#589 - Chapter 589 Familiar Building
Cai Liquan's group of five warships had already landed for half an hour.
The praying mantis phalanx outside remained motionless, standing there silently as if intently watching their prey.
The reply from the India-Pakistan Federation was late; they were on their way.
Cai Liquan was speechless at such a bizarre occurrence in such a formal setting.
Another half-hour passed before their reception personnel finally arrived.
This made Cai Liquan even more dumbfounded.
These reception personnel were actually riding large spiders.
No wonder they were late; they had come on foot, so to speak.
These spiders were large, with saddles installed on their backs.
Proportionally, they were probably over 4 meters tall.
For safety reasons, Cai Liquan and his team had all donned armor before disembarking.
The reception personnel did not apologize, likely considering lateness a normal occurrence.
They had also brought many spiders for Cai Liquan and the others to ride.
However, Cai Liquan flatly refused.
Covered in thorns, the creatures looked incredibly repulsive, and he wouldn't sit on one even if his life depended on it.
Fortunately, they had brought mechs, which transformed into vehicle mode, each capable of carrying four people.
The reception personnel rode their spiders ahead, leading the way, with the mechs following behind, surrounded by a circle of praying mantis soldiers, slowly heading towards the city of Mumbai.
The procession was so slow, barely faster than walking.
Logically, insects should be quite fast, so they were probably doing this as a form of etiquette.
Thus, six hours later, they finally arrived at their destination, Mount Aheri in northern Mumbai.
"This is..." Dongfang Chen was shocked by the towering structure in the distance.
Not by its grandeur, but by its familiarity.
He had seen this before, also in Ge'er County in the Razang region.
Before the heavy snowfall, that place would continuously produce scorpions.
"So it's them!" Dongfang Chen understood; the giant scorpion structure in Ge'er County was their doing.
In that case, the India-Pakistan Federation's position was even more questionable.
Cai Liquan and his group were led into the massive structure.
As soon as they stepped inside, communication was immediately cut off, and Dongfang Chen couldn't see what was happening inside.
The rest would depend on Cai Liquan himself.
Cai Liquan was also baffled.
He had never seen this massive structure and knew nothing about the events in the Razang region. Now that contact with the base was severed, he felt panicked.
The main purposes of this visit were twofold: first, to probe the true situation of the India-Pakistan Federation, and second, to gauge their attitude towards Modo's grand sacrificial ceremony.
Without Dongfang Chen's guidance, he would have to rely on his own devices.
...
Evening, January 19, 2057 AD.
Tomita Sayoko had followed Dongfang Chen's instructions to transport the warships to the designated locations and returned to Damascus.
Actually, these locations had no specific meaning; they were simply to cover the Queen Bee's deployment points during the voyage.
"Mr. Dongfang, the warships have all been delivered, but there were some issues in the process."
"What issues?" Dongfang Chen asked.
"These Okhon warships were dropping items onto the ground along the way, which drew the attention of the Elder Council."
Tomita Sayoko could have concealed this matter, but she brought it up to try and glean information about their motives.
She already knew the Elder Council's analysis.
The boxes contained crudely made probes, which, judging by the craftsmanship, were certainly not Dongfang Chen's work.
"Ignore it; it has nothing to do with us," Dongfang Chen said indifferently, showing no curiosity.
This further convinced Tomita Sayoko that the Okhon were simply trying to be clever, hoping to use Dongfang Chen to gather information about Modo, but their plan was too crude.
The Elder Council endorsed this conclusion because such behavior was very characteristic of the Okhon.
They weren't very bright, were careless in their actions, and often overlooked the obvious.
"What should we do next?" Tomita Sayoko asked.
As soon as she asked, she felt a pang of anxiety, feeling that her question was too forward.
If Dongfang Chen thought she was probing for information, it would be terrible.
"You set out now and immediately transfer all those warships to the Sharan region on the Modo-India border," Dongfang Chen ordered.
"Huh?" Tomita Sayoko was stunned.
"Set out immediately!" Dongfang Chen roared.
"Yes!" Tomita Sayoko didn't dare to say another word.
She immediately reported the matter to the Elder Council, and a message quickly returned.
The Elder Council rebuked Tomita Sayoko for being too eager for quick success and asking too many questions. Dongfang Chen issued such an order because he had become suspicious and wanted to see if those warships still existed.
If the warships were gone, it would indicate that Tomita Sayoko was the problem.
Tomita Sayoko breathed a sigh of relief; fortunately, the warships were still there.
