The autumn tiger raged as the "Old Task Force," along with three intelligence officers returning to report for duty, arrived at the entrance area of the "Pangu Biology" underground building.

As before, they had to undergo strict security checks.

Although his right hand was a mechanical, iron-black color, Long Yuehong was just as nimble as he took out his belongings and placed them in the wooden strip basket. He then glanced sideways at Shang Jianyao.

This glance almost made him cry out.

Shang Jianyao had actually taken out both the "Six Senses Beads" and the "Angel of Life" necklace, and had clearly not transferred the aura left by the Awakened who had explored deep into the "Mind Corridor" contained within them.

--The surfaces of both items appeared lustrous, as if they had been polished into a patina, reflecting a certain amount of light.

*Weren't we supposed to hide them somewhere outside, so the company wouldn't know?* Long Yuehong had a strong question in his heart, but he didn't dare to speak at this time.

Shang Jianyao seemed to have heard his thoughts and said to him with a smile:

"Today's me is not yesterday's me, and yesterday's me is not the day before yesterday's me.

"Now is honest Shang Jianyao."

"..." Long Yuehong's mouth was half-open, almost forgetting to close it.

After a while, a word flashed through his mind:

"Pit!"

Jiang Baimian resisted the urge to raise her hand and cover her face.

She was tired, and didn't care anymore. Anyway, for the current "Old Task Force," this wasn't too big of a deal. After all, they had completed many tasks on this trip, including some very difficult ones. The accumulated contribution was definitely very high, so there was no need to worry about being deducted.

Moreover, Kang Na knew about their capture of the Eighth Research Institute's special envoy. Who knew if she had reported to the company about what kind of props Cao Ao might have.

Bai Chen quickly calculated how many contribution points might be left in the end, as this was related to some of her future choices.

After passing through security and parking the vehicle, the "Old Task Force" and the three members of "Garibaldi," Giuseppe, entered the elevator.

"You should be going to the 649th floor," Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Giuseppe nodded. "They told us just now."

Jiang Baimian helped them light up the 649th floor, and then selected the 647th floor where her team was located.

After the elevator descended for a while, the three intelligence officers waved goodbye and disappeared from their sight.

When the elevator doors closed, Long Yuehong suddenly sighed.

"What's wrong?" Bai Chen asked.

Long Yuehong said with emotion:

"We met a lot of people along the way, and traveled with many people, but now there are only four of us left."

Before Bai Chen could respond, Shang Jianyao looked at Long Yuehong with a suspicious expression:

"I don't remember using the 'Literary Youth' ability on you."

At this time, the elevator stopped on the 647th floor.

Jiang Baimian didn't give Shang Jianyao a chance to stray from the topic and stepped out first:

"Let's go."

They returned to Room 14. The furnishings here were slightly different from before they left, but generally the same, because someone would come to clean the dust from time to time.

"Hoo..." Jiang Baimian threw herself into the back chair that represented the team leader and leaned back comfortably.

She exclaimed with satisfaction:

"It's still comfortable at home!"

If her teammates weren't watching and there wasn't her bed that she had slept on since she was a child, she would have wanted to roll around to express her feelings.

"Yeah," Long Yuehong also sat down in his seat.

Shang Jianyao dropped his tactical backpack and raised his hand to touch his stomach.

Grumble, grumble.

The sound arrived as expected.

Seeing this, Jiang Baimian laughed:

"First disinfect, shower, change clothes, and then have a feast in the cafeteria, my treat!"

"Hooray!" Shang Jianyao shouted out loud without any sense of shame.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen exchanged glances, equally anticipating it.

Immediately afterward, Shang Jianyao made a request:

"I want braised pork."

"I want stewed beef brisket with potatoes." Long Yuehong couldn't help swallowing.

"I want stir-fried potatoes, eggplants, and green peppers." Bai Chen hesitated for a moment and then said.

Jiang Baimian scolded, amused and annoyed:

"What we eat doesn't depend on what we want, it depends on what the cafeteria has!"

After speaking, she waved her hand dismissively:

"We're not in management, how can we get special treatment?

"Even with special treatment, it depends on what ingredients are available that day.

"Okay, go disinfect, shower, and change clothes!"

In fact, they had undergone a round of disinfection, dust removal, and sterilization when they entered the underground building, and this was an extra safety measure.

...

After dinner, the four members of the "Old Task Force" were paralyzed in their seats with their bellies bulging.

After a long while, Jiang Baimian sat up straight and said:

"You can go back now. I'll hurry up and make a draft of the report and slowly revise it tomorrow."

"Okay." Long Yuehong was rarely the first to get up.

After rolling around between life and death this time, he especially missed his family.

Jiang Baimian watched him, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen walk out of the room, picked up the phone, hesitated for a long time, and finally dialed a number.

"Dad, I'm back." She said into the microphone, revealing a relaxed smile.

Jiang Wenfeng was pleasantly surprised:

"You're finally willing to come back!

"I heard you guys did great things in First City?"

"We're just small soldiers..." Jiang Baimian began to act cute and complained, "I'll tell you the details after the security level is set."

Her gaze shifted away from the landline and looked at the opposite wall. She was silent for a while before saying:

"Dad, I want to have cochlear implant surgery."

"Ah?" Jiang Wenfeng felt that the sun must have risen from the west today.

Jiang Baimian grumbled:

"There are too many dangers outside. I don't think I can continue to let this weakness remain. I can't let my fear affect the safety of the entire team. Ugh, if you don't agree, I'm going to back down. Hurry up, stop me from having this idea!"

"Okay, I'll arrange it now." Jiang Wenfeng felt a sense of urgency.

Jiang Baimian bit her teeth lightly, and her voice became a little quieter unconsciously:

"Also, I want to participate in experiments related to awakening."

Jiang Wenfeng was silent for a few seconds and said:

"Are you sure? There are considerable risks involved."

Jiang Baimian looked at the opposite wall, took a breath, and said:

"Sure."

Not giving Jiang Wenfeng a chance to say anything else, she smiled and said:

"Dad, do you still remember my childhood dream?"

Jiang Wenfeng recalled and smiled wryly:

"I remember... At that time, you were only ten years old. After listening to me talk about the destruction of the Old World, the terror of 'Heartless Disease,' and the misery of the Graylands in the past and what they look like now, you clamored to investigate the cause of the Old World's destruction and the source of 'Heartless Disease.' You kept clamoring until you graduated and entered the laboratory.

"I really breathed a sigh of relief at that time. Who knew that after going around in circles, you still embarked on this path."

The smile on Jiang Baimian's face became more and more obvious:

"You said you would support me in pursuing my dream."

Jiang Wenfeng was silent for a while and said:

"Okay."

Only then did Jiang Baimian hang up the phone.

She then opened the music player on her computer and found a song that matched her current mood--one of those copied from Shang Jianyao.

The beautiful singing voice soon rang out:

"Do you still remember the dream of your youth?
Like a flower that never withers
Accompanies me through wind and rain
See the impermanence of the world
See the vicissitudes of life
Those prices paid for love..." (Note 1)

Hearing this, Jiang Baimian frowned. After some operations, she made the song only play the first five sentences and loop repeatedly:

"Do you still remember the dream of your youth?
Like a flower that never withers
Accompanies me through wind and rain
See the impermanence of the world
See the vicissitudes of life..."

...

Somewhere in the corridor on the 647th floor, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen walked forward side by side.

At the corner, Bai Chen pointed to the other side and said:

"I'm going home."

She lived on the 622nd floor, and the elevator she and Shang Jianyao used was not in the same area.

Before Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong could respond, Bai Chen pursed her lips and said again:

"When the rewards are distributed, I plan to apply for biological prosthetic limbs and gene modification."

"That's very dangerous," Long Yuehong frowned.

He was mainly referring to gene modification.

Bai Chen said with a calm expression:

"I've decided."

*I don't want to give up my companions and leave by myself again...* She silently added in her heart.

"Okay." Long Yuehong never thought that he could persuade Bai Chen, and only hoped that the team leader could do it.

After this petite companion walked out of their sight, Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao went to another area together and entered the correct elevator.

He looked at his reflection on the metal wall of the compartment and asked a little uneasily:

"Does my face look okay?"

Such a serious injury was of course impossible to fully heal in a few days or weeks. Long Yuehong had only recently gotten rid of various sequelae and been completely cured, but his body was still relatively weak and needed to be restored through exercise later.

His main concern now was that his family would see that he had been seriously injured and be saddened for no reason.

As for the unhideable mechanical arm, he had already thought of an excuse, which Shang Jianyao helped him come up with:

"It's so cool, so strong, no man can resist its temptation!"

Shang Jianyao sized Long Yuehong up and down a few times:

"As long as you don't fight with people, you won't be seen as having any problems."

"I'm not stupid," Long Yuehong muttered.

*With my current physical condition, how could I fight with people?*

*Besides, for so many years before, I, Long Yuehong, have always adhered to various regulations and never violated them!*

Shang Jianyao added with a serious face:

"I mean, people will see how strong this mechanical arm is."

"..." Long Yuehong slowly exhaled.

Soon, the elevator arrived at the 495th floor. Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong waved goodbye to each other with disgust and each walked towards their home.

Shang Jianyao swung the brass key and walked slowly on the "street," greeting the neighbors he passed from time to time.

They were all very interested in this young man who had returned from duty, but could see that the other party had just returned and was embarrassed to disturb him now.

Before long, Shang Jianyao returned to his room at No. 196.

He pushed the door open, and his eyes reflected the narrow and cramped room.

The bed placed horizontally at the deepest part, the red lacquered wooden table and back chair on the left, and the stove and sink on the right, were squeezed into a space of only six square meters.

Shang Jianyao didn't clean up immediately. He entered the room, closed the door, and walked to the bed to lean back.

The room was unusually quiet, and he was the only one left.

Shang Jianyao then raised his right hand and pinched both temples.

He came to that empty mind room and sat cross-legged on the ground.

Immediately afterward, he split into three and began to transform the place with his thoughts.

He separated two rooms, one large and one small, and also made a very narrow bathroom.

Then, he materialized the furniture from his memories one by one, including the clothes that he could no longer wear.

At the end of the transformation, Shang Jianyao fixed the cloud representing the "Sea of Origin" on one of the walls in the small room, turning it into an "LCD TV."

After finishing all this, he sat down and silently looked at the room.

(End of Part Four)

Note 1: "The Price of Love" by Jonathan Lee.