Chapter 90: April 14, 1662 |
Night fell. The third party did not make a move today, and the New World Society had already expanded to a group of five. The progress was gratifying.
Shi Rang was not lacking in blueprints at all; after all, he had over three hundred miniature staff officers at his disposal.
This kind of game was deeply loved by the Mini-Humans. They fought over the chance to use themselves as prototypes for the spies, almost coming to blows in the process.
While breaking up their fights, Shi Rang wrote down detailed background records for these virtual spies on paper. Typing would have been more convenient, but he did not trust electronic devices right now. Pen and paper were much safer.
Looking at the five Character Cards laid out in front of him, Shi Rang truly felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he were the boss of a secret organization.
Later, he would have to spend time memorizing all the information about these "colleagues" to prevent any character inconsistencies when writing up intelligence reports.
He just treated it as an alternative form of Tabletop RPGs.
After a final check and confirming with the Mini-Humans crouching on him to review the email content, he sent out the New World Society's first piece of intelligence to the Alliance—
A report detailing the vacation and dining activities of the employees from a certain Agency facility in the First District.
Shi Rang leaned back in his chair as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders. "I've finally taken the first step... Thank you all for helping me."
"What are you thanking us for? We're brothers!"
"Who's your brother? You're an old man, how do you have the nerve to call him a brother?"
"This is too interesting! So bluffing can actually be used this way. You're simply a genius!"
The "messengers" standing on both sides of Shi Rang's ears spoke with a stereo surround sound effect, praising him until he blushed. "Actually, people in history have done this before. I'm just imitating them..."
Even the Sheriff accepted Shi Rang's explanation, believing that he was indeed fabricating things based on real situations. He was gambling on whether he could use the Mini-Humans' formal testimony, along with vague phrasing and sheer volume, to hit the correct probability. In reality, aside from the source channels, the content Shi Rang sent was mostly true, but he could not be completely honest with the Mini-Humans about it.
The Sheriff said, "Even if it's fake intelligence, the Alliance probably won't have too many doubts about this, since you are still in the early stages of cooperation. If the Alliance is interested in the third party, they should quickly verify it after receiving the bait intelligence. When do you plan to send it over?"
"I'll mix it in with the others and send it tomorrow. I'll need to wander around the city a lot during the day to pretend I'm making contact." His life was overly fulfilling; Shi Rang had been spinning like a top these past few days. "You all worked hard today. I'll take you back to the town."
The last one to be carried back to Minimen Town in Shi Rang's hand was Jack.
After arriving at the station, he did not jump off Shi Rang's hand.
"Will this really be useful, Shi Rang?"
Although the boy was relatively large, as the Sheriff gradually took over all aspects of the town, Jack had reverted from a small leader to a "child" who ran around following orders.
This caused him to be quite depressed lately—his former companions had all become extremely small, leaving him without even a playmate in his daily life.
"We always have to try."
"Did you hear anything about the other teams? We split into many groups, all consisting of big guys leading a large bunch of Tiny Ones.
How about you take me to wander around the neighborhood again? Maybe I can find them?"
"I think they might have all been caught by the Agency... I'm sorry."
"No they weren't!" The boy puffed up his cheeks in anger and dove into his hastily made tent.
Shi Rang swallowed a sigh.
The Agency's reports indicated that less than a third of the escaped Mini-Humans had been recovered. According to the confessions of those captured, most had died from accidents and micro-organism attacks, and quite a few had fallen behind and gone missing. The reason the Mini-Humans did not share a bed with him was not just out of respect for Shi Rang's privacy, but also because as soon as they landed, they would have to fight against the omnipresent mites—even climbing onto Shi Rang's head required launching a full-scale hunt.
The area where the town was located was already a bug-free zone that they and Shi Rang had worked together to clear out.
It was very difficult for Mini-Humans to survive in complex environments. The Agency had also deduced this point and gradually halted their search for them.
'I'm afraid there are no other escaped Mini-Humans out there anymore.'
Returning from washing up, Shi Rang turned off the bedroom light, waved toward the town, and bid them goodnight.
Relying on the two AA batteries and some hardware materials he provided, the town currently had access to electricity and had even manufactured simple electrical appliances. The miniature lights resembled the glowing specks of fireflies, looking like a universe contained within a cabinet.
Shi Rang imagined many people responding to him, then rolled over and closed his eyes.
[All time tags have been successfully added]
Finally.
Copying the information from Researcher Sammy's communication device took longer than he had anticipated. Afterward, he even had to wait for the Terminal Station to transcode them one by one and add uniformly formatted annotations.
Shi Rang had no idea where this data had been downloaded to. He could only hope that the technical staff at the Main Station would not notice a bunch of strange files suddenly appearing.
He quickly located the audio recording from the day Ying Shang disappeared and started playing it.
At first, there was a burst of white noise, followed shortly by the sound of someone fiddling with the communication device, their fingers tapping and pressing loudly on the equipment.
"...Has it started yet?"
The first human voice that appeared startled Shi Rang so much that his body jerked. He hurriedly focused his mind and returned to his personal space.
The person speaking was the Trench Coat Hat Man who had erased his memories back then.
The other party was from the Agency.
"There's a blinking light. It should be recording now."
"This equipment isn't going to explode, is it?"
"I'll warn you before it explodes," the Trench Coat Hat Man said. "The time is exactly nine in the morning on April 14, 1662. The containment squad I am leading is currently tracking an anomaly clue regarding a cardboard box that leads to an anomalous spatial dimension. We are now beginning our search from the alleyway where the holder of the cardboard box was last seen."
The Trench Coat Hat Man took his hand off the device and began to instruct his team members regarding their fieldwork. His voice sounded young, but his tone was incredibly experienced.
"Move out."
Several sets of footsteps left their current location, entered a corridor, and soon merged into the bustling city streets.
Aided by the trajectory data from the communication device that day and the map from the Terminal Station, Shi Rang watched as this containment squad from two years ago walked out of a building on the west side of the city center and advanced along the street.
Yunling City back then was not much different from how it was today. From the layout of the streets, he could easily picture the print shop he frequented, the breakfast stalls, and the many, many stores he had visited.
"When we're short-handed, we have to work overtime. Sigh, what a life." A younger person in the team complained. When this person spoke, the continuous sound of rattling equipment was slightly muffled. "They should be done in two or three days, right?"
The Trench Coat Hat Man replied, "The accident that erupted in Sector 257 was extremely severe. It ended up paralyzing the auxiliary facilities as well. All the surrounding manpower has been concentrated over there. It's going to take a while."
"It's a blessing in disguise. Otherwise, how would we ever get the chance to operate alongside you? I'm really lucky." Another person chimed in, deliberately using a sweet tone. One could easily imagine the smile plastered on this person's face. "I'll definitely be able to learn a lot."
The young man carrying the equipment muttered "Kiss-ass" under his breath.
The Trench Coat Hat Man did not respond.
That social butterfly chuckled awkwardly and did not press the issue further.
Another armed personnel who had not joined the conversation remained completely silent the entire time, with only the sound of combat boots hitting the ground occasionally standing out.
This four-person squad focused on their work from then on. What followed was a series of inquiries, official-sounding interrogations, and the occasional casual chat. Midway through, there was a brief discussion because they witnessed an Alliance convoy passing by, but the mission continued regardless.
Around five o'clock in the afternoon, the squad suddenly stopped on the northwest side of Central Park. A gunshot washed over the street, completely overpowering the blaring car horns and every sound made by the rushing, chatting pedestrians.
The bustling street, filled with the rush-hour crowd, fell dead silent for a moment before the masses immediately began screaming and fleeing into the distance.
Shootings in the Tenth District were a common occurrence; the people knew exactly what to do.
At this moment, the communication device received an emergency call.
"This is Gamma-7. We need backup!"
Accompanying the cry for help was an even denser barrage of gunfire, echoing simultaneously from deep within the park and through the communication device.
"Calling all nearby units, this is an emergency!"
The Trench Coat Hat Man broke into a sprint, and the others carrying the equipment immediately followed.
"You engaged in a firefight with the Alliance?" His tone was straight-up issuing an order. "Cease fire immediately! You have no authority whatsoever to open fire on behalf of the Agency!"
"It's not the Alli— Get down, everyone get down! Don't stick your head out! They have Reality Benders, and they're armed with anomalous weapons! The Alliance forces are getting pinned down by them, and we're trapped!"