Hearing Shang Jianyao's reminder, Long Yuehong subconsciously offered a suggestion:
"Go around to another place?"
This ruin is said to be small, but that's relative to Tiel City, Marsh No. 1 Ruins, and Wasteland No. 13 Relic. In reality, it was large enough to accommodate three to four hundred thousand people in the Old World.
Such a large place, two teams can completely occupy one side each, without interfering with each other, and may not even know of each other's existence.
With the current strength of the "Old Task Force," Long Yuehong wasn't really afraid of a conflict. He just didn't like engaging in meaningless battles.
On the graylands, everyone's lives are already very tiring, and there's no need to force themselves together, being wary of each other and speaking insincerely.
--If this were the Old World, encountering two teams wouldn't be a big deal. Maybe they could even hold a festive party to Shang Jianyao's liking. But in today's graylands, order only exists in the major settlements. Meeting in the wild, weakness is the original sin.
Greedy people are countless, because those who aren't greedy might starve to death in a few days.
Bai Chen, who was driving, glanced at the side:
"We can wait a bit.
"After we get closer to those people, we'll go around to another building."
Uh, why... Long Yuehong's mind raced, pondering the reason behind Xiaobai's words.
Soon, he understood the specific reason:
Turning around or taking a detour at this time might seem prudent, but it would actually expose some problems.
If that team of nearly twenty people didn't have an Awakened at the "Mind Corridor" level, it would be fine. But if they did, they would discover that the "intruders" had changed their direction of advance from a straight line, more than a hundred meters away.
This would easily lead them to a conclusion:
There's likely an Awakened at the "Mind Corridor" level among the newcomers, and their sensory range is around 150 meters!
This would mean that before the two sides even made contact, they would have figured out one-third of the "Old Task Force's" strength, and mastered the maximum range of Shang Jianyao's abilities.
According to Bai Chen's approach, the "Old Task Force" would appear more like a team with some strength but not overly powerful, letting them think that there were indeed Awakened among them, but they were still at the "Sea of Origins," and only sensed them when the distance was reduced to thirty or forty meters.
Thus, the maximum range of Shang Jianyao's abilities would be concealed, and the "Old Task Force's" strength would be greatly underestimated. If that team wanted to do something to target them, the consequences were predictable.
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao applauded Bai Chen's plan, and said "learnedly":
"This is the plan of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger!"
At this time, the jeep was bypassing several buildings along the "ring road," and the straight-line distance to the team that Shang Jianyao sensed hadn't changed much.
Why use such a vulgar name, making Xiaobai seem very sinister and cunning... Long Yuehong silently criticized Shang Jianyao in his heart.
He could have used better words to describe it!
Jiang Baimian suddenly laughed:
"Actually, there's no need for that.
"Xiaobai, didn't you used to prefer showing your strength from a distance to deter the other party and avoid unnecessary conflicts?
"If they really identify us as a relatively strong team with ordinary Awakened, and they actually have an Awakened at the 'Mind Corridor' level, wouldn't that provoke their greed and actively invite a relatively dangerous battle that might not yield any gains? Why bother?"
Bai Chen, while driving, defended:
"But this would expose the maximum range of Shang Jianyao's abilities.
"This is one of an Awakened's most important secrets."
Jiang Baimian nodded lightly and said with a smile:
"So, we'll turn around in the seventy to ninety-meter range.
"This exceeds the limit of the 'Sea of Origins,' but only touches the bottom of the 'Mind Corridor,' allowing the other party to easily guess that there's an Awakened at the 'Mind Corridor' level among us, but their ability range is definitely more than that.
"As for how much more, let them use their own imagination. The unknown is the most deterrent."
"Okay." Bai Chen changed his mind after a moment's thought.
This is best, no conflict should occur... Long Yuehong breathed a silent sigh of relief upon hearing this.
Without knowing how strong the "Old Task Force's" Awakened really were, unless that team had a powerhouse at the "New World" level, they definitely wouldn't have much confidence in winning. They could only choose to stay away.
And powerhouses at the "New World" level have either left the graylands or are in long-term slumber. It's not that easy to encounter them...
"Stop! Stop your brain, don't think about it!" Shang Jianyao suddenly exclaimed in horror, turning his head to look at Long Yuehong.
"..." Long Yuehong suppressed his anger. "I wasn't thinking about anything."
"Oh dear, that won't do. Brains will rust if you don't use them." An unknown Shang Jianyao shook his head.
Long Yuehong chose to remain silent.
According to the plan agreed upon by the four, Bai Chen turned the steering wheel and veered towards the other side of the urban ruins after entering the target area within a ninety-meter range.
Nothing unusual happened along the way.
Shang Jianyao began to ponder a question and raised it:
"What if that team doesn't have an Awakened at the 'Mind Corridor' level and is just a relatively common hunter team or bandit gang?"
"..." Long Yuehong replied sullenly, "Then what we just did was winking at a blind man."
"There's no need to care about that." Jiang Baimian, in the passenger seat, was quite open-minded. "As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry, and better to err on the side of caution."
Not long after, the "Old Task Force" found a building that looked quite sturdy and intact about a mile away from those people to take shelter from the rain.
After eating a simple dinner using an electric kettle, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian, one sitting in the back row and the other leaning against the passenger seat, simultaneously entered a deep sleep.
During this time, they had both gained quite a bit in the Mind World.
Jiang Baimian had long mastered several applications of her abilities, left the "Hall of Stars," entered the "Sea of Origins," and boarded the first Island of Fear.
This island manifested as her falling unconscious as soon as she stepped onto it. After a long period of unconsciousness, she would naturally be ejected from the "Sea of Origins."
Nearly two months had passed, and she still hadn't found a way to overcome this fear.
After Shang Jianyao broke through the psychological shadow that included "Tiel City Second Food Company," he was originally facing the second psychological shadow and trying to board that long-abandoned cruise ship. However, the owner of the room seemed to have noticed his exploration and issued a warning by changing certain aspects of the environment.
Although this didn't conform to the common sense that exploring multiple psychological shadows and delving into the depths of the target's consciousness would cause them to have continuous nightmares and become aware, the polite Shang Jianyao still chose to leave.
From then until the "Old Task Force" set off, he found two rooms nearby based on the "Pangu Biology" provided "walkthrough," and broke through three psychological shadows in each, considering it an incomplete exploration.
Continuing to delve deeper was too risky, and the gains might not keep up. The "walkthrough" didn't recommend it.
Even so, Shang Jianyao's Awakened abilities had improved significantly:
The range of "Thought Guidance" still had the limitation of the other party being able to clearly hear the corresponding sound, but the effect of transmitting it remotely through radio waves was much stronger.
The range of "Literary Youth - Affected Person" increased to 110 meters, "Loss of Limb Movement" was 150 meters, electromagnetic interference was also 150 meters, and material interference was 60 meters.
The magnitude of these ability improvements wasn't completely equal because the tempering effect of different rooms and different psychological shadows on different abilities varied.
As for the number of people affected, they had all reached seventy.
This showed just how good the effect of the psychological shadow that included "Tiel City Second Food Company" really was.
After leaving "131" room, the Shang Jianyaos arrived on a hallway with a dim yellow carpet.
One of them looked left and right, with a heavy tone said to himself:
"We can't always go to rooms with 'walkthroughs'; it's not interesting.
"This time, let's find one that's not recorded in the 'walkthrough,' how about that?" The timid and cowardly Shang Jianyao sneered.
The common scene in "101" was an asylum, which was very dangerous. "205" was "Dawn's" or "Zhuang Sheng's" dream, bizarre and extremely dangerous.
The honest Shang Jianyao immediately made a reply:
"First, '205' is too dangerous; it's not suitable for us right now. Second, the others aren't nearby, and we don't know when we'll be able to find them."
"Third, if possible, I'd really like to go take a look at '101.'" The Shang Jianyao who sought novelty and curiosity added.
After a period of argument, the Shang Jianyaos finally reached a consensus:
Find a room nearby that's not recorded in the "walkthrough" to explore.
With a casual sweep, Shang Jianyao's gaze fell on the room with the door number "912."
It wasn't in the walkthrough.
"Meeting is fate." The semi-mechanical monk, Pudu Chanshi, turned his "Six Senses Beads."
The Shang Jianyaos joined their hands together, came to the front of "912," twisted the handle, and pushed it open.
As soon as he entered, a dark sea and a cruise ship covered in shellfish appeared before Shang Jianyao's eyes.
After a few seconds, he laughed:
"A bit interesting..."
This psychological shadow looked exactly the same as the second psychological shadow in room "522!"