CHAPTER 825: CHAPTER 825: THE ALLIANCE’S DUTY

"This guy has quite a bit of popularity..."

At the edge of Dawn City Square, Centurion Bennott wore a perfunctory smile, symbolically clapping his hands as he watched the power armor step down to the center of the square.

If it were a year ago, he probably wouldn’t have taken Chu Guang’s formal words seriously.

But today, standing here, he couldn’t help but feel many waves in his heart.

Although this guy indeed boasted a lot, painting many fragrant visions that seemed better in theory than in practice.

The interesting thing is, looking back from the present, all of those grand visions have without exception become reality, or at the very least, are slowly becoming reality.

Now that the Alliance’s previous phase plan has been completed, he has quickly guided those who paused towards the next direction.

In some sense, the things he mentioned just now are precisely what the Alliance will do in the next phase.

For example, resolving pending disputes and allowing the Sticky Community, which has already served its purpose, to continue to function... in fact, the reason they haven’t initiated another war is precisely due to the role of the Sticky Community.

For instance, using the technology of the Prosperity Epoch to recreate majestic spectacles, to reproduce the miracles of the past era—that space elevator is the most direct representation, and it’s said they’ve successfully brought the company of Ideal City into the fold.

They are already doing it.

Seeing those people striving for the same goal, Bennott actually felt a tinge of envy in his heart.

The Weilante people are not lacking in strength, with their vast territories they are powerful.

However, because everyone is exerting effort in different directions, they have been disintegrating into countless factions of various sizes from many years ago.

The current Army is like a bloated and aging giant, though its gaze is still sharp, its body has become sluggish.

He has had such a feeling more than once, but he can’t think of any solution.

If only the respected Marshal could lead the Weilante people step by step like him, it would be great.

It is said that it was like that in the distant past.

But suddenly, from one day on, that respected person gradually faded from their sight, hurriedly leaving the future to those who had no idea where to go...

Just as Bennott’s thoughts unconsciously drifted back to many years ago, a gentle cough suddenly came from beside him.

"Mr. Bennott, I’m sorry to interrupt you in such an informal setting."

Bennott turned to look and saw a face he found annoying, immediately frowning unconsciously.

This person is Cheng Yan, the Foreign Minister of the Alliance, and the "lifelong enemy" of Duke Garava.

However, after all, he is not Duke Garava, as a diplomat, he still maintained basic professionalism and demeanor.

Especially when he noticed that the expression on this Foreign Minister’s face seemed a bit anxious.

Realizing that this guy needed something from him, Bennott suddenly became spirited, not only easing his frown but also displaying an extremely pleasant smile.

"Oh, isn’t this the Foreign Minister of the Alliance? It’s really rare to see you, what wind blew you here today?"

Hearing the sarcastic tone, Cheng Yan’s brow twitched.

This guy.

He couldn’t possibly think that I’m here to ask him for help, could he?

Before coming here, Cheng Yan was not sure if Bennott was aware of what happened on the Empire’s West Coast four days ago. After all, the speed of information spread in the area beyond Silver Moon Bay has always been a mystery, and it was merely a coincidence that the Alliance learned about it.

But now, Cheng Yan could basically confirm that this guy had no idea what happened there. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be leisurely attending the Alliance’s celebration here; he would definitely be urgently rushing to deal with the aftermath.

Seeing that Bennott, unaware of the impending disaster, Cheng Yan remained composed, smiled slightly, and replied.

"You’re joking again. Although you never make appointments, don’t knock on the door, and love to cut in line, when have we ever turned you away?"

Bennott’s expression showed slight displeasure, raising his chin slightly.

Is this the attitude of someone asking for a favor?

"Go ahead, what do you need?" Although he said this, he had already decided internally whether or not to cooperate.

"It’s not that we need something, it’s you who have the issue."

Not beating around the bush, Cheng Yan stared at the bewildered Bennott and continued, word by word.

"Your West Sail Port is in big trouble."

...

On the boundless sea, a fleet of eight cargo ships had approached the East Coast of Poluo Province and was slowly sailing along the coastline towards the southernmost tip of the land.

Three newcomers, ninety percent new, stood at the bow of the ship, using a "dialect" only they could understand to engage in sporadic exchanges.

"Damn! It looks like there’s a celebration in Dawn City!"

"It doesn’t matter, anyway, it’s the same activities as the previous years, we’ve already watched it on the official website."

"+1."

"But I heard there’s a lot of people this year. Last year, there were only two or three hundred thousand people, and this year, it directly broke a million."

"On the second day, there’s a Wasteland Survival Gear Expo, spearheaded by Goblin Technology. I’ve heard they’ve got quite a lot of impressive new gear."

"That ’impressive’ gear should probably come with quotation marks..."

"+10086."

"Hard to say. Besides Mosquito Brother, Factory No. 81, Huge Rock Military Industry, and other reputable organizations are also participating. People on the forum are saying that there might be a new prosthetic design by Yibers on the exhibition list... That guy spent the whole last year experimenting on Strength Type beasts, maybe he’s come up with something hardcore this time!"

"Damn! I’m kind of tempted."

"I heard that Vine Cottage teamed up with several major clothing design companies from North Street to put together a fashion art show, held right at the Convention Center... The models are said to be bionics from Ideal City, and they even got sponsorship from the Kang Mao Group."

"...Damn! Is there an airport in West Sail Port? Wuwuwu, I want to go back to the City of Dawn!"

"How could there possibly be one!"

"Forget it, forget it... There’s always next year, at worst I’ll go next year."

"True... with the money you have, even if you went, you’d only be there for the excitement. Better to focus on making some money first."

The three of them sighed in unison. Suddenly, they lost the desire to stay online any longer and all turned around to head back into the cabin, agreeing to meet in Ionia later.

In this Wasteland OL game, everything’s great. You can’t fault it in terms of freedom or realism, but traveling on the map is just painfully slow, and it doesn’t even have a ’teleport’ function."

They’ve been drifting at sea for over a week now, and what’s worse is they still have three more days to go before reaching their destination. And on the ship, the only things to do are either staring blankly at the sea or drinking and playing cards with the sailors.

This boring life has long drained them of the excitement they had when they first set to sea. One wonders how Old Iron Si, who often serialized travelogues from various parts of the wasteland on the official website, managed to stick it out...

And just as Brother Wolf, Dog Brother, and Manager Brother were logging off one by one, their good friend Brother Eagle remained persistently online.

As the team’s only hard worker, he didn’t waste a single moment of these days on the ship. With no quests to do, he dragged the NPCs on the boat to learn ’foreign languages,’ making small talk whenever he could.

Though not particularly talented in languages, thanks to his Intelligence System attribute point advantage, he actually learned quite a bit over the week.

As for the Weilante people on the ship, they weren’t bothered by him at all.

After all, life on the ship was just too boring.

Yarman didn’t mind chatting with this Alliance friend, occasionally even trying to learn some "Shelter No. 404 specific language" during their conversations.

The grammar of this language is far more complicated than United Human, and it bears some resemblance to the old pre-Prosperity Epoch local languages.

These languages generally have a distinctive feature, which is a strong regional attribute, making them difficult for those outside that language environment to master.

In comparison, United Human was a language designed and popularized scientifically, making it relatively easier to learn.

Of course, Yarman picked up these unusual bits of trivia from his travels.

After all, he’s not a professional linguist, just a simple merchant.

Yet, this intriguing phenomenon he planned to jot down in his diary.

Including those bizarre ideas proposed by the residents of the refuge along the way...

"...I actually think Snake State is a pretty good place, right on the southern end of Poluo Province, not too far from Jin Jialun Port and West Sail Port. The geographical location is a bit like Cape Comorin beside Sri Lanka... Ahem, I mean, just like your army’s Evernight Harbor at the southern end of the Great Desert."

Captain’s Room.

[Far-sighted Eagle] stood by the window, spiritedly gazing in the direction of the coastline, suddenly spouting these random words.

Yarman, sipping tea, heard these words from the window and showed a bemused expression.

"Quite an amusing idea... Unfortunately, people here are too poor. It’s not every coastline has the value to dock at, nor is every coast suitable for constructing a port."

Thriving inland markets, convenient land transportation, and dense contour lines, among others... too many indispensable factors.

After losing the slave trade port of Jin Jialun, they’ve spent a long time selecting West Sail Port as their prime choice on the west coast of Poluo Province.

As for building a new port in the far south of Snake State...

It would depend on whether the Empire has that idea.

"More poor people? Haha, isn’t that perfect? We’re here to alleviate poverty!" A joyful smile appeared on Far-sighted Eagle’s face as he turned his gaze back from the window.

There are quite a few wealthy people in Potato Harbor, and Jin Jialun Port is the same, but business opportunities there have mostly been developed. To get rich in such places, you either need scale advantages, technological advantages or rely on sheer luck or genius.

In comparison, it’s the undeveloped lands that harbor more opportunities.

While investing in a port might seem like a far-fetched idea for a newcomer, there’s a long future ahead.

He’s determined to become a man like Brother Fang Chang, and no challenge will stop him!

Yarman couldn’t help but show a helpless expression at this overly confident guy and hummed perfunctorily.

"You’ve got a point... Once we’ve developed West Sail Port’s market, we can take a look there."

As for such distant matters, he had no grand ideas yet, only wanting to finish the current business at hand as soon as possible.

For the pie Lord Bennott painted for him, which he couldn’t quite grasp yet, he’d already owed the bank a substantial amount.

If we can’t quickly find some work to recover blood, just the interest on those debts is enough to knock him and his partner down!

Yarman wrote down another whimsical idea from the Residents of the refuge in his diary, casually tossed it into the drawer, planning to ponder it later when it came to mind. Then he pinched his brow, preparing to take a nap and rest for a while.

For some reason these two days, he has always felt inexplicable panic, lying awake at night, and drowsy and listless during the day.

Normally, he wouldn’t nap in the afternoon, but at this moment he only wanted to close his eyes for a bit...

Just as he had barely closed his eyes for a moment, the door to the captain’s room was suddenly pushed open by hurried footsteps and knocking. The guy named "Dog Brother" ran in from outside.

"Something big happened!"

He was speaking in the dialect of the refuge, and he was shouting towards the far-sighted eagle by the window.

Due to learning a bit from Brother Eagle, the awakened Yarman was able to understand him, yawning as he asked.

"What’s the matter? What got you so worked up?"

Dog Brother blinked his eyes in surprise, amazed that this NPC could understand what he was saying?

However, there was no time to dwell on this now, as he looked at the far-sighted eagle in a hurry and continued speaking.

"There’s been a rebellion in West Sail Port! And it happened four days ago!"

"Four days ago?! Damn it!" The far-sighted eagle was first stunned, then instantly shocked, urgently asking, "What about now? Has it been suppressed?"

Guide Dog Brother said with a wry smile.

"How would I know? It depends if the Weilante People’s garrison there is strong or not... But I see it’s quite dodgy. I heard there are a lot of rebels, and the local communication hasn’t been restored yet. Mostly it’s beyond saving."

Beyond saving?!

Then aren’t they on a wasted trip?!

The far-sighted eagle stayed with his mouth open dumbfounded for a long while, suddenly realizing a problem, and then quickly asked.

"Wait a minute, how the hell did you know there was a rebellion there?"

Guide Dog Brother rolled his eyes, looking at him with an expression that seemed to see an idiot: "Nonsense! It’s an offline mission! The Manager personally sent a private message; all three of us got it! You might have one if you go back and check!"

Far-sighted Eagle: "Damn it! I’m going to check now!"

Hidden mission!

He didn’t know whether to be happy or worried for a moment.

Watching the two’s rapid exchange, Yarman had a completely dumbfounded expression throughout.

He only vaguely heard the name of West Sail Port, and then he couldn’t understand anything else.

Could it be...

Something big happened at West Sail Port?!

Seeing Brother Eagle about to leave the room, Yarman quickly got up and grabbed him.

"Wait, what exactly happened?"

The far-sighted eagle was in too much of a rush to explain, hurriedly shaking off his hand.

"I’m not sure yet, I’ll have to wait a moment before I can answer you... Stay here and wait for me."

Yarman stared dumbfoundedly at the figures of the two disappearing outside the captain’s room door, and only after quite some time did he slowly sit by the table.

What exactly happened at West Sail Port?

And also...

How did they know about events there?

With a head full of question marks, Yarman picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.

For some reason, that panicked feeling was getting stronger and stronger...

...

As it happens.

The Alliance’s Guards Corps actually hadn’t established a solid intelligence network in West Sail Port, and even the informers in Jin Jialun Port and Mammoth State were only indirect cooperators, so learning about West Sail Port’s issues was purely coincidental.

The cause of the incident was actually due to a cement trade order processed within the Jin Jialun Port’s Banking System.

The clerk responsible for the order suddenly couldn’t contact the customers in West Sail Port, and it was on a large scale, so they immediately reported the anomaly to the relevant regulatory authority.

Initially, Jin Jialun Port’s bank thought the Weilante people had detected something and were holding back the cement their customers planned to resell to Mammoth State, but later it seemed the matter wasn’t that simple.

Soon after, the Governor’s Office in Jin Jialun Port received information from an informant over in Tiger State, stating that the Empire’s Tiandu suddenly issued an order permitting the local army of Lion State to assemble.

Given the close father-son relationship between the Empire and the Army, this assembly order naturally wasn’t likely aimed at the Weilante people, but from a distance standpoint, it didn’t seem like it was to confront the Alliance either.

Combining the two pieces of intelligence obtained from different channels simultaneously, Yoder, serving as the Governor’s secretary, immediately judged that something serious regional conflict had occurred in West Sail Port, and the situation might have already slipped out of the Weilante people’s control.

Without hesitation, he immediately turned the message into a telegram and sent it to Potato Harbor.

Perhaps it was because the Empire was afraid to inform the Army, or maybe because Tiandu itself was clueless about the current situation, Chu Guang actually learned about West Sail Port’s condition before Bennott, the Army’s ambassador.

Even though the port is thousands of kilometers away from the Alliance, for humanitarian reasons among others, Chu Guang couldn’t just ignore the people there.

Moreover, the refuge itself is a disaster relief organization, and they have an obligation to prevent the situation from worsening.

In the worst-case scenario, the more than 3,000 Weilante residents living there may have already faced unfortunate circumstances.

And given the usual conduct of the Army, their retaliation would likely not just be about capturing the culprits and accomplices.

If given enough time, they might eradicate the entire hundreds of thousands of people there.

Even for the sake of fellow humans, the Alliance must do something.

But that place is not the territory of the Alliance, and there’s no military base nearby.

Sending troops there is definitely inappropriate and unrealistic; they can only resort to diplomatic means as much as possible.

Thus, Chu Guang instructed Cheng Yan to contact Ambassador Bennott to explain the seriousness of the situation, while having Xiao Qi search for the players closest to West Sail Port to see if they could send a few people over to investigate the situation there.

The distance of West Sail Port from the save point was too great, so Chu Guang didn’t have much hope at first, but unexpectedly he managed to find them in the end.

Although these four new players joined the game during the Battle of Paradise, there’s no time to worry about that now.

After returning to Floor B4 of the refuge, Chu Guang immediately sent a pop-up of real-time communication to the last player to log out for the mission, after finishing editing the task documents.

This is a new feature developed by Xiao Qi after the last update, allowing the Manager to have direct voice communication with players both online and offline.

However, due to the lack of a "filter" offline, it might affect the player’s immersion, so Chu Guang generally doesn’t use this function unless in particularly urgent situations.

"...We’ve learned through our own intelligence system that a severe regional crisis is unfolding at West Sail Port. As a disaster relief organization, we cannot ignore the survivors there, whether out of morality or duty."

"Whether they are Weilante people or Poluo Province residents, they all have the right to survive in this world. We do not take a stance in their conflicts, but we must minimize the death of innocents as much as possible."

Though excited to receive a "call" from the Manager offline, after listening to the full details of the mission, Far-sighted Eagle still showed a troubled expression.

No matter the mission, he could basically confirm by now that his "charity deal" was a washout.

Given Weilante people’s temperament, if the worst has happened, they would likely not leave a single soul, perhaps even shake every egg in the supermarket to ruin them... assuming there are supermarkets there.

If not for the mission’s decent reward in Contribution Points and Silver Coins, he might even consider quitting and starting over.

"But sir, we’re at sea, and even in the most optimistic scenario, it would take until the afternoon of the 3rd for us to get there... By the time we arrive, it might already be too late."

Chu Guang was silent for a moment before slowly speaking.

"We cannot always appear in places in need before disasters strike, but even so, we must do what we have to do. Compared to two centuries of waiting, three days shouldn’t be too late."

"Remember your identity and responsibility, don’t let personal feelings dictate your actions, do what you can, and control risks and damages within your capacity... In any case, do your best."

Perhaps this mission is indeed a bit too challenging for them.

After all, these four players are still newcomers, perhaps only having recently finished their Pass the Torch mission.

As Chu Guang hesitated, Far-sighted Eagle was also having second thoughts.

But just as he was about to back out, he suddenly thought of someone.

If it were that guy, he would definitely take on the mission without hesitation and calmly think of ways to break through the situation...

Taking a deep breath, Far-sighted Eagle said seriously.

"I understand... I’ll do my best - no, I will definitely not let you down and finish this mission splendidly!"

Hearing that suddenly enthusiastic tone, Chu Guang was slightly stunned, then smiled.

"Hmm, I believe you can do it, go ahead and do your best."

"This is a mission only you can complete, I’m leaving it in your hands!"

After the communication ended.

Chu Guang let out a long breath, removed the headset, and leaned back on the sofa.

Climbing onto his shoulder, Xiao Qi looked worriedly at his profile.

"Is it really okay to leave it to those newcomers?"

It felt those kids weren’t very reliable, at least not compared to the players its master frequently used.

Not only in ability but in all aspects...

Of course, this was just a conclusion drawn from big data analysis, and it’s hard to say what the outcome will be.

Unlike the worried Xiao Qi, Chu Guang just smiled slightly and nudged its forehead with his index finger.

"No one is born knowing everything, it takes time to grow."

"Let them give it a try, Cheng Yan’s side will continue to follow up too."