Chapter 87

After listening to Shang Jianyao's description, Jiang Baimian nodded but remained silent.

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong suddenly felt a bit heavy, unsure of how to respond.

"Which floor? Those two elevators should be usable." After a few seconds, Jiang Baimian glanced at the blue LCD screen and said.

At this moment, the numbers representing the other two elevators were displayed normally.

"Sixth floor? The room we were in before, we thoroughly searched it, it should be the safest place." Bai Chen offered his opinion.

"Alright." Jiang Baimian nodded lightly and smiled, "Besides, even if Qiao Chu returns, he definitely won't expect us to still be there, it will catch him off guard."

As she spoke, she took a few steps forward and pressed the button with the hand holding the "Ice Moss."

Soon, the silver-black doors of one of the elevators opened, emitting a slightly musty smell.

Jiang Baimian carefully checked and entered first:

"No problem."

After Shang Jianyao and the others entered, the elevator doors slowly closed and ascended smoothly.

When they left, they didn't close the door to Room 605, just left it slightly ajar.

Now, a pale light shone through, making the metal door seam quite bright.

Just as Shang Jianyao was about to pull open the door, Jiang Baimian suddenly extended a hand, blocking him.

"There's someone inside." Jiang Baimian said in a low voice.

"How many?" Shang Jianyao asked as if inquiring about the number of guests.

Long Yuehong raised her gun, ready to shoot.

Jiang Baimian slowly took a breath and glanced at Shang Jianyao:

"One."

"Qiao Chu definitely didn't get here as fast as us... The powerful ones should have rushed to the 'City Smart Network Control Center'... Those without strength wouldn't act alone..." Bai Chen quickly analyzed, "Either it's a relic hunter whose companions all died and is hiding alone, but that would be too coincidental. This city is so vast, with so many buildings, how could they happen to choose the room we were in before? Or it could be the original owner of this house, an 'Unhearted One,' who, following their instincts, returned after the lights came on."

"Yes, my reason tells me the former is almost impossible, but we've encountered so many coincidences on our journey, eventually leading us here. People must never be too confident; it's better to be more cautious." Jiang Baimian wanted to say, "Maybe our luck hasn't been good recently," but she feared it might upset Long Yuehong, so she changed her words.

Just as she was about to give orders to change the hiding room, Shang Jianyao suddenly spoke:

"I want to go in and take a look."

"Hmm..." Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment, "Sure, I'm also curious about what the original owner of this room is like. Be careful."

Shang Jianyao nodded, holding the assault rifle, and carefully entered Room 605.

Compared to when they left, the room had hardly changed, except the white tiles and brown floor reflected the light, giving off a warm, indescribable glow.

After entering a certain range, Shang Jianyao could sense where the person was without Jiang Baimian's reminder.

The person was in a small bedroom at the end of the corridor, on the right side.

Shang Jianyao approached step by step and soon saw the bedroom door was open, with a warm orange light spilling out.

On the narrow bed, covered with a blue sheet dotted with golden stars, a person was leaning back.

She appeared to be a woman, slightly hunched, with a withered, wrinkled face like a dried orange peel, and long, messy white hair.

Seeing this woman, Shang Jianyao instantly understood where the white hair he found on the pillow in this bedroom came from.

At the same time, he recognized her; she was an 'Unhearted One' he had seen during his night watch.

This 'Unhearted One' had pulled up a messy, crumpled blanket that matched the sheet, covering half of her body.

At that moment, she extended her hands, holding something and looking at it intently.

Her sleeves were pink, slightly faded, and seemed to be ill-fitting.

Noticing Shang Jianyao's approach, the 'Unhearted One' looked up at him, then lowered her head and continued looking at the item in her hands.

Shang Jianyao gazed for a while, holding the assault rifle, and walked softly toward her.

Jiang Baimian, who was behind him, wanted to remind him but saw Shang Jianyao squat down by the bed, looking at the item in the 'Unhearted One's' hands.

After a second, Jiang Baimian followed, leaning over Shang Jianyao's head to look at the item.

With her experience and knowledge, she immediately recognized it as a photo album.

Each page of the photo album was made of transparent plastic, containing many colorful photos.

The first photo Jiang Baimian saw was of a little girl.

She was wearing a fluffy, adorable outfit, being held by a young woman with a dignified and smiling face, crying very sadly.

At this moment, the 'Unhearted One' flipped the photo album to the next page.

This also allowed Jiang Baimian to see the back of the previous photo.

The white part was slightly yellowed, with a sentence written in black ink:

"Nuan Nuan at one year old."

Jiang Baimian seemed to understand something, following the 'Unhearted One's' flipping, looking at other photos.

In those photos, the little girl gradually grew up, either riding on a man's shoulders, or being held by the man and woman who repeatedly appeared in the photos, or wearing a green monster costume with a tail, or dressed in pink, making her skin look very fair.

On the back of these photos, there were the same black ink writings.

They read:

"Nuan Nuan at two years old."

"Nuan Nuan at three years old."

"Nuan Nuan at four years old."

When the photo album was flipped, the writing stopped at "Nuan Nuan at seven years old."

Jiang Baimian silently finished looking at the photos, raised her head, and looked at the 'Unhearted One' on the bed again.

She was slightly hunched, with a withered, wrinkled face like a dried orange peel, and long, messy white hair.

Jiang Baimian closed her eyes, leaned close to Shang Jianyao's ear, and said:

"Let's not disturb her."

Shang Jianyao nodded, slowly stood up, and retreated to the living area.

Jiang Baimian wiped her eyes, pointed outside, and said:

"Let's find another place."

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong had no objections.

Not long after, they found a temporary hiding spot on the eighth floor.

The layout was exactly the same as Room 605.

"The dining room window can see the jeep and the armored car, Bai Chen, you monitor from there." After checking Room 805, Jiang Baimian looked around and began assigning tasks, "Long Yuehong, you observe the street from the floor-to-ceiling window. Shang Jianyao and I will rest for a while, and we'll switch with you in an hour."

"Yes, Team Leader!" Bai Chen and Long Yuehong each took their weapons and went to the best vantage points.

Shang Jianyao, however, did not rest. He found a socket, sat down, and took out the palm-sized speaker and various small instruments, tools, components, and wires from his tactical backpack.

"Do you have to fix it so urgently?" Jiang Baimian noticed his intention.

Shang Jianyao, while testing the tools under the fluorescent light, replied:

"This is important."

"Why?" Jiang Baimian was slightly surprised.

"Don't you think that having music in critical moments can help you perform better?" Shang Jianyao said without looking up, "This speaker seems to have its own storage chip, and it must have music from the old world."

"…I don't think so." Jiang Baimian gave up on persuading him.

Anyway, she didn't think they could truly rest here, as the existence of 'Advanced Unhearted Ones' and mutated creatures made her uneasy about the new recruit, Long Yuehong.

She said she was resting, but she was actually closing her eyes to conserve energy, still sensing the surroundings.

Since that was the case, let Shang Jianyao do what he wanted.

With the physique of a genetically enhanced person, he could stay awake for one or two nights and still be energetic.

While Shang Jianyao was focused on repairing the speaker, Long Yuehong, while keeping watch, gazed into the distance.

Although they were only on the eighth floor, he could still see the city's lights like stars, spreading out in patches.

Although he hadn't seen a starry night, he had seen photos and could make the connection.

After looking for a long time, he finally sighed:

"Truly beautiful..."

Besides beauty, he felt this scene had a unique flavor, but he couldn't describe it.

After a while, Long Yuehong said sincerely:

"Too bad this place is too low. If we could go to a very high place, it would definitely be even more beautiful."

Hearing this, Jiang Baimian stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

She gazed for a long time and smiled:

"Want to try the rooftop?"

"While it's still quiet, and 'everyone' is being polite."

"Sure." Long Yuehong responded immediately.

"Do you want to go?" Jiang Baimian turned and asked Shang Jianyao and Bai Chen.

"Sure." Bai Chen knew this was a time to relax a bit.

"I'm almost done." Shang Jianyao stood up, put the messy items back into his tactical backpack, and held only the small blue and black speaker, "I wonder if the long-lasting battery still works."

"Let's go, we'll test it when we get back." Jiang Baimian urged.

They quickly took the elevator to the top floor, climbed the stairs, opened the door, and entered the rooftop.

Before they even reached the edge of the chest-high wall, they saw the scene around the building:

Lamps were densely scattered in all directions, emitting either yellow or white light.

Some were on the roadside, some came from inside different buildings, and some stood tall, like lighthouses illuminating their own areas in the vast sea, or like slowly flowing, brilliant stars in the night sky.

Near these lights, there were either moving figures or passing vehicles, making them even more vivid.

"Truly spectacular..." Long Yuehong sighed sincerely again.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others didn't speak, standing at the edge of the rooftop, lost in the scene.

They exhausted their knowledge but couldn't find the right words to describe it.

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Jianyao suddenly took two steps back and squatted down.

"At a time like this, a song is needed..." He placed the speaker down and continued tinkering, adjusting it.

At that moment, a mournful roar that shook the sky echoed from the direction of the 'City Smart Network Control Center.'

The roar was still reverberating when Jiang Baimian saw a bright fireball explode at the corresponding location.

"Boom!"

The deafening explosion drowned out all other sounds.

A grayish-white cloud quickly gathered and rose, forming a giant mushroom cloud.

This made the building they were on tremble.

Shang Jianyao subconsciously stood up, walked to his companions, and looked at the place.

As the rolling fire and expanding cloud spread, the lights in that area flickered and then went out one by one.

This included the building where the 'City Smart Network Control Center' was located.

Immediately, the entire city, whether the streetlights or the lit windows of buildings, went out in patches.

In just a few seconds, the city became abnormally dark, with only the faint moonlight and starlight making the buildings barely visible, like monsters lurking in the depths of a nightmare.

The figures moving behind the windows, the 'Unhearted Ones' busy outside, and the vehicles on the roads were all swallowed by the dense night, no longer visible.

The city ruins once again fell into silence.

Shang Jianyao and the others stared blankly for several seconds, their moods inexplicably heavy.

They didn't know how to express such emotions, only continuing to gaze.

After a while, they instinctively looked down at the bottom of the building.

In the faint light, an 'Unhearted One' climbed out of a window.

Her hair was all white, messy and disheveled.

She climbed and jumped down with difficulty, quickly disappearing into the shadows of the building, like an old, feeble ape.

Long Yuehong seemed to be shocked, stepping back as if he couldn't bear to look.

He kicked the speaker Shang Jianyao had placed on the ground.

The speaker immediately emitted a buzzing sound.

The four members of the 'Old Tune Team' instinctively turned to look.

Almost simultaneously, a mournful and melodious female voice came from the speaker:

"Recalling the past...

"The painful longing never fades..."

In the vast, dark rooftop, the silent city, this song echoed mournfully, rising and reverberating among Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen, as if lamenting and rising.

Note 1: Quoted from Wan Fang, "New Unforgettable Love"

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