"Subhumans?" Upon hearing this term, Long Yuehong's mind instantly filled with words like "fierce," "vicious," "deformed," "dirty," "source of pollution," and "human-hating."

Although he had never encountered a subhuman, textbooks and the people around him all said the same thing.

Jiang Baimian seemed to sense what Long Yuehong was thinking at the moment, and sighed, "Subhumans and humans are essentially the same. At the very least, there is no reproductive isolation."

Without waiting for Long Yuehong and the others to speak again, she continued, "The people of Black Rat Town survived the first winter after the Old World's destruction by catching and eating rats. It is said that at that time, the rats in that area were all crazy. They all crawled out from underground, covering the mountains and plains. Some of them were covered in sores, some had red eyes, and some indiscriminately attacked the living creatures around them."

"Uh... I'm digressing. Let's go back to the people of Black Rat Town."

"After surviving the first winter, because the area where they originally lived was too polluted, resulting in the deaths of a large number of residents, they chose to leave and migrate to this area."

"Unfortunately, the nightmare did not end there. Their bodies gradually underwent strange changes, and, perhaps because they ate too many mutated rats, they became more and more like rats. Haha, I'm not an expert in this field, and I haven't done any research. I'm just saying it off the cuff."

"In short, their body hair became black and plentiful, their bodies were always hunched over, and their nails became harder and sharper..."

"After several generations of reproduction, the residents of Black Rat Town are now generally less than 1.4 meters tall, like to live in caves, and are very good at digging. Correspondingly, the types of food they eat have also become more diverse. At the same time, they are afraid of strong sunlight and can only be active in the early morning, evening, and at night."

"They also have many good mutations. For example, they are very talented in mechanics and electronics. Some of the electrical equipment from the Old World was already in terrible shape, but after they fiddled with it for a while, it could barely be used again, of course, provided there were corresponding wires and parts."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian exclaimed, "Oops, I almost forgot to remind you, you can't say the words 'Black Rat Town' in front of them. This is a derogatory term given to their settlement by some wanderers in the wild. They are very sensitive about this, and the company doesn't harbor much hatred for subhumans, but there's definitely some aversion, contempt, and exclusion. So, it adopted this term."

"Then why does the company accept them?" Bai Chen, who was driving, couldn't help but ask.

As a former wasteland wanderer, she had encountered the hostility and unprovoked attacks of subhumans several times. Coupled with their nightmarish appearance, she severely lacked goodwill towards this group, sometimes even treating them as dangerous creatures with intelligence.

Jiang Baimian was silent for a moment and then said, "The residents of Black Rat Town don't have too deep a resentment towards humans. They usually see themselves as normal people."

"If they weren't so sensitive and insecure, and the company's internal staff weren't so prejudiced against subhumans, the company might have gradually absorbed them instead of treating them as peripheral vassals."

"Actually, it's not even a vassal relationship, it's more like a cooperative relationship. We exchange weapons, ammunition, old clothes, and a certain amount of food for valuable things they collect. At the same time, they will transmit important news from the Black Swamp Wilderness back to the company via radio. Yes, the company collects your old clothes for similar trades."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian paused for a moment.

"The company also recruits volunteers for certain experiments in Black Rat Town."

"In this regard, the residents of Black Rat Town are very enthusiastic. They are willing to give everything to exchange for the opportunity for their descendants to return to normal."

Jiang Baimian didn't add her own emotions to the narration, but Bai Chen still felt a burst of emotion.

"On the Greylands, the company's reputation is tarnished by its constant association with biological experiments."

"Before I came into deep contact with you, I heard a lot of rumors and was filled with fear of similar experiments. I was afraid that one day I would be captured by 'Pangu Biology' and sent to a secret place to become a sacrifice for evil experiments, afraid of being tortured to mental breakdown, physical deformity, becoming a monster, and not even being able to die as a human."

"And the people of Black Rat Town would actually volunteer for experiments..."

After hearing Bai Chen's words, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong realized that the company had such an image in the eyes of outsiders, just like the villains in some stories on the radio.

This was completely different from their childhood perceptions.

They had always believed that the inside of the company was a paradise, while the outside world was a living hell.

Jiang Baimian smiled upon hearing this.

"I can tell that this kind of fear has been suppressed in your heart for a long time, so you said so much in one breath."

She then raised her left arm and made a flexed elbow gesture.

"This electric eel-type bionic limb is the result of an experiment, and so is gene modification."

"What do you think? Seeing these with your own eyes, do you feel it's not so scary?"

Bai Chen was silent and didn't answer.

"... I understand." Jiang Baimian smiled self-deprecatingly. "Seeing me like this, you're even more scared."

She let out a faint sigh.

"There's one thing you said is very right, the endings of those volunteers are mostly not too good..."

Inside the jeep, the atmosphere suddenly became heavy, and no one spoke for a long time.

After several seconds, Jiang Baimian turned to look at Shang Jianyao and "complained," "Why aren't you making a joke at this time?"

Shang Jianyao replied solemnly, "As someone determined to save all of humanity, I never joke about similar topics."

"... That's true." Jiang Baimian sat up straight again.

After another while, she pointed to the front and said, "Turn left and go into the mountains."

Arriving here, a stretch of hills appeared in the Black Swamp Wilderness, some of which could even be called small mountains, and Black Rat Town was located in the mountains.

Driving along the bumpy road for a while, Jiang Baimian couldn't help but roll down the car window.

"Seriously, the distance of the up-and-down movement is greater than the distance forward."

"After going out like this once, the chassis will definitely have to be overhauled when we get back..."

In the midst of her complaint, Jiang Baimian suddenly stopped talking.

She tilted her head slightly, carefully sensed for a while, and gradually frowned.

"The radio signal from the direction of Black Rat Town is pitifully low."

This had already entered her sensing range, and it also indicated that Black Rat Town was very close.

Shang Jianyao instinctively raised the 'Berserker' assault rifle and rested it on the car window.

"Could it be affected by those anomalies north of Yue Lu Station?"

This place wasn't close to Yue Lu Station, but it wasn't too far either, about half a day's journey.

"Possibly." Jiang Baimian nodded, her tone significantly more serious than before.

"Team Leader, do we need to wear the exoskeletons?" Long Yuehong no longer panicked as much as he had in the past few days, and asked relatively calmly.

"Yes." Jiang Baimian didn't have the slightest contempt for unknown situations.

She then instructed, "You wear it."

"Why not Shang Jianyao?" Long Yuehong blurted out.

"Shang Jianyao has to enter Black Rat Town with me. The exoskeleton can't go in. Uh, actually, it can go in, but it can't be used." Jiang Baimian explained simply.

Shang Jianyao had no objection to this, remaining silent, highly vigilant against possible sudden anomalies.

After Long Yuehong put on the exoskeleton, the jeep continued to drive.

Two or three minutes later, Jiang Baimian issued an order.

"Stop the car."

She then pointed to the woods and bushes in front.

"Black Rat Town is over there."

"Long Yuehong, clear the way."

"Yes, Team Leader!" Long Yuehong was the first to open the door and get out of the car.

After the group of four entered the relatively dense woods, they walked for several minutes and suddenly smelled a familiar smell.

It was the smell of blood!

"This is a big problem..." Jiang Baimian immediately muttered to herself, seemingly having already thought of the possible developments.

Holding the grenade launcher, she slightly quickened her pace and walked towards the other end of the woods.

There was a grayish-yellow mountain wall there. Where the mountain wall was blocked by trees and weeds, there was a deep cave. An even stronger smell of blood emanated from it.

"That's Black Rat Town," Jiang Baimian said in a deep but not low voice.

With just one glance, Long Yuehong understood why the exoskeleton couldn't be used inside Black Rat Town.

The entrance to the cave was only 1.4 meters high. Even if the exoskeleton was retracted and adjusted, it couldn't reach that level, and the inside of the cave would obviously be even lower.

In this way, a person wearing an exoskeleton wouldn't even be able to stand up straight after entering Black Rat Town, which was essentially a cave, and their combat power would naturally be greatly reduced.

Before approaching the cave, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian simultaneously looked to the left. Under a tree, they saw two corpses.

The two corpses were very short, and their bodies tended to be curled up. Their clothes had been stripped clean.

Their nails were sharp and hard, obviously yellowish, and their bodies had a large amount of black body hair. At first glance, they looked like giant rats from heavily polluted areas.

However, the body hair wasn't dense, and their rather pale skin could be seen through it.

The eyes of the two corpses were wide open, and the remaining expression was terrified and resentful. Their bodies and the surrounding area were stained with blood that looked no different from normal human blood.

Frankly speaking, apart from the dense hair, short stature, strange nails, and pale skin, Shang Jianyao didn't think that these two dead residents of Black Rat Town were essentially any different from himself.

This wasn't the first time Long Yuehong had seen a corpse. Although he was still a little scared, disgusted, and reluctant to look directly at it, he was able to control himself.

He hissed and said, "Could they all be dead..."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Baimian subconsciously turned her head and looked at the deep cave. For a moment, she didn't even have the courage to go in immediately.

She seemed to be able to foresee what kind of scene was inside.

At this time, Bai Chen, who had squatted down to examine the corpses, raised her head and said in a deep voice, "They died from gunshots."

Jiang Baimian narrowed her eyes slightly and said to herself, "Who could have done this..."

After saying that, she took a light breath and walked towards the entrance of "Black Rat Town."

Without being told, Shang Jianyao closely followed behind her.

ps: Seeking recommendation tickets~