Side Story: Hell on Earth
Chapter 124
Clues
Liberte sat alone there. The lights were completely off. He did not need anyone's company... except for... that darkness silently accompanying him in the silence... whenever... he wanted to quietly deduce national matters.
This time he was exceptionally cautious, examining everything that happened at the tribute banquet held for the last auditor of the national archives and documents.
The monarch carefully observed Liberte. As the master of the "Hive," he vividly remembered the auditors of years past. Which one of them had not been full of joy and excitement when they came to attend the tribute banquet after completing their assignments? Yet Liberte's reaction was completely opposite.
He was not spirited at all, did not smile, was already taciturn on ordinary days, and now spoke even less, sometimes even being absent-minded toward the monarch's words.
The monarch cut a piece of honey-glazed grilled pork ribs, chewed unhurriedly, and tasted the rich sweetness... just like... he was at this moment facing the exhausted Liberte with the same composure.
He reluctantly answered the monarch's questions, answering whatever was asked. He simply did not appreciate those classic celebratory songs played by the royal orchestra. He reluctantly ate the world's delicacies and drank the world's best wines spread out fully on the dining table, with the table covered in a velvet tablecloth.
He was even too lazy to spare a single glance at those beautiful, alluring female singers and dancers performing fiery dances in the center of the hall. This self-willed attitude... obviously... was meant to make the banquet end sooner.
The monarch gave a faint smile, as if to say that Liberte was the first and only one who had never resorted to sycophantic flattery… when… receiving this honor. You did not even conceal that depressed, world-weary look of yours, greatly dampening the master's mood.
The master of the "Hive" guessed that he might have been wary of them loudly speaking their minds in front of a crowd, as they could easily have carelessly revealed information that had to be kept absolutely confidential, or even sold information for personal gain.
The monarch then criticized the musicians for playing poorly, the singers for singing badly, and the dancers for performing in a manner that displeased him. He waved his hand and ordered them all to leave. The entertainers, their attempts to amuse him having failed, bowed their heads in fear and filed out of the great hall. Seeing that his spirits were still at rock bottom, the monarch asked him in a gentle voice:
"That look of yours is like that of a wilted chicken; compared with someone who has just completed a task brilliantly, you look more like a failure."
Liberte chuckled at this sarcasm. This laughter not only failed to bring happiness, but instead made whoever heard it feel exhausted along with him.
"I should not have brought personal emotions and a sense of oppression to the celebration banquet." - Liberte lowered his head to plead guilty - "Perhaps I should take my leave, so as not to ruin your good mood."
The knife and fork in the monarch's hands instantly stopped on the meat, maintaining an unmoving posture; he no longer carried a teasing intent, but faced him solemnly.
Liberte suddenly stiffened, his feet that were just about to step forward instantly nailed to the ground... beneath that... sharp gaze that had judged, convicted, and punished countless victims.
At this moment... that gaze instead... gave birth to resonance and understanding, along with the desire to fight side by side with this person who had once shouldered national burdens together with him.
Liberte could not be certain what the monarch actually meant... but... at least at this current moment, the other party seemed genuinely and sincerely to want both sides to cooperate in handling this difficult problem.
A sensitive person would even notice a trace of fear in him; if he stubbornly insisted on doing things his own way... it would amount to... disrespecting the monarch's sincerity, and he would bring disaster upon himself and implicate his family.
That person who held the power of life and death nodded with satisfaction... those who knew fear... dared not provoke him lightly. He sat quietly in his original seat, unmoving.
The monarch laughed inwardly at this; this notoriously stubborn and most elusive fellow in the "Hive"... at this moment... also had to force himself to submit to absolute power.
However...
He had just said he wanted to take his leave, and now he did not know how to change his words so as not to lose face. The monarch spoke unconcernedly, as if nothing had happened, guiding the topic toward... normalizing... all awkward situations:
"If the "Hive" is the human body, the national archives and documents are the backbone of this body. In the event that they experience even the slightest problem, the person responsible for diagnosing and treating it must report to me, and must never let it develop into a malignant tumor... thereby harming... the backbone, because then the body will die. Once the "Hive" dies, everyone will be buried in the same grave."
Liberte had never heard the monarch say so much. Being a ruler of a country, he actually uttered such a metaphor carrying deep implications. He truly wanted to understand the situation he grasped, in order to jointly solve the problem. Liberte attentively listened to and analyzed every word the monarch said:
"If a person alone cannot cure the disease or find the cause of the disease, the person responsible for diagnosing and treating it must report the situation to the central authority, and the leadership will fully assist in thoroughly eradicating all lesion sites."
Previously, all outsiders had been ordered to leave, leaving only the two of them in the hall. Understanding each other tacitly, the monarch once again solemnly inquired about major national affairs.
Liberte could not act on impulse; even though his mind was unsettled and his discouragement made him not want to speak anymore, he still had to speak. He reported the matters that the monarch wanted him to elaborate on:
"In the process of auditing the account books, I found a penalty slip clipped in a book, recording that a supplier was fined by the "Hive" for breaching the contract. I initially thought that penalty slip was ordinary and not worth paying attention to, and that erroneous judgment urged me to throw it into the trash can..."
Liberte smiled self-deprecatingly:
"But I realized I had made a stupid mistake... when... the next day, which was May 16th, torrential rain fell, making me recall May 16th of the tenth year of the "Hive", when it was also pouring heavily. My sixth sense reminded me that something was wrong, and I seemed to have missed something important. I immediately rummaged through the trash to find the penalty slip I had thrown away, and unexpectedly discovered a second penalty slip in the trash can, dated September 27th of the eleventh year of the "Hive", showing that this supplier was also fined by the "Hive" for breaching the contract, and the reason for the breach remained that bad weather caused landslides and bridge damage, forcing the transport fleet to detour and deliver seven days later than the stipulated time. Those unbelievable coincidences, like a divine manifestation, admonished me that I should re-evaluate my initial subjective judgment, pull the silk from the cocoon of everything recorded on the penalty slip, and string every trivial detail together into a complete chain."
Liberte had never been so wordy, nor had he ever narrated every nook and cranny in such detail, which proved that this matter was extremely important, and he was worried that once any detail was omitted, the people caught in the situation would find it difficult to string the events together.
The monarch did not interrupt his words, but listened solemnly, so that the narrator felt he was respected. The monarch showed sincerity, and Liberte laid out everything in full. Liberte was satisfied with the sincerity displayed by this person who did not need to show goodwill to anyone in the first place.
"I checked every page of the archives and documents, and discovered fifteen more receipts, making a total of 17. Among them, four receipts were compliant, while the remaining thirteen all breached the contract, and the supplier must compensate the "Hive"."
Liberte turned on his smartphone to show the monarch photos of the 17 receipts. The monarch scrutinized them carefully for the third time. He smacked his lips, took a deep breath, and gave a wry smile. But in Liberte's view, the monarch was mocking himself... not until this moment... did he discover the key point that should have been noticed long ago.
This display of self-mockery... was simply identical to Liberte's mood back then when he discovered abnormalities in the penalty slips. At that moment, he was at a loss for words, blaming himself for being careless and overconfident at the beginning, and for discarding the clue without realizing that it was what he had been searching for all this time.
"I searched for these in order to determine whether the penalized goods were still stored in the warehouse? Unfortunately, all the goods involved in the contract breaches were completely absent from the warehouse."
Liberte spoke briefly and simply, without directly stating the conclusion he had reached during the investigation, yet the monarch still let out a sigh. He threw a faint, bitter smile at the humiliating truth: within the "Hive"'s vast system, the monarch, officials, intelligence personnel, forensic experts, and those who analyzed the details of events… had not… detected the suspicious traces laid bare on the thirteen penalty slips.
Ironically, precisely because they appeared fair and square, no one suspected them, even the veteran, shrewd old fox the monarch back then, as well as the cunning little fox Liberte who was growing step-by-step... had... once discarded that important treasure that everyone thought was worthless.
However...
The critical difference lay in... the sharp and shrewd little fox was the first person to realize that these penalty slips were not scrap paper. For the two hunters who were searching and tracking down the truth hiding countless secrets, they were like priceless treasures.
If...
The little fox could not find that hidden prey, the old fox and that group of people who fancied themselves political masters, would all be turned by... that prey... into clowns for people's amusement... and... it would always gloat, day and night enjoying this game of leading its master by the nose.
However...
The most admirable and also the most terrifying thing was... that what the little fox carried back was merely the traces of the prey it was tracking down. It did not wildly publicize all the trophies it had obtained... in order to... save face for the master.
Humans usually preferred to explore secrets themselves rather than let others ruin this pleasure. The little fox simply dutifully and responsibly searched for the path, guiding the master to personally capture the prey.
The monarch nodded secretly in his heart, feeling satisfied with this clever way of doing things... and... looked upon this mature-beyond-his-years and shrewd hunter with extra admiration.
"Tsk, the previous inspection team never reported to me that there were thirteen more penalty slips."
This complaint was not merely irritation at the subordinates' dereliction of duty; it also... implied the following meaning: if back then he could have coherently viewed the complete penalty slips like now, he absolutely would not have casually thrown the clues that could find the truth into the trash can.
At that time, as the ruler of a country, as long as he ordered a comprehensive investigation, following the vine to unearth abundant evidence and numerous witnesses had an extremely high possibility, how could he have fallen into such a near-desperate plight as he was in then?
Although the monarch felt angry, he did not feel despair and frustration at all like Liberte. He even calmly and composedly took a sip of wine, swallowed down the suffocating grievance stuck in his throat, and forcibly suppressed the impulse to loudly curse that group of trash subordinates.
Being the ruler of a country, he could still get angry and want to punish those incompetent people. This emotion immediately gave Liberte... hope... that the unfathomable monarch definitely had a countermeasure to clean up the mess.
The monarch crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes; this deep-rooted habit indicated to the other party that he was reviewing the past and searching through his memories.
He was afraid of accidentally making a tiny sound like the ticking of a clock to challenge the monarch's patience, which would easily interrupt the monarch's train of thought, exposing the clues to the risk of permanently losing contact with the involved parties.
The monarch remained motionless, and Liberte also maintained a "frozen" state, remaining silent before the silent signal that strictly forbade him from urging the monarch.
"It seems..." - The monarch suddenly opened his eyes wide, his face revealing an excited expression at this unbelievable coincidence - "Back then, Wan personally brought the medicinal herbs and fruits involved in these breach-related penalty slips to me?"
Liberte heard this unexpected information, and his solemn expression immediately froze in stunned disbelief for several seconds, making the monarch burst out laughing.
He smacked his lips, answering the doubts in his heart in a helpless tone, as if openly stating that even he himself did not believe things could coincide to... such a degree... as if someone had deliberately arranged everything behind the scenes:
"Back then I caught a cold and developed a fever and had a craving to eat fruit, Wan learned about this matter, and personally brought the medicine box and fruit basket to offer to me."
The monarch shrugged his shoulders, smiling smugly like someone about to win a victory in war:
"My wife caught the illness from me, and I felt the medicine's efficacy was quite good, so I took the medicine box to my wife, and by the way shared half of the fruit with her. My wife has a strange hobby: she likes to collect and store everything related to her husband and family."
Liberte stopped breathing from tension, his heartbeat, which had been rapid, suddenly grew quiet as if it had stopped beating, as he listened to the monarch contact his wife and inquire about the medicinal herbs and fruits from back then.
The madam smiled slightly, tacitly cooperating with her husband in front of someone to confirm this "major national affair".
She unhurriedly answered what both her husband and the other party wanted to hear. When the madam's voice came through the walkie-talkie, Liberte almost shouted out loud with excitement:
"I preserved the medicine bottles, pills, and even the medicine box intact, and injected preservatives into the remaining fruit so I can keep it and admire it to my heart's content."
The monarch celebrated smugly:
"Tsk, she can never finish eating the fruit, she just likes looking at fresh and tempting fruit. However…"
The monarch excitedly put on a 'wow, how magical' expression to match his mocking and sarcastic tone:
"Surprised or not? It was precisely this quirky hobby that saved us in the final stoppage time of the match…"
The queen mother's voice interrupted the monarch's words:
"Hey, if I know you're badmouthing your wife, I'll just go to sleep and enjoy myself…"
The monarch and Liberte looked toward the slowly opening pure gold door in the distance. A woman over fifty years old walked in. Her graying hair was piled high, meticulously combed, exuding a noble aura.
She wore clogs, and a velvet dress embroidered with the traditional pattern of bees returning to their hive. Her attire was simple and elegant, complementing her graceful, noble, kind, and dignified beauty, truly worthy of the title of the queen mother.
The monarch took the medicine box and an apple still glowing with a bright red luster from his wife's hands with a full smile. Liberte hurriedly stood up and bowed to the queen mother.
The queen mother smiled gently and waved her hand, indicating that he need not stand on ceremony. Liberte thanked her, pulled out a chair and invited her to sit down, but the queen mother shook her head and said softly:
"Men are discussing important matters; women should not pry, I have no interest in matters of state… and… I'm sleepy…"
The queen mother raised a white feather fan to cover a sleepy yawn, bade farewell to the two of them, and left the hall while gently waving her fan.
After the queen mother walked far away and out of sight, the monarch and Liberte together examined these two things carefully from all angles, the batch-number labels still attached to the medicine box and the apple, as well as every single detail, and compared them with those penalty slips... however... they could not find any problem... or more accurately, the batch numbers were completely normal and compliant.
The glimmer of hope that had just ignited was instantly and ruthlessly extinguished. The monarch sat there blankly, looking up at the void. Liberte was in a trance-like state, as successive tricks of fate left him not knowing whether to feel sorrow or resentment.
"...Class A tonic medicine — refined from international standard formulas, raw materials are precious and rare..."
"...Class B product series — reaching high-grade standard formulas, ingredients are superior..."
The sound of a product advertisement coming from the TV attracted their attention. Liberte and the monarch raised their heads to look at the screen, watching the short video of the Red Sea Group.
The two frowned, staring fixedly at the medicine box, medicine bottles, and pills on the screen. From the style, color, shape, packaging method to the square pills, they were... identical to the medicine sold to the "Hive" by the Red Sea partner on September 27 of the eleventh year.
Everything was less eye-catching than the introduction of the therapeutic drugs. At first hearing, the two medicines seemed similar... but... only by carefully reading between the lines would one discover the difference between "raw materials are precious and rare" and "ingredients are superior", and the superiority of "international standards" when compared with "high-grade standards". The monarch muttered to himself repeatedly about the difference between the two:
"The ingredients of Class A medicine and Class B medicine are different..."
The monarch, like a blind person suddenly seeing the light... then listened to Liberte, who could not help but talk about these two medicines...
"It seems... Class B medicine's raw materials are worse than Class A medicine's..."
And...
Liberte was ecstatic, failing to notice the mysterious smile the monarch revealed. The monarch, as the ruler of a country, resumed a solemn posture, picked up the red wine bottle, poured half a cup for himself, and then poured half a cup for Liberte. He hurriedly exchanged polite pleasantries:
"It is only right and proper for me to pour the wine..."
The monarch glared at him fiercely out of the corner of his eye:
"Are you secretly suspecting that I broke the rules of etiquette..."
Liberte hurriedly waved his hands and said:
"I definitely do not have that meaning..."
Seeing Liberte turn pale with fear for the first time, the monarch chuckled inwardly to himself. He laughed heartily and teased:
"Look at you, I was just making a joke on the spur of the moment, what on earth are you so scared of. Come, cheers, today I toast you, to celebrate the joy of scoring a goal in stoppage time..."
Liberte covered his chest and let out a long sigh of relief. He and the monarch raised their glasses and drank together, their gazes faintly condensing with mutual expressions of joy and delight... however... deep down in both their hearts, they soberly realized that this difficult match still had extra time, and the victory or defeat was yet undecided. Whichever side exposed a flaw, the opponent would use the mistake to snatch victory from the enemy's hands.
The two people, who were on the same front line, did not sleep the whole night, discussing countermeasures for the investigation, following the vine to unearth clues to the mysterious case.