Amidst the sounds of "shush shush shush," the pedestrians, slightly frightened by the earlier sounds of vehicle collisions and gunfire, suddenly felt a surge in their lower abdomens.
They subconsciously shrank back, either looking around for a place to urinate or silently calculating how much longer it would take to get home.
As residents of First City, the occasional shooting and car accident weren't enough to make them pee their pants on the spot; it only urged them to leave the scene as soon as possible.
—The Red Wolf District was relatively better; the Olive Green District, if not every day, certainly had shooting incidents every few days.
The brown SUV adjusted its direction and approached the "Old Task Force's" sapphire blue Jeep.
The surviving passenger in the back and the driver also couldn't help but squeeze their legs together, fighting the sudden urge to urinate.
They were both experienced gunmen, long past the stage where facing enemies and combat would cause dry mouths, urgent urination, and panting. They didn't understand why something similar was happening now.
Having witnessed the power of Awakened, they could only attribute this to some special ability they couldn't detect themselves.
The brief urgency to urinate wasn't enough to defeat their relatively good physical fitness, not enough to make them immediately give up the attack, grab their guns, and get out of the car to solve the problem under nearby telephone poles or roadside trees.
Holding back their urine, one slowed down, extended a pistol out of the driver's seat window, and aimed at the already open Jeep passenger window, while the other picked up his dead companion's rocket launcher, crossed the corpse from above, and tried to lock onto the "Old Task Force's" vehicle.
At this moment, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and others were leaning against their seats, fast asleep, having boundless and meaningless dreams.
"Shush...shush...shush..."
In the nursery rhyme played by the small speaker, the "shush" sound became clearer and clearer.
The surrounding pedestrians quickened their pace, each heading to their destination. The two attackers clenched their legs and steadied their bodies, completing their aim.
Just at that moment, Jiang Baimian suddenly opened her eyes, raised her left hand, and fired several shots in succession towards the enemy's location.
She was awake!
She had broken free from the forced sleep state imposed by the "Mind Corridor" Awakened!
At the same time, Shang Jianyao in the back row also sprang up, his eyes becoming dark and deep.
He was also awake!
They were awakened by the urge to pee.
Jiang Baimian had Shang Jianyao play music not to use the "shush" sound to affect the nearby attackers and the hidden "Mind Corridor" Awakened, but to allow themselves to enter a state of urinary urgency in reality.
When this state became stronger and stronger, they could use the corresponding physiological stimulation to wake themselves from a dream from which they normally couldn't escape on their own.
Sometimes, the negative states brought by abilities aren't necessarily a bad thing.
It depended on the occasion and the situation.
The two enemies, who could have completed their attack at the same time as Jiang Baimian opened fire, froze there.
They found that their fingers weren't listening to them; they wouldn't pull the trigger.
"Loss of Bilateral Motor Function"!
Bang bang bang!
Jiang Baimian's "Icemoss" completed a series of shots.
But because she had just woken up and fired in the direction of the enemies she hastily observed without aiming, her accuracy wasn't high. She only managed to make sparks fly and dents appear on the surface of the brown SUV.
The two attackers, unable to retaliate, successively withdrew their bodies and dodged this wave of attacks.
Seeing this, Jiang Baimian put down her pistol and picked up the "Grim Reaper" man-portable rocket launcher.
She used only her left hand to complete the setup and aiming, and was about to pull the trigger.
Just then, she and Shang Jianyao closed their eyes again.
They fell asleep again!
The "shush" sound in the nursery rhyme continued, and the two of them quickly woke up again, along with Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Giuseppe.
Boom!
Jiang Baimian reflexively pulled the trigger, and a rocket flew out, passed through the original location of the brown SUV, and landed a little further away, creating a violent explosion.
Fortunately, the pedestrians on the road and other drivers had moved away from this area due to the urge to urinate, each looking for a place to relieve themselves.
The brown SUV, however, seized the gap when Jiang Baimian and the others fell asleep and drove a little further forward.
Jiang Baimian knew that the most dangerous one was the "Mind Corridor" level Awakened hiding in the dark, and decisively said to Bai Chen:
"Increase the speed, but not too much."
If that happened, if Bai Chen was forced to fall asleep again, the "Old Task Force" would be in danger.
—Even if she only dozed off slightly due to the urge to urinate, a speeding vehicle was very likely to lose control. At that time, even if the Jeep was fitted with thick steel plates, it might not be able to protect the passengers inside.
Bai Chen didn't ask why, stepped on the accelerator, and let the vehicle return to a normal driving speed.
Only then did she understand why the team leader had been telling her to slow down earlier. It was because she, through the auxiliary chip's monitoring of her physical state, suspected that it was useful to slow down in reality, not in a dream.
Of course, she might also dream of the auxiliary chip feeding back similar results, so Jiang Baimian couldn't be sure.
As the Jeep accelerated, Long Yuehong completely regained consciousness, straightened his back, turned his body, and took out a military exoskeleton device from the trunk.
He first handed this to Shang Jianyao, and quickly picked up another one himself.
This series of skillful cooperation made "Garibaldi" Giuseppe stunned, secretly admiring the strength of this team.
While Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao were helping each other put on the military exoskeleton devices, Jiang Baimian didn't stop attacking outside.
She put down the "Grim Reaper" man-portable rocket launcher, picked up the "Tyrant" grenade launcher, and sometimes launched grenades at the brown SUV, and sometimes attacked the unmanned roadside.
Boom! Boom!
In a series of explosions, the brown SUV was forced to deviate from the pursuit route, and the distance from the Jeep widened. The citizens of First City living around called the "Order of the Hands" in different ways.
This was exactly Jiang Baimian's purpose: to bring in the official First City.
Of course, their team would be afraid of being caught, but the attackers were also likely to be afraid!
At least from the current situation, the attackers shouldn't be the strong from First City itself, and in all likelihood came from that hidden, dangerous organization that was committed to eliminating clues to the destruction of the Old World.
Compared to them, the "Old Task Force" was nothing in the eyes of the officials of First City. Anyway, the secrets that should be leaked had definitely been leaked.
Jiang Baimian stopped while she was ahead, stopped bombing, and turned to Bai Chen and said:
"Go to Little Chong's place."
This was the second step in their self-rescue.
When facing a "Mind Corridor" level Awakened whose price they didn't grasp, relying solely on their own strength and the ability to create chaos, they might still not be spared. At this moment, there were only four people in First City who could and would help them.
One was Du Heng, but the "Old Task Force" had no idea where this antiquities scholar was currently;
The second was the compassionate Master Zenana and the "Crystal Consciousness Church" he represented, but the "Old Task Force" also didn't know where Zenana had gone to do errands. The "Crystal Consciousness Church" headquarters, Sikaluo Temple, was currently in an abnormal state, and the attitude of the remaining "Perfected Beings" was unclear, so Jiang Baimian didn't dare to take the risk;
The third was General Focas, who had promised to provide assistance once. However, under the current situation, the "Old Task Force" heading straight to the Golden Apple District was likely to be subject to inspection, and might be "killed" or directly arrested on the spot by another powerhouse in First City before they even saw General Focas.
The fourth was naturally Little Chong, the "King of the Heartless," who lived in the Red Wolf District, not exactly close to Sikaluo Temple, but not too far away either.
Bai Chen could undoubtedly think of all this as well, manipulating the Jeep to turn towards the route biased towards the Golden Apple District.
Little Chong was on a certain street along the way.
In the vehicle, Long Yuehong, who was putting on his military exoskeleton device, made a request in a slightly "weak" tone:
"Can you turn off the small speaker?"
The feeling of urinary urgency was getting stronger and stronger as the "shush" sound continued.
"Garibaldi" Giuseppe was already considering whether to just pee in his pants.
In this regard, he had long lost his dignity and sense of shame—when he was bound and detoxing, his whole person completely collapsed, and he couldn't help but lose control of his bowel movements and urination occasionally. Fortunately, Sikaluo Temple provided laundry "services."
Jiang Baimian nodded:
"Turn it off.
"The current state is enough."
The current degree of urinary urgency was enough to wake them from their dreams. Strengthening it further would have "unthinkable" consequences.
This time, Shang Jianyao didn't have any regrets either, and turned off the small speaker and portable recorder in a compliant manner.
The Jeep sped down the street, completely throwing off the brown SUV.
During this process, they didn't fall asleep again, didn't dream again.
But Long Yuehong and the others didn't dare to relax or be careless in the slightest. They had all witnessed the terror of a "Mind Corridor" Awakened.
And the one who was manipulating everything in the dark had currently shown two abilities: "forced sleep" and "realistic dreams." The third was still a secret.
In addition, Jiang Baimian and the others weren't sure that "Mind Corridor" level Awakened only had three abilities.
Under the tense state, time passed so slowly. After an unknown amount of time, the Jeep finally drove into the street where Little Chong lived.
Seeing this, Long Yuehong breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a rocket flew out from an unknown location, heading straight for the Jeep's hood!