"Why did Montis write 'price' at the end, and with a question mark?" Long Yuehong asked, looking at the book Bai Chen was showing them, not quite understanding.

Bai Chen didn't answer his question, but pointed out a fact:

"When writing the word 'price', Montis's emotions were obviously very agitated. He pressed down very hard, the ink smeared a little, and there were traces on the other side of the paper."

"Price..." Jiang Baimian murmured the word, constantly making various assumptions in her mind, and then negating them.

Shang Jianyao then let out a mocking sound:

"'Price', what's so exciting about 'price' that you need to write it down with so much force?

"You're really ignorant!"

Hearing this guy's words, Jiang Baimian's heart stirred, and she looked around and said:

"Could it be that Montis didn't know that there was a price to pay for gaining abilities?

"So much so that after he found his emotions becoming increasingly difficult to control, combined with his knowledge of mysticism, he suspected that he had unknowingly paid a price..."

The book on mysticism that Bai Chen found the word "price" in was mainly about demons.

Several chapters in it mentioned mortals selling their souls to demons in exchange for power, money, body, or beauty.

"But didn't you say that the 'Hall of Stars' has been echoing with the voice of 'one price, three gifts'? As an Awakened, Montis couldn't have not heard it or known about it..." Long Yuehong expressed his opinion.

He originally wanted to use Shang Jianyao as an example to enhance his persuasiveness, after all, even this guy whose brain was already abnormal knew about the price, but after thinking about it, he decided not to bring trouble upon himself.

As soon as Long Yuehong finished speaking, Jiang Baimian said with a relatively serious expression:

"What if that's the case? What if Montis really didn't know that there was a price to pay for awakening?

"Did his awakening not go through the 'Hall of Stars'?

"Or, didn't the 'Hall of Stars' exist at that time?"

While Bai Chen and Long Yuehong were shocked, Shang Jianyao slammed his right fist into his left palm:

"I understand!"

"What do you understand?" Jiang Baimian asked suspiciously.

Shang Jianyao said solemnly:

"The Old World was destroyed because the advancement of Awakened ones was chaotic and disordered, like Brownian motion. This led to a continuous increase in entropy, eventually reaching a critical point, and the symbolic chaos of 'Heartless Disease' erupted.

"After the destruction of the Old World, the Ruling Deities learned their lesson and built the 'Hall of Stars', 'Sea of Origins', 'Corridor of Minds', and 'New World' to bring awakening under management and give it order."

This imagination is pretty good... What kind of entertainment materials have you been watching lately! Jiang Baimian glanced at Long Yuehong and Bai Chen, who looked blank, and cleared her throat and said:

"The reason behind this phenomenon doesn't need to be discussed for the time being. What we need to confirm now is:

"Montis didn't know that there was a price to pay because there was no 'Hall of Stars' when he awakened, or was it because he went to Tieshan City, visited the Second Food Company, and received some kind of 'blessing' that allowed him to bypass the 'Hall of Stars' and complete his awakening, equivalent to smuggling?"

Long Yuehong couldn't judge which possibility was correct, so he said in a spirit of pragmatism:

"Let's look through the books here again to see if Montis has left any words or phrases. If not, the answer to the question may be in the ruins of Tieshan City."

"Hmm..." Jiang Baimian nodded slowly, "Let's find all the relevant books and take a look, including religion, mysticism, supernatural power research, unsolved mysteries of the world, novels in corresponding fields..."

This was a considerable project, and with noon fast approaching, the "Old Task Force" hadn't even completed one-tenth of it.

"Huff, we can't abuse ourselves like this." Jiang Baimian stretched her back, "After meeting the fish people, let's take out some supplies and ask a dozen or twenty Ark residents to help with the initial screening. They don't need to recognize words, just pick out the books with annotations and notes."

Ah... Long Yuehong held back the words that surged to his lips.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Shang Jianyao looked "wronged," "Otherwise, the task would be at least half completed by now."

Jiang Baimian chuckled twice:

"I underestimated the difficulty."

She couldn't say that she was too anxious, her mind was full of finding the next book with Montis's "annotations," and she forgot that she could ask for help, right?

Shang Jianyao didn't care about Jiang Baimian's explanation at all. He had already thrown the emotions just now to the back of his mind, and touched his stomach and said:

"What are we eating for lunch?"

…………

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the "Old Task Force" followed the smuggling team of the "Underground Ark" organization to the shore of Fury Lake.

There was an abandoned pier far from Red Stone Collection, located in a remote area.

It had been repaired by the Ark Management Committee for people to moor the ships they had obtained.

After moving the boxes containing canned food and medicine onto a small cargo ship, Bode, who was in charge of this operation, quickly invited Jiang Baimian and others to go up.

In the sound of the steam engine turning, the small cargo ship painted brown rippled through the water and sailed into the depths of Fury Lake.

With twists and turns, the ship arrived at a desolate island in the heart of the lake.

The island was not big, far less than the lake island where Yan Hu slept. You could see the end of it in all directions, connecting with the lake water reflecting the sunlight.

"We'll wait on the island." Bode, who had freckles on his face, pointed to the rugged island in front of him.

Without waiting for Long Yuehong and others to ask, he explained a few words simply:

"We have to guard against the fish people turning hostile.

"On the lake, in the water, we are completely no match for them. They are unwilling to leave Fury Lake and come ashore to trade with us, so we can only choose such an island as a meeting point. In your Ashlands language, it is a compromise.

"Although this island is not too big, we can build fortifications to resist attacks from the ship. If the fish people really come with malice, we will defend ourselves while sending a telegram requesting support.

"At that time, using the drones and Awakened ones we got more than half a year ago, we should be able to get us out."

Not bad, the ordinary guards back then are now doing things in an orderly manner... Jiang Baimian secretly praised, and asked on this topic:

"What is the attitude of those Awakened ones?"

She was referring to those Awakened ones raised by DiMarco.

"Two are very active and have now been absorbed into the management committee. This is something we can't help. Their abilities are very useful to us." Bode replied truthfully, "The rest are unwilling to take on management responsibilities, but we have also given them very high treatment."

Indeed, if the Management Committee does not have enough strength, it will be overthrown sooner or later... Jiang Baimian's initial decision to leave Genaiva in the "Underground Ark" as the temporary president was also to deter those Awakened ones. She believed that she could not completely rely on the Vigilance Church.

At this time, Shang Jianyao was bored of waiting, using force in his waist and abdomen, and started playing standing long jump.

He jumped directly from the edge of the cargo ship to the island, without walking on the built gangplank.

Bode and others watched with a twitch in their foreheads.

Is this a monster?

Seeing this, Jiang Baimian didn't delay any longer, took small steps to the gangplank, and walked onto the island.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen followed closely behind.

After another quarter of an hour, the fish people arrived at the trading location in a wooden boat.

They actually had collected various ships scattered in Fury Lake, and their ancestors passed down the corresponding repair technology, but due to the lack of resources such as gasoline, steel, and batteries, many ships either could not be repaired at all, or they could not be driven after being repaired.

In comparison, ancient wooden boats are more suitable for them.

Looking at those gray-black faces with a faint glow, looking at their protruding eyes with more white than black and the gills from below their ears to their necks, Long Yuehong felt dizzy for a while, feeling like he had face blindness.

For a while, he could only rely on height and weight to remember those fish people.

The leading tall fish man scanned around, suddenly jumped back two steps, landed on the shore, and got closer to the lake.

While the other fish people were in commotion, he raised his palm covered in gray-black scales, pointed at Jiang Baimian and others, and said in Red River language:

"Who are they?

"They haven't been there for so many previous trades!"

In order to dispel the fish people's vigilance, the smuggling team organized by the Ark Management Committee tried to be as consistent as possible each time. If someone really couldn't participate at the time, they would rather have one less person.

Heh, these fish people are so desperate that they are almost worshiping "Old Granny", being vigilant to a certain extent... Jiang Baimian turned her head to look at Bode, signaling him to handle it.

Before Bode could explain, Shang Jianyao laughed:

"We are the honorary presidents of the Ark Management Committee, the behind-the-scenes bosses of the smuggling business.

"Don't worry, if we really wanted to deal with you, we could have done it long ago, why wait until now?"

This was not a very convincing statement, even Bode and others felt it was full of loopholes.

They believed that the fish people would definitely not believe it, and hurriedly blocked Shang Jianyao behind them, trying to use the rhetoric prepared by President Ulrich to resolve the fish people's vigilance.

——Bode and others knew that Jiang Baimian and the others were very powerful. Blocking Shang Jianyao was not afraid of the fish people turning hostile, but to resolve the conflict and avoid conflict, so as not to fail to achieve the intended purpose.

But at this time, the leading fish man took the initiative to come back, looked at Shang Jianyao, and nodded:

"You're right."

Although the other fish people did not speak, they supported the leader with their actions.

While Bode and others were surprised, Jiang Baimian thoughtfully said:

"We are here this time to exchange supplies for information."

"What information?" The leading fish man was full of doubts.

Jiang Baimian said seriously:

"In your tribe, how long did those who boarded the island in the lake wait for the envoy of the gods, and where did they wait?"

The leading fish man's eyes seemed to bulge even more, and he blurted out in astonishment:

"Why are you asking this?"

Jiang Baimian's heart stirred, and she changed the question and asked urgently:

"How are they now?"

The leading fish man was silent for a few seconds, and said in a terrified tone:

"They, they, all got 'Heartless Disease'."