Ch46 - [A chaotic fight] It's time to provide some explanations for your actions.

Lan Jia’s indifferent attitude made Nalun’s impression of him fall to an all time low.

From the looks of the current situation, this Insectoid had snuck into the forest with the Scepter as his goal. And for some unknown reason, he had classified Nalun as an Insectoid spy.

What Nalun needed to do right now wasn’t to converse peacefully with the other. Instead, it was to take him down as quickly as possible and then hand this crafty bug over to the Empire. As for Xi Jin…… He couldn’t help but ponder deeply. Perhaps Xi Jin really was related to the missing Scepter.

Nalun was just about to take out his weapon when a sharp beam of light from the surroundings suddenly lit up the area.

Numerous figures slowly appeared from the dark depths of the forest. They all wore the uniform of the Imperial soldiers and carried cold particle light guns. They had been concealed in the forest in ambush for who knows how long.

Diya threw away the sword in his hand that was specifically used for the competition and walked towards the three people. He stopped 10 meters away.

“Ah, your highness. It’s you.” He bent down and bowed, asking: “You’re done conversing with this Insectoid guest?”

Nalun furrowed his brows, asking: “What’s going on?”

Diya shrugged: “That’s what we want to ask you.”

Nalun fell silent for a while and then asked: “Where’s Sirius?”

Diya almost didn’t expect him to ask about Sirius so quickly. He looked somewhat surprised as he said: “The Insectoids are attempting to disrupt the Hunting festival. For details, you should ask this friend over here……”

Lan Jia took a few steps back. He was in the process of retreating quietly when he was called on unexpectedly by Diya: “Hey hey, my friend, Mr. Head of the Imperial Guards, we know the whereabouts of your buddy. Don’t you want to stay and have a listen?”

Lan Jia shook his head: “No, I don’t.”

Diya: “……”

Who would Lan Jia’s buddy be? Nalun instantly thought of the Metal Devouring Bug, who was still sitting in his pocket. He suddenly had a terrible feeling.

As if confirming his instincts, Diya continued to say: “I had long suspected there was a spy within the Empire, but I haven’t been able to find out who he was. He was both capable of bringing the Insectoid into the Princess’s birthday party and also escaping safely out of the tightly guarded Langdon street. Last, he chose the most inconspicuous location for a secret negotiation, inside the hunting grounds.

For this, Diya created a list of names, but couldn’t find any strong evidence to drag out the culprit behind the scenes.

Until today……

“Very slippery.” Diya exclaimed for a while, saying: “It wasn’t until now that I was finally able to figure out everything.”

He looked towards Nalun with eyes filled with unconcealed scrutiny.

As a guest of the banquet party, it wasn’t usual for for Nalun to bring some servants while he attended the banquet; that time on Langdon street, this Honored Prince Nalun even went out of his norm to invite Sirius to a meal; now he was even utilizing the huge chaos caused by the Insectoids in the main gathering grounds to attract everyone’s attention, so he could conduct a secret meeting with them inside the forest.

Everything seemed reasonable and with proper evidence. There was no flaw at all.

Even Nalun himself felt like it was impossible to refute this.

Diya said: “Right now the Admiral is currently dealing with the mess created by the Insectoids. He probably won’t be able to return any time soon……”

He just finished saying these words when he felt a low pressure drift by him. A certain person, who he had claimed to be ‘unable to return any time soon’, just swept past him and strided towards the encircled Honored Prince.

Diya: “……”

Lan Jia said out loud: “Stop right there. I don’t like when people come too close to me during negotiations.”

Sirius stopped accordingly, his gaze landing on Nalun. His expression was calm and composed, without any discernible flaws.

Not long ago, he had received a report from the guards, confirming that an unusual bug-related situation had appeared near the main gathering place. Therefore, he rushed back and deployed some tactics. These tactics all worked, as he expected.

All of the Insectoids that participated in the attack have been captured. Then he rushed back immediately– a certain ill-tempered guy was still waiting for him.

And because of that guy’s impatience, something worse might have happened.

Reality proved that his worries were very reasonable.

“A Metal Devouring Bug, a Mist Bug, and you, Nalun. This gathering is rather unexpected.”

Nalun: “……” He suddenly discovered a very terrifying thing.

Sirius once revealed to him: He suspected that the Insectoids had an insider in the empire. Furthermore, Sirius had teasingly called Big Beard “Mist Bug” this entire time. Now there was one man and two bugs here. It practically fitted the conjecture in Sirius’s heart perfectly.

— The Metal Devouring Bug, who was the culprit of the crime; the Mist Bug, who was devoted to rescuing his accomplice; and the Honored Prince, who was capable of collaborating with the Insectoids to steal the Scepter!

What’s even more terrifying was that: they had even held a discussion in this secluded, dark corner for a very long time, looking extremely like they were deliberating how to implement the next round of their dastardly plans!

Wait a second. Nalun narrowed his eyes, recalling how a certain person behaved in the message device……

A Mist Bug.

A real life Mist Bug had appeared. Sirius wouldn’t have some kind of misunderstanding here, right?

Lan Jia lowered his eyes, a cold light flashing across them. With a raise and wave of his hand, a burst of thick fog spread out and dispersed rapidly.

Due to a certain reason, Nalun just happened to be secretly examining him. The instant he noticed this, he immediately gave a kick to Lan Jia’s calf and then locked down the other person’s lower body with a bent knee.

Lan Jia reprimanded quietly: “Are you insane? Treason is a serious felony in Asha. We can join hands and escape together!”

“Who commited treason? Just because I talked with you for a bit?”

“Even I’ve heard about you colluding with Xi Jin. Do you really think Sirius and his people would let you off?”

“……” Why didn’t he, the person involved, know this?

“You guys are political enemies. He practically wants you dead!”

“So who exactly is Xi Jin?”

Lan Jia instantly looked at Nalun like he was looking at an idiot.

In this clash, the Metal Devouring Bug’s insect buzz sounded: “That’s right. Just who am I?”

Lan Jia: “…….” He finally noticed that something wasn’t quite right here.

The sound of movement came from the surroundings. Something was being shot whistling towards them. Nalun was almost hit. From the corner of his eyes, he discovered tiny thin needles on the ground.

No wait. Weren’t they carrying cold particle light guns? These were extremely destructive weapons that could melt off a huge area of flesh and blood with just a tiny sweep.

How come they seemed to have become tranquilizer guns?

Lan Jia seized the opportunity to escape from Nalun’s hold. He extended his five fingers, which immediately turned into sharp pointy claws and swung ahead of him.

Nalun swiftly backed up a few steps.

The fog hindered his view. He vaguely saw a huge black shape appearing slowly within the fog.

Just at this time, the Metal Devouring Bug climbed out of his pocket with a whoosh.

The ground seemed to shake briefly.

Nalun turned his head and discovered his little friend Xi Jin had started to expand, transforming back to his huge bug form in the matter of a second. Immediately, it stepped forth in front of Nalun and used its body to block the other abnormal Insectoid, who had rushed over

The original form of the Mist Bug……

The colorful bug with three mouths let out a loud howl, as if expressing its displeased mood. The 8 legged Metal Devouring Bug also stomped its feet in fury, its might not any inferior to the other bug. After a silent half a second, the two bugs swiftly became entangled together in a scuffle

Nalun: “……”

The Honored Prince, who observed this for a while, decided to move away from the center of the battle first.

He suspected that after Insectoids changed into insects, their physical attributes increased, but at the same time, many other things also decreased.

In the chaos, Nalun heard Sirius calling his name from somewhere nearby. After a while, his voice sounded once again: “Don’t shoot. Change to a fog dispersing bomb!”

Nalun stood up and retreated towards the source of the voice. He replied saying: “I’m here.”

In the fog, a figure quickly appeared. Sirius walked towards him with a cold expression.

“Didn’t I tell you to wait for my return?”

Nalun: “……. several hours have passed.”

The Admiral stared at him for a moment and then gave an inconspicuous sigh: “Forget it. This is fine too.” He grabbed the rather disheveled looking Honored Prince and walked quickly towards the edge.

Nalun said quietly: “Don’t use cold light guns.”

Sirius gave a gentle, faint smile: “Still trying to protect your Insectoid friend at a time like this?”

Nalun: “…….”

The two people very quickly walked to the edge of the fog.

At this time, a person discovered a huge amount of tiny bugs appearing in the surroundings. They gathered together and confronted them from far away.

“It’s Flake Bugs.” Nalun recognized them. He had a deep impression of this mystery group of bugs, who loved to scare people intentionally.

Sirius took a glance at him and turned to ask Diya: “Any stink bombs?”

Diya: “No.”

Sirius instructed: “Then just use the cold light guns to make a sweep. Avoid accidentally hitting the wrong targets.”

Diya hesitated: “Uh, does ‘avoid accidentally hitting the wrong targets’ include the two bugs inside the fog?”

Nalun perked his ears.

Sirius chuckled: “Of course. We still need to interrogate them. Don’t kill them.”

Nalun: “……”

This was doomed to be a not very peaceful night.

The forest was in chaos. There were an enormous amount of Flake Bugs concealed in the depths of the forest. The level of their species wasn’t very high. The possibility of them evolving into Insectoids was very low. Therefore, this group of genuine bugs didn’t have too many brain cells to think properly. Even if countless of their companions died or got injured, they didn’t know to retreat.

The situation looked rather dire.

However, it was clear to see that the Asha side held the advantage. Flake Bugs were only numerous in numbers. Dealing with them was just somewhat time consuming.

Meanwhile, under the effect of the fog dispersing bomb, the fog gradually disappeared. In the middle of the field, a colorful 3-mouthed bug laid on the ground. A huge 8 legged, black armored bug rode on top of it– The Metal Devouring Bug looked majestic and impressive, antennas tightened in a pleased V shape. However, it couldn’t remain smug for too long……

After looking at the situation clearly with its pitch black eyes, it froze, stunned: The soldiers of the Empire had surrounded them with guarded expressions. All of the exits were blocked completely.

Lan Jia transformed back into his human shape once again. The sudden shrinkage allowed him to successfully land under the Metal Devouring Bug’s stomach.

Nalun’s first reaction was: When these Insectoids transform back, they don’t wear any clothes afterwards!

His gaze shifted downwards. Sure enough, he saw a pale white, long leg.

Sirius suddenly stood in front of him and blocked his view.

“It’ll be your turn very soon.” This was what Sirius said to him: “It’s time to provide some explanations to your actions, Nalun.”

Explanations?

Nalun was forced to turn his gaze onto Sirius. He said dryly: “Before this, I’d like to participate in the last event of the festival. It’s almost 9pm.”

Sirius continued to stare at him.

Nalun: “……”

This commotion from the Insectoids arrived swiftly and turbulently. However, Sirius was well-prepared. Their final outcome was easy to predict.

Whether it’s the group of armed Insects that attacked the main gathering place or the group of Flake Bugs that secretly infiltrated into the deep parts of the forest, both groups were contained in a timely manner.

Just as they planned to take away the mastermind of the attack and the suspects with previous criminal records all in one sweep, the real Head of the Imperial Guards appeared.

He also brought with him orders from His Majesty.

The Metal Devouring Bug was to be personally interrogated by his Majesty, the Emperor. The Honored Prince Charvey will be questioned in the courtroom tomorrow for the suspected theft of the Scepter.

Sirius laid claims on the surveillance job of watching the suspect for the few hours before the start of the trial.

The Head of the Imperial guards agreed without hesitation. He even praised Sirius greatly for his pre-arrangements this time.

When everything was sorted and settled, Nalun was ‘invited’ by Sirius into the cabin of an aircraft. The other people, like Diya, who attempted to follow them were ruthlessly shut outside the door.