In the photo, the young man, not yet twenty, had dark brown hair, a few scattered freckles on his face, and eyes that were deep blue, almost black.
His features were nothing special; he was just an ordinary Red River person.
The middle-aged man next to him had similar eyebrows and eyes, indicating a blood relationship.
This middle-aged man had messy hair, his beard wasn't shaved cleanly, and he had a rather simple and honest smile, but his eyes showed a hint of cleverness.
Judging from their clothes and attire, the two men's family situation was far from good; one could only say they weren't poor, but they didn't reach the middle class.
Shang Jianyao extended his right palm covered with metal bones and pointed to the young man in the photo:
"That 'Child of the Year'?"
"Should be." Genaeva moved his metal-cast neck up and down. "Normal people don't openly display photos of other people in their rooms. There must be one of them, and I'm more inclined towards the younger one."
"Why?" Shang Jianyao always had a habit of getting to the bottom of things.
Genaeva extended a silver-black finger and pointed to the young man in the photo:
"The 'Child of the Year' was probably around twenty-four years old when the Old World was destroyed. It can't be a photo taken at the end of the Chaotic Era or the beginning of the New Calendar, right?"
"Why not?" Honest Shang Jianyao asked as soon as he had a question. "Isn't it possible that the one next to him is the 'Child of the Year,' and he's the 'Grandchild of the Year'?"
"From the background of the photo, the style of the clothes, the degree of newness..." Genaeva explained a lot in detail.
Shang Jianyao slapped his chest with the right hand holding the photo frame, feigning realization:
"So that's how it is."
Genaeva kindly reminded:
"If you slap it a few more times, the All Heavens Year Deity Protection Picture will be broken."
Whether the photo frame would break didn't matter too much.
"Don't learn from Xiao Hong's jinxing." Shang Jianyao complained, eagerly tearing off the transparent tape, carefully folding the All Heavens Year Deity Protection Picture, and putting it back in his pocket.
He looked at the photo again and nodded:
"This should be a photo of the 'Child of the Year' taken a few years before the Old World was destroyed.
"Then, is the one next to him the April Year Deity, 'Twisted Shadow'?"
"Should be." Genaeva answered cautiously.
"No." Shang Jianyao contradicted himself. "The accurate title is the 'Twisted Shadow's' Incarnation."
Saying that, he smiled:
"He looks very ordinary. Where does he look like a Year Deity Incarnation?"
"'Zhuang Sheng's' Incarnation, Du Shaochong, is also quite ordinary," Genaeva reminded.
"He's good at studying!" Shang Jianyao responded loudly.
He then returned to his normal volume:
"Xiao Chong's aesthetics are also very unique. Not everyone can handle the tomato and scrambled eggs color scheme, and he also likes games!"
Red light flickered in Genaeva's eyes. He took a full ten seconds to choose the object to imitate:
"Yes, yes."
Shang Jianyao looked at the middle-aged man in the photo again:
"Maybe he's a dark horse."
He opened the frame and carefully checked the photo, but found no other clues.
"Can I take this photo away?" Shang Jianyao turned his head to look at Genaeva.
"Are you asking me?" Genaeva had long discovered that without Dabai around, this guy always did as he pleased.
Shang Jianyao shook his head:
"No.
"I'm asking the April Year Deity, 'Twisted Shadow.'"
After speaking, he bent his arm and struck a pose to show off his biceps.
At the same time, he shouted loudly:
"Muscle Supremacy!"
This was the prayer action and slogan of the Holy Body Sect, which worshipped "Twisted Shadow."
After shouting, Shang Jianyao quickly looked around.
Seeing that the sun was still shining brightly, he handed the photo to Genaeva and asked him to put it away.
He himself began to inspect the items on the desk.
These were mainly stationery such as pens and a few books.
The latter included "Analysis of Supernatural Powers," "The Switch of Consciousness," "The Mystery of the Human Body"...
"It can be seen that the 'Child of the Year' is seeking explanations for Awakened abilities, whether scientific or unscientific, he's reading about them." Genaeva picked up the books and flipped through them quickly, recording and analyzing them at the speed of counting banknotes.
Shang Jianyao feigned "shock":
"Isn't it bestowed by his Year Deity father?"
"This shows that he doesn't agree with this explanation." Genaeva made a judgment.
Shang Jianyao got excited and immediately used the military exoskeleton's communication system to inform Jiang Baimian of this discovery.
Jiang Baimian muttered to herself thoughtfully:
"He believes that the essence of Awakening has nothing to do with the Year Deities, and that the Year Deities can only use this power?
"Did his Year Deity father tell him that?"
"Possibly." Shang Jianyao replied with relief.
Jiang Baimian immediately ordered:
"Bring these books back.
"Lao Ge, remember to scan everything, make backups, and do analysis work."
"No problem." Genaeva found paper and rope on the spot, bundled the books into a package, and hung them on his body.
--His and Shang Jianyao's backpacks were already full.
Immediately after, Shang Jianyao eagerly asked Jiang Baimian:
"Should we take the bear biscuits on the table?"
"Bear biscuits?" Jiang Baimian was slightly surprised.
Shang Jianyao nodded vigorously:
"Yes, there's also a bag of bear biscuits on the table. The production date is early New Calendar 37, locally produced."
This bag of biscuits was placed next to the ink bottle, and the outer shell was brown-yellow kraft paper.
"Is Corningmis still maintaining a bear biscuit production line? Isn't that too extravagant?" Jiang Baimian muttered in confusion.
Although Corningmis didn't suffer any major setbacks when the Old World was destroyed, and both its factories and farmland were well preserved, its surrounding areas were all swallowed up by the ice sheet, and they could no longer provide them with food.
In other words, their grain production could only maintain life, and factory production was mainly to meet basic living needs and import energy.
Shang Jianyao expressed understanding:
"Maybe that 'Child of the Year' really likes bear biscuits. As a savior, having some privileges and wasting some resources is acceptable."
"He was 81 years old in New Calendar 37," Jiang Baimian grumbled.
"Maybe it's a childhood memory for him," Shang Jianyao argued logically.
Thinking of the strange "habits" of various Awakened, Jiang Baimian didn't say anything more and said directly:
"Check the biscuits. If there's nothing wrong with them, we don't need to take them."
"Okay." Shang Jianyao was a little disappointed.
After Genaeva's appraisal, it was just an ordinary bag of bear biscuits.
At this time, Shang Jianyao found a document under a few books.
The content of the document was a plan to add power stations, one was to purchase coal from Gesterborg and build a new thermal power plant, and the other was to find ways to obtain relevant technologies and corresponding materials from the Old World to build a nuclear power plant.
Next to the latter plan, someone wrote the word "Agreed" and signed their name:
Brooklyn Garland.
"The 'Child of the Year's' name?" Shang Jianyao handed the document to Genaeva.
Genaeva moved his metal-cast neck:
"It can be basically confirmed."
Shang Jianyao immediately began to fantasize with great interest:
"Will calling out this name at a critical moment grant us protection?"
"He's already dead," Genaeva reminded.
Shang Jianyao then sighed:
"It seems it will only cause the opposite effect and make us die faster.
"It's better to shout Du Shaochong."
After searching, they couldn't find any more clues in the suite on the top floor.
"He didn't even write a diary or record his experiences!" Shang Jianyao said with disappointment.
The "Child of the Year's" remaining writings they found here were either signatures or corrections to certain documents, with no content involving Awakened, the "New World," or the Year Deities.
Genaeva responded:
"This can actually explain a lot of things.
"Even the 'Child of the Year' doesn't dare or is unwilling to write down things related to the 'New World.'"
"Yes, yes." Shang Jianyao agreed with this statement. "The water in the 'New World' is very deep!"
They didn't stay any longer, put on their equipment, and retreated to the outskirts of Corningmis.
Before that, Shang Jianyao gathered the bones of the old tune team members other than his father and buried them in a place.
For those with personal belongings, he took one item from each body.
--From the bones of the leader of that old tune team, Genaeva and Shang Jianyao learned that they had come to Corningmis because it hadn't experienced a large-scale outbreak of "Heartless Disease" when the Old World was destroyed, which was very rare in the graylands.
…………
Corningmis, western mountain area.
The "Old Tune Team" was eating dinner and discussing their discoveries in Corningmis.
During the exchange, Long Yuehong suddenly said:
"Both tasks for this trip have been completed. Are we going back to the company next?"
Jiang Baimian and others fell silent.
After a few seconds, Jiang Baimian said cautiously:
"There's one more thing that must be confirmed.
"That is, the purpose of the Year Deities keeping humans in captivity."
"But how should we confirm that?" Long Yuehong had thought about this before, but had no clue.
Jiang Baimian looked around and said slowly:
"Go to the Year-End City that worships the boss and the strange entity 'Truth'."
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao applauded.