As soon as Long Yuehong finished speaking, as if to prove him right, another rumbling sound came from the direction he was pointing.
Immediately afterward, was the sound of gunfire penetrating the rain.
"Looks like there's a firefight over there." Shang Jianyao's attention was instantly diverted, and he speculated with great interest, "Did someone attack them, or did they attack someone else?"
"Who knows?" Jiang Baimian wasn't a deity who could recreate the situation over there out of thin air.
Then, she teased Shang Jianyao:
"What, do you want to go and uphold justice?"
"What if it's dog-eat-dog?" The honest Shang Jianyao was always straightforward.
He then sighed and explained with great emotion:
"If it's determined that one side is innocent and has been brutally attacked, then I'm willing to offer some help. Otherwise, what am I working so hard for to enter the 'Mind Corridor'?
"But right now, since I can't figure out what's going on over there, I might as well choose to watch from the sidelines to avoid doing more harm than good. Anyway, similar things happen on the graylands every day, and not just once."
"You rarely say so much," said another Shang Jianyao with a sigh.
The honest Shang Jianyao said disdainfully:
"You've said both the pros and cons. In short, you're always right, aren't you?"
Seeing that the Shang Jianyaos were about to argue, Jiang Baimian took a breath and said:
"Stop!"
At this moment, she had a headache. She felt that after Shang Jianyao entered the "Mind Corridor," even though she only brought three team members, she was as mentally exhausted as if she were commanding an entire action brigade.
The level of noise from ten Shang Jianyaos was comparable to that of a hundred people!
Jiang Baimian calmed down and instructed Long Yuehong and the others:
"Everyone, pack up your belongings and be on guard, so we don't get caught in the crossfire without being able to react."
"Yes, Team Leader!" It was Shang Jianyao who answered loudly again.
Long Yuehong and Bai Chen didn't hesitate to open the jeep's trunk and each took out a box.
One contained the latest model of the "Chameleon" series bionic smart armor, and the other was a newer model of the "m-45" military exoskeleton device.
Because some of the functions of the military exoskeleton device overlapped with Long Yuehong's t1 mechanical arm, he now wears the bionic smart armor more often to maximize his strength.
Before this mission, the "Old Task Force" replaced the captured "Chameleon" series bionic smart armor with the latest model and applied for a new "Black Marsh Iron Serpent" series bionic smart armor.
This meant that the "Old Task Force" currently had three military exoskeleton devices and two bionic smart armors, and they only had four carbon-based human team members.
This level of over-allocation was simply extravagant on the graylands.
If the "Old Task Force" hadn't taken advantage of their rest time to modify the jeep and enlarge the trunk, they wouldn't have been able to fit their belongings, even though the bionic smart armor didn't take up as much space, with two using one box.
Based on the equipment the team possessed, Shang Jianyao even had the wild idea of testing the effects of a smart robot wearing bionic smart armor.
After Bai Chen and Long Yuehong completed their combat preparations and began patrolling the surroundings, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao picked up the "Black Marsh Iron Serpent" series bionic smart armor and the "AC-45" military exoskeleton device, respectively.
Jiang Baimian's current range of ability was only fifteen meters at most, so she preferred the fully enclosed "Black Marsh Iron Serpent" series bionic smart armor, which had excellent bulletproof capabilities and blended almost perfectly with the night. This way, she could hide her consciousness, brave the hail of bullets, and sneak up on enemies to use her abilities.
The illusory aspects of the "Shattered Mirror" domain naturally have a larger coverage area than many abilities in the "Zhuang Sheng" domain.
Shang Jianyao, wearing the military exoskeleton device, could suppress the enemy with grenades, laser devices, and electromagnetic weapons at a distance of more than a hundred meters, while simultaneously experiencing "loss of limb control" and being a "literary youth with affected airs."
After fastening the last buckle, Shang Jianyao looked up at Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong and made a sound:
"Hahaha!
"You guys look so funny dressed like that!"
Although the bionic smart armor imitated function rather than appearance, Jiang Baimian didn't look like a snake-headed creature, and Long Yuehong didn't look like a giant chameleon, but the "Pangu Biology" designers always seemed to want to reflect some of the name's characteristics in the appearance. Thus, different smart armors had different styles.
The most exaggerated of these was the "Lizard" smart armor. "Pangu Biology" employees who wore them really looked like humanoid lizards.
The "Chameleon" and "Black Marsh Iron Serpent" were relatively better, but the former had noticeably protruding eyes on the headgear, and the latter had a tail that wasn't too short, which was said to be used to maintain balance during high-speed movement.
"You, have, laughed, many, times, already!" Jiang Baimian "reminded" Shang Jianyao, one word at a time.
However, she couldn't get angry, because she had already laughed at herself when Shang Jianyao tried it on before.
The four of them stayed around the jeep, watching the rain outside the building gradually thin until the gunshots and explosions completely subsided.
After another while, after confirming that the night had returned to silence, Long Yuehong breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"It seems that no matter which side won, they don't have any intention of creating additional complications."
"The people behind probably don't know we exist, so they can't create additional complications even if they wanted to," the honest Shang Jianyao said frankly.
Long Yuehong was speechless for a moment and forcibly resisted the urge to raise his hand and scratch the back of his head.
To maximize the effectiveness of the t1 mechanical arm, the right palm of the "Chameleon" bionic smart armor had been specially modified to allow a gap to be opened so that the hand could be extended.
Seeing this, Jiang Baimian turned to Shang Jianyao and asked:
"What did you mean by saying that you didn't get hurt when you withdrew?"
Shang Jianyao immediately explained in detail how he had given up on the "strategy," chose room "912," and encountered the cruise ship again.
"You really have a rich, death-seeking spirit," Jiang Baimian said sincerely.
He clearly had a "strategy" to refer to, but he insisted on taking risks in unfamiliar rooms!
Yes, yes... Long Yuehong echoed in his heart, and Bai Chen nodded almost imperceptibly.
Shang Jianyao felt that this was a compliment:
"Of course!
"If we always follow the 'strategy,' it will be difficult to have additional gains and to discover the cause of the Old World's destruction, the source of the 'Heartless Disease,' and the essence of the 'Mind Corridor.'
"Just like before, if we hadn't acted unconventionally and had Xiao Hong climb out the window to see the situation in the master bedroom, how would we have been able to discover the anomaly in room 302?"
"..." Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment and almost felt like she was being persuaded by this guy.
She quickly regained her logic:
"Having a 'strategy' for a room doesn't mean there are no additional gains, like with '101' and '205.'"
Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian suddenly smiled:
"If Xiao Hong himself wasn't special, or if the 'Six Senses Bead' hadn't had an effect as soon as he entered the room, then it would indicate that anyone could see the corpses and red bedding in the master bedroom of room 302 from the window.
"By the same token, could it be that in a certain place, across something, one can see the 'New World'?"
"The door to the New World," Bai Chen expressed his thoughts, "The window of the master bedroom in room 302 should be similar to it."
Jiang Baimian gave a long "hmm" and turned to Shang Jianyao and said:
"Let's not try it tonight for the time being. Let's guard against accidents and take a look at what's special about it tomorrow when we have time."
The rash and impatient Shang Jianyao ultimately chose to listen:
"Alright."
…………
The rain stopped, the wind calmed, and nothing was said overnight.
When the "Old Task Force" left this urban ruin, the sun broke through the clouds and cast a radiant glow.
The team from last night had left early.
The "Old Task Force's" jeep drove towards Angry Lake for several hours and entered a wide and desolate plain.
Jiang Baimian and the others were about to go to a nearby river with less pollution to replenish their water when they suddenly saw a convoy more than two hundred meters away, drawing water and cooking.
They had a total of six vehicles, mainly off-road and mountain vehicles, with a headcount of nearly twenty.
"The group from last night?" Jiang Baimian turned to look at Shang Jianyao in the back row.
"The numbers are right." The current Shang Jianyao was serious and rational.
Jiang Baimian pondered slightly and said:
"Then let's draw water a little further away."
In this situation, they had to maintain a distance of at least three hundred meters to avoid being unknowingly affected by the other party's abilities.
After the "Old Task Force" found a good spot by the river, a dark-colored mountain vehicle from the other team suddenly turned around and drove towards them.
When the distance between the two sides was still just over a hundred meters, someone in the mountain vehicle stuck their head out and shouted loudly:
"We want to inquire about something!"
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and nodded to Shang Jianyao.
Shang Jianyao immediately took out the blue and white megaphone and responded:
"You have to pay!"
There was a moment of silence on the other side before they said:
"Alright!"
The mountain vehicle got closer and closer, and Long Yuehong and Bai Chen retreated to the side of the trunk, ready to go.
When they were still ten meters away, the dark-colored vehicle stopped, and two people opened the doors and stepped out, one on the left and one on the right.
They were both graylander males, wearing ordinary black clothes. One was thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, with a square face and thick eyebrows, and the other looked younger, with sword-like eyebrows and a straight nose.
Both of them walked with upright postures and almost identical paces.
"What are your names?" the older man asked calmly.
Jiang Baimian replied with a question:
"What do you want to ask?"
The older man nodded slightly and said:
"How long does it take to get to Redstone Collection from here?"