Nemo Wilkins suddenly felt a slight dizziness, as if some invisible force had passed over his mind, and as if he suddenly woke up from a strange light sleep, and after a belated wake-up call In the middle, he suddenly raised his head and looked with some nervousness and vigilance at the old gentleman who always had a gentle expression and looked elegant and harmless.
Morris returned the "informant's" friendly and polite smile.
However, Nemo suddenly broke into a cold sweat. Only now did he recall that from the moment he entered the secret passage, the old man's eyes almost always stayed on him, as if searching his mind and traversing his memories. The power was always entangled in his mind, and he had been unconsciously answering every question from these uninvited guests, and even almost exposed the situation of other contact points in the city-state!
Even if these uninvited guests hold Captain Tirian's tokens and know the secret code, he shouldn't be so careless! After all, these people suddenly appeared today. According to the rules, I should test them more!
The sharp change of expression on the "informant's" face was of course not hidden from Vanna's eyes. The latter took a step forward with a solemn and sincere expression: "Mr. Wilkins, relax, we are not enemies - we The tokens and codes carried are indeed from Mr. Tirian, but for necessary security reasons, we just conducted some tests on you."
"Test...what test?" Nemo looked at the people in front of him warily, "What...are you guys from?"
"To put it simply, we suspect that a widespread cognitive pollution phenomenon has begun to spread in the city-state. This pollution will cause people to unconsciously produce false memories, lose accurate knowledge of the real world, and even become He is an accomplice of the heresy without knowing it. We are not sure whether the informants Mr. Tirian left in the city are still reliable, so we can only conduct tests," Fanna explained with a serious expression, and then changed the subject, "As for us The origin...have you not received any news from Mr. Tirian?"
"The captain didn't explain in detail. He only said that it was a few people he could trust," Nemo answered cautiously. "Forgive me for my doubts - he would never make such inexplicable arrangements before."
Morris thought for a while, understood, and looked at Duncan: "Oh, that may be because he didn't dare to reveal the identities of a few of us without your explicit permission, right?"
license? Captain Tirian dare not reveal his identity casually?
After listening to Morris's words, Nemo's expression suddenly became a little weird. He subconsciously looked at the weird man in black clothes and bandages. He obviously wanted to ask something but didn't know where to start.
Duncan didn't think much about it. He just nodded slightly: "Since we confirm that there is nothing wrong with this informant, there is no need to hide it."
As he spoke, he looked at Nemo and pointed at himself: "I am Tirian's father."
The Sea Fog spy named Nemo Wilkins was silent for a few seconds, and then he didn't know how to organize his thoughts in his head, and suddenly stared: "Don't insult the captain!"
Duncan: "The atmosphere at the scene was a little awkward for a while. Vanna and Morris couldn't help but put their hands on their foreheads. Only Alice looked around and didn't seem to react. She said to the informant seriously: " it is true."
Nemo obviously still wanted to speak, but this time before he spoke, Morris suddenly stepped forward and patted his shoulder: "Young man, think carefully before you speak - the great Lieutenant General Iron, please Ryan also has a father."
At this time, Nemo Wilkins suddenly noticed the subtlety in the atmosphere and woke up from the conversation just now. Then, he recalled the ancient legends about the Abnomar family, about Captain Tirian's family, about the Lost Home, about the revenant wandering in the subspace - when he looked up at Duncan again, something was obviously wrong in his eyes.
"I'm back from the subspace," Duncan looked at him, his voice calm, "I'm here to help Tirian with some trouble.
Nemo thought for a moment, rolled his eyes, and fell to the sky.
However, Fanna next to her seemed to be prepared. Before the informant fell, she grabbed his arm with one hand and held him tightly.
Then he took out a whole bottle of refreshing essential oil with his other hand, flicked the stopper on the bottle and poured it directly into Nemo's nostrils.
Mr. Informant basically ran straight out.
"Ah...ah...sneeze! Sneeze!" Nemo was completely awake. His nose was filled with the strong smell of ointment. He sneezed several times before he could stop it. , raised his head with runny nose and tears, sniffling and said nervously, "I...I..."
"Sorry - I forgot that ordinary people's physiques are worse than those of guardians," Vanna hid the glass bottle in her hand with some embarrassment, "but don't worry, this thing is harmless to the body."
Nemo took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the tears and snot from his face while calming down, and looked at Duncan in fear and hesitation: "Really...is it really you? Then...then what can I do? for you..…"
"You are now serving me," Duncan waved his hand, "Don't be so nervous, just tell me more about the situation in Frost City."
"Okay...Okay," Nemo nodded repeatedly, and then sneezed a few more times before settling down, "Then what else do you want to ask?"
"Are you in contact with other informants in the city now?" Duncan asked, "What method do you usually use to communicate? Will it be through this sewer system, or through more covert channels?"
"We rarely gather together," Nemo said while rubbing his nose, "mainly for safety reasons - after all, many of our members are closely connected to Uptown, and they need to be more hidden. In most cases, we They all exchange information through various secret channels, such as secret codes in newspapers, specific contact points, or relying on some messengers for single-line contact.
"In fact, even we ourselves don't know how many of our own people there are in the city. Most informants only know the superiors and subordinates who are in contact with them or a few compatriots in the same area as themselves, and the complete list only knows In the hands of Captain Tirian and Mr. Aiden. I am considered the 'connector' on my level, and the list of people I have is a little larger, but it can't exceed ten people..."
Listening to Nemo's story, Vanna couldn't help but nodded slightly: "It's a very cautious and effective form of lurking. Most of the cultists who deal with the guardians are not so professional."
"After all, this is Tirian's business for half a century," Duncan said casually from the side, and then looked at Nemo, "Are you the only one permanently stationed at this contact point?"
"There are two more people," Nemo nodded. "One is nicknamed 'The Crow,' and he should be patrolling the nearby passages at this time. There is also an old man who spends most of his time in the abandoned plumbing room— -Even I don’t know his real name, we all call him ‘Old Ghost.”
Duncan exchanged glances with Vanna and Morris.
Nemo Wilkins appeared to be unaffected by cognitive disruption, but others who came into contact with him did not necessarily.
"Let's go say hello too," Duncan nodded and said, "Where is the plumbing room?"
"Right here," Nemo said as he raised his hand and pointed to the right of the fork ahead, "it's where the maintenance staff of the Second Waterway used to rest temporarily. I'll take you there."
The informant walked forward, and on the way, he began to introduce the situation of the "old ghost" to Duncan and others.
"...He is over seventy this year, almost the oldest among us. My grandfather used to work with him, when it was still the Queen's era...
"The old ghost is not very clear-headed, but as long as it involves the connection between the gas pipeline and the second waterway, he never makes a mistake. The additional gas pipeline we added here was built by him and his people - secretly from the upper main pipe Taking over a branch road and ensuring safety without being discovered by others is not a job that ordinary people can do...
"The old ghost rarely goes to the ground. He spends most of his time down here. Sometimes after drinking, he will brag to us about what happened back then. He said that he was the engineer of the Second Waterway decades ago. At that time The Queen even awarded him a medal in person - but to be honest, few of his words can be trusted. I have also seen his medal before. It was just a piece of iron with nothing on it.
There's nothing there. It was obviously picked up from some nook and cranny.
"Well, he probably inhaled too much poisonous gas when he retreated to the Second Waterway - I told you, right? When the last Queen's Guard retreated fifty years ago
The second waterway was blocked. At that time, the shaft collapsed, and some poisonous gas floated down from the upper level. Some craftsmen loyal to the Queen ran to seal the leak. The old ghost seemed to be one of them. It is said that his mind was not very normal from that time on. . "
"If he suddenly yells at you about the Queen later, don't mind... He didn't mean it."
With Nemo Wilkins chattering all the way, Duncan and others quickly bypassed the fork in the road and came to a rusty iron gate near the sewer junction.
Nemo stepped forward and knocked on the door, said hello inside, and then pushed the door open: "Old ghost, a guest is here."
As soon as he finished speaking, a hoarse but loud voice came from the door -
"Ah, the Queen came to inspect!?"
