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Kong pursed his lips. He really had no way to deal with Kafka - the system had just participated in the anti-positioning of Kafka, but even if he rushed over immediately and tried to force a meeting with her, she would have moved away long ago.

"Black Tower, help me check your star map library to see where this coordinate area is?"

But we still need to find out the whereabouts of the hunters. There are some things that do not necessarily require them to inform us. Just like Silver Wolf said, we must have anti-reconnaissance awareness.

"…Pinocone."

Heita was somewhat curious as to why Kong suddenly asked her for help in positioning.

"Why, you're planning on taking me on vacation?"

Sora rolled his eyes at the guy's excessive self-awareness - he didn't even know where that place was and how he was on vacation.

"Look at your expression - 'Ah, this guy is feeling good about himself again'."

Heita imitated Kong's helpless tone and made a few sarcastic remarks to him, then put away the half-played chess piece: "This game is a draw, Ying, don't disturb us in the middle of the night."

"Wow, please be a little more polite. The Kage is the Great Palace—"

"It's okay. The God of Teyvat has no control over the Milky Way."

"So I tell you...you should learn to be respectful..."

However, the person being discussed, Ying, didn't care at all about how Black Tower arranged her, and when she saw Black Tower took away the chessboard, she naturally took over her plate of cookies, which had not been touched at all.

……

"Nata, everything going well?"

"It's all done, Xi'er."

Returning to the busy preparations, Nata discovered that the cableway from Rivet to Panyan Town had been turned into a reinforced cable car line, which was connected to the line leading to the surface and directly to the garbage disposal plant, almost running through the underground world.

The transportation line to the mechanical settlement was also opened up, and a steady stream of settlement parts poured into Shiluwa's workshop. They were then turned into 80% new refurbished parts, sent to the automatic factory, and then turned into complete mechas that entered the large mining area, replacing a large amount of manpower.

With the training of rangers and company specialists, miners can now dig tons of earth marrow far away from dangerous tunnels and deliver it to surface "smuggling" stations in a one-stop manner.

Although it is smuggling, the output and transportation efficiency... Nata looked at the list and calculated that the amount of ore consumed is one and a half times more than the official route.

This meant that the smuggling line could now earn one times the Winterfell shield and extra supplies as before, and Jeppard had gotten enough buyers for the Earthfire - the garrisons that had left Kburg but had no intention of joining the opposition consumed an astronomical amount of fuel every day... Now that the outer city had been destroyed by Kong and his men, it had gradually regained some popularity, but after the heating in the old houses was cut off, the residents who returned needed more fuel, so the cheap and fast smuggling of Earthfire became their first choice.

In addition, they also began to tacitly exchange some supplies with the lower class people. Many exquisite clothes that the lower class people could hardly see were exchanged from the upper class people who almost became refugees.

Seeing Alyssa running to play with Hook in her "new dress" with a bow, Nata's expression became subtle:

I’ve only been away for two days…has the change been so big?

“The food on this form…”

She immediately let out a sigh of relief: "Isn't it Miss Topa who supports it?"

"Well, the meat output of the automatic farm is enough to supply the underground, but the Great Guardian does not distribute it to the lower areas."

Xier curled her lips and said, "I have investigated. After Jeppard occupied some peripheral factory areas, the supply of materials in the urban area was not too tight. In particular, the supply of stores in the administrative area was not greatly affected. They were just replaced with stockpiled meat... A lot of meat had no chance to be transported to where it was needed after being cut up, so it was buried on the spot - it doesn't seem right to say it was hoarding."

"…Then I think I understand."

Because non-military organizations lack fuel supply points when operating in the outer city area, the factories need to pay for the fuel to be transported out of the city and then transported back. Over time, coupled with the impact of the rift, the cost of transporting the products of those automatic factories to the inner city is too high. If there are no large orders from the garrison, they can make more money by burying their food and waiting for orders than by transporting small quantities back to the city.

The strategy that Cocolia implemented after being affected by the star core...has led Beloberg to decline in every aspect...

"How much of the buried food can be immediately used as combat rations?"

"It's enough for the current Iron Guard to use for three months. This is just the output of the factories and shanties in the control area."

Bronya took over the conversation.

Maybe because she was not as familiar with Nata as Xier, Xier did not immediately notice Nata's changes, but she noticed it right away -

It had only been two days since I last saw her, but there was already a strange, heart-pounding vitality in her eyes. It was an aggressive green light hidden deep in her red pupils.

"Ms. Topa is still planning to continue the price war. In the near future, I'll have to trouble you to send goods to each other. When the price of goods in the administrative area can no longer compete with the price of daily necessities from outside, we will be close to success."

"no problem."

Although Bronya was curious about how Nata's aura became more powerful, she had other things to worry about.

The difficult things...are all written in the report in Nata's hand.

"...A conflict with the Royal Guards?"

After reading the report, Nata was so overjoyed that she could only barely suppress the smile on her face.

The progress was so smooth that Nata almost forgot that there were still troops available in Kburg.

"Yes, the Royal Guards did try to arrest the resellers, but they only sent out small inspection teams. We tied them up according to Sora's suggestion... If this continues, the Royal Guards will definitely have a stronger reaction after losing more than three groups of people."

"What about the bribe?"

"We have tried. Those who are still willing to work for Kburg are all families that benefited from the cracking and internal conflicts. A little benefit will not make them change the position of their own officers."

Bronya was obviously displeased, and her frown seemed to say, "How can we control Beloberg with such insects?"

"It seems that these people can't be won over." Nata felt a little regretful:

"…The Minister of Education and his family? How could it be them…"

"In order to satisfy their lust for power, they disregarded the lives of the people and the Iron Guards... If my mother was still sane, these people should have been exiled... But unfortunately, just to let Beloberg rot, she allowed the Minister of Education to reach out to the Iron Guards."

Bronya was not going to be soft-hearted: "...If she can't do it, I will do it."

"Nata, why do you smell so good?"

Seele, who had lost interest in Bronya's frequent expressions of determination, now began to pay attention to the changes in the "Dean".

"You wore perfume to meet someone you like? Don't you usually smell like disinfectant?"

Because she was too relaxed, Xier was in the mood to tease her.

"…It's like this, Xi'er, I want to discuss something with you, please forgive me."

"Huh? Why are you so serious all of a sudden?"

Xier was stunned by Nata's apologetic expression.

"I'll just contact Sora... I've figured it out. I shouldn't sacrifice the happiness and freedom of you young people..."

278. Toppa's Plot

The grocery stores in the Belorberg administrative district are never short of people, but business has been particularly good recently. Many people who live in Kburg almost all year round come out specifically to buy daily necessities from the old stores outside the square.

Promotions and discounts never stop, not only that, but a lot of new good things have also been launched.

"Why did you lower the price?"

"Small profits but quick turnover... You're an old customer, so I'll be honest with you. Don't tell anyone else. These goods have all been coming in from outside lately."

"Ah? The upper and lower levels have been sealed for so many years. The Great Guardian strictly prohibits civilian transactions outside the earth's marrow. How come suddenly... Oh, I understand."

The people working in Kburg certainly knew what this meant - not only was the Great Guardian's ban meaningless, but those outsiders who were expelled were probably truly "outsiders."

These goods are not under the legal control of Beloberg. Before the top leaders of Kburg come up with new policies or regulations, the import of goods from outsiders will continue unabated, and may even cause a strong market impact on Bay City.

But when they thought of the coffee beans that had been returned from Yalilo, canned tropical fruits, and some high-proof beverages specially selected for the Beloberg people, which were of better quality than what had been seen on the market in the past, as well as the novel electronic products, it was difficult for even the members of the management position to give them up.

Just like Bronya said, two hundred Winter City shields are not a lot, but coffee is a priceless treasure in Beloberg... and now the purchase price of canned coffee is only two hundred Winter City shields, so many stores put coffee on the shelves regardless of the risks, triggering a coffee craze.

Three hundred Winter City shields could buy two bottles of vodka, and one thousand Winter City shields could buy a brand new mobile phone with the company logo wiped off - it didn't even need a matching charging device, it could be fully charged through photovoltaics when placed next to the earth marrow furnace. Even if Beloberg didn't build a base station or something, the built-in system was quite novel to these people.

While goods from the outside world were pouring in and there was a threat of a flood breaking the dam, the living standards of the people in Bay City were rising steadily, especially for the old city residents in the area affected by the rift. Most of them moved back and benefited the most from these benefits. Even the housing prices went up a lot.

But in the midst of this national carnival, ghosts and monsters began to dance again.

"Iron Guards - We have received a report that your store is selling illegal smuggled goods. We are closing the store for inspection. All unrelated people must leave."

The fully armed Kburg guards broke into the largest grocery store in the administrative district, stared at the dazzling array of goods compared to before, and was stunned for a moment, then immediately pretended to be serious and drove away the bystanders.

"Wait a moment, sir, please let me finish the bill first--"

"You are suspected of being involved in illegal transactions, so arrest you as well."

"what??"

A customer who was paying was grabbed by the wrist and dragged out of the store.

In Bay City, similar scenes quickly unfolded and spread among shops large and small.

Cocolia's reaction began to become intense, but this was not a violent rescue of the market, nor was it trade protectionism. It seemed that it simply felt that as long as it was an "enemy's" layout, it must be destroyed, without any rules.

Within the administrative district, the handling of illegally smuggled goods was barely going smoothly, but in other living areas outside the administrative district, including the neighborhoods where the old Iron Guards lived, the anti-smuggling efforts were met with numerous obstacles.

When the Iron Guards came, the shops were either closed or crowded with people, and they were stopped even if they showed their identities and weapons. There were countless rioters who obstructed law enforcement, and some even attacked the Iron Guards directly, shouting nonsense like "I don't want to live a life of seven hundred Winterfell shields and a bag of flour!" or "If you don't let me drink coffee, I'll die!" They would knock the Iron Guards down, hit them with brooms, and confuse them.

The relationship between the people and the Iron Guards had never deteriorated to this extent before. It seemed that reducing the cost of living was more important to them than abiding by Kburg's decision - everything was rushing towards an area that had not yet been mentioned in the Bay City textbooks.

Not only that, Cocolia's anti-smuggling campaign has also been resisted at the top level.

Wallace's family worked hard to secure several large distribution centers, concealed the source of the goods, and sent the younger generations of the family out on vacation - God knows what's so good about vacationing in those ghost places outside the suburbs of Beloberg, but the guards who came to the door were repelled by this set of rhetoric, and they had no way to forcibly confront this group of nouveau riche.

In addition to soft resistance, the guards also encountered tough ones.

For example, being kicked in the ass by an unknown fire cadre with a sickle and kicked more than ten meters away, or being politely escorted out of the store by a group of maids holding guns with smiles on their faces.

If they still didn't understand, the iron guards who came with documents would be blocked in the alley and receive a joint reception from the poor people in the upper and lower districts. They would be pinned to the ground, put into a sack and beaten. After being beaten, they couldn't even remember what the person who beat them looked like. No matter how furious the superiors were, they didn't want to go against the residents of the marginalized areas anymore.

So after several rounds of confrontation, the Iron Guards had already made some concessions when executing the will from above.

Before a shop at the outermost part of the administrative district was thoroughly inspected, a large anti-smuggling team was called away by an officer inside Castle K and sent to the east of the city to clean up the debris of the rift. The anti-smuggling team, which was reported to have only two people left, was immediately pushed back by protesting citizens after arriving at the store, and was unable to enforce the law at all.

This shop is the only "spark" left in the core district. It still provides coffee and cheap high-end daily necessities. Some people witnessed a group of senior guards going to the shop to buy a few bags of "flour" and carrying them home. The shop closed for two days and then resumed business, as if nothing had happened - except that the officers were filled with the aroma of tobacco and coffee during their recent activities.

The decree does not leave Beloberg - although it is a bit exaggerated to say this, some officers who were previously loyal to Cocolia are indeed puzzled by the significance of her doing this. These people may not understand the twists and turns of dumping and trade deficit, but they know that the cost of living of residents is decreasing, and those businessmen have not yet begun to plunder Beloberg's means of production - is there anything else worth plundering in this damn place besides people?

And those merchants who traveled through the snow and fog brought news from the outside world—that there were many warm continents beyond the zenith where humans like them lived, that there were countless fortresses beyond Beloberg, and that they were not the only ones who believed in Krippo...

Combined with the news of the fleet being expelled, the battleships flying across the sky, and the burn marks left on the square...

All the evidence points to the fact that Kremlin is intentionally concealing intelligence and preventing the public from exploring the truth of the outside world. Conspiracy theories are flying all over the place, and dissatisfaction with the Cocolia government has reached an unprecedented level.

The bombardment of information, sugar-coated bullets, and the reversal of thought have brought the upper area of ​​Beloberg into a period of vitality and development.

Just at this time when the staunch supporters of Kburg were extremely anxious, bad news broke out frequently - it was rumored that the uncontrolled Jeppard's troops, the 1st Garrison Regiment, and the 3rd and 4th Garrison Regiments had merged and marched northwards to the ancient battlefield, controlling an entrance to a fortress and a large automatic factory, while flirting with the 2nd and 5th Regiments which had not expressed their stance.

Some people said that those merchants from the outside world were let in by the Jeppard tribe, and the Wallace family was responsible for guiding them and raising military funds from the public to supply the opposition forces headed by Commander Bronya, with the intention of forcing Cocolia to abdicate and demand that she stop the Rift Cleanup Operation that affected the eggs and step down.

In fact, many older generations of Bay City people know that a three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight. The shaky rule of Cocolia is not just a problem of her as a tyrant. The previous and previous great guardians all have an unshirkable responsibility. The political system of Kburg is increasingly criticized in this difficult situation where it seems to be unique but is also declining.