As expected by the "Old Task Force," the door was soon knocked upon, and the young monk named Dan Luo delivered oatmeal porridge and toast.
"Today's breakfast." The monk's expression was no different from usual.
Did he not see the corpse of the gray-robed monk on the stairs? Long Yuehong muttered to himself.
Of course, he would definitely not ask directly like that, wouldn't that be akin to burying the silver taels?
"Any plans for today?" Jiang Baimian asked with a smile.
Dan Luo looked at her strangely:
"Apart from not being able to leave this floor, you are free to do as you please. Any plans are for you to decide."
Shang Jianyao "oh-ohed" twice:
"Has the new abbot been chosen?"
"Not yet." Dan Luo replied truthfully, "Important matters are now discussed and decided by all the 'Enlightened Ones' in the temple."
"I see…" Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, beckoning Bai Chen and Long Yuehong to enjoy breakfast.
Dan Luo returned to the staircase, heading down to the lower floors.
He still didn't seem to see the corpse of the gray-robed monk—who had died of suffocation on the steps leading to the seventh floor.
After finishing breakfast, while waiting for Dan Luo to come and collect the dishes, Jiang Baimian and the others left the room and approached the staircase as if taking a post-meal stroll.
They glanced over and found that the place where the gray-robed monk's body had been lying was clean, without even the slightest trace of the dirtiness caused by death.
Who dragged the body away and cleaned the stairs… Moreover, it was being treated as a trivial matter, not even worth informing the "Enlightened One" on duty today… Long Yuehong retracted his gaze.
If it weren't for the discomfort in his neck, he would have suspected that what he experienced in the morning was a hallucination.
While walking back, Jiang Baimian and the others heard sounds of "huh huh ha hey" and "bang bang pa pa" coming from the rear of the Xika Luo Temple.
In the previous days, they had actually vaguely heard such noises, but at that time they had not yet received permission to walk around on the sixth floor, so they had no way of observing the specific situation.
With a sweeping glance, Shang Jianyao took the lead and entered an open, empty meditation room across the way.
They came to the window and cast their gazes outside.
Through the clear glass window, the four members of the "Old Task Force" saw that in the enclosed square where the cremation tower stood, gray-robed monks were scattered in different places, doing various things:
Some of them were holding black semi-automatic rifles, shooting at distant targets; some were holding dual pistols, practicing their accuracy; some were putting down barbells and then lifting them up again, repeating endlessly; some were running laps around the edge of the square, chasing each other; some were wearing boxing gloves, sparring with their fellow disciples…
This left Long Yuehong stunned, feeling that the style was not quite right.
These things themselves were not a problem, but when combined with monks wearing gray robes, they seemed quite strange.
In Buddhist temples, shouldn't morning classes be about meditation and worshiping Buddha? Why had it turned into shooting and combat training?
At this moment, Long Yuehong suspected that a large monk with ammunition belts wrapped around his body, holding a machine gun, and muscles glistening with oil, would jump out of the temple at any time.
Moreover, chanting something like "Namo Gatling Bodhisattva."
"'Crystal Consciousness Church' doesn't focus more on spiritual cultivation, believing that the body is just a shell?" Jiang Baimian muttered softly.
As soon as she finished speaking, the voice of Zenna Gatha sounded in the minds of the four members of the "Old Task Force":
"Before achieving anything in the spirit, the body is still very important.
"Just like a lifebuoy is important before you learn to swim, blindly abandoning the body and letting it weaken will only cause you to sink into the water."
"Then why do you still practice shooting?" Shang Jianyao asked further.
He was purely curious.
Zenna Gatha answered in a calm voice:
"Spiritual cultivation cannot be accomplished by purely meditating. The monks of our sect, when they reach a certain stage, must leave the temple and travel to different parts of the Ashlands.
"In this process, if the body is not strong enough and the weapon is not proficient enough, it is easy to lose one's life and no longer have the opportunity to temper the spirit.
"Only when one reaches my age and has gained some understanding of Buddhism will one relax the requirements for the physical body."
Quite a pragmatist… Jiang Baimian grumbled.
At this moment, Long Yuehong couldn't help but think about another question:
Could it be that Master Zenna Gatha, who is now so thin that he is almost emaciated, was a muscular bald man in his youth, capable of killing people with a single punch?
Or, is the monk with ammunition belts wrapped around his body, holding a machine gun, and muscles glistening with oil, has the same face as Master Zenna Gatha?
Such a scene was too beautiful, and Long Yuehong dared not imagine it further.
However, judging from Zenna Gatha's love for riding a deep black motorcycle, those scenes were indeed somewhat possible!
After watching the morning exercises of the "Crystal Consciousness Church" monks for a while, the four members of the "Old Task Force" returned to their room.
That day, their search for an opportunity to escape was still unsuccessful.
In the evening, the "Old Task Force" sent a telegram to the company as scheduled, detailing their experiences over the past two days.
They mentioned being "lured" upstairs and hearing the word "Holm," but did not mention their own speculations.
…………
North Shore Wastelands, within a lush urban ruin.
The vines wrapped around the remnants of the buildings were abnormally thick, tinged with cyan green, bearing red fruits, just like intertwined poisonous snakes, slippery and hideous.
Similar mutated plants were everywhere in this heavily polluted area, with dangerous distorted animals and lurking "Mindless" moving within, flickering and indistinct.
Genava had turned off the sound of the pollution detector, otherwise the beeping sound would not stop until the battery ran out.
"You guys rest a bit, we have to leave this place tomorrow morning." Genava said in a professional tone, "Otherwise, there is a high probability that there will be aftereffects. Although your physical condition is not very good now, and you don't care much about whether it will get worse, you still have to think about the future. If the fatal problem is solved, and life is extended, but there is still a bunch of incurable diseases that won't kill you quickly, then that's not good."
Although Genava's words sounded a bit harsh, Han Wanghuo had to admit that what he said made some sense.
Han Wanghuo looked at Zeng Duo:
"Let's rest in the car. We can transfer immediately if anything unexpected happens."
The danger level in this area was not low, with "Hunters" everywhere.
Because the battery reserves were still sufficient, Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo had experienced another period of running around, and their physical condition was not very good, so Genava asked the two of them to rest at the same time.
Han Wanghuo examined his condition and did not insist.
…………
After a period of running around, Han Wanghuo, Zeng Duo, and Genava received a telegram from Jiang Baimian and the others.
It said that after careful testing, the two's condition was clearer, and there was hope for treatment according to conventional plans, but the premise was that they must immediately return to First City to undergo a comprehensive and detailed examination.
Zeng Duo and Han Wanghuo were both surprised and delighted, and with the attitude of trying it out anyway since there was no other way, they, together with Genava, used the heavily polluted area to get rid of the trackers and circled back to First City.
They all remembered that Jiang Baimian and the others had been "invited" to the "Crystal Consciousness Church's" Xika Luo Temple as guests, and did not blindly go over, fearing encountering accidents.
"We're going to Xiao Chong's place." Genava's red-glowing eyes swept left and right, "Da Bai said that if there was a problem on their side and they needed help, and we have returned to First City, we should go find Xiao Chong first."
"Is that so?" Han Wanghuo asked doubtfully.
Although he felt that this was reasonable and a countermeasure he could imagine, he didn't seem to have heard Jiang Baimian mention it personally.
Genava moved his metal-cast neck:
"When I was on night duty before."
Han Wanghuo had no more doubts.
Although they were not clear about Xiao Chong's specific identity, just from the fact that he could "communicate" with mutated creatures and was so valued by Jiang Baimian and the others, they could glimpse that this child was not simple.
Zeng Duo followed Han Wanghuo and Genava, all the way to the place Xiao Chong rented, and led the child to the Xika Luo Temple.
As a relic hunter who had long been active in the area around First City, Zeng Duo still knew where the temple was.
When the seven-story building with a base of earthen yellow and decorated with cyan-black appeared before them, the sky suddenly darkened.
It was as if a rainstorm was about to come.
…………
Zeng Duo suddenly woke up, looking towards the open car door.
A thin mist permeated the surroundings, and a faint smell of blood drifted over.
Based on her experience, she judged that a hunting and counter-hunting between mutated creatures, or a confrontation between mutated creatures and the "Mindless," should have occurred not far away.
This required vigilance.
Because those dangerous creatures would definitely not think that hunting two more humans was wrong.
Han Wanghuo also woke up, and Zeng Duo and him each picked up their guns and approached Genava.
I actually had a dream that my illness could be treated… In the dimly lit night, Zeng Duo walked forward while sighing in her heart.
…………
Another morning, the "Old Task Force," having finished breakfast, wandered around the corridor on the sixth floor, looking for opportunities to exploit.
After walking back and forth a few times, they suddenly heard a series of footsteps.
They came from the seventh floor and were heading down.
This… While Long Yuehong's gaze froze, Jiang Baimian spoke:
"Two people."
"Not including ghosts." Shang Jianyao affirmed in a strange way.
Bai Chen stopped and cautiously cast her gaze towards the staircase.
Shang Jianyao cleared his throat and struck a pose.
Seeing Jiang Baimian turn her head to look over, he said with a smile:
"I'll shout for help at any time."
Just over ten seconds later, two figures walked out of the staircase.
One was the emaciated Zenna Gatha, and the other was actually an acquaintance of the "Old Task Force."
The "handsome middle-aged man" Du Heng, wearing a black robe and with long hair!
This man, who claimed to be an antiquities scholar with a mysterious origin, had actually appeared in the Xika Luo Temple and was on the seventh floor.
"Teacher Du Heng!" Shang Jianyao shouted.
Du Heng turned his head upon hearing the sound and said with a slight smile:
"Why are you all here?"
"Master Zenna Gatha said that we would bring turmoil to First City, so he arrested us and said he would detain us for ten days." Shang Jianyao said everything as it was, without concealing anything because Zenna Gatha was beside him.
Du Heng looked around with amusement:
"Then do you have any urgent matters that need to be done within ten days?"
Shang Jianyao thought about it and answered very honestly:
"No."
"Then staying here for ten days might be a good thing, and it can save on food and accommodation costs, right?" Du Heng said in a joking tone.
Jiang Baimian heard the implication in his words and instead asked:
"Teacher Du Heng, what are you doing here?"
Du Heng looked back at the steps leading to the seventh floor and sighed:
"Coming to visit an old friend."