Embers Ad Infinitum

Looking at the "senior hunter" in front of him, Jiang Baimian raised his hand and touched his ears:

"Ah? What did you say?"

The words that the "senior hunter" had prepared were suddenly blocked.

At this time, Shang Jianyao turned to his side and helped "translate":

"He asked what we found in the woman's room?"

Jiang Baimian looked like he suddenly realized something, and said with a smile:

“The clues we found have been submitted to the guild.

“You’ll know what they are after they review them and publish them.”

The "senior hunter" with black hair and blue eyes took a deep look at them, stopped questioning, turned around, and prepared to leave.

"It's so rude." At this time, Shang Jianyao suddenly said something.

"What's wrong with that?" Jiang Baimian asked cooperatively.

"Isn't it common sense to introduce yourself before asking others questions?" Shang Jianyao answered seriously.

He seemed to have absolutely no fear of being dragged out and beaten.

The "senior hunter" paused for a moment, without turning around, and said dullly:

"Odik."

"His Hui dialect is pretty good." Shang Jianyao was already chatting with Jiang Baimian about other things.

Jiang Baimian said "hmm":

"He looks like he's of mixed race. Maybe Gray is his native language."

Odik turned his back to them, remained silent for a few seconds, and finally walked away.

After the "senior hunter" moved away from the seating area at the edge of the hall, Jiang Baimian chuckled and said:

"You know quite a bit, I'm pretty good at sarcasm.

"Haha, you didn't introduce yourself when you asked someone."

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"Brothers don't need to introduce themselves."

"..." Jiang Baimian was unable to refute.

She pretended that she had not communicated this matter with Shang Jianyao, and moved her legs in boredom, waiting for the review results to come out.

Suddenly, she raised her head and looked at the ceiling of the hall.

After a few seconds, she said with slight confusion:

"There was a group of people passing by...

"There is one inside. The electrical signal pattern is not the same as that of humans. It doesn't even look like it comes from animals...robots?"

Shang Jianyao also looked up at the ceiling and said:

"It's all human consciousness."

Jiang Baimian turned his head and looked at Shang Jianyao:

"Are they all human?"

"I can make them hypocritical at this distance." Shang Jianyao answered the question.

Jiang Baimian easily understood what he meant, frowned slightly and said:

"Human consciousness...non-human electrical signals..."

When these two descriptions are combined, it seems that only one answer remains:

"Eternal Man"!

In other words, the mechanical monks of the Order of Monks!

"Could he be an old friend?" Jiang Baimian asked and answered, "No, Jingfa would have gone crazy in this environment."

There are a large number of women among the clerks of the Hunter Guild.

"You can go up and ask." Shang Jianyao suggested.

Jiang Baimian glanced at him and didn't bother to answer at all.

She said "hmm" and said thoughtfully:

“It doesn’t have to be a mechanical monk.

"Not all of the original 'Eternal People' converted to the cult, there are some exceptions..."

At this time, the group of people upstairs were out of their sensing range.

Due to lack of sufficient information, Jiang Baimian did not discuss the matter again.

She observed the comings and goings of the ruin hunters and tried to summarize some customs and customs.

After about ten minutes, the loudspeakers throughout the hall came out:

"Hunters who have submitted new clues to Liu Dazhuang's mission are asked to go to Su Xiaoman on Channel 11 to receive their reward."

Jiang Baimian stood up, took out his hunter badge, and walked quickly to the round platform area.

"How much is it?" She asked Su Xiaoman with a smile.

Su Xiaoman smiled and replied:

"100 ores.

“Then, each of the two people on your team can get 100 credit points.

"Congratulations, you are now an 'official hunter'!"

Jiang Baimian did not hide his smile:

"not bad."

The four of them spend almost 4 ores just on food a day. Including rent, they consume nearly 5 ores every day. 100 ores can keep them going for another three weeks.

After giving the hunter badge to Su Xiaoman and having her swipe it, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao became "official hunters".

Then, taking the order issued by Su Xiaoman and their hunter badges, they went to the financial window in the inner area of ​​the first floor and received a thick stack of banknotes.

——Ore is dark green, and the maximum denomination is 10, but they are also given denominations of 5 and 1.

Returning to the mission area, Jiang Baimian found that the clues he submitted had been published, and even the names of Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei were added.

Jiang Baimian was about to sigh to Shang Jianyao when he suddenly saw the "senior hunter" walking over again.

Odik, wearing a dark black woolen coat, stopped in front of them and asked:

"You didn't find anything in that woman's room?"

Jiang Baimian did not pretend not to hear this time, because the other party's voice was quite loud.

She smiled and said:

"Requesting valuable clues requires corresponding rewards. Isn't this common sense among ruin hunters?"

Without waiting for Odik to respond, she smiled and added:

"I have now received a reward of 100 Ole, and I will only receive equivalent clues as reward."

Odik fell into silence and did not speak.

"It seems that you haven't thought about it yet. Come to us when you think about it." Jiang Baimian greeted with a smile while crossing the other party.

Shang Jianyao followed her and left the Hunter's Guild with her.

When he reached the street, Jiang Baimian looked back and said thoughtfully:

"Before the new clues were announced, this 'senior hunter' knew about Lin Feifei's existence, and also confirmed that we went to Lin Feifei's room...

"He has good relations with the top brass of the local Hunter Guild and knew the clues we submitted in advance?

"No, if that's the case, he should have known it long ago. We only mentioned the gunman's companions, not the subsequent search...

"It seems that he knows something? Or, did he find other traces and quickly determined that the gunman had a female companion?"

After muttering to himself, Jiang Baimian turned his head to look at Shang Jianyao and found that he was looking at him intently.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Baimian felt that he shouldn't ask as soon as he spoke.

Shang Jianyao sighed:

"You just said everything I wanted to say."

"I'll give you a chance to speak next time." Jiang Baimian said perfunctorily, then smiled, "You didn't even ask me why I didn't report the leaflet in Lin Feifei's room to the guild."

Shang Jianyao glanced at Jiang Baimian strangely:

"I'm not Long Yuehong."

"...Didn't you say you won't speak ill of your friends behind their backs?" Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile as he walked towards the central square.

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"I'm just describing how he normally behaves."

"Hey, I am only 175 after genetic modification..." Jiang Baimian added in a very cooperative manner after hearing this.

Halfway through, she burst out laughing uncontrollably.

Soon, they returned to South Street and found Bai Chen and Long Yuehong.

After looking at each other, Jiang Baimian took them around to the alley opposite the slave market and met in a secluded corner.

She took out the stack of banknotes and showed it:

"100 Ole!"

"Rich." Long Yuehong was happy from the bottom of his heart.

"Also, Shang Jianyao and I both got 100 credit points and became 'official hunters'." Jiang Baimian added with a smile.

Long Yuehong said with a slight sense of disappointment:

"I'm the only one still new."

"It's up to you and Bai Chen to hand over the next clue." Jiang Baimian comforted with a smile.

Then, she described exactly what information she had submitted.

After hearing the end, Long Yuehong was quite puzzled:

"Team leader, why don't you report the leaflet? This way, we can activate the ruin hunters and find that organization as soon as possible."

"Sure enough..." Shang Jianyao suddenly said something incomprehensible.

Jiang Baimian suppressed his smile, looked at the somewhat confused Long Yuehong, took a breath silently, and spit it out again.

Then she explained:

"It's not sure whether Lin Feifei left that flyer intentionally.

"There are two types of intentionality. One is to mislead subsequent investigators, and the other is to give clues to save oneself.

"If it is the latter possibility, it will bring danger to Lin Feifei if the news spreads widely."

"That's it..." Long Yuehong once again sighed in her heart at the team leader's thoughtful thinking.

Jiang Baimian continued:

"When the company replies to the telegram, we will have the specific situation of the organization, and then we will consider whether to submit this clue based on the actual situation."

"Yeah." Long Yuehong was convinced.

Jiang Baimian glanced at Bai Chen, thought for a while and said:

"Did you just find something?

"We met a 'senior hunter' in the guild. He directly asked us what we found in Lin Feifei's room..."

When sharing this incident, Jiang Baimian described Odik's general appearance and wanted Long Yuehong and Bai Chen to pay attention to this person later.

The more Long Yuehong listened, the more surprised she became:

"I've seen him!

"He buys clothes at the 'used clothes shop' in Hongluo Lane."

Shang Jianyao immediately asked:

"What was abnormal at that time?"

"There's nothing unusual..." Long Yuehong recalled, "The owner of that store was dozing off, and then he woke him up."

"Dozing off when there are guests?" Jiang Baimian repeated this detail in a questioning tone.

"I also find it a bit strange, but we have no way of knowing whether the boss slept well last night." Long Yuehong expressed her thoughts, "Moreover, that person did nothing at that time and even woke up the boss. Paid for the clothes.”

Jiang Baimian listened carefully, laughed, turned to Shang Jianyao and said:

"You can ask the boss later.

"If she slept well last night but suddenly felt sleepy just now and couldn't control herself, that would be interesting."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian looked around and said with a smile:

"I suspect that the 'senior hunter' named Odik is an awakener and has abilities similar to sleeping cats and nightmare horses."