Obviously, Jiang Baimian was concerned about the same point that others valued. Bai Chen pursed her lips and said:
"The Plague has the ability to awaken humans or animals?"
In her opinion, "White Owl" was clearly the name of that giant white wolf.
It suddenly emerged in the Northern Shore Mountains last year, "taking away" a large number of ruin hunters, causing them to commit suicide in different ways within the Wasteland 13 ruin. Before that, no one had ever seen a creature with similar special traits and appearance.
The original guess of the "Old Task Force" was that the giant white wolf was mainly active in the Wasteland 13 ruin, so the outside world didn't know of its existence. It only appeared before the world after Wu Meng sent someone to the Northern Shore Mountains to complete a certain task. But now, Wu Meng's meaning seemed to be that it was a mutated creature he deliberately transformed last year. Before that, it was just an ordinary white wolf, so humans naturally wouldn't pay attention to it.
And for ordinary animals to mutate and gain special abilities is probably more difficult than human awakening. At least awakeners can often be encountered, but similar mutated creatures in that direction are not easy to find at all.
Therefore, Wu Meng, who can cause ordinary creatures to mutate, indeed has a good chance of making humans awaken as well.
"This, perhaps, is one of the reasons why he is called the Plague," Jiang Baimian said hesitantly.
In the next second, Shang Jianyao's face occupied her vision:
"You've also been influenced by Wu Meng?"
"I didn't completely believe it, I'm just making some exchanges based on this possibility." Jiang Baimian didn't glare at Shang Jianyao, but explained seriously.
Although Wu Meng's words were interrupted before he could finish speaking, the members of the "Old Task Force" felt it was necessary to pay attention to the possibility of being unconsciously implanted with some kind of thinking.
The suicides of the three ruin hunters left a deep impression on them.
Because of this, Shang Jianyao's behavior of repeatedly asking questions as soon as he noticed something was wrong was a responsible performance in this scenario.
However, based on Jiang Baimian's understanding of this guy, she knew that he mostly still harbored teasing, joking, and mocking thoughts, but this was completely acceptable compared to the serious aspect.
"Makes sense." Honest Shang Jianyao agreed with Jiang Baimian's statement.
Long Yuehong, wearing the "Black Marsh Iron Serpent" bionic smart armor, looked around, while being vigilant about possible accidents around him, and joined the discussion:
"Why can the Plague awaken animals and even humans?"
"Did you get it backwards? Obviously, it's harder for animals to awaken than humans," honest Shang Jianyao shouted.
Long Yuehong argued:
"I say this because Wu Meng has demonstrated the ability to mutate ordinary animals, but he hasn't proven whether this can be extended to humans."
"You really believed it?" Shang Jianyao laughed.
"Stop, stop, stop!" Jiang Baimian quickly stopped the meaningless dialogue between the two.
At this time, Bai Chen tried to answer Long Yuehong's question:
"The Plague may be related to the 'New World,' and awakening is also."
She made this inference based on the fact that "Awakeners" must find the door to the "New World" in the "Mind Corridor."
After a moment of silence among the members of the "Old Task Force," Jiang Baimian glanced at the rows of bookshelves and said:
"I actually believe that Wu Meng can mutate ordinary animals and awaken humans.
"But this isn't because he implanted thoughts in me, but because I've thought of some things."
Shang Jianyao put away his smile and rubbed his chin with the hand that wasn't holding a gun:
"Little Chong?"
"Yeah." Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, "He has Nightmare Horses and Sleep Cats around him, and multiple 'Higher Heartless.'"
The former corresponds to mutated creatures, and the latter is close to awakeners.
"And from Du Heng, Teacher's words, it can be inferred that Little Chong is also the plague and carrion of this world that he believes in." Bai Chen helped the team leader complete the words she didn't say.
This coincides with the element of the white giant wolf around Wu Meng, the Plague.
The only difference is that Little Chong wasn't sealed, and obviously has more subordinates.
Long Yuehong looked enlightened:
"No wonder the number of 'Higher Heartless' and mutated creatures in the Marsh 1 ruin is so terrifying..."
Maybe all of this was unconsciously or consciously transformed by Little Chong!
Long Yuehong then sighed:
"I thought this situation was related to the secret laboratory that was destroyed by Qiao Chu."
Shang Jianyao glanced at him and curled the corner of his mouth:
"Not necessarily unrelated.
"Do you remember that this ruin also has a secret laboratory?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Baimian sighed:
"The relationship between 'Higher Heartless,' mutated creatures, and secret laboratories may be indirect..."
She paused and added:
"It's very likely that the two secret laboratories brought about the plague."
Hiss... Long Yuehong was speechless for a moment.
He vaguely felt that the team leader's guess might be the answer:
Creating "things" of the plague level is in line with the positioning of a secret laboratory!
"But neither of these secret laboratories corresponds to any research institute..." Bai Chen raised her question.
At least, there is currently no evidence that the secret laboratories in the Marsh 1 ruin and the Wasteland 13 ruin originated from one of the nine major research institutes of the Old World.
And the various problems that the "Old Task Force" has discovered so far all point to the nine major research institutes, with the Eighth Research Institute being the most suspicious.
"Dare to hypothesize, be careful to verify." Jiang Baimian smiled.
She then looked around:
"Alright, the exchange ends here. Hurry up and find the city map and find out where the Holm Reproductive Medical Center is."
Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong dispersed a little and searched for the corresponding maps in the bookstore.
"They're all well-preserved..." Jiang Baimian's gaze slid across one book after another, wishing she could take them all out and flip through them.
Studying various books from the Old World has always been her hobby.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have the time for it now.
In less than five minutes, Bai Chen, who was more familiar with various shops in the city ruins, found a map of the Fahre district on a display stand not far from the cashier.
This district consists of three cities, and the one where the "Old Task Force" is currently located is called "Holm."
"The target location is three blocks away." Jiang Baimian, who originally wanted to study the map, could only stand behind Bai Chen and look over her with her height advantage.
"The closest route is like this, but it will pass through the central area, and the risk is very high." Bai Chen stared at the map intently, considering it, and said, "Should we go around the outer area?"
Jiang Baimian shook her head:
"The outer area may have patrols from 'First City'.
"That might be even more dangerous."
Shang Jianyao immediately echoed:
"Yes, yes.
"It's better to go straight through."
"Why?" Long Yuehong tried to help Bai Chen.
Shang Jianyao answered sincerely:
"It can save time."
"..." Long Yuehong was speechless for a moment, then "uh"ed in his heart.
In a situation where it's impossible to know which route is more dangerous, saving time seems to be a strong enough reason.
This allows the "Old Task Force" to better explore the target location, and also allows them to withdraw from the Wasteland 13 ruin more calmly, without being in such a hurry.
After a brief thought, Bai Chen gave up her idea.
At this time, Jiang Baimian had roughly scanned the books in the area near the door and hadn't found the kind that might contain valuable clues.
Led by Shang Jianyao, they left the bookstore and walked towards the Holm Reproductive Medical Center.
Just as they left the block and entered a new place, Jiang Baimian suddenly looked up at the second floor of a building on the side.
She sensed many weak bioelectrical signals there, and they seemed to form a whole, but also showed their individual independence.
Almost at the same time, a large amount of green surged out of an open yellow window on the second floor.
This seemed to be composed of countless small green translucent dots, and as soon as they landed, they swayed and tried to support a human figure.
Bang, bang, bang!
Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao pulled the triggers at the same time.
But the bullets they fired passed through the liquid-like green figure without causing any damage.
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment, tilted her head, and whispered:
"Fire!"
Bai Chen, wearing the "Chameleon" bionic smart armor, disappeared from the spot.
When she reappeared, she was close to the strange creature.
She raised the "Mermaid" bionic limb and pointed the palm of her hand at the target.
In an instant, large amounts of crimson flames spewed out, enveloping the figure composed of countless "green algae."
The figure shook violently a few times and suddenly split apart, trying to flee in all directions.
But the flames didn't extinguish because of this, and kept adhering to their "bodies" until they were completely burned dry.
In the end, the strange creature left nothing behind.
"What exactly is this? An aggregate formed after the mutation of some small creatures?" Long Yuehong murmured.
But they had measured before, and there was no radiation here!
Jiang Baimian slowly shook her head:
"Never seen it."
Unable to draw effective conclusions, the "Old Task Force" could only continue forward with doubts.
Until they were about to leave the current block, they were not attacked again.
"Have you noticed?" Jiang Baimian looked around, "Wu Meng hasn't tried to 'communicate' with us anymore."
She didn't sense any weak electrical signals.
Shang Jianyao laughed:
"Maybe all the electrical appliances here are broken."
"Maybe..." Jiang Baimian paused and said, "Could there have been a very strong electromagnetic storm here? Was that strange creature born under the influence of this?"
No one could answer her.
Decades had passed, and without careful research, no one could discover the corresponding traces at a glance.
The "Old Task Force" quickly entered a new block.
Walking on the side, Bai Chen observed the situation on her side, and her gaze swept over the various buildings that should have been decades old even in the Old World.
This was a very historical street.
Suddenly, she saw a pale face plastered on a pane of glass.
There were several cracks on the surface of the face, and the muscles inside were brownish-brown, like large pieces of beef jerky.
"No human consciousness." Shang Jianyao also noticed the face.
Jiang Baimian followed by frowning:
"The bioelectrical signal is also very weak, not like humans."