110: Chapter 111 Not a Factory

C-19 pushed open the door to the control room.

The door was unlocked.

The control room wasn't large, about twenty square meters.

Three walls were covered in spliced screens, most of which had gone dark, with only two still lit. On the screens were surveillance feeds from various corridors in the factory, half-obscured by static. On the console lay several stacks of documents, a communication terminal, and a half-finished cup of water.

Kara Enzo sat in a chair in front of the console.

She didn't stand up. She didn't reach for a weapon. She didn't make any unnecessary movements.

She just sat there, looking toward the door.

C-19 walked in, his Chainsword hanging at his waist, unsheathed. His gaze swept over every corner of the control room. Renn stood beside the console with his hands raised above his head, his fingers trembling. Aside from the two of them, there was no one else in the control room.

His gaze returned to Kara.

She was in her early forties. Her short black hair was cut neatly. Her left hand rested on the tabletop; the middle and ring fingers were missing, and the scars at the stumps were white and shiny, long since healed.

C-19 noticed that hand.

He didn't speak.

Kara spoke first.

"You were much faster than last time."

Her voice was flat. A tone of stating a fact.

C-19 didn't respond. He walked to the console, picked up the stack of documents, and flipped through them. Factory production records, parts lists, personnel rosters.

Kara watched him flip through the papers.

"You won't find anything useful in there," she said. "The important things aren't on paper."

C-19 put the documents down.

"Stand up."

Two words. No threat, no change in tone.

Renn's body jerked.

Kara didn't flinch. She pushed her chair back slightly and used her left hand to support herself on the table as she slowly stood up. Her right knee hitched for a moment as she straightened it.

She stood straight. She was nearly half a meter shorter than C-19, and the angle at which she had to tilt her head back to look at him was steep.

"I have a question," she said.

C-19 didn't stop her.

"At Manila Fortress, your Chainsword could cut through hydraulic lines, but it couldn't cut through forty-millimeter armor plating."

She paused.

"Just now, you tore open a twelve-millimeter manganese steel shroud with your bare hands."

Her gaze moved from C-19's faceplate to his hands. Debris from the shroud and hydraulic oil still clung to the gauntlets of his power armor.

"Can all of your soldiers do things like that?"

C-19 didn't answer.

Kara nodded slightly.

"No," she said to herself, "only you can."

Her gaze moved away from C-19's hands and toward the screens that had gone dark on the wall.

"I spent three months designing those shrouds. I tested seventeen types of welding processes and finally chose a double fixation of argon arc welding plus spot welding. The shear strength exceeded eight hundred megapascals."

Her voice remained flat.

"And you tore them with your hands."

C-19 reached out and grabbed her right arm—not heavy, but inescapable—and led her away from the console, pushing her toward the door.

Kara was pushed forward two steps before steadying herself.

"My people," she said, "the workers and technicians in the factory... they aren't soldiers."

C-19 didn't stop.

"They are just people who build things."

C-19 pushed her out the door of the control room. In the corridor, TW-29 and two other members of the assault team were already waiting. Seeing Kara being pushed out, TW-29 raised his Bolter.

C-19 shook his head.

TW-29 lowered the gun.

Kara was escorted by two assault team members toward the upper part of the corridor. The old injury in her right knee made her walk unsteadily, but she didn't ask to slow down.

She stopped for a moment at the corner of the corridor.

She turned her head to look at C-19, who was walking at the very back.

"You found two factories."

C-19 looked at her.

"The third one is not a factory."

After saying that, she turned her head and continued walking forward.

C-19 stood at the corner of the corridor, watching her silhouette disappear into the light above.

He didn't press for more information.

Base. Command Room.

Li Cang was updating the tactical map when he received the battle report.

The report was brief. Target: Second Factory destroyed. Two modified six-legged walking vehicles destroyed. Captured Kara Enzo and her deputy, Renn, along with seventeen defenders. Three minor injuries on our side, zero fatalities. Seized factory equipment, two walking vehicle wrecks, and production record files.

Zero fatalities.

Li Cang leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly.

Nine people died at Manila Fortress. This time, zero.

He opened his eyes and continued reading the appendix of the battle report.

The last line of the appendix was a verbal report from C-19, transcribed by TW-78: Prisoner Kara Enzo voluntarily provided information during transport. The Sun Warriors have a total of three facilities. The first, Manila Fortress, has been destroyed. The second, the current target, has been destroyed. Regarding the third, Kara Enzo's exact words were 'The third one is not a factory,' with no further explanation provided.

Li Cang stared at that line of text for a long time.

The third one is not a factory.

Then what is it?

If it wasn't a factory for producing walking vehicles, what else did the Sun Warriors have that was worth hiding underground? An armory or ammunition depot wasn't necessary; the walking vehicles themselves were the ultimate weapon platforms, and ammunition could be produced directly in the factories.

A command center? Possible. But the way Kara said it felt wrong. If it were just a command center, she would have no reason to specifically emphasize that it was 'not a factory.' The nature of the third facility was completely different from the first two.

Li Cang zoomed the tactical map out to a full view of the Pan-Pacific region.

Manila Fortress was to the north. The second factory was to the south, in the jungle hills one hundred and eighty kilometers south of the coastline.

Where was the third facility?

Kara hadn't said. She had deliberately withheld it. Her factory had been destroyed and her walking vehicles torn to shreds, but she still held one card. The location and nature of the third facility were her final bargaining chips.

Li Cang closed the tactical map.

He needed to interrogate Kara Enzo. Personally.