Shang Jianyao glanced at the helicopter in the air and invited the city defense army soldiers at the entrance with a smile:
“Why don’t you come in and wait a while?
“If the higher-ups see that you only asked a few questions at the entrance and left, it will be troublesome and easily expose the secrets of me and my companions.”
The city defense army soldiers felt that what Shang Jianyao said made sense. They carried their standard assault rifles and walked into Grimm Clock Store.
As they habitually looked around, they saw Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen guarding the entrance to the back area.
These two were also wearing city defense army uniforms, but with an additional layer of military exoskeleton devices, which made the eyelids of the soldiers twitch instinctively.
“Are they too?” The leader of the city defense army soldiers looked at Shang Jianyao, his tone still normal, but his movements had unconsciously adopted a defensive posture.
He was about the same height as Shang Jianyao, with a rugged face, blond hair, and blue eyes, showing obvious Yargai heritage.
“Yes.” As Shang Jianyao nodded slightly, Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen each took out their identification.
The city defense army soldiers took a few steps forward and clearly saw the relevant information and the most important seal.
They relaxed and retreated back to the entrance, afraid of seeing any secrets in the area closely guarded by their two colleagues.
This was the experience they had accumulated over the years:
Don't look at what you shouldn't look at, don't ask what you shouldn't ask.
Shang Jianyao completely violated this mode of behavior. After receiving Jiang Baimian's hint, he didn't pretend and asked with a curious expression:
“What are you searching for?”
The leader of the Yargai city defense army soldiers did not hide anything and answered frankly:
“A Daoist.
“The Senate issued the order directly, bypassing General Focas.”
A Daoist? Of the Eternal Era sect? Did the Kalpas "Zhuang Sheng" lose his original influence in this 'First City' riot? A series of thoughts immediately jumped into Jiang Baimian's mind.
She had seen very few Daoists and could only think of the Eternal Era sect for the time being.
“Daoist?” Shang Jianyao asked, “What does he look like? Maybe I've seen him.”
The leader of the city defense army soldiers took out a photo from his chest pocket and showed it to Shang Jianyao.
In the photo was a man in his early fifties, wearing a Daoist robe similar to Garolan's, with a loosely tied bun.
He looked like a pure Ashlander, with graying sideburns, heavy eye bags, a five-strand beard, and obvious wrinkles.
“Never seen him.” Shang Jianyao was very disappointed.
He seemed to have perfectly adopted the role of an elite city defense army soldier.
“We hadn't seen him either before today,” the leader of the city defense army soldiers consoled Shang Jianyao.
Shang Jianyao listened to the sound of the helicopter propellers not far away and asked:
“Who's in charge of the command?”
“Not one of ours.” The leader of the city defense army soldiers looked at the ceiling diagonally behind him. “Sent by the Senate.”
“What does he look like?” Shang Jianyao asked without any pretense.
The leader of the city defense army soldiers recalled and said:
“He was wearing a black robe, his hair was messy, his eyes were light blue, his face was long, his cheekbones were high, and he had many wrinkles…”
“Don't recognize him.” Shang Jianyao expressed his regret again.
After receiving Jiang Baimian's look, he organized a new round of questions:
“Did he display any abilities?”
“No.” The city defense army soldiers shook their heads at the same time.
Just as Jiang Baimian was feeling slightly disappointed, the Yargai man in the lead added:
“But the higher-ups told us that with him around, we can rest assured and be bold when carrying out missions today. There's no need to worry about danger; everything will be fine.”
This… Jiang Baimian's mind raced, and she intuitively felt that this sentence contained a lot of information.
Soon, she thought of an ability:
“Virtual World”!
Only if this area is covered by the "Virtual World" can the soldiers carrying out the mission truly not have to worry about danger; everything will be fine.
The master of the "Virtual World" who protected Marcus? The one with claustrophobia as the price? Jiang Baimian suddenly had such a guess.
She then fell into deep thought:
The Kalpas "Shattered Mirror" believed in by Mirror Religion previously supported the official "First City" and had a close relationship with the Olei faction…
They have now abandoned the original conservatives and turned to support the new Chief Executive Gaius? Gaius is still willing to accept it, indicating that “Shattered Mirror” and his backers are not in a life-or-death relationship. They can resist and cooperate, depending on the situation?
No major disturbances occurred in the direction of the Sikaro Temple, indicating that the Crystal Consciousness Sect did not suffer a devastating blow… Are the Kalpas "Bodhi" and "Shattered Mirror" in similar positions?
It seems that the supporters of the Kalpas "Zhuang Sheng" suffered the most in this riot…
Are some Kalpas resisting this year deity who represents the entire year?
“Really?” Shang Jianyao looked suspiciously at the city defense army soldiers' claim that there was "no need to worry about danger" and seemed to want to draw his gun on the spot to verify it.
The Yargai man in the lead replied not too confidently:
“We soldiers believe what the higher-ups say, but we'll still be careful when carrying out missions; our lives are our own.”
After speaking, he looked at the clock in the store and estimated the time:
“We should go out.”
“Be careful.” Shang Jianyao waved his right hand.
His left arm had been re-bandaged on the way to Antana Street, and then a doctor at the black clinic helped him stitch it up.
After watching the city defense army soldiers leave, Jiang Baimian listened quietly for a while and found that the helicopter in the air had not left the area and was still “hanging” nearby.
She frowned slightly, and a sudden bad feeling arose in her heart.
If the “Virtual World” does cover Greater Antana Street, then the “data” of herself and the others must have been uploaded synchronously.
And three city defense army soldiers hiding in a black workshop, two of whom are wearing military exoskeleton devices, is a situation that looks suspicious no matter how you look at it.
When the master of the “Virtual World” reviews this part of the data, it will be easy to discover the problem.
This problem was originally not a big problem. After all, Old Task Force has the documents and permits given by General Focas, which are enough to fool them.
But they have dealt with the master of the “Virtual World” in the helicopter and are familiar with each other!
At that time, the other party has a good chance of recognizing them!
Thinking of the worst possible outcome, Jiang Baimian was about to have Bai Chen and herself take off their military exoskeleton devices together.
In a flash, she had a second thought and realized that this was like protesting too much:
The exoskeleton devices that were taken off couldn’t disappear from the “Virtual World”!
Moreover, the master of the “Virtual World” who originally didn't pay attention to this side might cast his gaze over in advance because of such “data fluctuations.”
Neither the left nor the right was right, and Jiang Baimian found it difficult to make a decision for a moment.
She saw Shang Jianyao’s expression become serious, and she believed that he had also noticed this problem.
…
North Shore Wastelands, Early Spring Town.
Bang, bang, bang, Genava fired the tranquilizer darts into the air-raid shelter.
As a precaution, he even looked for nearby ventilation facilities and fired a few shots inside.
After waiting for a while, Genava, who was closely monitoring the target area, turned to Zeng Duo and said:
“The people guarding near the entrance are already in the wrong state. I'll rush in first, and you follow behind.”
“Okay.” Zeng Duo switched the military exoskeleton device's mask to the anti-toxic mode.
Han Wanghuo opened his mouth, but said nothing.
Thump, thump, thump, clang, clang, clang, Genava rushed to the permanent fortifications by repeatedly cycling between great leaps, running, and great leaps.
Only at this time did sporadic gunshots ring out from inside, and a shell flew out.
Boom!
Genava dodged the shell, withstood the gunfire, broke into the air-raid shelter, and began to strafe with a submachine gun in hand.
In the crisp sound of 'Da da da', many First City soldiers fell, and the rest were either unconscious or had shrunk back, avoiding the edge for the time being.
Zeng Duo closely followed, leaping over those fortifications, and using grenade launchers to create damage.
After clearing the enemies from this area, she and Genava went deep into the air-raid shelter.
Han Wanghuo waited for the anesthetic gas to dissipate for a while, and after the effect was reduced to a minimum, he put on a mask and followed.
Along the way, he observed the enemies, whether dead or alive, and his brows furrowed slightly.
The garrison's weapons and equipment were even worse than he had expected.
Of course, this "worse" was compared to their usual state.
“Although most of them have been transferred away, they wouldn't leave only one tank, two armored vehicles, one bionic intelligent armor, and two Awakened… Not even a military exoskeleton device?” While praying for such good luck, Han Wanghuo became more vigilant.
The deep and wide air-raid shelter originally had multiple rooms separated. Zeng Duo glanced over and suddenly saw a familiar face.
That was Uncle Li Ji, who lived next door to her.
At this time, Li Ji, whose lips had receded and teeth were exposed, had his face pressed tightly against the glass window of a certain room, squashed out of shape.