Chapter 64

"Eight Institute..." Jiang Baimian repeated the name in a low voice.

Clearly, she had never heard of such an organization before.

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

Mystery and strength had always been effective elements that captivated people.

Wearing a helmet, Jiang Baimian's lips moved, as if she was organizing her words, wanting to ask where the Eighth Institute was located, what technology it had inherited, its relationship with the old world, and why it had sent a special agent to this city in ruins deep in the Great Swamp.

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

"Take off the exoskeleton suit to save power."

"Okay." Jiang Baimian agreed immediately.

This was something she wanted to do anyway.

Today, the solar panels had used all their stored power to charge the jeep, and it was already night.

Although they still had a spare high-performance battery, being in such a strange old-world city, they definitely needed to conserve energy as much as possible, just in case.

As Bai Chen helped Jiang Baimian take off the military exoskeleton suit, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong began to examine their surroundings.

The first thing that caught their eyes was a liquid crystal display screen, which was at least twice as large as the one in the "Activity Center" on the 495th floor, hanging on the wall to the right front, very conspicuous.

"This is a good thing..." Long Yuehong sighed, eager to try it out.

If they could bring it back to the company, even if it was broken, it would be worth a lot of contribution points.

Although it was mostly an item that needed to be handed over, the company would still give a certain reward.

Qiao Chu walked to the far-right window, glanced at Long Yuehong, and said:

"Most of the glass windows in the buildings you saw earlier had such a display screen."

Long Yuehong recalled the high-rise buildings he had seen and blurted out:

"So many?"

He then asked Qiao Chu with a hint of confusion:

"Why did you suddenly mention this?"

Shang Jianyao laughed and interjected:

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

"This is a 'rich mine.'" Bai Chen added, using a term commonly used among the wandering survivors.

"Rich mine" meant that the area was rich in various resources, and there would be no shortage of things to scavenge for a certain period.

In such a situation, because the amount of items they could carry each time was limited, they had to be selective to make the most of their exploration.

It was like entering a gold mine; they definitely needed to fill their bags with gold, not ordinary stones.

Long Yuehong thought about it carefully and agreed with Shang Jianyao, continuing to examine the surroundings:

Below the liquid crystal display screen, which had multiple stains, was a long, low wooden cabinet. It looked dusty, barely recognizable as its original milky white color.

On the low wooden cabinet was a green water cup, two palm-sized electronic devices with wires, and a transparent long-necked bottle.

The bottle contained about one-third of dirty water, with some black debris floating on top.

This aligned with Jiang Baimian's earlier judgment:

If this city had not been "maintained" since the destruction of the old world, the water in the bottle should have evaporated completely, given the closed windows and dry conditions, with no sign of rain.

Directly opposite the wall with the hanging liquid crystal display screen was a coffee table of the same style and color as the low wooden cabinet, with some dirty water cups and a pack of dark black tissues on it.

To the left of the coffee table was a trash can full of holes, with a blue translucent plastic bag inside; next to the door, there was a dirty-looking fabric sofa, originally light blue or dark gray; between the coffee table and the low wooden cabinet was a faded folding stool, its surface pink, with a cartoon pig pattern; to the right of the coffee table was a wider area where Qiao Chu stood.

Behind Qiao Chu was a row of dusty wooden railings, with several large glass windows standing on the outer side, serving as walls.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong had not learned what these windows were called in textbooks, but they had heard Qiao Chu call them floor-to-ceiling windows, which they found quite apt.

On either side of the floor-to-ceiling windows, one side was a wash area with a stone platform, and the other side had several brownish-red flower pots.

The soil in the flower pots was yellowish-brown, with some cracks, and the plants inside seemed to have long since withered and disappeared, leaving no trace.

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

To their left was a small round table with a tablecloth embroidered with a few flowers, its original white color now dark gray.

Around the round table were four ordinary armchairs with milky white paint, one of which had a noticeable crack, with the wood inside severely decayed.

Opposite the round table, near the main door, was a semi-open room where Shang Jianyao immediately saw a rice cooker like the one at his home.

It also had a peeling outer coating and many rust spots.

Next to the rice cooker were two metal objects that looked like stoves, with a large and a small pot on them, the large one iron-black, the small one pink on the outside and gray-white on the inside.

In addition, Shang Jianyao saw a faucet, a metal sink, and various cabinets.

Based on his common sense, he concluded that this was a kitchen.

"Luxurious..." Long Yuehong, standing beside him, looked over and sighed.

Shang Jianyao nodded in agreement:

"Indeed, indeed."

In their understanding, rooms with kitchens were only allocated to senior employees, and rooms with such a large kitchen would likely be found in the management residences of the "Living Area."

As they spoke, Shang Jianyao lifted his feet and quietly stepped back.

Qiao Chu's gaze immediately turned to him.

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

"605..." he read the room number.

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

"Each floor has five rooms, each unit has about twenty to thirty floors, and each building has several units..." Shang Jianyao muttered, "There are hundreds of rooms like this."

Qiao Chu clearly didn't understand the focus of Shang Jianyao's thoughts and said calmly:

"Come in, and close the door."

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

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

"Is this the old world?"

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

A musty smell instantly wafted out, and rows of various shoes were quietly arranged inside the cabinet.

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

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

Long Yuehong sighed again:

"Luxurious!"

What kind of family could have so many shoes!

At this moment, the sun had already sunk below the horizon, and the sky was like a gray metal, reflecting some light.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Shang Jianyao and the others saw the city become even darker, and the high-rise buildings seemed like isolated islands, being swallowed by the increasingly dark "tide."

Their hearts seemed to sink with it.

Suddenly, there was some commotion in a nearby street, and a "bang" 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 shot!

Before they could speak, a hoarse roar echoed around the area.

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

"Roar!"

"Growl!"

The noise continued, and all of it was moving toward the area where the gunshot was heard.

The city, which had been completely silent, suddenly became lively.

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

Jiang Baimian, who had already taken off her military exoskeleton suit, frowned and thought for a few seconds:

"Unhearted ones?"

As far as she knew, many city ruins had "Unhearted ones" lingering and wandering, the number depending on the local ecosystem and the amount of remaining resources.

Qiao Chu, still carrying the silver rifle on his back, faced the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the silent city outside and said:

"Yes."

"Did the relic hunters who entered the ruins from other routes encounter an attack by 'Unhearted ones' and fire a shot, causing a chain reaction?" Jiang Baimian tried to reconstruct what had just happened.

This time, Qiao Chu didn't respond, standing quietly, seemingly looking at something.

Shang Jianyao then said:

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

"It's impossible for a sound of this level to travel so far," Jiang Baimian responded thoughtfully, "However, what we heard might have been the roars of the 'Unhearted ones' in the area, responding to the initial and most exaggerated roar. From the direction, that roar that echoed through the wilderness might have come from here..."

"From the power of that roar and its ability to trigger responses from the 'Unhearted ones,' that monster is probably very dangerous, extremely dangerous!" Long Yuehong joined the discussion, becoming increasingly nervous.

Hearing this, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen's expressions suddenly changed, 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 serious, instinctively looking at Qiao Chu.

At this moment, Qiao Chu had turned around and smiled slightly:

"Since we are already here, we can only protect ourselves first.

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

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

Jiang Baimian pressed her lips together, her eyes softening:

"I understand."

Shang Jianyao and the others returned to their previous state.

Qiao Chu withdrew his gaze and looked around:

"Let's have dinner first, then take turns resting, and wait until midnight."

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