“Two days?” Jiang Baimian said, as if recalling,
“There were times before when Veilleur seemed to disappear for a few days.”
That was during the Stealth Church’s hidden mass.
“Yes.” Song He didn’t mention Veilleur again, instead asking, “Are you here to gather food?”
From a normal person’s perspective, Qian Bai’s team returning to Redstone Collection was definitely to replenish food for their return journey.
“No, Tarnan can be exchanged for many cans, cans of all flavors,” Jiang Baimian said with a smile.
She subtly glanced at the newly appointed Bishop Antoniora, who was preparing to leave the prayer hall, and continued,
“We’re mainly here to exchange for high-performance batteries. Investigator Song, you should have seen that we’ve obtained a new robot.”
The sunglasses-wearing Genava was tall and “solid,” extremely distinctive, and a presence no one could ignore.
“You can look for Dimalco’s butler, Ulrich, as well as Anhebas,” Song He proactively offered directions.
“That’s what we did,” Jiang Baimian described their encounters today, finally saying, “Things seem a bit troublesome. I can only hope that the Underground Ark can squeeze out more batteries.”
“Right,” Jiang Baimian seemed to have some association with this topic and asked in a casual manner, “Has Bishop Antoniora met Mr. Dimalco since taking office?”
Antoniora, who was wearing a black cloak and had moved a short distance sideways, stopped involuntarily.
Song He looked back at him and answered simply,
“They’ve had video conversations.”
“Oh…” Shang Jianyao made a sound that was difficult to analyze for specific meaning.
At least with Genava’s current database, it couldn’t be analyzed.
This guy can always come up with new tricks… Jiang Baimian’s mind raced, and as if she hadn’t noticed Bishop Antoniora still lingering in the hall, she “helped” him complain:
“Can’t the church’s bishop communicate with Dimalco face-to-face?
“Back then, he was willing to meet us to understand the situation on Lake Heart Island. It’s truly unbelievable.”
Team Leader, your acting isn’t bad either. It matches Shang Jianyao’s “Oh” perfectly… Long Yuehong clicked his tongue in wonder and also found it amusing.
He suspected that the team leader had drawn nutrients from Old World dramas.
So, Old World entertainment materials aren’t all bad… Thinking of this, Long Yuehong subconsciously looked at Bai Chen.
Bai Chen’s expression was a bit grave, as if she found this version of Jiang Baimian even more difficult to deal with.
Antoniora turned around and said in a rather loud voice,
“The previous few bishops had video communications with Mr. Dimalco, and Saint Sigmund entered the Ark and had a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Dimalco on the second underground level.”
This was the opportunity Jiang Baimian had been waiting for. She followed up by asking:
“Did Saint Sigmund give any instructions after returning?”
Hearing this question and thinking of the previous words, Song He glanced at Jiang Baimian and the others, nodding almost imperceptibly, as if he understood something.
Because it wasn’t a secret matter, Antoniora didn’t hide anything, recalling and saying,
“Saint Sigmund told us: As long as the ‘Underground Ark’s’ owner still believes in ‘Nethergaze,’ and doesn’t truly disrupt the stability of Redstone Collection, then we shouldn’t interfere in the ‘Underground Ark’s’ internal affairs.”
That’s a strange way to put it… Jiang Baimian was so sharp that she immediately heard some problems:
The Stealth Church’s “Fear Bishop” used the subject “Underground Ark’s” owner, instead of Dimalco!
There are two possible explanations for this:
One, this is the Stealth Church’s long-term policy on dealing with the “Underground Ark,” which won’t change depending on who the owner is.
Two, the Stealth Church doesn’t care who the “Underground Ark’s” owner is. Dimalco, his children, or anyone else is just a symbol as long as they fulfill the conditions of believing in ‘Nethergaze’ and not disrupting the stability of Redstone Collection.
And these two explanations have a great commonality, which is that the change of owner of the “Underground Ark” is an internal affair and won’t attract the Stealth Church’s interference, of course, provided that the new Ark owner believes in ‘Nethergaze’ and doesn’t disrupt the stability of Redstone Collection.
This is the Stealth Church’s attitude that Jiang Baimian wanted to obtain.
But she was still a little puzzled by it. She thought that the “Fear Bishop” had been too straightforward and too obvious.
Could there be another meaning to using the title “Underground Ark’s” owner to replace the name Dimalco? Jiang Baimian couldn’t think of why for the time being, but this didn’t prevent her from taking the opportunity to put in a bad word about the target.
She frowned slightly and said with a hint of doubt,
“But Dimalco wanted to bring in fishmen and hill giants and cleanse Redstone Collection before.
“Doesn’t that count as disrupting the stability of Redstone Collection?”
Antoniora was speechless for a moment, while Song He smiled slightly and said,
“Don’t dwell on the past. We need to look to the future.”
Jiang Baimian knew when to stop. She smiled and said,
“This is your church’s business. I was just righteously indignant and wanted to stand up for justice. Please don’t take it amiss.”
The team leader’s affected tone shows she was influenced by Old World dramas… Long Yuehong began to seriously consider a question, which was how many Old World entertainment materials the team leader had secretly watched, no, reviewed.
After chatting for a while longer, the Old Task Force said goodbye and got into the jeep.
“Go to the Ark exit at Iron Mountain,” Jiang Baimian said, looking ahead.
Because Genava hadn’t collected a map of this area yet, Bai Chen was responsible for driving.
“What are we doing there?” Long Yuehong asked, a little surprised.
Shang Jianyao immediately started singing:
“Finding, finding, finding friends…”
“Looking for an inside source,” Jiang Baimian helped explain.
Long Yuehong wasn’t stupid, and he immediately understood that this meant they were going to stir up trouble.
He said with some worry and nervousness,
“Team Leader, are we really going to deal with the ‘Underground Ark’?”
We’re just a five-person team, how did we end up doing something that even an action brigade might not be able to handle?
Isn’t this getting a bit too big for our britches?
Team Leader, I’ve always believed that you’re very steady and prudent!
Jiang Baimian sighed helplessly in her heart and said with a smile,
“Shang Jianyao and Genava have provided a feasible plan, and I have to keep my promise.
“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely take it one step at a time. If any of the conditions can’t be met in the middle, we’ll stop immediately. Uh, the same goes if we don’t succeed within three days. We’re still being chased by Mechanical Paradise, so we can’t stay in Redstone Collection for too long.”
The second half of the sentence was addressed to Shang Jianyao and Genava.
After a pause, Jiang Baimian turned her head to look at Bai Chen:
“Xiao Bai, Xiao Hong, do you have any opinions?
“If you object, I’ll also consider it carefully. In my eyes, everyone’s ideas have the same weight.”
To be honest, Jiang Baimian was quite conflicted at this time. She hoped that Bai Chen and Long Yuehong would object to the plan so that she could use that as a reason to dispel Shang Jianyao’s idea, but she didn’t imply it to them.
Thinking of those pairs of hopeful eyes, she sighed a little.
Bai Chen was silent for a long time, so long that Jiang Baimian thought she didn’t want to express her opinion.
Finally, she looked at the road ahead and said in a calm tone,
“Set reasonable stop conditions, and we can give it a try.”
Tsk, this doesn't sound like the veteran wilderness nomad Xiao Bai who usually protects herself so well… To maintain team unity? Jiang Baimian didn’t make any verbal comments and turned her body halfway to look at Long Yuehong.
Long Yuehong suddenly felt the pressure. He stammered,
“I believe in your judgment.”
That's what he said… Jiang Baimian suddenly felt that the pressure on her shoulders had increased a bit.
Shang Jianyao clapped his hands:
“Four votes in favor, one abstention, passed!”
“When did I vote in favor?” Jiang Baimian asked jokingly.
Shang Jianyao smiled:
“In your heart.”
Jiang Baimian twitched her left eyebrow and didn’t respond.
…………
Iron Mountain, near the valley cave that hid the Underground Ark’s entrance and exit.
The Old Task Force members monitored the entire afternoon, but they didn’t see anyone going out.
Long Yuehong looked up at the sun that was setting further and further in the west and took a breath of the cold mountain air:
“It’s getting dark. Shouldn’t we be heading back soon?”
It’s great that nothing happened.
Shang Jianyao turned his head to look at him and sighed in relief:
“You finally said that.”
“What do you mean?” Long Yuehong felt insulted.
“There.” Shang Jianyao pointed his chin at the cave entrance.
Two figures dressed in olive-green clothing carried a very bulky sack, their footsteps heavy as they walked out.
“…” Long Yuehong was a little dumbfounded as he watched.
“They were walking out before you spoke,” Jiang Baimian said to comfort him.
“That’s right…” Long Yuehong woke up to reality.
At the speed of these two people, it would take at least two or three minutes to walk from the Underground Ark exit to the cave entrance, and Shang Jianyao must have sensed it long ago, before he said “should be heading back soon.”
Shang Jianyao didn’t deny it, his tone filled with a bit of “shock”:
“In other words, your words influenced things that happened a few minutes ago?
“Changing the past now?”
Long Yuehong deeply understood why the team leader always didn’t want to pay attention to Shang Jianyao.
As the two Underground Ark guards slowly moved towards the burial site, Bai Chen said in a low voice,
“There’s more than one corpse in the sack.”
If there was only one corpse, they wouldn’t be carrying it so laboriously.
Jiang Baimian naturally saw it. She was silent for two seconds and then turned her head to Shang Jianyao and said,
“Go.”
Shang Jianyao pressed the furry-faced, sharp-mouthed mask on his face and jumped down from the high ground, landing in front of the two Underground Ark guards.
With a thud, the two guards reflexively threw down the sack they were carrying, causing it to hit the ground and make a heavy sound.
They were about to pull out their guns when they realized that their wrists couldn’t complete the action at all.
At that moment, they froze in place, both shocked and panicked.
Shang Jianyao spun Icemoss while smiling and saying,
“Don’t be nervous, I’m here to make friends.”
Just as the two guards were about to flee, they saw the handgun spinning in the enemy’s palm suddenly stop, the dark muzzle aiming directly at them.