Shang Jianyao didn't quite agree with Joseph's description:
“Wasn’t he always crazy?”
“Other than being relatively brutal and irritable, Mr. DiMarco is otherwise very normal,” Joseph argued earnestly.
Jiang Baimian didn't let Shang Jianyao continue arguing and proactively asked:
“During that period, how was Mr. DiMarco’s behavior different from usual?”
“Didn’t I just say it?” Joseph’s expression turned gloomy again, as if recalling something unpleasant. “He became even more brutal and less tolerant of the guards. We were all on edge every day while on duty, afraid that we might accidentally fart and be heard by Mr. DiMarco, and then be ordered to be executed.”
The other guard, Paul, empathized and echoed:
“Previously, a guard who was very trusted by Mr. DiMarco was beaten to death for a similar trivial matter.”
Joseph continued:
“Besides these, Mr. DiMarco seemed to be going crazy wanting a child. Since those mistresses couldn’t give birth, he turned his attention to the wives of servants who had experience giving birth… We, we were all angry, but dared not say it.
“Fortunately, Mr. DiMarco’s condition didn’t last for years; otherwise, we would have considered…”
He stopped here, becoming wary.
Clearly, even though he thought Shang Jianyao was friendly enough, he was unwilling to reveal the dark thoughts in his heart.
If DiMarco found out, the next one to be carried to this valley and hastily buried would be him.
“Did DiMarco return to normal because he finally had a new child?” Jiang Baimian asked with a slight frown.
The more she listened, the more she felt that DiMarco’s obsession with children was abnormal, presenting a clear pathology.
You should know that, apart from the one who died young, DiMarco has two other biological children.
“No.” Joseph denied Jiang Baimian’s guess. “Perhaps Mr. DiMarco gradually regained consciousness after repeated venting, and his consciousness also brought him rewards. Five months ago, one of his mistresses finally became pregnant.”
“It might not be his,” Shang Jianyao suggested a possibility.
“Well, we don’t know,” Joseph didn’t help DiMarco deny it.
Jiang Baimian could tell that the guards of the ‘Underground Ark’ also had similar guesses, perhaps even secretly betting on who the child’s real father was.
She thought for a moment and then asked:
“Mr. DiMarco’s other two children are both girls, and the one who died young was a boy?”
This was the best explanation she could think of for DiMarco's madness over the death of his young son.
“The one who died young was indeed a boy,” Joseph touched his large nose. “But the other two, one is a girl and one is a boy.”
Jiang Baimian immediately lost her train of thought.
Shang Jianyao asked eagerly:
“Can we follow you into the ‘Underground Ark’?”
“No.” Joseph and Paul shook their heads simultaneously, both with expressions of fear.
“Why?” Shang Jianyao expressed his incomprehension.
Joseph quickly explained:
“There are triple checks at each entrance, with multiple guards. Two of us come out, and six go back; it’ll be obvious there’s a problem!”
He understood that Zhang Qubing and the others wanted to sneak into the ‘Underground Ark’ with their help.
“I can communicate with them,” Shang Jianyao sincerely offered a method.
Joseph still shook his head:
“It’s useless. We are all very afraid of Mr. DiMarco. Without his permission, we dare not let any outsiders enter the Ark.
“Moreover, each checkpoint is equipped with cameras, and there are dedicated guards in the monitoring room responsible for them. Once a problem is discovered, they will immediately cut off the elevators and other facilities, completely isolating the Ark from the outside world.”
The other guard, Paul, added:
“One of Mr. DiMarco’s greatest hobbies is watching the surveillance footage.
“No one dares to be perfunctory in this regard.”
What a pity, Shang Jianyao’s "Reasoning Clown" can’t achieve a certain effect by using complex transformations… The cameras can't collect sound either… Besides being regretful, Jiang Baimian said with a smile:
“Do you have any unnecessary misunderstandings about us?
“We don’t plan to use you to sneak into the ‘Underground Ark.’ Instead, we want to ask you to tell Mr. DiMarco that we hope to visit him and chat with him about the Old World.
“This is our main purpose. Other than that, there are only a few simple little questions.”
Joseph and Paul simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief, their bodies no longer so tense.
The former asked happily:
“Can you give me a self-introduction? Mr. DiMarco should ask.”
“A relic hunter squad; the captain is Ms. Qian Bai,” Jiang Baimian introduced in Red River language, while pointing at Bai Chen.
Joseph and Paul’s gazes swept over them, seeming a little doubtful that the leader was actually the most silent and smallest one.
Jiang Baimian knew that such an introduction wasn’t weighty enough, so she boasted:
“It’s the relic hunter squad that solved the Fishmen Envoy and saved Redstone Town.”
“Ah?” Joseph and Paul were a little confused.
It could be seen that they were in the ‘Underground Ark’ and their news was relatively blocked, not understanding the outside world enough.
Of course, this was definitely only limited to the lower levels. Regardless of DiMarco, or his few butlers and guard captains, they should all know about the “Qian Bai Squad,” which has been very popular in Redstone Town recently.
“Just introduce us to Mr. DiMarco like this,” Jiang Baimian added.
“Okay,” Joseph and Paul agreed.
Immediately afterward, their gazes turned to the burlap sack containing Butler Karl’s corpse, seeming to hesitate whether to return to the ‘Underground Ark’ to report now or bury the body first.
Seeing this, Jiang Baimian said with a smile:
“Don’t worry; everyone is friends now. We’ll bury it.”
Friends? Team Leader, how did you learn Shang Jianyao’s tricks… Long Yuehong couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.
Having received the promise, Joseph and Paul relaxed and turned to walk towards the cave.
After watching them disappear from view, Jiang Baimian instructed Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong:
“Put Butler Karl’s body in the jeep’s trunk.”
“Ah?” Long Yuehong was just about to pick up a shovel.
Jiang Baimian casually explained:
“Take it back and have Weiller do a detailed examination to see if there’s anything strange about the cause of death.”
So that’s how it is… Long Yuehong really thought that the Team Leader had decided to be a good person until the end.
At this moment, Shang Jianyao looked at the cave and sighed:
“What a pity…”
“Are you thinking that this way, you can’t use your intelligence and Awakened abilities to sneak into the ‘Underground Ark’ without anyone knowing?” Jiang Baimian teased with a smile. “Don’t worry; it’s courtesy before force now.”
Shang Jianyao tilted his head and glanced at her:
“I’m regretting that I can’t directly use a man-portable rocket launcher to blast open the door of the ‘Underground Ark.’”
“When did you become so fierce?” Jiang Baimian was surprised.
Shang Jianyao answered truthfully:
“A few minutes ago. Now I am the fierce and reckless me.”
“…” Jiang Baimian sized Shang Jianyao up and down, rationally giving up on this topic.
Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong lifted Butler Karl’s body into the jeep. The Old Task Force waited for a long while before seeing Joseph and Paul return.
They were still wearing simple, olive-green uniforms and carrying a submachine gun each.
Seeing Shang Jianyao looking at him expectantly, Joseph said somewhat apologetically:
“Mr. DiMarco told me to tell you that there’s nothing to talk about.
“He only communicates with the bishops of the Vigilance Church.”
“Alright.” Jiang Baimian didn’t linger, after all, the person they were dealing with wasn't in front of them.
They started walking towards the place where the jeep was parked. Shang Jianyao waved goodbye to Joseph and Paul reluctantly.
After the jeep drove out of the foot of Tieshan Mountain, Long Yuehong couldn’t help but ask:
“What do we do next? Try to sneak into the ‘Underground Ark’?”
Jiang Baimian was paying attention to the surrounding situation while muttering to herself:
“I’m considering a question:
“Is contacting DiMarco worth us risking sneaking into the ‘Underground Ark’?
“His ancestors may not know anything; they just have a simple fear of the apocalypse. Regardless of the Redstone Town traitor issue or Lehman’s commission, they aren’t important matters for us. It’s naturally good if we can find out; it doesn’t matter if we can’t, anyway, we haven’t made any promises or received any rewards.”
Bai Chen agreed with this:
“The main reason we can’t investigate further is that the Vigilance Church isn’t cooperating and isn’t giving us the authority to directly contact DiMarco. This is their own problem, and it has nothing to do with us.”
“That’s right!” Jiang Baimian immediately felt at ease.
She immediately smiled:
“Although we won’t risk sneaking in, we can discuss the plan. We might encounter similar things in the future, so it won’t be wrong to broaden our thinking now.”
Long Yuehong glanced at Shang Jianyao beside him and didn’t mention the previous plan of “befriending” a butler and hiding in a supplies box to sneak in.
This wasn’t because Butler Karl was already dead, but because he now knew that DiMarco was very brutal.
If this method was adopted, the corresponding butler would be unable to escape death afterward.
“From the ventilation ducts?” Long Yuehong said cautiously, “Although Weiller said that there are guards at every ventilation duct opening, I think there definitely aren’t as many as at the regular entrances. We can completely control them first, then knock them unconscious, and quickly resolve things without making any noise.”
With Shang Jianyao’s "Loss of Limb Control" and "Affectation," these weren’t problems.
Jiang Baimian nodded slightly:
“It’s feasible, but we need to investigate in advance whether there are surveillance cameras at the ventilation openings, and if so, how to solve them?”
During the group discussion, Shang Jianyao was very silent, not knowing what he was thinking.
Jiang Baimian noticed his abnormality and hesitated before asking:
“Hey, do you have any different plans?”
Shang Jianyao immediately leaned forward and said seriously:
“First, confirm two points:
“One, our purpose is to contact DiMarco and communicate with him, right?”
After receiving an affirmative answer, he continued:
“DiMarco also said that he only communicates with the bishops of the Vigilance Church.
“So, in summary, we can get a very simple method:
“As long as we become bishops of the Vigilance Church, the problem will be easily solved.”
Jiang Baimian slowly exhaled and said:
“That’s a thought.
“But the problem is that it’s not that easy to become a bishop of the Vigilance Church.”
She still vividly remembered "The Gaze at the Door."
Before dark, the Old Task Force, who had taken a trip to Redstone Town, returned to the hotel camp and stopped worrying about the day’s affairs.
But early the next morning, someone came to visit them.
This person was similar to Butler Karl, wearing a neat black suit and looking to be in his forties, with his black hair neatly combed, but his hairline was slightly high.
From his appearance, he gave off a serious feeling.
He scanned them with his azure eyes and said respectfully:
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am DiMarco’s butler, Ulrich.
“He would like to invite you to meet him in the ‘Underground Ark’s’ private reception room.”
Ah? It wasn’t just Long Yuehong who was surprised; Jiang Baimian and the others were too.
It’s only been one night; did DiMarco change his mind?