Colonia Storm Tour

Chapter 53 Breakfast (Part 2)

The lavish breakfast prepared by Lin Haiyuan, Chun, and He Ye, along with the slightly flustered waiters, naturally attracted the attention of the idlers lingering inside the restaurant. The first thing to be served was the deluxe breakfast ordered by the two little foxes and the kitten. However, to Lin Haiyuan, who had become an unconventional big eater, this was not even enough to fill a tooth gap.

If the idle people who were enjoying their meal and tea were envious and sighed with envy when they saw the little fox and the little cat with their sumptuous breakfast on their plates, then when they saw the two waitresses carefully carrying the plates over, the three large bowls on the plates containing ochazuke (rice with tea) and grilled salmon made them sigh inwardly or exclaim in amazement, wondering which big eater wanted to eat this.

"Phew, sir, we don't have a bowl big enough to hold a 7-person serving of ochazuke and grilled salmon. We apologize for the inconvenience."

The waitress who had just come over to take down the menu looked a little tired as she spoke, while another waitress quickly returned to her seat after putting down her tray to complete her other task.

The idlers at the Eien Ryotei were surprised to find that the person who ordered such a large amount of ochazuke and grilled salmon was not a burly man, but rather a well-proportioned guy with no prominent features, wearing a hooded shirt. They also noticed that his scent was a rather indistinguishable human scent. The conversation at the table naturally turned to him and the ochazuke and grilled salmon.

"Can this human really eat that much ochazuke and grilled salmon?" "Could it be that he's deliberately ordering so much just to make a show of it?" "Judging from his appearance, maybe he's a martial arts expert?"

"You know, those warriors who practice martial arts and close combat usually eat a lot in one meal. I've even seen a gluttonous bear-man, but he didn't eat this much tea-soaked rice."

Lin Haiyuan chose to ignore the onlookers' comments and instead spoke directly to the waitress who hadn't left yet:

"How much Soreya will they pay in total, including what I ordered? I need to settle the bill now. Give me the bill to take a look."

When dining out, he is used to paying the bill immediately after the food is served, and then turning around and leaving immediately after finishing his meal instead of slowly waiting to pay.

"Please wait a moment, sir, let me calculate... In total, you will need to pay 450 Soreas."

The fox-eared waitress handed Lin Haiyuan her written bill, which was subtly different from the scribbled bill. Lin Haiyuan quickly glanced at it to confirm that the total of all the dishes matched the number the waitress had given him. Then he reached inside Altaïr's armor, took out a banknote for 460 Soreya, and placed it in her hand.

"Here you have 460 Soreas. Please give me 10 one-Sorea coins in exchange for the remaining 10 Soreas, miss."

If he were to go and gather intelligence, he couldn't just pull out a stack of Soreya banknotes to do so; that would be too conspicuous and attract attention. Instead, a few Soreya coins would be the perfect initial bribe for gathering intelligence. Besides, that kind of person was definitely not wealthy, so a few Soreya coins would be quite attractive.

The sight of him producing gleaming white banknotes and his deep, magnetic male voice instantly transformed Lin Haiyuan, who was wearing Altaïr armor, from a strangely dressed oddball into an unfathomable and handsome master. The aura of this nouveau riche tycoon made those around him feel awe and disdain.

Wow, it's just paying for breakfast first, it seems so casual, but why does it feel like a rich person having breakfast at a humble eatery?

Tsubaki and Kazuha were having the same conversation in their minds. From these small details, they felt that Lin Haiyuan was richer than they had imagined. Admittedly, when the Colonia flank air base was still there, Lin Haiyuan was indeed very rich. He was so rich that even those comedic characters who started with Athena's Astounding Exclamation/Zeus's Wrath/The Da Vinci Code/Ragnarok/The City Management's Helplessness couldn't compare to Lin Haiyuan. A simple breakfast at an ordinary restaurant was far less than the price of manufacturing a mining beetle, and there was no comparison to the huge profits from harvesting Tiberium.

"You guys start now. Eat quickly so you can catch your breath before we begin. I plan to leave after I finish eating."

As Lin Haiyuan spoke, he skillfully picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of grilled salmon from the side of him, chewing and swallowing this seemingly excessive breakfast with little fanfare.

"Ah, uh, I see." "Me too. Let's eat quickly now. It's rare to have such a sumptuous breakfast."

Tsubaki and Kazuha watched as Lin Haiyuan picked up salmon with his chopsticks and ate at a speed that even a reincarnated starving ghost couldn't match. They couldn't help but swallow their saliva. Then they lowered their heads and focused on enjoying their breakfast. Watching Lin Haiyuan eat breakfast would always feel awkward, and seeing so much of him would make them feel full too.

The two distinct dining styles—gentle and refined, and fast and wild—are perfectly embodied in Tsubaki, Washo, and Hayashi Kaihara, leaving tea drinkers who had never witnessed such a rare spectacle in awe.

"Look at this human, the way he eats breakfast is like he's just satisfying his appetite without any thought of savoring it. It feels like such a waste."

"It would be a waste to let this hot-tears eat the breakfast of those two fox-cats across from him. Judging from his appearance, this is perfect for him. Maybe this guy is a natural glutton among humans, and he just happened to be starving all night. Plus, he's super rich. How do you think those two fox-cats got together with this man?"

"It's hard to say. There aren't many pure humans around in Dong Taishou's area. This guy must be a strong human. You know, beauties are only meant for strong people, and this strong person even has ten cents. If a country girl from my hometown met a guy like this, unless his character was really bad, she would be willing to flirt with him."

"That makes sense. In my area, if a man is willing to treat the whole village to a meat meal, many people are willing to offer their daughters as a reward. As for who can afford to pay for it?"

In the realm of the demi-humans, pure humans without any beastly characteristics are indeed very rare. They are basically only a small minority and live in a few areas, usually in the gray area. However, the Dieying Islands, where the Eastern Governor is located, were once an independent country, but they were incorporated into the territory of the Astoria Empire decades ago. Moreover, the mainstream race of the Astoria Empire is the demi-humans. Apart from the differences in culture and customs, they are all demi-humans, so they naturally became subjects of the Astoria Empire without much thought of resistance.

For the demi-human people here, the feudal kingdoms that had previously been warlike, levied taxes and plundered the people's wealth to prepare for war against the Astoria Empire, were at least able to live relatively good lives after being destroyed and conquered by the Astoria Empire. They were no longer subject to the lords plundering their last remaining assets under various pretexts, and their economy was indeed showing signs of improvement and was developing steadily.

However, this trend of economic improvement and steady development cannot be directly felt in rural areas and inland regions; it can only be felt in towns and cities.

There was originally a section on geoeconomics, but I felt it was not mature enough, so I deleted it. I will release it later as needed.

Chapter 54 After receiving a considerable tip

The breakfast itself was unremarkable. Lin Haiyuan and Tsubaki and Kazuha were clearly not guest judges on a food program, so they didn't use various words to describe how delicious these ordinary Japanese breakfasts were. Lin Haiyuan was simply eating for the sake of eating, and enjoying the taste was secondary. Tsubaki and Kazuha, on the other hand, were not only eating but also enjoying the taste. After all, this was the most luxurious breakfast they had ever had in their lives. Thinking about the even more luxurious lunch and dinner that followed, they felt even happier and could eat more.

After the waitress brought over the 10 Sorea coins, she took out two coins as a tip and placed them in the waitress's palm as a gesture of acceptance. The fox-girl waitress accepted them with a hint of happiness.

Therefore, compared to Lin Haiyuan, who focused on eating efficiency, they only started to eat the desserts that were served 10 minutes after Lin Haiyuan finished his breakfast. Lin Haiyuan had already digested some of the ochazuke and grilled salmon he had eaten. He was just watching and waiting for them to finish their desserts and recover before continuing to eat. This took another 30 minutes...

After leaving the Eien Restaurant, Lin Haiyuan, Tsubaki, and Kazuha, who were walking in the middle, were respectfully seen off by the fox-girl waitress.

"Wow, I'm so full and happy! I've never eaten so much before. I'm completely satisfied..."

Fox Girl Chun patted her flat stomach with a soft, happy expression and said, "The bulging belly effect in anime is just an exaggerated way of showing overeating. To be honest, your stomach is probably no longer able to handle the job, so your stomach has to take on the responsibility of storing all this excess food. But your stomach doesn't have the function of digesting food, so the food will rot in your stomach and then be broken down and destroyed by other bacteria in your body. Some hentai anime works on the same principle, except that kind of hentai anime usually doesn't adhere to any scientific principles."

"So this is what dessert tastes like. No, to be precise, this is the ultimate sweetness that wealthy families can enjoy. What kind of intoxicating sweetness will it be when I taste the desserts from the Western Empire, cakes made with strawberries, apples, and other fruits..."

Catgirl Kazuha licked her lips, savoring the lingering sweetness of the [Water Bun] one last time. The sweetness of the [Water Bun] was irresistible to her, which actually triggered the brain's reward mechanism. This was especially true for women who were more sensitive to sweetness, as sweetness could better trigger their pleasant mood. However, this was still affected by individual differences.

You guys look so hungry, your mouths are practically watering, you're practically drooling over PBQ. But once you get used to it, you probably won't feel anything anymore.

"After eating, I really don't want to move. I just want to sit on the grass in the warm sun or take a nap. So where should we go next? Lin Haiyuan Sang, is it a park or somewhere else?"

Because she was full and the sweetness of the dessert made her very happy, the fox girl Tsubaki called him by his full name, which was a little more distant.

"The best place is a park. The afternoon sun in the big trees in the park makes it easy for people to fall asleep peacefully."

Catgirl and Leaf seemed a little dazed as they continued their friend Tsubaki's conversation. The problem was that the sun wasn't shining brightly yet; it was still slowly rising to its highest point, and it was still early morning.

"It's still morning, not yet time for a midday nap, and neither you nor I have time for a nap. Let's all stay awake. We're going to look for a tavern on the outskirts of Pleasure Town."

Lin Haiyuan decided to go to the tavern to gather information, because the tavern, a place where all sorts of people mingle, is always a good place for information exchange. So if he wanted to get any useful information through mind control, starting from the tavern was the best choice. The best targets for information gathering were the bartenders or tavern owners who frequently interacted with customers. They could always hear some interesting information. The eight coins that Lin Haiyuan exchanged at the Eternal Restaurant were to be used as information fees to ask the bartenders or tavern owners for information.

"Go to the outskirts of Pleasure Town to find a tavern? What are you going to do with those taverns on the outskirts of Pleasure Town? Those taverns are full of shady and weird people."

Fox Girl Chun wrinkled her nose and raised her eyebrows at the mention of a tavern on the outskirts of Joyful Town, seemingly disgusted and repulsed by the smell.

"It's not even noon yet. Are you going to the taverns around Pleasure Town to gather information? But... can you really gather information about those guys there?"

Lin Haiyuan explained the cat girl and Ye's thinking and got them back on track. As for the method of gathering information through taverns, she had seen it in novels and comics.

"These kinds of things require following the clues; you can't get information just by asking a single question. If that criminal gang is so arrogant, they would have been taken care of by the local police or other law enforcement agencies long before you completed your investigation. The problem is that they not only acted quickly, but they also did it without anyone knowing."

Lin Haiyuan was prepared to waste a whole morning wandering around bars and similar places, searching for information about the foreign criminal gangs they were talking about.

"Wait a minute, if this is not known to anyone, how is it assumed that this criminal gang is composed of foreigners?"

Cat Girl and Ye realized the real problem behind Lin Haiyuan's words.

"The security forces seem to have no circumstantial evidence to support the claim that the criminal gang was composed of foreigners, something they've never mentioned before."

Fox Girl Chun recalled that the garrison's statement seemed to lack any solid evidence.

"It's quite strange that you, as natives of the Eastern Governorate, don't understand this. Think about how many shady gangs and underworld forces there are in the Eastern Governorate under the rule of the Astoria Empire, or how much do you know about those gray forces that are involved in both the legitimate and criminal worlds?"

Seeing their strange gaps in knowledge, Lin Haiyuan couldn't help but ask them questions. The response he received was naturally that they didn't know much about it and hadn't had much contact with it.

“Regardless of whether they are involved in legitimate or criminal organizations, they all have their own internal rules. When they are just local violent gangs, they are just criminal gangs. But if they collude with local government officials and establish stable control over the area, then they are no longer criminal gangs, but organized crime.”

Lin Haiyuan observed that the Dieying Islands, resembling a Japanese entity in disguise, were not openly registered as organized crime groups, thus preventing their legalization. He suspected that these criminal organizations were colluding with local officials to maintain grassroots control and stability. Although he didn't know if they were involved in human trafficking, if these criminal gangs wanted to sell the women and children they had abducted, they would obviously need a local network to convert their money into cash and sell them to brothels or other places. Therefore, this criminal gang would not be transparent to intelligence.

It's just a matter of whether the relevant personnel are willing to do it...

For readers eager to quickly move on to RPGs, RTS, and MCVs, there are no wars or localized conflicts requiring your intervention right now, and more importantly, there are no MCV delivery methods other than transport ships available...

Chapter 55 did not seek out the tavern owner.

"Hmm? Are you saying that the security forces learned about the identity and activities of that foreign criminal gang through those yakuza groups?"

Chun looked incredulous. In her opinion, the Yakuza organization was not a representative of justice and kindness; from a standpoint of opinion, they were definitely bad people.

"Those yakuza organizations are said to have their own intelligence-gathering networks. Maybe the security forces really did get their intelligence from the yakuza organizations, but the way the security forces do things..."

Kazuha began to doubt the purpose of the security force's existence. Since they were responsible for maintaining order, they should have been cracking down on and eliminating any yakuza groups. However, they not only failed to crack down on any yakuza groups, but also cooperated with them to obtain information about a criminal gang. It seemed like they were neglecting their duties.

"It's just a possibility. If they really got all the intelligence from the Yakuza, they would be sending people to walk around suspiciously on the streets or to investigate and follow people in preparation for arrests. They haven't done that yet, so they probably got the intelligence from other sources. There's a tavern up ahead. We can go there and ask the tavern owner for some information."

Lin Haiyuan pointed to the Western-style tavern in front of him, which was completely different from the ancient buildings with flying eaves and brackets. Every now and then, drunkards would come out in twos and threes or people would go in. He didn't want to talk too much about the topic of the guard team's suspected dereliction of duty. He just wanted to protect the simple worldview of the two beast-eared girls and not tell them the truth that would be considered nonsense. Based on the fact that the Dieying Islands were almost a replica of Japan, Lin Haiyuan knew without thinking that those unlegalized yakuza organizations should have a lot of involvement with the local bureaucrats of the Astoria Empire.

Yakuza organizations that do not collude with government officials are just ordinary yakuza organizations. There is no concern about conflicts of interest in eradicating them. Yakuza organizations that collude with government officials and have interests linked to them are called organized crime groups. They are called organized crime groups because they have their own set of rules. Most importantly, they can help local officials maintain local stability, at the cost of an increased crime rate.

Modern Japan's control over its grassroots has never been as solid as one might imagine. This is evident in the numerous cults that have sprung up there. Take Aum Shinrikyo, which orchestrated the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack, for example. They were even more fanatical than portrayed on television. These religious fanatics were truly capable of taking action. They not only obtained sarin gas but also acquired tanks and helicopters from Russia, preparing for an even bigger scandal. However, the Japanese police were not a force to be reckoned with, and their numbers were insufficient, so their arrests after the incident were to be expected.

However, many people are probably wondering why the main culprit, Shoko Asahara, was sentenced to death in 2004, but it wasn't until 2018, twenty years later, that he was finally executed. Why did the Japanese Ministry of Justice delay signing the death sentence for him with various excuses, and why did the Japanese cabinet and members of parliament change several times before he was finally executed? It's simple: Aum Shinrikyo was not just a cult issue, but also a political one. Too many politicians and civil servants could be exposed and found to be involved through Aum Shinrikyo, and the charges were simple: using a cult to make money.

Therefore, the real person responsible is not just this one. He is more of a scapegoat used to quell public anger. In addition, he was originally responsible as well. After this incident, most of the Japanese cults that dared to be as audacious as Aum Shinrikyo have died out. The remaining ones either did not degenerate into a second Aum Shinrikyo, or they honestly cooperated with local officials and councilors to swindle money and sex, while incidentally making their followers docile and resigned to their current difficult and miserable situation as a test before a better afterlife, thus contributing to the stability of the local people for the Japanese government!

In stellar terms: The planet's officials have reached an agreement with the crime bosses, resulting in increased stability and a higher crime rate.

"The tavern, Lin Haiyuan? Can I stay outside with Kazuha and wait for your good news instead of going to a place like that?"

Chun looked at the wooden door at the entrance of the tavern and couldn't help but feel disgusted.

"As a ranger, your only way to obtain firsthand information is through taverns. If you don't go to taverns to gather information, are you going to the guild? Do you have any particular reason for not wanting to go into taverns?"

Lin Haiyuan didn't quite understand Chun's obvious aversion to the tavern.

"No, it's not that I hate taverns or places like that, it's that I hate the people in taverns..."

Chun reluctantly turned his head away to express his opinion on treating all the staff in the tavern equally.

"Judging from what you said, it sounds like there's a story behind it. Considering how wary you've always been of me, has something bad happened in the past?"

Lin Haiyuan did not activate his mind-reading ability to read her thoughts here, as he did not want to rely too much on his mental abilities and cause his ability to read between the lines to deteriorate.

"Uh... Lin Haiyuan-san, Tsubaki doesn't want to say anything more about this. If you don't want to ask, you can go into the tavern by yourself and we can wait outside, okay?"

At this point, Kazuha gently advised him not to continue asking questions and also supported Tsubaki's idea of ​​not going into the tavern and waiting for him to come out with the information.

“Some things don’t just disappear if you avoid facing them. However, I don’t intend to assume the role of your guardian. Since you’re unwilling to enter the tavern, we’ll have to try to obtain information using a risky method. Do you remember how you got to Huaxiao Tower that day?”

Lin Haiyuan isn't a template protagonist from a visual novel, so he wouldn't scold Chun for this and tell her to overcome her psychological barriers.

"I know... Could it be that you want me and Kazuha to go to a place like Pleasure Town again as bait, to see if we can attract the foreign criminal gang that kidnapped me last time?!"

After a few seconds of confusion, He Ye suddenly realized.

"This method is too dangerous. Last time, we were caught before we could react and were taken to Huaxiao Tower. If we hadn't met you, we would have become prostitutes long ago."

Upon hearing about this fishing method, Chun's hair stood on end, and she felt intense discomfort and alarm.

"Dangerous as it may be, it's very useful and efficient. Don't tell me this won't work. If this won't work, then there's no way we can make any progress. As for dream-like things like a pie falling from the sky, we shouldn't expect it."

Lin Haiyuan knew that those foreign criminal gangs would definitely target women who were alone or in pairs and who were in quiet, sparsely populated places. If he, Chun, and He Ye recreated the conditions at that time, there was a high chance that they would lure out that group of guys again.

Like Japan, South Korea is rife with cults. However, South Korea is a small country, so you can see a rather exaggerated distribution of churches on the map. These churches are controlled by various religions. The noodle stall image in CD Projekt Red's Mighty Corporation DLC is based on one of the landscapes in South Korea.

Chapter Fifty-Six: Luring the Snake Out of its Hole (Part 1)

Lin Haiyuan had already put it this way, and Chun and He Ye weren't spoiled or willful girls. They knew that since they had given up on the safe and slow method of gathering information in the tavern, their only option was to use a dangerous bait tactic to see if they could lure out the foreign criminal gang that was suspected of kidnapping them to Huaxiaolou. If that didn't work, they might as well give up on the investigation and the idea of ​​bringing the bad guys to justice, and incidentally lower their own reputation in the eyes of others.