Chapter 806 You and Castells are competing in terms of production capacity?
Betty felt something touching her hand, looked down, and realized she had been lost in thought.
"I'm so sorry!"
She quickly took the money bag, took out a Leo coin, and then handed the money bag back.
Nora shook her head: "These are all yours."
"A large portion of fries and fried fish together makes a Leo."
"And her share too."
Nora didn't say who it was, but Betty understood—she was referring to Nora.
Since Nora didn't have a job, she naturally couldn't earn any money from Leo; she never paid for the fries she got from Betty.
This made Betty panic—she knew?!
"That doesn't count, Nora and I are friends!"
"Friends shouldn't just take things from you."
"These are just some unsold fries, consider it a gift for friends!" Betty said somewhat flusteredly. She didn't know why she was flustered, as if her best friend's parents had suddenly come over when she was a child, and she didn't know how to face them.
It seemed a bit strange to say that Nora was Nora's mother, but seeing Nora's always serious expression, Betty couldn't help but feel a little flustered.
Nora blinked, and without even checking, she laboriously put the money bag away, then turned and jumped back into the self-propelled artillery.
With the roar of the engine, the self-propelled artillery left the street. Betty then came to her senses, wiped her hands on her apron, and turned to throw Leo into the cash box on the counter, but then suddenly stopped.
She held up the Leo coin to look at it, then put it in her skirt pocket.
After leaving the fish and chips stand, Nora's self-propelled artillery continued to travel through the streets of Bloodharbor.
Self-propelled artillery is quite heavy. Although the weight is distributed by the many wheels, it still reduces the lifespan of paved roads when traveling on them.
Therefore, Nora needs to pay additional road maintenance fees when driving on the street.
Hughes simply wrote her a note waiving the expense, and Isabella ended up paying for it instead.
After all, Nora went to support her.
Nora didn't stand on ceremony and drove her self-propelled gun around Bloodharbor for a long time.
She had never really enjoyed shopping before, and she was always quiet and reserved before becoming a superhuman. Rather than wasting time wandering the streets, she preferred to read more books.
But today, she spent the entire day shopping.
Commercial district, dock area, industrial area. If it weren't for the fact that self-propelled artillery couldn't be driven upstairs, Nora would have even considered driving it to the customs building to take a look.
Hughes did not stop them; instead, he instructed the Secret Order to send more people to maintain order.
This was Nora's first time visiting Bloodharbor in person.
She wasn't unfamiliar with Bloodharbor; Hughes would regularly send people to take both her and Chloe to various places.
She had contributed to the construction of Castel, so naturally she should take a good look at it.
Being held and seen by someone is a different feeling from seeing it in person.
Hughes didn't quite understand these differences. He had a healthy body and found it difficult to comprehend the pain of losing a limb, but he chose to respect it.
For some narrow sections of the road, the Secret Order's night watchmen would measure the distance in advance and inform Nora whether it was possible to pass.
After circling around Blood Harbor again and again, it was getting late.
Nora stopped at the dock, watching the sunset lengthen her shadow, facing the sea quietly, motionless.
Footsteps approached, Nora's armor plating was pushed aside, and the fuel tank cap was opened.
Hughes carried a bucket of contaminants and poured it into Nora's fuel tank with a gurgling sound.
"Why are you here?"
"I saw you've been sitting here for a while, and I was worried that your car had run out of gas and you were too embarrassed to say so, so I came to fill it up for you."
"What you added wasn't oil, it was pollution, and I didn't break down."
"More or less."
After Hughes finished pouring, he put the fuel tank cap back on and flipped himself onto Nora's turret.
"How about it, Blood Harbor is pretty good, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's just a little unfamiliar."
"Then you should explore more. You shed blood here, so this is your home."
There was no response from Nora's speaker. Hughes leaned on his armor plate, looking at the distant sunset.
"Richard is supposedly researching humanoid machines, similar to cyborg priests, but the technology isn't quite mature yet, so they'll probably be quite large. They might even end up making something like a Gundam."
What is Gundam?
"It's like... giving your self-propelled artillery legs and arms, so you can pick up the flail and start hitting people again."
"The flail is not as useful as a cannon."
Hughes glanced at Nora's armor plates with some surprise. His impression of Nora was that she was old-fashioned and conservative. She had actually abandoned her sacred yoke and become a fan of cannons.
It seems that artillery is indeed very useful.
"But Gundam feels like something's missing if it doesn't use melee weapons. How about I get you an electronic flail, the kind that can automatically play your church's sacred texts, so you can preach on the battlefield."
Nora didn't reply, but Hughes had a feeling that she might be interested in him.
"How does it feel to be back on the battlefield?"
"Very good. Although it no longer has its original body, this one is faster, stronger, and easier to use."
"Do you still want to switch back to your original body?"
"think."
"It won't be long. This self-propelled artillery is just a temporary prototype. Once the technology is mature, we will have both a body that is closer to the original and a more powerful steel structure."
Hughes looked at the busy workers and the huge gantry crane on the dock and smiled: "By then, both you and Chloe will have your own bodies. That's the significance of technological progress. Maybe in the future, people will voluntarily replace their hands and feet with prosthetics."
Nora thought about it and found it hard to understand. Replace her original body with a prosthetic? Only a madman from the Mechanical Sanctuary would want that, right?
Hughes jumped off the turret, turned and walked toward the customs building in the distance, where his office was located.
"Alright, I'm not talking to you anymore. It would be troublesome if Nini saw this. You can play in Blood Harbor for a few days first. If anything happens, come and talk to me."
"I have to go back to the front lines. Although two of the steam tanks belonging to the Vatican have been destroyed, there are still many left. I heard they have been transporting them to the front lines."
"Don't worry about that. Ignati isn't the only one who went to the front lines. Your [Buried Ones] companions are very interested in self-propelled artillery. Now you'll have to take turns going to the front lines."
"As for quantity," Hughes said with a confident smile, "If the Vatican can transport tanks to the front lines, why can't we? When it comes to production capacity, Castells has never been afraid of anyone."
Hughes waved to the workers on the gantry crane: "Open the tarpaulin!"
Nora looked toward the dock, where the workers, having received orders, tore down the tarpaulins covering the cargo.
On cargo ships, at docks, and on newly secured trains, rows of brand-new self-propelled artillery pieces revealed their cold muzzles.
(End of this chapter)
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