NOVEL NEXT Chapter 354 - 352 The Sewer Prince
Chapter 354: Chapter 352 The Sewer Prince
“I’ve found it!”
In the expansive hall, Matthew scurried over like a thief, calling out in a low voice as he ran.
Bi Fang pushed himself up from the front desk where he had been leaning against a cabinet, surprised, “Found it?”
Matthew handed the map to Bi Fang, “Yes, I’ve looked over it, it should be this one, right?”
Bi Fang snatched the map and spread it out.
The map, with clear green and white distinctions, showed various square-like positions distinctly, and with just a glance, Bi Fang located where he and Matthew were.
Looking at the small corner on the map, then at the wide hall, the audience’s eyes widened with anticipation, and those who understood the map, after calculating according to the index at the side, were even more shocked.
[Damn, that’s hugely complicated.]
[Geez, that must be almost 100,000 square meters, right?]
[100,000 square meters? One and one make one, two twos make four, March Eighth is Women’s Day, May First is Labor Day…]
[Doesn’t that mean working from the Stone Age?]
“No wonder there’s no one guarding the gate; with a place so vast, it can’t be defended anyway, as long as they can keep an eye on their own little area, that’s enough.”
Bi Fang was also stunned by the immense scale of the shipyard, but on second thought, it seemed plausible given that Yemen’s economy was at the forefront in Abbascan, primarily due to its convenient water transportation, and owning such a large shipyard was within expectations.
“Look, where was it that you found them that time?”
Bi Fang picked up a pen from the table and circled their current location, then asked Matthew to point out exactly where he had seen those people that day.
Matthew moved to one side, studied the map intently, recalling the memory, then took the map outside to check against the surrounding buildings; tapping his forehead with the pen tip, he finally marked a hesitant circle in the upper right corner of the map.
“It should be here…”
Bi Fang looked at the space on the map that was almost one-fifth circled, raised his eyebrows slightly, and repeated, “It should?”
Matthew frowned, looked around, and with a more certain tone abandoned his hesitation, affirming, “Yes, it’s right here.”
“A warehouse?”
Within the red circle, the map was clearly labeled, indicating that the space was mostly used for warehouses storing ship parts and the like, similar to what they had speculated before coming here.
Only now, it wouldn’t be ship parts there…
[By the way, with Master Fang live streaming, could there be people watching from the other side?]
[Unconsidered perspectives]
[You’re telling me Ben is watching the live stream, and it just feels so jarring, like Old Fang sitting on a duck]
[What a peculiar analogy]
[Can’t be, right? Isn’t it supposed to be all power outages and no signal there?]
“Could that really be possible?”
Matthew also saw the comments on the drone’s live stream. He knew very well how exaggerated Bi Fang’s follower count was, and he instinctively covered his waist, looking around warily, afraid they might be ambushed and sent across the Atlantic Ocean to be treated like animals, perhaps even losing his kidneys and being of no use even if rescued.
Bi Fang too was startled by the thought; it was indeed something he had never considered before. But after another moment, he understood why he had never thought about it.
Because it simply wasn’t possible. Subconsciously, Bi Fang had never even pondered the possibility.
First, there’s the matter of probability. With a whopping population of seven billion people in the world, how many have actually seen Bi Fang’s live broadcasts? It’s just a drop in the ocean. What are the odds that among a gang of fewer than a hundred bandits, there happens to be a fan of Bi Fang?
Last night, he didn’t even show his face; it was pitch-black. Even if someone had seen him, they wouldn’t have recognized him, let alone thought of monitoring him through a live broadcast.
Moreover, Yemen was still in turmoil. The number of people who had the luxury to enjoy television broadcasts for entertainment was pitifully small, and even bandits who lived a better life than ordinary people felt the same way.
Finally, and what Bi Fang was most certain of:
The hardware didn’t allow it.
Take Matthew, for example. There was simply no signal in Yemen. Even making a phone call required satellite communication. Watching a live broadcast under these circumstances? Besides, there wasn’t even electricity; charging a device required a generator.
Setting up a generator wasn’t difficult in itself, but would you really go through the trouble of getting one just to charge the phones of your subordinates so they could watch entertainment broadcasts?
“Ah, when you put it that way, it does seem impossible.”
Hearing Bi Fang’s explanation, the audience had an epiphany, and Matthew breathed a sigh of relief.
His kidneys were safe for the moment.
“Where to next, shall we start taking action?”
Matthew’s voice was somewhat shaky, indicating just how tense he was inside. Even though he had seen countless wars and taken countless photographs, and knew the cruelty and brutality of warfare, the chilling feeling that crept from his scalp to his toes when it came to armed struggle was inevitable.
“No.”
Contrary to expectations, Bi Fang shook his head. The preparation wasn’t enough yet. While they had obtained the map of the buildings above ground, they still needed the one for below ground.
“We’re going to city hall now!”
Two hours later.
Bi Fang and Matthew returned to their off-road vehicle and cautiously made their way through most of the district to arrive at the city center.
“The enemy has too many people, and we are only two. A frontal assault is basically impossible, so we will avoid it whenever we can. Shipyards, being large factories near the rivers and coastline, have their best access points where there’s rain, since flooding can cause significant damage. Therefore, the sewer systems underground are highly developed, even allowing people to walk upright. My plan is to use the sewer system to reach the inside and break in from there.”
“No one knows what kind of security system the bandits have set up inside, but at least if we enter through the sewers below, we can avoid places frequented by people.”
“Achieving this step is not easy because the sewer system is like a cave; it’s difficult to recognize directions. We need a map, but even the factory itself may not have such a map, and it’s not something sold in the market. Only city hall might have a complete set of maps of the sewer system, and we’re here to find it!”
Bi Fang and Matthew entered the lobby.
By then, city hall had long been emptied of people, desolate and quiet, with even most of the materials moved out, but many things could not be removed.
Bi Fang and Matthew made their way to the archive room. Many shelves were empty, but a lot of materials still remained.
Fortunately, the section with the maps was still there.
The two began searching, and pages flew about.
Half an hour later, a thick stack of maps of the underground sewer system sat on an office desk nearby.
Matthew’s eyes twitched at the sight. This was the underground sewer system map of the entire city. Their task was to find the section of the system map for the shipyard area.
After another flurry of activity, when the two finally found the maps, it was already noon.
Bi Fang’s fingers moved along the web-like sewer pipes, a look of surprise on his face.
“There’s a sewer right below the warehouse. If we follow it east, bypassing the shipyard from below and then into the main pipe, it won’t be long before we come across the warehouse. It’s a total length of one kilometer!”