CHAPTER 413: CHAPTER 413: FAMILY LAW PRIVILEGE

In the Judgement Place’s detention center, there was an independent luxury suite, complete with all the necessities of home life. Every day, at a set time, someone delivered a feast of gourmet food. If one grew bored, there was always the option to watch movies in the home theater or read a book.

Aside from being unable to contact the outside world or interact with others, life here was more comfortable than staying in a hotel. But Lv Ao was suffering. It had been ten days since he was brought into the Judgement Place.

According to past customs, he should have already left the Pioneer Space and returned home to enjoy a hero’s welcome. Yet, the Judgement Place still hadn’t released him.

Lv Ao couldn’t understand. Even if Princess Yu had personally arrested him, given the relationship between the Lv Family and the Yu Family, Princess Yu would at most go through the motions. The necessary connections, with the family’s influence, should have been cleared by now.

"Lv Ao!" As the voice sounded, the cell door opened.

"Lv Lai! Damn it, what took you so long!"

"What happened? How did Princess Yu suddenly find out?" Lv Lai asked, sitting down on the sofa.

"How the hell would I know? The person in charge of the Space Gate changed a few days ago, and you didn’t notify me? Damn it, that batch of goods was detained by the Space Gate personnel. After I found out, I went to the Space Gate to demand an explanation. Who would have thought I’d be so unlucky as to run into Princess Yu right then? The goods couldn’t be hidden, and I was brought here."

"Are you stupid? Why did you make a fuss when the goods were detained? Don’t you know you should have pretended to know nothing and then found a scapegoat to claim they did it behind your back? How could you be so reckless?"

"I... I just couldn’t stand it! A mere section chief at the Space Gate dared to detain the Lv Family’s goods. When did our Lv Family ever lose so much face? Alright, enough about that. Let’s go. Let’s go back quickly..."

"Did you say anything to anyone else?"

"Are you crazy? Do you think I don’t understand the stakes? Rest assured, I haven’t said a word."

SHLICK—

Suddenly, Lv Ao’s body jolted violently. He stared with wide eyes at Lv Lai in front of him. Stiffly, he lowered his head. A longsword was thrust into his chest, piercing straight through his back.

"You..."

"Don’t blame me, Lv Ao. We must learn from the precedent set by the Duanmu Family. Since you’ve already been tainted, we can’t let you drag down the entire family. Rest assured, your girlfriend has already agreed to be with me, and I will take good care of her. The family will ensure your third uncle and third aunt are cared for in their old age. Just consider yourself to have died in this beast tide."

PFFT—

Lv Ao, overwhelmed with anger and frustration, spat out a mouthful of blood as his body fell rigidly to the floor.

"Director..." Suddenly, a voice called from outside the door, "Director, Princess Yu Ruoyun is here."

"Ah? I’ll go out to greet her immediately."

Yu Ruoyun and Wang Lan stood in the main hall of the Judgement Place. Yu Ruoyun had her arms folded, her fingers twitching slightly. About twenty seconds later, Director Li of the Judgement Place hurried over.

"Princess Yu Ruoyun, you’ve arrived."

"Where is Lv Ao? How is your investigation? How many Space Stones has the Lv Family transported? What are they using the smuggled Space Stones for?"

"This..." Director Li frowned, sweating profusely.

"Don’t tell me you haven’t investigated these past few days?"

"Forgive me, Princess. Since you were the one who had us arrest him, we... we didn’t dare to delve deeper. We were waiting for your... your instructions."

"I had you arrest him? Lv Ao smuggling Space Stones is illegal in itself! And you, as the director of the Judgement Place, dare to say such a thing to me?" Yu Ruoyun was so incensed she practically vibrated as she snapped.

"I... I..."

"Cousin Ruoyun." A gentle voice sounded from behind. Yu Ruoyun turned her head coldly. Her expression momentarily froze before turning icy once more.

"Lv Lai. So, it’s you."

"Come now, have we become so estranged? You won’t even call me ’cousin’?"

"That depends on why you’re here. You should know what your Lv Family has done. Now that I know about this, I will investigate it thoroughly. If the Lv Family truly has issues, I hope you’ll pull back from the brink and turn yourselves in. Don’t wait for me to find out. It will be awkward for everyone by then."

"It’s just Lv Ao smuggling Space Stones... This hardly needs your investigation. But this wasn’t done by the Lv Family; it was Lv Ao himself. Or rather, it was people from my third granduncle’s branch of the family. After Lv Ao was arrested, my third granduncle kept it from my grandfather. If the family’s Shadow Guard hadn’t informed my grandfather that my third granduncle has been running around everywhere, we would still be in the dark. After an investigation by the Shadow Guard, it turned out that the businesses of my third granduncle’s branch were poorly managed, accumulating debts of over three hundred billion. He took a desperate gamble to cover the shortfall. In a secretly rented warehouse, we found a ton of Space Stones."

"Only a ton?" Yu Ruoyun asked with a sneer.

"We only found a ton. He said the rest has already been sold. This is our management’s oversight, a failure of scrutiny. My grandfather has already ordered all family members currently outside to return to the clan lands for re-education and auditing."

"And Lv Ao? I want to take him into my custody."

"Ruoyun, you should know that Star Martial families possess the right of family law."

At these words, Yu Ruoyun’s expression instantly darkened. She stared coldly at Lv Lai for a long time before saying, "You’re truly ruthless. Wang Lan, let’s go."

Wang Lan looked utterly puzzled. However, since he was accompanying Yu Ruoyun today, he didn’t say much and followed her out of the Judgement Place toward the exit.

Afterward, they arrived at the port and boarded a shuttle bus leaving the Pioneer Space. This was a spontaneous decision by Yu Ruoyun: to go out and notify her family to rigorously investigate the Lv Family.

"Why don’t you ask me why I turned around and left just like that?"

"You must have your reasons, right?" Wang Lan said while buckling his seatbelt.

"Lv Ao is dead. He was murdered to silence him," Yu Ruoyun said flatly.

"What? Dead? Did Lv Lai kill him? Then why did you leave? Why not just grab Lv Lai and perform a Spirit Engraving? Wouldn’t everything be clear once it’s done?"

"Did you hear him mention the Star Martial families’ right of family law?"

"Uh..."

"Seventy years ago, Premier Li launched the ’Break the Three Olds’ campaign against the Sect Patriarchs. Although it ultimately smashed the power structure of the secular aristocratic clans, it was unsuccessful against the Star Martial world. The Star Martial families possessed the most powerful Star Martial Warriors at the time. Attacking them would have plunged the entire nation into chaos due to their retaliation. Although the Star Martial families weren’t destroyed back then, an agreement with specific regulations was established. The right of family law allows Star Martial families to punish their own clan members. If a clan member commits a crime or acts in a way that disgraces the family, the clan can investigate and administer its own punishment. However, this punishment must be harsher than national law; leniency is forbidden. This rule was originally established to limit the privileges of the Star Martial families and has been effectively upheld until now. But now, it’s being exploited to murder and silence people. Lv Lai used his family’s right of family law to kill Lv Ao. Legally, under national law, there’s no issue with this, so we can’t use it as a reason to arrest him."

"But..."

"I know what you’re going to say. Why not detain Lv Lai secretly and perform a Spirit Engraving on him? Heh... You underestimate the Lv Family, or rather, you underestimate all Star Martial families. The Duanmu Family was caught off guard by you because they underestimated their enemy, and you managed to control Duanmu Yi from the very beginning. This time, Lv Lai definitely came prepared. It’s highly likely he has Skill Forms engraved in his mind. If we attempt a Spirit Engraving on him, it would give the Lv Family a pretext to retaliate against us."

Wang Lan sighed. It was indeed a difficult situation.

"Dear passengers, please take note: we are about to pass through the Space Gate. All passengers should check that their seatbelts are fastened. There will be severe turbulence momentarily, so please brace yourselves..."

As the announcement sounded, Wang Lan gripped his seatbelt tightly. He had no idea where the entrance and exit of the East Sea Pioneer Space were located. Travel between them required passage through a terrifying, rollercoaster-like route.

About five minutes later, a violent rolling sensation, like being tossed in waves, engulfed Wang Lan. He didn’t know how long it lasted before the amphibious vehicle finally stabilized. Outside the window, the view had changed to an undulating sea, with passing ships rising and falling on the waves.

"Finally, we’re out! Oh, my phone, I’ve missed you!" a voice exclaimed beside him. The person promptly took out their phone. "Damn, out of battery! Does anyone have a power bank?"

Wang Lan also pulled out his phone, only to face the same fate. Although it had been switched off, it had been idle for too long. The battery was critically low and would likely die within minutes.

As soon as the screen lit up, a dozen missed calls blinked on the display: three from Jiang Xinyu, the rest from Xie Sisi. Yu Ruoyun, sneaking glances at Wang Lan’s phone screen, felt the corners of her mouth curl into a scornful smile. Hmph. Men!

Running out of battery was hardly a problem for Wang Lan. He possessed an electrical energy transmission skill. Sparks flickered between his fingers, and the phone’s battery level visibly surged.

As a Star Martial Warrior, one generally chose phones with outstanding batteries. Frequent trips to Different Dimensional Spaces were harsh on a device’s power. Wang Lan’s model was one of those legendary types: charge for one minute, talk for two hours.

In less than three minutes, the phone was fully charged.

He hastily unlocked it and dialed Jiang Xinyu’s number.

"Hello? Xinyu? Yes, I just got out of the Different Dimensional Space. East Sea Pioneer Space. It was a temporary mission. Dangerous? How could it be dangerous? This is a Pioneer Space; there’s no danger for Star Martial Warriors at or above the Galaxy Stage. What? Really? You’re coming back to the country? When? In a month? Oh... that’s still quite a while. No, it’s nothing. It’s just, thinking I have to wait another month to see you... I’m getting impatient."

Yu Ruoyun, sitting beside him, really wanted to cover her ears and block it all out. But Wang Lan’s voice seemed to have a magical quality, persistently drilling into her ears. Who said Wang Lan was a blockhead? Who said he wasn’t eloquent? He sounds perfectly fine to me... Not only are his words captivating, but he can also two-time you behind your back!

Recalling this, Yu Ruoyun felt a bitter taste in her mouth. Even though her thing with Xie Sisi started by accident, at least they both acknowledge it. In that case, I’m even less than Xie Sisi, aren’t I? What does that make me?

A long while later, Wang Lan hung up. Since most people on the shuttle had started making calls after leaving the Pioneer Space, Wang Lan’s actions didn’t seem particularly noteworthy.

It was just Yu Ruoyun beside him, having been involuntarily subjected to their lovey-dovey conversation, who seemed somewhat disgruntled.

"Finished with your call?"

"Done," Wang Lan replied absently, not catching the implication in Yu Ruoyun’s words.

"Isn’t there still another missed call? Why not call that one back? Afraid I’ll tell on you?"

Instantly, Wang Lan shivered. His body gave a start from an overreaction, and he turned his head to look at Yu Ruoyun with a grave expression.