It was continuing to ask about the details. Yin Lin did not immediately agree to the escort mission, nor did she refuse, but continued to inquire.
Huang Yi also elaborated on this escort mission. First, a large number of cargo ships needed to be escorted to an important southern port, to Yiri City. From there, more cargo ships needed to be escorted back, including large quantities of grain and repair equipment for rebuilding Yiri City, and there were also many cross-region personnel needing escort.
Because it was such a critical matter, this time they would not use inland river transport. The likelihood of inland transport being attacked by land-type mutant demons and flight-type aberrants was far too high.
For safety, this time they would go by sea, avoiding the possibility of being attacked by land-type mutant demons, but a massive convoy would inevitably encounter flight-type aberrants.
Yin Lin asked another question: exactly how many ships was this convoy? Did it really require the cutest, most beautiful, and strongest magical girl on Earth to escort it? And was it absolutely necessary that it be her?
Huang Yi: “Around 1,000.”
Damn, that number was even higher than the annual Shipping Day.
Since this world was occupied by demonic creatures, land freight had become inconvenient, so maritime shipping had developed more.
And since many flight-type aberrants appeared over the sea, maritime shipping was also extremely dangerous.
Normally, ships traveling more than 100 nautical miles out to sea—only about 5% returned intact.
With losses like that, even with unmanned ships, the cost was enormous. Humanity could not afford it.
So how was trade supposed to work?
Apart from a few desperate individuals who continued to transport goods by land or water on ordinary days, the Human Alliance officially would escort once a year, also called [Shipping Day]. There would be countless cargo ships, as well as tourists, business travelers, immigrants, and others who, for various reasons, needed to cross regions and travel to the north, south, east, and west.
They would board ships during this period, safely crossing regions under the escort of the Human Alliance.
Greta of the West claimed she had crossed regions during [Shipping Day], traveling from the West to Yiri City.
During ordinary Shipping Days, the fleet would almost circle the entire globe, with ships joining mid-route and ships leaving at stops along the way.
At the most, an estimated 800 ships had entered port.
And this impromptu disaster-relief maritime operation had actually managed to gather 1,000 ships? Larger in scale than the annual [Shipping Day]?
In any case, the matter was critical and required Yin Lin’s escort.
“Why don’t you go find Lan Xiuzhen? Can’t you afford her? Or is she busy doing something she’s having a great time with?”
Yin Lin was still probing.
It was no secret that magical girls were invited to help during [Shipping Day]. Everyone knew.
The magical girls of Busan City ate the Public Meal, and in the past, the Eastern Alliance indeed had Lan Xiuzhen and the nine magical girls participating in the [Shipping Day] escort.
Why weren’t they calling Lan Xiuzhen this time?
“That… she…”
Huang Yi didn’t know how to explain. “She’s not feeling well physically. She hasn’t been publicly active recently. And there are said to be traces of the Star Summoning Society over there as well, and they’re conducting defense. Busan City has a relatively high dependence on magical girls, so they need the help of magical girls.”
In simple terms, she had no time. Busy.
Whether that was the truth was hard to say.
Yin Lin asked again: “Since you mention the South, aren’t there Wan Zi and several other magical girls over there? What about them?”
Huang Yi replied: “Can’t be mobilized. Magic Girl Wan Zi has some misunderstandings with us and refuses to communicate with us. Her influence in that area is fairly significant, and the other magical girls in that region won’t come to help us either.”
“If a Cadre-level Demonic Creature attacks, what then? If I leave, and Yiri City is attacked by a cadre-level demonic creature, who can defend it?”
Yin Lin had become much more serious.
According to humanity’s research, cadre-level demonic creatures were extremely rare. Over several decades, they had rarely appeared.
Yiri City was the only exception, having seen several appearances recently in succession.
From a statistical probability standpoint, cadre-level demonic creatures would not attack a city again anytime soon. But from a logical reasoning perspective, the possibility remained high.
Huang Yi: “Go ask Wan Zi. You two should have contact, right? She’ll figure all of this out too. She’ll tell you the answer.”
Yin Lin: “Why won’t you tell me?”
Huang Yi: “The people above gave me a gag order. They won’t let me reveal the truth, and I don’t want to lie to you. So I can only shut my mouth. I can only tell you the surface of this escort commission. I cannot tell you the deeper reasons.”
Yin Lin fell into thought, her left hand propping up her chin, unknown what she was thinking.
Huang Yi turned his head to look at her, also waiting.
After the city lost electricity, the light pollution was gone.
The bright moonlight shone upon her, adding a bit more mystery to her.
Her high-heeled feet were stepping on the steel beams of a construction tower crane. Her stance was clearly not as elegant as Jin Luan’s; instead, she looked somewhat clumsy.
Using the heel to step onto empty space, getting stuck on the steel beam, and needing the wand to float in the air as a handrail—only then could she stand steadily on the steel beam.
One look was enough to tell she was not someone who often wore high heels.
This time, when Huang Yi observed her, he specifically focused on psychological aspects. He once again noticed that Yin Lin’s Independence was particularly high. This was not the normal mindset of a little brat.
A normal little brat, when encountering trouble, would go back to complain to their parents. But Yin Lin had always made her own decisions—whether big or small, she made them all herself.
As if she had no one to rely on.
“By what day at the latest does the Case need to be decided?”
“I’ll think about it for a few days.”
Yin Lin gave a preliminary reply. “This Case…”
“Huh? Case?”
“I mean, when do you need my final answer?”
“Within 3 days would be best.”
The conversation ended. Time to go home.
Song Wuli lay on the Bed thinking.
Regarding the truth of this escort mission, the more he thought about it, the less he could figure it out. Anyway, he’d ask Jin Luan and Huan Hong first.
He stated it openly in the three sisters’ Group.
At this hour, Jin Luan was already asleep, while Huan Hong was still exercising, covered in sweat.
Her feet were on a home exercise bike, her right hand was playing with a dumbbell weighing dozens of kilograms, and her left hand was scrolling through her Mobile Phone looking at the chat Group.
When she heard Yin Lin mention the “escort mission,” Huan Hong felt a little sour again, because the Human Alliance had not come to her.
Too lazy to reply. Angry.
The next day, Xia Shiyao also saw the message and immediately went to Huang Yi to verify it.
Nine hours later, after Huang Yi woke up, he finally replied, admitting that a mission had indeed been sent to Yin Lin.
Jin Luan: [Why did the Human Supremacist side hire her to escort the convoy?]
Huang Yi: [I can’t say.]
Jin Luan: [Why not find me and Huan Hong?]
Huang Yi: [I can’t say this time either.]
No matter how Xia Shiyao asked, Huang Yi did not reveal the truth. He clearly had unspeakable difficulties.
During class in the morning, Xia Shiyao seemed absent-minded. In the end, she still went to find Magic Girl Wanzi.
Wan Zi: [I thought you all had already decided. In the end, you still want to ask my opinion?]
Jin Luan: [Skip the nonsense. What do you think about this matter? What’s the problem behind it?]
Wan Zi: [Simple. I’ve looked into this. It’s nothing more than Portal Plan 2.0 Version.]
Wan Zi apparently knew about it, yet had not taken the initiative to chat with the Jinyin Hong San Jiemei about it. Instead, she waited for them to come chat on their own.
Jin Luan’s reliance on her made her very happy. If she could get Yin Lin’s contact, Wan Zi would probably be even happier.