Embers Ad Infinitum

It wasn't until Jiang Baimian and others were completely out of his sight that Bai Chen put away the "Orange" rifle and left the edge of the rooftop.

The next second, she and Long Yuehong turned their heads at the same time and looked at the South Street Slave Market on the other side.

Amidst the noise coming from the west, Bai Chen withdrew his gaze and said to Long Yuehong:

"Let's go."

Long Yuehong nodded slightly and followed Bai Chen back to the street.

Just when they were about to leave the area where the street lights were broken, they suddenly saw a figure bending down in front of a certain store on the dark side of the street, sneaking around and not knowing what he was doing.

The man seemed to have noticed the appearance of Bai Chen and Long Yuehong, and quickly turned around and looked over.

The next second, "he" ran away and quickly turned into a nearby alley.

"Thief?" Long Yuehong guessed doubtfully.

Bai Chen didn't answer him. He walked to where the figure was and bent down to pick up a stack of paper.

…………

In a warehouse on East Street, the light from outside shines through the glass windows, allowing some things to barely show their outlines.

"What do you call it?" Shang Jianyao asked the intelligence officer standing at the junction of light and darkness with a smile.

"Chen Xufeng." The intelligence officer replied calmly.

Anyway, the name he gave was not his alias in Weed City, so there was no need to worry about it being exposed.

"Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao." Jiang Baimian also briefly introduced himself.

Shang Jianyao frowned slightly:

"This name sounds familiar."

Without waiting for Chen Xufeng to respond, he took the initiative and asked:

"Do you know Chen Xianyu?"

"Ah? My dad!" Chen Xufeng was quite stunned.

I really met an acquaintance!

Shang Jianyao immediately smiled and said:

"Floor 495?"

"Yes, yes. I am the youngest in the old Chen family." Chen Xufeng asked in a funny tone, "You also live on the 495th floor?"

Shang Jianyao nodded heavily:

"I should have pinched your daughter's face."

"What?" Chen Xufeng was a little confused.

"She's chubby." Shang Jianyao expressed his feelings, "Almost two years ago, Grandpa Chen often took her to the 'Activity Center' to play. Later, when she went to elementary school, he didn't see her much."

"Two years ago? Ah, at that time, I had just been assigned here. My wife also had to go to work. I guess the older generation would have to take turns taking care of her. As you know, the company's kindergarten opened too early! "Chen Xufeng roughly clarified the cause and effect.

Then he said "hatefully":

"How could you pinch her face? She was already five years old at that time."

"When Grandpa Chen is busy, if we are here, he will play games with her. Whoever loses will be pinched in the face or slapped on the palm." Shang Jianyao explained seriously.

"That's it..." Chen Xufeng smiled and said, "We are ten years apart, right? Maybe I bullied you when you were a child, and I retaliate."

The two chatted happily, and they increasingly felt that each other was worthy of trust and must be trusted.

Although Jiang Baimian could understand that Chen Xufeng had been away from home for two years and couldn't wait to know about his parents' health, his wife's condition and his daughter's growth, he also knew that business was important now, so he interrupted the "friends" who met their old acquaintances in a foreign country:

"Brother Chen, have you figured out why the previous group disappeared?"

"Hey, how can you call me brother? You are already the leader of the same group, why do you have to be D6? I am still far away." Chen Xufeng was a little flattered.

Jiang Baimian did not refute, but asked flatteringly:

"What level are you at now?"

"D5 is responsible for the intelligence network here. Haha, there are not many people." Chen Xufeng smiled and sighed, "When I complete my term and am transferred back, I should be able to advance to another level."

"Pangu Biology" is quite generous to its expatriate employees.

"That's not much worse than D6." Jiang Baimian said with a smile, "Let's talk about business first."

"Well." Chen Xufeng took out a stack of information and said in a recalling tone, "Before the company informed me, I didn't know that such a group came to Weedao City. You should also know that we are two parallel lines. , no one needs to care about anyone.”

"Yeah, if we don't come with a mission and we want to ask for your help, we have to send a telegram to the company first and let the people above give orders." Jiang Baimian nodded in agreement, "I remember the last message that group sent to the company. A telegram says that it has arrived in Weed City, hoping to find some old people who have experienced the destruction of the old world.”

She suspected that the "old tune team" had an accident after coming into contact with an old man.

Chen Xufeng nodded lightly:

"When I received the company's telegram, they had been missing for more than two weeks. Many clues had been cut off and there was no way to investigate."

"However, there is still something gained." He changed the topic and said, "They are a group of five people, three men and two women. With a trying mentality, I asked people to ask various hotels and hotels in the city to see if there were any during that period. There was no similar combination to check in, but in the end, I actually asked!”

"Can't there be only three men and two women among the relic hunters?" Shang Jianyao asked rhetorically.

Chen Xufeng laughed:

“There are definitely similar groups out there, and we’ve gotten more than one piece of feedback.

"But after careful comparison and elimination, I determined that the group stayed at the Miri Hotel, a very good hotel in Weedong City. The check-in time they checked in was exactly the same as the time when the company received the last telegram."

Speaking of which, Chen Xufeng added:

“The people at the Miri Hotel were so impressed because the girls in that group were pretty and the guys were handsome, so they were different from most ruin hunters.

"Don't mention it, after genetic modification becomes popular, when the young people in our company come out, it will be a beautiful sight!"

"Have you also done genetic modification?" Shang Jianyao suddenly asked.

Chen Xufeng was startled for a moment and sighed longly:

"Hey, I don't know what's going on. Maybe it's because my parents were older at that time, or maybe it's a personal physical problem. The effect of my genetic improvement is not very good. The only advantage is that it's very ordinary. Others can't see it. He remembers faces too easily, and, um, he also has some talents in disguise and tracking."

"At least higher than 1.75 meters." Shang Jianyao consoled sincerely.

Chen Xufeng is about the same height as Jiang Baimian.

What a good friend of Long Yuehong... Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Jiang Baimian rolled his eyes quietly.

She once again interrupted the chat between Shang Jianyao and Chen Xufeng, and proactively said:

"The group chose to stay in a place like Miri Hotel, which shows that when they entered Weedao City, they didn't think there would be any danger, nor did they think there were any hidden enemies."

Very reassuring and very aboveboard.

"I think so too." Chen Xufeng returned to the topic, "According to this inference, their subsequent actions in Weedao City should be relatively public, and there is a chance to trace them."

He took the stack of information and continued:

“I contacted the internal staff of the Hunter Guild and checked whether a similar five-person group had taken over the task during that time.

"The feedback is no."

——Since the "old team" did nothing to cover up their whereabouts, they certainly would not have deliberately divided themselves into two or three teams when they took on the mission from the Hunter Guild.

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian to ask further questions, Chen Xufeng took the initiative and said:

“But after checking their registered hunter status, they are already ‘official hunters’.

"Haha, guess how you found out?"

"I used my real name." Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation.

"..." Chen Xufeng was startled for a moment, "Yes! They quite abide by the rules."

"This shows that their actions have not caused any danger, or that they have eliminated all dangers, and they feel safe." Jiang Baimian gave his own opinion.

This greatly increased the possibility that the group would have an unexpected incident in Weed Grass City.

Chen Xufeng did not comment, but instead said:

“I spent some money and got photos of them when they registered as hunters and all the missions they had completed.

"You can take a good look at it when you go back."

As he spoke, he handed the stack of information in his hand to Jiang Baimian.

"Okay." Jiang Baimian reached out and took it.

Chen Xufeng thought about it and said:

"There are still a few clues that I have investigated so far:

"First, they went to the Flying Bird Bar and had conflicts with several guests there, but it didn't make a big deal. This happened on the second night after they arrived in Weed City.

"The second is that they visited a certain senior official of the local Hunter Guild. I just asked about this yesterday, and the specific person remains to be investigated.

"Third, they seem to have entered North Street. A servant of the city lord's mansion who often goes out to buy has seen a similar combination.

"Four……"

When it comes to the item "four", Chen Xufeng's expression becomes quite solemn:

“According to the waiter at Miri Hotel, they checked out of the room on their own.

"Two days before the company asked me to investigate."

"In other words, in the past two weeks, they were active in Weed City, but they did not reply to the company's telegram? The real disappearance time was not as long as we imagined?" Jiang Baimian asked thoughtfully.

Unlike them, the "old tune group" had its own radio station. According to the rules, it had to contact the company about once a week. Moreover, in the last few days of the second week, the company took the initiative to send telegrams to inquire about the situation.

"So it's strange." Chen Xufeng answered in the affirmative.

Then, he frowned:

"Recently, someone told me that they have seen people suspected of being Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei in the city. Well, they are the two at the top of the photo."

Under the current lighting conditions, Jiang Baimian couldn't see the photo clearly at all, so he didn't look at it and said to himself thoughtfully:

"I don't know if they are strangers who look alike, or if someone is pretending to be them, or if they can indeed move around freely?"

"Can't be sure." Chen Xufeng did not make a blind judgment.

"Are there any other clues?" Jiang Baimian breathed out slowly.

"Not yet." Chen Xufeng shook his head.

Jiang Baimian said "hmm" and then asked:

"What happened when the library was burned down at noon?"

Chen Xufeng said in a mocking tone:

“In the past two months, there have been a lot of mindless guys in the city.

"They are the lunatics who claim that the old world was destroyed because of the pursuit of knowledge and the violation of taboos. They want to force everyone to stop reading the books left over from the old world."

After talking about the main work and agreeing on the method of future communication, Shang Jianyao told Chen Xufeng the current situation of the old Chen family, and then the two reluctantly waved goodbye.

Jiang Baimian took Shang Jianyao around a quarter of Weed City, and finally turned back to the alley where the "Afu Gun Store" was located.

After returning to the rented room, they found Bai Chen and Long Yuehong each looking at a stack of paper.

"What is this?" Jiang Baimian asked curiously.

"Flyer." Bai Chen handed the paper in his hand to the team leader.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao looked at the paper at the same time and read the content on it:

“Thinking is a trap, knowledge is poison…

"Don't touch books anymore...

"We can't bring down the old world and take responsibility again..."

The word "replacement" is also circled with a line drawn out to indicate revision.

The revised words are:

"Heavy rice"

"..." Jiang Baimian laughed dumbly, "They really implement their ideas perfectly."