Vita and the others asked a few more questions, but Lord Dou rambled and digressed, buying himself plenty of time.
He knew he was going to die, yet he kept stalling. Naturally, that was because he still had a hidden means of contacting the Investigation Team.
Besides his visible communicator, Lord Dou's body could emit a microwave signal.
Of course, he could not transmit an ordered signal carrying information. Other people's detectors would pick that up.
What he emitted was a random signal identical to Sirius's natural radiation.
But the distinction between ordered and random was something people imposed. If a particular stream of natural gibberish was assigned a specific meaning, it became a meaningful, ordered signal.
Although it could not convey detailed information, their Investigation Team had established a protocol: if a microwave signal matching Sirius appeared in the opposite direction from Sirius, they would treat it as a distress signal.
By now, several nearby colleagues had received the signal and arrived fifty kilometers outside Huoling City's Floating Continent.
"It came from Huoling City. That's Little Dou's distress signal, all right."
"Scan for his location immediately. He's in danger."
The investigators scanned the entire city. Just as they were about to narrow down the search, a sudden burst of interference blocked their detection systems! "Huh? Interference of this caliber... who is it?"
"Look! Thunder Pavilion Logistics!"
The investigators were startled. A large cargo spacecraft had arrived above Huoling City.
It came with its own Mobile Shielding Field, directly blocking every detection method aimed in its direction.
This protected its customers' privacy. No one was allowed to scan an anonymous delivery.
"Damn it! Why now?" one investigator said irritably.
"How could anyone in this dump afford Thunder Pavilion's merchandise? Their products are excellent, but they're anything but cheap. It's all