411: Preliminary investigation

The woman sitting opposite him picked up her water glass, her fingertips caressing the rim, and suddenly spoke.

“Even so, we still need to be careful.”

The leader nodded, his eyes darkening.

“You’re right. To be safe, all non-compliant mining projects should be suspended for a period of time, and the loose ends tied up. Also, those temporary operators who were just making up the numbers should be gathered for intensive training during this period, to prevent such fatal ‘accidents’ from happening again—if another mishap occurs, we may not be so lucky as to cover it up.”

His voice carried an undeniable command, and the other three promptly agreed.

The atmosphere in the conference room lightened considerably, as if a crisis had already passed... As soon as the Investigation Team’s starship disappeared at the end of the star orbit, Li Yang immediately gathered his people, inviting all core members of the Discipline Inspection Commission and Supervision Committee to the encrypted conference room.

Nearly thirty people sat in the small space, all of them hand-picked by Li Yang as key personnel—everyone’s resume had undergone triple verification, not only possessing excellent professional skills but, more importantly, being able to withstand scrutiny.

Li Yang stood at the head of the conference table, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, his tone grave.

“The matter of Kolos Planet is just the beginning. To be able to pull off such a deception during a strict crackdown is by no means an isolated case—if one project has problems, there must be more hidden behind it.”

He paused, then tapped his finger on the light screen, bringing up an overview of the Ministry of Energy’s projects from the past three years.

“From now on, all project data of the Ministry of Energy must be thoroughly checked, from project approval to equipment procurement, from partner qualifications to capital flow. Every link must be scrutinized, and no suspicious point can be overlooked.”

At these words, the conference room fell silent.

Everyone understood that this was by no means an ordinary routine inspection—the other party dared to engage in corruption right under the nose of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision, and might even have planted informants internally. A slight misstep could alert them.

“Understood!”

Xia Quan, sitting in the front row, stood up abruptly, his back ramrod straight.

He was a capable subordinate promoted by Li Yang himself and was keenly aware of how severe the current situation was.

Li Yang nodded, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes.

“Remember, this investigation must be absolutely confidential. Publicly, we will only say it’s a ‘project compliance review,’ but internally, the scope of knowledge must be strictly limited.”

His gaze swept over everyone again, carrying a heavy weight of trust.

“Those who can sit here are all people I trust. This battle, we can only win, not lose.”

Everyone responded in unison.

“Yes!”

The sound was not loud, but it conveyed an unshakeable determination.

Xia Quan sat in the corner, his fingertips unconsciously caressing the cool metal table edge, a heavy feeling in his heart.

During Li Yang’s absence, such a significant corruption issue festered internally without detection, making him feel deeply negligent.

“Next is the investigation of personnel...”

At this moment, a Discipline Inspection Commission member couldn’t help but speak, his tone carrying some apprehension.

“The Ministry of Energy personnel are relatively easy to investigate, but The Administrative Center Department of This Galaxy Cluster has dozens, even hundreds, of departments, big and small. The people and matters involved in each department are intricately intertwined. If we investigate all of them, not only will the workload be astonishingly large, but we might also alert the other party before even starting. What’s more, too broad a scope can lead to oversights, and if a loophole is exploited, it could sever clues even more completely.”

Upon hearing this, Ou Ben gently tapped his finger on the light screen, bringing up a condensed version of the system operation log.

“You’re right, a comprehensive investigation is not realistic. But since they could tamper with the approval process, they must have accessed the internal system. Retrieve the list of all personnel who logged into the system and had operation records during the project approval period.”

He looked up and scanned the crowd, his eyes sharp.

“Among these people, there are both those performing normal duties and those who tampered with the system. We don’t need to cast a wide net; we only need to pinpoint—compare these operation records with job permissions and normal work procedures, and identify traces of ‘unauthorized operations,’ ‘operations outside working hours,’ and ‘abnormal command operations.’ By specifically investigating these individuals, we can narrow the scope, reduce disturbance, and strike at the heart of the matter. After all, no matter how covert the tampering, as long as the system is touched, a shadow will be left. What we need to do is capture these shadows and follow the trail.”

These words brought a sigh of relief to the people in the conference room. Compared to a aimless comprehensive investigation, this targeted investigation was clearly more prudent and more capable of concentrating efforts on a “precision battle.”

“Then... should the Guard Division be informed in advance?”

A member couldn’t help but ask.

Li Yang’s fingertips tapped lightly on the desktop, his gaze as deep and still as a dark pool.

“No.”

The single word landed, carrying an undeniable decisiveness.

“First, establish the investigation framework for the core personnel. We will contact the Guard Division once we have preliminary clues.”

He recalled his past experience in handling corruption cases, his brow unconsciously furrowing.

In such collective interest chains, the security and order maintenance systems, like the Guard Division, are often the hardest hit areas, either infiltrated and co-opted or themselves part of the interest community.

Giving too early a heads-up, if it alerts the other party’s informants within the Guard Division, will only make subsequent investigations more difficult.

Moreover, after the system reform, the functions of discipline inspection and security have been clearly separated. The primary authority for such corruption cases lies with them, eliminating the need to rely on the Guard Division to lead as in the past.

The discussion in the conference room gradually converged, and a preliminary plan was finally decided.

The first step: focusing on the Ministry of Energy, conduct background checks on all official personnel, with an emphasis on verifying recent financial transactions, permission usage records, and abnormal communication data.

The second step: retrieve system operation logs during the project approval period, precisely locate all accounts with access permissions, individually verify the compliance of operational behaviors, and mark abnormal accounts that crossed permission boundaries or performed high-frequency operations outside working hours.

The third step: using this as a breakthrough, radiate the investigation to all project approval processes, capital flows, and engineering quality reports of the Ministry of Energy over the past three years, to uncover whether similar traces of illegal operations exist.

Li Yang stared silently at the light screen, its reflection in his eyes shimmering with a sharp light.

“Action must be swift, but even more so, it must be steady. Every step must secure solid evidence, leaving no room for the other party to retaliate.”

...A week slipped by unnoticed amidst the intense investigation. The fluorescent light tubes in the office hummed faintly, illuminating the dust motes in the air.

Xia Quan walked in with a thick report, his steps light yet carrying an undeniable solemnity. Reaching Li Yang’s desk, he bowed slightly and handed over the report, his tone the usual rigor of a professional setting.

“Secretary Li, this is the Discipline Inspection Commission’s investigation report for this week. Please review it.”

In formal work settings, he always adhered to the superior-subordinate address, only privately calling him “Captain” with familiarity.

Li Yang raised his hand to take the report, his gaze immediately darkening.

He slowly scrolled through it, his brows gradually furrowing with the content.

In the report, three people from the Ministry of Energy were prominently circled and marked as “key investigation targets.” These were the three names, excluding the Minister of Energy, from the four he had previously suspected. Each name was accompanied by a dense list of suspicious points.

Abnormal capital flows, hidden communication records, and so on.

When he saw the list of system permission personnel, Li Yang’s fingers suddenly paused.

Two names were again circled in red: one was the Vice Speaker of The Administrative Center Department of This Galaxy Cluster, and the other was the Vice Minister of the Government Services Management Department.

Their permission records showed that they had accessed the Ministry of Energy’s core database during multiple sensitive periods, and portions of the operation logs had been artificially deleted.

“Vice Speaker...”

Li Yang murmured the name, his voice carrying a subtle chill.

His fingertips tapped lightly on the desktop over the name, his gaze fixed on the window. The spires of the Administrative Center were vaguely visible among the distant buildings, the sunlight reflecting off the glass curtain walls, making his eyes ache.

The office was so quiet that only breathing could be heard. Xia Quan stood beside him, watching Li Yang’s thoughtful profile, not daring to speak.

He knew that the appearance of this name meant the investigation had touched a deeper network of interests, and every subsequent step would be like treading on thin ice.

Li Yang slowly closed the report.

“Compile all their public activity records and family relationship networks, especially all their interactions with the Ministry of Energy over the past six months. Additionally, send more personnel to monitor the Vice Speaker’s movements, but don’t alert him.”

“Yes.”

Xia Quan responded.

In the Empire’s bureaucratic system, the Vice Speaker was an almost “transparent” existence.

Normally, as long as the Chairman was in office, the Vice Speaker was like an invisible figure, neither needing to handle complex government affairs nor participate in policy discussions, merely sitting in his office, quietly receiving the treatment commensurate with his rank.

An exquisite office environment, exclusive service personnel, encrypted communication permissions—nothing was lacking, yet there were no actual duties to oversee.

The design of this position inherently carried a strong “placeholder” attribute.

Only when the Chairman was unable to perform his duties due to accident, illness, or other contingencies would the Vice Speaker step from behind the scenes to the forefront, directly ascending to Chairman, taking over departmental command, and ensuring the administrative system did not stall.

Therefore, during ordinary times, they held high-level positions but lacked specific responsibilities, like a spare key lying quietly in a drawer, their presence so faint as to be almost “untraceable.”

But few people noticed that the permissions of this “spare key” were never weakened.

Even if he didn't intervene in daily affairs, the Vice Speaker still retained the highest access permissions to the internal systems of various departments.

This included the Ministry of Energy’s approval system. With just a few covert operations, he could quietly change project procedures that originally required multiple layers of manual verification to “automatic approval,” allowing non-compliant projects to slip through unnoticed.

On the other hand, the Vice Minister of the Government Services Management Department was an entirely different entity.

This department was like the “central gear” of the regional administrative machine. Except for core government affairs involving regional security and high-level decision-making that needed to be reported for deliberation, almost all other matters, from civil allocation to resource distribution, were handled independently by them.

As a Vice Minister, although subordinate to the primary official, he held approval and execution authority over a vast number of affairs. Energy allocation and project registration within the jurisdiction could often be decided with a single word. He was recognized as a “busy person” in the circle of real power, and the breadth of his operational authority was sufficient to easily leave subtle modification traces in the system.

One was a seemingly powerless “placeholder,” and the other was a “player” wielding real power. Both were qualified and capable of easily altering internal systems.

“Both are tricky individuals, especially this Vice Speaker...”

Li Yang sighed softly.

The Vice Speaker’s seemingly powerless identity, precisely became the most dangerous disguise, like a sharp blade hidden beneath brocade, usually showing no edge, but once unsheathed, striking directly at the vital point. Shaking such a character was far more cautious than dealing with an overt power holder.

At this moment, Xia Quan handed over another report.

“The preliminary verification results for other projects are also out.”

Li Yang took the report, and the moment his gaze swept over the data, his pupils constricted sharply.

Among the planetary mining projects currently managed by the Ministry of Energy, 36,405 had been handed over to private companies. Among these, 345 large-scale planetary mining projects were initially screened and found to have significant problems—some cooperating companies could not provide compliant qualifications and were purely “shell companies,” some teams lacked even basic mining equipment operation experience and relied entirely on temporarily assembled personnel, and even more, the project capital flows were chaotic, with numbers in the accounts severely inconsistent with actual investment, clearly hiding huge transfers of benefits.

“Well, 345...”

Li Yang’s voice carried a hint of coldness, his fingertips tapping heavily on the report.

“These aren’t projects; they’re 345 ticking time bombs! Kolos Planet was just one of them. If these projects have similar mishaps again, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the distant outline of the starport, his brows furrowed deeply.

These problematic projects, scattered across the Galaxy, were like an invisible net, one end connected to greedy self-interest, the other tied to the safety and stability of countless planets.

What had been torn open now was just a small hole; the chain of interests involved behind it was probably even larger and more deeply entrenched than he imagined.

“We must find a way to immediately freeze these problematic projects and suspend all mining operations.”

Li Yang turned around, his tone carrying an undeniable resolve.

“First, cut off the source, then untangle this mess little by little. Better to be a little slow than to let any more planets repeat Kolos’s mistakes.”

“Secretary Li, according to our investigation, all 345 large-scale planetary mining projects have either stopped or slowed down during this period.”

Upon hearing this, Li Yang’s lips curved into a cold, sharp arc, his fingertips tapping lightly on the desktop, making a rhythmic soft sound.

“Hmph, they didn’t stop voluntarily; they were just scared.”

He looked up at the other person, a hint of disdain in his eyes.

“The Kolos Planet incident has sounded the alarm. They know better than anyone that such dealings, treading on the red line, can be passed off as an accident once, but what about twice or thrice? Do they really think the Empire’s eyes are just for show?”

But this was also good; Li Yang didn't even need to intervene, and the projects had already been suspended. Now, he only needed to find the mastermind before the projects restarted.

After all, if a few more mishaps were to occur, it wouldn't be something the Virgo Supercluster’s Investigation Team could conclude.

At that time, the Empire would personally send people to investigate, and it wouldn't just be project accidents they would be looking into.