Chapter 71

The man wearing a worn-out furry hat, as he spoke, suddenly found it hard to control his voice:

"Could he be a mutant?"

He still vividly remembered the previous encounter, filled with fear, and once he noticed any signs, he couldn't help but think along similar lines.

"He clearly has enough intelligence, so he definitely isn't a 'Heartless One,' and he also has a human appearance." An Ruxiang firmly denied her companion's speculation.

"But what if he's a monster that just makes us 'feel' like he's human? Think about it, that 'Advanced Heartless One' we encountered earlier didn't take anything out, yet made us believe she had something abnormally precious and necessary to obtain." The man wearing the worn-out furry hat rebutted, speaking a bit faster.

An Ruxiang had no way to explain and thought seriously for a moment:

"Indeed, that's a possibility. However, there's another possibility:

"He is an Awakened, and one of his abilities is to charm."

The man wearing the worn-out furry hat thought carefully:

"Your point makes me think it's really possible, hehe. Awakened beings are almost the same as mutants in my mind, no, they are even more terrifying and bizarre, I would say, similar to what we encountered this time."

Most mutants are closer to the Black Swamp Iron Snakes and the residents of Black Rat Town, with certain parts of their bodies changing, bringing about understandable enhancements.

Hearing her companion's words, An Ruxiang couldn't help but recall this encounter.

Even hours after the incident, with her experience and willpower, she still couldn't fully recover.

It was like a real nightmare from which she couldn't wake up.

An Ruxiang took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, looking back at the street they had come from:

"Could they have been charmed too?

"I remember the first time we met them in the wilderness, there were only four of them, and that man suspected to be an Awakened wasn't there.

"Should we warn them?"

The man wearing the worn-out furry hat immediately shook his head:

"That's too dangerous!"

An Ruxiang pondered for a few seconds:

"They told us about the situation with Shoushi, returned our most important items, and placed Shoushi's body in a closed room to prevent the 'Heartless Ones' from quickly discovering and eating him...

"This is a heavy favor to me, something of great value."

"You also shared information with them, didn't you?" The man wearing the worn-out furry hat tried to stop her, "Don't you think, that person is wearing military exoskeleton equipment, even if he's not an Awakened, he could easily deal with us!"

An Ruxiang nodded:

"Don't worry, I won't take risks. I still need to take Shoushi's body back.

"It hasn't been long, and they aren't too far from us. I plan to shout a few times from here. Whether they can hear it and understand their situation is beyond my control."

"Shout from here?" The man wearing the worn-out furry hat looked around, "Okay, I'll help you shout, and we'll leave immediately after."

An Ruxiang turned her body, holstered her black pistol, cupped her hands to her mouth, and formed a megaphone.

The next second, her sharp, high-pitched voice rang out:

"He has the ability to charm!

"Be careful not to be controlled by him!"

...

Long Yuehong, holding the "Berserker" assault rifle, jogged on the left side of the team while maintaining vigilance over the corresponding area.

After listening to An Ruxiang's account and the discussion with the team leader Bai Chen, he became even more afraid of this exploration. Whether it was the forced sleep, the real nightmare, or the irresistible trap, it all exceeded his capacity to handle, making him instinctively feel that this was not something he could deal with.

If he hadn't seen Shang Jianyao's "Reasoning Clown" and the mechanical monk Jingfa's "Hungry Ghost Realm," Long Yuehong felt he might have already collapsed.

Uncontrollable fear continued to grow in Long Yuehong's heart, making him involuntarily scrutinize this mission.

Why take such a big risk... The team leader said that before we truly adapt to life in the Ashlands and accumulate enough experience, he wouldn't take us to overly dangerous places... Helping Qiao Chu is indeed necessary, as long as he can improve his impression of me... But, is it really worth it? I'm not even married yet...

As he jogged, Long Yuehong looked at the figure in the exoskeleton equipment at the front, his heart filled with intense struggle.

The more he looked, the more he felt a sudden sadness:

I did genetic modification to be only 1.75 meters tall, my appearance is average, my grades are just mediocre, and I was assigned to the most dangerous team in the security department, truly a man of bad luck. How could Qiao Chu possibly like me? Forget it, it's better to give up...

Give up...

Long Yuehong's eyes gradually became lost, as if he had grasped something wrong but couldn't articulate it.

At this moment, intermittent voices came through the wind:

"Charm... Be careful... Control..."

The voice was very sharp, but due to the distance, it was very unclear.

Jiang Baimian immediately slowed her pace, tilting her head slightly:

"What is it shouting?"

"I only heard 'be careful.'" Shang Jianyao answered seriously, "It seems someone is offering us a beautiful blessing."

The next second, another voice came through the wind:

"Charm... Be careful... Control..."

This time, it was a high-pitched male voice.

"Control..." Bai Chen tried to distinguish.

The team leader Qiao Chu's face changed slightly, and he said in a low voice:

"We can't delay any longer, let's go."

"Okay." Jiang Baimian couldn't refuse.

The five of them started jogging again.

Long Yuehong was on the left side of the team, with the voice he had just heard still echoing in his mind:

"Be careful... Control...

"Be careful control?

"Be careful control..."

He was startled, vaguely sensing that something was wrong with the current situation.

He instinctively turned his head and looked at Shang Jianyao, his best friend in the team.

As he jogged, he saw Shang Jianyao's mouth open, giving him a bright smile.

What does he mean... Long Yuehong tried to understand Shang Jianyao's thoughts but failed.

He then recalled the details of their journey, trying to find any clues related to the problem.

After two or three minutes, they rounded a building and saw their destination, "sunk" in darkness.

It was a building over a hundred meters tall, with a large courtyard, which was extremely quiet.

Since they were still two to three hundred meters away, Shang Jianyao and the others couldn't clearly see what was written on the sign lying on the ground at the courtyard gate.

At this moment, Qiao Chu, who was at the front, suddenly stopped.

Then, his body leaned back, and with a metallic clank, he fell to the ground.

Jiang Baimian and the others were stunned by this scene, instinctively moving closer to check the situation.

Almost simultaneously, the exoskeleton suit emitted a beeping sound, and all the auxiliary joints began to move.

Qiao Chu's body then showed signs of movement, slowly getting up.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian seemed to sense something, holding the grenade launcher and firing at a tree on the side of the road.

Boom!

A ball of fire rapidly expanded, illuminating the burning tree canopy and a figure leaping into a building on the street.

It was a cat-like creature, about a meter long, with no fur or skin on its body, exposing blood-red "muscles."

Its tail resembled a scorpion's, covered in brown hard shells with spines; on its shoulders, clusters of white bone spines were like decorations; on its head, it seemed to have four ears.

No matter how you looked at it, it was not a normal creature.

The monster leaped into a room on the second floor, narrowly avoiding the grenade's explosion, then quickly ran away, escaping Jiang Baimian's sensory range, disappearing into the depths of the building.

At this moment, Qiao Chu had returned to normal and stood up again.

He glanced at the direction the monster had disappeared and said in a low voice:

"I just fell asleep.

"Fortunately, the exoskeleton suit's wake-up function is quite good."

"Is that a monster that forces people to sleep?" Bai Chen immediately understood.

"It seems to be a mutant." Jiang Baimian made the judgment.

Qiao Chu didn't try to chase the cat-like monster, pointing to the destination:

"Let's go."

Shang Jianyao was the first to speak, running towards the tall building with the courtyard.

Jiang Baimian and the others quickly followed.

"Should we give it a name?" Shang Jianyao suddenly asked as he ran.

"Who?" Jiang Baimian was a bit confused.

"The monster we just saw." Shang Jianyao said seriously, "How about calling it a Ghost Cat?"

"That's so ugly." Jiang Baimian instinctively rejected, "How about calling it a Sleep Cat!"

As they spoke, they arrived at their destination, standing in front of the courtyard gate.

With the help of the faint starlight and moonlight, they clearly saw the black sign lying on the ground.

The sign was made of stone, not too dirty, as if it was often washed by rain or maintained by someone.

The golden characters on its surface were all in Ashland script, forming a term Long Yuehong had never heard before:

"City Smart Grid Control Center"

"What is this place?" Long Yuehong asked out of curiosity.

Jiang Baimian briefly explained:

"In some cities, water pipes, gas pipes, electrical wires, and optical fibers are all integrated into a large smart grid.

"The center that controls this grid is the City Smart Grid Control Center."

"Then... why are we here?" Long Yuehong was even more puzzled.

At this moment, Qiao Chu, wearing the exoskeleton suit, said indifferently:

"There is a power station around this city's ruins that is still operating and being 'maintained.' Many of the lines within the city's ruins are also being 'maintained' and are in good condition.

"What we need to do is enter the control center and restore power."

"Why restore power?" Jiang Baimian asked instinctively.

Qiao Chu was silent for two seconds and said:

"To open all the doors of a laboratory."

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