Target

Some local families in Dongjiang Province had been reported multiple times in the archives.

The accusations covered everything imaginable: land grabbing, market monopolies, bribing officials, even leads involving Star Realm smuggling. Yet every report had ultimately vanished without a trace, with no follow-up.

Several mining companies in the southwest had repeatedly appeared in the archives amid rumors of child labor, illegal detention, and even the murder of investigators.

Yet every investigation had been terminated for "insufficient evidence."

Xu Wuyi went through them one by one, his brow furrowing tighter the more he read.

Every one of these files was shocking.

Yet behind every file was the same status: investigation suspended, insufficient evidence, pending further verification.

He knew what that meant.

It meant that every one of those forces had someone shielding them.

Those shields might be collateral descendants of some great family, officials in some local department with real power, generals from some military district, or even junior relatives of a Grandmaster.

They did not need to personally step forward and do anything. All they needed was to pass along a single word at the crucial moment, and the investigation could no longer continue.

This was the other side of the world Xu Wuyi had wanted to see.

Not the glossy, glamorous surface, but the undercurrents surging beneath it.

The sixth day, the seventh day, the eighth day.

Xu Wuyi still sat at his desk every day, staring at the personal terminal screen and combing through the mountain of archived files.

He did not say another word to the squad members, nor did he assign any tasks.

Zhou Bin and the others were beginning to grow restless.

On the afternoon of the ninth day, when Xu Wuyi went to the break room to get water, he heard hushed conversation