Li Wei had no idea what had happened to Kia, but fortunately, Military Intelligence Section Seven gathered intelligence quickly in Steel City.
"A few days ago, Dr. Franco Tester and his granddaughter Kia joined an expedition to investigate nearby Yellowleaf Mountain."
Li Wei sat in his chair, listening to the report coming through the receiver.
"Dr. Franco went up a mountain at his age? What kind of expedition was this?"
"The details are still unclear. According to the information we've obtained, Yellowleaf Mountain seems to have experienced frequent earthquakes recently..."
"What does that have to do with Dr. Franco? He's not a geologist."
"According to unconfirmed reports, unidentified signals were detected at the site of the earthquakes, so Dr. Franco asked the governor of Steel City to organize an expedition to investigate."
At his age, the old man should stop running all over the place.
"What does the governor of Steel City have to say?"
"They assigned a platoon to protect the expedition, along with four Hound Mechs."
Under the Empire's military organization, a squad consisted of ten men, and a platoon consisted of five squads. In other words, Steel City had sent fifty soldiers to protect the expedition. With the Hound Mechs added in, they had clearly taken the matter seriously.
But now, it seemed they had not taken it seriously enough.
"Sigh..."
"You must reach the destination as quickly as possible and find Dr. Franco! Make absolutely certain he comes back alive!"
"I'll do my best."
Listening to the Old Butler's orders through the receiver, Li Wei was rather speechless. Dr. Franco was extremely important to the Empire at present. After all, he had led the development of the Difference Engine's antivirus firewall. Now that his expedition had come under attack, the Empire's first concern had to be