Chapter 936 - 397: Mechanical World
When Olivia heard Wu Chang’s question, her eyebrows twitched momentarily, as if Wu Chang’s remark was too sharp, causing her discomfort.
She walked to the side of the lectern, placed one hand on it, and looked down at Wu Chang.
"Sir Sean, I hope you understand what you are saying."
Wu Chang appeared oblivious to the warning in Olivia’s words and continued speaking:
"Your Majesty Olivia, I certainly know what I am talking about."
"My partner Raventon once said, ’Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’
"Anyone who has seen the crime scene of Prime Minister Ron’s death would find it difficult to associate his death with suicide, but as we followed the clues and eliminated all possible suspects, suicide became the only possibility."
Olivia pressed her lips tightly, then managed a smile after a moment, saying, "This statement is valid only if you have truly ruled out all impossibilities."
Wu Chang picked up a chair, walked through the frozen crowd maintaining their applauding gesture, crossed the red cordon, and placed the chair right below the lectern, facing Olivia.
He sat down on the chair, looking up at Olivia, as if giving a report.
"Initially, as we investigated the Prime Minister assassination case, we found four clues at the crime scene. Among them, the sound in the phonograph record and the blood letters on the wall pointed to murder."
"The documents unfolded on Prime Minister Ron’s desk provided us with two directions: the Pine Tree Coal Mine explosion case and the workers’ protest."
"Looking back now, we can see that Prime Minister Ron wanted to guide us to investigate the Pine Tree Coal Mine explosion from the very beginning."
Wu Chang paused, waiting for Olivia’s reaction. Olivia said nothing, gesturing for him to continue.
Wu Chang continued:
"In Prime Minister Ron’s plan, he must have initially chosen Raventon as the detective to investigate his death."
"In my opinion, if Pine Tree Coal Mine wanted to hide the truth about the deep mining area, there are many ways to do so. Yet the handlers of the incident left many loopholes. These loopholes are of a certain level, not easily noticeable at a glance, but it’s not difficult for someone of Raventon’s caliber to find clues if the issue was predetermined."
"This allows the truth of the Pine Tree Coal Mine explosion, that is, the starting point of all events, to be controllable."
"Namely, when the Police Hall sought Raventon’s help to make him aware of the abnormality in Pine Tree Coal Mine, that’s when everything began."
Using the hand resting on the lectern as a pivot, Olivia moved behind the lectern, leaning slightly forward, and asked:
"Sir Sean, what do you mean by ’beginning’?"
Wu Chang raised his eyebrows and said frankly:
"Of course, it signifies using the Prime Minister position as a bait to tempt all parties to vie for the Prime Minister’s power, thereby using their conflicts to weaken their reputation among the public, paving the way for you to return to the pinnacle of power."
Wu Chang’s straightforwardness left Olivia at a loss for words. She said, "Sir Sean, you should be responsible for what you say."
Wu Chang ignored Olivia’s threat, saying:
"Prime Minister Ron, as the leader of the Conservative Party, though seen as a traitor by party members since the Anti-Corn Laws days, could not have been unaware of the ambitions of the Chief Justice and others."
"Following his plan, once we discovered the existence of the Flesh and Extraordinary Steam Engine, we only needed to release some information for the Conservative Party holding onto industrial regulatory power to quickly assist."
"However, Prime Minister Ron failed to account for one thing."
Olivia cooperatively asked, "What did he fail to account for?"
Wu Chang sighed and said:
"Someone did not follow his orders, left Stilan, and chose to continue their plan alone."
"That person did not realize that the exposure of Pine Tree Coal Mine was intentional. He feared Raventon, like last time, would trace back to him, and in a bid to buy time, he wiped out Baron Philip’s family."
"This very act allowed us to discover that the black hand behind Pine Tree Coal Mine wasn’t led by Glad and the Liberal Party but the Steam Council lurking in Grimland’s shadows."
Olivia’s feigned smile slowly disappeared, turning into an expressionless cold demeanor.
She seemed to want to say something but did not interrupt Wu Chang and maintained a listening posture.
"The Steam Council executed them at this time, making Raventon and I certain that Prime Minister Ron’s investigation did not uncover the deep secrets of Pine Tree Coal Mine; hence, we did not follow his initial plan to continue investigating the Liberal Party."
"Instead, we followed the Miner Thieves from Pine Tree Coal Mine to investigate another clue left at the Prime Minister assassination scene, the worker movement."
"But unfortunately, the Miner Thieves we traced belonged to Her Majesty the Queen. When you discovered our investigation veered off track, you influenced Connor through the Miner Thieves and subtly disclosed information about Pine Tree Coal Mine to the Conservative Party."
"Connor, whom you supported, coupled with Nestor from the Conservative Party, were enough to sway internal opinions at Bright Lamp Report. This redirected our next investigative target back to the Liberal Party, namely Sloan Textile Factory."
At this point, Wu Chang took out Xavier’s cane from his personal space, placing it before him, aligning the face with the Steam Council emblem toward Olivia.
Looking into Olivia’s eyes, he said:
"In your and Prime Minister Ron’s plans, the Steam Council was always part of it. Once you found out that some didn’t leave, you included them in your scope of utilization."