Is the Gemini Bureau still operating normally?
Upon hearing the middle-aged flower man’s words, Leon couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback.
Leon and Nicole had imagined many outcomes for the Gemini Bureau, such as partial escape, complete capture, or even total annihilation, but they never considered that the Gemini Bureau could still operate normally.
After all, Atifei-01 had directly "attacked" the Gemini Bureau and seemingly taken control of the Crolock Kingdom’s royal family, almost openly opposing the Clean-up Bureau. Why keep those Cleaners around?
"Are the people at the Gemini Bureau being controlled?"
After pondering for a while, Leon could only come up with this one possibility and tentatively asked:
"For example, did they have something strange implanted in their brains, or were they influenced by some abnormal object? Or maybe the relatives they care about are residents of the Crolock Kingdom and were directly captured?"
The two flower men shook their heads in unison, and then the older flower man spoke:
"Director Edward thought about capturing someone from the Gemini Bureau for questioning, but none of us are good at that, nor do we have the ability to erase memories afterward. Doing so would definitely alert the other side.
Considering that the situation with the royal family is still unclear, Director Edward temporarily abandoned this plan and decided to first determine the royal family’s situation and the location of Atifei-01’s main body."
"Do you have any results? Have you determined the situation with the royal family?"
The two flower men exchanged a helpless glance and said:
"The geography of the Crolock Kingdom is too complicated, with over eight hundred districts that frequently change. Mona’s ability consumes a lot, and the director and the team spent several days but only investigated about thirty districts.
And the worst part is, the Crolock Kingdom will hold a celebration in a few days, at which time most of the districts will rearrange and reposition. The districts we’ve investigated will likely be all for nothing once they move."
So you basically did a pointless investigation?
Leon shook his head in extreme frustration, then carefully inquired about the progress made by the Scorpio Director and frowned:
"Senior, with Director Edward’s current method, it’s taking too long, and whether it’ll succeed largely depends on luck. If unlucky, you might keep being stalled indefinitely."
"Director Edward has mentioned similar concerns."
The middle-aged flower man nodded and said helplessly:
"However, after discussing, we truly couldn’t come up with a better approach. Considering the royal family members of the Crolock Kingdom may already be controlled by Atifei-01, we opted for a more gradual approach to avoid provoking it and risking the royal family getting hurt."
Come on, with an investigation relying solely on luck, you’ll be probing until the Watcher’s Palace is in ruins if you want to find anything.
"Seniors, my words might sound harsh."
In response to the slightly tense expressions of the two flower men, Leon frowned and said:
"But your method definitely won’t work. I even suspect the other side has already noticed you and is stalling for time.
So, I hope you can help me contact Director Edward so I can discuss and see if we can try my method first."
"Well... that could work."
After exchanging a look, the middle-aged flower man propped himself up on the petals on both sides, climbed out of the green plant onion-sized bulb, dug a small hole in the flowerpot, and placed a tiny seed inside.
He then covered the soil back and took out a miniature watering can from somewhere, sprinkling some water over the seed.
With a barely audible sound, a plant with short, soft hairs on its stems sprouted, gently poking through the soil. In Leon’s surprised gaze, it coiled around the edge of the flowerpot, unfurling a bud toward him.
Is this... a morning glory?
Watching the plant, which completed its entire growth and sprouted numerous pink, red, and purple trumpet-shaped flowers in less than two seconds, Leon blinked in amazement. Then, at the middle-aged flower man’s gesture, he bent down and tentatively spoke:
After a "delay" of several seconds, the closest morning glory to Leon actually emitted the surprised voice of the Scorpio Director.
Wow, not only can they shrink and hide in a flower, but they can also use a morning glory as a speaker. This is quite an interesting ability.
Taken aback, Leon glanced at the middle-aged flower man in his leafy attire and responded:
"Of course I know it’s you."
The Scorpio Director’s voice, sounding a bit puzzled, came from the other side of the morning glory:
"But aren’t you supposed to be just off the Sky Clipper, dealing with the Foreign Minister? Why suddenly contact me?"
"I managed to send the Foreign Minister away, and after exchanging with..."
Glancing at the two flower men, Leon continued:
"After exchanging with the seniors, I sensed something was off, so I wanted to discuss whether we could change our investigation method."
Want to change the investigation method?
After listening to Leon, the Scorpio Director across the morning glory went silent for a few seconds before speaking:
"The reason is... we might have already been exposed."
Recalling the common knowledge about the Crolock Kingdom learned from the female journalist, Leon frowned slightly and said:
"The seniors just told me that the investigation was abnormally slow due to frequent district changes in the Crolock Kingdom. However, while it’s true these districts move frequently, it shouldn’t be this excessive."
"In detail, among the six types of districts in the Crolock Kingdom, the areas for living, residential, administrative, and research have relatively stable personnel flow, so there’s usually little need for them to move.
Only the production and military areas frequently change positions due to significant raw material and goods movement, requiring frequent realignment with areas like the spaceport."
Other than the production and military areas, the other districts shouldn’t move frequently?
After listening to Leon, the Scorpio Director on the other side of the morning glory briefly recalled the condition of the investigated districts over the past few days, his brows instantly furrowing.
Districts that usually don’t move were suddenly shifting positions frequently, which could only mean one thing: to slow down their investigation process. The initially covert investigation was very likely already being observed.
"I understand your point."
Judging that their actions were likely exposed based on Leon’s information, the Scorpio Director paused briefly and then said decisively:
"I plan to secure a ’safety net’ first."
After pondering for a moment, Leon said:
"The worst-case scenario for the bureau would be if the Crolock Kingdom’s royal family were wiped out, reducing the effectiveness of the Watcher’s Palace.
Since we now have the status of a diplomatic mission, allowing us lawful contact with the royal family of the Crolock Kingdom, we might as well avoid the worst outcome and seize the opportunity to catch a few royal family members first!"