Chapter 928

“Whether it’s a small country depends on how you count it.”

Leon explained:

“The forty thousand square kilometers of land? The Kingdom of Korok never directly annexed it—most of it was leased from other kingdoms and city-states, so it doesn’t appear on any map, not even Korok’s own.”

“Officially, Korok recognizes only these eight hundred-plus blocks as its territory; only those living in these eight hundred-plus blocks are considered Korok citizens. So yes, you could call it a small country.”

“Not small at all!”

Alger shook his head quickly upon hearing this:

“No matter how you count it, a nation controlling over four hundred thousand square kilometers can’t be called small… but if it controls so much land, why doesn’t Korok just officially recognize these places?”

Because this is the most profitable approach.

Hearing Alger’s curious question, Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly as he recalled the fate of the bandit siblings.

Their home, Cheshire, was one of Korok’s mining districts—everything there was controlled by Korok; internal and external trade was nearly banned, and even food and basic necessities had to be exchanged for floating crystal ore mined there.

Under this system, over ten thousand people in Cheshire spent their entire lives revolving around the mines, using their lifetime of labor to supply Korok with endless floating crystal ore—and there were over a hundred such “mining districts” like it.

Not all mining districts required such heavy labor, nor were all as wretched as Cheshire, but the number of ordinary people directly or indirectly “enslaved” by Korok likely still exceeded a million.

By refusing to acknowledge control over these districts, Korok could distance itself entirely, treating these million people as expendable resources, extracting the resources it needed at almost zero cost.

“You can do that?”

After hearing Leon’s speculation and the bandit siblings’ tragic fate, Alger’s face flushed red with anger:

“No one can stop this? You just let Korok get away with this?”

“Who? The Cleanup Bureau?”

Leon glanced at the burly man, whose mind was still relatively pure, then said:

“The ancestors of the Korok royal family were Seat Holders of the Watch Palace. The Cleanup Bureau’s duty is to protect the Korok royal family and combat anomalies threatening the human world—overseeing Korok’s internal affairs is not their responsibility.”

“As for other kingdoms? Forget it. Korok’s technological level is at least a century ahead of theirs. So even though Korok has a tiny population, its military strength is far from weak.”

“Besides, Korok paid for these mining districts—it transferred plenty of technology to other kingdoms in exchange for the right to ‘mine and use.’ Who’s going to step forward and condemn them? The other kingdoms that sold their mines for cash?”

“...”

“Don’t think about it. We can’t handle this.”

After learning Korok’s “business model” from the stolen data, Leon had already made up his mind—he’d find a way to strike back hard at this bastard kingdom—but his expression remained calm:

“We’re just two ordinary Cleanup Officers. Our priority now is to investigate Sector 1 Research Zone, find Atifi-01 under Prince Andre’s control, and confirm whether the royal family is truly dead—if so, then we need to figure out how to...”

“What did you say?!!!”

The scruffy man, who had been eavesdropping since Leon and Alger began speaking, finally snapped. He leapt to his feet, face pale with shock, shouting:

“The royal family is dead?!!!”

“Senior Alger!”

Seeing the scruffy man standing up, Leon’s tone sharpened, his brow furrowing slightly in annoyance:

“Didn’t you just promise me you’d notice any extreme reaction from him and stop it before it happened?”

“Sorry, I was careless...”

Hearing Leon’s words, Alger bowed his head, cheeks flushed with shame:

“I got lost in thought, and my reaction speed’s even slower than yesterday—I didn’t catch it in time... I’m sorry, I’ll be careful from now on!”

“Alright, there’s nothing we can do about it now...”

Leon sighed, shaking his head, then warned:

“This time I’ll let it slide, but next time, be careful. Right now I can still hide us with [Secretive Tail], but if we enter Sector 1 Research Zone and you do something like this again, we’re dead.”

“I... I’m sorry. I’ll never make this mistake again!”

“Fine. First, keep control of Mr. Bell, then...”

“Wait! Hold on!”

Seeing the two “fugitives” about to take control of him again, the scruffy man grew anxious and lowered his voice urgently:

“What did you just say? The entire royal family is dead?”

Hooked.

Seeing the scruffy man’s soul flaring wildly, Leon’s brow lifted slightly, then he frowned again at Alger:

“Sorry, I was careless too. This kind of critical information shouldn’t have been spoken in front of him. You should’ve restrained him—”

“No! Don’t restrain me!”

Hearing Leon was about to let the big man control him again, the scruffy man blurted out:

“I can help you! Don’t shut me up!”

“This...”

After a brief hesitation, Leon shook his head and refused:

“Sorry, this is too critical. We can’t trust you. If you say you’ll help but secretly try to alert someone, then...”

“I won’t!”

The scruffy man cried out:

“I was a classmate of King Fein! My Level Four Scholar rank was personally approved by King Fein! I... Is the royal family really in danger? If you can prove you weren’t lying, I... I can help you get inside!”

Caught.

Hearing the scruffy man’s words, Leon’s lips curled slightly.

He’d already confirmed from the stolen data that the scruffy man was a die-hard royalist. Given his close ties to the old king, hearing the royal family might be wiped out would inevitably push him to act—perfectly playing into Leon’s hands.

After all, Sector 1 Research Zone was vital. Prince Andre, the suspected mastermind, wouldn’t be an idiot—he’d guard it tightly.

Leon’s [Secretive Tail] wasn’t omnipotent. Even if he found a scholar in Sector 1 and replaced his identity with an anomaly, without the scholar’s knowledge, memories, relationships, and understanding of Sector 1’s rules, he’d be exposed in minutes.

The only way to successfully infiltrate was to convince this scruffy man to willingly guide them in.

And compared to pleading or reasoning with him, it was far safer to lay the bait first, let him take the bait himself, and beg for their help.