"Hope lies in Taicheng," Long Yuehong muttered to himself while taking over the driving duties.

That way, the "Old Task Force" could quickly complete their exploration and return to "Pangu Biology."

At that moment, Long Yuehong instinctively wanted to offer a prayer, but he couldn't find a suitable deity. He wasn't a believer in any of the ruling stars, nor did he want to sing the local tune like Shang Jianyao.

As for God, he found the concept too vague and ethereal.

After careful consideration, he decided to seek the blessings of his ancestors.

Hearing Long Yuehong's words, Shang Jianyao chuckled:

"Are you eager to return to the company?"

Long Yuehong's face flushed red, embarrassed to admit it.

"It's been several months since we came out. We do need to return to the company for a period of rest and recuperation," Bai Chen said, speaking up for him in a frank and unabashed manner.

The "Old Task Force" had left "Pangu Biology" in early spring, and now it was already midsummer, and there was still a long journey back.

Jiang Baimian then laughed:

"The current state of our team can be called 'the mind is set'."

"With a set mind comes peace, and with peace comes building a home and starting a career," Shang Jianyao blurted out nonsensically.

Suddenly, he turned his head to look at Genaava:

"Old Ge, are you feeling a bit lonely? When we enter the company's underground building and attend Little Long's and Little Bai's wedding, you'll have to stay outside, waiting for the next adventure?"

Before Bai Chen and the others could speak, Genaava moved his metal-cast neck from side to side:

"No.

"You haven't ostracized me. It's purely due to practical limitations that I have to stay outside. Why would I feel lonely?"

Truly, a man of steel... Jiang Baimian quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Regarding the wedding mentioned in Shang Jianyao's words, Long Yuehong was both looking forward to it and feeling a little shy. He cleared his throat and said to Genaava:

"Don't worry, we won't forget your share."

As a native employee of "Pangu Biology," he felt that since they had established a relationship, discussing marriage was a natural progression.

"What is it?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Ordinary people get candy and melon seeds. What's good to give a robot...? A flash of inspiration struck Long Yuehong, and he blurted out:

"A power bank!"

The jeep suddenly fell silent, as if someone had told a joke that wasn't funny.

Clap, clap, clap. Shang Jianyao's applause was only a few seconds late.

The honest Genaava followed up by saying:

"There probably isn't a power bank that's compatible with me. You can consider building a charging device with high-performance batteries."

"No problem!" In order to cover up his embarrassment, Long Yuehong quickly agreed.

At this moment, Bai Chen also said:

"When we return to the surface, we can have another ceremony."

Long Yuehong was first stunned, then his face lit up with joy:

"Yes, yes!"

When we return to the surface... Jiang Baimian forcibly controlled the painful expression on her face.

As they spoke, the jeep followed the original preserved Old World highway to a fault zone.

This place seemed to have been bombed, with many sections of the road collapsed, some even twisted.

And judging from the green weeds growing in this area, the destruction seemed to have occurred many years ago.

"We have to take a detour." Long Yuehong slowly stepped on the brakes, bringing the jeep to a stop in the middle of the road without any suddenness.

In the Old World, this would definitely be a bad driving habit, but on the Icefield today, there might not be a few cars passing by in the morning.

"The detour might take a long time." Bai Chen looked out the window and found that only the left side had a relatively intact road leading to the distance.

The buildings on both sides of it gradually decreased, as if it were heading to other cities, while the area between it and the "Old Task Force's" target direction was a large expanse of hills, forests, swamps, and abandoned farmland with no roads.

Jiang Baimian opened the door and got out of the car, observing the terrain for a while and saying:

"Hey, Little Long, put on the military exoskeleton. Little Bai, help me put mine on."

Bai Chen was a little puzzled, but she still did as she was told.

Before long, the surfaces of Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong's bodies were covered with cold, rigid metal skeletons, and the corresponding operating systems had also been activated.

"Old Ge, come on, let's each take a corner." Jiang Baimian pointed at the jeep.

Long Yuehong suddenly understood:

"Team Leader, do you mean we're going to lift the car over this fault zone?"

"What else?" Jiang Baimian bent over.

With the support of the military exoskeleton, she almost overturned the jeep with her strength alone.

Shang Jianyao, always having a spirit of experimentation with such novel things, chose a position second and also tried to lift the jeep.

Without considering bionic limbs, his strength was about the same as Jiang Baimian's.

After Long Yuehong and Genaava took their respective positions, Shang Jianyao, before Jiang Baimian could, shouted loudly:

"One, two, three, lift!"

The jeep was easily lifted up, with each person carrying a corner.

"From now on, listen to my command." Jiang Baimian took back the power of the team leader.

She was afraid that Shang Jianyao would suddenly have a brain fart during the process.

At that time, although the "Old Task Force" members and the intelligent robot Genaava, wearing military exoskeletons, would most likely be fine, it would be quite troublesome if the vehicle was damaged.

Under Jiang Baimian's unified command, Shang Jianyao and the others sometimes jumped to the left, sometimes leapt high, using the few solid ground spots in the fault zone to successfully lift the jeep to the relatively intact highway behind.

"Is that it?" After putting down the jeep, Shang Jianyao looked like he hadn't had enough.

Long Yuehong, on the other hand, looked back at the fault zone and asked with concern:

"What about Little Bai?"

Jiang Baimian "Aiya" exclaimed:

"I should have let Little Bai sit in the car. Her weight wouldn't have affected anything."

After "regretting," she showed a smile to Long Yuehong:

"Now is the time for you to show your style. Go and bring Little Bai over."

"Uh..." Long Yuehong was taken aback for a moment.

Was there such a good thing?

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao urged him in unison.

Long Yuehong quickly jumped back to the fault zone.

He hesitated for a moment, turned his body, and squatted down, saying:

"I'll carry you on my back."

"Okay." Bai Chen did not refuse.

Jiang Baimian kept smiling, watching the two of them come over.

Shang Jianyao tried to applaud, but was forcibly stopped.

...

After driving for twenty or thirty minutes along a road that wasn't very smooth and had many plants blocking the way, a city appeared before the "Old Task Force's" eyes.

Towering skyscrapers, green plants growing wildly from different places, mottled and faded colors of various kinds, and ubiquitous steel "trash" together formed a ruin scene that Jiang Baimian and the others were both familiar with and unfamiliar with.

Long Yuehong couldn't help but sigh with emotion:

"Every time I enter this kind of city ruin that is still relatively well-preserved, I am shocked by the civilization of the Old World. So many tall buildings, bridges hanging in mid-air, countless vehicles, all kinds of high-tech products, how did they all get destroyed in an instant..."

Jiang Baimian laughed:

"If you really want to say that, the company's underground building is probably even more shocking than any of these city ruins."

Who would have thought that there was a building with more than six hundred floors and more than two thousand meters high underground?

Long Yuehong thought about it carefully and found that it was indeed the case.

However, he was born in "Pangu Biology" and grew up in "Pangu Biology". He had long been accustomed to this miraculous crystallization of civilization and took it for granted.

"Now what we need to confirm is, where exactly is this?" It was Shang Jianyao who brought the topic back on track with a serious expression.

"Yes." After analyzing, Genaava chose to echo this behavior.

Jiang Baimian pointed ahead:

"Go around that pile of abandoned vehicles, and then we'll look for clues along the street that can confirm the city's name."

"Okay." Long Yuehong turned the steering wheel, directing the jeep directly onto the original pedestrian section of the street.

As for the lanes, they had long become disorderly parking lots after the destruction of the Old World, with white bones scattered among them.

After Long Yuehong parked the jeep, the "Old Task Force" split into two teams, one team being Shang Jianyao and Genaava, and the other team being Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Jiang Baimian, with an Awakened in each team.

Then, they took turns guarding the vehicle and searching the houses along the street.

A dozen minutes passed, and Shang Jianyao and Genaava walked back to the jeep.

The former said to Jiang Baimian:

"We saw a promotional billboard over there.

"It says..."

Shang Jianyao suddenly paused.

"What does it say?" Long Yuehong blurted out.

Shang Jianyao smiled:

"It says:

"Let's build a better Taicheng together!"

Jiang Baimian's brow furrowed immediately:

"This is really Taicheng?"

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen also felt a little confused.

Did they arrive at their destination so easily?

"Other clues also indicate that this is indeed Taicheng..." Genaava began to report his findings.

After he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao stroked his chin and said:

"We also found that a lot of supplies have been preserved here, and the gold jewelry on many of the corpses is clearly visible."

His expression gradually became serious:

"Such a city ruin that is relatively easy to find and not circled by the 'Salvation Army', even if it's located in the Icefield, shouldn't be without relic hunters coming here.

"Whether starting from the 'Salvation Army's' Northern Territory or coming from the 'White Knights' territory, it wouldn't take a month to reach here, without having to face the cold of late autumn and midwinter."

PS: Asking for double monthly tickets at the end of the month~