Embers Ad Infinitum

When Jiang Baimian heard this, he laughed out loud and said:

"You are quite confident."

She then added:

“This is also a good thing, at least when we encounter difficulties, become frustrated, and have no fighting spirit, you can still be confident and infect the whole team.

“This is called idealistic optimism.

"Well, have you ever said this before?"

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"I don't mind you quoting."

Jiang Baimian rolled her eyes at him and walked out of the stairs.

She looked around and said thoughtfully:

"There may be some followers of the 'anti-intellectual religion' in this courtyard. The people who warned Zeng Guangwang may also be hiding nearby."

Lin Feifei, who was "controlled", lived here, and Zeng Guangwang, who was warned and almost hanged himself, also lived here. If it is not a pure coincidence, it shows that there are many "anti-intellectual religion" informants in this area.

Before Shang Jianyao could give "suggestions", Jiang Baimian sighed:

“It’s a pity that there are no photos, otherwise we would have asked the doorman.

"Doing door-to-door inspections is too labor-intensive and beyond our ability to complete. It is also easy to alert others and lead to accidents."

Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up and he said quickly:

"I can draw the person who warned Zeng Guangwang according to his description."

"Then forget it." Jiang Baimian recalled Shang Jianyao's paintings and directly rejected his self-recommendation.

She thought for a moment and said:

"Go to the Hunter Guild and find Odik. He might be able to extract the image of that person from Zeng Guangwang's dream."

"Hope." Shang Jianyao looked regretful.

The two of them walked out of the gate in Huangjiao Alley, turned to South Street, and walked towards the central square.

Just as they were about to turn to West Street, there was a sudden loud noise from the side.

Boom!

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao each made conditioned reflexes. One rolled and curled up behind the sidewalk chair, and the other crawled on the spot, pretending to be a corpse.

This is not to say that it can stop bullets, but to avoid the sight of possible subsequent attackers.

After the explosion, the central square became noisy, with screams, shouts, and the sound of rushing footsteps heard all the time.

Seeing that there was no fierce fighting, Jiang Baimian left his hiding place and looked at the place where the explosion occurred.

That's the Weed City Public Library.

All the glass windows of the building were shattered, and black smoke and red flames came out of it.

The fire brigade, which was not far away, rushed over quickly and used various methods to put out the fire.

Several people covered in blood were carried out one after another, some were still groaning, and some had stopped moving.

Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao, who stood up, and a term came to his mind:

"Anti-intellectual religion"!

She withdrew her gaze from the library, which was not too seriously damaged, and observed the surrounding situation out of habit.

Suddenly, her eyes stopped in one place.

At the junction of East Street and Central Square, a group of people who saw that the "alert" had been lifted were watching.

At the edge of the group, there was a man wearing a black windbreaker.

With his hands in his pockets, he was almost as tall as Jiang Baimian, with slightly messy short hair. He looked very thin and his face was extremely pale, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, or had not yet recovered.

As if feeling Jiang Baimian's gaze, he turned his head and looked back.

His eyes were almost pure black, like an abyss that could bury a person's soul.

The corners of the man's mouth were slightly raised, revealing an indescribable smile.

Then, he squeezed into the crowd and disappeared from Jiang Baimian's sight.

"Did you see it?" Jiang Baimian was silent for a few seconds, then turned to ask Shang Jianyao.

"I saw it." Shang Jianyao's arms had assumed a forward running posture at some point, but his legs did not move forward.

Jiang Baimian immediately laughed and said:

"I thought you were going to rush over and beat him up."

Shang Jianyao glanced at Jiang Baimian strangely and replied calmly:

"Can't catch up."

"That's good, at least this way, you don't reveal that he is a dangerous person." Jiang Baimian looked at the library where the fire was under control, and breathed out slowly, "I hope the books inside are not damaged much."

This is the hope of many children in Weecao City.

A "temporary teacher" is competent enough to simply teach literacy, but if you want to learn more, you will definitely not be able to do it without books.

Jiang Baimian didn't say any more, and took Shang Jianyao into West Street and entered the Hunters' Guild.

She was just thinking about how to leave a message to Odike if she couldn't find him in the hall, when she found this "senior hunter" sitting in the edge area where she and Shang Jianyao usually like to stay, waiting for someone.

"We have a new clue." Jiang Baimian walked over and said with a smile.

"Me too." Odik, who was wearing a thick woolen coat, stood up.

"Are you waiting for us?" Jiang Baimian suddenly understood.

"You should wait at the door, that way we can see him at a glance." Shang Jianyao suggested an idea enthusiastically.

Odik ignored him and said directly:

"I have already asked which senior person in the local guild has met Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei."

Ask? I'm afraid he found it out through his dream ability... Jiang Baimian asked calmly:

"who?"

"Tui En, Vice President Cui En who is in charge of hunter affairs." Odik pointed to the stairs leading to the second floor, "I will take you to see him."

Jiang Baimian was not in a hurry to mention the matter of the man in the trench coat. He winked at Shang Jianyao and told him to get ready.

Then, they went up to the second floor together, and met Cui En, the vice president of the local Hunter Guild, in a small room with only a long table and a few chairs.

He is tall and thin, with a big nose and thin but still black hair.

Shang Jianyao looked at it carefully for a while and suddenly asked:

"Have you ever dyed your hair?"

Cui En opened his mouth and forgot the words he had planned.

After a few seconds, he proudly touched his hair:

"No."

"That's it..." Shang Jianyao seemed a little regretful.

Jiang Baimian deeply suspected that he was regretting not being able to recruit the hair dye business for his brother Feilin, the leader of the "Rootless" business group.

Odik wasted no time and broke the strange silence:

"I just communicated with President Cui. He met Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei almost a month and a half ago."

Cui En trusted Odik quite a lot, and there was no bodyguard around him. He pointed to the chair opposite the long table and said:

"sit down."

When Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao sat down quickly, Cui En sighed and said:

"I didn't want to mention this matter originally. It has no value and will only bring unnecessary trouble and involvement. In the end, Odik found out somehow."

"About a month and a half ago," the vice president recalled, "It was one morning. My assistant told me that someone wanted to visit me to talk about a big task. I had nothing to do at the time, and my assistant also said that they seemed I had some background, so I agreed.

"Then, I met the Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei you mentioned in the office.

"They actually don't have a big task to talk about. The purpose is to understand the affairs of 'Mechanical Paradise'."

"'Machine Paradise'?" Jiang Baimian was slightly surprised.

This is a large force that completely controls intelligent robot production technology and many factories. It is located at the southern end of the Old Mountain Mountains.

It is relatively mysterious, and its transactions with the outside world are mainly handled by the robot army. No other force has entered the area under their actual control.

——"Pangae Creature" is at the northwest end of the Jiushan Mountains.

"Yes." Cui En replied with some confusion, "I don't know why they want to know about 'Mechanical Paradise', and for this, they are willing to pay a lot of money. Unfortunately, I have no contact with 'Mechanical Paradise', don't look at it The hall is full of products from 'Machine Paradise', but the president and the local president are responsible for the corresponding affairs, so I can only ask them to try to find connections and go to North Street to visit the president."

The president of the local hunter guild is the city lord Xu Liyan.

"No wonder..." Jiang Baimian solved a doubt in his mind - why Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei entered North Street.

They were going to the city lord's mansion to ask for a meeting with Xu Liyan, the city lord and president of the Hunter Guild.

Cui En picked up the white porcelain tea cup in front of him and took a sip:

“I haven’t seen them since, but I’m sure they left North Street.

"Because I was worried that this matter would bring unnecessary trouble to the president, I told my assistants and related clerks not to leak the news. I don't know how Odik found out."

Obviously, Trin is very upset about Odik suddenly mastering this secret.

At this time, Odike nodded gently, hinting to Jiang Baimian and Cui En that they were not lying.

Jiang Baimian then looked at Cui En, smiled and said:

“We kind of get it.

"I'm really troubling you, President Cui."

"It's okay. If the death of Liu Dazhuang can be investigated clearly, I will even express my gratitude." Cui En stood up and sent Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and others out of the room.

When he got outside and walked towards the stairs, Jiang Baimian smiled, looked ahead and said:

"Exchange information again?"

"Okay." Odik did not refuse.

Jiang Baimian said "hmm":

"We found a 'temporary teacher' who had been threatened by the 'anti-intellectual religion'."

She omitted the causes and consequences, described Zeng Guangwang's address and experiences, and highlighted that after the explosion in the library, there was a man in a trench coat who looked similar to him in the crowd of onlookers.

"This style..." Odik's face gradually became serious, "It is very similar to the 'Priest' who was active in the 'Primary City' before."

Shang Jianyao's expression suddenly became excited.

Jiang Baimian glared at him, asking him to restrain himself, and then said to Odik:

"It's your turn."

Odik looked at the stairs in front of him, remained silent for a moment and said:

“I came to Weed City not by chance, I was invited here.

"I pursued Liu Dazhuang's death not because I happened to meet him, nor because he was an intelligence dealer."

Having said this, Odik stepped into the stairs and left a sentence:

"He is secretly serving the city lord."

Hearing this sentence, Jiang Baimian felt that all the clues were intertwined in his mind, and it seemed that he was not far away from sketching the answer.

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