HCB Chapter 557 I Want to Report You
Chapter 557 I Want to Report You
The spring wind, wrapped in salty moisture, penetrated into the North Harbor in the northern forest area of Helderland. The ice floes outside the harbor broke into tiny ice chips, floating up and down with the tide.
At this time of year in previous years, there was still a thin layer of ice on the dock, and the porters' leather boots would make a crisp "crackling" sound when they stepped on it. However, this spring, most of the ice had melted, leaving only a few stubborn ice ridges embedded in the edge of the berth, like lost glass fragments.
Genia hummed a tuneless tune as she walked towards the post office on the shiny bluestone slabs.
He wore a washed-out gray tweed jacket with a faded badge on his left breast—it had been issued during his ten years of service, the metal edges now polished to a shine.
Old Genia, who has been retired for two years, now works as a volunteer in the Zell district, responsible for coordinating community affairs. Army Day is coming in a few days, and he is responsible for going to the post office to pick up national flags and military flags to decorate the streets.
In the post office hall, the wooden counter was polished to a shine. Several citizens in coarse coats were queuing up to mail letters. Genia walked straight to the front desk and knocked on the glass.
"Hello, do you have any goods delivered to the Zell District Office? I'm here to pick them up."
The young female clerk behind the counter flipped open the register and traced the wet ink with her fingertips:
"Wait a moment, I'll have someone check the warehouse."
She turned and shouted into the room:
"The package to the Tizer District Office in the warehouse!"
Not long after, a postman carrying a linen package came in from the back door. The package was wrapped in moisture-proof oilcloth and tied tightly with hemp rope. The postmark showed that it was sent from Helmingen the day before yesterday and the destination was Beigang Post Office.
Genia took the package and signed the bill of lading. He wrote the words "Zel District Office" in the address column very neatly.
As he was walking home with the package in his arms, the wind suddenly grew stronger, making the white hair on his forehead messy. He gathered the package closer to his arms and could feel the soft fabric inside - it should be the rolled-up flag.
When I opened the door, my wife was serving potato soup to the table:
"Going to the post office again? What treasure is it this time?"
"The national flag and the military ensign."
Genia placed the package on the oak table in the kitchen. When he untied the hemp rope, the oilcloth unfolded with a "swish", revealing the neatly folded flag inside.
He first unfolded the national flag—the black, white, and red tricolor flag, with the standard three stripes. But as soon as he unfolded the first inch, his pupils shrank.
Why are those white stripes... gray?
"Are your eyes blurry?"
He muttered, digging out the old flag at home.
It was issued to him during his military service. The edges were a little worn, but the white stripes were still as white as snow.
He laid the two flags side by side on the table, and the difference between gray and white was directly exposed to Genia's eyes.
The more Genia thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He frantically searched for the other flags in the package, and the more he looked, the more shocked he became: all the national flags were black, gray and red, and even the central pattern of the military flag was not the original one-handed sword, but a broad-bladed battle axe.
“This is definitely not a misprint.”
Genia murmured to himself. He was well aware of the strict stipulations of the Flag Law: no official flag could be altered.
Now, not only are these flags blatantly violating the law, they're being sent to the post office openly—who would use fake flags for propaganda?
A terrible thought exploded in my mind: Is someone going to use Army Day to organize a flag riot?
A cold sweat broke out on Genia's back. As a former internal affairs investigator of the Internal Affairs Bureau, he had an almost instinctive sensitivity to such anomalies.
"It must be reported immediately!"
Genia picked up the package and rushed out the door, his leather boots making hurried sounds on the bluestone slabs. He went straight to the district office and pushed open the door of the district chief's office without even knocking.
"I'm reporting this. Someone is trying to subvert the state power!"
Genia's voice made the windows buzz.
The district chief behind the desk was so frightened that he jumped up from his chair, and his quill pen drew a long ink mark on the document:
"Genya! You entered the room without knocking, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"There's something wrong with the flag!"
Genia slammed the package on the table.
"The national flag and military flag sent by the post office are all fake! The white has been changed to gray, and the sword on the military flag has been replaced with a battle axe!"
The district chief frowned as he untied the tarpaulin. When he saw the color difference of the flags, his expression changed from confusion to disdain.
"Old Genia, you've got your old problem again. Maybe the textile mill printed the wrong color, or maybe it's a lighting problem..."
"This is not a simple misprint!"
Genia slammed the table and yelled.
"I've compared it with our national flag! The difference between the grey and white is visible to the naked eye! And the battle axe on the flag is a blatant manipulation of national symbols!"
"Even so."
The district chief rubbed his temples.
"What evidence do you have? Did you find the plans? Did you find the weapons? Or did you catch the spy? Aren't you making a big deal out of nothing?"
"I'm making a big deal out of nothing?"
Genia said angrily:
"When have I ever made a fuss?"
"When have you never made a fuss?"
The district chief asked in return:
"Last year, you reported to the military camp that you saw a large number of unidentified individuals landing on the coast. This alerted the infantry regiment stationed in Beigang, and they sent a thousand-man team to control the entire coastline. And the result was a group of sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs!"
"And this year, you captured two people and reported them to the intelligence department, saying you had captured two spies near the military port."
"I didn't arrest the wrong person. People have proven that he is indeed a spy." said Genia.
"You are so stubborn!"
The district chief yelled at him:
"They are indeed spies, but they are from the Helderland Intelligence Department's North Port branch and are your former colleagues! Their purpose is to observe in plain clothes whether there are any suspicious people near the military port. Why are you bringing a few retired veterans to knock them out with clubs?"
Facing the district chief's questioning, Genia blushed a little embarrassedly, but still said:
"That probably won't happen this time. Even if it wasn't a riot, these flags certainly wouldn't be used in official ways, because that's against the law. The Flag Act clearly prohibits arbitrarily changing the official flag."
"Alright, alright."
The district chief waved his hand and said:
"Just go to the post office and return the package. Let them find our package. This matter is not our responsibility."
As a former internal affairs investigator, Genia was very angry when he saw the district chief's indifference and immediately said:
"Then I'll report this directly to the intelligence department and report you as well. I'll say you're lazy and incompetent, and don't care about national security at all. Forget about your chances of promotion."
"Stop!"
The district chief immediately called him over. What a guy! He actually reported himself and sent someone to call him in for questioning. Even if he was innocent, he would definitely be gossiped about.
"I'll go with you, okay?"
The two rushed all the way to the Beigang Intelligence Department. After hearing their description, the front desk staff immediately took them to the waiting room.
An hour later, the door to the waiting room finally opened. A middle-aged official in a dark blue uniform entered. "You two, we've understood what happened. Thank you for your contribution to national security. We'll investigate this matter. And this is probably the package you requested. We picked it up from the post office."
Upon hearing that everything was fine, the district chief and Genia left with the package.
Meanwhile, in an office at the North Port intelligence unit, several officials were discussing the matter.
"I think we should check it out."
An official said.
"The cargo has been identified. It was produced in a private textile factory in Helmingen. After being delivered to North Port, it was loaded onto a cargo ship at Port 8 and finally transported by water to a port city in the north of the Yoda Empire."
Upon hearing that the case involved foreign countries, the officials present unanimously agreed to conduct an in-depth investigation.
"Notify customs to immediately block the cargo ship at Port 8 heading to the Yoda Empire."
After receiving the news, the customs officials did not dare to delay and immediately sent people to control the merchant ship. Then a group of investigators boarded the cargo ship and began to check the cargo in the cargo hold. It would not have mattered if they did not check. When the investigators opened the box, they were shocked by the contents.