172: Chapter 172 Factory District

Alert received her fake identification and put on the dark gray coat that Anshan had lent her—it was truly enormous; if not for the inner buttons, it would probably drag directly on the ground.

"After all, sometimes I also play the role of a child, and that's when this comes in handy," she said.

"Uh..." Alert was speechless.

She placed a brown duckbill cap on Alert's head. "Very good, our little detective is ready... Oh, wait, that's not right..."

She took Li Ming's shoulder bag out of his room and had Alert put it on.

"Voice recorder, wiretap, tracker, jammer, smoke grenade, and Logic." Anshan nodded. "Also your phone and charger, a high-resolution digital camera, and your Commander's black card. His identity is highly encrypted, so it doesn't matter if you take it to use; the password is ******."

"Is this... really okay?"

"Just don't tell anyone," Anshan said. "Kano will go with you; if anything happens, just run to her."

"Ta-da!"

Kano popped out from behind the sofa and was immediately punched back by Anshan like a game of Whac-A-Mole.

"Ow! That hurts! T_T"

"Then stop acting up. Besides, why does your outfit look so much like Orange Shirley's?"

"Who's Orange Shirley? A Qianhe person?"

"Never mind, forget it if you haven't heard of her," Anshan shook her head.

Kano blinked her golden eyes, looking completely bewildered.

"Alright, anyway, you two should head out." Anshan waved her hand. "Remember to let me know if you're not coming back for dinner."

"Got it..."

Kano opened the door and took Alert with her.

A6, having been woken up, poked its head out of Li Ming's room, looking somewhat confused.

——————

The Oronia Industrial Zone, the beating heart of the city. Every day, a large amount of raw materials and processed goods are sent here, transformed into industrial products and necessary supplies for actual demand. The famous Oronia Kingdom Arsenal is located here.

Of course, this is also a branch station of the Oronia train station, and the light rail used for material dispatch and personnel transport also passes through here.

Alert jumped off the train and left the station with Kano.

The chimneys of the Industrial Zone towered high, with factories standing on both sides of the road, and trams pulling cargo containers passed by on the central light rail from time to time.

There were very few people on the road, only occasionally a neatly dressed blue-collar worker or a worker with their head lowered walking by.

Sandwiched between the factories were some low-rise buildings.

The streetlights were covered in a layer of grime, and some police officers holding rifles were yawning under the streetlights at the intersection.

Naturally, some guards saw them, but this time no one was blind enough to provoke them.

After all, compared to the police in the city center and suburbs, the security work here not only had poor pay but also involved being berated by factory owners and their wives from time to time. These young girls who looked like they were playing detective might even be Ship Girls, and they didn't want to bring trouble upon themselves.

There is a saying: if someone is beautiful, they aren't necessarily a Ship Girl, but if they aren't beautiful, they definitely aren't. Even if a beautiful person isn't a Ship Girl, those who can go out on the street are usually either noble ladies or have been reserved by rich people early on; how could they possibly be touched by the likes of them?

Therefore, Officer Black was quite surprised when they asked him for directions.

However, since they asked, he answered them out of a desire not to offend anyone.

"Alright, let's consolidate the information. The two largest factories in the Industrial Zone are the state-run arsenal and the Hualefu Group's Happiness Residence daily necessities factory."

Kano took out a map. Oronia's industry covered almost every type of daily industrial product demand, but the largest were the hygiene and cosmetics factories centered around Hualefu Group, as well as the military industry.

"What's the background of this Hualefu Group...?" Alert looked at the information online. "The largest daily necessities and service desk giant in the eastern part of the federation..."

"Those are just what's on the surface," Kano replied. "Standing behind Hualefu Group is the Urantania Society."

"Urantania Society... What's that?"

"The Urantania Chivalric Order Knowledge Council State, located in the central-western part of the federation, is a holy land for mages. It is located in a small basin west of the Xia Great Wall and is a small country similar to Oronia, with its core built around the Mage Academy and the Mage Council," Kano replied.

"Oh, are they the ones who don't get along with Ship Girls?"

"No..." Kano felt a bit of toothache; how much had the Bureau Chief told her? "Those are the people from the core society, and due to being out of step with the times, they have actually been suppressed and gone underground. The Urantania Society is actually a fairly neutral entity and has quite a lot of trade with the Ship Girl Bureau."

"Oh..." Alert understood. "Then why..."

"The kind of thing with Kevin Muller is an inevitable result of the group's expansion. It's enough to show that in the unseen shadows behind the group's high-level management and their backers, enough impurities have already bred."

The two continued walking forward. Since the national arsenal was too close and they would likely be arrested as spies, they chose to go to the Hualefu factory on the other side instead.

An oil tanker driving on the road carried a sour smell, making Alert feel nauseous.

Kano frowned.

The light rail transporting coal passed by here and headed toward the distant thermal power plant.

"Sister Kano, I don't know if it's just my imagination..."

"Hmm?"

"This place isn't far from the seaside, right?"

"Indeed... only about ten kilometers away," Kano nodded. "Although Oronia is wealthy and developed, it suffers from a lack of land; even landfilling requires finding places in the neighboring Monita Republic, which controls the rest of the peninsula."

"But is this... really appropriate..."

"Appropriate," Kano said. "Oronia is located at the former canal estuary of the Xia Kingdom, which is convenient for logistics, making it quite suitable for producing consumer goods locally."

"Hmm..."

"Watch out!"

A car sped past, honking its horn, and nearly hit Kano and Alert.

"Do you know how to watch where you're going!"

A crude curse was left in the air.

"Hey! He was clearly driving on the sidewalk!" Alert waved her fist, appearing very angry.

"It's normal. This is what a real aristocratic second-generation heir is like," Kano narrowed her eyes. "Compared to those second-generation heirs who are groomed as successors and dare to break new ground, this kind of behavior from them is just a daily occurrence."

"...Sooner or later, they will pay the price for what they've done!"

"But not today... Alright, Alert, shall we continue?" Kano didn't seem to have much emotional fluctuation.

"Sister Kano..."

"Hmm?"

"You seem to have seen a lot of people like this..."

"Yeah, that's right..."

Compared to those inland idiots who want to possess me the moment they see me, at least the ones on the coast have a bit of a brain, Kano thought to herself.

...

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