The "Old Task Force" ultimately did not take advantage of the electricity bill, opting for a regular suite with separately calculated electricity costs. After all, Shang Jianyao claimed to be saving all of humanity and would never allow his team to do such a thing.
Sometimes, Jiang Baimian privately marveled at how this guy was the conscience of the "Old Task Force."
They entered the suite. Shang Jianyao glanced at the sky, not yet evening, and said with a restless tone:
"Once Old Ge is charged, are we going out to investigate?"
"Let's just stay quietly for a few days," Jiang Baimian chuckled.
She had also dyed her hair flaxen, not keeping it pure black as in First City, because although they were both Red River people, the White Knights Order here basically had no black-haired ethnicities.
As for contact lenses, she also didn't use the previous pair but asked the company's related technicians to make them from biomaterials before going out on missions.
Of course, the color was still azure.
"Why?" Shang Jianyao seemed to have been struck on the head with a club.
He was wearing green contact lenses.
Jiang Baimian subtly rolled her eyes:
"The top priority right now is to fully charge all the batteries. Before that, we should try not to go out or investigate, lest we really find some clues, stir up trouble, and force us to leave Gesterbourg early.
"At that time, finding a safe place to charge won't be an easy task."
She had enough awareness of her team's 'trouble-attracting constitution' and was often apprehensive about it, suspecting that if they were unlucky, they would investigate the Eighth Research Institute or the clues of Shang Jianyao's father's team today, and have gains tonight, then intensify the conflicts, snowballing things bigger and bigger, and eventually having to flee Gesterbourg before dawn.
In that case, how many high-performance batteries could be charged?
What to do after that?
Considering the real possibility of this development, Jiang Baimian was cautious and intended to confine the team members in the hotel and wait for all spare batteries to be fully charged before launching the corresponding investigation.
Shang Jianyao understood Jiang Baimian's meaning and glanced at Long Yuehong:
"That's you I'm talking about!"
Long Yuehong was amused and annoyed:
"Are you saying you haven't discovered any clues?"
He used another hair dye, dyeing his hair brown, and chose yellow contact lenses.
Bai Chen was the same as him, matching as a pair.
While the two were arguing, Genaava walked to a corner of the suite's living room and charged himself.
He then sat in the nearby armchair, as comfortable as a carbon-based human who had taken a hot bath after a busy day and lay down on the bed, completely relaxed.
Bai Chen found another outlet and charged another high-performance battery.
Looking around, Jiang Baimian took off her tactical backpack and walked towards the window in the living room.
She was no stranger to the White Knights Order. Although she had never been here before, she had read a lot of information and contacted some members of the White Knights Order or people who had been to this great power.
The White Knights Order was founded after the destruction of the Old World, in the early years of chaos.
At that time, some people who admired the chivalry of ancient times and survivors of several religious organizations of the Old World gathered together, trying to lead people out of chaos and rebuild order.
Back then, there were no rumors of the Ruling Gods, and the gods preached by several religions of the Old World did not appear, let alone give any hints to mankind, so the corresponding religions disintegrated. The survivors, under the persuasion of their companions, filled their hearts with chivalry, and the White Knights Order was born.
In the chaotic era, the knights emphasized and observed the creeds of simplicity, thrift, restraint, compassion, humility, courage, and justice, opened up settlement after settlement, gathered a large number of people, and passed through the difficulties as a whole.
The Salvation Army also appreciated the knights' actions. Although they did not quite agree with their overemphasis on hierarchy, obedience, and the low status of women, they did not provoke them much.
Therefore, with the same long border line, the Salvation Army kept going southwest, wanting to save the humans in First City, but coexisted peacefully with the White Knights Order, without offending each other.
In terms of faith, the White Knights Order seemingly did not worship any gods, taking chivalry as the highest code of conduct, but Jiang Baimian was not very clear about what it was actually like.
Perhaps they, like the Salvation Army, had their high-levels remain unaffected by the Ruling Gods, or perhaps like First City, had several Ruling Gods playing games behind the scenes.
"I really want to visit the Great Knight of Gesterbourg," Jiang Baimian hadn't reached the window yet, and Shang Jianyao once again expressed his thoughts.
As a relatively important border stronghold, mining city, and industrial base of the White Knights Order, Gesterbourg was always guarded by a Great Knight.
--The ruling class of the White Knights Order is the Great Knight Council, composed of Great Knights, and the supreme leader is Grand Master Godfrey, who is also known as the Chief Knight, Supreme Master, and Guardian.
According to the information the Old Task Force had gathered from Smith's Rootless team, the current Great Knight in charge of Gesterbourg was called Javier.
Jiang Baimian turned her body and looked at Shang Jianyao:
"Why do you want to visit the Great Knight here?"
"I want to communicate with him about chivalry," Shang Jianyao said sincerely and earnestly.
"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," Bai Chen paused and said, "The current White Knights are not those of decades ago."
She had heard many rumors about the White Knights Order and First City bordering each other.
Jiang Baimian nodded:
"Only that extreme environment could create extremely pure people. Now it has been barely stable for decades, and the new knights are unlikely to be like the older generation. Even if there are exceptions, they are a minority, and most of the older generation have withered away, or based on reality, have undergone certain changes.
The Salvation Army is an example."
An extremely desperate environment can lead to many acts of moral corruption and create a large number of 'humanoid beasts,' but it can also stimulate and give birth to a group of relatively pure and mentally resilient idealists.
"Sigh..." Shang Jianyao sighed long after hearing this.
Then, he raised his right hand, pressed his left chest, and said solemnly:
"For all of humanity!"
Jiang Baimian withdrew her gaze and looked out the window.
The air was misty, there were a lot of stains on the glass, and the window sill outside was full of dust, including some coal ash.
The pedestrians were all dressed relatively simply, in relatively low-key colors, which was the style of the White Knights Order.
At this time, a group of people came from the direction of the train station.
They were basically Red River people, most of them with pale faces and tattered clothes, shivering a little in the spring near the ice sheet. A small number even had tumors and other deformities, equivalent to half-subhumans.
The leader was wrapped in a fur coat, holding a megaphone, and said loudly:
"Look at the surrounding situation, I didn't lie to you, did I?
"Here, you will have job opportunities, and work can be exchanged for bread, for meat, for clothes like mine, for warm shelter!
"It's not very suitable for planting here, and the conditions for grazing are not good, but countless flour, meat, and salt are pulled here by trains and exchanged for coal, steel, and various metals.
"Here, as long as you work hard, you can buy everything and get everything!
"This is heaven, this is the 'New World' in a real sense!"
Those Red River people listened with excitement, and the people passing by were also a little infected, with expressions of excitement.
This settlement belonging to mining and industry has always seemed bustling.
With a little coal ash falling, the group was led by the leader to the factory area behind the castle.
"Although the industrial pollution here is a bit serious, people are full of hope..." Long Yuehong also came to the window and sincerely sighed, "The White Knights Order seems to be quite good to the workers, at least they haven't deducted their wages much."
Jiang Baimian 'mm'ed:
"Compassion and justice are in their creed, and even if things are not as good as they used to be, they will still maintain appearances."
"The White Knights Order also distributes food to the poor from time to time," Bai Chen said about the rumors she had heard in First City.
At that time, she was quite envious.
"Not bad, not bad," Shang Jianyao nodded with satisfaction, as if he were the Grand Master of the White Knights Order coming to inspect.
After chatting for a while, they, who had been on the road for a few days, found a place to sit and relaxed.
In a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, time passed quickly.
Seeing that evening was approaching, Long Yuehong casually asked:
"Team Leader, where do we investigate next?"
Jiang Baimian thought for a while and said:
"Let's start with the previous Old Task Force.
"Although more than ten years have passed, few Ashlanders come here. If they didn't disguise themselves much at the time, many people should have a deep impression of them.
"Well, provided they really came."
After a pause, Jiang Baimian added:
"Ask the Hunters Guild. The first choice for outsiders like them to inquire about information is often the local Hunters Guild."
"Okay!" Shang Jianyao replied with a full voice.
As soon as he finished speaking, the bell suddenly rang outside.
Dong! Dong! Dong!