Chapter 826: The Duty of the Alliance

Chapter 826: The Obligation of the Alliance

"This guy sure is popular..."

At the edge of Dawn City Square, Chiliarch Bannott wore a perfunctory smile, clapping his hands symbolically as he watched the power armor descend from the center of the square.

A year ago, he probably wouldn't have taken Chu Guang's "grand speeches" seriously.

But now, standing here, he couldn't help but feel a stir of emotion.

This guy had indeed boasted quite a bit, and painted many pies that smelled better than they tasted.

Yet interestingly, looking back from the present, those wild, fanciful pies had all, without exception, become reality—or at least were slowly turning into reality.

Now that the Alliance's previous phase of plans was complete, he had quickly pointed the direction forward for those who had paused.

In a sense, what he had just said was exactly what the Alliance needed to do in the next phase.

For instance, resolving unresolved disputes and letting the already functional Adhesive Commonwealth continue to play its role... In fact, the fact that they hadn't immediately started another war was precisely due to the Adhesive Commonwealth.

For instance, using the technology of the Prosperous Era to recreate magnificent wonders, to recreate the miracles of the old era—the space elevator being the most tangible example. It was said they had already succeeded in bringing the Ideal City's corporation into the fold.

They were already doing it.

Watching those people striving for a common goal, Bannott felt a twinge of envy.

The Vallant people were not lacking in strength; occupying vast territories, they had plenty of muscle.

But because everyone was pulling in different directions, from who knows how many years ago, they had disintegrated from within into countless factions of all sizes.

The Legion now was like a bloated and aging giant—its gaze still sharp, but its body already sluggish.

He had felt this way more than once, yet could think of no solution.

If only the esteemed Marshal could guide the Vallant people step by step like this.

He had heard it was like that long, long ago.

But then, one day, that esteemed figure gradually faded from their sight, hastily leaving the future path to them, who had no idea where they were going...

Just as Bannott's thoughts drifted back many years, a soft cough suddenly came from beside him.

"Mr. Bannott, I apologize for interrupting you so abruptly in such an informal setting."

Bannott turned sideways and saw a face he disliked, his brow instinctively furrowing.

It was Cheng Yan, the Alliance's Foreign Minister, the "archrival" of Duke Garava.

Still, he was not Duke Garava after all; he had the basic decorum and grace of a diplomat.

Especially when he noticed that the Foreign Minister's expression seemed somewhat urgent.

Realizing that this man needed something from him, Bannott perked up. Not only did he relax his furrowed brow, but a delighted smile spread across his face.

"Oh, if it isn't the Alliance's Foreign Minister. It's never easy to get an audience with you. What wind blows you my way today?"

Hearing the sarcasm in that voice, Cheng Yan's brow twitched.

This guy.

Did he think I came to ask for his help?

Before coming here, Cheng Yan wasn't sure if Bannott knew about what had happened on the Empire's west coast four days ago. After all, the speed of information dissemination in the area beyond Silver Moon Bay had always been a mystery, and it was only by chance that the Alliance had learned of the events there.

But now, Cheng Yan was almost certain that this guy had no idea what had happened there. Otherwise, he wouldn't be leisurely attending the Alliance's celebration; he'd be scrambling to clean up the mess.

Looking at the oblivious Chiliarch Bannott, who was unaware of the impending disaster, Cheng Yan smiled calmly and retorted.

"You're joking again. Even though you never make an appointment, never knock before entering, and love to cut in line, when have we ever turned you away?"

Bannott's expression soured slightly, and he lifted his chin.

Is this the attitude of someone asking for a favor?

"Out with it. What do you want?" Though he said this, he had already decided in his mind whether to cooperate.

"It's not about what we want. It's about what you want."

Without beating around the bush, Cheng Yan stared at the stunned Chiliarch Bannott and spoke slowly, word by word.

"Something big has happened at your West Sail Port."

...

On the endless sea, a fleet of eight cargo ships had approached the east coast of Boro Province and was slowly rounding the southernmost tip of this land.

Three nearly brand-new rookies stood at the bow, chatting desultorily in a "dialect" only they could understand.

"Damn! There's a celebration in Dawn City!"

"Whatever, it's the same stuff as the last two years. I've already seen it all on the official site."

"+1."

"But I heard there are a ton of people this year. Last year it was only two or three hundred thousand, but this year it's broken a million."

"On the second day, there's a Wasteland Survival Equipment Creative Expo, led by Goblin Tech. I heard they're showing off some seriously badass new gear."

"Badass? That probably needs quotation marks..."

"+10086."

"Hard to say. Besides Brother Mosquito, reliable institutions like Factory 81 and Megalith Military are also participating. According to forum posts, the exhibition list includes a new type of cybernetic body designed by Iberth... That guy spent all last year experimenting on Strength-type livestock. This time, he might pull off something wild!"

"Fuck! I'm actually tempted."

"I heard Vine Cottage, together with several big-name fashion design companies on North Street, is putting on a fashion art exhibition at the convention center... The models are said to be androids from Ideal City, and they apparently got sponsorship from the Kangmao Group."

"...Damn! Does West Sail Port have an airport? Boohoo, I want to go back to Dawn City!"

"How could it possibly have one!"

"Forget it... There's always next year. I'll just go then."

"True... With the little money in your pocket, even if you went, you'd just be joining the crowd. Better make some cash first."

The three sighed in unison, suddenly losing the desire to stay online. They turned and headed back into the cabin, agreeing to meet in Ionia later.

Wasteland OL was a great game in every way—flawless in freedom and realism—but traveling was painfully slow, without even a "teleport" function.

They had been drifting at sea for over a week, and the worst part was they still had three more days to go before reaching their destination. On the ship, the only things to do were stare at the sea in a daze or drink and play cards with the sailors.

This boring life had already drained the enthusiasm they had when they first set sail. They wondered how that old hand, Sisi, who regularly posted travelogues of wasteland locations on the official site, managed to stick with it...

And while Brother Wolf, Brother Dog, and Brother Guan had logged off one after another, their good brother Brother Eagle remained stubbornly online.

As the only try-hard in the group, he hadn't wasted a single moment of these idle days. With no tasks to do, he dragged the NPCs on the ship into learning "foreign languages," chatting aimlessly.

Though he wasn't particularly gifted with languages, thanks to his Intelligence attribute points, he had actually learned quite a bit over the past week.

As for the Vallant people on the ship, they weren't annoyed by him either.

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

Since there was nothing else to do, Yarman didn't mind chatting with this Alliance friend. During their conversations, he even picked up a few phrases of "Vault 404 Specialized Language."

Its grammar was far more complex than Human Union language, somewhat similar to the local languages of various countries from the Old Era before the Prosperous Era.

And these languages usually had a common trait: they were highly regional, making them difficult for those outside the linguistic environment to master.

By contrast, the Pan-Human Federation language was an artificial tongue designed and popularized through scientific methods, rendering its threshold for learning relatively low.

Of course, these unusual bits of trivia were merely things Yalman had overheard during his travels.

He was no professional linguist, after all, but a mere merchant.

Even so, he intended to record this intriguing phenomenon in his journal.

Along with all the bizarre and whimsical ideas the vault dwellers had brought up along the way...

"...Actually, I think Snake Province is quite a decent place. It sits right at the southernmost tip of the Bharata Province, not too far from Port Golden Galley and Westsail Port. Its geographical position is just like Cape Comorin next to Sri Lanka... cough, I mean, just like your Legion's Evernight Port at the southernmost edge of the Great Desert."

The captain's quarters.

Eagle of Foresight stood beside the window, gazing out high-spiritedly toward the coastline, when this utterly random remark suddenly tumbled from his mouth.

Yalman, who was sipping his tea, caught this wild flight of fancy from the window and could not help but let a wry, bewildered expression slip across his face.

"An interesting thought... unfortunately, the locals here are too poor. Not every stretch of coastline is worth a port of call, and even fewer are suited for constructing a proper harbor."

A prosperous inland market, convenient overland transport, dense bathymetric contours... there were simply too many indispensable factors.

Having lost Port Golden Galley, that major hub of the slave trade, they had spent ages combing the west coast of Bharata Province before finally settling on Westsail Port as a blessed, auspicious site.

As for constructing a brand-new port in Snake Province to the far south...

That would depend on whether the Empire had any such inclination.

"Too many poor people? Haha, isn't that perfect? We're here for poverty alleviation!" A joyful smile spread across Eagle of Foresight's face as he retracted his gaze from the window.

Port French Fries had plenty of wealthy folk, as did Port Golden Galley, but the commercial opportunities there had already been thoroughly exploited. To strike it rich in a place like that, one either needed economies of scale, a technological edge, or simply pure genius and luck.

By comparison, it was precisely this sort of undeveloped land that harbored the greatest opportunities.

Though investing in a port might seem a bit fantastical for a newcomer, the days ahead were long.

He aspired to become a man just like Big Brother Fang, and this minor setback would certainly not deter him!

Beholding this excessively confident fellow, Yalman made a helpless expression and gave two dismissive grunts.

"There is some truth to what you say... once we finish developing the market in Westsail Port, we can go down there and take a look."

As for such distant matters, he had no room for them in his thoughts for now; his only desire was to conclude the business at hand as swiftly as possible.

For the sake of that utterly unachievable pie in the sky painted by Lord Carnot, he had already incurred a massive debt with the bank.

If he could not find a way to recoup his losses soon, the interest alone on those debts would give him and his partners a bitter pill to swallow!

Penning yet another of the vault dwellers' whimsical ideas into his journal, Yalman casually tossed it into a drawer, intending to ponder it whenever it crossed his mind again. He then pinched the bridge of his nose, preparing to doze off for a brief rest.

For some unknown reason these past two days, a strange, inexplicable anxiety had gripped him; he lay wide awake at night, yet found himself drowsy and drained during the day.

Ordinarily, he never slept in the afternoon, but at this moment, he desired nothing more than to close his eyes for a spell...

Scarcely a moment after his eyes drifted shut, the door to the captain's quarters was abruptly pushed open amidst hurried footsteps and a sharp knock, and the fellow named Brother Dog came rushing inside.

"Something huge has happened!"

He spoke in the regional dialect of the vault, shouting directly toward Eagle of Foresight by the window.

Having picked up a bit of it from Brother Eagle, the startled Yalman actually understood his words and asked with a yawn.

"What is it? To have you in such a frantic state."

Brother Dog's eyes widened in brief astonishment. How did this NPC understand what he was saying?

However, there was no time to obsess over that now. Turning back to Eagle of Foresight, he continued urgently.

"A rebellion has broken out in Westsail Port! And it happened four days ago!"

"Four days ago?! Holy shit!" Eagle of Foresight froze in shock, instantly alarmed, and asked frantically, "What about now? Has it been suppressed?"

Catheter Dog replied with a rueful grin.

"How should I know? It depends on whether the Wilant garrison there is up to the task... but it looks pretty bleak to me. I heard there are tons of rebels, and local communications still haven't been restored. It's likely a lost cause."

A lost cause?!

Then wouldn't this entire trip of theirs be for nothing?!

Eagle of Foresight stood stunned, mouth agape for a long while, before a sudden realization hit him, prompting him to ask immediately.

"Wait, how the hell do you know there's a rebellion there?"

Catheter Dog rolled his eyes, looking at him as if he were an idiot. "Duh! An offline quest! The Administrator himself sent a pop-up window. All three of us received it! Check yours when you get back, you might have it too!"

Eagle of Foresight: "Holy shit! I'm going to check right now!"

A hidden quest!

For a moment, he knew not whether to rejoice or grieve.

Watching the two of them converse at such a lightning-fast pace, Yalman remained entirely bewildered throughout the exchange.

He had only vaguely caught the name of Westsail Port, after all, before everything else became incomprehensible.

Could it be...

That something catastrophic had happened in Westsail Port?!

Seeing Brother Eagle about to leave the room, Yalman hastily rose and stepped forward to catch his arm.

"Wait, what exactly happened?"

Eagle of Foresight had no time to explain and hurriedly shook off his hand.

"I'm not certain yet, I'll have to answer you in a bit... wait for me here."

Yalman watched dumbfounded as their figures vanished beyond the door of the captain's quarters. It was only after a long while had passed that he slowly sank back into his chair by the desk.

What on earth had happened in Westsail Port?

And...

How did they receive news from that place?

His head spinning with a myriad of questions, Yalman grabbed the teacup from the table, raised it to his lips, and swallowed a mouthful.

For some reason, that anxious sensation in his chest was growing more intense by the second...

...

As chance would have it.

The Guard Corps of the Alliance had not actually established a stable intelligence network in Westsail Port; even their informants in Port Golden Galley and Mammoth State were merely indirect collaborators. Thus, learning of the events in Westsail Port was pure coincidence.

The genesis of the matter lay in a cement transaction order processed within the banking system of Port Golden Galley.

The clerk responsible for handling the order suddenly lost contact with the clients in Westsail Port—and it was a widespread, systemic loss of contact. Consequently, the anomaly was immediately reported to the relevant regulatory authorities.

Initially, the bank in Port Golden Galley assumed the Wilants had sensed something and detained the cement their clients intended to resell to Mammoth State, only to discover later that the situation was far more complex.

Immediately following this, the Governor's Office of Port Golden Galley received word from an informant in Tiger State that the Imperial Capital had suddenly issued an order permitting the mobilization of the local forces in Lion State.

Given the close, paternal relationship between the Empire and the Legion, this mobilization order was highly unlikely to be directed at the Wilants, yet geographically speaking, it did not seem aimed at the Alliance either.

Synthesizing these two pieces of intelligence acquired simultaneously from different channels, Yodu, serving as the Governor's secretary, instantly deduced that some severe regional conflict must have erupted in Westsail Port, and that the situation had likely spiraled out of the Wilants' control.

Daring not to hesitate, he immediately dispatched the news via telegram to Port French Fries.

Perhaps it was because the Empire dared not inform the Legion of the matter, or perhaps because the Celestial Capital itself was utterly bewildered by the current situation, so Chu Guang learned of the situation in West Sailport even before Bennott, the Legion's ambassador.

Although that port was thousands of kilometers from the Alliance, for humanitarian and many other reasons, Chu Guang could not abandon the people there.

Moreover, the shelter itself was a disaster relief organization; they had an obligation to prevent the situation from worsening further.

In the most pessimistic scenario, the more than three thousand Valyrian residents living there might have already met with misfortune.

And considering the Legion's consistent modus operandi, their retaliation would likely not be as simple as merely capturing the perpetrators and accomplices.

If given enough time, they might very well wipe out the millions there entirely.

Even for the sake of shared humanity, the Alliance had to do something.

But after all, that place was not Alliance territory, nor were there any Alliance military bases nearby.

Sending troops there would certainly be inappropriate and impractical; they could only resort to diplomatic means as much as possible.

Therefore, Chu Guang instructed Cheng Yan to contact Ambassador Bennott to explain the severity of the situation, while simultaneously having Xiao Qi search for the nearest players to West Sailport, to see if a few could be sent to investigate the specifics there.

West Sailport was too far from the save point; Chu Guang actually had little hope at first, but unexpectedly, he did manage to find some in the end.

Although these four little players were all newbies who entered the game during the War of Heaven, there was no time to worry about that now.

After returning to the B4 level of the shelter, Chu Guang edited the mission document and immediately sent a real-time communication pop-up to the last player who had logged off to accept the mission.

This was a new feature developed by Xiao Qi after the last update, allowing direct voice communication between online and offline players.

However, because there was no 'filter' offline, it might affect the players' immersion, so unless it was an especially urgent situation, Chu Guang generally did not use this feature.

“…From our intelligence system, we have learned that a severe regional crisis is unfolding in West Sailport. The shelter is a disaster relief organization; whether out of morality or duty, we cannot abandon the survivors there.”

“Whether Valyrians or people from the Province of Brahma, they all have the right to survive in this world. We have no stance to intervene in their conflicts, but we must minimize the deaths of innocents as much as possible.”

Although he was excited to receive the Administrator's 'call' offline, after hearing the entire mission content, Farseeing Eagle's face still showed a troubled expression.

Regardless of this mission, he could now basically confirm that his 'deal' of poverty alleviation was essentially screwed.

Needless to say, if the worst had already happened, given the Valyrians' temper, they would leave no one alive—they'd probably even shake the eggs in the supermarket until the yolks were scrambled before leaving… if there was such a thing as a supermarket there.

If not for the generous contribution points and silver coins offered by this mission, he would have even considered abandoning ship and starting over.

“But sir, we are at sea. Even in the most optimistic scenario, we won't arrive until noon on the third… by the time we get there, I fear everything will be too late.”

Chu Guang was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke.

“We cannot always appear in the places that need us before disaster strikes, but even so, we must still do what we ought to do. And compared to waiting two centuries, three days should not be too late.”

“Remember your identity and responsibility. Do not let your personal emotions dictate your actions. Do what you can, and within your power, minimize risks and harm… in short, do your best.”

Perhaps the difficulty of this mission was indeed a bit too high for them.

After all, these four players were still newcomers, perhaps having just completed the 'Passing the Torch' mission not long ago.

Just as Chu Guang was hesitating, Farseeing Eagle was also having second thoughts in his heart.

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

If it were that guy, he would definitely accept the mission without hesitation and calmly think of a way to break the deadlock…

Taking a deep breath, Farseeing Eagle spoke seriously.

“I understand… I will do my best—no, I will definitely not let your expectations down and complete this mission splendidly!”

Hearing that suddenly energetic voice, Chu Guang was first slightly startled, then a smile appeared on his face.

“Mm, I believe you can do it. Go ahead and act.”

“This is a mission that only you can accomplish. I entrust it to you!”

After the communication ended.

Chu Guang let out a long breath, took off his earphones, and leaned back on the sofa.

Climbing onto his shoulder, Xiao Qi looked at his profile with a worried expression.

“Is it really okay to leave this to those newcomers?”

She always felt that kid was not very reliable, at least incomparable to the few players the master often used.

Not just ability, but in every aspect…

Of course, this was just a conclusion drawn from big data analysis; what would happen in the end was indeed hard to say.

Compared to the worried Xiao Qi, Chu Guang only smiled faintly and tapped her forehead with his index finger.

“No one is born knowing everything; it always takes some time to grow.”

“Just let them give it a try. Foreign Minister Cheng will continue to follow up on his end.”