Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 30 A loving father and a filial son
"An unexpected turn of events."

Lu Ran imagined the plot to be a gambling son who squandered the family fortune and imprisoned his father.

In retrospect, it seems that the problem was simply a difference in ideology. The so-called spendthrift son was just putting on a show to shut down such a large factory in order to meet the church's demands. He was actually playing the role of a dutiful son.

Lu Ran was speechless.

"Wait a little longer, it seems we can still hear some things."

Lu Ran patiently waited for the middle-aged man to go find Zell. It wasn't too far from the Manchester Foundry, and the round trip shouldn't take too long.

After waiting for about an hour, a familiar face hurried over. Zell took off the light gray fedora that was half covering his face, snapped open his watch case to check the time, and then strode into the study, speaking without any politeness.

"Old man, you'd better not waste the last bit of patience I have for you."

The relationship between the two doesn't resemble that of father and son at all.

Conrad slowly opened his eyes, his voice slow but powerful, even with a hint of scrutiny: "Do you just need me to drink this potion, or do you need me to do something else?"

Zell paused, his previously impolite tone softening slightly as he said softly, "I need to publicly acknowledge the dangers of industrialization in your capacity as a steel tycoon, slow down the city's determination to reform its industries, and at the same time allow the factory workers to return to the rural fields of Old Baker City. If all goes well, this achievement will be enough for me to obtain the next few tiers of potions from the Sanctuary of Abundance without any obstacles."

“The government is firm enough; Earl Biden took over all your workers with his factory.”

Zell admitted, "I once stumbled upon a letter written in the Holy Orian language in Earl Biden's study. Although I don't know what it said, any relevant information obtained by investigating in this direction can lead the Earl to the conclusion that he is a traitor. Then, whatever he does or says will be useless."

Conrad paused for a moment after hearing this: "Is it worth abandoning such a vast empire?"

Is it worth it...?

Zell repeated it to himself, looking somewhat amused and exasperated. He casually pulled out a cigarette and, not forgetting to offer one to his elderly father.

"It's all your fault for spoiling me. Now I have so much money that I don't know what else to buy. I get tired of gambling and women very quickly, but this unknown power is full of novelty. I've never understood why you seemed to have known about this thing all along, but why you never told me."

"Because the storm lurking beneath the calm surface could easily tear us apart; this is not simply a matter of closing a factory... Forget it, what's the point of asking these questions now?"

Conrad didn't seem to have any intention of explaining further, but just sighed: "You've prepared so much, you're so determined, aren't you just forcing me to support you? At my age... this is the only chance I still have to help you out."

"Fine, don't tell me then, it's up to you."

Zell shrugged, looking indifferent.

"Do you need me to prepare the necessary medications for you?"

Conrad slowly sat up from the armchair: "No need, I know this better than you do. As for the backup plan you left with Earl Biden, if you can expedite it, do so as soon as possible. Don't pin your success on others."

Zell exhaled a puff of smoke, flicked his wrist, and the smoke landed precisely in the nearby trash can.

"Then we'll just have to add some more money."

……

"Add money?"

Lu Ran, who had been eavesdropping, had a gleam in his eyes, but he quickly came back to his senses.

He hadn't expected Zell to have such grand ambitions, wanting to overturn the entire political landscape of Baker City. However, the Biden treason he was referring to was actually the Holy Orion Empire, which had been the subject of constant border clashes.

It's no wonder they were suspicious, given that they exchanged letters when relations were tense.

"Then I'll be going now, old man. I hope everything goes well for you." Zell strode away, pausing briefly at the threshold before leaving, and sighed softly from an angle Conrad couldn't see.

"What a contradictory father-son relationship."

Lu Ran followed behind Ze'er, who was wearing a hat for simple disguise, and then immediately slipped out to meet the other mice behind the house the moment they went out.

"Another commission completed."

Regardless of whether Zell intends to ask for more money, at least for Lu Ran at this stage, what he needs is a sum of money that can be settled immediately.

Not to mention that Zell's actions were intended to disrupt the industrial process, which was not in Lu Ran's interest at all. He was planning to make a fortune by building airplanes in the future. If you let the factory go bankrupt and the workers lose their jobs, how would everyone make money if no one had any?

Just submit it as normal, and see if Earl Biden can react in advance.

"Novel Rat, you keep an eye on things here. If anything happens later, record it for me truthfully. The rest of you can go back as usual."

After assigning tasks, Lu Ran said goodbye to the novel rats and hurriedly ran towards the home of the familiar newsstand owner.

After all, he hadn't read the newspaper for a while, so to avoid falling behind, he came over to catch up a bit and also to look for the contact information the two brothers had left in the newspaper, which might come in handy in the future.

It was still the same familiar route, with stacks of newspapers as I remembered. The windows here had openings, which allowed for good ventilation while preventing direct sunlight from causing the newspapers to age and the ink to fade.

The homeowner cherished it, and Lu Ran cherished it even more. He quickly walked to the edge of a stack of new, not very tall newspapers and carefully pulled one out.

It's quite a coincidence that, as a recent hot topic, the first news item in the newspaper was about the suspected mismanagement of the Manchester foundry and where steel tycoon Conrad had gone.

“They all have eyes. It seems that if Conrad continues to refuse to cooperate, Zell will still have a lot of trouble.”

Then I turned to the Manchester Times, which surprisingly mentioned the church, saying that if you are sick, you should see a doctor, but seeing a pastor is useless, and abundance comes from your own hands, not from some vague faith.

"Is it an open crackdown?"

Lu Ran had always been puzzled by this, wondering where the government's confidence came from in the face of a group of extraordinary beings.

After flipping through the previous issues of the newspaper, Lu Ran gradually discovered that this Abundance Sanctuary had indeed been quite high-profile recently, even openly using the slogan: "What makes farmers most secure is the land and grain in their hands; don't let machines take away our roots."

As Lu Ran learned more and more information, his image of the Sacred Sanctuary of Abundance gradually became richer.

"A church that focuses on family, childbirth, natural cycles, and the continuation of life..."

To be honest, if it weren't for the actions behind it, Lu Ran felt that this church was actually quite good. It was rooted in rural towns and villages, and even provided simple medical treatment and free food to the villagers there. Many pregnant women even had their babies delivered by people from the Holy of Abundance.

Scrolling further back, he came across the good news of the solved scale coin case. Looking at the name of the murderer, Lu Ran didn't know if the guy had just randomly picked a death row inmate or something, but indeed, the scale coin case hadn't happened again since then, so no one suspected anything.

However, this piece of good news was followed by a mention of his First Detective Agency. It's unclear whether Edwin was trying to advertise for himself, but he didn't expect his sudden arson attack to follow.

[Seeking help from the First Detective Agency. Detective, if you see this, please contact me. A generous reward will be given.]

Lu Ran sat up and flipped through the pages one by one, only to find that because he hadn't replied, a missing person ad had been published every day in the newspaper's advertising corner since March 21st.

"Am I really that famous?"

Lu Ran kept flipping through the latest newspaper, and only then did the information in the corner change slightly. In addition to the previous request for help, a photo of a little girl was attached. The little girl in the photo was standing on stone steps, looking about seven or eight years old, with two braids hanging down her shoulders. The white ribbons tied to the ends of the braids fluttered slightly in the wind, like two white butterflies resting in her hair.

My daughter, Auriel Clinton, seven years old, went missing on Oak Street on March 18th. I am the manager of Manchester Union Bank. A generous reward will be given for any helpful information...

　Thank you to 随尘随01 for the donation!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)