Chapter 930: Chapter 930: This NPC Is Too Real!
In Blackwater Alley, stood an inconspicuous residential building.
Sitting before a telegraph machine, Marta meticulously tapped out a telegram against a manuscript in her hand, reporting the local situation to her superior far away in the Snake State of Poluo Province.
[At exactly twelve noon today, the Alliance Army successfully landed at Evernight Harbor. The local garrison has been driven back to the northern urban area and Blackwater Alley to huddle. Calculating from the day the Alliance suffered a nuclear strike and declared wartime mobilization, the time from logistics scheduling to personnel landing took only about a week. Such efficiency is truly astounding, completely overturning our previous analysis of its war efficiency.]
[Apart from the Alliance’s mobilization on its home turf, the performance of the South Sea Union in the war is even more at its command, and the Far East enterprises also declared war at the same time following the Alliance’s declaration, with the kingdoms of Luo Xia Province responding one after another. Its hard power is daunting, and its soft power is equally intimidating! Unless necessary, conflict with it must be avoided. Even if conflict is inevitable, care should be taken not to touch the bottom line!]
[Furthermore, based on the series of measures the Alliance executed after entering Giant Stone City, I judge they might take similar actions at Evernight Harbor, winning public favor through rectifying law and order and eradicating triads and evil. By then, Blackwater Alley is bound to experience a storm of bloodshed!]
[Therefore, I took it upon myself to dump and destroy 20 tons of "goods" into the sea and ordered all levels of subordinate organizations to maintain silence and lie low, waiting for the opportunity.]
After sending the telegram, Marta let out a sigh and hid the radio in a hidden compartment under the bed, while also taking out a palm-sized wooden box from the dark space.
This wooden box contained items proving his identity and some personal belongings he brought from Poluo Province, such as the Family Meeting pamphlet and photos of Saint Hero Zayed, among others.
Recalling the good times in Snake State, Marta looked at them one last time with reluctance, then knelt and bowed to them before resolutely pulling out a lighter and burning them all.
Light and shadow always follow each other; wherever someone stands in the sunlight, someone else must bear the shadow.
Keeping these things posed a threat.
Both to himself and the Family Meeting.
However, at that very moment, he didn’t notice that this scene was completely witnessed by his subordinate standing at the door.
Watching his boss actually burn the photo of the Saint Hero, the young lad held his breath.
He had come to deliver documents and didn’t expect to witness such a treacherous sight.
After a struggle, he ultimately said nothing but secretly snapped a photo before quietly slipping away from the door, controlling his rapidly beating heart...
A handle!
He had a handle on his superior!
...
At the same moment, in the urban area near the port, a team of players from the Jungle Corps wearing K-10 heavy exoskeletons was patrolling.
When the team reached the coast, a player suddenly stopped, left the group, and squatted in front of the railing.
Staring at the fish belly-up on the sea’s surface, he mumbled, perplexed, "Strange."
The team leader walked up beside him, looking at the back of his head and asked.
"What’s strange?"
The player pointed at the fish on the sea and said in bewilderment.
"Look, there must be tens of thousands... I figured we didn’t bomb fish when we landed?"
To avoid civilian casualties and to enjoy the melee combat, they hadn’t even used many ship cannons and aircraft took care of most armored units they encountered.
The captain gave him a peculiar look.
"What’s so curious about it..."
It’s just a few dead fish... well, more than a few.
He glanced at the rippling sea, frowning slightly.
Fish floated belly-up on the waves, forming a continuous line, in every imaginable shape and color.
Though, not being a fishing enthusiast, he could hardly recognize any of them.
"...It is quite strange."
Electrofishing, perhaps?
But it didn’t seem related to them.
"Isn’t it? I suspect there’s a side quest involved here..."
The player squatting by the sea reached out curiously, nudging the nearest fish to see if the belly-up little fellows were still alive.
To his surprise, as soon as his index finger touched the slippery scales, the belly-up fish shuddered to life, flapping its tail and shooting towards him.
The player jumped in fright, quickly standing to dodge the fish lips aiming for his nose, only to still get a splash of fishy smell from that wet tail.
"Damn! This fish really can fly!?"
Looking at the fish desperately flapping its tail on the ground, trying to swim onto the street, the player had a look of discovering a new continent on his face.
This guy seemingly forgot it’s a fish, yet tried to walk like a human, even trying to squeeze onto the street.
Meanwhile, the team captain beside him stifled a yawn, losing all interest in his team member’s new discovery.
"If there really is a side quest, I’ll take your surname—"
Before he finished, countless fish floating on the sea suddenly awoke in unison, jumping out of the water like raindrops and landing on the shore.
They seemed driven by some mission or imaginations of being land creatures, leaping from the suffocating sea.
In an instant, the hundreds-of-meters-wide coastline swarmed with tens of thousands of flapping fish.
They struggled for breath, but soon enough, they spit out their last bubble.
The strongest fish were the first to die, followed by the palm-sized clownfish, and then the tiny shrimps huddled in the crevices.
Witnessing this incredible scene, not only were the players patrolling the shore stunned, but even the remnants of the Southern Legion hiding in the alleys, ready to fire, were dumbfounded.
"...What’s going on?"
The team leader mumbled to himself in confusion, intending to report the situation to Brother Chicken, only to see a mob of Poluo people rush in from nowhere.
Most of them were dock workers and laundry workers from the nearby area, and some were fishermen employed by the Vellante people’s fish farms.
They carried wooden buckets and fishing nets, even bringing out their pots and pans.
"Quick! The fish are still alive!"
"Don’t take my net! It’s mine!"
"Damn it, don’t block my way!"
"I’ve got my eyes on this one! Who dares to snatch it!"
In just a few breaths, the coast was crowded with joyous Poluo people.
The scene of picking and arguing was as bustling as a festival.
Although usually afraid to die, when there was an opportunity to take advantage, they were reckless.
Maybe they remembered they were allies of the Alliance, maybe they remembered that those noble folks never laid hands on the unarmed, or maybe they thought of some other silly reasons, forgetting temporarily that there was still a war ongoing.
So many fish, enough to eat for days!
"Wait, stop grabbing! Holy crap, doesn’t anyone think there’s something wrong with the fish’s brains?" The team leader shouted in disbelief, but no one listened to him.
Seeing the fish snatched away entirely, the player who first triggered the side quest was left speechless with his mouth agape.
My goodness...
These NPCs are too real!
...
The little episode on the coast did not affect the overall progress of the war.
By noon, the battles in various districts of Evernight Harbor had mostly concluded.
The Southern Legion’s nearly 20,000 city defense troops and over 100,000 military personnel all withdrew to the northern urban area under the command of Ten Thousand Leader Stanford, preparing to regroup and compete with the Alliance for control of Evernight Harbor again.
However, upon learning that Triumph City had already "fallen," and the corporation had declared war on the Southern Legion, a series of messages, everyone’s morale dropped to the bottom, including Stanford himself.
Meanwhile, all areas from which the city defense troops withdrew, including the northwestern city area, fell under the control of the Alliance.
Although there were still some diehards hiding in the city, waiting for a chance to fire on patrolling players, those scattered shots didn’t form a pattern and were quickly extinguished in the streets.
The players from the Jungle Corps, including Midnight Chicken Killing, were originally prepared for a law enforcement battle, but there ended up being no law enforcement battle at all.
Most of the Vellante people here remembered what these city defense troops had done.
So when these Southern Legion dogs tried to gain support from fellow citizens, the looks they received were only filled with disappointment and mockery.
If you knew it would turn out like this today, why didn’t you do something earlier?
As for the soldiers of the Vellante Expeditionary Army, the residents of Evernight Harbor welcomed them into the city with almost cheers.
Especially in the northwestern city area where they once fought and resisted, people even placed flowers on both sides of the road to welcome their returning compatriots.
Walking on familiar streets, a veteran Vellante soldier carrying an LD-47 rifle shouted towards the window by the roadside.
"Haha, Bletz, you old scoundrel, still here!"
The old man, past fifty, leaned on the window, smiling at the veteran standing in the street.
"I’m not going anywhere. Someone has to remember what happened on this street, but how come you switched to the Alliance’s army."
The veteran’s face shone with pride.
"I said I’d be back! Those who should leave are Teil and his penned pigs, not me!"
Looking at his bear-like demeanor, the old man leaning by the window laughed and waved a finger at him.
"Hahaha! Salute to you! By the way, Perry, how’s he doing?"
The veteran pursed his lips.
"He’s old, now only good at running his mouth, saying if it weren’t for arthritis, he’d surely come and mess around with us."
The old man chuckled.
"Sounds just like something he’d say, so is this coward still doing his old job?"
"No, he’s done with those gold bracelets, got mixed up with a guy from the New Continent, and opened a bank... That fellow’s a good person, thanks to him, we had a place to stay once ashore."
Seeing it was awkward for the old friend to chat with his head held up, the old man patted the curtain calling out to him.
"Let’s not talk through the window, come upstairs, I’ll open a good bottle of wine."
Hearing this, the Vellante veteran immediately shook his head.
"No way, our officer doesn’t allow us to enter civilian houses."
The old man was dumbfounded upon hearing this.
"Even an old friend’s invitation doesn’t work?"
"Discipline is discipline, no excuses are allowed. Let’s talk when there’s time."
After saying this, the old soldier made a farewell gesture and then returned to the group.
Not far away on the street, watching the harmonious and friendly scene, the captain of the 100th Mountain Division of the Enterprise took a drag of Goblin Technology’s Rick Five, squinted his eyes, smiled, and said.
"They picked a good time."
The adjutant standing next to him tilted his head slightly.
"What good time?"
"Just before the end of the night, at dawn, they extended a helping hand to the Weilante who were fed up with the Wasteland Era. But most importantly, they allowed the Weilante to accomplish their own final liberation..."
The captain grinned.
Perhaps the end of the Wasteland Era is truly approaching.
If the launch of the Pioneer was just a sign of dawn, then now he could already see that ray of light emerging on the horizon...
At this moment, a broadcast rang out in the distance.
It seemed the brothers of the Jungle Corps had successfully taken over the broadcasting station and made it work.
"Survivors of Evernight Harbor, I am the Legion Leader of the Alliance Jungle Corps..."
"A week ago, your Legion Leader Teil detonated a nuclear bomb at our doorstep, and that is why we are standing here armed."
"But don’t be afraid, we have no enmity with the Weilante people, nor are we interested in your land. As soon as we catch the culprit, we will withdraw from here immediately."
"I believe it’s not just us; you must also be fed up with that rogue. If you are willing to fight alongside us, we welcome you to stand with us. If you’re not ready, we won’t force you, just don’t do anything foolish..."
Unlike Brother Fang Chang, Brother Chicken doesn’t fancy flowery language, and the other brothers in the corps mostly keep their feelings hidden.
But he still made things clear, after all, brothers on the forum would also help with ideas and strategies.
For instance, agreeing on rules with local residents, or the eight disciplines and three great cautions, and how to report any Simpletons who violate them, etc.
Besides this, he also called on knowledgeable people from all sectors of Evernight Harbor’s society to stand up and jointly shoulder the task of restoring order.
Not just the Weilante people.
This also includes the aliens living in Blackwater Alley.
As they did in the Falcon Kingdom, they would select representatives from each industry, and once order is restored, local governance would be returned to the hands of the local people.
Though his words were blunt and hardly tactful, the message he conveyed was clear——
They did not come here in the name of conquest, but in the name of liberation.
And after hearing those loud and sincere words, the anxious faces and fearful eyes finally turned skeptical yet curious.
That was already enough.
Midnight Chicken Killing never fantasized that his speech alone would gain the complete trust of the locals.
Time will prove everything.
Their promises were not just mere promises.
At the same time as the broadcast repeatedly played, a group of armed soldiers surrounded the hospital near the Governor’s Mansion.
They were soldiers of the Weilante Expeditionary Army’s first battalion "Comte Camp," named in memory of Comte.
As for their captain, it was Kuran who proposed the establishment of the Weilante Expeditionary Army—the one-legged, later resigned Evernight Harbor customs official.
It is worth mentioning that upon learning of his intention to return to the battlefield, Yarman generously donated a prosthetic limb to him.
Now his leg is no longer lame, and he can easily jump over three meters high... if necessary.
At this moment, he was following the footsteps of an enthusiastic citizen of Evernight Harbor to the entrance of the hospital.
The citizen was a Weilante, walking and enthusiastically introducing along the way.
"Just up ahead, sir, I reckon it should be in the basement of the hospital. There’s a door that’s never been used, which should be the entrance to the underground hideout."
Glancing at the empty hospital lobby, Kuran turned his face to ask him.
"Are you sure?"
"I’m sure," the man boasted proudly with a red bulbous nose, "I saw Ya Hui run in from outside with my own eyes, alongside him was Supervisor Willoby... if you’re a resident of Evernight Harbor, you must know who they are."
"The respected Governor and the Captain of the Guards," said the young man standing next to Kurman with a whistle, grinning, "I won’t forget these bastards."
"They don’t even deserve to be called bastards, at most they’re the lapdogs of bastards," Kuran chambered a round in his rifle, waved to the brothers behind him, "Take them alive."
"Yes!"
Hearing their leader’s order, a group of Weilante soldiers broke into vicious smiles and strode through the door.
Finally, they could settle the score with those damned dogs!
After suffering so much indignity before, they couldn’t feel more delighted now.
Just a short while after the soldiers entered, a deafening explosion and several gunshots erupted, reverberating with pig-like pleas for mercy in the basement.
"I surrender! Don’t kill me!"
Being supported by two soldiers on either side, the dust-covered Governor Ya Hui was dragged out of the hospital.
Behind him followed the similarly dust-covered Supervisor Willoby.
Compared to Ya Hui, he looked even more miserable, with blood oozing from his leg.
Perhaps wanting to impress in front of the governor, he, in his madness, even thought of pulling out a gun to resist.
However, his superior was much more pragmatic, surrendering as soon as the gunfire erupted.
Looking at these two wretched beings like dead dogs, Kuran felt no sympathy, just disdain.
Standing on the sunlit street, Supervisor Willoby lifted his head and finally saw Kuran’s face with his bruised eyes.
He froze for several seconds, then furrowed his brows, squeezing out a half-dead sentence from his mouth.
"You... Have I seen you somewhere before."
Kuran lit a cigarette and said casually, not caring much.
"Perhaps you’ve seen me at the harbor."
Upon hearing this, Willoby’s pupils shrank to a point, glaring at him, squeezing out words from his cracked lips.
"Why did you betray the Marshal—"
"I should return that question to you. Why did you betray the Marshal?" Kuran looked at him expressionlessly, as if looking at a bug.
Being stared at by those eyes, Willoby felt drained of all energy, unable to muster any of his usual authority, only blushing and arguing.
"I... Betray? When have I ever betrayed the Marshal! You are spouting nonsense!"
Kuran: "When you pointed your gun at the Weilante people, when you became a dog under power."
Willoby, lips turning white with anger, wanted to lift a finger to point at him, but was firmly held down by the soldier beside, unable to move.
"Aren’t you the same? Becoming a dog of the Alliance!"
"Say what you like, you can say a horse and a donkey are the same, that’s your freedom."
Not bothering to argue with him, Kuran threw the finished cigarette butt to the ground and extinguished it.
"Carter Nord Prison should hold some real criminals, not just some poor aliens who can’t pay fines."
"Evernight Harbor’s residents remember every single thing you’ve done. Once we discuss the new rules, the law will naturally deal with you."
Being brought out of the underground bunker was not only Governor Ya Hui and Supervisor Willoby, but also many bureaucrats and staff from the Governor’s Mansion and the Guards.
Kuran did not make things difficult for them, but arranged them separately into different rooms, asking them to honestly write down their resumes, current positions, and colleagues they liaised with.
This was not just a requirement from the Alliance, but also an experience gained from practice at Jinjaron Harbor.
The order in Evernight Harbor still needed these people to maintain, and he would select a trustworthy portion among them to help local residents transition from the old regime to the new one.
As for why a captain was given this task, he thought one reason might be because he was a local, and another was that the Alliance expressed trust in him.
But Kuran didn’t care much about trust. He would retire once this war was over, anyway.
Having assigned the tasks, he felt a load lifted from his shoulders.
His adjutant put an arm around his shoulder and jokingly said.
"Finally sent those bastards Ya Hui and Willoby in, do you feel a sense of revenge now?"
Kuran smiled faintly and said.
"The big revenge is still far off. Who killed Comte were not those two bastards, but the ones holding the leash behind them."
The war had just begun.
Evernight Harbor was merely the first colony liberated by them.
And there are still 20 more colonies waiting for them to liberate, covering a total area of 2.7 million square kilometers on the West Coast of the Great Wilderness!
Even the Southern Legion’s homeland, including the 17 settlements like Yavente City.
These accounts must be settled thoroughly with the Southern Legion.
Temporarily bidding farewell to his comrades, Kuran went alone to the northwestern city area.
In order to welcome their arrival and to thank the Alliance for not launching large-scale bombardments on the harbor, locals placed flowers on the sides of the streets as a tribute.
Picking up a bouquet of tulips symbolizing honor from the street side, Kuran walked to the entrance of the broadcasting station and gently placed it next to the open gate.
"I am back."
The Weilante people would never abandon their heroes, even if they never knew them personally.
Kuran left the bouquet, nodded slightly in respect, tightened the rifle strapped on his back, then turned and left, merging into the street, slowly extending under the setting sun...
...
(I’ve been having a cold the past few days, and it hasn’t gone away, and now I’ve got gastroenteritis, it feels like I’ve been running to the hospital all year, I’m about to break down. T.T)