Starting from South America, speeding through the world

Chapter 93 I am completely illiterate
At 11 a.m., the sun was high in the sky, but it didn't bring much warmth.

The wind made the flags in the square flutter loudly.

This place is called the "Local Material Allocation Office".

The gatekeeper stood against the wall, a cigarette butt rolled from a piece of paper dangling from his mouth, one hand in his pocket.

Upon seeing Alexei and Zhou Yi arrive, he gave them a somewhat awkward salute.

"Lieutenant Colonel Lavrentiev is waiting for you on the second floor."

"Go up the stairs on the left, then turn right and go to the second room."

Alexei, with a serious expression, didn't say anything and pushed open the door to walk into the building.

Zhou Yi followed behind him and strolled up the stairs.

There was no one on the second floor.

At the end of the corridor was a chair with a military green cotton coat draped over it, indicating that one of the soldiers on duty had temporarily left.

Alexei stood in front of the office, silently reciting his planned opening remarks.

Don't make definitive statements; give the other party a way out.

But you can't be too soft, otherwise he'll think you're a secretary who's there to deliver a message.

Finally, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Please come in."

The door opened.

Lieutenant Colonel Lavrentiev sat behind his desk, dressed in uniform, with a polite smile on his face.

Alexei went inside.

Zhou Yi calmly followed, then plopped down on the sofa in the corner.

“Igor Sergeyevich’s distinguished guest, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

As the lieutenant colonel spoke, he stood up and extended his hand, his tone carrying a tone that was hard to decipher—whether it was a welcome or a sarcastic remark.

“Call me Alexei.” Alexei grasped his hand. “Thank you for taking the time.”

"It's for work purposes, not a bother." The lieutenant colonel smiled and sat back down in his chair.

"This place used to be the Second Logistics Section of the Air Force."

"Later, the organization was disbanded and it was nominally placed under the Reserve Command."

"There's nothing urgent to do right now, so—"

Seeing that the lieutenant colonel had no intention of getting to the point, Alexei coughed, interrupting his reminiscence:
"We came here this time to find out where several batches of supplies went."

"They were supposed to be sent to a temporary warehouse, but there was a discrepancy in the shipping records."

"Deviation?" The lieutenant colonel raised an eyebrow. "You mean—the goods didn't arrive?"

“It’s not that we didn’t arrive,” Alexei said, trying to maintain his composure, “we went to a place we shouldn’t have gone first, and then we ‘came back’.”

“Ah,” the lieutenant colonel nodded, “isn’t that good? We finally arrived.”

Alexei frowned but didn't respond.

He opened his bag, pulled out several photocopies of dispatch reports, and spread them out on the table:

"The dispatch order for this batch of vehicles is incorrect. According to the original allocation documents, it should have departed from Simferopol, passed through Melitopol, and gone directly to the front-line supply recovery center. But it was en route—"

“It went in circles,” the lieutenant colonel finished for him. “I’ve seen the list.”

"Since you know, then—"

“Then I’m even more curious,” the lieutenant colonel interrupted him, “what do you want to ‘learn’ from me?”

Alexei didn't respond immediately.

The lieutenant colonel stared at him, his smile deepening slightly.

"What I mean is, if you already have the transportation route and the dispatch list, then why are you here and asking me to cooperate?"

Alexei felt as if he had suddenly stood on a podium, with only half a page of his speech in his hand, but the other party had already guessed what would happen next.

He tried to steady things: "I just wanted to confirm whether there were any 'subjective adjustments' in the scheduling process."

“We inspected three batches of goods, and two of them were diverted to your location.”

“The word ‘subjective’ is not appropriate to appear in military documents.”

The lieutenant colonel spoke gently, as if he were reminding the student that he had written the sentence incorrectly.

Alexei was somewhat at a loss.

He subconsciously turned his head to glance at Zhou Yi. The other man was sitting on the sofa, smoking again, as if he wasn't listening to them at all.

The lieutenant colonel picked up the few pages of documents, flipped through them, and said, "These were printed by the coordination group, right?"

"The font size and layout are all from the new templates issued last month."

"Is there a technician named Vasilyev?"

Alexei was taken aback. "Yes."

“I recognize the cardboard he used.”

"so what?"

“So I know which office this set of materials came from.” The lieutenant colonel put down the documents. “If I were you, I would bring better evidence.”

The atmosphere gradually became tense.

Alexei straightened up and lowered his voice: "I'm not here to discuss paper jams with you."

"I'm here to find out why you accepted this batch of supplies without explanation and then re-assigned them."

"I was just following orders from my superiors." The lieutenant colonel's smile faded. "The deployment wasn't decided by me alone."

“I just hope you can cooperate,” Alexei said, barely suppressing his anger.

"Oh? Cooperate?" The lieutenant colonel leaned back in his chair. "Of course I'll cooperate."

"But next time you come to inspect my place, you'd better bring official authorization, not just a stamped photocopy."

Alexei's face flushed red. "Are you humiliating me?"

"On the contrary, I have great respect for you."

The lieutenant colonel straightened his back, his expression becoming more serious.

"But to be fair, you have to point out some real problems first, even if it's just a date error or a mismatch in serial number."

"Otherwise, I really don't know where to begin with an internal investigation."

Alexei stood there, at a loss.

The other party's handling of the situation was impeccable, and their attitude was almost sincere, leaving him unable to find a point of attack for his anger.

Just then, Zhou Yi suddenly sighed softly.

Alexei's eyelids twitched, and he suddenly realized that he had been silent for too long, like an intern left standing there.

"Let's go," he said through gritted teeth, turning and walking outside.

The two walked out of the building's entrance.

Standing in the square, Alexei was still rummaging through his bag, looking for a cigarette.

He held the cigarette pack between his fingers, but didn't take it out for a long time.

Zhou Yi handed him one and lit it for him.

Then, he said, "Recite those station names you just mentioned."

"What do you mean?"

"The supply route you mentioned before," Zhou Yi said calmly.

“Meltopol, Khorrev, Stavrovo, Tikholesk, Lubashny, and Kamine,” Alexei rattled off, then asked again, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Yi didn't answer, but simply nodded.

Kammene.

That's quite a coincidence.

With a one-in-three chance, I actually stumbled upon it.

But thinking about it, it's not surprising, since there are only a few railway stations nearby.

Whether it's official or smuggled, it will eventually be used.

Alexei was a little confused, but he still handed over the report. "Here, take a look. It's on the first page."

Zhou Yi waved his hand, "I can't read."

Alexei was stunned.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked hesitantly.

"of course not."

(End of this chapter)