In Jiangning City, at the top-floor private room of the Gold Tripod Hotel.

The moment the door was pushed open, Li Gang's footsteps halted.

He opened his mouth, staring at the scene before him, momentarily forgetting what he was about to say.

On the massive round table, plates and cups were in disarray.

Only a bare skeleton remained of the golden-roasted suckling pig, and a few dark red Dragon heads lay isolated on the edge of a plate.

Next to small mountains of beef bones and lamb ribs, scattered chicken bones were picked clean.

The entire room was filled with a rich, mixed aroma of various meats.

Governor Hou Changfeng was seated in a specially made, widened and thickened rosewood chair.

His enormous body almost completely filled the chair.

At this moment, he was holding a large roasted lamb leg, stuffing the last bite of meat into his mouth.

Hearing the door open, his movements stiffened slightly.

Hou Changfeng looked up, saw Li Gang at the door, and forced a somewhat awkward smile.

He put down the bone in his hand and wiped his greasy mouth with a napkin.

"Ahem, Little Li, you're back."

He pointed to the mess on the table and explained.

"It's just that I waited a bit too long, got hungry, and couldn't help but eat a little first."

Li Gang's eye twitched.

A little?

This was called a little?

This was clearly scraping the bottom of the pot clean.

He finally understood now why General Zhao Menghai had said that dining with the Governor meant only having soup.

Now it seemed General Zhao was still too conservative.

If he had truly come, let alone soup, even the plates would probably have been licked clean.

Hou Changfeng seemed to read Li Gang's mind, and with a wave of his large hand, he said nonchalantly.

"Don't worry, I've already asked the manager to prepare another table separately."

"The dishes will be even more lavish than this table."

"Where are they? Are they downstairs?"

Li Gang shook his head, his expression a bit strange.

"Governor, they have already left."

"Left?"

The smile on Hou Changfeng's Face froze.

He was stunned for a moment, then slapped the table in displeasure.

"This Zhang Donglai is getting more and more out of line!"

"We're old comrades; I invite him for a meal, and he won't even give me that much Face?"

He grumbled angrily, smacking his lips regretfully.

"No choice then."

"It seems that remaining table, I'll just have to enjoy it all by myself."

Li Gang: ...

Speaking of which, Hou Changfeng suddenly remembered something. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He looked at Li Gang, his expression turning a bit more serious.

"Right, you've been investigating Zhou..."

He stopped halfway through, feeling his wording was inappropriate, and rephrased it.

"You've been on leave these past few days, have you made any discoveries?"

Li Gang's expression also immediately became serious.

"Governor, I have indeed found some clues."

"Oh?"

Hou Changfeng's spirits immediately lifted, and his massive body leaned forward slightly.

"Tell me."

Li Gang took two steps forward, closed the private room door, and lowered his voice.

"Recently, I secretly investigated several trading companies under the Zhou Family."

"I discovered that they have been secretly trading with companies of the Imperial City Liu Family."

"They seem to be selling magic crystals."

Hou Changfeng's pupils contracted slightly.

"Not just magic crystals," Li Gang continued, "but also quite a few special Materials that only appear in ruins."

Magic crystals.

As an extremely precious strategic resource, they have always been strictly controlled by the military's official channels.

All Secret Realms discovered within the Great Xia Country currently are basically under the jurisdiction of the military.

Where did the Zhou Family and the Liu Family get these magic crystals?

And in quantities large enough to be sold.

"Have you found the source?" Hou Changfeng asked in a deep voice.

Li Gang shook his head.

"Both families are extremely cautious; all transaction records have been disguised."

"I was afraid of alerting them, so I didn't dare to dig deeper."

"However, based on the existing clues, I have a bold hypothesis."

"I suspect they may have discovered a brand new Secret Realm."

"And the location of this Secret Realm must be in the hands of the Zhou Family."

"The Zhou Family is responsible for the excavation of the Secret Realm, while the Liu Family is responsible for monetizing and transferring the resources from within."

After listening, Hou Changfeng fell into deep thought.

In his small eyes, squeezed into slits by fat, a shrewd light flickered.

A large Secret Realm, the value of the resources contained within could even reach hundreds of billions.

No wonder the Liu Family and the Zhou Family had such a close relationship.

No wonder when something happened to the Zhou Family, the Liu Family even went so far as to use their connections in the military to forcefully suppress the matter.

All of this made sense now.

But the current problem was.

Where exactly was this Secret Realm?

As the Governor of Dongning Province, he was intimately familiar with the situation within the province.

There were only two known Secret Realms in Dongning Province, and they had always been firmly controlled by the military.

How did the Zhou Family, without anyone knowing, unearth a third Secret Realm?

Hou Changfeng looked at Li Gang, his tone becoming serious.

"You continue to investigate."

"No matter what, you must uncover this secret of the Zhou Family for me."

"But also be careful not to alert them!"

"Yes!"

Li Gang straightened his back and nodded solemnly.

His heart was burning with anticipation.

Everyone knew that once a brand new Secret Realm could be discovered within Dongning Province, it would be an immense Merit .

By then, the good days for the Zhou Family would come to an end.

...

At the same time.

High above Dongning Province, a military helicopter was flying at high speed towards the Imperial Capital, battling strong winds.

After nearly seven hours of travel, Zhou Huai finally understood why the territories outside the cities were called forbidden zones.

Along the way, they encountered attacks from aerial Strange Beast almost every time they flew a certain distance.

There were flocks of acid-spitting Corrupted-Winged Birds.

There were also massive Howling Wind Hawks that could unleash wind blades.

Each time such a situation arose, Zhang Donglai would expressionlessly open the cabin door.

He didn't even need to wear any protective equipment; he just flew out directly.

Then, in a mere few tens of seconds, he would cleanly kill those troublesome mutated beasts.

He would then silently fly back, close the cabin door, as if he had just gone out to throw away some trash.

His movements were so practiced it made one's heart ache.

Clearly, they had experienced the same scenes on their way here.

Fortunately, with two military generals present, although the journey was bumpy, it was without incident.

When the helicopter finally passed through the thick clouds and entered the Imperial Capital's airspace, Zhou Huai, controlling Student Gandalf, looked out the window.

The sight before him made him hold his breath.

It was a city wall that soared into the clouds.

It was cast entirely from an unknown black metal, reflecting a cold sheen in the sunlight.

The height of the city wall was at least three times that of Donghai City.

On top of the wall, every hundred meters, a fearsome magic-guided cannon was mounted, its muzzle flickering with a heart-pounding energy aura, densely packed and countless.

After entering the Imperial Capital's airspace, the city's appearance was even more spectacular.

On the ground, skyscrapers stood tall and densely packed, extending to the horizon.

Compared to the Imperial Capital before him, Donghai City seemed like an insignificant small village.

Zhang Donglai looked at the perfectly "shocked" expression on Student Gandalf's Face, and a proud smile appeared on his own Face.

"How is it? Quite a shock, right?"

He patted Student Gandalf on the shoulder.

"Student Gandalf, welcome to the Imperial Capital!"