Vermin

"These guys really have way too much free time on their hands." Alliance building, Administrator's office. Sitting behind his desk, Chu Guang took advantage of a brief lull in work to browse the forums for a bit. Just then, he came across the thread where the players were stirring up trouble, and his face slowly morphed into the expression of an old man squinting at a phone on the subway. X-16 was one thing. What in the world was Neko doing on there?! Have some decency, people! "Indeed." Perched on the edge of the pen holder, Xiao Qi nodded her little head with solemn gravity, chiming in with utter certainty, "It's definitely because the quest rewards are too high! We must slash the quest payout rate!" "The guys I'm talking about includes you. Playing along with their nonsense when you've got nothing better to do—you're just as idle as they are." Chu Guang retorted dryly, poking the little creature's head with his index finger. "Wukaa?!" Having suffered a direct hit, Xiao Qi let out a brief squeal of dismay, tumbling backward into the pen holder in a bizarre posture. It took quite a while before her pitiful little head poked back out. There was no need to doubt whether that pathetic expression was feigned. After spending so much time together, Chu Guang was all too familiar with the disposition of this artificial idiot. Back when she was still just a wastebasket, she had already been thoroughly adept at playing dumb and acting pitiful... Discussions on the forum raged on. Soon, another player started a new poll, and the topic had already escalated from Brother Guang's ship pairings to the trash dev's personal kinks. The options grew more absurd with every line, perhaps inspired by the Lagrange Point Space Station. Chu Guang glanced over the voting choices, wondering if he ought to keep some blood pressure medication stocked in his desk drawer. Yet a moment later, a second thought struck him: they were discussing the trash dev, so what did that have to do with him, the Administrator? Enlightened in an instant, Chu Guang immediately let it go. He even logged into his trash dev alt account and threw a like to Yaya, the sole kind soul speaking up on his behalf in the thread— Yaya: "Aren't you guys taking the jokes about Ah Guang a bit too far? Aside from being a little scheming at times, I actually think Ah Guang is pretty nice though. 0.0" A flock of busybodies spotted the like almost immediately, and the entire thread's tone flipped in a fraction of a second. Tail: "!!!" WC Really Has Mosquitoes: "Tail says: Holy crap!" Ye Shi: "Case closed!! Brother Guang likes 'em big! (evil grin)" Makabazi: "INSIDE INFO!!! IT'S AN INSIDE DEAL!!! (voice cracking)" Yaya: "???" The crosshairs swiftly shifted from the trash dev to Yaya. Meanwhile, a certain mastermind lurking behind the scenes closed the holographic screen in deep satisfaction and casually slid the holographic stylus back into the pen holder. Xiao Qi remained slumped over the rim of the pen holder with a woebegone look, whispering aggrievedly, "Master... so you like bigger ones, don't you?" Chu Guang gave a faint smile and replied, "I don't know, maybe? I seem to recall saying something like that once, but honestly, I've never given the matter serious thought." Far too many matters required his attention, so neglecting a few things was inevitable. Such as his personal life. Still, with the Wasteland Era now drawn to a close, he would have plenty of time to set aside for himself in the future. There was no need to rush things right this minute. Incidentally, not long ago, just as Xiao Qi had assumed control over the Lagrange Point Space Station, the long-dormant shelter system had suddenly flashed before his eyes once more, delivering the key to Floor B5 into his hands. It seemed the First Administrator had anticipated where the true threat lay all along. Of course. It was also possible that the man had known nothing about the Celestials, assuming merely that once even the Lagrange Point Space Station was recovered, the Wasteland Era ought to come to an end. Thus, he had designated authorization over the Lagrange station as the condition for unlocking the final key. According to the shelter system, that room was the true Administrator's office of Shelter 404. All along, Chu Guang had been working out of the reference room on Floor B4 and his office in the Alliance building. Now, at last, he could move into an office that genuinely belonged to him. Naturally, the location of his desk was a minor detail. What truly caught his attention was another piece of information disclosed by the shelter system— Supposedly, that had been the very last place the First Administrator visited before his disappearance. With any luck, he might find the First Administrator's Log of Shelter 404 inside! Even so, Chu Guang was in no desperate rush to race back to the shelter and open the door. With the key already in his grasp and Floor B5 sitting right there, it wasn't going to vanish. There was no urgency for this brief moment. Not to mention he still had current work on his desk to finish, and in a short while, he was scheduled to meet an old acquaintance he had not seen in ages. As for the secrets of Floor B5, unveiling them after clocking off wouldn't be too late... ... Inside a reception room adjacent to Conference Hall No. 1 in the Alliance building, a pair of unfamiliar visitors stepped through the doorway, flanked by a squad of guards. One of the guests was Zhuang Lan, once the ace operative of the Enlightenment Society, and now the founder and leader of the Watchers, as well as the gravedigger of the Enlightenment Society. By now, she had shed her disguise as Malik, restoring her original appearance. Chu Guang still remembered the very first time he saw her. Ye Shi had hauled her before him as a captive, terrified to the point where she dared not even meet his gaze. Today, she seemed like an entirely different person—not only vastly more confident, but with her back held straight and proud. More than that. The dread that had once lingered in her eyes had transformed into heartfelt respect. Curiously enough, the fellow standing beside her was the exact opposite. The man who had once worn Yi Hai's skin while talking with eloquence and poise now resembled a hollowed-out maggot. His hollow eyes were brimmed with raw terror, and his shoulders trembled violently, as if he might wet himself at any second. The Celestials were dead. The Enlightenment Society was destroyed. He no longer had an organization to lean on, nor did he possess spare clone shells to serve as scapegoats. Propped up on center stage, he lacked the slightest semblance of a leader. Stripped of a prewritten script, he could barely string a sentence together, coming across as inferior even to an ordinary man. Unwilling to waste another glance on him, Chu Guang merely looked at the face once before turning his attention to the woman standing nearby, speaking in a mild tone. "You're here." Zhuang Lan inclined her head slightly, her respectful voice carrying a trace of reverence and sincere humility. "I have come to fulfill the bet made years ago... If the catastrophe of Shelter 68 bore no shadow of the Enlightenment Society, I would be granted freedom. If the clues in the Administrator's Log matched your deductions, you would win." Chu Guang smiled faintly, adopting a teasing tone. "It seems I won." To tell the truth. He was genuinely surprised. Back then, moving this piece had been nothing more than a casual play on a whim, yet he never anticipated that the one to ultimately deliver checkmate to the Enlightenment Society would be this very pawn. Not only had she tracked down Shelter 68 and uncovered the truth behind that disaster, but she had also adopted the Alliance's methods, uniting the other brainwashed victims to establish the Watchers. Unity. That was the weapon most feared by all oppressors. Neither the devils upon the earth nor the phantoms in the skies dared to look straight into the radiance shed by that weapon. "Indeed," Zhuang Lan said respectfully. "In accordance with the wager, I have returned with the freedom you lent me... From this day forward, my freedom belongs to you. I am willing to serve as your blade in the dark, at your beck and call." Chu Guang saw a shadow of Lyu Bei in her, and he trusted that her words were not uttered out of flattery or obsequiousness, let alone a bid for political standing. It came straight from her heart. Even so, he did not wish for her to do this. That bleak, pitch-black night was over. He no longer needed others merely to follow the torch held in his hand. That included Lyu Bei, who had followed him all this time. He hoped they would become lights of their own, continuing forward along the paths they believed in. From now on, each of them was a torch. "You misunderstand. My prize was the Administrator's Log of Shelter 68, not your freedom. You fulfilled the bet long ago, even if you might not remember." Seeing Zhuang Lan look up in confusion, Chu Guang continued in a conversational tone. "As for your freedom, it has belonged to you from the moment you broke free of the Enlightenment Society's brainwashing. You do not need to hand it over to anyone, and certainly not to me." "Yet... I don't know what to do with it." Zhuang Lan's expression suddenly turned ill at ease. A rare flicker of hesitation surfaced in those resolute eyes as she murmured in a low voice, "I founded the Watchers solely to bring down the Enlightenment Society, but now the Enlightenment Society is finished..." "Then give it a new goal. For instance... carry on and complete the unfinished tasks of Shelter 68 and the other shelters? Since you've already defeated the Enlightenment Society, why not test whether the path directly opposed to theirs is truly as impassable as they claimed?" "After all, the Enlightenment Society didn't fall out of thin air; it was born from specific soil. Eliminating it alone is not enough. If we don't alter the very ground that breeds such malice, we will inevitably have to face it again sooner or later—once, or many times over." Gazing into her gradually brightening eyes, Chu Guang continued in a gentle voice. "Of course, rather than asking for my advice, you ought to speak with your companions. Go back to them; the people there need you far more than I do." That was all he needed to say. He believed Zhuang Lan would understand the intention behind his words. After all, she had walked this far on her own strength. Just as Chu Guang anticipated, the resolve in those eyes was finally cleared of all confusion. What she needed had never been an omnipotent Administrator; her freedom had always belonged to her. From now on, she had no need to wait for anyone's arrival. She herself was the one she had been waiting for. "Thank you..." Zhuang Lan cupped her hands in salute, offering one last grateful look to the revered Administrator before turning on her heel and departing. With his head bowed, Guixu tried to slip away in the shadow behind her, only for a guard at the door to plant a heavy hand on his shoulder, pinning him in place. The hand on his shoulder gripped like an iron vice; no matter how desperately he strained with every ounce of strength, it didn't budge an inch. That ashen face was instantly etched with despair, pale as a freshly painted white wall. "...You've won! Why make things difficult for me? I have nothing left now! I'm not the slightest threat to you..." Turning back toward Chu Guang, Guixu's eyes were filled with desperate pleading, falling just short of dropping to his knees on the spot. This utter lack of dignity fell short even of President Zhalas, and was vastly inferior to Tyr. Whether in cunning or ambition, this creature paled in comparison to the schemers of the wasteland. Chu Guang disliked ambitious schemers and despised conspiracies, yet he could not help but wonder where on earth this fellow had derived the sheer confidence that his lineage was more legitimate than that of anyone else on the wasteland, or more deserving of equality. Simply because he was born in a shelter? And the survivors of the wasteland had just sprouted from rocks? Looking down upon the face that seemed ready to bury itself into the floorboards, Chu Guang spoke in an even tone. "Back then, hiding inside Yi Hai's corpse, you talked quite a big game with me. You even told me... I could address you as Guixu, or the Zero Returner." "Now that we are face-to-face, with me sitting right before you, how is it that you've lost your tongue?" His voice was by no means loud, yet to Guixu's ears, it crashed like a thunderbolt. Unable to stop his knees from buckling, he finally caved to the terror and fell to the floor with a loud thud. "I... I deserve to die! I didn't know you were acquainted with those people..." "The blood on your hands extends far beyond the crew of the Pioneer." Chu Guang retrieved a thumb-sized hard drive from his pocket. Zhuang Lan had handed it over to him quite some time ago. "Do you know what this is?" Pinching the thumb-sized drive, Chu Guang waved it before Guixu's despairing gaze, then set it down on the adjacent table. "This is the Administrator's Log of Shelter 68, containing testimonies from a portion of the survivors as well." "Based on these clues, we can essentially reconstruct the conspiracy behind the fall of Shelter 68... You bought off marauders, having them pose as refugees to win the sympathy of Shelter 68's residents, and raided the entire shelter the moment their guard dropped. As for yourself, you descended as a savior, recruiting the surviving inhabitants into your disciples and leading them to preach your apocalyptic dogma." "Not just the Pioneer—the crimes you have committed can only be described as countless beyond measure. The Wasteland Era was never the fault of the wastelander; it was the price of the Era of Prosperity. Yet when it came to prolonging this long, dark night, you truly 'contributed' immensely." Guixu had no bandwidth left to listen to Chu Guang's list of crimes. Pliant to a fault when cornered, he could only tremble and slam his head against the floor in frantic kowtows, trying to play upon his shared identity as a shelter resident to elicit Chu Guang's pity, desperate to preserve his miserable life. Yet he failed to realize that the more he groveled, the deeper the contempt in that downward gaze became. Even facing his imminent end, he still had no idea what crime he had truly committed. Unwilling to waste another second on this spineless wretch, Chu Guang waved a hand toward the guard standing by the door. "Take him away." The exosuit-clad guard strode into the room radiating murderous intent, hoisting the kneeling figure like a scrawny chick and dragging him out the door despite his wailing pleas. "No! I beg you, give me another chance!" "Black boxes!!! I know the locations of several black boxes!! As long as you spare my life, I'll tell you everything!" "I beg of you—" Chu Guang didn't look at him again. He would stand trial before the Mutual Aid Community Joint Court, to be hanged on the eve of the new era. That was a certainty. No one would forgive him. Even Ideal City, teeming with bleeding hearts, would not hesitate for a heartbeat over whether to spare the life of this prime culprit...