At the height of the dance, Miens and others raised their hands high, shouting:
"Praise you, the gate to the New World!"
As a formal member of the "Life Sacrifice" cult, Shang Jianyao did the same without error:
"Praise you, the gate to the New World!"
After this collective dance, even without using "Reasoning Clown," Miens and the others looked at Shang Jianyao as if he were a comrade.
Two female employees from the Shifang Merchant Guild, who had previously found him "unapproachable," also mustered the courage to chat with him for a few words.
At this moment, Miens wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked up to Jiang Baimian:
"We have to leave."
"Are you continuing towards the 'Linhai Alliance,' or returning to Tarnan?" Jiang Baimian casually asked.
Miens answered frankly:
"We have decided to go home.
"Another half a day's drive southeast will take us out of the Qilar Mountains, where there are settlements affiliated with our 'Linhai Alliance,' and we won't have to worry about being attacked by bandits anymore."
"Alright, bon voyage." Jiang Baimian didn't try to keep them.
After writing a letter to "Devotee" Li Zhe in front of Shang Jianyao, Miens waved and got into one of the less damaged cars left behind by the bandits.
As the two cars given to the Shifang Merchant Guild by the "Old Task Force" slowly drove away, Shang Jianyao followed behind, waving his right hand vigorously and shouting:
"Be careful on the road!
"See you again!"
How sincere... Jiang Baimian muttered to herself, then turned to look at the four bandits who had just finished their leftovers.
Sensing her gaze, the captives froze simultaneously, unsure of what was about to happen.
Jiang Baimian slowly scanned their faces, smiling as she said:
"I've decided..."
She deliberately paused here, causing the hearts of the four bandits to rise high, almost stopping.
Jiang Baimian continued:
"To take you to Tarnan, and if no one comes to redeem you, hand you over to the people from 'Mechanical Paradise.'"
The eyes of the four bandits lit up, but Jiang Baimian changed her tone:
"But, that depends on whether you cooperate or not."
"Cooperate!" "We'll definitely cooperate!" the bandits eagerly expressed their attitude.
"Good." Jiang Baimian pointed to the messy valley, "Clean it up."
The "mess" mainly came from the previous battle, rather than the debris created by the hotpot feast.
Without the slightest hesitation, the bandits agreed in unison, cleaning up various garbage and recovering useful items under Bai Chen's surveillance.
Long Yuehong, who had originally thought this was his task, was stunned, realizing that he had suddenly become idle.
"Doesn't it feel great to have someone help you with labor?" Jiang Baimian stood next to him, asking with a smile.
Long Yuehong carefully considered it:
"Yeah, yeah."
Although he didn't feel any discomfort when being ordered to do these chores, people are, after all, happy to be lazy when they can.
When the bandits had completed their task, Jiang Baimian asked the captive with blond hair and a hint of cleverness in his appearance:
"What's your name?"
"Jorgensen." The blond bandit was overjoyed and gave his name.
He had heard that if the other party was willing to know your name when you were captured, it meant you probably wouldn't be killed on the spot.
"Tie the hands of the other three behind their backs, and then drive this car, carrying them, following behind us." Jiang Baimian pointed to a white sedan left behind by the "Mountain Fox" bandit group.
Apart from the two cars driven away by the Shifang Merchant Guild, this was the most intact one currently, except that the surface was covered in dust and mud, almost obscuring the original color, everything else was fine.
Jorgensen hurriedly agreed, and with the cooperation of his companions, tied their hands behind their backs with rope.
But when he got into the car, he suddenly froze, because Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others didn't care at all, not only didn't assign anyone to monitor them, but also directly started the jeep and slowly drove towards the other side of the valley.
Only the four bandits with captive status were left in the area upstream of the creek.
"Jorgensen." A bandit with a scar on his face whispered, "How about we turn around and run away from the other side?"
Jorgensen hesitated for a moment and said:
"Do you think they really don't care?
"Could they be testing us?"
The bandits fell silent, none daring to guarantee anything.
This was clearly an excellent opportunity to escape, but they couldn't make up their minds.
Because Shang Jianyao and the others were acting so casually, putting on an attitude of "do whatever you want," they instinctively felt that something was amiss.
Seeing his companions silent, Jorgensen started the car and said:
"Maybe they have absolute confidence that we can't escape."
Seeing that his companions still hadn't responded, Jorgensen added two more sentences:
"Think about it, they defeated us with just one member wearing an exoskeleton, and the other three didn't even show much.
"I don't know if you've heard the saying, 'A lion doesn't associate with jackals.' The person wearing the exoskeleton definitely wouldn't choose companions who are too weak compared to him, so the other three probably have their own strengths, which can effectively monitor us or react in time to our escape."
After listening to Jorgensen's words, the bandit with a scar on his face exhaled and said:
"Then let's just follow them, I don't want to end up like 'Snake Fang' and the others, swallowed by a rocket."
"Snake Fang" was the driver of the first car that chased Jiang Baimian and the others.
"Yeah, even if no one redeems us, being handed over to 'Mechanical Paradise' will at most result in a year or two of imprisonment, no big deal." Another bandit echoed.
Although the prison in "Mechanical Paradise" certainly wouldn't provide enough to eat, it wouldn't starve you to death.
Seeing that his companions no longer had any objections, Jorgensen drove the car, closely following the modified jeep.
He had already thought about it, if these reckless idiots really decided to take this opportunity to escape, he wouldn't bother, anyway, their hands were tied behind their backs, they couldn't threaten him.
In the back seat of the jeep, Long Yuehong turned around to look at the car driven by the captives, and said in surprise:
"They actually followed..."
He had thought that team leader was deliberately creating this opportunity to let the captives go, because if they kept them, they wouldn't know what to do with them.
Under normal circumstances, the "Old Task Force" didn't kill captives, but taking them all the way to Tarnan would require splitting up manpower to guard them, which was both troublesome and prone to accidents.
As a result, the group of captives actually chose to guard themselves, escorting themselves, without the "Old Task Force" having to worry about it at all.
"Maybe they can't bear to part with the hotpot." Shang Jianyao "mm"ed, empathizing with them.
"You're talking about yourself, right?" Long Yuehong muttered.
Just as he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao suddenly clenched his right fist and hit his left palm:
"Crap, I forgot something."
"What is it?" Long Yuehong instantly became nervous.
Shang Jianyao replied with a look of grief:
"I forgot to borrow spices from Miens."
"..." Long Yuehong had a familiar feeling that he shouldn't have bothered with this guy, and somehow felt that this was indeed a "sad" thing.
Without those spices and seasonings, it meant they couldn't make delicious hotpot in the short term, and could only make do with a simple, basic version.
At this time, Jiang Baimian glanced at the rearview mirror and smiled:
"This is mainly because you performed well just now, Xiao Long, and crushed their courage to resist.
"People's hearts are very subtle things."
Bai Chen, who was driving, added:
"Compared to results that are still acceptable, the unknown is a more terrible thing."
They drove like this until evening, and with the help of the bandit captives who were familiar with the terrain, the "Old Task Force" found a place with clean water to camp.
"Untie their ropes, and take them to gather branches and wood around." Jiang Baimian instructed Jorgensen.
She had already seen that this guy was single-mindedly trying to be a good "puppet army," in exchange for a better outcome.
With such a "shepherd" around, Jiang Baimian believed the captives would be more obedient.
After Jorgensen arranged for the other three bandits, Jiang Baimian suddenly remembered something and stopped him:
"You don't have to go, I have something to ask you."
"Yes." Jorgensen wanted to respond to this powerful female warrior with honorifics, but didn't know what to call her.
He couldn't possibly call her "boss," right?
While watching the other bandit captives gather firewood in the surrounding mountains and forests, Jiang Baimian casually asked:
"Have you heard of 'Mainframe' in Tarnan?"
"No." Jorgensen shook his head, "Those robots are impervious to persuasion, and they don't drink, so there's no way to get any useful information from them."
The mainstream language in this area was Greytongue, so Jorgensen, a Red River human bandit, could also use a few idioms.
"Who is their town leader?" Shang Jianyao interjected.
He seemed very interested in those intelligent robots.
"It's an intelligent robot named Gewena, who calls himself the captain of the Tarnan branch under the Security Bureau." Jorgensen recalled what he had seen and heard in Tarnan, "He's a bit of a strange robot."
"How strange is he?" Jiang Baimian asked so much mainly to verify the information provided by Redstone Town.
Jorgensen scratched his head:
"It's not too strange, there are many similar intelligent robots in Tarnan.
"They will actively divide themselves into male and female, form families, and some will even exchange various modules through internal channels to assemble small robots as children.
"What gender can robots have?"
While Shang Jianyao and the others were discussing matters in Tarnan, the other three bandit captives had moved away from the camp, gathering firewood in the forest full of dead branches.
Because they were no longer within the enemy's sight, they almost simultaneously had a thought:
"Should we escape?"
In an instant, they remembered Jorgensen's words:
"They have absolute confidence...
"A lion doesn't associate with jackals...
"The other three probably have their own strengths and can monitor us..."
As the thoughts surged, they gradually calmed down, feeling that going to Tarnan wasn't too bad of a choice.
Forget it, forget it... They quickly dismissed the thought of escaping, and diligently completed the tasks assigned to them.