Carmen rushed to the newspaper office early in the morning.
The Holy City is the place where thought and public opinion are most active. It has a huge number of newspapers, and the competition is extremely fierce. Of course, there are also many good and bad ones, ranging from orthodox church newspapers to gossip news.
The "Voice of the Righteous" newspaper that Carmen is employed by is a newspaper whose recent influence in the Holy City is at the middle level.
Just three years ago, this newspaper was on the verge of bankruptcy. It barely survived because of a lively and interesting serial novel by Sean, and it stood firm because of the sensation of another serialized novel related to Sean.
.
It is precisely because of this that Carmen was able to come here with Sean's letter of introduction and was successfully hired by the newspaper as a trainee reporter.
Now, he has gained some good reputation, which has allowed him to gain a firm foothold in the newspaper office. He is highly regarded by the president and editor-in-chief, Mr. Brown, and has also emerged as a prominent figure in the Holy City's journalistic circles.
But since a businessman who claimed to be from Sanuve broke into his apartment and had an in-depth exchange with him, Carmen suddenly became active and frequently appeared at certain salon gatherings.
After the brief morning meeting, Carmen did not leave the conference room. Mr. Brown, the president and editor-in-chief and also the owner of the newspaper, asked kindly:
"Carmen, is there any big news?"
The president always looks kindly on reporters who perform well, just like any other business company boss treats capable subordinates, because this will bring readers and attention to his newspaper, which determines the influence of a newspaper, and of course ultimately brings
What comes is considerable income.
If no one reads a newspaper, it is not as useful as a blank piece of paper.
"Mr. Brown, there is no big news. The so-called big news, I also want to encounter it every day." Carmen said with a smile, "However, I received news that recently, the police stations in the Holy City and Gyeonggi Province have received reports from residents.
These residents called the police and claimed that their children were missing."
Brown said: "Is this any wonder? People disappear accidentally in the Holy City every day, including child abductors. At least half of the reasons must be found from the parents. Life is not easy. Their parents put too much into their lives.
Focus your energy and time on making a living, and neglect to take care of it.
As for other poor areas in other provinces, many children are sold to human traffickers by their poor biological parents. Of course, some of the parents have bad habits, such as gambling, alcoholism and even opium smoking.
What is pitiful are those children. They may become slaves in a mine and never see the bright sunshine. They may also have their hands and feet broken by the leader of a begging group and become a prop to be tortured in order to arouse the sympathy of passers-by."
"Mr. Brown, your judgment is very correct, and your vision is also very sharp, and you have seen many ugly social phenomena clearly." Carmen first complimented, and then said, "But among the disappearance cases that I am concerned about, these disappearances
Most of them were born into families of company employees and small businessmen. Although most of these families were not
Very wealthy, but incomparable to those ordinary families. At least they can afford a nanny, not to mention that some of the families of the missing are very wealthy. As far as I know, in the Holy City alone, there were 20 people in the past three years.
There are so many missing children, but these numbers are very inconspicuous when compared to the entire missing population.
After all, unknown dead bodies are found in the sewers of the Holy City almost every day."
"You mean, human traffickers target specific classes? That's interesting." Brown pondered, "Why is that?"
Carmen shook his head: "It's just because it's so strange, so I think it's necessary to investigate."
Brown nodded: "I allow you to investigate, but you must pay attention to safety. Gangsters don't care whether you are a reporter or not. Carmen, as a senior reporter, I tell you, I would rather offend the Prime Minister than offend those villains.
Because they have absolutely no bottom line in their actions.”
After receiving permission, Carmen immediately left the newspaper office, jumped on a public carriage and went to the dock.
What he did not explain to the president was that among the twenty missing children, at least ten of the children's parents were reported by neighbors or relatives because they "didn't have time" to call the police.
This is really suspicious.
If a child runs away from home due to willfulness or other reasons, or is suspected of being abducted, the parents will be extremely anxious and wish to mobilize the whole city to help find the child.
Of course, the existence of individual oddities is not excluded.
But the existence of at least ten strange couples is too suspicious. These families are located in different police stations within and outside the city, so they are not very noticeable.
In the dock area, when passing by his uncle LeBron's employment agency, Carmen specially came down to take a look.
LeBron's headhunting business has now entered a stable period. He has already made a name for himself, and people come to try their luck every day. But the price offered by LeBron is getting lower and lower, and those high-quality talents who are willing to go to the south can go.
If you leave, you can't take away those who don't want to go.
He still hasn't spent more than half of the money Sean gave LeBron. Just like fishing, you can't always overfish in one place, so he sent all his employees out to dig people in some remote industrial cities.
, and he is permanently stationed in the Holy City.
After hearing Carmen's story, LeBron unexpectedly provided a clue:
"There is a good designer at Evans Shipyard named Hill. I have come into contact with him through others. He is in the prime of life and has a college degree, and his ancestors are all shipbuilders. This is what I
The kind of person I needed, so I wanted to poach him and offered him a salary that was twice what he was earning now, but he refused, even though he was only getting half salary now.
Dear nephew, you know that now these companies that build ordinary merchant ships are basically in a state of suspension, unless there are orders from the navy. Both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary said that they will not see a recovery in the shipbuilding industry in the short term. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said that he will
Tax cuts are given to the shipbuilding industry, but this tax cut is meaningless because there is no production at all, so where do we need to pay taxes?"
In Carmen's view, in less than three months, her uncle has become less "provincial". For example, the tone and demeanor of his speech seem to be knowledgeable about astronomy and geography, and he is caring in the middle.
National events and royal palace secrets.
"Why is that?" Carmen asked.
"Because his son was missing and was only two and a half years old." LeBron said, "This is their only son. The couple was extremely grieved and vowed to find their son. So he will never leave the Holy City.
, he has been waiting for news from the police station, and for this reason he even spent all his savings hiring a private detective."
The ship designer surnamed Hill was not on Carmen's interview list, so Carmen temporarily changed his plan.
Considering that it was normal working hours, Carmen went directly to Evans Shipyard.
Arriving at the ferry terminal, Carmen saw a group of soldiers and patrols blocking the way. A squadron of Guards cavalry escorted a member of the royal family passing by.
"A Xia Kingdom warship has arrived in the Holy City!"
"His Royal Highness Philip, following His Majesty's order, went to greet us!"
"The empire provides high-standard treatment to the brave naval officers and soldiers of the Xia people!"
Some citizens shouted loudly that this was the only foreign ship that had successfully arrived in the Holy City in the past five months. The Europeans were eager to work with foreign countries, especially the large maritime country Xia, to resist the ravages of the fish demon.
Carmen was also very curious and followed the citizens and various small traders towards the pier.
Of course, as a reporter, his curiosity is also part of his job. Obviously, the press in the Holy City had not received relevant information in advance.
A Xia Navy warship was docked at the dock. It was a three-story giant ship. Judging from the firing port, it had at least 120 artillery pieces of various calibers.
In the past, such foreign warships with powerful firepower would not have been allowed to penetrate into the mainland, even if it was a friendly visit.
This represents an official gesture from the Europa Empire.
It’s just that this warship looks a little too miserable:
The mainmast was missing, there were obvious signs of repairs on the port and starboard sides at the waterline, and it looked like there had been a terrible fire on the ship.
At least thirty wounded people were carried off the ship on stretchers, and the surviving crew members screamed loudly as if they were surviving a disaster. The total number of people together was not even half of the normal establishment.
One can imagine the hardships these Xia naval officers experienced at sea.
His Royal Highness Philip asked all his guards to dismount and line up, holding a gun salute to welcome these lucky people. Without any other red tape, His Highness Philip arranged for the Xia people to leave the dock immediately and check into the best hotel in the city.
This is big news. Carmen can imagine that the front pages of every newspaper tomorrow will be full of news about this Xia warship.
Leave the pier and walk east along the Osela River for more than 20 minutes. At an inlet is the Evans Shipyard.
This shipyard is an inconspicuous one among the dozen or so shipbuilding companies in the Holy City. In the good years when business was booming in the past, these shipyards have always had no worries about orders.
But now, just as Carmen imagined, there are no busy workers in the vast shipyard.
The shipyard owner thought that Carmen was here to interview him, and warmly welcomed Carmen's arrival, because the shipyard owners hoped to use reporters to attract the attention and sympathy of the government, but the ministers could only express some irrelevant opinions.
Carmen wisely did not reveal his true intention. He patiently spent a full hour with the over-enthusiastic boss, and then asked the engineer named Hill some professional technical questions.
"Hill? Well, this is a good man. His grandfather and father have worked here all their lives. He almost grew up here. I think he will be happy to serve you." Although the boss was surprised.
, but still went to find Hill personally.
Hill is thirty-five years old this year. He actually got married very young, but he and his wife only had a child the year before last.
But the child's disappearance dealt a huge blow to him. It made him look at least ten years older, and he even had gray hair prematurely because of too much anxiety and sadness.
Carmen made an excuse to send the others away, and then expressed his intention. Hill was quite surprised:
"My wife lost her baby after leaving a dental office. Little George's baby teeth were growing in too fast."