Jiang Baimian felt a wave of comfort and curiously asked:
"How did you do it?"
Shang Jianyao recounted in detail how he transformed into "Pangu Biology," how he "established" a hospital, and how he "created" a large number of wards, doctors, and drugs.
Jiang Baimian thought she had seen everything, but she had never seen anything like this.
She stared blankly for a long while before saying:
"What imagination, such broad thinking..."
Just imagining those scenes made her feel ridiculous, absurd, and exuded an undeniable madness.
This was just imagination; if she really saw it, she suspected her mind would be corrupted.
"If those 'disease people' were conscious, they might be scared away by you..." Jiang Baimian commented, unable to resist asking a pointless question, "How did you think of it?"
"You said we needed a strong collective, requiring coordination and cooperation in all aspects, like a company. And the mind world and dreams should be similar, capable of being changed by one's own will. Yes, that's what I thought," Shang Jianyao truthfully replied.
It's normal for the mind world to be a bit magical.
Jiang Baimian said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:
"The reason I said that was partly to give you some confidence, and partly because I was thinking that when we get back to the company, I'd find a way to arrange for you to enter the hospital, laboratory, and drug factory, so you could follow different people and see the different processes in fighting diseases, see how most people are cured, and why a small number aren't.
"When you have a sufficient understanding of diseases, and a holistic awareness of what humans are doing and the mechanisms they've established in relevant fields, I think your fear should decrease a lot.
"Fear often comes from the unknown."
In the end, this guy came up with the operation of transforming into a company, establishing a hospital, and having countless Shang Jianyaos playing doctors and using drugs to "gang up" on diseases, something no normal person could even conceive of.
"It's still a little effective," Shang Jianyao said, indicating he would continue to try. "At least I lasted longer than before."
Jiang Baimian sighed helplessly:
"A two-pronged approach, a two-pronged approach."
At this moment, it was just past noon. She looked at the sky outside the window and said:
"I happen to be free. Let's go to the library, find some books about diseases, and learn more. It certainly can't hurt."
She didn't mention reporting the interrogation results back to the company now, partly because she was waiting for Xu Liyan to consider whether to establish a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship, and partly because Bai Chen had already taken the money to order self-assembled radio transceivers. In another two or three days, they wouldn't need to report through Chen Xufeng.
Of course, some resources might still need to be obtained through this local intelligence network head.
As for the problem of how someone who wasn't a citizen of this city, and wasn't even a formal Hunter, could borrow books, Jiang Baimian didn't give it a second thought.
As the brother of City Lord Xu Liyan, Shang Jianyao was already a specially permitted citizen!
…………
Wildgrass City still placed considerable importance on the public library. All the broken glass from the previous explosion had been replaced with new glass, the blackened surface had been painted white, and the damaged walls were being repaired as quickly as possible.
For this part of the work, the City Hall directly organized it by posting tasks in the Hunter's Guild. The Relic Hunters who took on the tasks were very efficient and quite professional.
After some questioning, Jiang Baimian confirmed that this was a group of bricklayers who normally didn't take on adventure and exploration tasks, but only operated within the city.
This made Jiang Baimian unable to resist sighing at how the Wildgrass City's civic culture was different from other places, having become inseparable from the Hunter's Guild.
At the same time, it also refreshed her understanding of Relic Hunters:
In addition to adventurers, antiquarians, researchers, major power investigators, intelligence peddlers, wasteland bandits, scavengers, and mercenaries, there were also completely new identities like bricklayers, cleaners, third-rate detectives, deliverymen, and temporary teachers.
"It's simply all-encompassing. The Wildgrass City Hunter's Guild is roughly equivalent to the old world's talent market, employment agency, and bidding platform combined..." Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao with a sigh.
As she spoke, she pulled out a book on the history of the fight between humans and diseases, and unexpectedly found a familiar face standing opposite the bookshelf:
The "Advanced Hunter" Odick, who liked to wear a black woolen coat.
"You're here to borrow books?" Shang Jianyao went around the bookshelf and greeted him enthusiastically.
This was a brother.
Odick nodded slightly, glanced at Jiang Baimian, who had followed, and said:
"I've only recently realized that I have too little knowledge."
His nose was still a bit red.
"It's good to read more. 'Anti-intellectual education' can easily get you into trouble," Jiang Baimian thought of the imprisoned fake "Father" Guo Zheng.
Mentioning the "Anti-intellectual Church," Shang Jianyao immediately asked with concern:
"Are you still sneezing?"
It was unavoidable for Odick to feel a little embarrassed when someone mentioned the price he paid and his fatal flaw.
And what was even more embarrassing was that Jiang Baimian slapped Shang Jianyao on the shoulder:
"What are you saying!
"It's dangerous to mention the price a Awakened pays in front of him. It's only because Odick is a nice person. If it were another Awakened, they would already be thinking about how to assassinate you."
Do you think saying that will dispel my killing intent? Odick couldn't help but mutter to himself.
He could completely understand what Jiang Baimian's performance just now meant.
"We are brothers," Shang Jianyao emphasized. "I'm thinking about how to help him solve this problem."
Jiang Baimian then looked at Odick, feigning a thoughtful expression:
"It's not like there's no way."
Do you think I'm using rhetoric to pressure you, making you embarrassed to have any killing intent?
No, I'm bringing up this topic!
Odick was silent for a few seconds before finally asking:
"What way?"
"I know that the price an Awakened pays isn't so easy to solve. Even if you lose your sense of smell and can't smell anything, the corresponding gas entering your body will still cause a severe reaction," Jiang Baimian said with a smile. "But we can reduce the impact in this regard. For example, physical isolation. Get a set of military-grade exoskeleton armor, put on a gas mask, and survive on oxygen produced by a breathing machine. That way, even poisonous gas can't hurt you, let alone ordinary, smelly gases."
Seeing that Odick's expression hadn't changed much, indicating that he had obviously considered similar solutions before, she added with a smile:
"However, this is a stopgap measure. You can't wear the exoskeleton armor all the time.
"The root solution is simple: get a new nose, a mechanical nose.
"The main functional requirements aren't high; it just needs to be able to filter gases. If you have connections, you can order a more advanced one, which can add intelligent recognition functions. In short, the goal is to block sour-related gas molecules from entering the body.
"Essentially, this is also a form of physical isolation, but the effect isn't as good as a gas mask, and it also causes a significant impairment to your appearance."
Odick was a little stunned as he listened, feeling that the woman in front of him spoke of human modification too easily, without any psychological barriers.
Even on the chaotic Greylands, this seemed quite mad, like a mad scientist from old-world legends.
"We really are kindred spirits," Shang Jianyao looked at Jiang Baimian and commented contentedly.
Jiang Baimian responded to Shang Jianyao with a roll of her eyes and continued:
"This is the power of technology.
"Well, your price is relatively easy to avoid, and you can rely on this method to reduce the negative impact. But some prices..."
Saying that, she glanced at Shang Jianyao:
"There's no cure."
Odick pondered for a while before slowly saying:
"I will consider it."
He was already a little tempted.
He had previously encountered situations where sour smells caused him to sneeze wildly and his combat power to decline. Otherwise, the fact that his price was known wouldn't have happened. But relying on his terrifying "Sleep" ability, he had never been in a desperate situation because of it. Therefore, when thinking about solutions, he instinctively rejected human modification and had never thought in that direction.
But now, after being deliberately targeted by the fake "Father" and instantly losing his ability, he was determined to reduce the negative impact of the price and put it in a position that needed to be resolved as soon as possible.
After answering, Odick looked at Shang Jianyao and said thoughtfully:
"The price you pay should be related to thinking or the mind.
"I can tell that your thoughts are very jumpy, and sometimes you can't control them.
"This is definitely a bad thing in daily life, but in specific Awakened battles, it may not be a disadvantage. For example, when facing 'hypnosis,' the jumping of your thoughts can effectively interrupt the corresponding process. In other words, it's several times more difficult to 'hypnotize' you than to 'hypnotize' an Awakened of the same level.
"I've also encountered some Awakened who have mentioned the positive applications of their own price. Well, not all prices can have positive applications, like my olfactory loss causing sour allergies."
Since the two people opposite him already knew his fatal flaw, he didn't need to avoid talking about that aspect of the problem.
"I'm even more looking forward to meeting the real 'Father'," Shang Jianyao wasn't worried about his price at all.
Jiang Baimian looked around and stopped continuing the topic:
"Do you know where I can get some restricted weapons? Like the military-grade exoskeleton armor you just mentioned."
Odick pondered for a moment and said:
"If you go to Initial City, I can give you a lead, but it may not be successful.
"In Wildgrass City, you can try to find the behind-the-scenes boss of the 'Today' nightclub, Sun Fei. He's the leader of the underground trading market.
"Well, he's suspected of being related to the 'Crystal Consciousness Church'."
"Okay," Jiang Baimian had heard Bai Chen mention this man nicknamed "Uncle Sun".
She was thinking about whether she could take this opportunity to enhance Long Yuehong's strength.
After borrowing the books, they left the library and came to the edge of the central square. Jiang Baimian's eyes suddenly went blank.
Long Yuehong was standing in front of a group of people, male and female, young and old, demonstrating combat techniques in a methodical manner.
"What's he doing?" Jiang Baimian asked with a hint of astonishment.
…………
After finishing teaching a round, Long Yuehong walked to Bai Chen, took the towel, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"After the riot, everyone is very enthusiastic about exercising and improving their combat skills..." he said with heartfelt emotion.
Bai Chen was silent for a while before asking:
"Why did you take on the 'Temporary Coach' task?"
Long Yuehong was immediately a little embarrassed:
"Well, I, I was thinking that, I can't have everyone be 'Formal Hunters' and I'm still a newbie."