Long Yuehong reached for the piece of paper and quickly scanned it:
"Bag number 1 is for Johnny's wife.
"Bag number 2 is for Donovan's parents.
"Bag number 3 is for Johnlis' son.
"Bag number 4 is for Aimon's family."
It was a simple distribution plan.
Long Yuehong, holding the paper, walked back to Whyte and squatted down.
Bai Chen, who had already reported the situation to Jiang Baimian, shook his head at him:
"He can't be saved."
Even if they injected Whyte with the non-Kal biological agent now, given his significant blood loss and the lack of sufficient compatible blood for replenishment, it would only allow him to hold on for another two or three minutes, which wouldn't make much of a difference.
Moreover, the "Old Task Force" had a limited supply of non-Kal to begin with, and Bai Chen naturally didn't want to waste it if possible.
Long Yuehong, recalling Whyte's timid and cautious demeanor in the ruins, felt a sudden pang of sadness.
He quickly said to Whyte:
"Do you want us to help you bring this haul to your companions' families?"
Hearing this, a glimmer of light returned to Whyte's already fading eyes.
He nodded with great difficulty, making a barely audible sound in his throat.
Long Yuehong lowered his head and leaned closer, finally hearing what Whyte was saying.
"Tha...thank..." Whyte's voice trailed off, and his head tilted to one side.
Long Yuehong stared for a few seconds and sighed deeply.
He slowly stood up and, together with Bai Chen, began to search the room, finding five small cloth bags within Whyte's belongings. Four of them were labeled, from one to four.
Each of these bags contained many gold ornaments, special alloys, and folded technical documents, all of roughly the same weight except for the one without a label.
The unlabeled bag contained the fewest items.
"He must have organized these after returning," Long Yuehong sighed. "He didn't expect to 'commit suicide' at all."
Bai Chen glanced around and, without responding to his companion's lament, simply said:
"There are no clues."
Long Yuehong looked back at Whyte's corpse and the large pool of blood, sighing again.
…………
At the place where the "Old Task Force" had parked, the surviving Wang Fugui, Grey, and Jiang Baimian gathered together.
- Ferlin was also dead. He hanged himself with his belt.
"Why is it only Whyte, Fers, and Ferlin who 'committed suicide,' while we're fine?" Long Yuehong expressed his confusion.
If the "Old Task Force" hadn't been unaffected as well, he would have suspected Wang Fugui or Grey of playing tricks.
The next moment, Shang Jianyao answered Long Yuehong's question:
"Why do you think we're fine?"
Long Yuehong shuddered upon hearing this, looking from left to right, and noticed that everyone had a serious expression.
Except for Genaver.
He had no expression.
Is it because we haven't had time to have something happen to us yet? But, but when were we affected? There were absolutely no signs... Long Yuehong calmed the turmoil in his heart by exhaling.
After a long while, Jiang Baimian sighed:
"As expected of the Wasteland Ruin No. 13..."
Throughout the entire matter, apart from being initially slightly affected, which led them to conduct two more explorations, Jiang Baimian believed that she had done well enough at other times, leaving no loopholes and avoiding all conceivable risks. But even so, they unknowingly moved towards "death."
If the deaths of Whyte, Fers, and Ferlin hadn't alerted them, no one could say what would have happened to them now.
"We didn't even enter the one-kilometer range of the radio station," Bai Chen said, equally puzzled.
The company had given them very precise numbers.
Wang Fugui and Grey exchanged glances and slowly shook their heads, indicating that they hadn't noticed when they had been influenced by Wu Meng either.
After all, they hadn't heard any suicidal suggestions.
Shang Jianyao slapped his right fist into his left palm:
"I understand!"
Wang Fugui and Grey looked at him sharply, with subconscious anticipation.
Jiang Baimian was also expectant, wanting to see what unusual reasons this guy could come up with.
Perhaps it would give her some inspiration.
Shang Jianyao said earnestly:
"Within a certain range, all usable electronic products are Wu Meng's clones.
"Throughout our exploration, he was always by our side, ubiquitous."
Jiang Baimian was slightly surprised to hear this:
"Maybe..."
She remembered sensing the electrical activity of a loudspeaker in a nearby shopping mall.
"He subtly influenced us through those electronic products, without needing to use language to induce us?" Grey wasn't too convinced.
From Wu Meng's previous performance, he needed to rely on language to complete the final manipulation, in addition to giving a "sermon" at the beginning.
"It's not impossible. That method is more subtle, so the effect won't be as obvious. It needs to accumulate over time to achieve Wu Meng's desired outcome," Wang Fugui said thoughtfully.
Jiang Baimian immediately added:
"That's why he used language to induce us, making us enter the ruins again and again."
"This..." Long Yuehong suddenly felt like things were connecting.
Bai Chen looked at the tactical backpack behind Jiang Baimian and said, as if understanding something:
"That newspaper was also a clue deliberately left for us, wanting us to go to the ruins again?
"The influence on many of us isn't enough yet. We haven't reached the critical point of suicide. We need to strengthen the effect?"
"This explanation is very reasonable." The more Long Yuehong thought about it, the more he felt it was the case.
Because there were outsiders present, Genaver remained silent, not participating in the discussion on his own accord.
After listening, Wang Fugui thought for a moment and said:
"Actually, I have another guess about why we're okay."
"What is it?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.
Wang Fugui glanced around, his expression gradually becoming solemn:
"I'm a member of a religious organization, and Grey seems to be as well. We've both been blessed by different Arbiter of Fate, so we haven't committed suicide.
"You should also be devout believers of an Arbiter of Fate. I could tell when we first entered the cave. Whyte and Fers, on the other hand, are more purely ruin hunters who believe in a little bit of everything and nothing too much."
He wasn't too familiar with Ferlin, so he didn't comment, but based on the other's relationship with the Mirror Church, he didn't think this person was a devout Arbiter of Fate believer either.
While Jiang Baimian found it amusing, Shang Jianyao took out the "Chart of Blessings from the Arbiters of Fate":
"Are you asking if we believe in 'You Gu', 'Siming', 'The Final Person', 'Double Sun', 'Shattered Mirror', 'Bodhi', 'Golden Scales', or 'Scorching Gate'?"
Wang Fugui and Grey's expressions instantly became strange and complex, as if they had never encountered such a person before.
Shang Jianyao put away the paper and asked sincerely:
"What are the sacraments of your two families?"
Wang Fugui subconsciously replied:
"Various ways of preparing bile and spinach."
Shang Jianyao didn't ask them what sect they belonged to or which Arbiter of Fate they believed in. He looked directly at Grey, which made Wang Fugui feel inexplicably insulted.
Grey hesitated for a moment and said:
"It's not convenient to tell outsiders this."
"You won't be able to recruit believers like this," Shang Jianyao said earnestly.
He successfully diverted the topic, and almost no one was paying attention to Wu Meng's influence anymore.
Grey tightened his clothes and stopped responding to Shang Jianyao.
Jiang Baimian smoothed things over in a timely manner:
"There's another possibility: the three who died only excerpted the newspaper content; they didn't take photos."
She was looking for commonalities and differences.
"But I also excerpted some content when I got back, for convenient reference..." Wang Fugui didn't quite agree with this. "If some people read the newspaper and some didn't, that would be understandable. But the equipment and location for taking photos were all within the camp, far away from Wu Meng. It's unlikely they were affected."
Jiang Baimian nodded lightly:
"Indeed.
"In any case, you should be careful from now on. It's best to have someone accompany you for a while—at least half a month."
As for the "Old Task Force," this task would definitely be assigned to Genaver.
Wang Fugui and Grey didn't dare to be careless about this and indicated that they would indeed do so.
After watching them leave, Jiang Baimian looked at Long Yuehong:
"Do you want to help Whyte send those hauls to the corresponding people?"
Fers' belongings were handled by Wang Fugui and Grey, who were more familiar with him. Ferlin's were given to a friend of his in the camp.
"Yeah," Long Yuehong nodded gently, not explaining why he wanted to do this.
He then raised a difficulty:
"But Whyte didn't write down the addresses of those people or his own family members. There are no useful clues to be found among the items left behind. I have no idea where to look."
"Whyte's accent is from Initial City. His companions are likely to be as well," Jiang Baimian said after a moment of recollection. "We can post a mission at the guild in Initial City. There should be many ruin hunters who know them and are familiar with them."
After discussing this matter, Jiang Baimian said to Genaver:
"During this period, pay attention to our unconscious actions. We'll decide whether to continue after visiting Xiao Chong."
"Okay," Genaver agreed.
Jiang Baimian then said to the other members of the team:
"Take turns resting. Old Ge, you'll have to work a little harder. We'll leave tomorrow morning."
"Okay," Long Yuehong said, still feeling a little uneasy as he walked towards the jeep. The others had no objections either.
…………
The next morning, the five members of the "Old Task Force," who had not shown any abnormalities, got into their respective vehicles and drove towards the camp gate.
Suddenly, a figure darted out and stood in front of their car.
The figure had graying temples and was quite old. It was none other than the owner of the camp's inn.
"Is something the matter?" Jiang Baimian asked with a serious expression as she lowered the car window.
Could something have happened to Wang Fugui and Grey?
The inn owner sighed:
"You kicked down four doors. You have to pay some compensation, right? You can't just leave like that."
He had lived enough years and dared to open an inn in the Forward Base. In addition to having some skills, he wasn't too afraid of death.
"..." The four members of the "Old Task Force" were momentarily stunned.
Only Shang Jianyao suddenly realized something and, looking ashamed, took out the coins he had on him.
After this interlude, the two vehicles drove down the mountain, returning to Initial City.
About a quarter of an hour later, Wang Fugui, having just finished his morning exercises and returned to his room, was stopped by the inn owner, who demanded payment for the door repairs.