Enforcer Manual
Chapter 479: Always Go Home to Visit_1

Chapter 479: Chapter 479: Always Go Home to Visit_1

For Song Lan, visiting the orphanage wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, but after learning the information that Lu Xiang had uncovered, everything suddenly became elusive and confusing.

Before setting out, they had thoroughly prepared themselves mentally.

That afternoon, the sound of the hovering car breaking the tranquility of the old street also caught the attention of some gang members with Mohican hairstyles and exaggerated attire. They held iron rods and took a distant glance in the direction of the descending vehicle, but they relaxed their vigilance when they saw Song Lan getting out of the car.

The orphanage remained the same as Song Lan remembered, unchanged for many years. Most of this block was an old residential area, primarily inhabited by retired middle-aged and elderly people living a slow-paced life.

From the other side of the door came the lively sound of a group of children running back and forth in the courtyard, engrossed in a cops-and-robbers game.

They carried plastic guns and made shooting noises with their mouths, the bustling atmosphere easing the tension considerably.

Lu Xiang believed an answer was hidden behind this door.

Human memories can be fabricated, but the places where one has lived leave corresponding marks.

All their doubts were answered the moment they entered—the orphanage director, sitting in the yard soaking up the Sun, saw Song Lan and immediately came over with a beaming smile.

His attire was indistinguishable from that of a regular old man, with cheap clothes that revealed nothing of the grandeur associated with the "Godfather."

The director was thin and looked excessively aged.

In the year 2166, being 80 years old wasn’t considered very old. With groundbreaking advancements in biomedicine, people had conquered numerous medical challenges and developed a range of technologies to increase cellular vitality. In this era, it was common for people to live beyond 160 years.

Of course, the secret of longevity was tightly held in the hands of corporations and families.

It wasn’t hard to see that the director hadn’t enjoyed the benefits of technological progress.

"How come you thought of visiting this old man?"

The director seemed to be in good spirits as he briskly approached them. He examined Lu Xiang carefully for a long time and then repeatedly said "good," his cloudy eyes suddenly filling with light, "Is this your wife?"

For a moment, Song Lan felt as if he was experiencing the sensation of returning home for the holidays.

He remembered when his cousin first brought his girlfriend home for the New Year, and the elders beamed just like now, treating her as if she were already the future daughter-in-law.

Such emotion did not seem feigned.

However, the matter of their relationship still needed to be clarified, "She’s my girlfriend."

"No, she’s the wife."

Lu Xiang voiced her objection, affectionately hooking her arm through Song Lan’s and saying, "We are seriously considering getting married, so we wanted to come and visit you especially."

"That’s wonderful, come on in."

Every word from Lu Xiang touched the director’s heart. She never went into battle unprepared, having thoroughly studied the proprieties of visiting relatives before deciding to visit the orphanage and even preparing appropriate gifts tailored to the orphanage’s needs.

Her research indicated that the orphanage was established in an individual’s name, and the volunteers helping out were retirees with nothing else to occupy their time. The district government had never provided financial support to them.

In other words, not only was this an unprofitable endeavor, but it was actually a "losing business."

This was evident from the notices posted by the orphanage, which stated that they would receive homeless children for free, with the orphanage bearing all the costs of the children’s food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Based on the above information, Lu Xiang drew two conclusions.

The first was that the director was an uncommonly good person in the year 2166; the second was that he was trying to accomplish some unmentionable secret goal through this means.

She decided to trust her intuition and believed that the former seemed more consistent with the first impression the old man had given them.

So she returned to the hovercar and took out the gifts she had prepared—primarily holographic toys for the children. These devices weren’t expensive; with just a pair of glasses, they could immerse themselves more fully in various role-playing games.

When she bought them, the shopkeeper even gave her a 20 percent discount because it was a bulk purchase.

When the children got their hands on these devices they had never seen before, they happily gathered around Lu Xiang. They had seen her in the electronic newspapers and knew she was a very incredible person.

Some children also wanted to experience what it felt like to ride in a hovercar. In the past, they could only stay in the yard, looking up at the hovercars that occasionally whisked across the sky. Though they were in the same city, it felt as though they were worlds apart.

Lu Xiang took the children to the front gate of the courtyard, and Song Lan got the chance to be alone with the director.

"Among these children, you are the most promising,"

the director said as he led him into the attic.

In the moment he crossed the threshold, he finally noticed something unusual about the orphanage—his Spiritual Energy sensed a room in the basement filled with firearms.

They were stored in black boxes, and aside from the standard firearms of gangs, there were also hand grenades, rocket launchers, and other anti-materiel weapons.

These arms were enough to equip a large-scale gang.

The director didn’t intend to disguise any of it. After entering the door, he directly took him into the elevator, all the way down to the basement.

He used an access card to open the "armory" door, showing Song Lan the equipment in the basement and sighed, "Look at these. Every time they bring stuff like this, saying it’s for my self-defense, what does an old man like me need with these things!"

The director’s attitude was just like that of an elder giving red envelopes to children during holidays, "It just so happens that you work in the Law Enforcers department. If your department needs them, just take them. I’ve been reading the newspaper lately and it mentioned that your recent financial situation isn’t too good. If I could help, even just a little, I would."

Except what he was offering was a warehouse full of arms.

If these weapons fell into the hands of a certain gang, they would be laughing even in their dreams.

"No need, no need,"

Song Lan hastily waved his hands, "The financial issues have been resolved. They do have a point; the city isn’t safe, so it’s better to keep some things for self-defense."

"You don’t want them?" The old man, faced with refusal, showed some disappointment in his eyes, "I’ve checked the data; these are all good equipment."

His tone was like that of an elder who, during the New Year, keeps urging you to eat more fruit.

Song Lan couldn’t help but marvel at how the ways of gift-giving had changed in the year 2166.

He casually fabricated a new regulation, "Really, no need. Our current equipment is sufficient, and according to the department’s regulations, we can’t accept unregistered equipment."

"Good,"

the old man finally gave up on persuading him, but then he quickly steered the conversation to another classic topic, "By the way, when do you plan on getting married? I’m still waiting for your wedding banquet."