Chapter 57

Shang Jianyao and others met the captain of the 23rd Battalion outside Black Rat Town. He was in his thirties, wearing gray-black clothing, and had a badge with two additional stars.

"Wang Beicheng," he extended his right hand to Jiang Baimian.

Jiang Baimian also extended her hand, lightly shaking it:

"Jiang Baimian."

"Long heard of your name," Wang Beicheng smiled and withdrew his hand.

He was about the same height as Shang Jianyao, with a handsome face, but his skin was very dark, giving him a dusty appearance.

"I hope it's a good reputation," Jiang Baimian said modestly, then introduced Shang Jianyao and the others, "These are members of our 'Old Adjustment Team.'"

Wang Beicheng was not arrogant at all, greeting Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong one by one.

Then, he turned his gaze back to Jiang Baimian:

"To be honest, when we heard that you applied to form a new 'Old Adjustment Team,' we were all very surprised. This is one of the most dangerous missions, and you don't need to do it."

Upon hearing "one of the most dangerous missions," Long Yuehong's face turned slightly pale.

Jiang Baimian smiled and said:

"This is my personal pursuit. There are still some idealists in the Ashen Earth."

"Sometimes, your purity is simply enviable," Wang Beicheng said with a half-smile, half-sigh, "Unfortunately, people like us have wives and children and can no longer act on a whim."

Their small talk ended there, and Jiang Baimian began to recount her experiences, hoping that her colleague would gain useful information from her story.

She first mentioned the first night camping outdoors and hearing the roar, suspecting that something abnormal had occurred north of Yuelu Station. Then she skipped over the battle with the wilderness bandits wearing exoskeletons and even omitted the experience in Shuwei Town, only briefly mentioning that they encountered a black swamp iron snake and successfully killed it—the iron snake's skin was on the roof of the jeep, clearly visible.

After recounting the "prelude," Jiang Baimian directly talked about the trip to the steel factory ruins, repeating the information provided by the bald relic hunter Harris Brown word for word—except for the wording, the content was not altered in any way.

Wang Beicheng listened intently, and the polite smile on his face gradually disappeared.

Next, Jiang Baimian shifted the topic to the mechanical monk Jingfa.

At the beginning, she truthfully recounted the conversation between Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Jingfa, emphasizing the "telepathy" ability, which seemed to be an Awakened power.

However, when she talked about Jingfa catching up and using the "Pretaloka" ability to control the four of them, Jiang Baimian subtly concealed Shang Jianyao's performance. She only said that she judged that Jingfa's hatred of women was not due to a flaw in the "Immortal" technology but because his lustful nature and physical condition were mismatched, leading to psychological distortion. Then, she deliberately provoked him, causing him to lose control and start attacking. She seized this opportunity, inserting her left index finger into a certain interface on Jingfa's neck, using the high-voltage current stored in the electric eel-type prosthetic to damage his main control system and mechanical structure.

Here, Jiang Baimian deliberately altered the facts, not mentioning that at the time, she was worried about Jingfa's emergency backup system and redundant mechanical structure, so she only intended to use the "golden finger" to infiltrate the mechanical monk's internal information network and directly control him.

Then, she skipped the middle part and grafted the subsequent outcome here—because Jingfa had an emergency backup system and redundant mechanical structure, he managed to escape from the jeep after being severely damaged and was not destroyed on the spot.

"If I were in your position, even leading a combat team, I might not have done as well as you," Wang Beicheng couldn't help but exclaim after hearing about the mechanical monk, "A combat robot with genuine human intelligence and Awakened powers is simply a powerful weapon."

"This is also a result of pressure. Otherwise, we would have been violated and brutalized to death by a mechanical monk, and where would we go to seek justice?" Jiang Baimian said with a self-deprecating smile. "After escaping from Jingfa, we decided to come to Black Rat Town to use the radio transmitter here to relay the information we obtained back to the company. On the way, we camped outdoors and encountered two strange people, one named Du Heng, who claimed to be an antiquities scholar and historian, and another from the First City, named Galaran, who claimed to be a Taoist..."

Her focus was not on how strange these two people were but on the Awakened information they obtained.

After that, the "Old Adjustment Team" arrived in Black Rat Town and discovered that it had been completely massacred. They then searched the scene and launched an emergency signal flare.

Jiang Baimian did not hide the results of her investigation, pointing out the suspicion of the "Hyena" bandits.

Near the end, she talked about the real nightmare but did not mention that Shang Jianyao had relied on his Awakened power to break free. She only said that they were lucky to encounter the night shift change, and Long Yuehong and Bai Chen noticed something was wrong and promptly woke her and Shang Jianyao.

Finally, she linked the real nightmare to the abnormality north of Yuelu Station and shared her speculations.

"This does indeed resemble a certain Awakened power..." Wang Beicheng, who was nearly a decade older than Shang Jianyao and the others, recalled his experiences and hesitated, "When I was young, I participated in a major transaction between powerful factions with the action group. I accidentally met a sect called 'Dawn Morning Star,' which both feared and utilized dreams. The Awakened member I spoke with, who called himself a 'Dream Guardian,' believed he was fighting to protect people from being consumed by nightmares. He described a type of nightmare that is somewhat similar to what you described."

Jiang Baimian and the others exchanged glances and then asked Wang Beicheng:

"Did he not demonstrate his power to you?"

"No," Wang Beicheng shook his head, "This might be related to my caution."

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and asked:

"Which Age Keeper do they worship?"

Wang Beicheng knew that Shang Jianyao and the others had obtained information about the Age Keepers from the mechanical monk Jingfa, so he did not hide it and answered frankly:

"It's 'Dawn.'

'The deity of February.

'They call this Age Keeper the light that shines into dreams.'"

At this point, Wang Beicheng glanced at the already dim sky:

"Is there any other information?"

"No," Jiang Baimian smiled, "I'm talking so much that my mouth is dry."

Wang Beicheng laughed:

"Let's skip the formalities. It's getting dark. Find a place to set up camp and rest. As for me, I need to quickly arrange for a few reconnaissance teams to go out and gather information based on what you provided. We can't waste any time.

"By the way, it's best to sleep under the watchful eyes of your night shift companions. This way, if anything unusual happens, you can be promptly awakened."

He didn't mention whether this would make them uncomfortable. In the Ashen Earth, such things were not an issue; every experienced person knew that life was more important than shame or awkwardness.

"Rest assured, we have experience," Jiang Baimian waved her hand, leading Shang Jianyao and the others to bid farewell to Wang Beicheng and return to where the jeep was parked.

After finding a suitable place and setting up the tent, Long Yuehong finally couldn't hold back her curiosity and asked:

"Leader, why did you hide the exoskeleton device?"

Omitting Shang Jianyao's secret was a consensus among them, so it didn't need to be explained.

"This would require too much explanation, and it's not necessary. It might even lead to mentioning the Shuwei Town incident," Jiang Baimian answered nonchalantly.

"We already discussed reporting the Shuwei Town incident, but not the specific location, only mentioning that we encountered their hunting team in the wild," Bai Chen, who had less emotional fluctuation, asked with some concern.

Jiang Baimian laughed:

"No need to rush. We'll wait until we return to the company and report it through the proper channels.

"What's the point of telling Wang Beicheng and his team? It would only increase the risk of the information leaking."

"But what if it leaks? It wouldn't matter much, right?" Bai Chen didn't quite understand.

Jiang Baimian sighed slightly and smiled, pointing at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong with her chin:

"Tell her about the internal employees' attitude towards the wilderness wanderers."

Shang Jianyao, who was responsible for vigilance, did not hide his thoughts:

"There's some resistance and fear that absorbing too many wilderness wanderers will reduce various allocations."

"Yes, although we are short of manpower, everyone feels that we can still get by, and the number of newborns will increase in the future, so there's no need to absorb a large number of wilderness wanderers," Long Yuehong glanced at Bai Chen and said in a slightly lower voice.

Jiang Baimian then spread her right hand to Bai Chen:

"Did you hear that?

"If we only absorb a few outstanding wilderness wanderers to utilize their experience, knowledge, and abilities, the internal employees don't oppose it and even understand it. But if we absorb an entire settlement of wilderness wanderers, it's not so easily accepted.

"The security combat teams and action battalions, although they operate outside for long periods and know the situation of various settlements, may have sympathy, but they are also human. They have parents, spouses, and children living inside the company, and they are influenced by various opinions.

"If they leak the news about Shuwei Town to their relatives and friends before the board makes a decision, it could easily lead to negative public opinion."

Bai Chen still didn't quite understand:

"Can ordinary employees influence the board's decisions?"

In her view, the upper management would not be influenced by the opinions of the lower ranks.

Jiang Baimian smiled:

"You're still more accustomed to the ways of the wilderness wanderers and not quite adapted to the internal dynamics of the company.

'Pangu Bio' is not a small company, but it's not huge either. Which board member doesn't have ordinary employees as relatives and friends? Moreover, internal stability is very important, as it directly affects the state and stance of the combat teams and action battalions.

"If there are various negative opinions, even if the board insists on absorbing the entire Shuwei Town, the details of the plan will definitely be different:

'Will they be given full employee benefits, or treated as an external subordinate force? Will there be a certain level of division, with direct management, or will it be like Black Rat Town, which is a significant difference.'"

Bai Chen fell silent, slightly lowering her head, and carefully considered Jiang Baimian's words.

In her experience as a wilderness wanderer, the upper management and powerful factions had absolute authority.

At this moment, Long Yuehong muttered:

"But I still think this is just one reason."

Because he was already used to it, his self-talk was not low.

"Maybe the leader is afraid that Wang Beicheng will requisition our exoskeleton devices," Shang Jianyao deliberately glanced at Jiang Baimian and said with a smile.

Jiang Baimian raised an eyebrow:

"Am I afraid of him?"

PS: Requesting recommendations!