A Big Fish in Evernight Port

The unconscious man was named Niles. Searching his home, Desert Eagle had found an identification document issued by the Wilante to other races. That name was written on it, followed by a long string of surnames. Whether it was his real name or an alias didn't matter to Desert Eagle; the thing was just a code name anyway. All he needed to know was that the man tied to the chair was a member of the Enlightenment Society, and that this dilapidated shack hidden in Blackwater Lane was the Enlightenment Society's safehouse in Evernight Port. That was enough. Waking from his stupor, Niles lifted his heavy eyelids and glared at the intruder rummaging through his home, his voice raspy. "...Who are you?" "Desert Eagle." Taking a jar down from a cabinet, Desert Eagle peered inside and discovered several large-denomination dinars. His eyes instantly lit up, and he dumped the coins into his pocket. Niles's face darkened as he watched the man rob him to his face. He ground out through gritted teeth, "...What kind of name is that?" "Just think of it as a code name. I'm a resident of Shelter 404." Hearing that, Niles's eyes narrowed instantly, and a smirk crept onto his lips. "A resident of Shelter 404... Heh, you guys have tracked us pretty far. Your reach extends all the way to the southern edge of the Great Desert." Desert Eagle chuckled and replied offhandedly, "Can't help it. We've got long arms. Just bear with it." Niles: "..." Seeing that he didn't respond, Desert Eagle continued, "What about you guys? Still the same old story? After kicking around for so long, you still don't even have a settlement of your own?" Niles gave a cold sneer. "We have no need for such things." Desert Eagle raised an eyebrow, curious. "Oh? Then what do you need?" Niles replied, "You don't need to know." Desert Eagle clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Way to kill the conversation." Evidently realizing that the intruder was probing him for information, Niles closed his eyes and refused to say another word. Desert Eagle prodded him a few more times with no result, so he left him alone and turned his attention back to the cabinet. To his disappointment, after searching every cabinet and drawer in the room, he found nothing other than those two hundred dinars. The safehouse was so crude that it looked just like a real slum shack, to the point where Desert Eagle couldn't help wondering if there was some secret tunnel or hidden door. "...Speaking of which, don't you have one of those memory extractors at home?" Desert Eagle asked, dusting off his hands. Hearing such a ridiculous question, Niles snorted in derision and scoffed, "That's contraband from the Era of Prosperity! Did you think it was something you could just pick up off the street?" Desert Eagle gave him an extra look of surprise. "That impressive?" "There are plenty of things far more impressive than that... Too bad I'm only a Guide. And not to mention I don't have one, even if I did, why would I tell you?" Niles looked at him like he was looking at an idiot wasting his breath, but he quickly realized he had let slip too much. His face went rigid, and he snapped his mouth shut. Desert Eagle didn't mind in the slightest; he simply gave a light shrug. He could have guessed with his toes that the guy in front of him was a Guide; he didn't need the man to volunteer it. What he really wanted to know was something else. Like the "Death Agent." Or that researcher named Martin. "...I just thought it'd make our communication a little easier. Or would you rather I use more traditional methods to pry open your mouth?" Niles sneered mocking defiance. "If you've got the guts, be my guest." Without wasting words, Desert Eagle pulled a thumb-sized glass bottle from his pocket. Niles's pupils contracted slightly, a flicker of dread surfacing in his eyes. Seeing his tense reaction, Desert Eagle just smiled and spoke in a soothing tone. "Don't be nervous. I'm a civilized man. While there are plenty of torture methods you could look up online, I won't resort to that unless absolutely necessary." Though his reassurance sounded sincere, the expression on Niles's face didn't relax in the slightest. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "...What is that thing in your hand?" Desert Eagle offered no explanation. He walked straight up to Niles, grabbed the man's head as it leaned back in terror with one hand, and flicked the cork stopper off the bottle with the thumb of his other hand, shoving the opening directly against his nostrils. "...Something to give you sweet dreams. It'll show you the deepest desires of your heart." "Wait, wait—" Panic flared in Niles's eyes, and he struggled desperately to pull away. Yet before an Awakened above level 30, the meager strength of his struggles couldn't even serve as entertainment. After pouring a bit into both nostrils, Desert Eagle clamped his hand over the man's mouth for a moment to ensure he inhaled a full dose before putting the empty bottle away. He had bought this snake oil on the black market, and he hadn't expected it to come in handy so soon. "This stuff should keep him out cold for five or six hours... Let me see, what should I do next..." Just as Desert Eagle was pondering his options, a soft knock came from outside the door. The rhythm was distinct—three long knocks and two short ones, clearly some kind of secret code. Desert Eagle instantly snapped to full alert. Softening his footsteps, he crept to the door. As his left hand gripped the doorknob, his right hand reached for the suppressed pistol holstered at his waist. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Andrew, draped in a raincoat, pressed his face close to the seam of the door and spoke in a low, husky whisper. "...My cover might be blown. A guy named Morse found me. He's the boss of the Hyena Gang, and he saw through my identity as a disciple. I suspect we gave ourselves away when we met—this area seems to be their territory. "Fortunately, that trash seemed to misunderstand something and took the Enlightenment Society for something else... whatever the Garrison made him think it was. "I don't know what the other Wilante are up to, but either way, that guy's trouble. Before things spiral out of control, we need to find a way to shut him up... preferably for good." Having delivered his report, Andrew waited quietly for the Guide's response. After a brief silence, a raspy voice came from behind the door. "Come inside and talk." Hearing that, Andrew froze slightly, surprise flickering across his face. All along, he had only ever passed messages through the door. The times Niles had invited him inside could be counted on one hand, and usually only for secret gatherings. Uncertainty gripped his heart. Right at that moment, the door that normally never opened swung a crack wider than it ever had before. A pitch-black gun barrel was pointed squarely at the space between his eyebrows, making him hold his breath in shock. "Y-you, who are..." *Holy crap, talk about Calabash Brothers delivering themselves one by one—no, more like having a pillow handed to me right when I was getting sleepy.* Without a single word of nonsense, Desert Eagle grinned viciously, snatched the "pillow" by the collar, and yanked him straight inside from the street. "Get in here!" *** *Wasteland OL* official website. While the vast majority of players were discussing the battlefield situation in Brahma Province, a post concerning Evernight Port suddenly popped into the view of the onlookers. The poster was, of course, the one who had the last laugh, [Desert Eagle]. The thread's title was eye-catching: [Breaking News! The Big Fish of Evernight Port Found!] Desert Eagle: "...I discovered the Enlightenment Society's safehouse in Evernight Port inside Blackwater Lane! The safehouse handler is named Niles, whose title or rank is 'Guide,' equivalent to a mid-level cadre in the Enlightenment Society! "His lips are sealed tight and he refused to confess anything. I dosed him with snake oil and planned to string him along for a couple of days to see how things went. Luckily, shortly afterward, a disciple coming to make contact delivered himself right to my doorstep. "Following the clues he coughed up, I found a removable tile under an empty toilet cistern. Below it was a ladder leading down to a basement, and inside the basement was an elevator descending five to six hundred meters underground! "What's even more shocking comes next! Beneath this settlement, there's actually a subway tunnel from the Human Alliance era! Maybe it wasn't called a subway back then, but it's definitely something similar. "I suspect the Enlightenment Society uses this tunnel to transport personnel and equipment into Evernight Port, so I marched that guy named Andrew forward... Funnily enough, this guy was pathetic beyond belief, sniveling and begging for mercy through tears and snot. If not for his nose, I wouldn't have believed he was a Wilante. "Along the way, we ran into a few mutant scorpions, though not too many—probably strays from the Great Desert. Anyway, after dealing with them, we reached a relatively open area that looks like a waiting hall. "According to the disciple, the Evernight Port disciples hold regular gatherings here. The timing is primarily decided by the Guide, and the next meeting hasn't been scheduled yet. "I'm wondering whether to send out a fake message under Niles's name to round up the whole Enlightenment Society network in Evernight Port in one fell swoop. We might even find that researcher Martin... But things are tense right now, and Niles is still out cold, so this probably needs careful long-term planning. "Setting that aside, the bigger surprise was yet to come: I found a massive pile of documents in the safehouse. There are personnel dossiers, inventory sheets, and even technical papers that went right over my head. "Although I'd love to post the contents here, unfortunately there are too many technical terms I can't translate, and the VM's offline language pack doesn't cover them. Typing them out character by character would take until next year. Still, piecing together snippets here and there, I saw words like 'experiment' and 'virus,' which are probably related to the 'Death Agent.' "To hazard a rough guess, maybe the Enlightenment Society realized that rebooting the world through neutron extermination was impossible, so they shifted strategies to achieve their goal through genetically modified viruses... What's baffling, though, is that this method clearly poses an extreme risk to themselves as well. "Or did they make some breakthrough in biotechnology that gave them access to techniques beyond our knowledge? I don't know, and Andrew was completely clueless too. He openly confessed that he only joined the Enlightenment Society for women and money. "People like that should be very easy to bribe, so I pulled his dossier from the archives, noted down his home address right in front of his face, and let him go. "Another thing worth mentioning: the reports I found in the records room repeatedly mention the keyword 'Apocalypse.' I tried searching the terminal for it, but didn't find much of value. "My best interpretation is... this 'Apocalypse' is likely a high-ranking figure within the Enlightenment Society. For some reason, their leader 'Guixu' has seen his authority weakened, or perhaps with Guixu's tacit consent, this Apocalypse's opinions have become the guiding directives for certain grassroots operations. "I've already copied the electronic documents from the terminal to my VM, ready to share at any time. However, Evernight Port is currently locked down by Wilante troops, so slipping out might be tricky. I plan to stay local and observe for a bit longer... Maybe I can find an exit leading outside the settlement from that collapsed tunnel. "That covers the intel I gathered in Evernight Port. If anyone can offer me a boat ride back to Golden Gallon Port to turn in the quest, I'd be eternally grateful!" Once the thread went live, dozens of replies popped up in rapid succession. Some urged for updates, some flattered him, and naturally, there were plenty howling "WTF" in sheer frustration. Talan Raider: "WTF! Wait, how did you get the quest too?!" Xiaochuan Jun'ichiro: "Surprise! Bet you didn't see that coming, did ya? (Funny)" Medical Miracle: "You guys have no martial honor!" Pickled Fish: "Motherfucker! Boss! Our quest got snatched! (Stunned)" Medical Miracle: "Boss, are you washed up or what?" Angry Fatty Liver: "Sigh, my sacrifice was all for nothing." Talan Raider: "??? What the hell? Are your guns pointed at the wrong guy? We're on the same team! (Angry)" Xiaochuan Jun'ichiro: "Too fucking real. (Funny)" Fang Chang: "Actually, there's no need to get worked up. Generally speaking, as long as a quest is ultimately completed, regardless of who finishes it or how, everyone who received the quest gets rewarded. It's just that the reward split varies depending on each person's contribution to quest progress. (Smirking)" Commander Spring: "+1. Besides, your quest isn't done yet. At best, this counts as an interim milestone; it's too early to celebrate. By the way, why not consider teaming up? Seems to me you two actually have pretty decent chemistry. (Funny)" Talan Raider: "Chemistry my ass! I'm bleeding and sweating on the front lines while this guy lurks in the shadows picking up easy scraps." Desert Eagle: "Tsk, you've got some nerve saying you bled and sweated. Was it fun getting walked like a dog by the NPCs? (Eye Roll)" Talan Raider: "Motherfucker! I'm not shooting the breeze with you... DM me your safehouse coords. The Wilante have started sweeping the city. Let a brother lay low." Desert Eagle: "Sent it to your PMs. I happen to need someone to take over the watch anyway. If it's convenient, bring some snake oil over. I'm trying to figure out how to pry Niles's mouth open." Talan Raider: "I'll see what I can do... Oh right, what about Morse? Did you see him?" Desert Eagle: "Dead." Sitting in front of his computer, Talan froze, his hands pausing over the keyboard. Dead... Although it was entirely expected, hearing the man's end still left a hollow feeling in his chest. There were no living legends in Evernight Port. Perhaps, just like Kant, Morse had gone off to be a governor on some distant star...