Perhaps it was because it was already daytime, or perhaps because high-level personnel had arrived, the factory was now more vibrant than ever.
At least, it was much more lively than what Fang Wuwei and the other person had seen last night.
Ikenouchi Maki, cloaked in an invisibility cloak, cautiously moved through the crowd, heading deeper into the factory while touching her somewhat swollen, red face. She hissed in pain, gritting her teeth and silently cursing her heartless master in her mind.
It was now morning, and as they had expected, the entire factory was no longer patrolled solely by security personnel. Instead, large numbers of employees were bustling about.
Out of curiosity and for information, Ikenouchi Maki quietly avoided the crowd, trying to get to a higher vantage point to see what was behind the throng of people.
She then stood on a large box, tiptoeing to look over the crowd and see what exactly that small car was.
The car's trunk was open, revealing a massive, black box inside. It was elegant and antique, inlaid with a magic array drawn with gold thread, which shimmered with golden light.
The workers were using magic to move large boxes, one by one. They would place one hand on a box and the other on the car-mounted box, then close their eyes and begin to chant spells.
Subsequently, the large box would transform into a streak of light and enter the black box mounted in the car.
The magic array on the box also became several times brighter.
Ikenouchi Maki understood; they were transporting goods.
But why did these large boxes for carrying goods look so familiar?
Suddenly feeling a tremor under her feet, Ikenouchi Maki looked down and saw that the box she was standing on had been moved.
Goodness, no wonder it looked familiar.
Ikenouchi Maki hastily jumped off the box, kicking up a cloud of dust as she landed. She quickly stood up and moved to another large box.
"Eh?"
"What's wrong?"
"This box suddenly feels lighter..."
"Hmm? You've been working too much overtime, having hallucinations?"
"Maybe... Damn, that scumbag boss doesn't even give overtime pay..."
Hearing the casual complaint from the worker nearby, who had just been responsible for lifting the box she had been standing on, and who didn't seem to take it seriously, Ikenouchi Maki finally breathed a sigh of relief.
More and more workers began carrying boxes over, even starting to form a queue, with people standing in line and boxes floating beside them.
Watching more and more people gather, Ikenouchi Maki pulled her small head back and began to sprint towards the less crowded side.
She remembered clearly that there was a door there. Last night, when she came, it was locked, and she couldn't get in. So now...
Sprinting away, Ikenouchi Maki rounded a corner and finally saw that door.
The door, which had been securely locked last night, was now wide open, as if practically inviting Ikenouchi Maki in with a "Come on in, boss."
Ikenouchi Maki rubbed her hands, just about to enter, when she saw a man dressed like a research scholar emerge from inside, carrying a small box.
Due to visibility issues, Ikenouchi Maki almost bumped into the man. Fortunately, she managed to brake at the last moment, then slowly retreated.
It was at this moment that she clearly saw the box in the scholar's arms. The box had no lid and was wide open, filled to the brim with magic crystals, easily more than ten of them.
Ikenouchi Maki's eyes widened, and she stood rooted to the spot, watching the man proceed. He walked over to one of the large boxes, identical to those just loaded onto the car, opened it, and poured all the magic crystals from his box inside.
Taking advantage of this, Ikenouchi Maki saw a faint purple glow emanating from inside through the slightly lifted gap in the large box.
magic crystals, all of them. These dozens, even hundreds, of large boxes, all of them were...
Didn't her father say that even when they produced this item using their family's secret arts, there would be side effects? Wasn't it a strategic material? Why were they mass-producing so much of it?
This made Ikenouchi Maki even more curious about the secrets underground. She wanted to know what exactly allowed Ye Tian to mass-produce these materials.
So, after the researcher returned, Ikenouchi Maki deliberately lightened her footsteps, tiptoeing behind the man.
With the enhancement of Ripple and Gale Sword Technique, her body could become quite light, allowing her to make no sound at all when she walked deliberately, and even temporarily mask her breathing.
Following the man down, Ikenouchi Maki discovered that behind the door was a staircase leading directly underground.
Clearly, there was an underground factory here.
She should have thought of it earlier... magic crystals appear stable, but they will explode if subjected to excessive external pressure. For safety, they would certainly be stored underground...
Before long, Ikenouchi Maki followed the man to the bottom. It was brightly lit, with strong spotlights illuminating this underground section. A long corridor led deeper, and next to it was a completely transparent glass room. The researcher simply pushed open the door and walked in, casually tossing the empty box onto a table.
There was no one else in the glass room, only that one person. Or rather... the entire underground section had only that one person.
The man slumped into a high-backed chair, letting out a long sigh, seemingly utterly demoralized.
Then, he simply closed his eyes, and before long, he even started snoring...
Ikenouchi Maki was dumbfounded, but it wasn't a bad thing.
Ikenouchi Maki looked around and realized this seemed to be an office. Several stacks of materials were on the table in front of the man.
At least this meant she could freely look at these things and gather information.
Ikenouchi Maki walked over, stood behind the man, poked her head out, and stretched her neck to look at the pile of documents on his desk.
"Feasibility Verification and Further Experimentation of magic crystal Manufacturing Method Introduction to the Body... Basic Knowledge of Bloodline Characteristic Magic and Family Secret Arts... Operation Method for Casting Bloodline Family Arts by Manipulating Magic Circuit..."
What was all this? Why was it all theoretical knowledge about individual human magic?!
Ikenouchi Maki silently recited the titles of these documents and the first page of the literature in her mind. Amidst her uncertainty and surprise, a very, very bad premonition suddenly arose in her heart.
No way...
Glancing at the man, who seemed to still be sleeping soundly, Ikenouchi Maki swallowed, forcefully suppressing the fear in her heart. She quietly pushed open the office door and went out, sprinting towards the deeper part.
Even in her panic, she still didn't forget to suppress her footsteps, though suppressing them was useless; there was no one else here, it was eerily quiet.
There weren't even any other workers.
Don't tell me... Don't tell me... Don't tell me...
After a short run, Ikenouchi Maki noticed a different light ahead, so she accelerated and rushed over.
That must be where the magic crystals were produced.
The facts proved it was. But it was also different from the scene she had imagined.
There was no high-tech workshop as she had imagined, no production model based on strong magic, and no large number of production personnel bustling about.
There was only a huge transparent tube flickering with fluorescent light, filled to the brim with an unknown liquid, and a person submerged inside.