This... Jiang Baimian suppressed her smile and brought up the question from before:

"You said, why does that 'Advanced Heartless' have to enter Tarnan?"

Long Yuehong answered subconsciously:

"To hunt..."

Before he could finish, he realized something was wrong:

There were clearly still "prey" in the mountains, like Bai Xiao's team from earlier, but that "Advanced Heartless" didn't attack them. Instead, it ran around for half a day to come to Tarnan and kill people.

Even if it thought the prey here was weaker and less vigilant, making it a better feeding ground, it shouldn't have returned so quickly after already eating its fill and being scared away last night.

You have to know that the alternative name for "Heartless Disease" is "Atavism Disease," meaning humans regress, lose reason and thought, and become creatures similar to wild beasts.

But even wild beasts, after being frightened in a certain place and discovering their greatest fear, will inevitably stay away from there for a short time, unless they are starving to a certain degree and have no other food, then they will risk trying again.

Even beasts are like this, let alone "Heartless Disease" patients?

"This is not very reasonable..." Bai Chen helped Long Yuehong say the second half of the sentence.

Shang Jianyao put on a look of deep thought:

"Maybe he thinks the human meat here tastes better...

"Choosing to take a risk for the sake of delicious food."

Is this judging others by himself? Jiang Baimian muttered, turned her head to look at the small city of Tarnan, and said thoughtfully:

"Could there be something here attracting him?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly realized that her meaning was strangely similar to what Shang Jianyao had just said, and quickly added:

"Something other than food."

"What else would an 'Advanced Heartless' pursue?" Long Yuehong wondered to himself.

"Mating." Shang Jianyao provided the answer.

Then, he began to explain in a serious manner:

"In Tarnan, there is an old lady who was once his sweetheart, a partner who went through life and death with him.

"Even if he suffers from 'Heartless Disease' and forgets everything, he still remembers to find her, protect her, and keep her safe forever."

Hearing that, I'm actually a little touched... Long Yuehong followed Shang Jianyao's train of thought and found that this was actually a moving and tear-jerking story.

And the most important point was that he hadn't found the original version, he didn't remember any radio story like this.

This shows that Shang Jianyao has developed from "reading widely" to weaving his own stories.

"It's quite reasonable..." Jiang Baimian imagined the situation Shang Jianyao described and found it both tragic and touching.

If that "Advanced Heartless" hadn't treated humans as prey, gnawing them bloody, the imagination would be even more beautiful.

Bai Chen pursed her lips and said nothing.

Not giving Shang Jianyao a chance to continue, Jiang Baimian continued:

"That's one possibility, another is that certain things are attracting him."

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Baimian picked up her phone and dialed a number:

"Hello, is this Zhou Guanzhu?"

Zhou Yue's voice rang from the other end of the phone:

"Haha, I recognized you this time, you're Xue Shiyue, from Qian Bai's team!"

Her tone was filled with得意 (déyì - triumph) emotion.

"You should have my name noted in your contacts..." Jiang Baimian replied with a slight twitch of her lips.

Zhou Yue coughed:

"Illusory dreams everywhere, why take it seriously?"

Not giving Jiang Baimian a chance to continue this topic, she asked:

"What's the matter?"

"It's like this..." Jiang Baimian roughly described the situation of Bai Xiao, Lin Tong, and their team, "They are heading towards your side now."

"Okay, I will carefully distinguish the truth from the falsehood." Zhou Yue gave a firm reply.

Jiang Baimian turned to ask:

"Zhou Guanzhu, why is that 'Advanced Heartless' so fixated on Tarnan? The Qilaer Mountains don't just have this one human settlement."

Zhou Yue was silent for a moment before saying:

"You might have to ask him."

Zhou Guanzhu, you and Shang Jianyao might have a common language... Seeing that she couldn't get any answers, Jiang Baimian said a few polite words and hung up the phone.

…………

Northeast intersection of Tarnan.

Zhou Yue was wearing a white robe and a hemp rope belt, sitting cross-legged on a futon, looking at the Qilaer Mountains.

She had a Bagua mirror hanging from her waist, a vanity mirror tied to her forehead, and two non-intelligent combat robots standing on either side.

Unlike the airtight fortifications of the "Old Task Force," Zhou Yue had hardly made any arrangements, only erecting a wooden sign behind her, with a dragon symbol inlaid with broken mirror shards.

This is the sacred emblem of "Shattered Mirror."

"Strange, what does he have to do in Tarnan..." After putting down her phone, Zhou Yue muttered to herself in confusion.

…………

Tarnan, northwest direction, on the banks of the Moweier River.

Jiang Baimian glanced at the slowly descending sun and said to Shang Jianyao and the others:

"Eat something while we can, take turns."

Long Yuehong "Mm"ed:

"I'll go on a small account first."

After speaking, he took a pre-prepared plastic bottle, took a few steps, and used the cover of the jeep's front to unzip his crotch and take care of personal business.

This was the plan they had discussed in advance, the purpose being not to walk too much, lest they be affected by hallucinations, misjudge directions and distances, step on a landmine, or fall into a trap.

As for the question of embarrassment, its importance was ranked very far behind.

Of course, in order to prevent the area on duty from becoming smelly, the "Old Task Force" collected a batch of plastic bottles from various stalls and robot guard warehouses.

In the sound of rustling, Long Yuehong comfortably narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly, he noticed that Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen were all looking at him with strange eyes.

This... Long Yuehong was a little bewildered.

Wait, didn't I go to the front of the car? In an instant, Long Yuehong woke up and quickly lowered his head to look at his crotch.

It was already wet there.

And the cap of the plastic bottle in his hand hadn't even been unscrewed.

The series of actions he had just done were just a hallucination!

It was like frantically searching for a toilet in a dream and completely relaxing after succeeding.

At this moment, Long Yuehong didn't even know what expression to use to cope.

"It's quite insulting." Jiang Baimian commented on the impact of this hallucination.

This was also indirectly comforting Long Yuehong.

Shang Jianyao then suppressed his expression and said to Long Yuehong in a serious tone:

"We need to do an identity verification.

"When was the last time you wet your pants?"

"滚 (gǔn - Get out)!" Long Yuehong said, feeling embarrassed and angry.

"Correct response." Shang Jianyao didn't feel scolded at all.

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly saw Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen raise their hands and aim their guns at him.

Their expressions were as if they had seen a monster, a "Heartless."

Shang Jianyao moved his hands slightly, then remained as he was, as if what was happening in front of him was just a play.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen fired their guns separately.

Shang Jianyao stood there, motionless, as if competing with someone in courage.

Almost at the same time, he felt a sharp pain, and his whole body curled up involuntarily.

In just a second or two, Shang Jianyao gradually lost consciousness due to unbearable pain and the rapid passing of life, and his vision was pitch black.

In the pitch-black silence, the babbling arguments slowly echoed and grew louder and louder:

"Fake!"

"It must be fake."

"Don't try to scare me!"

"I think we should be more cautious, collect more clues first, and draw conclusions after we have enough evidence."

"What are you arguing about? Let's have a rational discussion."

"Please say it."

……

Amidst the arguments, a crack slowly opened in the darkness, and brilliant light shone in.

Shang Jianyao suddenly opened his eyes and saw Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen looking at him with concern.

"What happened to you just now?" Jiang Baimian asked solemnly.

She had just seen Shang Jianyao twitching all over, his bioelectrical signals were also disordered, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

"I was almost killed by a hallucination." Shang Jianyao said, first seriously, then with nostalgia, "I miss the Nightmare Horse a little bit, its 'True Dream' is more profound than the death hallucination just now."

"What's going on?" Long Yuehong vaguely had a guess.

Shang Jianyao described his "experience" just now, and finally said:

"Probably because he hasn't really died yet, he can't simulate the most realistic feeling."

"Can this be the same?" Jiang Baimian breathed a sigh of relief, "'True Dream' is directly related to your consciousness, the impact it produces is definitely greater, um, in any case, this use of hallucinations is indeed similar to 'True Dream' in different ways, and it is also very similar to the 'Fear' in the 'Yougu' domain, we must be careful, don't be scared to death."

Long Yuehong once again had a feeling of apprehension and unease.

This was the most powerful enemy he had faced so far.

"We can't just passively endure this all the time." He breathed a sigh of relief and expressed his thoughts.

"Mm." Jiang Baimian nodded and looked at Shang Jianyao, "Plan 5."

"Okay." Shang Jianyao picked up the loudspeaker placed on the roof of the jeep.

At this moment, he sniffed and said to Long Yuehong:

"So, you peed for real, it wasn't a hallucination."

"……滚 (gǔn - Get out)!" Long Yuehong responded angrily, and the fear decreased a lot because of it.

Shang Jianyao smiled, raised the loudspeaker, and aimed it at the road leading to the Qilaer Mountains.

This was one of their contingency plans:

Use the loudspeaker to amplify the range of the "Reasoning Clown" and remotely influence the enemy like Tan Jie of Redstone Town.

Although that "Advanced Heartless" was closer to a wild beast and might not understand human language, and the "Reasoning Clown" didn't seem to work, Jiang Baimian thought of the question-and-answer sessions of the "Bai Xiao Team" in the illusion and felt that the enemy, to some extent, or rather in the depths of its subconscious, still had a human intelligent side and could try to exert a similar influence.

Therefore, after watching the real Bai Xiao team leave, she discussed with Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and the others for a while and added this plan.

As for whether it would eventually have any effect, she couldn't be sure.

呼 (hū - Exhale), I hope this guy can find some "easy-to-understand" rhetoric that even the "Advanced Heartless" can accept... Jiang Baimian hoped and also helped Shang Jianyao think about the "speech."

Just at this moment, Shang Jianyao used the loudspeaker to make a sound into the distance:

"Awoo!"