Deus Ex Diaries Part Thirty-Seven (Human Revolution)

This is my ongoing exploration of the Deus Ex Universe, in release order. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old—goer, I hope to make this something you can read along with and enjoy. I continue Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

After clearing out a FEMA facility full of the mercenaries who had attacked us six months ago, I had confronted Sarif on a security backdoor that he’d left open…

While he had just emailed me some information about myself that I had to decide whether or not to read, I did also have to report on what transpired at the FEMA facility. Since Pritchard had been monitoring the situation, Sarif already had a passport for me, and was sending me to China. But then he told me to see Faridah Malik — maybe she was dropping me at the airport…?

First, however, I had to go and speak to Pritchard — and maybe read my emails… So I headed to my office and, after a moment’s hesitation, accessed the PC. There wasn’t much in the way of details across the three emails, but I discovered that Mr & Mrs Jensen were not the parents of Alex Jensen — but there was no evidence of where they adopted him from. Just that one day they had a five year old boy named Alex. There was also something about Jensen’s dismissal from SWAT, and how the report seemed to be fabricated as an excuse to get him off the squad.

As I left the office, Pritchard was there waiting for me. He wanted to know what I’d discovered, and after being told that I was handling it, he went off to see what he could find out by backtracking the signal. While he did that, I wandered around the canteen, overhearing that one of Bill Taggart’s aides wouldn’t be accompanying him to his charity dinner, as he was donating an augmentation or something. As Taggart was also nearby, I spoke to him and asked what he hoped to accomplish with his visit. He apparently wanted to come to some kind of agreement with Sarif to regulate augmentations on a government level.

With that, I headed to the helipad and spoke to Malik. She used to live in Hengsha — my destination — and reckoned that I’d love it. It seemed that she was taking me all the way to China, maybe it was cheaper than a first class plane ticket?

As we approached Hengsha, I discovered why Malik had mentioned an upper and lower city — because there was a city built directly over the top of another city! My destination was in the Youzhao district, but Malik was putting me down a short distance from there. If I was walking into a trap, it would be better if I didn’t fly directly to it.

After disembarking, I decided to check out the building that we had landed on. It turned out to be a brothel, and two ladies having a smoke break on the roof were discussing a missing colleague, Ning. Going down a level, I overheard two people arguing, and a woman stood outside the door lamenting that she’d left her purse inside. I spoke to her, and she asked me to go inside and pretend to be a customer to break up the argument.

The owner, Edgar Lee, was arguing with Mei Suen about how customers would pay more if she was augmented. She was less than keen on the idea, but I got too close and they noticed me, ending the conversation. Mei recognised that I wasn’t a customer after Edgar left, and confided in me that she worried her friend Ning had been kidnapped to be forcibly augmented. I agreed to find her, but I needed to work out where she was being kept, first. Mei suggested that I speak to one of the security guards while he took a smoke break on the roof.

Of course, I was in no hurry, so I left via the back door. I jumped over the wall to next door’s balcony, but the room was empty. Jumping across to the next one, I overheard two people talking. I could also see an orange item that looked promising, so I nabbed it, then exited back the way I had come. Malik called to ask if I’d reached the apartment that Barrett had told me about, so Jensen confirmed that no, I’d gotten sidetracked. However, he did ask whether the Smart Card I’d just grabbed, which could gain me access to Tai Yong Medical’s factory, could potentially come in useful. She said “maybe” which was good enough for me.

While checking out the rest of the building for loot and sidequests, I found a pocket secretary with the safe access code on it, and a membership card for the exclusive nightclub HIVE. Then, of course, a credit chip and some ammo in the safe on the ground floor. There was also a weapons dealer in a “secret” room, but I didn’t require any ammo.

Up on the roof, I spoke to the smoking security guard. He would tell me where Ning was for a price — or, I just sprayed him with pheromones and told him that it was in both our interests that I could check she was healthy. He gave me a location, and I left him alone, heading down some stairs and around what I’d loosely call streets. There were three men guarding the storage locker holding Ning, so I walked past and down some stairs. While I was considering my options, one of the men followed me and I knocked him out. The other two were clueless, so I rushed them — stunning one, then punching the other’s lights out.

One of the men had the access code on a pocket secretary, so I opened the locker and spoke to Ning. She thanked me, and said that she would leave town right away, adding that she wanted me to thank Mei for her. With that, she disappeared and I returned to Mei. She was glad that her friend was safe, but she had another job for me; kill the person responsible, Diamond Chan, and make it look like an accident. As I had no qualms about killing, I agreed and left for the Youzhao District. Both of my objectives were that way, anyway.

Once I arrived, I noticed some ladders that went up a scaffold to the roof, so I climbed up. Coincidentally, it took me to the rooftop opposite Chan’s apartment, so I hopped over and snuck to Chan’s door. I opened it and waited for him to come close — but I accidentally moved and got spotted, so had to rush in and knock him out. Then, it was a simple matter of dropping him from the rooftop. I was annoyed that he didn’t have any loot in his apartment, though…

With that done, I headed for my main target via the rooftops. On a whim, I climbed up a ladder behind a billboard, and hacked a door security console around the corner. Inside was a wall which I could punch through, and a ventilation shaft — so I punched the wall. To my surprise, multiple hostiles from the Belltower private military group were on the other side, and I quickly retreated to the ventilation shaft. One came over, so I shot him with my stun gun, but I decided to see where the shaft led.

It turned out that I was now in an elevator shaft, so I climbed a few ladders and clambered over a stack of boxes, before entering another ventilation shaft. It exited into a hallway, and nearby a vending machine blocked yet another vent. I moved the machine and went inside, finding my way into the very apartment I needed to be in! But there were more hostiles inside, so I knocked out some and stunned others until the place was clear. A hole had been blown in a wall, giving access to a secret room with a PC inside. I quickly looted the apartment, then hacked the PC. There was a marketing email from the HIVE nightclub and an email from an anonymous person warning about this imminent attack I’d walked in on. There was also a saved instant message log from “windmill” to “hive-master” asking urgently if a job offer was still on the table.

Jensen told Malik to contact Pritchard with the hacker’s username and real name — Aerie van Bruggen — and explain that Belltower was after him. Presumably this is what was meant when Barrett was told to “deal with the Dutchman” back in Detroit. Malik suggested I head to HIVE, though I could have guessed that. While we were talking, I had exited the apartment through the ventilation shaft — but I was curious. Heading for the apartment’s front door, two Belltower men were wondering where their tech guy was, to hack the PC. On a whim, I got spotted by them, then ran back to the vending machines. I grabbed one, then went back to the men, being shielded from their bullets by the machine. I chucked it at one of them, knocking him flying, then punched out the other. As I hadn’t increased my energy yet, it was still recharging as the first man got to his feet — so I threw the vending machine at him again. It was a hilarious use of my time, and got me 200 credits when I looted them.

Heading down the elevator, I found the front door of the building being guarded by Belltower. So, I headed up some nearby stairs and out through a door. Making my way around the rooftop, above the many Belltower personnel, I spotted one man patrolling. I waited for him to turn around, then knocked him out. Following the roof, I found my way back the route that I had originally come from, via the punched out wall, and went down some ladders to street level.

After looking around a bit, I returned to Kuaigan District to report to Mai that Chen was dead. She paid me 2000 credits, and I headed to HIVE. I overheard some people talking outside, saying that the club was owned by a local gang leader — which is not the kind of thing you discuss outside a club owned by a local gang leader! While exploring the area outside, not wanting to go in yet, I overheard someone else say that their friend knew a secret way inside HIVE, but wouldn’t tell anyone. My curiosity piqued, I went down an alleyway and found a manhole cover.

Figuring that this would lead to my destination, I climbed down into the sewers. There were handy signs painted on the walls, telling me which way things were — such as The HIVE. There were also weak walls that I could punch, so I found some loot while I explored. Down one passageway marked with “The HIVE”, I could see a cloud of green gas. Luckily, I had earlier taken the augmentation that allowed me to breathe in gas! There was another weak wall before the cloud, so I punched it open to get the loot — and there was a valve. Turning the valve, I was honestly a little annoyed to see the gas cloud dissipate. I had taken the augmentation specifically because I knew something like this was going to hamper me, only for a previous augmentation to get me out of the exact same jam…

A ladder took me up to a door, leading into a restricted area of HIVE. Hopefully, I could still use the platinum membership card I had found if I needed to, but for now I needed to find van Bruggan…