Chapter 89: New World Society |
When the enemy finally appeared, Shi Rang found himself quickly calming down.
The continuous, looming dread of the unknown was what truly broke a person, much like the night he had been trapped at the bottom of a pit, unsure of when the tons of dirt above him would collapse.
"How long have they been there?"
"They've been there since the day we set up the Reconnaissance Post," the Tiny One in his ear told him. "We weren't sure at first, since nobody could get a good look at their faces, but they've been in that exact spot for days now. We are absolutely certain!"
"Strange..."
When Shi Rang entered his apartment, he had paid special attention to the doorknob. He had placed a tiny bit of dirt on both the inside and outside handles, and the Mini-Humans had also set up several fail-safes invisible to the naked eye.
If anyone had entered his home, they would have definitely disturbed those traces. Yet, they found no signs of intrusion, and the Suitcase under his bed remained completely untouched.
This third party knew about the anomalies, and perhaps even possessed Anomalous Items.
Shi Rang still wasn't sure if they were the same faction that had dared to openly challenge the Alliance in the city center two years ago, but he highly suspected they were the same group. The former dared to instigate Director Bjorn's betrayal, while the latter dared to engage in firefights with both the Alliance and The Bureau simultaneously. Their styles were exactly the same; they were definitely not to be trifled with.
Why hadn't they just come directly to his door?
Could it be that they didn't want the Suitcase anymore?
What baffled him even more was that an entire night had passed, and neither the Alliance nor the third party had made a move. Both sides just watched him from a distance without interfering further.
Could it be that both sides were actually... wary of him?
More accurately, they were afraid of whoever might be backing him.
It made sense. Shi Rang's public identity was far too clean. He had no money, no power, and was completely alone. He simply didn't look like someone who would have the Connections to access so many secrets. Even if they figured out who he was, they would never believe he had pulled off so much all by himself.
Logically, they would assume he had a highly influential backer pulling the strings from the shadows.
If the Alliance rashly approached Shi Rang, treating him as a mere subordinate, and tried to coerce or bribe him into revealing the source of his intelligence, not only would they fail to get any useful clues, but they might also spook the mastermind into hiding, squandering a prime opportunity.
Furthermore, the value Shi Rang had demonstrated so far wasn't enough to warrant extreme measures.
Perhaps the professionals would have a better plan, but if the person in charge of handling his case was actually that Machine Gun-wielding Investigator Scarlett... for her to deduce things to this extent across different fields was already considered quite shrewd.
The third party probably harbored the exact same vigilance, worrying that Shi Rang's apparent isolation was actually a trap or an ambush, just waiting for them to take the bait.
And so, both sides held their ground, engaging in a battle of wits and courage against thin air.
It would be truly bizarre if they actually managed to guess the truth.
The dignified Councilor 13 had sold The Bureau's secrets for a measly thousand Yuan, and by pure luck, had casually picked up a Suitcase containing those very same secrets from the crime scene.
Who would ever believe that?
Shi Rang drew the curtains closed and moved over to the corkboard where his Clue Wall was set up. He slapped a few Sticky Notes onto an empty corner, dedicating a new section to organize his thoughts.
He couldn't master the mind palace technique, so he opted for a much more straightforward, albeit clumsy, method.
[Third Party -> Director Bjorn (Deceased) -> Suitcase -> Me]
[Alliance - Investigator Scarlett <- (Supplying Intel) <- Me -> (Investigating) -> The Bureau]
All the red string eventually converged on the Sticky Note that represented himself.
Shi Rang stared at the Clue Wall, pulling a string from the Alliance's position and connecting it directly to the third party.
The enemy was already camping out downstairs. Once they realized he was truly alone, they would definitely make their move against him.
These people were terrorists. They wouldn't engage in Reasonable Discourse like the Alliance would.
Could he get the Alliance to deal with the third party?
He had no intention of using the dangerous ability of Tampering again, and Shi Rang himself was far too insignificant on his own. He needed a more conventional method of defense.
Asking the Alliance directly for help was out of the question. It would expose his bluff, proving he had no real backing, and he had absolutely no way of explaining how he knew the intelligence regarding Green Island City.
Shi Rang leaned toward the Alliance and had a decent impression of Investigator Scarlett, but he didn't fully trust the organization itself.
He had never been fond of anything tainted by a bureaucratic system.
However, asking nicely wasn't the only way to get people to do your dirty work.
Since the situation was already this terrible, he might as well muddy the waters completely.
Thanks to his love for role-playing games, his vast wealth of knowledge, the myriad of social situations he had witnessed as a columnist, and the endless sea of information on the internet, Shi Rang possessed a considerable degree of tactical acumen. He could handle just about anything—except actually fighting on the front lines.
Given enough time and space, he could always find a way.
He returned to his computer and began his operation.
In the bag the Alliance had left for him at the latest drop point, there was a detailed Cipher Table.
Their method of handing over intelligence from now on was quite unpretentious—he would simply send emails containing code words directly to the Alliance's Public Mailbox, and the receiver would then decrypt them using the corresponding Cipher Table.
It was a primitive yet reliable method, which also proved that he wasn't particularly highly valued just yet; he was merely a mysterious Spy.
The Alliance had also stuffed five hundred in cash into the backpack, along with some prepaid cards and vouchers that could be exchanged for money. All told, it amounted to a staggering five thousand Yuan. His debts were instantly cleared, and he even had hope for next month's mortgage.
No wonder people have been risking their lives for money since ancient times...
He almost felt sorry that he was about to use the Alliance.
Shi Rang opened a document and meticulously began to craft his lies.
During their previous phone call, he had deliberately used the pronoun "we" as if by accident. It was time to put that to good use.
Over the next few days, he would tell the Alliance that he was willing to deepen their cooperation, successively sending them a pile of trivial intelligence whose sources he couldn't disclose.
Most of it would be related to The Bureau's personnel—low in importance—but a few reports would include the following details:
1. An important employee of The Bureau is currently in a state of defection. This individual has evaded capture through unknown means, and search teams have appeared at the border of the Third District and the Tenth District.
2. The Bureau is conducting small-scale operations in the Yunling New District. They have dispatched a considerable number of Reconnaissance Personnel for this action, and currently maintain a large number of active Field Agents in Yunling City.
3. An unidentified organization arrived at the Yunling New District before The Bureau and evacuated in time. They are still operating in the vicinity of Yunling City.
4. This organization controls and utilizes Anomalous Effects, and likely possesses a Stronghold around Yunling City.
The Alliance and The Bureau had a poor relationship; they had once stepped in to prevent the containment of the "Startled Magpie." When The Bureau previously locked down the Yunling New District, it was also mentioned that Alliance personnel were roaming nearby. If given sufficient reason, the Alliance would definitely dispatch personnel to operate in Yunling City, just to make things difficult for The Bureau.
Within the city, the situation was quite favorable for the Alliance. They simply lacked the necessary guidance.
Shi Rang could guide the Alliance to intervene and hunt down this third party, dragging these people out into the light.
When that time came, whether the Alliance exposed the third party's true identity, or if a conflict broke out between the two sides—or even all three sides—Shi Rang would be able to learn about his enemies and free himself from this current predicament of forced waiting.
As for the third party evading the search or biting back?
They were the ones who had instigated Director Bjorn's defection, and they were the ones who wanted the intelligence. These people had proactively followed the trail to Yunling City. Was there any chance they could stay out of it now?
Director Bjorn had now completely disappeared. Rather than dying without a corpse after being infected, it was much more likely that he had been taken by the third party.
Looking back at Shi Rang's side—heaven as his witness, he didn't actually have any intelligence!
The Alliance might know most of these four clues, but Shi Rang was absolutely certain they didn't know the third one.
If even the pursuing Bureau hadn't figured it out, how could the Alliance—who were just stirring up trouble for The Bureau's agents on the periphery—possibly know?
Since the Alliance suspected he had a powerful backer feeding him information, he would simply invent one to serve as the logical source of all his intelligence.
From this moment on, the "New World Society" was officially established.
The "New World Society" was founded upon the desire to eliminate anomalies and restore peace and stability to the world. However, they lacked combat personnel and sufficient funding. Their structure was loose, and most members were hidden within the city, wavering between loyalty to the cause and the pressures of daily life. The Informants they developed each harbored their own ulterior motives. The society held a reverent attitude toward the Alliance, but preferred to use intelligence to direct operations rather than actually joining them.
When others dug deep looking for the "leader" of this organization, they would discover the Dump Truck.
The Deer Hunter, Shi Rang, was merely a pawn under their command. Out of his own personal desires, he willingly became a Liaison Officer, building a bridge of communication between the organization's various members and the Alliance.
The massive amount of intelligence he would send over next would supposedly come from the organization's various members scattered From All Corners of the World. Shi Rang intended to use this information to gradually gain the Alliance's trust, right up until they took an interest in the third party and initiated an operation.
To achieve this, he also needed to design a few characters for himself to roleplay.
A heavy responsibility indeed...
Without further delay, Shi Rang set about designing the second member of the "New World Society," aside from himself.
Upon learning what he was doing, the Mini-Humans also got fired up.
Hundreds of tiny mouths chattered away, piecing together the intricate life details of this fictional persona sentence by sentence.
This person was also a resident of the Tenth District, but wandered between cities year-round, subsidizing their living with short-term gigs... That's right, a marginalized figure living in the gray areas who had joined the "New World Society" purely for the money. Every time they made contact, it was to ask for cash, constantly emphasizing the risks they were taking in their reports just to demand more compensation. The incident in the Yunling New District was something this person accidentally witnessed while wandering the outskirts late at night. Tying it into their background setting, perhaps this person was preparing to steal something—or hotwire an abandoned car left out in the wilderness—only to accidentally stumble upon the event.
Upon learning that the "New World Society" had hooked up with a massive financial backer like the Alliance, this petty criminal, who had originally planned to take the secret to the grave, immediately got excited. The intelligence they provided was heavily embellished with many unrealistic details, their words practically dripping with obnoxious demands. It was so bad that the Deer Hunter couldn't even be bothered to edit the reports, directly handing this chore over to the Alliance instead.
By stripping away the useless embellishments and combining it with other intel provided by the society, they would arrive at one single conclusion:
The third party had instigated the defection of Deputy Supervisor Bjorn and had successfully received him in the Yunling New District. There was now a high probability that they were still hiding within their Stronghold in Yunling City.