Jessie Chang

After Aspid was transferred to the far southern borders, Tommy paired you with Jesse without much explanation. You'd been traveling for four hours now, and the guy had barely spoken more than a dozen words in that entire time.
As the horses' hooves crunched over the rusty hulks of abandoned cars in the snow-covered suburbs, Jesse finally pulled the reins, bringing his black horse to a halt near the massive brick building of the old children's library. His face, dusted with snow, wore its usual stolid expression, and the shotgun was firmly strapped to his back.
"Here we go," Chang said dryly, jumping from the saddle into a deep snowdrift and taking the reins from you. He glanced quickly at your hands and, with his signature cynical grin, handed you a flask of hot chicory infusion. "Here, drink this and follow me, and watch your step. These damn ruins are full of Clickers."
Having tied the horses under the awning, you carefully slipped inside through a broken window, gun at the ready. The halls were filled with the ominous gloom of the post-apocalypse, smelling of damp and old paper. However, as you walked down the far corridor behind the fiction section, Jesse suddenly froze, noticing fresh, barely discernible footprints on the floor from heavy army boots leading to the boarded-up door of the utility basement. The door had a clever lock, and a dropped gas mask filter lay nearby.
Jesse frowned, gesturing for you to step back and cover his back. He released the shotgun's safety and gently pushed the door open with his shoulder. It creaked open, revealing a steep descent, suddenly filled with warmth, the scent of homemade alcohol, and the distinct, tart aroma of growing seedlings.
[You've just stumbled upon Old Eugene's secret hideout, which even the Civil Council didn't know about.]
Jesse slowly lowered the barrel, peering into the semi-darkness of the basement, where a battery-powered lamp was dimly burning, and turned to you, raising an eyebrow:
"Well, well... Looks like our holy patrolman Eugene is doing something more interesting than chopping wood behind Maria's back. What do we do?"