Chapter 525

Leon began to explain:

“That landmass of over 400,000 square kilometers, the Crocodile Kingdom hasn’t directly annexed it. Most areas are leased from other kingdoms and city-states, so they won’t appear on any maps—including the Crocodile Kingdom’s own. They don’t even officially recognize them.

The officially recognized territory of the Crocodile Kingdom is just these eight hundred-plus districts. Only those who live in these eight hundred-plus districts can be considered citizens of the Crocodile Kingdom. So, you could say it’s a small country.”

“Not small, not small at all.”

Upon hearing this, Algernon quickly shook his head and said: “No matter how you calculate it, a nation that controls an actual area of over forty thousand square kilometers can’t be considered a small country… Speaking of which, since the controlled area is so large, why doesn’t the Crocodile Kingdom simply acknowledge these places?”

Because that’s the most profitable approach.

Hearing Algernon’s curious inquiry, Leon couldn’t help but slightly squint his eyes, recalling the plight of the bandit siblings.

Their hometown, Cheshire, was one of the mining zones of the Crocodile Kingdom. Everything there was under the control of the Crocodile Kingdom. Internal and external trade was almost completely prohibited, and even food and some basic necessities had to be exchanged for floating crystal ore mined there.

Under such rules, the more than ten thousand people of Cheshire revolved their entire lives around the mine, dedicating their lifelong labor to provide the Crocodile Kingdom with an endless supply of floating crystal ore. And there were over a hundred such “mining zones” like theirs.

Even if not all mining zones required such extensive manpower, and not all were as tragic as Cheshire, the number of ordinary people directly or indirectly “enslaved” by the Crocodile Kingdom probably exceeded a million.

As long as they didn’t officially acknowledge control over these mining zones, the Crocodile Kingdom could stay out of it, using these millions of people as expendable resources to extract the resources they needed while paying almost no cost.

“Can it really be like this?”

After listening to Leon’s speculation and the tragic fate of the bandit siblings, Algernon’s face turned slightly red with anger: “No one can do anything about this? Just letting the Crocodile Kingdom act like this?”

“Who cares? The Clearing Bureau?”

With a glance at this relatively naive strongman, Leon said:

“The ancestor of the Crocodile Royal Family was the palace sitter of the Watchtower Palace. The task of the Clearing Bureau is to protect the Crocodile Royal Family and combat abnormalities that attempt to invade the human world. Managing the affairs of the Crocodile Kingdom isn’t part of the Clearing Bureau’s responsibilities.

As for other kingdoms, forget about it. The technological level of the Crocodile Kingdom leads other kingdoms by at least a hundred years. Although the population of the Crocodile Kingdom is sparse, its military strength is not weak at all.

Moreover, for these mining zones, the Crocodile Kingdom has already paid money and transferred a lot of technology, obtaining the ‘right to mine’ from other kingdoms. Who would step up to manage them? The other kingdoms that sold the mines for money?”

“…”

“Just stop thinking about it. There’s nothing we can do about this.”

Through the captured documents, Leon had already formed a firm intention in his mind to give this B kingdom a good beating when the opportunity arose. But on the surface, he said calmly: “We’re just two ordinary cleaners. Our primary task now is to investigate the situation in Zone 1 Research Area, find Apheta 01 controlled by Prince Andre, then confirm whether the royal family is truly dead. If so, then we’ll try to…”

“What did you say?!?!”

At this point, the scruffy man who had been eavesdropping ever since Leon started talking couldn’t hold back anymore. He suddenly stood up from his seat, his face full of shock as he roared:

“All the royal family is dead?!?!”

“Algernon Senior!”

Seeing the scruffy man standing up, Leon couldn’t help but increase his tone slightly, frowning with dissatisfaction: “Didn’t you guarantee me that if he had any extreme reactions, you would definitely notice beforehand and stop him?”

“Sorry, I got careless…”

After hearing Leon’s words, Algernon couldn’t help but lower his head with shame:

“I was lost in thought earlier, and my reaction speed dropped again compared to yesterday, so I didn’t realize it in time… Sorry, I’ll be careful next time!”

Leon sighed helplessly upon hearing this and then reminded him:

“This time, it’s fine, but you must be careful afterward. Now I can still cover up with [Secret Tail], but once we enter Zone 1 Research Area, if something like this happens again, we’ll be in danger.”

“I… I’m sorry, I absolutely won’t make this mistake again!”

“Alright, then you first control Mr. Bell, we…”

“Wait! Hold on!”

Seeing these two “wandering criminals” preparing to control him again, the scruffy man couldn’t help but change his expression and actively lowered his voice: “What did you say before? The entire royal family is dead?”

He bit the hook.

Glancing at the wildly flailing soul of the scruffy man, Leon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow slightly, then frowned again to Algernon:

“Sorry, I also got a little careless. Such crucial intelligence shouldn’t have been discussed in front of him. You control him first…”

Not a single word of content from 69 Book Bar!

“Don’t! Don’t control me!”

When Leon prepared to let the strongman control him again, the scruffy man immediately said:

“I can help you! Don’t silence me!”

“This…”

After hesitating slightly, Leon shook his head and refused:

“Sorry, this matter is too important. We can’t trust you. If you say you’ll help us but actually try to leak information, then…”

“I won’t!”

The scruffy man urgently said:

“I’m a classmate of Emperor Fein! A fourth-level scholar approved personally by Emperor Fein! I… Is the royal family really in trouble? If you can prove what you said before isn’t a lie, I… I can help you sneak in!”

Caught!

After hearing the scruffy man’s words, the corner of Leon’s mouth couldn’t help but curl slightly.

Regarding the scruffy man’s staunch “royalist” identity, he had already seen it clearly in the captured documents. Given his relationship with the old king, once he heard the intelligence that the royal family might have been entirely killed, he would inevitably lose control and rush to investigate. This was exactly what Leon wanted.

After all, Zone 1 Research Area was so important. The suspected mastermind, Prince Andre, wouldn’t leave it unguarded if he wasn’t stupid.

His [Secret Tail] wasn’t omnipotent. Even if he found a scholar from Zone 1 Research Area and replaced his identity with an anomalous item, without his knowledge and memories, unclear about his interpersonal relationships and the rules of Zone 1 Research Area, they would be exposed in seconds.

Therefore, the only way to successfully infiltrate was to persuade this scruffy man and make him willingly guide them.

Compared to painstaking persuasion or asking for help through reasoning, setting the bait beforehand and waiting for him to take the initiative to talk and finally beg for assistance was much more reliable.