Chapter 968: Probing Clash
Edge Shoveling and a group of players left the camp, grabbed their gear, and boarded the truck parked at the camp's entrance, heading toward the north side of Yavente City.
Although Big Eyes, who distributed chocolate, had left, the charming tales of Bootlickers and that infinitely tall figure remained in the hearts of the little girls.
Eventually, the story reached the ears of some fun-loving people, and they were so delighted by the discovery that they started doing charity work, leading to several chocolate supply points, originally meant for replenishing the frontline soldiers' sugar and calorie needs, selling out.
The tale of the Bootlickers also gradually morphed with their encouragement…
It so happened that Old Na and Gnome King Riches had just returned from their patrol.
As soon as they got off the truck, they were surrounded by a group of adorable children.
Gnome King Riches, with a cheeky grin, was just about to greet them, but was caught off guard by what they said.
"Scraps! Candy!"
"Scraps, scraps, hand over the candy!"
"Scraps, scraps!"
Listening to their imperfect mandarin, Gnome King Riches almost choked.
"Ahem, which dog coin… no, who taught you this?"
A few twelve-year-old girls exchanged glances, and the slightly younger girl said softly.
"Uncle Mosquito told us not to mention his name!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the girl with a ponytail beside her hurriedly covered her mouth.
"Shh! You spilled the beans!"
"Ah, Mosquito… I can't say I'm surprised," Elena said, wearing a look as if watching a spectacle. She handed a chocolate bar to a quietly mannered girl wearing glasses on her nose, and said with a smile, "What else did Uncle Mosquito say? Tell us secretly, we won't reveal it to him."
The quiet-looking girl's cheeks turned rosy. She hesitated with the chocolate in her hands before ultimately betraying Mosquito.
"He also said this was a Halloween tradition, and that Alliance children just need to chant this mantra to Residents of the refuge on this day to get candy…"
Gnome King Riches: "Pfft, what's wrong with this guy, never doing anything serious."
"Hahaha! But isn't it amusing? It doesn't cost much anyway," Elena laughed until her stomach hurt, and in the befuddled gaze of the children, she handed the remaining chocolate to them, "Remember, this mantra only works on nice people like me; it's useless on mean people."
"Nice people?" The quiet-looking girl tilted her head.
With a smile, Elena patted the little girl's head.
"Emmm… Simply put, it's people who can afford to play along. If someone has no candy, or gets scared, or bullies you, just say 'I'm sorry' and go find the next Resident of the refuge."
The Wasteland is miserable enough; a bit more happiness isn't a bad thing.
Yavente City originally had no Halloween.
But now it does.
…
North of Yavente City, in the alley beside the logistics building, several soldiers from the Death Legion surrounded a corpse wearing an exoskeleton.
From the fine craftsmanship, the equipment was clearly not a product of the Southern Legion's rough industry.
Thanks to Big Eyes' chocolate, Edge Shoveling and his company easily found the corpse lying next to the garbage bin with the help of local children.
Perhaps due to their battle-hardened experience, these kids weren't afraid of seeing a corpse. One of them, about twelve, even pointed with his finger and indicated to Edge Shoveling.
"There's a big airplane parked on top of the logistics building, and someone shot at them, then this guy fell and died from the fall."
Debt Giant Eye asked curiously.
"No one from the plane came down to save him?"
Another boy, two years older, shook his head.
"Though well-equipped, they didn't seem too adept at fighting. A sniper fired several rounds at them from a distance, and they couldn't even tell where the bullets came from, nor did they return fire."
"Exactly!" His eyes glazed over, fixated on the candy still left in Big Eyes' hand, the child chimed in, "They just flew away."
The Site Youth with Brick asked.
"Did you hear the gunfire direction?"
"This way!"
In unison, the children responded vocally, but each pointed in distinct different directions.
Not only were the Site Fellow and Edge Shoveling puzzled, but the children themselves were surprised and soon began arguing over who was right.
Finally, a child standing in the corner sighed and muttered softly.
"Obviously, it was a Gauss Rifle… what you heard weren't gun firing sounds."
He had heard from his father that there were many types of Gauss Rifles; some produced sound as bullets exited, others were audible in the air due to sonic booms, and some used special ammunition with noise only upon hitting targets.
The Site Fellow and Edge Shoveling exchanged glances.
"The attackers have high-tech… anyway it's still a clue."
"Could it be internal strife in the Academy?"
"There's not much internal strife; you think it's still in Poluo Province?"
"Just a speculation, though the possibility seems slim to me…"
Thus, it's likely to be someone from the Enlightenment Society.
Looking up toward the rooftop of the logistics building, Edge Shoveling furrowed his brows slightly.
"… the bullet should have come from the other side of the building, come with me to check it out."
"I'll come with you." The Site Fellow raised his hand, naturally following the captain.
Debt Giant Eye handed out the remaining candies to the kids still arguing about the gunfire direction.
"Alright, stop arguing, put the gunfire issue aside… where did the airplane fly off to?"
The kids exchanged looks, and this time there was no disagreement; they unanimously pointed straight up with their fingers.
"It flew directly up into the sky!"
"That's right! Just like an airship, it flew up and then started spewing fire and disappeared."
Vertical flight seems feasible enough.
Debt Giant Eye rubbed his forehead tiredly, while the Roller Washing Machine chuckled and patted his shoulder.
"Don't be discouraged; perhaps they flew out of the atmosphere? That's still a clue."
Elsewhere, Edge Shoveling and the Site Fellow circled to the building's other side and gazed toward Yavente City's northeast suburb.
Here lay a halted apartment complex; their structures resembled the Alliance's affordable housing, but based on dismantled scaffolding, these buildings likely have been abandoned for a long time.
Resources in the Wasteland are limited, and resources refer not only to minerals but also industrial capability, architectural capability, and workforce.
Even with 2.7 million square kilometers of colonies, the Southern Legion finds it challenging to balance war and development. Choosing one path means halting the other.
After all, they do not have immortal players.
Edge Shoveling sometimes wondered what the Alliance would be without players or whether the Alliance wouldn't exist at all.
He did not wish to emphasize his own importance nor imply that the Alliance's citizens should be eternally grateful, merely concerned about how those who remain will face future challenges if someday players leave there.
At some point, he found it increasingly difficult to treat this world as merely a game.
Or perhaps, put another way.
He grew emotionally invested in the game.
"… any discoveries?" The Site Youth with Brick looked at him, interrupting his train of thought.
Edge Shoveling shook his head, setting aside the telescope.
"These buildings are too densely packed; the bullet could have come from anywhere… no idea why the researchers chose this building, making it an ideal target."
"I suspect it's due to this building overlooking the 'Tower of the World,'" The Site Youth with Brick looked toward the city, "I guess those researchers never anticipated getting ambushed after the war's end."
Pausing for a moment, he suddenly seemed to recall something, continuing speaking.
"Could it be possible that they were investigating the 'suspected Hive Organism' at the Tower of the World, and the Enlightenment Society or some other group targeted them?"
Edge Shoveling shook his head.
"Whatever the possibilities, finding them is next to impossible… anyway, let's recover that poor guy's body first."
As he began to turn, suddenly an ominous premonition crept over his senses.
Time slowed down in an instant—
Or more accurately, the speed at which his brain processed information multiplied several times in that instant!
That was the sensory perceptual talent he unlocked at Level 30!
When danger is detected, adrenaline surges rapidly, passively triggering effects akin to "bullet time"!
Edge Shoveling suddenly turned around, raising his binoculars towards an unfinished window in that cluster of architecture.
Almost at the same time, a man wielding a Gauss Rifle startled, putting away his gun and swiftly retreating from the sniper's position.
He clearly saw the bewilderment on the man's face; the other party obviously hadn't expected to be discovered.
Without pausing for a moment, Edge Shoveling immediately opened the communication module to contact the rear command center.
"…This is the Death Legion, we've spotted a suspicious target, requesting a drone."
After a short pause, a response quickly came from the other side of the communication channel.
"Command received, drone is coming online."
"Received!"
Edge Shoveling hung up the communication and tossed the binoculars to a bewildered construction worker, then selected the map icon on the VM screen and outlined a large area on the map that popped up.
"Death Legion units, pay attention, block all exits of the marked area. The target may be equipped with optical camouflage devices, remember to bring infrared identification equipment."
Responses quickly came through the communication channel.
"Acknowledged!"
Meanwhile, the man who had just retreated from the sniper point looked bewildered.
His name was Flynn, a disciple of the Enlightenment Society, and also a hidden operative for the Society in Yavente City.
Long ago, the senior ranks of the Southern Legion had colluded with the Enlightenment Society, which is why Martin and his "Mortal Serum" were heavily utilized by Teil.
However, only a few senior members of the Southern Legion knew about the contacts with the Enlightenment Society, even Chief of Staff Augustus didn't fully understand, let alone the majority of the officers.
Although the unrest at Evernight Harbor caused the name of the Enlightenment Society to appear in the public eye, it was dismissed as a drug-induced farce due to lack of evidence and clues and didn't cause much stir.
In fact, almost half of the researchers in the "Tower of the World" building, which housed Teil's "decisive weapon", were either directly provided or trained by the Enlightenment Society.
Aside from researchers, the senior members of the Enlightenment Society sponsored practical achievements for the Southern Legion.
For instance, the "Seed of Gaia" the Enlightenment Society obtained from "celestial beings".
Flynn wasn't a professional researcher, and he didn't understand what the "Seed of Gaia" was for; he only knew the senior members were very interested in its combat data.
And on the other hand, celestial beings wanted them to get a research ship from the Academy to facilitate direct material exchange with the space station at the Lagrange Point.
According to their judgment, the Academy, which possessed some information on "Gaia-like life forms" and wished to keep it confidential, would certainly hide somewhere unknown to the Alliance, secretly observing and gathering data.
Thus, today's operation was conceived.
Everything went as smoothly as planned.
His partner "Luo Yi", under his cover, successfully infiltrated the research ship, eliminated all the researchers, hacked onto the ship's server, and seized control of the research ship.
After accomplishing everything, his plan had been to withdraw directly, but unexpectedly, driven by a damned curiosity, he gave a quick glance at those two guys with gas masks, and one of them instantly fixed their eyes on him.
Flynn, who had never experienced such absurdity, thought that with special talents, even Awakeners couldn't pinpoint a target from such a distance, which was overly ludicrous.
Perhaps there were still "singularities" in this world unknown to them.
Watching the fixed-wing drone hovering at low altitude, Flynn carefully tucked himself into the shadows, cautiously gazing at the street not far away.
The entire district felt like a boiling cauldron of water, with trucks and off-road vehicles speeding through the streets, the stirred dust signifying quite an uproar.
Whether for that research ship or for fallen comrades, these people were taking it seriously.
Taking a deep, icy breath, Flynn reached for the side of his helmet.
"It's a bit of a situation here... Temporarily unable to head to the evacuation point. You guys wait outside the settlement; I'll think of my own way to leave."
Pausing, he added another sentence.
"These alliance soldiers are somewhat peculiar. I don't know if it was intuition, but someone spotted me in one glance... Anyhow, be cautious."
"If you don't have a surefire shot, don't aim at them recklessly."
...
The Academy lost a research ship.
Chu Guang's first reaction to the news was that the old thing in the Wandering swamp had exploded Gold coins again.
And precisely at the right moment.
The gravity well had been deployed, and the "seal" exerted on this planet was soon to be lifted, and the Alliance happened to be in need of a vehicle capable of operating in outer space.
Although the expedition team had recovered a lot of technical documentation from the pre-war era ruins, those things clearly couldn't match the quality of a ready-made product.
However, after listening to the description of Li Ke, a B-level researcher from the Academy's External Affairs Department special planning group,Chu Guang quickly realized the matter could be deeper than he had imagined.
The report that had once appeared on his desk long, long ago was picked up again from the corner of the file cabinet.
It was related to the Torch War period.
Based on the Guards Corps' investigation of Shelter No.20 and the intelligence revealed by the Academy, the Alliance first learned that at the Prosperity Epoch era's Star Harbor at the Lagrange Point, there were descendants of the United Human Expeditionary Army.
These individuals for some reason inherited the Torch Church's legacy, and seem to have sponsored some actions of the Enlightenment Society.
The Academy referred to them as "celestial beings."
Due to the lack of direct contact, Chu Guang had once pushed this matter to the back of his mind.However, with the Academy losing the research ship, it suddenly came to his attentions.
Who could be so urgently in need of movement between the sky and ground?
Surely it's not the Eastern Empire.
"I've informed the frontline combat personnel about the relevant matters; they say they're investigating now."
Watching Chu Guang return to the reception room, Li Ke, seated on the sofa, eagerly straightened his body and asked him.
"Any clues?"
Chu Guang sat down opposite him, signaling with his eyes to be patient, then spoke.
"When our people arrived, the fight was already over. According to the locals, they saw the research ship flying straight into the sky. The material used in your research ship is too special, leaving not a trace on our radar."
Seeing Li Ke's disappointed expression, Chu Guang pondered for a while and continued.
"But luckily enough, those people left a small tail on the ground. We've already sealed off the district he might be hiding in. If we catch that guy, we might be able to extract some answers."
The main population in Yavente City are Weilante People; if that guy was an alien, identifying him should not be difficult.
Of course, such things are unpredictable.
Everyone is a descendant of the United Human, and who doesn't have a few trump cards unknown to others?
This includes himself.
Hearing Chu Guang's words, Li Ke sighed and said.
"We've caused you trouble."
"You've certainly caused us plenty of trouble,"Chu Guang replied bluntly, casting a gaze onto Li Ke's embarrassed expression and continued straight to the point, "We're looking for the person now. I want to know what exactly was your team doing there at the time."
Upon hearing this request, Li Ke's face showed an awkward expression, and he hesitantly shifted his gaze.
"We were..."
Chu Guang raised his hand, indicating that Li Ke needn't put on that expression.
"I know you have your difficulties, but I hope you understand one thing... It is precisely because you did not inform us in advance of your action in Yavente City that these circumstances arose."
"Moreover, we assume that the opposite party has already unlocked the data stored within the research ship upon acquiring it. Your confidentiality only adds obstacles and difficulty to your allies'—our—investigation without any real benefit, do you understand what I'm saying?"
Li Ke wiped the sweat off his forehead, giving a bitter smile and a nod.
"I... understand. However, the project's confidentiality level is too high for me to decide alone to disclose the information to you, so I must consult my superiors..."
Chu Guang nodded.
"As long as you understand, I trust you'll accurately convey my thoughts to your superiors."
Saying this, he who had been seated for only a moment, stood up from the sofa again.
"Don't waste time sitting here either; go communicate with your superiors."
"Or let them come directly to me!"