CHAPTER 589: CHAPTER 525: PUPPET AND CROLOCK

"You must be Mr. Bel."

After flipping through the documents and personal items on the table and confirming the homeowner’s identity, Leon turned to look at the scruffy man being held down by Alger, and said calmly:

"Rest assured, we don’t intend to harm you, we just wish to use your identity as a scholar in District 1 to help us with a little something."

"Hmph!"

Before Leon could make his request, the scruffy man snorted angrily and then said with a harsh expression:

"You’re those criminals, aren’t you? What is it? After attacking Administration District 3, you’ve now set your sights on Research District 1?"

"Yes."

"I won’t take you there. Don’t even think about it!"

The scruffy man was very stubborn, stiff-necked as he glared angrily at Leon:

"Research District 1 is the core of the entire Crolock Kingdom, and everything I have was given to me by the Kingdom. I absolutely cannot betray it!"

"Hmm, hmm."

After casually responding, the sleepless Leon did not continue talking to the scruffy man but instead said to Alger, who was holding him:

"Alger, it’s your turn now."

"Alright."

Upon hearing Leon’s words, Alger nodded slightly, and his right hand resting on the scruffy man’s shoulder instantly dispersed, transforming into countless threads finer than hair, softly hanging on his shoulder.

"What is this? What... what are you going to do?"

In the scruffy man’s terrified gaze, the strange threads hanging on his shoulder broke through the skin like earthworms, drilling into his body one by one.

And then, before he could react in shock, those threads, so fine they were nearly transparent, began moving through the crevices of his muscle fibers towards his limbs.

In just a few breaths, these bizarre threads traversed his entire body, completely taking over his will, even his eyelids and tongue were implanted with at least dozens of threads, rendering him completely immobile.

"That’s about it."

After feeling a slight bulge of threads on the thinnest part of the skin behind the scruffy man’s earlobes, Alger, whose entire right arm had disappeared up to the shoulder, nodded and said to Leon:

"Mr. Bel is now under my control. If he exhibits any abnormal behavior, I’ll be the first to notice and stop him, ensuring he has no chance to call for help."

"Thanks for your hard work."

After nodding at Alger, Leon, under the scruffy man’s terrified gaze, searched his pockets and pulled out his small notebook. After glancing at the schedule written inside, he said:

"Let’s go, it’s now time for Mr. Bel to start work, we should be on our way."

On our way? You... Ah?!

Upon hearing Leon’s words, the scruffy man was terrified to find that it felt like another set of bones and muscles were exerting force within his body, and he really raised his hand to twist open the door and stepped out.

And the young man with black hair and eyes, along with the burly man missing a right arm, followed behind him directly onto the street, completely unabashed.

What was even more strange was that facing these criminals whose physical features matched exactly with those broadcasted, and hadn’t even changed clothes, the pedestrians on the street seemed not to see them, showing no reaction at all.

How is this possible? Could they be invisible?

While the scruffy man was perplexed, Leon already inserted his identification card into the roadside navigation device, sending out a request to head to Research District 1, and then followed the tall man missing an arm into the hover car that came to pick them up.

...

"Mr. Leon."

Perhaps feeling unsure, after the hover car started moving, Alger couldn’t help but ask:

"Are we just going straight over like this? Wouldn’t using Mona’s [Forward Path] be safer?"

"It’s fine, just go like this."

Sitting beside the scruffy man, Leon continued flipping through the documents seized yesterday while answering without looking up:

"I’ve thoroughly checked, the technology in Crolock Kingdom doesn’t include surveillance-like systems. The effect of Secret Tail is enough to blend us past ordinary checkpoints.

Considering the few specially developed large experimental areas surrounding, the total area of Research District 1 is about over sixty square kilometers, which is not small. We just need to be careful not to get too close to the core area or appear in too open spaces; the chances of being discovered are not high."

"That’s good then..."

Reassured by Leon’s assurance, Alger relaxed a little, then curiously looked at Leon’s who was busy flipping through the documents:

"Mr. Leon, are these seized documents ordinary data? You’ve been reading them all night, haven’t you finished yet?"

"No, I’ve only looked through about one-tenth of them now."

"Then... have you discovered anything?"

"Somewhat."

Flipping through the thick Korluk Mineral Resource Policy in his hands, along with the Major Energy and Core Material Balances Annual Report for comparison, Leon said with a cool expression:

"Although Crolock Kingdom isn’t large in terms of area, its resource consumption is astonishingly high. Just for Hover Crystal alone, it consumes over 100,000 tons each year, whale fat, coal, special ores, and various rare metals are calculated in millions of tons."

"Isn’t that normal?"

Alger thought about it and said, somewhat confused:

"I don’t understand this very well, but I’ve heard that despite Crolock Kingdom being small, like Thousand Sails Maritime Country Seal, it’s a trade-driven nation that sells a vast amount of products every year. This consumption doesn’t seem unusual, does it?"

"This consumption is not unusual, and considering Crolock Kingdom’s trade volume, it could even be considered low, but the real issue lies in how these resources are obtained."

Holding his charcoal pencil, Leon circled a few areas on the map attached to the Mineral Resource Policy, frowning:

"Crolock Kingdom’s ’territory’ isn’t large, but there are many ’mining zones’ that it actually controls for the sole purpose of supporting the Kingdom.

While these ’mining zones’ are small on their own and extremely scattered in location, they total over a hundred, either developed temporarily, semi-permanently leased or outright purchased, amassing over four hundred thousand square kilometers."

"What?!

Upon hearing Leon’s words, Alger couldn’t help but be shocked.

"So many? Our Kingdom of Orleson has such a large territory but only just over a million square kilometers! I thought Crolock Kingdom was a small nation with just over twenty thousand square kilometers!"