"The Eighth Research Institute..." Jiang Baimian repeated the term softly.

Clearly, she hadn't heard of such an organization before.

Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong were the same, their gazes towards Qiao Chu filled with even more admiration.

A mysterious origin paired with powerful strength was always an effective element for fascination.

Jiang Baimian, still wearing her helmet, moved her lips as if organizing her thoughts, wanting to further inquire where the Eighth Research Institute was located, what technologies it had inherited, what its relationship with the Old World was, and why it had sent a special envoy to this city ruins deep in the Great Swamp.

Before she could speak, Qiao Chu turned around and walked to the right, leaving behind only a light and airy sentence:

"Take off your exoskeletal devices to conserve power."

"Okay," Jiang Baimian readily agreed.

This was something she wanted to do anyway.

--The solar panels had stored enough energy to charge the jeep today, and it was already night.

Although they had a spare high-performance battery, being in such a bizarre Old World city, they definitely needed to keep their energy reserves as full as possible, just in case.

While Bai Chen helped Jiang Baimian remove the military exoskeletal device, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong surveyed their surroundings.

The first thing that caught their eyes was an LCD screen, at least two sizes larger than the one in the "Activity Center" on the 495th floor, hanging conspicuously on the wall to their right front.

"That's a good find..." Long Yuehong exclaimed, eager to try it out.

If they could pick it up and bring it back to the company, no, carry it back, even if it was broken, it would be worth a lot of contribution points.

Although it would mostly have to be handed over, the company would give some rewards at its discretion.

Qiao Chu walked to the window on the far right and glanced at Long Yuehong, saying:

"Most of the buildings you saw earlier have one of these displays behind the glass windows."

Long Yuehong recalled the tall buildings he had seen earlier and blurted out:

"So many?"

He then asked Qiao Chu with some confusion:

"Why are you suddenly saying this?"

Shang Jianyao interjected with a smile:

"It means, when scavenging, you have to pick the more valuable items!"

"This is a 'rich mine'," Bai Chen added, using a common term among wasteland wanderers.

"Rich mine" meant that the area was rich in various resources, so they wouldn't have to worry about finding things to scavenge for a while.

In this situation, since they could only carry a limited amount of items each time, they had to be picky to make their exploration worthwhile.

It was like entering a gold mine; you would definitely want to fill your bag with gold, not ordinary stones.

Long Yuehong thought about it carefully and deeply agreed with Shang Jianyao, continuing to survey his surroundings.

Below the LCD screen, which had several stains on its surface, was a set of long, low wooden cabinets. It looked dusty and gray, barely recognizable as originally being milky white.

On the low wooden cabinet were a翠绿色 water glass, two palm-sized electronic devices connected to wires, and a transparent long-necked bottle.

The bottle had about a third of dirty water left, with some black debris floating on top.

This matched Jiang Baimian's earlier judgment:

If the city hadn't been "maintained" since the Old World's destruction, the water in the bottle should have evaporated completely - the windows were closed, and the house was dry, not like rainwater had drifted in.

Facing the wall with the LCD screen was a coffee table of the same style and color as the low wooden cabinet, with some dirty water glasses and a pack of dark black tissue paper on it.

To the left of the coffee table was a trash can full of holes, lined with a translucent blue plastic bag; near the door was a set of very dirty cloth sofas, whether originally雪青色 or暗灰色; between the coffee table and the low wooden cabinet was a faded folding stool with a pinkish seat, with the outline and pattern seeming to form a cartoon pig; to the right of the coffee table was a relatively wide area where Qiao Chu was standing.

Behind Qiao Chu was a row of dusty wooden railings, with several large panes of glass standing on the outside of the railings, acting as walls.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong hadn't learned what these windows were called in textbooks, but they had heard Qiao Chu call them "French windows" and thought it was quite descriptive.

On either side of the French windows was a wash area with a stone platform and several reddish-brown earthen pots.

The soil in the pots was黄褐色 and cracked, and the plants planted inside seemed to have been destroyed and buried deep, leaving no trace.

In front of Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong was a corridor, with several rooms seemingly inside.

To their left was a small round table, covered with a tablecloth simply embroidered with a few flowers, the original white of the tablecloth nearly暗灰色.

Around this round table were four ordinary chairs with milky white paint peeling off.

One of them had a noticeable crack, and the wood inside looked severely rotted.

Facing the round table, near the door, was a semi-open room, and Shang Jianyao immediately saw an electric rice cooker of the same model as his.

It also had its outer coating peeling off, with rust in many places.

Next to the rice cooker were two metal objects that looked like stoves, with one large and one small pot on them. The large one was铁黑色, and the small one was粉红 outside and灰白 inside.

Besides these, Shang Jianyao also saw faucets, metal sinks, and various cabinets.

Based on his common sense, he concluded that this should be the kitchen.

"Luxury..." Long Yuehong next to him looked over and said with emotion.

Shang Jianyao nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah."

In their understanding, rooms with kitchens were only possible for senior employees, and rooms with such large kitchens could only be found in the management residences in the "living area."

As he spoke, Shang Jianyao lifted his feet and quietly retreated step by step.

Qiao Chu's gaze swept over.

At this time, Shang Jianyao had retreated to the door and looked up.

"605..." he read the door number.

"What are you doing?" Long Yuehong asked in surprise.

"There are five rooms on each floor, each unit has twenty or thirty floors, each building has several units..." Shang Jianyao said to himself, "There are hundreds of rooms this big."

Qiao Chu obviously didn't understand Shang Jianyao's focus and said calmly:

"Come in, close the door behind you."

After Shang Jianyao gently closed the door, Long Yuehong came back to his senses:

"There are seven or eight buildings here, and even more buildings around...

"Is this the Old World?"

Shang Jianyao ignored him, squatted down, and opened the wooden cabinet to the right of the entrance.

A stale smell instantly wafted out, and rows of various shoes were neatly placed inside the wooden cabinet.

"Close it!" Qiao Chu pinched his nose and said.

Shang Jianyao didn't look closely and slammed the cabinet door shut.

Long Yuehong once again exclaimed:

"Luxury!"

What kind of family is this, to have so many shoes!

At this time, the setting sun had sunk below the horizon, and the sky was like gray metal, reflecting a faint glow.

Shang Jianyao and the others looked through the French windows and saw the entire city become even darker, and the tall buildings seemed like isolated islands, being swallowed by the increasingly fierce dark "tide."

Their hearts seemed to sink with it.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the nearby blocks, and a "bang" sound was heard.

Jiang Baimian and the others exchanged glances and simultaneously made a judgment:

That was the sound of a gunshot!

Someone had just fired a gun!

Before they could speak, hoarse roars rang out around the area.

The roars quickly "spread," and responses came from all directions, one after another.

"Roar!"

"Woo!"

Such noises continued incessantly and were all moving closer to the street where the gunshot was heard.

The completely silent city instantly became lively.

A minute or two passed, and the roars subsided, and the entire city fell into extreme silence again.

Jiang Baimian, who had already taken off her military exoskeletal device, frowned slightly and pondered for a few seconds:

"Heartless?"

As far as she knew, many city ruins had "Heartless" lingering and wandering, with the specific number depending on how many the local ecosystem and remaining supplies could support.

Qiao Chu, still carrying the silver rifle, faced the French windows, watching the silent city outside, and said:

"Yes."

"Did some ruin hunters who entered the ruins from other roads encounter a 'Heartless' attack and fire a shot, causing a chain reaction?" Jiang Baimian tried to reconstruct what had just happened.

This time, Qiao Chu ignored her, standing there quietly, not knowing what he was looking at.

Shang Jianyao then said:

"Could the roars we heard in the wilderness have come from them?"

"Impossible, how could that kind of sound travel so far?" Jiang Baimian responded thoughtfully, "However, what we heard was likely the roars of the 'Heartless' in the area at the time. They were responding to the loudest and most exaggerated roar at the beginning, and judging from the direction, that roar that echoed across the wilderness might really have come from here..."

"Judging from the power of that roar, and its ability to stimulate the 'Heartless' to respond, that monster must be very dangerous, very dangerous!" Long Yuehong joined the discussion, becoming more and more nervous as he spoke.

Hearing these words, the expressions of Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen suddenly fluctuated, as if they remembered their initial decision not to approach dangerous areas.

This was completely contradictory to their current state.

Jiang Baimian's eyes flickered, and her expression gradually became heavy as she subconsciously looked towards Qiao Chu.

At this time, Qiao Chu had turned around, smiling slightly, and said:

"Now that we're here, we can only protect ourselves first.

"At the same time, think about what is most precious and what you want to cherish the most."

His golden eyes briefly lost focus, like a deep lake reflecting sunlight.

Jiang Baimian pursed her lips, and her eyes became gentle again:

"I understand."

Shang Jianyao and the others then returned to their pre-discussion state.

Qiao Chu withdrew his gaze and looked around, saying:

"Let's have dinner first, then take turns resting and wait for dawn."

ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~