Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 26: The Truth Investigation Committee: 3 Lists

Inside the living quarters of the Sailor Valley manufacturing corridor, Zhang Qiming reconnected to the secret link established by Chishiro and exchanged the latest intelligence with St. Sophia.

Saint Sophia also briefly reported to Zhang Qiming on the successes the committee had achieved during this period.

It has been half a month since the Truth Investigation Committee was established, and in that time, the Truth Investigation Committee has made quite a stir on Mars.

The Military Affairs Review Group, the Technical Security Group, and the Loyalty Assessment Group—these three groups conduct intensive reviews of dereliction of duty, malfeasance, and corruption within the military and political system.

So far, the investigation has not uncovered the core clues for Skydrive, but some other issues have been discovered instead.

For example, issues such as receiving salaries without working, selling military supplies privately, the quota problem for prosthetic bodies, and the misallocation of welfare benefits for the lower classes in the church...

Meanwhile, the committee also found discrepancies in the supply and ammunition records of several ground forces on Mars, chaotic authority management and equipment disrepair in some garrisons, and serious corruption among some officers, mechanical priests, and local bureaucrats.

The Truth Investigation Committee followed the trail and implicated many military officers, priests, and local officials.

At the same time, citing the need to appease the public, the committee reopened subsidies for the repair of prosthetic bodies for the lower classes, and even approved the budget for the repair of several underground transportation lines in the Sailor Valley area that had been delayed for a long time.

Therefore, during this period, mainstream media outlets have been praising the Truth Commission to the skies, and the public has been applauding it.

The problem is that these are not what the Holy Cardinals truly want.

The College of Cardinals established the Truth Investigation Committee to investigate the Skydrivers, not to allow Saint Sophia to take the opportunity to rectify domestic affairs and gain popular support.

Moreover, the Truth Investigation Committee was never a one-man show by Saint Sophia. Although Saint Sophia was the highest-ranking person on the committee, almost two-thirds of the members were actually recruited from the College of Cardinals.

They have people in the military affairs review group, they have people in the technical security group, and the loyalty assessment group is even more infiltrated with spies from the College of Cardinals and the General Affairs Department.

For the first two weeks, the Holy Cardinals thought that Saint Sophia, as a chosen one of Ares, would be able to find out something, so they let her do as she pleased.

However, half a month has passed, and no clues have been found about the Skyward Organization. Instead, the internal affairs department has discovered a lot of problems.

This is utter nonsense! I asked you to investigate terrorists, why are you investigating your own people?!

Therefore, the higher-ups began to challenge Hagia Sophia, demanding that the truth investigation committee produce tangible results.

"That's the situation right now."

On the other end of the message, Hagia Sophia said:

"In the past two weeks, the Military Affairs Review Group has replaced some of the rotating staff in the General Affairs Department, the Technical Security Group has also found several key military authority chains, and the Loyalty Assessment Group has screened out some valuable people for me... If I have enough time, I am fully confident that I can gradually take over the military power of the three branches of the General Affairs Department."

"But the College of Cardinals has already started to make trouble. Their attitude is very clear now—the committee is not asking me to take this opportunity to rectify the internal affairs of Mars, nor is it asking me to clean up the mess at the grassroots level, much less to use these trivial matters to please the people."

"What they want is real progress. In their eyes, real progress means only one thing—finding the Skywalker."

"They put pressure on me today under the guise of an internal meeting. If the committee cannot produce a single clue or result that satisfies them, they will replace the committee leader on the grounds of 'misdirected investigation and inefficiency,' which means kicking me out of the committee."

Zhang Qiming looked at the news brought by Saint Sophia, and his face showed little surprise.

That's normal. If those old fogies in the College of Cardinals could just stand by and watch Saint Sophia use the Committee as a weapon to kill people everywhere without doing anything, that would be truly unbelievable.

However, no matter how dissatisfied the Cardinals were, they would never have imagined that Saint Sophia was actually already a fellow traveler of the Skywarders.

From the church's perspective, Saint Sophia was at most using the committee to gain power and prestige, while also taking the opportunity to purge a group of people. No matter how restless she was, she was not on the same path as the Skywarders.

Moreover, Makarov is dead. In the eyes of those old fogies, Saint Sophia's most important card has just been taken away by Skydrive, so there is no possibility that she will cooperate with Skydrive.

Therefore, the Holy Cardinals might suspect her of using this as an excuse, but they wouldn't suspect her of colluding with the Skyward Organization.

Zhang Qiming typed in the terminal:

"What are your plans next?"

Saint Sophia replied:

"I'm still considering whether to use some more violent methods, but while that might temporarily shut them up, it could also draw their attention back to me and make them suspect my relationship with Skyward."

She then sent another message.

"However, the three lists I mentioned to you before have been compiled. Once we complete the tasks on the lists, our initial goal of establishing the Truth Investigation Committee will be achieved."

The next second, a soft sound came from Chiseiro's side.

[New encrypted email received!]

Zhang Qiming raised his hand and tapped the screen.

With a flash of light, a secret document, heavily sealed, was laid out before him. At the top, there were no pleasantries, only three lists hanging silently.

The first document is the infiltration list;

Von Cecil | Guards Fleet Spaceport Duty Liaison Officer | {Priority: S / Current Status: Incomplete}

August Linde | Duty Officer of the Guards Fleet Supply and Repair Department | {Priority: A / Current Status: Incomplete}

Zhou Jiming | Mars Near-Orbit Ship Dispatch Assistant | {Priority: S / Current Status: Incomplete}

Zhao Yan | Underground Transportation Line Dispatch Officer, Mariner Valley Area | {Priority: B / Current Status: Completed}

Oleg Ivanovich | Chief Maintenance Officer of the Second Hangar of the Homeland SA Aerospace Forces | {Priority: A / Current Status: Incomplete}

other:……

These are all key positions that need to be replaced. Saint Sophia has already completed some of the infiltration and replacements. For example, Zhao Yan was taken down by the committee because of a corruption scandal, and she took the opportunity to replace him with her own people.

After reading it, Zhang Qiming clicked on the second one, which was the list to be removed;

Alberto Luciano | Core conservative member of the Holy Cardinals | {Priority: S / Current Status: Pending}

Herbert Klein | Inspector General of the Covenant | {Priority: S / Current Status: Pending}

Zhang Beizhen | Deputy Maintainer of Independent Wetware Network, Guards Fleet | {Priority: S / Current Status: Pending}

Samuel Horn | Guards Fleet Military Law Inspector | {Priority: S / Current Status: Pending}

Romulus Fane | Captain of | {Priority: S / Current Status: Pending}

Marcus von Stein | General Coordinator of Martial Law at Mars Main Spaceport | {Priority: S / Current Status: Pending}

This list is like a roll call by the King of Hell; everyone on this list must die!

Because they are both the backbone of the Holy Cardinals and important core members of the orbital naval force, it means that to resolve the threat of the orbital navy, they must be completely eliminated.

Finally, he opened the third list and began recruiting people.

Anatoly Belkin | Deputy Commander of the Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Mariner Valley Area | {Priority: A / Current Status: Accessible}

Xu Jianshan | Quartermaster General of the Tharsis Plateau | {Priority: A / Current Status: Accessible}

Lev Saviev | Commander of the Test Squadron of the Homeland SA Aerospace Armed Forces | {Priority: S / Current Status: Accessible}

Gu Anning | Archives and Military Merit Reviewer, General Affairs Department | {Priority: C / Current Status: Accessible}

other:……

Zhang Qiming stared at the three lists in deep thought. Without a doubt, the clearing list was the most suitable for Skydrive to handle, since only Skydrive was suited to do such dirty and tiring work.