Embers Ad Infinitum

"Mastermind"... Jiang Baimian had a special understanding of this aspect and knew what it meant.

"Mastermind" means the city's brain, the real brain.

This is an important goal of the old world on the road to smart cities.

The "Urban Intelligent Network Control Center" they saw at the Marsh No. 1 ruins was its prototype.

In the complete version of the smart city, the mastermind controls all pipe networks, driverless cars, and non-privately owned intelligent robots. Through complex algorithms, it allocates corresponding resources and plans the correct route, so that all the stubborn diseases that the city had in the past can be eradicated.

At this time, Jiang Baimian saw Shang Jianyao raising his right arm from the corner of his eye and wiping the corner of his mouth.

"..." She was speechless for a moment.

After a few seconds, she sighed:

"I didn't expect that before the destruction of the old world, a 'master brain' had already been put into operation."

In this way, the "mastermind" who experienced the destruction of the old world is likely to record some very critical situations.

Based on this, Jiang Baimian completely understood why Lei Yunsong, Lin Feifei and the others, the "Old Tune Group", wanted to visit Xu Liyan, the lord of Wild Grass City.

"It's not important, right? The old world has been destroyed." Xu Liyan couldn't understand his feelings for Jiang Baimian.

He continued:

"I told them at the time that I didn't know. We have a purely cooperative relationship with 'Machine Paradise'. They provide various electronic equipment, robots for different purposes, and we sell petroleum products, high-performance batteries and various types of equipment needed for nuclear power plants. resource."

The latter are not produced by Weedao City, but they are qualified middlemen.

"Then when you were dealing with people from 'Mechanical Paradise', did you find any details worth paying attention to?" Jiang Baimian, out of professional habit, asked.

"They are very businesslike and never accept bribes, because they are all intelligent robots." Xu Liyan shook his head and smiled, "If you are really interested and help me solve this matter, then they can come to Weed Grass City again. During the transaction, I can introduce you to him. If you want to know more about it later, just go to the owner directly."

Jiang Baimian thought for a few seconds and asked seriously:

"City Lord Xu, is someone trying to assassinate you?"

Xu Liyan moved his eyebrows, a little surprised for a moment:

"Odik told you?"

"I never said that." Odik denied.

"Then how do you know?" Xu Liyan looked at Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao and asked in confusion.

"I guessed it." Jiang Baimian laughed, "I guessed it from what the 'anti-intellectual cult' 'priest' had done. He was wanted for assassinating an elder of the Senate in the First City."

Xu Liyan was startled for a moment, then exhaled and said:

"To be honest, when I saw you two just now, I felt a little disdainful, thinking that you are just another good-looking vase with no skills.

“I know that such an idea is unreasonable, but I still can’t help but think about it.

"Now, I won't underestimate you."

After he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao began to analyze carefully:

"A superior person like you must have a very inflated heart. When you see someone who surpasses you in some aspect, you will involuntarily belittle the other person. The beautiful ones are brainless, and the strong ones are barbarians, thereby maintaining a sense of psychological superiority. …”

Xu Liyan raised his hands and closed them in front of him:

"That makes sense.

"You are very good at psychological analysis."

"I often deal with psychiatrists." Shang Jianyao answered confidently.

If being treated can also be called dealing with... Fortunately, he was not kicked out directly... Jiang Baimian cursed and decided to bring the topic back on track:

"City Master Xu, what you just meant was that I guessed it right?"

"Yes." Xu Liyan did not hide anything. "About two months ago, I received a message that someone wanted to assassinate me. During the time after my father's death, such things happened often, and I was used to it. I strengthened myself step by step. Set up guards and send out a large number of intelligence agents, hoping to find out who is behind the scenes as soon as possible and try to eliminate hidden dangers before they occur."

Having said this, he looked at Odik:

"Mr. Odik is a helper I specially hired through the guild. He is very good at investigation and questioning. He has nicknames like 'Tracker' and 'Poly Detector'.

“Who would have known that the day after he arrived, my most important intelligence officer in the city, Liu Dazhuang, was shot dead in the street.

"I believe he was silenced because important clues were found."

Jiang Baimian listened quietly and told everything he could reveal about the situation.

This included them accepting a commission to investigate the disappearances of Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei, and finally found that they were still alive, but seemed to be under control, and were suspected to be related to the "priest" from the "anti-intellectual religion."

She finally said:

"We have now found the victim who met the 'Priest', and she will be here soon to issue the mission."

"Not bad." Xu Liyan praised and said to Odik, "I hope we can track the target as soon as possible."

Regardless of whether the "priest" is the real mastermind behind the incident, he definitely plays an important role in this matter.

"I'll go get the information right away." Odik stood up.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao stood up and left the president's office.

"I'm going to see the victim first." Odik said, without waiting for a response, he quickly walked towards the stairs.

Jiang Baimian knew that the following tracking would be of no concern to him, so he walked slowly behind, waiting for a large number of ruin hunters to take the initiative to "service".

After leaving the president's office and approaching the stairs, she lowered her voice slightly and said:

"When you came up just now, did you understand what I asked?"

She was referring to subconscious inquiries made with eyes and expressions.

At that time, Shang Jianyao nodded in the affirmative.

Looking back now, Jiang Baimian was a little doubtful whether this guy understood what he meant.

Frankly speaking, she herself would not be able to decipher the specific content from such a simple look at each other.

Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation:

"I understand.

"We were walking on the road and didn't meet anyone. If you looked at me suddenly, it must be related to what you sensed.

"And there were a lot of people in the room where Xu Liyan was.

“This reminds me of last time, we were sitting underneath, and there were many people passing above our heads, one of whom had both human consciousness and the electrical signal of a robot.

"If all you sensed were human electrical signals, you wouldn't look at me for confirmation.

"So, the answer is simple, you are asking me if we are all human beings."

Jiang Baimian was stunned for a few seconds, opened his mouth and said:

"It's a complicated idea, but I guessed it right..."

She had to admit that in some aspects, Shang Jianyao's mind was not stupid at all, and could even be said to be very smart. However, he always made things very simple or very complicated.

Entering the stairs, Jiang Baimian glanced down and whispered:

"The man in a robe next to Xu Liyan should be an 'immortal man'."

Whether it will be a mechanical monk or not is yet to be determined.

"I don't know if he knows Zen Master Jingfa." Shang Jianyao suddenly said.

"You really have never forgotten Zen Master Jingfa." Jiang Baimian teased in a funny way.

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"Zen Master Jingfa is chasing Qiao Chu. Qiao Chu took away our exoskeleton device and ate many of our cans, compressed biscuits and energy bars..."

"I understand." Jiang Baimian nodded heavily.

While talking, they walked up the stairs and returned to the hall.

At this time, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Vice President Christina happened to come in from the side door with four bodyguards in black.

When she saw Shang Jian Yao, her eyes lit up, she walked a few steps quickly and said with a smile:

"I will be in Room 308 on the third floor today. You can come to me at any time."

After speaking, she glanced at Jiang Baimian, her eyes slowly sweeping across her face.

Christina's smile became more obvious and she said to Shang Jianyao:

"Is this your companion?"

Without waiting for Shang Jianyao's response, she turned to Jiang Baimian:

"You can come to me with him."

Jiang Baimian said "hmm" perfunctorily.

When the two sides passed each other, she took a step sideways and avoided Christina's hidden hand that patted her buttocks.

After watching the vice president and her bodyguard enter the stairs, Jiang Baimian said "tsk":

"Her hobbies are really wide-ranging."

"Maybe she just wants to play cards with others." Shang Jianyao said thoughtfully.

"You think the bodyguards around her are not human?" Jiang Baimian laughed and cursed.

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"Bodyguards have to do their jobs."

While chatting, they walked to the edge of the hall, found a chair and sat down, waiting for new clues to appear.

Not long after, the mission was updated and the search began for the sickly man in the trench coat.

The sketched portrait was as lifelike as the photograph.

Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian did not move because a large number of ruin hunters would move on their behalf.

At around 10 a.m., new information appeared:

Someone had seen the sickly man in a trench coat several times near the warehouses No. 1 to No. 3 on East Street.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao immediately stood up, accepted the task, and walked to the door.

When he was approaching the street, Shang Jianyao suddenly stopped and shouted to a person passing by:

"Wait a minute!"

The man stopped and looked here with confusion.

He is a man in his mid-twenties, of gray soil race, about the same height as Jiang Baimian, wearing black clothes and pants, with common short hair. He looks pretty good, but the dark circles under his eyes are a bit heavy, and he looks very... exhausted.

Under Jiang Baimian's slightly surprised gaze, Shang Jianyao walked up to this person and asked:

"Did you not sleep well last night?"

The man raised his eyebrows:

"My sleep quality has not been very good recently, but what does this have to do with you?"

Shang Jianyao said sincerely:

“If you don’t sleep well, your condition will be poor, and accidents will easily occur when completing tasks.

"You'd better get some more rest."

After saying that, he turned around and walked back to Jiang Baimian, leaving the man in a daze.

Jiang Baimian raised his right hand and pointed at his head, using his movements to ask if he had another brain twitch.

Shang Jianyao nodded slightly, indicating that that was it.

PS: Ask for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month~