Chapter 3198: Casablanca

The next day, Ye Chen and Li Yalin used the new identities prepared for them by Helena to fly directly from Northern Europe to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

Their destination this time was Casablanca, Morocco's largest city and largest port.

More people know this city because of the classic film of the same name; it is also one of the few modernized cities in Africa, ranking at least in the Top 10 on the continent.

On the plane to Lisbon, Ye Chen sat in a semi-enclosed suite in first class, covered himself with a blanket, and continuously practiced the set of hand seals he had learned under the aurora to continue improving the Qi within his body.

After arriving in Lisbon, Ye Chen felt that the Qi in his body had improved significantly again, so he secretly decided that once his internal Qi improved a bit more, he would begin channeling Qi into the ring Lin Wan'er had given him. Since that ring likely had even greater utility, he would simply go all out, fill it with Qi, and see what exactly would happen.

If it were in the past, Ye Chen might not have been willing to try continuously feeding this bottomless pit with Qi.

But now he had confidence; that set of hand seals could continuously create more Qi. In this way, he had a continuous source of Qi, and naturally, he wouldn't feel pained over this little bit of Qi.

After the two arrived in Lisbon, in order not to leave traces for others to track later, Ye Chen and Li Yalin disguised themselves and, using another set of fake identities, took a small plane from an airline in Lisbon, flew over the Strait of Gibraltar, and arrived in Casablanca.

After arriving in Casablanca, the two booked two rooms at the best hotel near the port of Casablanca under the identities of Portuguese-Chinese businessmen.

What surprised the two was that there were more Chinese in Casablanca than they had imagined.

Especially in the hotel where they were staying, Chinese accounted for at least one-third, and they all appeared to be successful people and the elite class.

Li Yalin fully utilized a criminal investigator's investigative ability; after chatting with several Chinese in the hotel lobby for a while, he figured out the reason why there were so many Chinese here.

After understanding the situation, he said to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, I've figured out why there are so many Chinese here. The phosphate ore that Morocco is rich in is actually a key raw material for producing lithium iron phosphate batteries. Many power battery companies and new energy vehicle companies in China have invested in building factories here to produce lithium iron phosphate batteries locally. It is said to be at least 30% cheaper than shipping raw materials back to the country for production."

Ye Chen couldn't help but smile: "I'll ask my second uncle later to see if the power battery company they acquired previously has any investments here."

"Probably not," Li Yalin said. "I haven't I been following your grandfather and the others in the country to inspect investments? The power battery company they invested in mainly produces ternary lithium batteries and doesn't do much lithium iron phosphate. It seems to be said that lithium iron phosphate has low energy density and is cheap, mainly suitable for mid-to-low-end vehicle models."

Ye Chen nodded slightly and said: "But with so many Chinese here, it will be easier for the two of us to hide our identities. The locals won't find it strange when they see us, and no one will pay too much attention to us."

As he spoke, Ye Chen added: "When it gets dark, let's find a way to enter the port and take a look."

Li Yalin asked him: "Port management is generally quite strict; will it be easy for us to get in?"

Ye Chen smiled: "Don't worry, I have a way."

After saying that, he said to Li Yalin: "Detective Li, let's go to the room first. I booked the highest floor they have here; we should be able to see the general situation of the port."

The two checked in, took their room cards, and came to the room on the twenty-second floor of the hotel. Their rooms were one to the south and one to the north. The north-facing room happened to have a panoramic view of the entire port.

Coming to the living room of the north room, the two overlooked the Casablanca port from the floor-to-ceiling windows. Li Yalin saw at a glance the railway freight yard with at least twenty tracks in the southern part of the port. He looked eastward along the railway line and said to Ye Chen: "As far as I know, Casablanca is the economic lifeline of all of Morocco. Most of the phosphate mined in the country is shipped from here to all parts of the world. The Poqing Society's Duke Mining also exports phosphate from here to overseas. I imagine the phosphate is transported directly to the wharf by rail."

Ye Chen said: "Have you checked their phosphate export situation?"

"Checked," Li Yalin said. "The AI checked the import and export data of Moroccan phosphate companies, and Duke Mining is not in it. If Duke Mining doesn't handle exports itself, then their production capacity should be handled by other companies helping them with export business."

As he spoke, Li Yalin added: "In order to figure out the direction of their phosphate, the AI screened all companies operating import and export business at the Casablanca port and locked onto one import and export company. This company's main business is exporting phosphate to companies around the world, and they don't have phosphate mines themselves; it's equivalent to acting as an agent for some phosphate companies' export business. The AI analyzed the customs declaration data of this company, and the annual export volume is slightly higher than Duke Mining's production capacity. I imagine that in addition to Duke Mining, they should also be acting as agents for the exports of some small companies."

"Besides that, this company also does a small amount of import business, mostly importing various types of mining machinery and equipment, and then selling them within Morocco. However, although it's called selling, they actually only provide equipment to Duke Mining."

Ye Chen asked curiously: "Did the AI find this out too?"

"Yes," Li Yalin said. "This import and export company imported a batch of Liebherr heavy mining equipment from Germany the year before last. The AI confirmed in the restored Skyline database that this batch of Liebherr heavy equipment is all working in Duke Mining's open-pit mining area. This brand of equipment was not found in any other large companies; for other companies, the cost of Liebherr equipment might still be too high."

After saying that, Li Yalin added: "The AI also found a lot of food imported from the United States in their customs declaration materials, mainly beef, wheat, and vegetables. I suspect that after these foods were declared, they were all quietly transported to Duke Mining."

Ye Chen said: "Food can be purchased locally. Going to the trouble of importing from the United States is likely because Duke Mining's consumption significantly exceeds normal values, so they don't want people to see any clues."

"Yes," Li Yalin said. "They are quite careful in this regard. There are several local food suppliers, so by dispersing the demand, it is difficult for ordinary people to find out their specific food consumption. Coupled with a portion of quietly imported food, it can basically be seamless. It's just that they certainly didn't expect that there would be an AI model with heaven-defying computing power continuously analyzing all their data and information through various dimensions."

Ye Chen pointed in the direction of the railway and asked him: "Detective Li, since Duke Mining's phosphate is transported in by this railway, if I want to transport the Poqing Society's dead soldiers out of Duke Mining, this railway should also be the only way. I think we can take this railway line as a breakthrough point and focus on breaking through it."

Li Yalin agreed and said: "The AI has analyzed several production sectors of Duke Mining. The mining area is responsible for mining raw ore, and then it is transported to Duke Mining's refinery near the mining area by trucks and conveyor belts. After the refined phosphate is loaded at the railway freight yard within the refinery, it is transported directly to the port. As long as Duke Mining needs to transport phosphate, it must need trains to go empty to load. If we can get the driving videos of these freight trains, we should be able to figure out the basic process of trains entering Duke Mining. Through the video, we should be able to see if there are any loopholes in this process that can be exploited."

Ye Chen nodded and said: "From here, the tracks don't lead directly to the wharf. After these goods are transported to the port by rail, they need to be loaded and unloaded first, and then go through a series of customs export procedures before they can enter the cargo loading and unloading area of the wharf. Let's sneak in tonight and study it well, and move the people from the railway loading and unloading area to the wharf loading and unloading area silently. If this step can be realized, then there will be an opportunity to take everyone away." ===== CHAPTER 3199 =====