For the "Old Task Force," the name Qiao Chu not only represented a military exoskeleton device but also symbolized past weakness and helplessness.

That was the first time they had encountered a situation where they were completely powerless, barely escaping thanks to a series of fortunate events.

Any slight misstep in between, and they might have been completely wiped out.

Therefore, even Long Yuehong, who wasn't particularly vengeful, would grit his teeth in hatred at the thought of Qiao Chu.

"Yes," Jiang Baimian nodded. "That wolf is also likely in a state of 'Charm Out of Control,' but it's uncertain whether this is the price it paid for awakening or the ability it gained from the mutation."

"Like the Nightmare Mare and the Ghost Cat before," Bai Chen was equally impressed with Xiaochong's "pet."

Jiang Baimian hummed in agreement:

"Forget it, we don't have the time or the need to join in the fun. We'll just sell the information to the Guild later. Hopefully, it can help the hunters who took on the mission."

"This way, we can also raise some supplies to exchange for mechanical arms and exoskeletons," Long Yuehong thought the idea of selling information was excellent.

Jiang Baimian responded with a smile:

"Actually, with the information we have, if we were to sell it all, exchanging it for mechanical arms and exoskeletons would be a piece of cake. It's just that the company wouldn't let us off the hook."

As they joked, Shang Jianyao finished his shower and returned, and Long Yuehong went to take his turn.

Because they were tired from the journey, they went to bed without waiting for the lights to go out in the Wild Grass City living area and lay down in the darkness.

As if in the slowly flowing silence, Jiang Baimian, from the lower bunk, suddenly sighed:

"I hope this trip to First City will have a good outcome."

Shang Jianyao, from the upper bunk, responded:

"I'm calculating how many people in First City owe us a big meal:

"Bai Xiao, Lin Tong and their team, Audick, Han Wanghuo..."

Jiang Baimian decided to close her eyes and pretend to be asleep.

...

The next day, around seven o'clock, the sky was already bright, and the whole city was awakened once again.

Walking on South Street, Long Yuehong looked left and right, saying in surprise:

"Why are so many breakfast shops closed?"

He remembered that the last time he came, even though it was winter, there were several shops selling breakfast here, and business was quite good, even booming. After all, most wasteland hunters didn't have a home here, only renting for a short time, and couldn't cook for themselves, so they could only buy food on the street.

The dry and coarse but cheap enough cornbread paired with a cup of lukewarm water for 1 kas was their favorite.

But today, apart from three or four breakfast shops doing business, the rest were closed.

And even in those few breakfast shops that were selling, business could only be described as average.

If the street was deserted and there were few pedestrians, this situation would still be understandable, but Long Yuehong saw a large number of wasteland hunters wearing ragged clothes gathering in the central square, as if waiting for something.

Bai Chen was also a little puzzled:

"Normally, breakfast business is very good this season."

Wasteland hunters from the surrounding areas would gather in Wild Grass City.

Shang Jianyao looked at the central square, looking eager to try:

"There might be something exciting to see."

"Well, let's go take a look," Jiang Baimian wasn't in a hurry to eat breakfast either.

They walked along the street, which could only accommodate two cars side by side, stepping on the blue or gray stone bricks, between the four- or five-story buildings with overhanging eaves and brackets, towards the central square.

Before they were truly close, they heard the sound of a bell, "Dong."

The bell rang throughout Wild Grass City in the early morning, long and ethereal, as if it could wash everyone's mind.

Dong!

Dong!

The bell rang twice more, and the wasteland hunters and local residents of South Street rushed to the central square.

Among them, most people were holding lunch boxes and large bowls of various materials and styles.

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen were even more puzzled.

Shang Jianyao quickened his pace and entered the crowd.

Soon, they arrived at the central square, and the complex smell that was bound to be present when there were many people came over them.

You should know that many wasteland hunters often didn't take a bath for two or three weeks, and had developed this habit.

After all, apart from Wild Grass City and Red Stone Town, which occupied relatively abundant water resources, many settlements were in a state of having to use polluted water to survive from time to time.

And for this reason, within many forces, the "Water Resources Protection Committee" or similar institutions had a very high status.

After getting used to the environment here, Long Yuehong smelled the aroma of rice porridge.

At this time, a voice with an obvious electronic synthesized sound echoed throughout the square:

"Please line up, benefactors."

Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up, and he shouted loudly:

"Which Zen Master is it?"

No one paid him any attention.

Most people in the central square seemed to have enough experience, and in no time, they formed long and orderly queues.

The queues circled the square several times, allowing Jiang Baimian and the others to see the situation at the place where the voice came from.

At the intersection of the municipal square and the building where the library was located, a gray-white water tower stood proudly.

Below the water tower, a wooden frame was erected, suspending a large iron-black bell.

A robot wearing a yellow monk's robe and a red kasaya stood on the wooden platform, holding a bell mallet in his hand, facing the queue, and declared a Buddhist chant:

"Namo Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, benefactors, please listen to this humble monk:

"All things are empty, consciousness is true, form is emptiness, emptiness is form..."

On the side of the wooden platform where the mechanical monk was lecturing, several iron pots were propped up, each pot filled with not-too-thin rice porridge.

Near the iron pots, there were also tables with white or yellow steamed buns and stacked medium bowls.

Those who had gathered were queuing in an orderly manner, listening to the scriptures, while waiting for the mechanical monk's human servants to scoop a spoonful of porridge for them and give them two steamed buns.

"Xu Liyan has fulfilled his promise to the 'Monk Order'," Jiang Baimian said with a sense of understanding.

That promise was to allow the "Monk Order" to send mechanical monks who were not so easy to lose control to Wild Grass City to lecture on scriptures.

Long Yuehong curiously asked a passerby who was passing by:

"How often does this happen?"

"It's once a month now, and it's said that there are two Buddha's birthdays every year," the passerby replied quickly.

He didn't want to delay lining up.

By then, the porridge and steamed buns might be gone.

"It's really extravagant," Long Yuehong said with a sigh.

Jiang Baimian smiled:

"The Monk Order doesn't need to drink porridge and eat steamed buns. It's good to deal with the exchanged grain like this."

As the "Old Task Force" was speaking, a person was looking at them at the entrance of the library.

This person was in his early twenties, with a bit of Red River descent, and his features were more profound. It was Xu Liyan, the city lord of Wild Grass City.

Today, he was dressed less formally, making himself look like an ordinary citizen, but he didn't have clothes with mending marks, which made him look a little different.

The reason Xu Liyan did this was because he wanted to visit the four-person team from "Pangu Biology" with a friendly attitude.

But before he could implement this plan, he discovered Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and others in the square.

"This team is powerful and has special abilities. I don't know what they're going to do by returning to Wild Grass City. I can only try to build a relationship first, so that it will be easier to talk in the future..." Xu Liyan muttered to himself a few times, tidied up his clothes, and winked at the bodyguards around him.

Just then, he saw Shang Jianyao take out a lunch box from his tactical backpack and hurriedly line up at the end of the queue.

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen followed closely behind.

"..." Xu Liyan was a little doubtful for a moment whether he had recognized the wrong person.

If he hadn't experienced it himself and seen the Qian Bai team like this, he would never have thought that these four were powerful characters.

With your abilities, why bother queuing for this free food... Xu Liyan took a breath and walked over anyway.

When he got closer, his face was already full of smiles.

Before he could say hello, Shang Jianyao had already seen him and pointed to the spot in front of him with surprise, joy, and excitement, shouting:

"Here, here!"

Xu Liyan was stunned for a second, moved his steps quite awkwardly, and cut in line under the gaze of many eyes.

His bodyguards quietly dispersed around, fulfilling their duties diligently. This included two awakened ones that Xu Liyan had hired at great expense.

"When did you come? You didn't even look for me," Xu Liyan said, feigning a complaint, as he calmed down.

Jiang Baimian, who was behind Shang Jianyao, laughed first:

"We're just passing through, we can't stay for a few days."

"Is that so..." Xu Liyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After chatting for a while, as the queue continued to move forward, Xu Liyan asked as if unintentionally:

"Did Zhao Bo look for you yesterday? What was it about?"