of an ordinary person was already considered inauspicious, let alone the emperor!
“Why? Why do you want that!?” Eastsea Eagle yelled in shock, glaring at Xia Fan.
Xia Fan coolly said, “I currently suspect that the previous emperor was poisoned to death, so I need to perform an autopsy on the body.
“If a person takes the poison, the poison will be in the stomach. But if the poison was forcefed, some of the poison is likely to end in the trachea or even the lungs as they try to resist. A small amount of poison might not reveal itself through a complete scan. Only an autopsy will do.”
Xia Fan had barely finished speaking when Lang Yonghe spoke up, “Only suspicion might not be enough. All of us believe it’s a suicide, so why do you think different? If you want to perform an autopsy, you had better present some evidence!”
Lang Yonghe had arrived, his face ashen, but the blonde female Investigator was not with him.
Xia Fan had dealt Lang Yonghe a vicious blow. For someone of his status, a few affairs wasn’t a big deal. The real problem was that he normally acted like a stern and proper gentleman.
But now, Xia Fan had torn off his disguise, and all his subordinates knew that the gentleman was just an act. In secret, Lang Yonghe was a womanizer, completely different from what he feigned being. It was truly a tremendous blow to his face.
“You again?” Xia Fan muttered softly.
“Cut the chatter and show your evidence!” Lang Yonghe thrust out his right hand. “Why are you right and all of us are wrong!?”
Xia Fan smiled. “Because you’re an idiot.”
“Hahaha!” Traveling Buddha laughed happily. He loved it when Xia Fan mocked others!
“What did you say!?” Lang Yonghe’s eyes were already filled with blood.
Xia Fan calmly remarked, “Just wait. You’ll soon find out why you’re an idiot.”
Lang Yonghe was so angry that smoke was practically pouring out of his ears. Wu Zhuo was only too happy to see him raging away.
It wasn’t long before the daily records of the emperor arrived. Such men had always had a personal scribe to record their deeds
Xia Fan flipped through the logs. It said that the emperor’s personality had abruptly changed a month ago. On that day, he had gone to the eagle garden on the western side of the imperial city. When he returned, he had a nasty expression and had shut himself in his room.
...
Xia Fan immediately headed to the eagle garden, which was a giant golden cage twenty-five kilometers across and ten kilometers high. Seventeen pureblooded hunting eagles were being raised inside the cage.
Eaglites had the eagle as their totem, and the seventeen hunting eagles were considered priceless treasures of the empire.
In order to avoid these hunting eagles mixing with other kinds, they were locked in a cage, but for fear that they would lack physical activity, the eagle garden was constructed on a huge scale.
Ink Eagles was their species name. They had pitch-black feathers like ink, and even their claws, eyes, and beaks were black. No other shade of color could be found on their bodies.
The largest hunting eagle had a wingspan of twenty-five meters, like a legendary Peng!
“What did the emperor do at the eagle garden that day?” Xia Fan asked.
The steward quickly replied, “These Ink Eagles were His Majesty’s beloved pets. He would feed them every day. As they were all raised by His Majesty since they were chicks, the Ink Eagles consider him their only master. Anyone else who dared to approach would be slain by the Ink Eagles. Servants don’t dare go into the eagle garden.
“His Majesty was in a good mood that day, taking four small deer with him into the eagle garden, and only emerged after the Ink Eagles had their fill. But when His Majesty came out, he had a dark expression. He had all of the guards of the eagle garden beaten and then fired them.
“The current guards of the eagle garden have been transferred from other posts.”
Xia Fan nodded, seemingly understanding something.
“Open the door,” Xia Fan ordered the steward.
“No! Ink Eagles are savage. An adult Ink Eagle has the combat power of a Star Base rank warrior and can travel at 150 meters per second. No one can escape the claws of an Ink Eagle!” The steward paled.
“150 meters per second? Quite fast.” Xia Fan nodded. “Open the door. We’ll take responsibility if anything happens.”
The steward frowned and looked to Emperor Eastsea Eagle. The new emperor frowned and nodded, upon which he ordered the guards to come forward. The guards formed a line and held up a giant steel net to prevent the Ink Eagles from escaping, and only then did they cautiously open the door.
The door had barely opened a crack when there was a rush of wind, and Xia Fan shot inside at an absurd speed.
“A Speed type!”
Everyone was startled, some people even crying out in surprise.
Speedsters weren’t that rare, but the Speed ability was extremely different to improve. High-ranked speedsters had always been extremely rare.
Xia Fan’s explosive speed had exceeded 300 meters per second! He was an Advanced Starbase warrior!
What did it mean to be an Advanced Starbase warrior?
It meant the Star Domain level!
When a Speed-type reached Star Domain, they were an invincible Heavenly Sovereign!
Xia Fan couldn’t be more than twenty, but he was already close to be considered as a Heavenly Sovereign? How could they not be shocked!?
Bang!
Seeing that Xia Fan was in the eagle garden, a guard hastily closed the door, trembling as he gripped the handle. Although Xia Fan was inside, he would still need to come out, so they would need to open the door again. This made all the guards very nervous.
Skreee~
Ink Eagles were kings among hunting eagles, and were born with savage temperaments. When they saw an outsider charging into their home, they instantly took to the skies. They first made a circle in the air before descending at an astonishing speed, assailing Xia Fan from all sides.
It was a brutal sight!
Those weren’t Ink Eagles! They were Demon Eagles!
They were like ghosts, barely visible black blurs. The guards of the eagle garden broke out in a cold sweat, like they were facing a powerful enemy!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Ink Eagles flapped their wings and lunged at Xia Fan like thunderbolts.
Xia Fan whistled as he avoided the eagle attacks.
The eagles were fast, able to move at 150 meters per second. But Xia Fan was faster! Twice as fast!
His master Hunter Grandpa had taught Xia Fan the nature of beasts. While the Dancer couple had given Xia Fan an incredible movement technique, so his steps and turns were number one in the universe!
“Great!”
“Beautiful!”
His colleagues were surprised, but they remembered to cheer Xia Fan on.
As for the members of the imperial household and the members from the other two Special Bureaus, they were dumbfounded.
Such was the terrifying power of speed. The key was that Xia Fan had both incredible speed and a top-class movement technique!
Seventeen of the world’s strongest eagles attacked in groups, almost completely surrounding Xia Fan. They were going all-out, but they still couldn’t do anything to Xia Fan!
Xia Fan dodged all their attacks. It was like he had a computer program implanted into his brain, allowing him to always see the gaps and identify the openings so that he could elegantly dodge them.
As the minutes went by, while Xia Fan was safe, he was starting to get a little nervous. This was because his beast-controlling technique was not that effective.
These were top-class predators, not mice in the sewers or rabbits in the fields!
They had a savage nature, and Hunter Grandpa had said before that the more savage the creature, the harder to control it was.
What should he do now?
The case was very important and needed to be solved, but these close-minded Ink Eagles weren’t giving Xia Fan any face. Even though they had exchanged one hundred rounds, they still showed no signs of giving up.
Wu Zhuo chuckled and whispered, “It seems like Xia Fan’s Beast Aria still can’t control Ink Eagles!”
Lang Yonghe, who loathed Xia Fan by now, gnashed his teeth. He was cheering, but for the Ink Eagles instead of Xia Fan. He hoped that the eagles would kill Xia Fan and be done with it.
As for Xia Fan’s colleagues, they had lost their joy and were starting to worry for Xia Fan.
Suddenly, the scene in the cage suddenly changed!
Xia Fan stopped dodging. Putting power into his legs, he jumped into the air and punched at one of the adult Ink Eagles!
“This is what you get for not listening!” Xia Fan shouted.
Bang!
The punch struck the Ink Eagle in the head, and although there wasn’t a lot of power behind it, it still made the eagle see stars.
Its head dizzied, it lost its balance and dropped from the sky.
“This is what you get for not listening!”
“This is what you get for not listening!”
Xia Fan stopped hesitating, his fists flying!
He was giving the Ink Eagles a good thrashing!