I'm Trying To Go Broke, So Why Do I Keep Getting Richer?!-Chapter 169: The growing Banquet
An investigation team had long been dispatched by the Galactic Union to investigate the terror attacks on a legally recognized bank.
They had also started their investigation, going from one incident site to another, even taking samples to send to their forensic labs.
They also tried to recover the footage from the branches, especially the portion that was uploaded online.
For the last few weeks, they had been trying to establish a link between the explosions, to see if there was anything common in the footage.
After going through tens of thousands of hours worth of footage, they had managed to find a few things that stood out, especially the fact that there was one customer that was seen visiting all the branches.
Once they had a potential image of the suspect, they planned to meet the Lionel Family, to question them further to see if they had any relationship with this man.
After all, just the fact that Leo was seen visiting all the branches, it wasn’t conclusive evidence of guilt.
After all, the footage only showed him entering the branches, and then leaving after a short meeting. There were no suspicious movements from him through the footage.
If he had only visited the branches that blew up, then it might have still given them a little more to go on. However, he was seen visiting the branches that hadn’t even been blown up.
Even more surprising was that they had further investigated that man, and found that he had visited even other banks that didn’t belong to the Lionel Family at around the same time.
Not long after that, Leo had opened a bank of his own. So it might easily be the fact that he was simply trying to understand the banking business or poach the managers from other banks.
That reason was what protected Leo, as it gave him more plausible deniability.
It wasn’t a coincidence either, since Leo had actually planned this. That’s why he visited every bank, even the ones that weren’t his target, in case there was ever an investigation.
"Leo Vanderlen... Although it might be a coincidence, I can’t get myself to believe it. There’s something really suspicious about him."
A woman was the lead investigator in the case. She was looking at Leo’s image, and reading news about his past rise, trying to understand everything about this suspicious person.
What surprised her even more was that Leo had already gone missing as per the report, with his younger brother taking over the company.
"Looks like we will have to visit this ’younger brother’ after we finish interrogating the Lionel Family."
....
Meanwhile, Leo had already reached the main planet of the Lionel Family.
It was a middle tier planet, which was even more heavily populated than earth. Even the size of this planet was much larger than earth.
Even though the entire planet was said to be owned by the Lionel Family, life here was not much different from earth.
The planet of Lionels also had their own political structure, where citizens voted for their political leadership.
On the surface, the Lionel Family didn’t interfere in the politics. However, only a fool wouldn’t know that almost all the significant decisions passed through the table of the Lionel Family Patriarch.
The Political Leadership was no different than the managers of the planet, giving citizens a small amount of control over how their countries should run.
As long as it didn’t affect the Lionel Family, the family didn’t care either.
At present, a red carpet was placed before the mansion of the Lionel Family. There were news reporters on either side of the red carpet, reporting live on the guests that were supposed to attend the meeting of the Lionel Family.
After all, the Lionel Family was no different than the royal family of the planet, and many people were curious about them, especially on their home planet.
Many citizens were watching the live feed of the red carpet, as the reporters were enthusiastically describing the achievements of the Lionel Family members that were making their entrance through the red carpet.
Besides the family members of the Lionel Family, even the influential people of the planet were also making their entrance.
This was supposed to be the night of the celebration when the family came together, and a party was thrown.
It was only after the banquet, that the meeting of the family members was to be started.
"Breaking! The President’s motorcade has just arrived! Reporting live from the Lionel Mansion, the president has just arrived!"
The President stepped out of the car. Normally, he would be escorted by his security, but this time, he was alone as he stepped on the red carpet.
After all, even security guards weren’t allowed inside.
He patted his clothes before waving his hands at the cameras, making his way through.
The arrival of guests didn’t stop with the president. The biggest movie stars of the planet, industrialists, and even the top researchers in the field, kept arriving one after another.
Still, most of the attention was caught by the Lionel Family Members that were arriving, each looking more graceful than the other.
The camera drones hovered higher, capturing a panoramic view of the Lionel Estate. From the air, the mansion looked like a beautiful fortress.
As the President disappeared into the Palace, the next arrival sent the press into a renewed frenzy.
A matte-black vehicle, devoid of any house crests or flashy lights, slid silently to the curb. From it emerged General Varos, the head of the Planetary Defense Force.
Unlike the other guests, Varos wore his full dress uniform, his chest heavy with medals that clinked softly as he walked.
He didn’t wave to the cameras. His eyes remained fixed forward as he made his way through.
"The General’s presence is unexpected!" a reporter shouted into her microphone. "Rumors suggested he was at the frontier, but it seems even the military brass cannot miss a Lionel banquet."
