Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 42: Keep stirring things up, keep stirring things up!

A week later.

This week, the phrase "complete enslavement of the brain" almost overshadowed all other public topics on Mars, and the actions of the Holy Cardinal aroused public outrage.

The workers' community in Mariners Valley was the first to erupt in protests, with demonstrations breaking out at the gates of several assembly plants. Relatives of the missing blocked the perimeter of the Sacred Affairs Office holding numbered lists, demanding that the church release the approval records for the Black Wall project.

The university community and engineering associations on the Tharsis plateau also began to jointly question whether the Holy Cardinals were treating fallen soldiers, medical failures, and low-income laborers as disposable resources.

The reaction within the Covenant forces was also intense, with many junior officers beginning to privately verify the list of the dead and medical transport records, and brief periods of silent defiance even occurred in some garrisons.

The Mars Joint Council has been extremely busy these past few days. The public wants an explanation, the military wants a list, and factions are also questioning each other about who approved the Black Wall project and why it wasn't made public to them.

Saint Sophia, who had been marginalized, took this opportunity to re-enter the scene—the College of Cardinals needed her and Ares to suppress the internet storm, the Three Halls needed her to appease the tech community, and the Covenant General Affairs Department also needed her to assist in screening internal leak links.

Thus, she naturally obtained more access permissions, tracking permissions, and temporary access rights. On the surface, she was trying to quell the unrest, but in reality, she was using the clues left by Zhang Qiming and Zhi Shilang to steer the fire toward the removal of the list.

She began to smear others in the College of Cardinals, and the first wave of smears was definitely directed at the Council of Sacraments.

Her first report was aimed directly at the Office of the Sacramento.

The Black Wall Project is affiliated with the Special Asset Development Project of the Office of the Censorate. It can trace the entire approval chain, brain tissue number, and transfer records of the wet parts network back to it. Even the Deep Space Shipping Safety Committee under its jurisdiction has been drawn in because the transfer records of some victims happened to pass through the special cargo channel of the Deep Space Shipping System.

Even if the Office of the Sacred Affairs wanted to pin everything on the Skydrive forgery, it would first have to explain why the cargo channels, special asset numbers, and transshipment permissions matched.

Several department heads were summoned for internal questioning that same day, and several old shipping records from the Deep Space Shipping Safety Committee were also highlighted in red by Ares and added to the joint council’s temporary review file.

Subsequently, none of the people on the removal list were able to escape.

Alberto Luciano, a core conservative member of the Holy College of Cardinals, is accused of providing political endorsement in the early funding of Project Black Wall and appropriating substantial research grants from it.

Herbert Klein, Inspector General of the Covenant Army, is accused of approving too many irregular transfer requests. His oversight system skipped secondary checks in several reviews of military casualties.

Captain Romulus Fein of the orbital ship Crimson Corona is accused of having an unexplained connection with the Skydrive because some of the ship's internal data was not made public on the night of the terrorist attack. His ship has also carried out several special biological asset escort missions. Now, Santa Sophia has conveniently labeled him as "suspected of assisting the Skydrive in obscuring orbital surveillance."

Several other members on the list—the Deputy Chief of Maintenance of the Guardian Fleet's Independent Network, the Guardian Fleet's Military Law Inspector, and the General Coordinator of Martial Law at the Mars Main Spaceport—are also embroiled in scandals, suspected of having improper connections with the Skydrive.

A scandal that should have been suppressed by the College of Cardinals was thus dismantled by Hagia Sophia into several interconnected chains of evidence.

With each of the four factions of the College of Cardinals harboring their own agendas, several urgent orders were quickly issued from the Olympus Hub, requiring the relevant personnel involved to temporarily leave their posts and go to the Hub to participate in a temporary joint inquiry session, to be jointly questioned by the College of Cardinals, the Covenant Army, the Office of Sacred Registrar, the Court of Jurisdiction, and the Joint Council of Mars.

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The Olympus Hub is the true political heart of the Martian Mechanical Church.

This complex sits at the foot of the main peak of Mount Olympus, its exterior adorned with layers of white-gold domes and mechanical statues. Internally, it connects the Martian Joint Council Chamber, the Central Conference Center of the College of Cardinals, the Covenant Army's High-Level Reporting Hall, and the Special Inquisition Chamber of the Inquisition. Major political, military, and technological decrees and disputes from the three major Martian regions are ultimately gathered, stamped, and archived here.

On this day, all six key targets on the clearance list were present in the central interrogation hall of the Olympus Mons hub.

The members of the College of Cardinals did not attend in person; they descended above the conference hall via remote projection.

In the projection, the faces of the cardinals were hidden behind mechanical crowns and grating shadows. The sound was filtered through the sanctuary system. Saint Sophia sat in the center of the main interpellation seat, with dozens of access files floating in front of her. She was in charge of presiding over this meeting.

Captain Romulus of the Red Crown sat in the third seat on the left, his face looking very grim.

It's true that the special escort missions of the Crimson Crown do exist, and some data within the ship is indeed not publicly available, but such things are never unusual in the Royal Guard Fleet.

The TMD Truth Investigation Committee suspects itself of being a Skyward Underground agent and of colluding with the enemy because of this kind of thing!

That's utter bullshit! If that were the case, everyone here, including Saint Sophia, would be a bunch of Skyward Underworld agents!

What frustrated him even more was that the College of Cardinals was still fighting amongst themselves at this time.

The conservatives want the Sacramento Council to take the blame, the Sacramento Council wants to shift the blame to the Royal Guard, and the Royal Guard tries to push the responsibility onto the General Affairs Department's oversight chain. Everyone talks about maintaining church order, but they're all picking on each other's rotten flesh—they talk about principles, but in reality, it's all about business.

And the person presiding over the meeting was none other than Hagia Sophia.

A doll that was once banished to the high orbit of the heavens has now seized some small power by taking advantage of this internet storm, and dares to sit on the main interrogation seat to judge these veterans.

"Captain Romulus Finn of the Crimson Crown".

Saint Sophia's voice came from the main interpellation seat, steady and without any inflection.

"According to Ares's access to the records, in the three months prior to the Skydrive Network intrusion incident, the Crimson Corona carried out three special biological asset escort missions, which means that you were in charge of transporting the Wetware Network's completely enslaved brain."

"All three escort missions were concealed through an independent network within the ship, and the third escort mission overlapped with the Sky Destroyer intrusion in time..."

"So, this forces us to consider one thing: how did Skydrive obtain intelligence about the Wetware Network?"

"The wetware network is highly classified. Apart from the cardinals, only those who are directly involved in the project would know about its contents... and you are one of the direct participants in the project."

"Also, why did your fleet go into silence when the Skydrives started invading the Martian internet?"

"These things can't all be coincidences, can they?"

She raised her eyes and looked at Romulus.

What explanation do you have for this?

Romulus looked up, his gaze sweeping over the twelve projections of the Holy Cardinals above before returning to Saint Sophia. The fire in his chest could no longer be suppressed.

"explain?"

He gave a cold laugh, his voice echoing through the interrogation room.

"If the College of Cardinals wants it to be top secret, I will keep it top secret; if the Sacred Affairs Council wants me to avoid regular shipping, I will have the ships switch to covert operations and go into a state of silence; if the Royal Guard tells me not to ask about the contents of the containers, I will just deliver the goods to the designated location."

"Now that the wet network is down, you're all wondering why the captain isn't transparent?"

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

A cardinal's projection above flickered slightly, and his voice was lowered.

"Captain Romulus, watch your words."

Romulus looked up at the projection, his eyes filled with suppressed anger.

"My wording has been restrained enough."

After he finished speaking, his gaze turned back to Saint Sophia. "Your Excellency Saint Sophia, you now have the access rights that Ares gave you, and a few traces that Skydrive deliberately left behind, and you want to connect all my normal operations with the terrorist attack. This is extremely inappropriate."

Saint Sophia looked at him, her fingertips lightly touching the light screen of the archive.

"I'm just asking you, Captain."

"ask?"

Romulus's voice deepened. He slowly stood up, his gaze sweeping over the people involved, before finally settling on the cardinal projection above.

"Okay, then I'll ask one too."

He looked at Hagia Sophia, a hint of sarcasm in his eyes.

"Your Excellency has only been back from the High Heavens and has only held power for a few days, yet you are already in a hurry to purge the College of Cardinals... Could it be that Your Excellency is trying to use this opportunity to eliminate dissidents?"

"Moreover, according to your theory and method of investigation, all the halls of the Church are shrouded in shadow, and all the departments of the Covenant Army are tainted with filth, while you, Saint Sophia, alone are clear-headed?"

"Are you the only loyal, virtuous, and wise minister?"

Saint Sophia answered calmly:

"My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror, and all my deeds are for justice; everything I do is for the people of Mars and the Mechanical Church."

Upon hearing this, Alberto Luciano, a core member of the conservative faction of the Holy Cardinals sitting on the other side, immediately blushed.

He suddenly raised his hand and slammed his knuckles heavily on the metal table of the interrogation seat, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger.

"You dare to talk about the people of Mars and the Mechanical Church here?"

"Look what the Skydrives have done to the Martian Internet! The factories in Mariner Valley have shut down, the engineers' association in Tharsis has issued a joint protest, junior officers of the Covenant Army are secretly checking the list of the dead, and the authority of the entire church has been trampled on."

"These past few days we've been trying to fill the holes caused by Project Blackwall, and you, on the other hand, are using Ares's access rights to dig up old grievances everywhere, dragging the Deep Space Shipping Safety Committee, the Guard Fleet, and the Covenant General Affairs Department into the mess."

Alberto spoke faster and faster, the mechanical emblem on his chest rising and falling slightly with his breath.

"When have you ever thought about the Church? When have you ever thought about the people of Mars? When have you ever thought about the Covenant Army on the front lines maintaining order, the fleet patrolling the orbits, and the Three Great Halls suppressing popular uprisings?"

"The people we conservatives recommended are now on your questioning list, while the people recommended by the reformists are still stirring up trouble outside the council chamber. Today you've fabricated another so-called 'remnant of the Skydrive invasion,' are you going to send the entire College of Cardinals to trial tomorrow?"

He suddenly raised his voice, almost roaring at Hagia Sophia.

"Keep stirring! Keep stirring! Just keep stirring!!!"

"It's brought the Sacred Affairs Review Board to a standstill, made no one in the Covenant Army's General Affairs Department dare to sign anything, made everyone in the Guard Fleet feel insecure, and caused all the special containers at the Mars Spaceport to be parked outside orbit awaiting review!"

"When the Skyward underground forces blow up another node while we're fighting amongst ourselves, when the Mariner Valley mob storms the council hall, when the Skyward organization's true army presses onto the gates of Mars, when the frontline supplies are cut off, when fleet operations are in chaos, when the entire Martian Mechanical Church is torn to pieces by you, I will merely be buried alive with you cardinals!"

Saint Sofia looked at Alberto, her face still expressionless. She simply raised her eyes slightly, her voice calm and even, suppressing his anger.

"Lord Luciano, please watch your words."

"This temporary joint inquiry is a formal meeting authorized by the College of Cardinals, with review support from Ares, and jointly registered by the three halls of the Joint Council. Are you questioning my authority to chair this meeting, or are you questioning the review authority granted to this meeting by the College of Cardinals?"

Alberto's face suddenly darkened.

He was actually defeated by a country girl who had returned from high places, who used the fighting style most familiar to the older generation.

Saint Sophia's words were spoken lightly, but they carried great weight. If he continued to press the issue, it would be tantamount to shifting the focus from Saint Sophia personally to the authorization of the College of Cardinals and the censorship mechanism of Ares.

The atmosphere in the interrogation room suddenly became even more tense.

Alberto shut his mouth, Captain Romulus of the Red Crown also sat back down, and the other members who were involved quickly changed their tune.

The ensuing meeting devolved into a public wrangling match. The Sacred Reconnaissance Office shifted the blame to the Deep Space Shipping Safety Committee, the Guard Fleet insisted that it was merely carrying out a secret order, and the Covenant General Affairs Department repeatedly claimed that the surveillance system records had been contaminated by the Skydrives. Everyone claimed to be just one link in the chain, and everyone tried to pin the dirtiest link on someone else.

Whenever someone tries to steer the conversation toward the Black Wall project, a certain cardinal projection will deflect the question with phrases like "the data is still being verified," "it's not appropriate to broaden the scope of the inquiry," or "let's talk about who the Skydrive underground members are."

Saint Sofia was not surprised by this; she had never expected to achieve any substantial progress through a joint inquiry.

Zhang Qiming's advice to her was clear: don't rush to convict them; first, remove them from their posts, remove them from their respective warships, government offices, network nodes, spaceports, and surveillance systems, and concentrate them in a place that is legitimate enough and close enough to her to facilitate future actions.

Thus, the meeting ultimately resulted in a seemingly compromise solution.

All personnel involved will retain their original positions for the time being, but must remain at the Ares Auditorium on the east side of the Olympus Hub until the Truth Commission completes the first phase of data review, in order to cooperate in reviewing the original secret orders, escort records, special container access chains, and the Guards Fleet's independent network maintenance logs.

The reasons are also quite valid.

They remain senior personnel in important positions and cannot be directly detained or released immediately.

The wet file network incident involves too many aspects, and Ares needs their cooperation in review at any time. As the host of this inquiry, Hagia Sophia also needs to coordinate the information from the three halls, the General Affairs Department of the Covenant Army, and the court.

This arrangement did not cause much backlash.

Although the six people on the removal list were dissatisfied, they also knew that public opinion was raging and the Cardinals were suspicious of each other and making accusations. Everyone seemed like Gin. If they were in a hurry to leave the Olympus Hub, it would make them look guilty.

At the end of the meeting, Hagia Sophia stood in front of the main interpellation table, watching the six individuals on the purge list leave the central interpellation hall one by one.

Her face remained calm, only a hint of coldness flashed in her eyes.

These people have temporarily left their posts and have been brought under her and Skydrive's reach... Whether they can return safely is no longer up to them.

The final of the three lists is now being processed at an accelerated pace.

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