Watching Amy across from him, her smile frozen on her face as she instinctively touched her chest, Leon couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth, his toes curling up instinctively.
To prevent any more fatal remarks from emanating from the room, pushing the current awkwardness to new heights, Leon quickly stood up, opened the door to his room, and proactively extended an invitation,
"Why don't... we talk in my room?"
Hearing Leon's invitation, the doll-faced young girl, her face slightly red, quickly nodded, then picked up her bag again and followed Leon into his room.
Once Leon shut the door with a bang, keeping terms like "papaya soup," "size," and "sister-in-law" outside, Amy finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Leon a bit sheepishly,
"Mr. Lyon, the reason I came over this time is actually to invite you to our house. You saved me from the Maserney family, so you're a great benefactor to my family. My parents want to meet you!
If it weren't for my mom not being well yet and my dad needing to take care of her while maintaining the company, they would have come with me this time. Please believe us, we genuinely just want to thank you properly!"
Seeing Amy looking at him unblinkingly, her sincerity almost palpable, Leon deliberated for a moment before refusing,
"I'm not necessarily refusing the invitation, but recently, I've been so busy with work. I can't even guarantee I'll be home at night. Even after having a few words with Anna, I still have to rush back to the bureau. I'm really out of time lately."
"Alright... sorry for bothering you."
Though sincerely inviting him, the doll-faced girl found herself refused once more. Her head drooped slightly, and a deep disappointment flickered in her eyes.
After clenching her fists a bit reluctantly, she didn't persist in attempting to change Leon's mind but looked up again, her face full of hope, as she asked,
"Mr. Lyon, is there anything in your work that I could help with? Ah! Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to push you to come to my house as a guest.
It's just... since you're too busy recently to accept our family's thanks in person, at the very least, let me do something within my power to give us a chance to express our gratitude to you. Would that be alright?"
Seeing the young girl with big, sincere eyes set her stance so low, Leon couldn't quite resist her goodwill. After hesitating, he spoke,
"Recently, our bureau has been keeping an eye on the rebels, but their trails have been incredibly hard to track. Even the Secret Investigation Bureau within the police department has no leads. If your family has any means, could you help by paying attention to them?
Hmm... But remember not to do anything else, just keep an eye out. Those rebels have some things you can't contend with."
After hearing Leon's words, Amy blinked, seemingly recalling something.
After a slight hesitation, she said softly,
"When it comes to rebels... our family's department store used to have some connections with them. If you want to find them, Mr. Lyon, maybe we could really be of help."
Ah, this... an unexpected gain?
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Leon, who was originally planning to send her off soon, took a deep breath, then invited her to sit on the room's only bed. Sitting on a small stool across from her, he asked earnestly,
"Miss Amy, could you explain a bit more detailedly?"
Looking at Leon sitting opposite with a serious expression and bright, focused eyes watching her intently, the doll-faced young girl suddenly felt a bit nervous, unsure of where to place her hands and feet.
Mr. Lyon... truly a capable and reliable man.
Watching the steady composure and focused gaze of Leon before her, even though his clothes were rather cheap, Amy couldn't help but admire his extraordinary aura. She slightly bit her lower lip, then began to speak,
"Mr. Lyon, our family owns the largest department store in the Capital City, you probably know that?"
"Yes, and with the lowest prices."
"That's right, and aside from being the largest, offering the lowest prices, and having the most stores, our department store also has the most comprehensive range of goods.
My dad, as vice-chairman of the chamber of commerce, has good connections with the Lower House and several departments, securing nearly all categories of sales licenses. Before guns were completely banned in the Capital City, he even sold some small firearms, with significantly reduced range, in limited quantities..."
After briefly explaining the characteristics of Charl Department Store, the doll-faced girl tried her best to recall,
"Just before the full implementation of the gun-ban edict in the Capital City, someone, taking advantage of our department store's merchandise not yet being removed, purchased nearly a hundred civilian nail guns from a dozen of our stores in batches.
My dad feared these people might cause trouble with these weapons, impacting Charl Department Store, so he dug a little further, and he was shocked to find that besides these firearms, those suspicious people had been doing business with our family for many years."
Many years of business?
Leon frowned and asked,
"Are these people the rebels? Do you mean they've bought a lot of nail guns from your Charl Department Store?"
"Not many nail guns, actually."
Amy shook her head in response,
"My dad is very cautious. Even though the profit from selling firearms was decent, he never stocked them in large quantities, only keeping a few counters in stores with very stable conditions.
What these people really bought in large quantities were various ordinary supplies, like seasonal clothing, oil, salt, sugar, alcohol, blankets, food, and utensils.
And it's not just a one-time purchase, but a long-term, continuous, and covert buying habit, twice a year for clothing, once every one to two months for oils, salts, etc., and large batches of fresh ingredients weekly."
After finishing the discovery made by Old Charl, Amy, sitting on the bed, spoke to Leon, who seemed to be deep in thought across from her,
"To this day, those people haven't stopped buying. My dad calculated the amount of these supplies, realizing they could sustain seven to eight hundred people living normally, and during the busiest half-year, it even reached the sustenance level for a thousand people.
The frightening part is, this small thousand-strong group has never caught any attention. If they hadn't rushed to buy a large number of nail guns before the gun-ban, alerting my dad, probably no one would have discovered their existence.
And after noticing the anomaly, although my dad didn't make deep contact with them due to being cautious, after comparing the news about rebel activities and the changes in their supply consumption, he still hypothesized about the identity of this group."