Chapter 77

Ending the call, Jiang Baimian put away the walkie-talkie and nodded to Shang Jianyao and the others.

She didn’t say anything more, leading the way out of the room and back into the corridor.

Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong followed in single file, resuming their previous tactical formation.

Without additional instructions from Jiang Baimian, they all knew which direction to shoot next—this was one of the key points of their training, and they had already mastered it. In other words, under such a tactical formation, how to form a crossfire network was a well-established practice, and they didn’t need to discuss who would shoot where. Each position had its corresponding responsibility area.

Under the yellowish light of the flashlights, Qiao Chu walked into the corridor entrance, wearing a military exoskeleton.

Long Yuehong couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous, his body trembling slightly.

This... Qiao Chu, using the "Comprehensive Early Warning System,"敏锐地发现了这一点。

He frowned slightly and slowed his steps.

Seeing this, Jiang Baimian didn’t wait for him to enter the predetermined shooting range. She decisively raised her right hand and shouted in a deep voice:

"Fire!"

At the same time, she aimed at Qiao Chu’s head, which was covered by a metal helmet.

If he jumped up to avoid the shots, the bullet from the "Ice Moss" pistol would steadily penetrate his neck, which lacked sufficient protection.

That was the weak point and the vital area of the exoskeleton.

With a bang, Jiang Baimian fired first.

Bai Chen and Shang Jianyao, who had been waiting for the order, each raised their weapons and fired at Qiao Chu’s left arm and crotch, respectively.

They had also reserved space for the target to dodge towards their direction. If Qiao Chu dodged to the right side of the "Old Adjustment Team," which was their left side, Bai Chen’s rifle bullet would likely hit the unarmored area where his arm and shoulder met, possibly even grazing his neck. If Qiao Chu chose to roll, Shang Jianyao’s "Assault Rifle" short burst would destroy his soft abdomen.

Despite his nervousness, Long Yuehong, who had experienced many things, had a conditioned reflex to the team leader’s order and completed his task without delay.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! He fired a long burst at Qiao Chu’s right arm.

When Jiang Baimian raised her right hand, Qiao Chu reacted immediately.

He raised his right arm, holding the silver rifle, and positioned the metal-covered side outward to shield his neck. At the same time, he placed his left arm across his lower abdomen, also facing the black metal skeleton towards Shang Jianyao and the others.

During this process, he used his legs to push the auxiliary joints, jumping to the right corridor.

Then, the sound of clanging echoed with sparks flying, reverberating in the extremely quiet underground floor.

Jiang Baimian’s wrist moved slightly, as if she had anticipated Qiao Chu’s evasion, and she drew a line of fire.

At this moment, several holes in the energy pack of the military exoskeleton spewed out white gas.

They pushed Qiao Chu diagonally upward, significantly increasing his speed and allowing him to avoid Jiang Baimian’s bullets.

With a bang, Qiao Chu supported himself on the ceiling with one hand and bounced into the right corridor, disappearing from Shang Jianyao and the others’ sight.

Bang!

The ceiling panel he hit fell and shattered into hundreds of pieces on the ground.

"Such a pity..." Jiang Baimian couldn’t help but sigh.

Without the military exoskeleton, they could have seriously injured Qiao Chu just now and done whatever they wanted.

...

In the right corridor, Qiao Chu rolled twice, stopped with his back against the wall.

He monitored the surroundings using the "Comprehensive Early Warning System" while raising his left hand to wipe his chin.

His hand quickly turned red with a bloodstain.

"How could this be..." Qiao Chu, using the exoskeleton’s built-in flashlight, looked down.

His tone was filled with obvious confusion and doubt.

Based on his experience, the affection caused by his charm should take at least a day to transform into a twisted possessiveness and aggressive "adoration." He didn’t expect the four people to change so quickly.

This wasn’t like wild animals or "Heartless" beings driven solely by instinct, who would go mad after a short time, thinking only of mating and possession.

Muttering to himself, Qiao Chu reached for the sky-blue mirror box and snapped it open.

He looked into the mirror and saw a bloody wound on his chin.

This was the mark of a ricochet.

"How dare they..." Qiao Chu’s pupils dilated, his voice filled with unmasked anger.

He took a deep breath, glanced at his reflection with pity, and put the sky-blue box away.

After bandaging the wound, Qiao Chu looked coldly at the corridor where Jiang Baimian and the others were.

He thought for two seconds, decided not to seek revenge immediately, and turned to walk towards the end of the current corridor.

He hadn’t forgotten that his goal was the underground machine room.

Moreover, he had initially achieved his purpose of using Shang Jianyao and the others to probe the presence of a "High-Level Heartless" or a mutant that could make his charm ineffective.

He had always known that this building contained many dangerous creatures, and he had encountered the Nightmare Horse here before.

...

"The military exoskeleton is really hard to deal with..." Long Yuehong was quite disappointed that they couldn’t kill Qiao Chu and prevent others from getting him.

This was his countless time lamenting the power of the military exoskeleton.

Bai Chen also sighed lightly, seemingly very regretful.

Jiang Baimian nodded and looked at the current corner:

"We’ll go that way."

This was the diagonal opposite of Qiao Chu’s position.

"Are we not going to chase him?" Long Yuehong asked in surprise.

Shang Jianyao smiled and looked at him:

"Do you want to test how bizarre his Awakened ability is?"

Chasing him in a building with many walls would make it difficult to maintain a safe distance and avoid entering the range of his Awakened ability.

Even Jiang Baimian’s ability to sense electrical signals would be significantly reduced in such an environment.

"True." Long Yuehong, thinking of Shang Jianyao’s "Reasoning Clown," immediately abandoned the idea of chasing Qiao Chu.

Jiang Baimian nodded:

"Our goal is to quickly circle around to the stairwell and return to the first floor."

She explained quickly:

"Qiao Chu’s goal is to find the underground machine room, restore power to this building, and then go to the power grid center to electrify the entire city ruins.

"This means he will leave the underground floor in a short time and then leave this building to go to the laboratory.

"Since we understand this, we should realize that we can effectively snipe Qiao Chu at the first-floor elevator lobby, the stairwell, or a high point that can monitor the surrounding area.

"We don’t need to stay in this complex terrain with many obstacles and bizarre 'Heartless.'"

Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong had no objections and immediately took their weapons and turned into the right corridor.

"Team Leader, what do you think Qiao Chu’s Awakened ability is?" In the dark environment with only the flashlight’s light flickering, Long Yuehong, while alerting the surroundings and cautiously moving forward, asked.

"I was just about to talk about that." Jiang Baimian nodded lightly.

Figuring out this issue as soon as possible could effectively avoid half the danger when encountering Qiao Chu again.

"Charm?" Bai Chen suggested the most obvious possibility.

Shang Jianyao added:

"Making people crazily like painting?"

He remembered that on the jeep, just as he was about to deal with Qiao Chu, he was dismissed with a piece of paper, a pen, and a counter-question.

"No." Shang Jianyao immediately negated his own suggestion, "It should be, creating enthusiasm or igniting passion..."

"You have experience in this, so you decide." Jiang Baimian didn’t argue and continued, "When he wanted to kill Long Yuehong, we all seemed to become abnormally depressed, not wanting to do anything."

"Making people depressed? This is the third Awakened ability... What is the cost he pays? That charm is incredibly powerful." Long Yuehong, after saying this, suddenly realized, "Why can we discuss Qiao Chu’s charm so naturally? Wait, why did I want to kill him and make him a specimen to keep?"

"You’re so perverted." Shang Jianyao glanced at Long Yuehong.

"It’s all because of you..." Long Yuehong suddenly paused, "Is your 'Reasoning Clown' ability ineffective?"

Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully:

"It seems we have already left Qiao Chu’s charm range and are no longer influenced by him.

"The premise of the 'Reasoning' was that we liked Qiao Chu. Once that condition is gone, the conclusion naturally becomes invalid."

Bai Chen thought for a moment and said:

"Should we still ambush Qiao Chu?"

"Of course!" Jiang Baimian answered firmly, "I’m a very petty person. He put us in such a dangerous situation, ate our energy bars, our compressed biscuits, and our military cans. I definitely need to get revenge!"

This sounds so familiar... Long Yuehong subconsciously responded:

"But..."

Although he also hated Qiao Chu, he felt it wasn’t necessary to take the risk and stay here. It was better to leave as soon as possible.

Jiang Baimian looked at him and Shang Jianyao and nodded:

"Mainly, we need to stay here to observe what changes will occur in the city ruins after the power is restored, or to prevent the power from being restored.

"We can’t rashly return along the original route.

"Since that’s the case, we might as well guard Qiao Chu as well, not wasting time."

After saying this, she suddenly asked:

"Have you ever seen writhing flesh, an extremely terrifying aura, an old woman wearing a thread cap, or an infant’s skeleton wrapped in swaddling clothes?"

"No." Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Shang Jianyao shook their heads simultaneously.

"Neither have I." Jiang Baimian nodded, "So, where did the hallucinations created by that 'High-Level Heartless' come from? There must be a source, given their low-level intelligence."

Shang Jianyao immediately answered:

"Perhaps that 'High-Level Heartless' has seen writhing flesh, an old woman wearing a thread cap, and an infant’s skeleton wrapped in swaddling clothes, and has sensed an extremely terrifying aura."

At this point, he paused, and his voice suddenly became quite sinister:

"She might have even heard that old woman say:

'You... are disturbing... Xiao Chong...'

In the flashlight’s light, Shang Jianyao’s face was in alternating light and shadow.

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