During the time spent waiting at the Lungman Guard Department, Shirou did not remain idle either. After all, when everyone around him was busy, it felt a little awkward for him alone to have nothing to do.
If it were the Penguin Logistics crew here instead, they would probably be casually eating apple pie while hanging around.
Speaking of Penguin Logistics, after dealing with the people earlier, the group had dumped everything onto the office and the Lungman Guard Department to handle afterward, claiming that they only provided manpower and were not responsible for cleanup.
Originally, they had planned to visit Shirou before returning to the dorms and lecture him a bit about how wonderful Penguin Logistics was. But when they turned around, they discovered he had already returned to the Lungman Guard Department.
Fine then. Judging from the situation, things seemed pretty serious this time, so they would temporarily let the Lungman Guard Department off the hook.
Exusiai silently put away her specially-made explosives, along with the urge to blow up the Lungman Guard Department restroom pipes.
Through the text messages alone, Shirou could feel exactly what everyone was worried about. Still, all he could say was that they were overthinking things.
It was not as if he had never tried explaining it before. However, everyone was still self-aware enough to know that Shirou had good compatibility with Lungman Guard Department.
After all, although Shirou could be somewhat sly underneath, overall he was far too upright.
Besides, the four of them already matched the colors red, blue, yellow, and green closely enough to form a colorful sentai team… and that happened to be one of the few television programs Shirou would actually watch together with everyone.
On top of that, they had also heard that Officer Chen's previous partner in the Lungman Guard Department had red hair…
Overall, danger!
Once they returned, they absolutely had to properly persuade their boss not to let Shirou deepen his relationship with the Lungman Guard Department any further! At this rate, they were going to lose Mama Shirou!
After all, the last time he went away for a week, the entire dorm had nearly turned into a garbage dump!
They did not want to experience those days of worrying about what to eat for all three meals again!
With thoughts like that in mind, the group continuously tagged Shirou in the group chat while sending all sorts of incomprehensible messages.
Unfortunately, Shirou never saw the later messages they sent. Chen had dragged him away, saying they needed to conduct a tactical discussion before the operation. At a time like this, anyone caught using a phone would receive Chen's death glare.
Not only Shirou, even Swire was treated the same way. As for Hoshiguma, she was already very self-aware in this regard, so there were no problems there.
"Just find a seat and sit down. It is only the few of us here."
Inside the small meeting room, Chen pointed at an empty seat as soon as she saw Shirou walk in.
After hearing her words, Shirou briefly scanned the room. Aside from Officer Chen, Hoshiguma and Swire were also present. They really were all familiar faces.
"Have you found anything already?"
Pulling over a chair and sitting down, Shirou asked about the situation.
While using his phone earlier, he had not seen any messages from Yith. However, he could not rule out the possibility that Yith had contacted Officer Chen directly.
"We have not found evidence of their crimes yet. However, Swire has already used her connections to confirm that they really were transporting Infected out of the city. That matches the information provided by your informant."
Chen first shook her head before explaining why they were organizing this tactical discussion.
"It is all here."
The moment Chen finished speaking, Swire operated her phone and connected it to the meeting room screen.
This was mainly for Shirou and Hoshiguma to see. She and Chen had already briefly reviewed everything beforehand.
As for the source of the information, she was very confident in it.
"This is…"
Looking at the photos and videos displayed on the screen, Shirou frowned.
There was nothing wrong with the photos themselves. The main issue was that he recognized the person in the video files.
It was someone from the Lungman Guard Department. If Shirou remembered correctly, the man should have been responsible for Lungmen's import and export checkpoints.
"So he took bribes, huh? I did not expect you to find him and get him to talk so quickly, Missy."
After briefly scanning the contents on the screen, Hoshiguma quickly figured out where the evidence had come from.
"It was suggested by Yith from Penguin Logistics. He said that if prohibited goods were being transported in and out, then there had to be an agreement with the people managing the checkpoints."
Swire did not take all the credit for herself. Rather, she seemed to be in a bad mood because someone on their own side had turned out to be compromised.
At this moment, Shirou no longer saw the confident look she had earlier.
"The man cooperated very willingly. He might genuinely not have known what those people were doing… but negligence of duty is still negligence of duty, so he has already been detained."
Seeing Swire's depressed mood, Chen surprisingly offered some comforting words.
The sight left both Hoshiguma and Shirou staring at her in shock.
"Next, let us go over the operation plan. Once Penguin Logistics obtains the key evidence, we will move out immediately."
Seemingly noticing the strange looks from the three of them, Chen slapped the table in front of her and forcefully changed the topic.
Sure, she might usually seem cold and unapproachable, but she still occasionally cared about the people around her, alright? Why were they looking at her like she was some kind of rare animal?
Keeping a stiff expression on her face, Chen switched the photos and videos on the screen to a map of Lungmen's city district and enlarged one particular area.
At the center of it stood the Iron Bull Logistics building.
"Is it just us?"
After noticing that there really seemed to be only four people present, Shirou asked.
Under normal circumstances, the captains of the various squads should have been here too. So why were there only the four of them this time?
Earlier, Shirou had thought he simply arrived early and the others had not yet shown up.
But judging from the fact that Chen was already about to begin the tactical discussion, it really did seem like there were only four people.
"Everyone else is outside! This is just a simple preliminary discussion first."
Hearing Shirou's question, Hoshiguma explained.
"Hoshiguma is right. Right now, we only need to discuss the rough outline first. Char Siu Cat and Hoshiguma both have their own squads. As for you, Shirou… can you lead the sniper squad?"
After nodding in agreement with Hoshiguma's words, Chen turned to Shirou and asked.
The main reason she asked was because, among the people here, Shirou seemed to be the only one who could spare the attention necessary to lead the sniper squad.
She and Char Siu Cat probably could do it as well, but having Shirou take charge would make things much more convenient.
After all, in the hearts of anyone who used bows, crossbows, or guns, Shirou already occupied an unshakable position.
Shirou: "?"
A giant question mark practically appeared above Shirou's head after hearing Chen's words.
"Officer Chen, calm down. Me leading a squad is impossible, alright? I do not have any related experience."
At this moment, Shirou believed that Chen's mental condition might have suffered due to several days of intense overtime work combined with the onset of Oripathy, which was why she proposed such an outrageous suggestion.
He genuinely had no experience!
And ordinary people obviously could not keep up with his movements. In the end, it would probably turn into the same situation as the operations over the past two days, where he fought alone at the front while everyone else cleaned up behind him.
If that happened, it would honestly be better for him to operate independently. At least then he could guarantee his own support speed.
"I was only making a suggestion. Since it will not work, then Swire will continue commanding them instead. As for you, Shirou… standby on top of this building and provide sniper support."
Seeing how firmly Shirou rejected the idea, Chen had no intention of trying to persuade him further.
There would be plenty of time in the future. She could let Shirou slowly get used to these things.
"Not joining the assault team?"
After successfully convincing Chen, Shirou let out a slight sigh of relief. After all, leading a squad meant taking responsibility for the lives and safety of those people, which was quite stressful.
However, when he heard that Chen intended to station him alone atop a building five hundred meters away as sniper support, he still felt somewhat puzzled.
If he joined the assault team directly, operations would obviously become much more flexible. That much had already been proven through the operations he had participated in recently.
By now, he had fully accepted his role in combat.
He was basically an all-purpose solution. Whenever an emergency situation occurred, people could simply throw him at the problem and he would solve most of it.
Yet now, Chen only intended for him to serve as ranged support. In that case, the help he could provide would be reduced significantly.
"I am worried that the enemy might have backup plans in place. If you stay outside, it will also be easier for you to deal with those situations."
Chen also knew that having Shirou join the assault directly would be more convenient. However, she had to consider the possibility that these people had already planted additional contingencies throughout Lungmen's city district, suburbs, and slums.
After all, there had already been previous incidents involving large numbers of drones and buried Originium explosives.
So she had no choice but to take those factors into consideration first.
If Shirou remained outside, then with his abilities he would be able to handle those troublesome situations effectively as well.
"And for the assault itself, having us there is enough. We are still professionals when it comes to this kind of work."
Worried that Shirou might overthink things, Swire added that sentence.
"I understand."
After hearing everyone's reasoning, Shirou found it very reasonable.
If problems arose elsewhere, he really could provide support very quickly. It had to be said that they had thought this through quite thoroughly.
Unlike him, whose mind only focused on charging straight in and overturning the enemy's entire operation through brute force.
"Good. I will also give you the authority to mobilize personnel. If something really happens, you can command those people to help handle it."
After seeing Shirou agree to it, Chen continued speaking.
"Mm, as for the slums, I will leave them to Rhodes Island and Miss Lin Yuhsia?"
Shirou did not refuse. He simply added another sentence after thinking about the relationship between the Lungman Guard Department and the slums.
"That is fine. I already informed them beforehand."
Naturally, Chen had already considered this as well. If something really happened in the slums, it would indeed be difficult for the Lungman Guard Department to intervene directly, so she had already sent messages and informed the relevant people earlier.
After that, the discussion among the three became extremely lively, leaving Shirou with no room to participate.
Which was perfectly normal. He had never studied these kinds of things in the first place. Almost all of his combat methods relied on overwhelming force.
If it were a simplified operation plan, perhaps he could still understand it. But all these coordinates, positions, ambush points, and attack methods… he genuinely could not follow any of it.
The others also seemed to realize this problem, so they let Shirou leave first. They said he should go check on Yith's progress instead. It would apparently be somewhat inappropriate for them to personally pressure him for updates.
"Mm… then I will head over there first and check the situation? Penguin Logistics is currently returning from the slums anyway, so I can ask them to give me a ride."
After being kicked out of the meeting room, Shirou took out his phone and suddenly thought of something. He stuck his head back into the meeting room and asked.
Having someone else specifically drive him there seemed like too much trouble for others. Since Penguin Logistics was already on their way back, he could just trouble them instead.
"Handle it however you see fit," Chen said.
"You can bring them along too. This operation was commissioned to Penguin Logistics anyway. Having more people helping is not a bad thing."
Swire added from the side. She could be said to welcome outside assistance wholeheartedly. And after hearing Swire's words, Chen did not say anything, clearly indicating her tacit approval.
After all, their suggestion of assigning personnel to Shirou had already been rejected. Under these circumstances, it was better for him to have at least some support.
Besides, Shirou was originally part of Penguin Logistics anyway, so there should not be any issues with him operating together with them.
"Understood."
After understanding Swire's intentions, Shirou made a gesture indicating there was no problem and left, conveniently closing the meeting room door behind him.
While walking down the hallway, Shirou took out his phone and called Sora.
Explaining things to the other two would have been more troublesome, and Texas was driving right now, so Sora was the most suitable person to contact.
"Shirou?"
The call was quickly answered, and Sora's voice came through the phone.
"It is me. Where are you guys right now?"
"We just entered the city district. What is wrong?"
"It is just…"
After confirming their location, Shirou roughly explained the situation on his side and asked them to take him along for the trip.
"The others said there is no problem. We are heading over right now. We should arrive in a few minutes."
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Sora immediately asked her teammates for their opinions and received unanimous agreement.
A rare chance to act together with Shirou! A request personally made by Shirou! And it was also an Lungman Guard Department commission! Most importantly of all, the there were competitors!
With all those buffs stacked together, the group's fighting spirit instantly reached its peak.
Especially for a certain someone who had been thinking earlier about using explosives to blow up the Lungman Guard Department. She was even more enthusiastic than the others.
After all, cooperating with the Lungman Guard Department meant ammunition expenses could be reimbursed! How could she possibly miss an opportunity like that?
"Alright. I am already waiting at the entrance."
After hearing Sora's response, Shirou informed them of his current location. Not long afterward, he saw a vehicle bearing the Penguin Logistics logo charging toward him at extremely high speed.
This time, they were operating as official partners of the Lungman Guard Department, so their driving speed was slightly faster than usual.
"Let's go, let's go! I did not expect this year's Remembrance day to be this lively!"
The moment the vehicle stopped, Shirou saw Croissant stick her head out and wave toward him enthusiastically, clearly full of anticipation for the operation.
"…"
How should he put it?
It really did fit Penguin Logistics' love for excitement and causing trouble.
Although maintaining this kind of mindset under circumstances like these…
Well, he probably needed to get used to Penguin Logistics' style of doing things already.
After all, when things truly became serious, the group would still face them properly. So he was not particularly worried.