Chapter 3230: New Discovery

"Any discoveries?"

Ye Chen heard this and felt delighted, quickly asking her: "Did Inspector Li say what exactly the discovery is? Has he confirmed finding the new bandits' stronghold?"

"Yes!" Lin Wanan nodded: "Inspector Li said the AI has locked onto a phosphate mine factory in Morocco, saying that after Young Master returns, he will meet with Young Master in person to discuss the details."

Ye Chen thought for a moment and asked her: "If I remember correctly, Morocco should be an African country, right?"

"Yes, Young Master." Lin Wanan said: "Morocco is in northwestern Africa, facing the Iberian Peninsula where Spain and Portugal are located across the sea. This country is rich in phosphate, accounting for about 70% of global reserves."

Ye Chen nodded slightly and said: "Since this country is rich in phosphate, there should be many phosphate mines domestically. Placing the bandits' stronghold there would also be relatively concealed, so it seems highly likely to be eight or nine out of ten."

Lin Wanan asked him: "Young Master, since this is of great importance, shouldn't we hurry back now?"

Ye Chen said: "No rush. Didn't you still want to see the aurora? I also want to see it again tonight to check if there are any other changes. If there are no other abnormalities, we'll drive back overnight."

Lin Wanan nodded slightly: "I will follow Young Master's arrangements."

While it was still not dark, Ye Chen and Lin Wanan drove out together, had a simple meal, and upon returning, he eagerly began meditating again, cultivating spiritual energy using hand seals.

After practicing all night yesterday, Ye Chen had mastered this set of hand seals thoroughly and could operate them with ease.

Several hours passed, and the spiritual energy within his body showed a significant increase, strengthening his confidence in this set of hand seals.

He continued meditating until late at night, when the aurora reappeared.

Ye Chen and Lin Wanan went out together, walked over a hill, and arrived at the place closest to the aurora.

The two stood under the aurora for a long time; the aurora in the sky swayed slowly like waves, but the strange scene from yesterday did not happen again.

After waiting a long time with no abnormalities, Ye Chen said to Lin Wanan: "Miss Lin, I estimate this aurora won't give me any new hints anymore. Let's pack up and return to Aosu City."

"Alright." Lin Wanan agreed: "Young Master, let me drive on the way back. I'll drive, and you can focus on meditating in the car."

Ye Chen hurriedly asked: "It's only ten or so hours of driving—can you handle it?"

"No problem." Lin Wanan smiled: "Although my physical strength isn't as strong as a cultivator's, it's definitely not something an ordinary person can match. Driving continuously for ten or so hours is nothing for me. Young Master, you can rest assured."

Ye Chen thought the same, so he nodded and said: "Alright, then thank you, Miss Lin, for driving this long journey."

To Ye Chen, he now felt like a rascal who had just grasped the path to wealth, finally finding the track to make money, and he couldn't wait to keep running on it without stopping for a moment.

Moreover, Lin Wanan is no ordinary young lady—she has lived three or four hundred years, can even fly a helicopter, so driving a long distance is naturally no problem for her.

Thus, on the way back, Lin Wanan took charge of driving, while Ye Chen sat in the rear seat and continued cultivating.

When the two were about to reach Aosu City, Ye Chen's total spiritual energy had increased by nearly 20%. He said to Lin Wanan beside him: "Since this hand seal can continuously generate spiritual energy, when I return, I will do everything possible, spare no expense, to activate the hidden function of that ring."

Since we passed by the AI model factory on the way here, Ye Chen called Li Ailin, who happened to be here, so Ye Chen went straight to this place.

Upon meeting, Li Ailin eagerly said to Ye Chen: "The model has locked onto a highly suspicious target, and according to the model itself, it can basically confirm with 99.99% certainty."

Ye Chen then said: "Then please, Inspector Li, give me a rough introduction of what exactly the AI model discovered this time and its reasoning."

Li Ailin immediately opened the monitor, clicked on part of the photos, opened a satellite image of a region, and said to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, look at this mining area located in central Morocco. This is one of Morocco's four major phosphate mining areas."

Ye Chen asked him: "How many companies are mining phosphate in this mining area?"

Li Ailin replied: "Mr. Ye, according to our investigation, there are a total of 8 mining enterprises in this mining area."

As he spoke, he opened a satellite image showing that in this nearly desert-like mining area, several mining enterprises are scattered. Even through the AI-enhanced satellite image, one can roughly see the vehicles and personnel operating in the mining area.

Li Ailin pointed to one area and said to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, this area is the phosphate mining enterprise that the AI strongly suspects. The company's name is Duke Mining, established 35 years ago. Over the past 35 years, its scale has expanded severalfold."

Ye Chen nodded and asked: "On what basis does the AI conclude that this is the bandits' stronghold of the Po Qing Society?"

Li Ailin said: "First, the AI ran a large list, searching globally for about 80,000 enterprises capable of meeting the Po Qing Society's requirements for a bandits' stronghold, then combined massive amounts of data and skyline information to conduct multi-dimensional system analysis."

As he spoke, Li Ailin paused slightly, opened the second photo, and said to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, the AI found that this enterprise meets all our criteria for judging a bandits' stronghold, and it also has an issue of excessive energy consumption. Therefore, ten years ago, they applied for wind power investment permission and built six typhoon-level wind power units in the mining area. Besides, they also secretly renovated all rooftops ten years ago, changing them entirely to solar panels, likely because their energy gap is large, but unlike Nigeria, this place doesn't produce oil that can be readily used for power generation, so they turned to wind and solar energy."

Ye Chen said: "These factors sound like suspicion only, but cannot confirm that the other party is truly the bandits' stronghold of the Po Qing Society."

Li Ailin laughed: "So the key information has come. The Moroccan government banned underground phosphate mining as early as 20 years ago. Previously, all underground mines and equipment were abolished and stored, shifting to large-scale surface mining—i. e., from underground mines to open-pit mines."

"However, in the past fifteen years of satellite data, this mining company was captured at least ten or more times entering with large transport convoys, and the convoys were seen carrying large amounts of supplies, unloading at the area originally meant to be abandoned—the entrance of the old underground mine. Moreover, skyline images captured several times trucks hauling large amounts of similar earth-like waste from the old underground mine to the open-pit mining area for dumping."

As he spoke, Li Ailin added: "If they were still secretly using the underground mine for mining, it would be absolutely impossible to dump the extracted phosphate ore back into the open-pit mine's pit—that would be like taking off one's pants to fart, utterly pointless."

"Moreover, the AI analyzed that due to technological progress and mining equipment development, surface mining is now superior in difficulty, cost, and efficiency compared to underground mining. If they continued underground mining, it would only be laborious and unrewarding, so most mines have closed their old underground shafts."

"The skyline image data shows that other mines' underground shafts have shown no signs of activation over these many years, but only this Duke Mining—after the AI analyzed satellite data, concluded that the Po Qing Society had reformed this mine, taking its originally meant-to-be-sealed underground facilities and turned them into a bandits' stronghold, which is still expanding. Hence, the continuous outflow of rock, soil, and waste. And those convoys full of supplies are definitely sending reinforcements to the stronghold!"