Arknights story · Operator Records
VIP
Times change, and so do the people we used to know. That's how an average seafood hawker became a 'key man.' He knows in his heart what he lost on his way here and what he must protect on the road ahead.
1 scenes, 326 lines
1. Interlude
326 lines
Lou sai, all our sashimi comes freshly sliced. You don't get fresher fins than that. All our finballs are hand-kneaded, too. You don't get chewier balls than that. Line up in the back there.
Lou...
Waai Fu?
I'm delivering something for Uncle Lee. Just passing by.
You've had your stall here the last couple days? No wonder I haven't seen you.
Th-The docks get lots of traffic. Finballs sell like hotcakes here.
The only ones around at this hour are workers on their way home. You sure you can move more finballs here than the tourist spots?
...
Never mind. You're about to close up, right? Let's head back together. I'll wait for you.
Uh... I'm okay...
Huh? What's wrong?
N-Nothing. Well... Waai Fu, I... I've got something for you.
I, well, it's a graduation present...
A graduation present? Now?
Stop by my place when you have time. There's a spare key under the doormat.
There's a big box in the bedroom. It's all in there, along with a couple things I wanted to tell you...
I've had it prepared for a while, but after you graduated, you went to Shangshu and Yumen. I haven't had a lot of chances to give them to you, since you were hardly ever in Lungmen.
Don't forget to stop by.
I should probably say thank you... but this is really weird. Who makes a girl fetch her own present?
Yeah, well... Say, isn't it your birthday on Saturday? Let me take you to the movies, and I'll bring the graduation present along with the one for your birthday.
You go home and get some rest now. I'll meet you at the mall tomorrow morning.
Ahem, lou sai.
You selling your finballs or not?
Your finballs.
That's the friend you said knows her kung fu, right? Surname Waai?
Yeah.
And she just graduated?
Yeah.
I'm thinking I could let her join the gang. A talented girl with solid moves. You don't get help like that easy.
Alright... You're still worried.
You don't trust me, huh? I told you already. We've got everyone here from the highest echelon to the bottom rung in our pockets. As long as these goods make it through the docks safe tonight, they'll disappear into the slums tomorrow morning. Nothing will happen.
Say you toss some limestone into the river ahead of us. When it's all dark out, who'll notice the bubbles on the surface?
I'm just a little nervous.
Yeah, I get it. It's your first time. You'll get used to it.
I told you. There is no next time.
Fine, fine. How's prep work going for your first and last time, then?
The driver, inspector, and court clerk are all old friends, and I've already talked to them.
Tonight, all the cargo ships entering port will, coincidentally, have to go through a monthly inventory check and sorting, and because of the huge amount of cargo, from 10:00 to 10:30, the port will temporarily halt inspections of incoming cargo ships.
Have your ship come in at 10:15. You have fifteen minutes to unload your goods.
Have those ships greet us.
You don't trust me?
This has nothing to do with that, Jaye. Show me.
How do you want them do it?
Have the ship furthest to the left in the docks blink twice.
Let me hear the rightmost ship's whistle. Let's see if it's loud enough.
Big Cheung, blow the whistle twice for me, please.
And have the ship in the middle head out for a quick spin?
Siu Kai, sorry. Help me out here.
I heard you guys... Heading out this late at night... You know that favor I owe you? We'll call it even with this.
Jaye, you may just be a seafood hawker, but you're the most reliable, promising seafood hawker in all of Lungmen!
Remember what I told you when we were kids? When the two of us work together, anything's possible.
Even a simple drink has uses beyond imagination.
They're all good guys. They have no idea what they're getting mixed up in.
I mean, remember what the adults in the neighborhood used to say when we were kids? 'There's no good or bad. There's only relationship.' Lungmen is a place where we talk relationship.
That's a whole 'nother thing.
Anyway, I made the right call coming to you.
Twenty days earlier...
Phew—
Lou sai, can I trade this for an order of finballs?
Sorry, I'm closed for the day—
The man sets an empty can down on the cutting board in front of Jaye.
The entire bottom side of the can is cut off, and the can is cut twice along an axis and bent outward into a curve, revealing its dark, silver interior.
It looks like a crude flower or something.
Ah Wei?!
Hey, Jaye. Been a while.
It really is you! When did you get back? How did you find me? It's been at least a decade since the last time we saw each other, right? Where did you go after you left Lungmen?
I came looking for you right after I made my way back here. As for how I found you...
Don't forget you took on two whole gangs all by yourself. Everybody in Lungmen knows you. They call you 'stone-faced finball bossman,' 'ice-cold Jaye,' and stuff.
That was just an accident... Stop making fun of me.
The man picks up the carved can, on which the light of the street is faintly reflected.
I didn't think you'd still remember.
Of course I do.
When we were in third grade, you brought a bunch of empty cans home with you, and your mom scolded you for bringing back trash. But then you used them to make little trinkets like this, fixed the antenna, and got the broken TV working again.
Metal strengthens signals, and I was just tinkering.
Ever since, you scoured the alleyways and collected empty cans. One day, you would make an incense holder. The next day, a communications terminal. You saved your family lots of money.
I even took you in as my goon. You followed me everywhere.
Yeah, our houses were right next to each other. The neighbors liked to compare us, but they always complimented you, said you'd do great things when you grew up. I was jealous.
Not like me... I'm not nearly as bright, so all I could do was learn how to make finballs from Uncle Tung.
So, are you just visiting, or are you staying for good this time?
Nah, I'm staying.
Great! I've been helping clean your place. It's in pretty good shape. Just move some furniture, toiletries, and stuff in and you can start...
Yeah, Jaye, I need your help.
Huh?
I brought a shipment of goods back to Lungmen to sell.
Nice! So you're in business now. Lungmen's pretty strict with inspections, but I can help you run them by the L.G.D.
My goods aren't on the L.G.D.'s list of approved imports and exports.
Y-You're smuggling?!
Weapons? Originium products? Illegal drugs? What's with the hands. Is that some kind of signal? I-I don't know what you're getting at.
Nobody knows about this. We've been planning it for a while. It's all under wraps, I guarantee.
Besides, the risk and return are proportional. Jaye, I know you know the guys at the docks.
...
I've been away from Lungmen for over a decade. I don't know the place anymore. I need money, and I need to do this deal to get back on my feet. You're the only one who can help.
No, I'm not doing it. You shouldn't, either.
Oh yeah. Why did you come around in the end again?
...
It's ten after ten... The ship is about to come in.
Where are the guys picking up the merch? Have them stand by at the port. We've only got fifteen minutes.
...
Don't worry. Just a little longer.
Officer Hoshiguma, it's almost time. Why is it still quiet?
Maybe we got a bad tip?
Relax. We can trust this informant.
Hallucinatory drugs made from purified Originium... No one in the Lungmen black markets would dare deal in something like this. Why is someone smuggling something this hot all of a sudden?
The Rat King hasn't been taking his usual walks, has he?
I heard he was hurt bad on his trip to Yumen. Do you mean...?
Lin Yühsia isn't going to Victoria anymore. But I doubt her plan to become the 'Lin the Violet' is gonna go all that smooth.
Looks like there are some fussy folks who want to find out for the old man whether his daughter is worthy of his chair.
The gangs in the slums, big and small, have been making lots of noise, and the L.G.D. has been busy with all that.
But I guess these folks have forgotten the L.G.D.'s hard stance against contraband.
10:16. Fourteen minutes left.
The ship's docked. On the double, everyone. Watch your surroundings, and keep two men on watch.
I didn't expect you to have so many guys on this job.
Why not? This is a huge deal. Lots of hands want a slice of the pie.
Jaye, you look nervous.
...
...
You keep watch here. I'll go check things out.
Officer Hoshiguma, should we move in?
Hold on. These are no normal gangsters. They're on high alert. Wait until they fall into our trap. We'll catch both the men and the goods together.
We're not letting any of these drugs into Lungmen. And we're not letting a single perp escape.
Understood.
Remember to keep the informant safe.
Officer! Looks like the boss is trying to run!
Not a chance!
Wait! He's definitely just testing...
...
!!
Ah Wei! Don't run! You can't!
All units, move in!
Jaye keeps running.
He most likely bumped into a few passersby, and he definitely knocked over the fruit stand on the street corner. He keeps muttering, 'deoi m zyu,' but he doesn't stop.
His friend is right ahead. His friend is still running.
He has no time to even think about which streets he has been running through. He notices nothing except how there are less and less people, the roads are getting narrower, and his surroundings are getting quieter. So quiet, he can hear nothing but his and his friend's panting.
The oxygen deprivation is causing him to hallucinate.
Jaye starts to think he is running down that alley he used to run down as a kid—
He is following his 'Soda Can Magician' friend, through the shades of the banyan trees and out the slums, as they both planned to go together, towards a brighter future.
...
Ah Wei.
You sold me out.
I...
I got a good thing going on, and you're the first one I went to with it.
I know you're a coward for how mean you look. You're a good guy, and all you wanna do is sell fins and finballs. I get that. You turning down the offer? I was fine with that. That's no skin off my back.
I did have my suspicions when you came back to me a week later and said you were in. But you're Jaye. I knew Jaye would follow me, just like he used to when we were kids.
We never kept anything from each other. You even taught me the knife skills you learned from Uncle Tung. I never lied to you, and you never lied to me.
But this time, you were lying to me right from the start.
Ah Wei, l-listen...
Who are you snitching for? Another gang? The L.G.D.?
Two weeks ago...
How's business been?
Well, I'm sure you wouldn't believe me if I told you I was just passing by and decided to get a couple of orders of finballs for my lads back at the station.
That would've been nice, wouldn't it?
...
I thought I'd stop by to give you a heads up. The Char Sius and Lou Seois' bosses are about to be released.
They're scum, but they're still gangsters. You threw a wrench in their plans, and they lost face among the Lungmen triads, thanks to you. They just might make trouble for you.
Oh—
No need to be scared. The L.G.D. can offer you protection, if you want.
Yeah, thanks, Officer. Here's an order of finballs. It's on me. Have a nice day.
I'm not done yet. Are you merchants always so afraid to deal with the L.G.D.?
Heh.
I went just this morning to settle my bill for the month.
Have you seen anyone or anything suspicious?
Suspicious, huh...?
Anyone who's been asking about the ships, policies on the flow of goods, inspection procedures, that sort of thing.
Officer, is something going on? That port is the biggest seafood market in Lungmen. If something happens and the stalls at the market get shut down, everyone's gonna be out of a job...
Relax. I'm just hypothesizing here.
According to our sources, someone is about to smuggle a shipment of illegal drugs into the slums.
The L.G.D. caught wind of it a little too late, and the shipment might already have made it into Lungmen. We're investigating all logistics channels right now... The gateway, city beltway, the port.
(And he said it's all under wraps...)
What?
Oh, nothing.
Anyway, you know the port better than I do, so I want you to pay attention to the people there and see if there's any movement. If you notice anything, give me a call.
What do you mean?
Is this smuggling case serious?
The detectives have this shipment listed as highly dangerous illegal contraband. It's on a whole other level from the Originium Devices that the Char Sius removed from those weapons to sell.
If you find anything... you have my number.
Well, off I go then. Thanks for the finballs.
So you snitched on me to the L.G.D. and started spying for them?
I did it because...
It's all gone. I put a whole decade of savings into this deal! And now it's all gone!
Well, I guess it's for the best.
Who ever said Jaye's a coward, a small man, an ordinary guy? You're way more of a badass than the undercover cops in the triad shows. They're all acting, but you're the real deal, as brave as it gets.
Calm down. Hear me out.
I don't want to hear another word from you. Later. We'll pretend I never came back.
...
Ah Wei, I can't let you go just like that.
...
What more do you want? The successful sting's not good enough for you? You want to take the perp in yourself, too?
What, are they going to name you citizen of the month?
Go look over there.
Search through every one of these alleyways. Don't let anyone get away.
Jaye, move.
Your plan's a bust. Your buyers won't let you off easy. You're in with some merciless guys.
That's why I'm leaving Lungmen right now.
I'm not letting you go.
Hmph... Don't say I didn't warn—Hm?
I swiped your weapon back at the port.
...
You remember how we never held any grudges against each other for more than a day? Every time we had a difference of opinion, we worked through it the same way.
Like this!
Jaye punches his friend square in the face.
So anyone involved in this smuggling operation will get a much harsher sentence than the Char Sius and the Lou Seois?
That's right.
Like... how harsh are we talking?
All the guys wanted to do last time was sell crude, shoddy Originium products. Besides, you busted them halfway through, and they also owned up to the whole thing with a pretty good attitude throughout, so they got light sentences.
That said, the bosses still got two years in the can.
...
But if our intel's correct, they're smuggling some powerful hallucinogens. On paper, they're just very hard to get 'painkillers' and 'sedatives' that work fast.
But, of course, they don't come with any instructions, and they don't tell the users about any potential side effects—that the trace amounts of purified Originium can accelerate the deterioration of Oripathy.
Th-That's dirty money.
It's gonna make the patients severely dependent.
The Lungmenites tormented by sickness will have both their last pennies and last breaths of life sucked dry. They'll bring a herd infection that's even more uncontrollable.
That's why the L.G.D. has always enforced hard on this kind of contraband, and even the triads rarely deal in this stuff.
The mastermind will have to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
That's a serious crime...
Then what if it's only attempted? Would that make any difference? What if they turn themselves in? Does that make the sentence any lighter?
Where did you learn all that...?
T-Tell me, Officer.
If it hasn't caused any severe, irreparable harm yet, then there's still room to turn things around.
But even if they manage to escape, if they have a criminal record, they'll never be allowed to in Lungmen again.
Can't come back to Lungmen, huh?
Alright, Jaye, I've answered all your questions.
Now it's your turn to tell me what you know.
Officer Hoshiguma, I want you to help a friend of mine.
You don't have to help me, but you didn't have to backstab me like that!
Ah Wei, I am helping you!
A series of muffled, rhythmic sounds can be heard. Deep in the back alley, the two men exchange blows.
Like some kind of silly, turn-based game.
You used to make antennas, incense holders, and comms terminals out of soda cans.
You were the 'Soda Can Magician,' you were my hero, you were so smart. Just an amazing guy.
You should never have gone down this path!
Do you know why I had to leave Lungmen all those years ago? You probably heard that my family ran into some kind of trouble, but you have no idea what exactly happened, right?
It was a stupid gang fight. Two sides had a turf war and got into it, and the bosses had to send in guys to clean things up.
My parents just happened to pass by. We had nothing to do with the triads. Why would we?
Do you know who was in charge of the cleanup? Why do you think I left Lungmen without so much as coming to say good bye?
...Uncle Tung.
'Soda Can Magician?' Magician my ass!
In Lungmen, soda cans get kicked around and dumped in trash cans.
But I don't blame you. You're Jaye. This has nothing to do with you. It doesn't even have anything to do with Uncle Tung. Because this is Lungmen. 'There's no good or bad. All that matters is survival.'
You know, even if you didn't join me on this gig, once I had the money, I was going to help you franchise your finball stall.
We were going to take those finballs all over the country. Shangshu, Jiangqi, Yumen. Even beyond Yan.
Jaye takes a few punches and slowly backs up against the wall. He steps on something, slips, and falls to the ground.
I don't need that.
Living on dirty money... I can't have that on my conscience.
Ah Wei, you know that people could die because of those drugs you were smuggling, right?
I don't know what you've been through over the last ten years. I'm sure you've done all sorts of things to survive. Everybody's got a different way to get by, right?
You don't have to have lots of money. You don't have to be in a position of power.
Has Lungmen really changed? The slums, the port, the park, the seafood market... There are so many folks here, trying their hardest, living life without hurting anybody.
You're such an amazing guy. What's stopping you from doing that?
I can help you.
...
I'm tired. I-I've got nothing left to say.
Jaye lies down on the ground. A stream of blood gushes out of his forehead and wells up in the corner of his eye.
He shuts his eye hard to keep the blood from flowing into his eye. He has always looked like a pretty mean guy, and with how his face is bloodied, he now looks all the more ferocious.
*sigh*—
Goodbye.
The man isn't able to step away. He looks down to find his brother, his eye barely open, clinging to his leg.
Just like when they were both kids, he is a quiet guy, but he is as stubborn as one can be.
Jaye, let go. I really don't want to hurt you.
Jaye does not answer, nor does he let go.
The man grits his teeth, leans down, and pulls the scaling knife out of Jaye's pocket.
This is your fault.
All of a sudden, the man finds that he has come face-to-face with Jaye, both of them on the muddy ground. Yet he feels not the slightest bit of cold, perhaps because of the numbness from the intense impact.
The very moment before his consciousness drifts away, he faintly spots a terribly dented soda can. Perhaps that was the thing that crashed into his head mere seconds ago.
That's about the size of it.
All the merchandise have been recovered. The overseas smugglers and the local recipients have all been taken in by the L.G.D.
Thanks, Madame Oni.
How are things on your end?
We may have put a stop to the problem upstream, but those downstream aren't blameless. I put together a list of the ones in the slums waiting to distribute. And I paid each of them a visit before I came here.
I won't trouble the L.G.D. with our housework.
It's nothing. My dad's still resting up after his injuries, and I don't want him to get out of bed.
Right, he wanted to ask. How was Jaye on this sting?
He was hurt, but it was nothing serious.
Without him, we wouldn't have been able to wrap up this operation at the port or round them up so easily.
If even an ounce of this shipment had made it into Lungmen, things would've got much trickier.
Right.
Even outside the slums, there are plenty of gangs who would be willing to deal in hallucinatory drugs of this level. Taking care of it all right up front is the safest approach, of course.
But Jaye's just a normal guy, and given Uncle Tung's age, Dad doesn't want him to...
I get it. The situation's unique... but rest assured the L.G.D. will protect its informants.
And how is Mr. Lin's prognosis?
Fair. He still wants to sneak outside to play weiqi with his old friends.
Hah.
Oh, you're finally awake.
Oww... that's a sharp pain.
How's Ah Wei?
The L.G.D. guys took him away.
Speaking of which, Officer Hoshiguma wants you to head to the station for a written statement after you rest up.
...Alright.
So, why were you playing hero behind my back again?
You went undercover, and on a case where the smugglers are all actual bad guys, not like those Char Siu thugs last time! One of the L.G.D. guys got hurt while they were taking the smugglers in.
Why didn't you ask for my help? You almost lost your life back there, you know?
What are you mumbling about?
Nothing... Say, I thought you were running errands for Mr. Lee? What are you doing back here?
You were talking funny. I knew something was up.
And I haven't even asked you yet. You said you had a graduation present for me, and you wrote something down... What is it supposed to mean?