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Hua Lin silently divided the hot stew into plates on behalf of Shilua, and frantically absorbed all the knowledge that she should and should not learn.
She had just put on the third plate when she saw Asuna and Paimon pick up the plates and start showing off without any courtesy.
"Ms. Shiluwa's craftsmanship is amazing!"
"…Senior, at least fill the cup for the owner first…show proper courtesy."
"Oh, the taste of this milk sauce is so delicious! I'm going to be addicted to it!"
However, next to Asuna, Paimon was making even greater noises. Talking about etiquette with her now would be like asking for her life.
"Ms. Paimon...sigh."
"Haha, don't be so reserved, Hua Lin, we are all in the same boat. It's not just about food and lodging, you can tell me anything you need."
Just by looking at the full bowl of stewed meat and the exquisitely decorated interior, Kong could roughly guess how wealthy the Langdao family was.
If there is no start-up funding and only relies on the funding from Castle K, Shiluva's research on the star core may not be able to continue before Cocolia is affected.
They are seeking cooperation with local wealthy people.
"Ms. Silva, first of all, thank you for being willing to provide a base for our operation... But I have some news that may offend you... It's like this, just now your brother, Guard Officer Jeppard has also joined the 'opposition' represented by Grand Guardian Bronya." Sora considered his words carefully.
Once family members are involved, it may be difficult for even rational people to remain rational.
"...Oh, he finally got it?"
However, Shiluwa had no worries about her brother being caught in the turbulence, nor did she feel disgusted with them because of Kong's truth.
"He had sacrificed many of his brothers before, and he would occasionally look frustrated, but he never complained to me... Now he can finally seek justice for those who died in vain - I understand why he took this step."
"It's great that you accepted..."
"Rather, I'm relieved that my brother is on the right path... You don't know how stubborn he was before. If he fought with his own people on the battlefield... then... Fortunately, Commander Bronya persuaded him."
With a somewhat frightened look on her face, Shiluwa took the plate handed over by Hua Lin and distributed it to everyone present - she even gave Paimon half a spoonful.
It was the first time she had seen such a lovely and cute "little girl".
"Come on, come on, let's talk while we eat. I don't know when those world-shattering bastards will disappear, so I don't dare to start cooking. Um, Kong, is it okay for me to call you that?"
"That's fine."
"Kong, I've heard about the general situation from Eula. What I can provide is not only a place to stay in the city, but also some unused properties. I can lend them to you Tibetans. If you only have the mechanical house as a base, it will cause a lot of inconvenience. Although you can come and go freely, but... Cocolia may remember my past research and regard me as a thorn in her side and a key sentinel during this special period."
Xiluwa pointed at the back door and said, "In two days, winter will come and it will be dark, which is a good time to do something shameful... I mean, covert things... I can also go out with you to do things, and then we can justifiably close the front door and let the people watching us catch us empty-handed."
"If we go out from the back... Asuna, how much energy do your tactical suits have left?"
"95%. There is a spiral staircase in the back street. I have already checked it out, teacher! I can jump from the roof into the blocked alley without a jetpack!"
Asuna quickly raised her hand, as if she was answering a question in class.
"Then let's do this. Shiluwa, what do you need? You can tell me all at once."
"As for me... I heard that you guys are going to the lower area. I haven't seen the upper and lower passages open for a long time. This opportunity cannot be missed."
Shiluwa is really a very "rock" woman.
Her enthusiasm, her strong desire to rescue Belloberg, easily infected everyone.
It was this rock and roll personality that allowed Eula and Asuna to quickly become close to her. This can be said to be an example of reverse strategy.
"Do you have the energy to go out at night? We just happen to have reconnaissance and trading missions to perform near the passage. It would be best to have a few more locals to cooperate with us."
"Of course. Since the store is closed now, I can sleep in during the day without any excuse." She blinked, seeming to appreciate Kong's straightforwardness.
193. Shiluwa, there is hell ahead!
"Hara Rin, have you found a suitable sniping position?"
"Found it. This residential building has five floors and a wide field of vision. Teacher, I can put the whole street within my range of fire."
"Okay, I'll leave the high ground to you. The drone will periodically scan the direction we came from. Just pay attention to the retreat route. If the drone is discovered, immediately move it away as bait. Your weapon is too powerful. Use it as a warning first. Don't aim at the head unless it's absolutely necessary."
"Yes."
Hua Lin didn't care about the dust on the roof. She lay down next to the gutter, placed the sniper rifle on the shaky guardrail, and aimed at the street where even the lamp posts were dimly visible in the slight mist.
Karin and Asuna, who were very confident in their sense of smell, could only smell the odor of rotting wood and the iron smell of falling rust in this old street. The flow of air seemed to be stagnant - if Shiluwa hadn't deliberately stepped on the large pipes buried under the floor, making a hollow sound and causing a small-scale collapse, they wouldn't even be able to tell where to step.
The terrain of Kivotos is indeed too "ordinary"... They couldn't help but think so.
This scene where the entire city is made of steel and the foundation and energy supply equipment are integrated is very steampunk, complex and three-dimensional, forming a sharp contrast with the downtown street scenes that the students saw in the 1940s and 1950s. It has a strange charm and can easily distract them -
But to the old Beloberg woman Shiluwa, this place had almost no appeal, and was not as dangerous as the Millennium Science Academy where every block was like a fortress in her imagination.
The blond boss who demonized the impression of Kivotos given by the students has been distracted, thinking about what the "parking lot broadsword formation and convenience store artillery fortification" that Asuna mentioned during the casual conversation on the road just now is.
Kong noticed their distraction early on, so he assigned sentries to give them reminders in advance, hoping to reduce the possibility of their mistakes.
In addition to focusing attention, another reason why Kong did not dare to let the students patrol was that this area was closer to the Rift Zone blockade than Xiluwa expected. The threat not only came from other garrison regiments, but some unclean things might also sneak in.
Perhaps it is precisely because there are few people active nearby and the monsters in the Rift Valley are rampant that Sambo can come and go freely without having to fight with the life-threatening elevators and guards in the core area.
"Asuna, you just need to guard the entrance. Don't act on your own. The pipes here are stacked together and you can't see them clearly even with the system map. If you get lost, it will be difficult for me to find you."
"Yeah! Don't worry, teacher, I won't do anything wrong outside!"
"...You will definitely mess up."
Kong Dan said painfully.
He has a very serious "stereotype" about his students. After Asuna and Karin came here, it was observed that their personalities had hardly changed, which further reinforced this impression.
Fortunately, he just needs to "keep everything as usual", which in a sense makes him less worried.
Being prepared for the possibility that one's own students would run out like a wild horse, isn't this an alternative form of "still under control"?
"Asuina...if you can safely guard the entrance until the handover is completed, I will give you extra points. If you can't help but kill everyone, I can only give you a 'good'..."
Rather than hoping that Asuna can sit still, it’s better to hope that the creatures from the Rift Valley won’t wander around—
"Delay any fellow who intends to come over to investigate. If they are human, fire warning shots. If they are monsters, kill them immediately. Except for the Jeppards or their robots, don't let in a single mouse."
"No problem! Ah, but we don't have the equipment. How can we transport the goods? That's 10 tons of crude ore..."
The big golden retriever checked the guns, then leaned against the wall, looked sideways at the empty space where he was crouching on the wooden floor, looking here and sniffing there.
The teacher's methods have always been magical, but it is obviously impractical to transport so much cargo using his personal storage space.
Kong explained in the frequency band: "Remember what I said, Jeppard sent some autonomous robots here? He plans to break up the whole into small pieces and secretly transport the earth marrow out of the city in several batches, so as to reduce the probability of being discovered by the city defense. Even if someone patrols nearby, we will collect the goods to the robots. They don't know which garrison the robots belong to, so they probably won't care where these guys go - at that time we just need to hide ourselves."
He even gave a lesson on the public channel: "You can also use similar techniques in the sneak operation in Kivotos... In the blockade area where the bad guys have been dispersed, the students in the confrontation will not actively attack the automatic robots in the store, right? You can disassemble the ammunition and equipment and put them into the storage space of the robot, and then swagger out of the confrontation area-"
"Oh! That sounds very useful! You are worthy of being a teacher!"
Asuna was full of praise for Sora's cunning and sly idea.
Is it really okay for Kong to teach these things to students all day long?
Eula tapped her toes in worry, while Black Tower, who was so bored that he wanted to dialyze the pipe, asked Sora a soul-searching question:
"…Are you really here to teach the students?"
"What else? Do you think I just brought them here to work as laborers?"
Hearing Heita's question, Kong rolled his eyes and immediately responded sarcastically: "When you taught Ester, didn't you just milk her a little every day like milking? Didn't you make the little girl miserable? I teach whatever comes to my mind, otherwise why would I have put up a whiteboard here and tell them all the key points of guerrilla warfare and underground operations?"
"... Exploitation of student labor is the norm in academia... It is you who broke the rules."
After being choked by Kong, Heita couldn't help but mutter to himself.
It seemed that she also realized that it was a bit unfair to tie Estelle to the space station to work hard on her thesis while she ran out to "travel and enjoy the scenery".
"Don't compare your behavior of exploiting Estelle to me. I am a very virtuous teacher."
"You mean taking down two of your students in one night?"
Some of the black towers rolled their eyes as their sore spots were touched.
"...呷, I don't want to argue with you. If you are particularly curious, you might as well ask them yourself who won who."
After Sora and Heita had a quarrel today, Sora looked at his watch and said with a frown:
"… There are still four minutes until the first batch is scheduled to arrive… Is this the right place? Sambo didn't even mention leaving a mark or anything, and he didn't even read the text messages… If he's late, I'll have to give him a good beating."
"We don't know the situation underground. Maybe he is not as powerful as he says."
Black Tower, whose aggression had not been relieved, nonchalantly "started a new topic", "Rather than playing house with these shady guys, Dr. Kong, I want to know why you, as an Envoy - although a discounted Envoy, let go of that woman named Cocolia. If I were made a public enemy of Beloberg, I might even retaliate against this city to relieve my hatred, but not only did you allow her to offend you, you didn't even settle accounts with her..."
After understanding the whole story, she thought that Belfa's naval guns should have aimed at Fort K and fired at it to teach these "natives" a lesson.
Heita's aggressive remarks made Xiluwa's scalp numb. She thought that this dwarf was just a somewhat arrogant "little genius" and a confidant who could learn mechanics from her. But considering the strange power she used to break a piece of pipe just now... it seemed that it was not just a simple threat.
"'The Lord should not raise an army out of anger', Black Tower... destroying the opponent's body and means of production at the root is suitable for a life-and-death confrontation, but now we are just passing by, there is no need to make such a grudge."
Although Kong was happy to boast about the fleet, it was because he had experienced the diplomatic convenience that having a big power as his backing brought him. It did not mean that he supported "imperialism".
"Cocolia represents the stagnation and confusion of Beloberg for seven hundred years... It's useless to crush her as an individual. We have to crush all the backward things she represents to ensure that after we leave, the Beloberg people we know can live a relatively normal life. The train cannot completely change the thinking of the Beloberg people. They have to accept the starry sky and choose a new path... That's why I support Bronya to confront her mother. This is also a way to open up."
"After so many twists and turns... in the end it's all because of a woman."
Eula complained sharply beside her.
"...Why do you always blame everything on me? I just think that since I'm here and I have the ability to save some people, I should save them. Lao Yang, Ji Zi and San Yue are all companions with a strong sense of justice. If I improve their favorability, maybe I can make Party A look at me more favorably. A benevolent collaborator is better than a war maniac who will plow the ground with electric arcs at the slightest disagreement, right? Maybe if we handle it better... Party A will be happy and give us a red envelope or something."
Sora was constantly scolded by his female companion and couldn't help but sigh:
"Tsk, never mind. Just treat me as a self-important, saintly fool. That way you won't have to accuse me of anything."
"Sora, I think there is nothing wrong with your good intentions... By the way, did your mysterious client's mission mention saving Beloberg?"
As one of the "developed" parties, Shiluwa understands Kong's feelings very well.
Although completing missions and the like doesn't sound like rock music, Sora's behavior of "singing for those who can't sing" is quite consistent with her musical aesthetics.
"After you get to know this man thoroughly... forget it, it's better for you not to get to know him thoroughly."
Eula was about to complain about Sora's ability to flirt with girls, but her eyes were fixed on Silva.
I didn't realize it before, but now I see... she has a good figure, is pretty, has boots that are longer on the left and shorter on the right, has black reflective stockings, can sing, has a cheerful personality, and has hidden powers...
Oh no, these characteristics... perfectly overlap with Kong's hunting range.
Because of her close relationship with Sylva, Eula was not unhappy with her support for Sora, but became more worried.