On the way to Antanna Street, Jiang Baimian and the others saw several temporary checkpoints.
Fortunately, they had the intelligent persona, Genua. It detected the checkpoints from a long distance away, allowing the jeep to detour far enough away so as not to arouse suspicion.
On the other hand, these checkpoints mainly targeted vehicles and pedestrians coming from Antanna Street, and were not so strict on those heading towards Antanna Street.
Therefore, the "Old Task Force's" jeep arrived quite smoothly in the area around Antanna Street and planned a safe return route.
"Pull over," Jiang Baimian said, glancing at the scenery outside the window, instructing Shang Jianyao who was driving.
Shang Jianyao didn't question it. He parked the jeep on the side of the street and asked with a smile:
"Are we going to 'make' a friend?"
"Yes," Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, habitually asking, "Are you clear on what you're going to have the 'friend' do later?"
Shang Jianyao replied matter-of-factly:
"Be a meat shield."
"..." Han Wanghuo, in the back seat, was both confused and slightly twitched at the corner of his mouth.
So, in your minds, a friend equals a meat shield?
After Shang Jianyao parked the car, he turned to Han Wanghuo and smiled:
"When adventuring on the Greylands, there are three essentials:
"Guns, knives, and friends."
Han Wanghuo could roughly tell that he was joking and didn't respond, instead asking:
"Aren't we going directly to the parking lot?"
In his opinion, what needed to be done was actually quite simple—disguise themselves to enter the no-longer-a-focus parking lot and take away his vehicle, which no one knew belonged to him.
Jiang Baimian didn't answer immediately, saying to Shang Jianyao:
"Choose a suitable target, preferably a desperate character who frequents Antanna Street."
Of course, the desperate characters who frequented Antanna Street wouldn't have the corresponding descriptive words tattooed on their faces or placed above their heads, allowing people to recognize their identity at a glance, but it wasn't that difficult to identify them.
Their clothing was relatively less ragged, they often had pistols hidden in their waistbands, and they had a fierce look in their eyes.
It only took a few seconds for Shang Jianyao to find a candidate for a friend.
He changed his baseball cap to a duckbill cap, put on sunglasses, opened the door, got out of the car, and walked towards the young man with the blue-black tattoo on his arm.
The young man noticed out of the corner of his eye that this guy was approaching and immediately became alert, reaching for his waist.
"Hello, I'd like to ask for directions," Shang Jianyao said with a friendly smile.
The young man said with a cold face:
"In this area, everything costs money."
"I understand, I understand." Shang Jianyao reached into his pocket, pretending to take out money, "Look: we're both grown men; you make money with guns and skills, and I also make money with guns and skills; so..."
The expression on the young man's face fluctuated, gradually showing a smile:
"Even brothers have to have boundaries when it comes to money, yes, boundaries, that's a particularly good word, our boss often says it."
Shang Jianyao handed him an Oray banknote:
"I need your help with something."
"Consider it done!" The young man took the banknote in one hand and patted his chest with the other, saying with conviction.
Shang Jianyao quickly turned around and shouted to the jeep:
"Old Tan, come over here."
Han Wanghuo was stunned in his seat, not knowing who Shang Jianyao was calling.
He intuitively thought that the other party was calling him and cast a confirming glance at Jiang Baimian.
Jiang Baimian nodded slightly.
Han Wanghuo opened the door, got out of the car, and walked to Shang Jianyao's side.
"Tell him where the car is parked and what it looks like." Shang Jianyao pointed to the tattooed young man in front of him and said to Han Wanghuo, "Also, give him the car keys."
Han Wanghuo was suspicious, but he still did what Shang Jianyao told him to do.
After watching the tattooed young man leave with the car keys, he walked towards the jeep, turning his head and asking:
"Why did you call me Old Tan?"
What's the connection?
Shang Jianyao said earnestly:
"Your real name has been exposed. Calling you Old Han has a certain risk, and you used to be the sheriff of Redstone Town, where a large number of Greylanders are surnamed Tan."
That makes sense, but you're stretching it a bit... Han Wanghuo didn't say much, opened the car door, and returned to the jeep.
After Shang Jianyao returned to the driver's seat, Han Wanghuo looked at Jiang Baimian and said:
"Isn't that a little too cautious?"
Even getting a car requires finding an unknown stranger.
Jiang Baimian gave a self-deprecating smile and said:
"There are too many strange abilities in this world. You never know which one you'll encounter, and a force as large as 'First City' certainly doesn't lack strong people. Therefore, you must be cautious where you can, otherwise you'll easily suffer."
The "Old Task Force" had learned a lesson in this regard. If General Focas hadn't had other plans, they would have already crashed.
Having been the sheriff of Redstone Town for several years and having dealt with the Vigilance Church for a long time, Han Wanghuo easily accepted Jiang Baimian's explanation.
Could they be more cautious than the people of the Vigilance Church?
"Is that person trustworthy?" Han Wanghuo worried that the other party would drive off with the car.
As for betrayal, he didn't think it was possible, because Shang Jianyao and he had disguised themselves, and the other party obviously hadn't recognized them as one of the few people wanted by the "Order of Guardians."
"Don't worry, we're friends!" Shang Jianyao said confidently.
Han Wanghuo's eyes flickered slightly, and he closed his mouth.
............
Northwest of Antanna Street, a six-story building.
A figure stood in a room on the sixth floor, overlooking the parking lot not far away through the glass window.
He was wearing a black robe that was retro even in the Old World. His hair was messy and exceptionally fluffy, as if he had been hit by a bomb.
He had a long, thin face with prominent cheekbones, and many white hairs on his head. The wrinkles around his eyes and mouth also indicated that he was no longer young.
The old man always maintained the same posture, gazing out the window. If his light blue eyes didn't occasionally move, he would have looked more like a wax figure.
He was Marcus's protector, the master of the "Virtual World," Narcissus.
He had learned from a "Perfected One" from the "Crystal Mind Church" who was skilled in prophecy that the target would return to the parking lot sometime today, so he had made a special trip to monitor it personally.
At this moment, the parking lot had been covered by the "Virtual World," and those who came and went had to be filtered.
As time passed, people constantly entered the parking lot to take away their vehicles, whether ragged or old.
They were completely unaware that their every move was being screened by the "Virtual World" and had no sense that they were doing something that required multiple "programs" to support.
A young man wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt with a blue-black tattoo on his arm entered the parking lot, swinging his car keys and searching for the vehicle based on his memory.
His related information was immediately copied by the "Virtual World" and compared to several targets.
The final conclusion was:
No problem.
After spending some time, the young man finally found the black off-road vehicle that had been parked here for many days and drove it out.
............
The grey-green jeep and the dark black off-road vehicle drove out of the area around Antanna Street one after the other.
Although Han Wanghuo didn't know if Jiang Baimian's caution had worked, he stopped talking about it when he saw that things had been done successfully.
Following a winding route without temporary checkpoints, they returned to the safe house in the Golden Wheat District.
"Why so long?" Bai Chen asked.
She knew very well how long it would take to go back and forth to Antanna Street.
"I took the reward, exchanged money, and retrieved the mechanical arm," Jiang Baimian said casually.
She then said to Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo:
"We'll rest today and not go out again. Tomorrow, we'll go to Xiao Chong's place first."
Xiao Chong? Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo couldn't help but repeat the nickname in their hearts.
Who would the person that such a powerful team still needed to visit in a dangerous situation be? Which force in the city did he control, and how powerful was he?
Moreover, judging from the nickname, he shouldn't be too old, definitely younger than Xue Shiyue.
............
This is too young... Zeng Duo looked at the black-haired little boy sitting in front of the computer and almost couldn't believe her eyes.
Han Wanghuo was the same. What surprised and confused him even more was that part of Xue Shiyue's team was playing games with the little boy, part was busy in the kitchen, and part was cleaning the room.
This made them look like a professional nanny team, not a dangerous team with a bounty of tens of thousands of Oray, who had done many big things, dared to confront the "Order of Guardians," and were wanted throughout the city.
This contrast left Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo stunned, completely unable to integrate.
The scene before them was so harmonious that it was like the home life of normal citizens, filled with sunshine and warmth.
Suddenly, Zeng Duo heard a "meow."
They even kept a cat? She subconsciously looked towards the balcony and saw a creature that only existed in nightmares:
Blood-red "muscles" exposed, a meter long, white bone spurs on its shoulders, a tail covered with brown carapace, with barbs, as if from a scorpion...