Within three months, solve the case!

Moonlit Palace, Bedchamber.

Ji Ruoyue, having just been kicked offline by Ji Cheng, picked up a translucent, longan-sized water ball from a crystal dish beside her with an excited look on her face and popped it into her mouth.

This clear-complexioned, beautiful yet cold and taciturn ice-mountain princess shed her usual demeanor at this moment, muttering to herself:

"I never imagined that an artifact smuggling case from over sixty years ago would remain unsolved to this day."

Such a case was a significant blow to both the majesty of the Empire and the pride of the Eye of Order, so it had naturally been covered up and concealed within various records.

"I just wonder what the 'Probability Engine' mentioned by the Master actually does. It is truly intriguing." Ji Ruoyue did not dare to ask Ji Cheng, and her clearance level did not grant her the authority to query the specific files regarding the artifacts.

"The Master is truly too good to me. To think—to think he is bestowing such a massive achievement upon me..."

Crouched on the bed, she giggled at the thought, tilting her head back to toss her flowing hair behind her shoulders.

"I need to make a trip to the palace."

Ji Ruoyue composed her smile in front of the vanity mirror. The moment she regained her aloof expression, more than a dozen top-tier handmaidens in terms of figure and appearance swarmed in, beginning to busy themselves around her.

The royal family maintained strict requirements and standards for makeup and attire, strictly prohibiting any high-tech methods. From drawing the eyebrows to applying lip tint, every single step had to be performed using the most ancient, manual techniques.

Soon, she was dressed in an ice-blue, form-fitting long gown, lightly powdered, which, paired with her inherently deep and dark eyes, made her look exceptionally noble and graceful.

Ji Ruoyue waved the maids away, walked into another room adjacent to the bedchamber, and returned a moment later holding a remarkably luxurious envelope.

The envelope bore a prominent aristocratic emblem, the pattern resembling a mechanical giant cannon amidst a thicket of roses. She drew out the contents: equally exquisite specialty paper bearing the exact same emblem.

"With this, there is no need to worry about the source of the information."

***

Aethelstar Star Palace, Eye of Order Headquarters.

Inside a towering, massive hall, the decorations on all four walls gleamed with metallic lusters, with sturdy yet lightweight alloys cast into sculptures of warships and battery turrets.

A solemn atmosphere shrouded the place.

As a military and political intelligence agency within the Galactic Empire, the Eye of Order was always associated with words like patrol, investigation, apprehension, and interrogation.

Because of its excessive authority and heavy clout, and because it constantly scrutinized everyone else's flaws, often resulting in the confiscation of property and execution of entire clans, both active officials and enfeoffed nobles loathed it to the bone.

However, in recent years, with the decline of imperial power, the prestige of the Eye of Order had also experienced a slight slip.

"By decree of His Majesty, the 1251 Artifact Smuggling Case is reopened and officially renamed the Baishan Star Case."

A low voice echoed through the vast, towering hall.

"We are given a limit of three months to solve this case, with no delays permitted whatsoever!"

"The 1251 Artifact Smuggling Case?" A man of about forty, surrounded by a swirling aura of black mechanical armor, furrowed his brow.

His name was Dong Wenhan, a second-rank inspector of quite considerable standing within the Eye of Order.

"Correct." A solemn voice came from the holographic screen before him.

"When this case occurred back then, His Majesty was furious. Task force personnel traced clues all the way to the East Perseus Province, past the Pegasus Arm, only for the biological monitoring signals of all those suspects to vanish simultaneously."

"At the same time, vast stellar regions in that vicinity were subjected to unknown navigation shielding, rendering them impassable."

"The case had to be temporarily suspended, and all the handling personnel of that task force were implicated. That is exactly how your predecessor fell."

Glancing at the light screen and wiping the sweat from his palms, he probed with a heavy expression, "Then... what about this time?"

Normally, once a case was named, it was rarely changed casually, let alone a colossal case like artifact smuggling.

"For reasons unknown, His Majesty personally issued a royal decree to rename the case directly and ordered us to immediately dispatch a task force to Baishan Star."

"Hold on." Dong Wenhan switched his light screen to another interface, conducted a search, and switched back.

"I checked. This Baishan Star belongs to the East Perseus Province - Pegasus Arm - Triumphant Star District, which is also an area affected by unknown shielding. How are we supposed to get there?"

The voice from the light screen replied, "That is your concern."

"What do you mean?"

"You are the designated head of the task force investigating the Baishan Star Case this time. Who told you to be so exceptional? I have already sent you the detailed case file; make sure to check it. That is all, farewell."

The light screen closed, and the hall fell silent.

Crack.

A sleek, gracefully contoured mecha sculpture was instantly blasted to smithereens by a single strike from Dong Wenhan.

"Solve a case in three months... Just traveling from here to the East Perseus Province takes nearly a month! I might as well execute myself."

Dong Wenhan felt a crushing weight press down upon his shoulders. Cases involving artifacts were perilous; once a blunder occurred, execution was the mildest consequence, and worse yet, one's entire family could be dragged down to the grave.

Beep, beep, beep—

At that moment, his communicator rang once more.

With a thought, Dong Wenhan commanded the black mechanical armor flying around him to instantly emit a beam of light, expanding it into a screen before him.

"Why are so many people looking for me?" Dong Wenhan answered the call with lingering suspicion.

"Inspector Dong, a long-awaited pleasure." The woman on the screen had a pale face, poor complexion, somewhat bluish eyes, and a slightly hooked nose.

This was someone of inferior ancestry. Driven by professional habit, Dong Wenhan immediately scrutinized the woman across various details.

She wore a peculiar conical hat, and her lusterless, withered yellow hair hung down from the brim—confirming Dong Wenhan's initial impression of her untidiness.

The mechanical armor hovering over her shoulder emitted a faint green glow, and a pattern printed on the corner of the chassis featured a silver cross surrounded by stars—the family crest of the 'Prince of Li', Bai Yun.

"So it is an esteemed envoy from the Prince of Li's Estate. How may I help you?" Dong Wenhan directly exposed the woman's identity.

"Hehe." Clearly, the woman was not surprised that her identity had been seen through. After a slight pause, she said, "According to instructions from above, we shall be jointly responsible for the Baishan Star Case this time."

"I wonder how Inspector Dong intends to crack the case?"

For major cases, dispatching multiple responsible parties to supervise and cooperate with one another was customary, but typically, representatives of royal dukes would not get involved.

After all, such behavior was both a provocation to the Eye of Order and an encroachment upon imperial authority.

The Prince of Li's reach was getting far too long. Dong Wenhan felt dissatisfied inwardly, yet not a trace of it showed on his face as he slightly shook his head and said:

"I have no clues for the time being either, and the navigation routes to Baishan Star are compromised, making it unreachable."

The woman's eyes flickered. After locking gazes with Dong Wenhan in silence for a long moment, she finally said, "This case progressed slowly back then with very few clues, but time is of the essence now. We should head to the East Perseus Province first and figure it out along the way."

Dong Wenhan let out a bitter laugh: "Very well, then let us assemble our troops and depart as soon as possible. His Majesty really only gave us a three-month limit. This is going to be tough."