Because military exoskeletons are designed with the wearer's retrieval in mind after death, and Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong were familiar with such items from their training in the previous two months, Shang Jianyao simply fumbled around a bit and found the button, successfully shutting down the integrated system and the energy backpack.

Having completed this step, the next task was something that required no technical skill – unfastening the metal clasps at each of the auxiliary joints.

While working on the clasps at the elbow and wrist, Long Yuehong opened his mouth, then closed it again.

After hesitating like this three times, he finally couldn't help but lower his voice and ask:

"Weren't you nervous or scared at all just now?"

Shang Jianyao, who was in charge of the legs, pointed at himself:

"Are you asking me?"

"Who else is there besides you?" Long Yuehong retorted, finding it both amusing and annoying.

Bai Chen was repairing the jeep behind them, and Jiang Baimian, holding a pistol, had gone to the other side, leaving only him and Shang Jianyao in the small area where the corpse was.

Shang Jianyao patted the corpse's thigh:

"There's also him."

"..." Long Yuehong wanted to curse the guy opposite him, but he felt inexplicably scared.

He recalled those stories that adults often used to frighten children.

Shang Jianyao composed himself and said, "Mmm":

"Of course, I was nervous and scared."

"But I couldn't see it at all," Long Yuehong blurted out.

Shang Jianyao nodded slightly:

"Because I kept telling myself in my heart: your goal is to save all of humanity."

"...What does that have to do with anything?" Long Yuehong felt that he was used to Shang Jianyao's occasional mental lapses. "I mean, why does that make you not scared or nervous?"

Shang Jianyao replied with a serious expression:

"Sacrifices are inevitable on the path to achieving this goal."

At that moment, Long Yuehong didn't know whether to consider Shang Jianyao normal or abnormal.

He quickly decided to abandon the topic and instead asked:

"Don't you feel bad? Killing two people with your own hands.

"Just a short while ago, they could talk and laugh, walk and jump, alive and well, with flesh and blood.

"Uh... not necessarily bad, but don't you have any special feelings?"

Shang Jianyao nodded almost imperceptibly:

"I do."

Long Yuehong breathed a sigh of relief for some reason.

Shang Jianyao continued:

"I want to add two more shots."

"...Why?" Long Yuehong gave up trying to synchronize his thoughts with Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao glanced at him and turned his gaze to the jeep behind them:

"We never thought about robbing them, harming them, or shooting them, but they were hostile to us from the very beginning, tracking us all the way, and launching attacks whenever they had the chance.

"If we hadn't performed exceptionally well and made that one extra mistake, we would be lying here, being searched for our corpses. Do you think they would have any special feelings about that?

"No, they would just sing songs, spit on us, eat our energy bars, eat our compressed biscuits, eat our military canned food, and use the Blackmarsh Iron Serpent we killed to make hotpot. How can we tolerate that?"

A similar scene flashed through Long Yuehong's mind, reminding him of the intense hunger he had often endured since childhood.

He immediately roared in anger:

"We can't!"

After answering, he immediately deflated, like a basketball that hadn't been inflated for a long time:

"But, I still don't feel that comfortable."

Hearing this, Shang Jianyao's mouth slowly widened into a slightly exaggerated smile:

"This is the Ashlands.

"Get used to it."

"You talk like it's not your first time on the surface..." Long Yuehong muttered, burying himself in his work.

Before long, they opened all the metal clasps and removed the military exoskeleton from the corpse.

Jiang Baimian, who had returned to the jeep at some point, said thoughtfully:

"Long Yuehong, try it on and see if you can handle it."

Similar things always drove some men crazy, and Long Yuehong was one of them. Ignoring the blood still on the exoskeleton, he quickly urged Shang Jianyao, and with the other's help, adjusted the length of the auxiliary skeleton, put on the energy backpack, put on the iron-black helmet, and locked the metal clasps.

After the integrated system completed its self-check, Long Yuehong took a look and quickly reported:

"There's still 23% power left, which is said to last for 1 hour and 55 minutes."

"Don't believe that. That's just for maintaining normal movement and basic operations. If you want to fly around and jump around like this guy did just now, running all the systems at full overload, I estimate it'll last for half an hour at most." Jiang Baimian lifted her left leg and pointed her toe at the middle-aged man's corpse.

"Okay." Long Yuehong began to perform various basic movements.

After a series of operations, he said with pleasant surprise:

"Team Leader, this is much easier to use than the one I tried at the company before!"

Jiang Baimian chuckled:

"That's a company imitation. Don't you think about it? We're a biology company, how strong can we be in mechanics and electronics?"

"That's true." Long Yuehong excitedly tested the other functions of the military exoskeleton.

Shang Jianyao was still squatting in place, searching every pocket of the corpse, not even letting go of the inner layer of the underwear.

"Only two packs of biscuits." In the end, he looked at the items placed in front of him with a disgusted expression.

These two packs of biscuits were not compressed. The packaging bags were written with rows of Red River text – because of severe wear, Shang Jianyao could only barely recognize "Scallion" and "Soda."

--In the Ashlands, the two most mainstream languages are Ashlands language and Red River language. The former is the common language of forces such as "Pangu Biology" and "Salvation Army," while the latter is mainly used in the Red River Basin and forces near the Red River Basin -- including "First City," "White Knights," and "Orange Company," etc.

In addition to the two packs of biscuits, Shang Jianyao also found two letters and a badge.

Of the two letters, one was folded neatly, and the other was just folded together casually.

Shang Jianyao unfolded the neat and clean letter and casually commented:

"This has been folded many times."

After instructing Long Yuehong to be on guard, Jiang Baimian approached Shang Jianyao, squatted down beside him, and read the letter with him.

This letter was written in Ashlands language:

"Dear Father:

"I am doing very well in First City. Although my reading is still a bit of a problem, my conversations are basically no problem. No one can tell that I am from the wilderness anymore…

“…The hierarchy here is very strict, but compared to the outside, it is as wonderful as paradise. As long as you follow their rules, obey those who are higher up than you, and find your own class and position, you can live relatively smoothly…

“…You don’t have to worry about my studies. With his help, I have transferred to a regular college. As long as I graduate smoothly, I can get rid of the ‘slave’ status and become a citizen…

“…I don’t know if the town’s grain reserves are still enough? Although it is still summer, I heard from some classmates that this winter will be particularly difficult. I don’t know where their judgment comes from, but I feel it is necessary to tell you to make some preparations as soon as possible. Even if this is a rumor, it is better to believe it than to ignore it…

“…You said last time that you became a ruin hunter. This is a good thing. Compared to being a robber, this profession is obviously safer, of course, it is also very dangerous… Don’t go to newly discovered city ruins, don’t go to city ruins where few people return, and don’t be a robber anymore, although this can indeed bring back food for the winter to the town in the fastest time…

“…I will try to find merchants in the city who dare to smuggle grain, but I have no confidence and no enough resources to exchange. I only hope that he will introduce me to more descendants of the Senate elders, to see if I can find opportunities from them…

“…Finally, I hope you are always healthy, I hope the famine will not come, I hope Uncle Ji Shun, Uncle Jin Feng, Brother A Yu, and Brother Qian Ning are doing well, and can bring enough food back to their families. I hope everyone can wait for the Senate to approve and wait for the day when they are incorporated into First City as citizens rather than slaves. Also, he is very good to Mother, no need to worry…

“…Your Xiao Anji.”

After reading it, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao didn't speak for a long time.

"This is the Ashlands." After a while, Jiang Baimian smiled self-deprecatingly.

Shang Jianyao responded in a low voice:

"He's read this letter no less than twenty times..."

A certain judgment can be made from the way the letter is folded and the condition of the paper.

Jiang Baimian wanted to tell Shang Jianyao that this kind of thing is a matter of life and death, and there is no need to feel guilty about it, but suddenly remembered something and could only pat the other person's shoulder:

"Everyone has two sides, or even more than two sides. They are completely different to their children and to strangers.

"As strangers, there is no need to care about what happens to his child after losing his father, only to be glad that you are still alive.

"I know what you are thinking, and I have also heard some rumors. I can tell you with certainty that the people of our company will not be reduced to being wild robbers of this level. If we are going to rob, we will only rob the material transportation teams of enemy forces."

Shang Jianyao didn't speak, folded the letter, and put it back in the middle-aged man's inner pocket.

Then, he unfolded the other letter, the wrinkled one:

"Task description:

"Explore the area north of Yue Lu Station to collect intelligence related to the target.

"Target description:

"Male, unknown origin, about 1.8 meters tall, black hair and golden eyes, very handsome, and equally charming. He likes to wear trench coats, boots, and gloves. His hair is always neatly combed, completely unlike a wild wanderer. The degree of danger is tentatively set as ‘high.’

"Reward:

"One ton of ordinary grade flour (guaranteed by the Guild).

"Task level:

"C, 100 credit points."

"This is a task document from the Hunter Guild." Jiang Baimian introduced, then thoughtfully picked up the badge that Shang Jianyao had searched out. "Yue Lu Station is an old world ruin in the Blackmarsh Wilderness. Further north, it is the depths of the Great Swamp, which is densely packed with dangers."

As she spoke, Jiang Baimian checked the badge in her hand.

The badge was bronze in color, with a blurred facial relief on the front, and a knife and a gun engraved on either side of the face.

The back of the badge was embedded with a small chip.

This was a badge from the Hunter Guild.

ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~