At this moment, it was midnight in China, but broad daylight in the New World.
Since that was the case, why wait? Now was as good a time as any.
Luoshu opened the Photographic Passage, retrieved the encrypted phone he had stored with SCP-055, and dialed the direct superior of IR1901.
When the call connected, the Beta-class commander of the Chaos Insurgency, codenamed Waiter, sounded delighted.
"Luoshu! You've finally defected from the Foundation! Are you planning to join us?"
Luoshu froze for a second.
He had only openly broken ties with the Foundation about ten days ago, and he'd mostly been operating in China since then. Yet Waiter, all the way in the New World, already knew the details.
So he countered, "How do you know so much?"
"Because we've been keeping an eye on you," Waiter answered truthfully before repeating his question. "Luoshu, have you made up your mind? Are you ready to join us?"
Hah. Not a chance.
But since Luoshu needed something from him, he couldn't be too blunt. He softened his response. "I'm still considering it."
Waiter understood the implication and chuckled wryly. "That's fine. We'll wait for you."
After an awkward silence, Luoshu cut to the chase. "I called to ask you something—what is my true identity?"
"You? You're the 'Revealer of Truth', of course!" Waiter sounded puzzled by the question.
"Cut the cryptic crap. I want the truth! What kind of person am I, really?"
With an IQ of 140, Luoshu wasn't about to be swayed by some grandiose but vague title.
There was no such thing as unconditional goodwill. The Chaos Insurgency had always treated him with friendliness and called him the "Revealer of Truth" for a reason—they wanted something from him.
And Luoshu wanted to know what that was.
But Waiter clearly couldn't answer. "Sorry, I don't know what kind of person you are. Honestly, I'm curious too!"
You don't know what kind of person I am, yet you spout all that nonsense?
Calling me the 'Revealer of Truth'—were you just bluffing?
Still, Luoshu wasn't ready to give up. "You're a Beta-class operative. If even you don't know, does that mean only Alpha-class operatives have the answer? Then help me ask them!"
Waiter fell silent for a long moment—so long that Luoshu started getting impatient—before finally replying, "I can't reach the Alpha-class leadership."
Are you kidding me?
Dodging the question like some bureaucratic runaround—since when did the Insurgency play these games?
Luoshu sneered. "What the hell happened to the Insurgency?"
Waiter sighed. "Something did happen… Ever since you appeared, the Foundation has been launching large-scale assaults on our sites. Right now, I've lost contact with the Alpha-class leadership. They must have gone dark to avoid further pursuit."
Hey, hey, don't pin this on me!
"Ever since I appeared"?
More like ever since you guys pulled that biohazard stunt in Site-19, wiped out the New World's capital, and pissed off the Foundation!
Luoshu felt zero sympathy for the Insurgency. "Then when will they resurface? You have to help me ask."
"Alright, I'll definitely ask for you. But don't get your hopes up," Waiter promised.
"Why not?" Luoshu suspected he was still making excuses.
"Because I've asked before. The Alpha-class leaders said they don't remember either. The only thing they recall is that you're the 'Revealer of Truth.' We shouldn't be the ones giving you answers—you should be giving them to us."
Waiter's words sounded absurd, but precisely because of that, they carried a strange ring of sincerity.
Exactly. If the Insurgency wanted to deceive Luoshu, they could've easily fabricated an identity for him.
But the fact that even the Alpha-class leaders claimed not to remember anything about him made it seem less like a lie.
This feeling…
Luoshu thought of antimemes.
"You should be giving them to us?" He muttered to himself. "So you're waiting for me to uncover the truth?"
"Exactly. You finally understand," Waiter said, sounding relieved.
Luoshu then chatted with Waiter for a bit longer, fishing for details about the Insurgency's losses in the Foundation's attacks.
Waiter told him, "The Foundation deployed SCP-076 to assault our sites."
"You mean they sent that overpowered bastard—Able?!"
Now that was a serious move.
Just how much had the Insurgency pissed off the Foundation for them to send a Keter-class killer after them?
Well, Luoshu didn't want any part of that mess.
He just wanted the truth.
Before hanging up, he suddenly remembered someone. "By the way, how's IR1901 doing? I need you to arrange for him to leave Site-19."
Lately, Luoshu had been pulling off major operations, and the one-hour limit of his Unobservable State (from two uses) wasn't cutting it.
He wanted to be able to borrow SCP-126's sensory isolation whenever he needed.
Which meant IR1901 couldn't stay holed up in Site-19 forever.
"Contact 1901? I can't do that. You'll have to figure that out yourself."
Waiter's answer pissed Luoshu off.
Ask about my identity—you don't know.
Ask you to contact the Alpha-class leaders—you can't reach them.
Now I give you the simplest task—contact your own subordinate—and you still can't do it?
What the hell are you good for?
Oh, right. You're not my subordinate.
No wonder the Foundation's steamrolling the Insurgency—with useless people like you around.
Perhaps sensing Luoshu's frustration, Waiter explained further.
"Site-19's security is tight now. They're not hiring new personnel, so we can't infiltrate anymore. The only way in is as a D-class, and not everyone can pull off what you did. Anyone else going in as D-class would just be walking to their death."
That much was true.
How many D-class could be as badass as me?
So IR1901 was effectively cut off from the Insurgency?
He really had become just another contained anomaly now.
Luoshu had no way to contact IR1901 at the moment.
He did have a throat mic stored with SCP-055, but that was a short-range device—more like a walkie-talkie—with a maximum range of about one kilometer.
Even if he took it out now, he wouldn't be able to reach IR1901 across the ocean.
He'd have to wait until he returned to the New World's capital to contact the guy in person.