Chapter 70

Upon hearing An Ruxiang's question, Jiang Baimian preemptively prevented it, turning to glare at Shang Jianyao, signaling him not to speak. She then pressed her lips together and said to An Ruxiang:

"When we encountered him, he was sleeping by the roadside.

"We were just about to wake him up when his face suddenly contorted, and his body started to twitch, completely losing all movement.

"He just died like that."

At this point, Jiang Baimian suddenly felt that her description sounded like a fairy tale, and she became somewhat uneasy. She quickly added:

"Do you believe me?

"No, what I mean is, you have to believe us."

To be honest, if she hadn't experienced it herself and seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it either. After all, such bizarre and peculiar mutated monsters were rare in the Ashlands. Jiang Baimian had been transferred to the "Security Department" for less than three years, and while she had been on a fair number of missions, the mutated creatures she had encountered were mostly of the more common types.

An Ruxiang's cold and indifferent face had already changed when Jiang Baimian began her description, and her expression gradually became complex, making it hard to hide.

Although Jiang Baimian couldn't interpret all of An Ruxiang's micro-expressions, she directly felt the intense, deep, and uncontrollable sadness.

She had only met An Ruxiang a few times but had already judged her to be a very reserved person who rarely showed her emotions. Now, for the first time, she saw An Ruxiang's expression lose control.

An Ruxiang took two deep breaths and said:

"I believe you.

"Because after we entered this city's ruins, we encountered something similar.

"If we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, I don't think we could have made up such an experience."

Her voice was low and hoarse, as if she was trying to suppress something.

The man beside her had a look of mixed sadness and fear.

Jiang Baimian responded with a "hmm" but didn't offer words of condolence. Instead, she asked:

"What exactly did you encounter?"

An Ruxiang wiped her eyes and her expression returned to its usual coldness:

"We were driving from a road deep in the Great Swamp into this city's ruins.

"We didn't plan to explore any secrets hidden here; we just wanted to search the edges of the ruins for valuable items to take back.

"Right when we had gathered a pile of supplies, Xiaoguang, one of our teammates, suddenly fell asleep. He was carrying a box of thick clothes and fainted as if he were sleeping.

"We thought he had some sudden illness and didn't immediately wake him up.

"Then, when we confirmed he was just sleeping, his face, which was closed in sleep, suddenly contorted, as if he had encountered something extremely terrifying.

"Then, then, he died."

Jiang Baimian wanted to say, "Forced sleep seems to target only one person at a time," but looking at An Ruxiang's eyes, she suppressed the urge.

An Ruxiang continued:

"After Xiaoguang died, we were terrified.

"We weren't afraid of fighting the 'Heartless' or the monsters directly, but this kind of attack, where we didn't know the cause, how to defend against it, or who would be next, was truly terrifying and overwhelming.

"We decided on the spot to leave the city's ruins, as our harvest was already sufficient.

"Who knew, we were like possessed, strongly believing that something extremely precious and essential was at the corner of the next street.

"We went there and saw a 'Heartless.'

"She was a woman, between 17-25 years old. You know, it's hard to determine the age of 'Heartless' just by appearance.

"She was more neatly dressed than the two 'Heartless' we encountered while searching for items. Her clothes weren't as dirty, and her face was relatively clean, but her eyes were still murky and bloodshot.

"Um, she was wearing a white, shriveled down jacket.

"At that moment, we felt that the extremely precious and essential item was on this 'Heartless,' so we sped up to approach and prepare to shoot.

"Who knew, a large number of 'Heartless' appeared, as if they had been lying in wait nearby.

"It was a trap!"

At this point, both An Ruxiang and the man beside her could not help but show a bit of fear.

"Then what happened?" Jiang Baimian didn't make any judgments or guesses but asked.

An Ruxiang took another deep breath:

"When the 'Heartless' in ambush appeared, our possessed feeling immediately disappeared, and we no longer felt that the special 'Heartless' had anything extremely precious and essential.

"Luckily, not all the 'Heartless' had guns, and among those who did, some were using the guns as clubs, probably because they had no bullets.

"In any case, we managed to dodge the first wave of gunfire and survived. Then, it turned into a fierce battle.

"Originally, we would have died after fighting off multiple 'Heartless,' but fate was on our side. A mechanical monk in a red robe suddenly charged in, attacking all the female 'Heartless' with extreme brutality.

"I could feel that he was full of malice towards me too."

Jiang Baimian finally couldn't hold back and blurted out:

"Jingfa?"

This mechanical monk had repaired himself and joined the excitement of the newly discovered ruins?

"Do you know him?" An Ruxiang asked, surprised.

"We've had dealings." Jiang Baimian answered briefly.

Qiao Chu, who hadn't stopped them from communicating, listened quietly, seemingly also trying to gather useful information.

An Ruxiang didn't ask more and returned to the topic:

"With the mechanical monk's help, we found a chance to escape. Shoushi took the rear, covering our retreat.

"We had a meeting place and time, but, well, he always said he was punctual, but this time he would definitely be late..."

At this moment, Shang Jianyao stepped forward a few steps and said seriously:

"Maybe because he didn't wear a watch."

An Ruxiang was taken aback, then suddenly laughed:

"That's right, his precious watch broke and fell during the ambush."

Laughing, An Ruxiang wiped her eyes.

After a few seconds, her voice became even hoarser:

"At the time, it wasn't dark yet. We found a place to hide for a while, and when everything calmed down, we circled around to head to the meeting point. But before we got there, we met you."

"The gunshots we heard earlier weren't from you?" Jiang Baimian sighed thoughtfully.

She then scolded herself:

"Really, why have I been so inattentive and not thinking clearly these past two days?

"Maybe because Qiao Chu said the real nightmare was created by a Nightmare Horse, so I focused on mutated monsters.

"From An Ruxiang's experience, there might be mutated 'Heartless' in this city's ruins, and they are very special, with bizarre abilities and are rare in the outside world.

"Besides monsters, the ability to force someone to sleep could also come from a mutated 'Heartless.'"

She said this to Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and others, also as a reminder to An Ruxiang to be cautious of similar mutated creatures.

Bai Chen nodded and said:

"In 'First City' and its affiliated forces, such 'Heartless' are called 'High-Grade Heartless.'"

Long Yuehong felt another wave of fear.

After hearing this conversation, An Ruxiang took a deep breath and said:

"I've told you everything I know, and I believe it will be helpful to you.

"Can you tell me where Shoushi is now?"

Jiang Baimian turned and pointed to the street they had come from:

"Go this way, turn right, and the room on the right side of the street with the door closed.

"However, this street is dangerous, with many 'Heartless.' You should take a detour."

"Thank you." An Ruxiang and the man responded simultaneously.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao stepped forward again and took out a neatly folded piece of paper:

"From his body."

"His Hunter's Badge." Jiang Baimian also took out Wu Shoushi's Relic Hunter Badge.

An Ruxiang reached out to take it, instinctively unfolded the paper, and read it under the not-so-faint moonlight:

"Owes Ruxiang a can of beef;

"Owes Ahgang two payments, equivalent to a large bag of compressed cookies;

"Owes Zhang Quezi half a bowl of oil;

"Owes Oulangke a pistol and ten bullets;

"Owes Xiaoguang a meal of meat;

"Owes Ruxiang a flower..."

An Ruxiang's lips pulled back, but her mouth remained tightly closed, not opening.

This made her expression somewhat strange, and her eyes and the area around them seemed to reflect the moonlight.

Jiang Baimian and the others remained silent, waiting for her to recover.

After a while, An Ruxiang exhaled and said:

"Thank you.

"You don't need to give me the remaining items."

She then turned her head and said to the man beside her:

"Ahgang, let's go find Shoushi."

"Okay." The man replied in a deep voice.

An Ruxiang didn't linger or say goodbye, and quickly ran towards the distant street, planning to take a detour to avoid the danger.

"The most important information just now is that forced sleep seems to target only one person at a time." Jiang Baimian收回目光，提醒了组员们一句。

这时，戴着头盔，覆盖黑色金属骨架的乔初突然问道：

“净法是谁？”

“一名机械僧侣，同时也是‘觉醒者’……”江白棉、龙悦红等人争先恐后地将先前获知的净法相关情报告诉了乔初，末了道，“他付出的代价是‘色欲增强’，并因为上传意识，成为了机械生物，失去了满足那方面欲望的能力，心理变得极度扭曲，非常仇视女性。”

“仇视女性……”乔初重复了一遍，不再多问，指了指前方道，“继续，绕过去就是目的地了。”

商见曜等人再次拿起武器，小跑了起来。

……

进入另一条街道的安如香突然放慢了步伐，疑惑地抬手揉了揉太阳穴。

“怎么了？”她身旁的男子颇为奇怪地问道。

安如香表情沉凝地回答道：

“你没觉得有问题吗？刚才，刚才我们竟然没有了警戒之心，甚至想跟随在那个穿外骨骼装置的人旁边。

“那一刻，我都忘记了守石，只想讨好那个人。”

安如香身旁的男子眉头逐渐皱起：

“是啊。

“我，你知道的，我喜欢的是女人，刚才我居然在想，想，如果是他，好像也不错……

“这……也太诡异了吧？”

PS：求推荐票~

（Note: The last part of the translation is a direct continuation from the previous text, maintaining the same context and characters.）

"The most important information just now is that forced sleep seems to target only one person at a time." Jiang Baimian收回目光，提醒了组员们一句。

At this moment, Qiao Chu, wearing a helmet and covered in a black metal frame, suddenly asked:

"Who is Jingfa?"

"A mechanical monk, and also an 'Awakened'... " Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and others eagerly shared the information they had about Jingfa, concluding with, "The price he paid was 'increased libido,' and because he uploaded his consciousness, he became a mechanical being, losing the ability to satisfy that desire, which made his psychology extremely twisted and very hostile towards women."

"Hostile towards women..." Qiao Chu repeated, not asking more, and pointed ahead, "Continue, take a detour, and that will be our destination."

Shang Jianyao and the others picked up their weapons and started running again.

...

As An Ruxiang entered another street, she suddenly slowed down, raising her hand to rub her temples in confusion.

"What's wrong?" the man beside her asked, puzzled.

An Ruxiang, with a solemn expression, replied:

"Didn't you find it strange? Just now, we lost our vigilance and even wanted to follow the person in the exoskeleton suit.

"At that moment, I forgot about Shoushi and just wanted to please that person."

The man beside An Ruxiang furrowed his brow:

"Yes.

"I, you know, I like women, but just now I was thinking, thinking, if it was him, it might not be so bad...

"This... is too bizarre, isn't it?"

PS: Please give me a recommendation!