The northern mountains of the Red River Wasteland were vast, filled with various mutated creatures, old-world military bases, and research centers, and valuable things could always be found.

Because many roads here were destroyed and could not be repaired, and the environment was very complex, it was difficult for the "First City" army to enter on a large scale. They could only explore in groups and squads, so it became a paradise for relic hunters.

Every year, countless people came and went, striving for survival. Several places in the mountains naturally formed forward camps of varying sizes, providing relic hunters who were trying to go deep into the mountains with necessities such as food, water, weapons, ammunition, bandages, fuel, and batteries.

At the same time, these forward camps also provided a relatively safe rest space for the returning relic hunters, allowing their common illnesses and minor injuries to be treated promptly.

As long as you could provide enough supplies, even if you were seriously injured, there would be a helicopter to take you back to First City for emergency treatment – resources in this regard were said to be related to the military.

The camp that the "Old Task Force" arrived at was the one furthest into the mountains. Many places ahead were already impassable for vehicles, and they could only travel on foot.

Jiang Baimian took a glance and took in the general appearance of the camp:

It was built relying on an old castle from the Old World. Outside was a circle of walls made of条石 (tiaoshi), and inside were a five-story main building and outbuildings scattered around.

There was a relatively spacious square, which should have been used to train soldiers in ancient times, but now, it was full of cars.

Jiang Baimian noticed that in addition to the dense green plants, there were also a large number of bullet holes and obvious fire marks on the walls of the outer castle.

All of this indicated that this place was not so peaceful.

Driving into the castle, finding a place to park, Jiang Baimian led Shang Jianyao and the others through the scattered relic hunters and into the "Kos Bar" located on the first floor of the main building.

Although called a bar, it mostly didn't have any alcohol. Occasionally, if you were lucky, a caravan would bring some private brews to sell.

Long Yuehong just observed casually and discovered that most relic hunters were using it as a restaurant. The only man sitting at the bar was holding a cup filled with something viscous, not alcohol.

The man looked to be in his early thirties, with messy facial hair that looked like it hadn't been shaved for days.

The fact that it wasn't dense also showed that the man used to take care of his appearance.

At this time, he was drinking the stuff in his cup, occasionally making chewing sounds, while looking down at the broken watch in his palm, his face full of grief.

"What happened?" Shang Jianyao walked over, pulled out a stool, and asked familiarly.

The man turned his head to look at him, twitched the corners of his mouth, and said:

"You're new here, aren't you?

"For that white giant wolf?

"I advise you to give up. There are plenty of opportunities in the mountains. Don't be blinded by the high rewards."

Jiang Baimian also sat down, asking as if she was thinking:

"Is this the lesson you learned?"

The man with brownish-yellow hair and greenish eyes changed his expression slightly and fell silent.

After a few seconds, he sighed and said:

"This is a very obvious thing.

"To seize opportunities in the mountains and ensure your own safety, hunters need to form teams, like you guys. There are very few loners here. They are often terrifyingly powerful."

Before Shang Jianyao could ask further, the man took another sip of the stuff in his cup and chewed twice:

"And I don't have any companions anymore..."

When he said this, his voice was low and heavy.

Bai Chen pursed her lips and asked in a gentle tone:

"Did they die under the claws of that white giant wolf?"

The man put down his cup, covered his face with both palms, and said after a long while:

"We determined the activity pattern of that white giant wolf, and thought we could hit it with a tranquilizer gun outside the range of its strange charm.

"But, but, it discovered our existence at some point, and unexpectedly changed its route temporarily, detouring to the side of the place where we were hiding...

"Then, then, you can imagine the result, right?"

Speaking of the latter part, the man's face, which had already lowered his hands, was full of panic and fear, as if he was still immersed in that "nightmare" and couldn't wake up.

Seeing that the members of the "Old Task Force" had not responded, he twitched the corners of his mouth and said with some madness and panic:

"I don't know how I escaped. Maybe the white giant wolf's appetite had been satisfied.

"I will never forget the way they looked at me, strange, hateful, indifferent, as if they had become servants of that wolf."

Huff... the man exhaled and said:

"Later, I mustered up the courage and returned there, and found this watch. It was Sachi's most precious possession, and it has been smashed like this..."

He didn't say any more, seemingly unwilling to admit that his companions might have been wiped out.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao exchanged glances, and a thought popped into their minds:

Could that white giant wolf be able to sense human consciousness?

Therefore, it easily cracked the ambush of this group of relic hunters.

"This is not fair." Shang Jianyao suddenly spoke.

This time, Jiang Baimian roughly understood what he meant:

Human Awakeneds cannot sense beasts, while mutated creatures can discover human consciousness.

The man was stunned for a moment:

"What's not fair?"

"Unfair to humans." Shang Jianyao replied truthfully, but only said the second half of the sentence.

The man surprisingly agreed:

"Yes, why can a beast be so strong, possess such strange abilities?"

He glanced at Jiang Baimian and the others again:

"Those who have really encountered that white giant wolf and came back alive have given up, but new people full of confidence are constantly coming, like you."

At this time, he saw Genaeva and was stunned for a moment:

"You brought a robot... Well, good luck to you."

The fact that robots can fight against similar anomalies was already common knowledge among some relic hunters.

Jiang Baimian did not answer this sentence, but instead asked:

"Can you share the white giant wolf's activity pattern that you summarized with us?

"We will provide rewards."

"That's a good deal." The man smiled self-deprecatingly. "Let's talk about it outside later. There are too many people here."

"Okay, what's your name?" Jiang Baimian asked.

She tried to put on makeup to make herself look ordinary.

The man replied without much care:

"Wetter."

That's as common as a fake name... Long Yuehong slandered in his heart.

At this time, Shang Jianyao asked curiously:

"What are you drinking? It smells pretty good."

Wetter pointed to the boss inside the bar:

"The meat brew here."

The boss, an elderly man with gray hair, heard this and looked up, saying:

"The most common harvests in the mountains are all kinds of prey. The delicious, distinctive, and relatively harmless ones are taken away by the nobles. The rest are either of poor quality, sour and smelly, or have some problems themselves, and are not suitable for regular consumption, so they don't sell for much.

"But it's all meat, after all, so I buy it, make it into a meat paste, add some plants from the mountains, and boil it into this stuff. It smells good, but it doesn't taste so good. It's just to satisfy your cravings."

Jiang Baimian asked thoughtfully:

"There should be some people who specifically buy this kind of meat to eat, right?"

"There are few when there is a choice, but many people have no choice," the boss replied succinctly.

In the brief silence, Long Yuehong remembered something and quickly asked:

"Is there an office of the Hunter's Guild here?"

Wetter laughed loudly when he heard this:

"How could there be?"

"Why not?" Long Yuehong expressed incomprehension.

Wetter pointed outside:

"In the last ten years, this place has been destroyed twice, and I don't know how many people have died. The reasons were the attacks of a large number of 'Mindless' and the migration of mutated creatures.

"How dare those guild staff come? Anyway, it only takes half a day to get out of the mountains from here. Going to First City to submit and accept tasks can also be a relaxing experience."

Thinking of the various marks on the outer wall, Long Yuehong didn't ask any further.

Wetter pointed to the boss again:

"If there wasn't no other way, who would be willing to open a bar here?"

"Anyway, I'm already old," the boss responded calmly.

Wetter turned to look at Shang Jianyao and the others:

"Ashlanders... Did you just arrive here recently? No wonder you don't know these things."

"Yeah, yeah." Shang Jianyao didn't hide anything and directly asked, "Have you seen a relic hunter named Feilintong? Same height as him, grayish hair, dark brown eyes, likes to use shotguns."

"He" referred to Long Yuehong.

Feilintong was the relic hunter mentioned by Terence, the second boss of the Black Shirts, who knew about the Mirror Church.

While Wetter shook his head, the bar owner replied:

"He went to track that white giant wolf. I don't know if he'll be back."

"Mm." While Jiang Baimian nodded lightly, a person walked in through the bar door.

The person was thin and dark, around thirty years old, less than 1.7 meters tall, wearing a patched black long t-shirt and dark blue canvas pants.

It turned out to be an acquaintance, the relic hunter who first told the "Old Task Force" the information:

Wang Fugui.