Embers Ad Infinitum

On the other side of the hotel camp, in the room of slave merchant Huo Zhi.

He looked at the glass window and said to himself:

"The team that approached us just now actually has a robot. Their strength cannot be underestimated..."

After pondering for a few seconds, Huo Zhi said to the men next to him:

"Aqiang, while it's not completely dark now, go find out what this team is about, and be careful of sailing a thousand-year-old ship."

Ah Qiang is shorter and looks quite strong. Hearing this, he said a little embarrassedly:

"Boss, I know you are being cautious and are afraid that they may not come to visit us for no reason, but at this time, Hongshiji is closed. Where can I find people? People here are hiding so hard that they can't be found. "

Huo Zhi knew that this was not an excuse, so he thought briefly and said:

"Go to the Vigilance Church and ask for a guard you know."

They often needed to send slaves outside the "underground ark", which would inevitably pass through the Vigilant Church.

"Yes, boss." Aqiang said no more, went out, found a car, and headed straight to the north of the ruins of the city.

Huo Zhi sat down and waited patiently for the return of his confidant.

When the sun completely set and darkness enveloped the earth, the car driven by Aqiang finally appeared at the entrance of the hotel camp.

He got out of the car with a solemn expression, entered Huo Zhi's room, glanced left and right, and said in a low voice:

"Boss, that team has a lot of background!"

"What should I say?" Huo Zhi stood up.

Aqiang swallowed his saliva and said:

"A guard in the church told me that that team had previously dealt with a very powerful Awakener and saved the entire Red Stone Collection from the subhuman coalition.

"If I had to find something to compare it to, it would be that they were able to destroy the Red Stone Set without the presence of the vigilant sect, and at that time, they had not obtained the robots yet!"

"This..." Huo Zhi heard this and forgot to move his eyes.

As far as he knew, although there were many internal conflicts in Hongshiji, even without the protection of the vigilant sect, its own firepower was strong enough. It would definitely rank first in the Nuhu area and could easily kill caravans like his. How many.

So a team of four can actually be compared with such a large settlement?

After a long moment of silence, Huo Zhi asked in confirmation:

"Does this include the power of the 'Underground Ark'?"

"Probably not." Aqiang answered truthfully, "People in the church don't know the true strength of the 'Underground Ark'."

Huo Zhi nodded slowly and said with a hiss:

"Whether the church guard is bragging or not, the team opposite is not simple.

"It should be the kind where four or five people can destroy a settlement. Maybe all of them have reached the level of 'senior hunter', which is not much worse than those incredibly powerful ruin hunter teams we know."

Speaking of this, Huo Zhi breathed out:

"Fortunately, a team of this caliber will certainly not look down on our little things. We are just a few dozen slaves. Even if Mr. Di Marco offers a high price, they can't exchange for the supplies they are interested in.

"They should have noticed the movement and came over to take a look and confirm the situation."

Aqiang was convinced by his boss and asked worriedly:

"Then we will bring everyone out tomorrow morning to lecture them?"

"No need." Huo Zhi shook his head without hesitation, "I will go into their room in person and talk to them one by one. I must not disturb the other side."

When he said these words, his voice unconsciously lowered a little.

Seeing that Aqiang seemed a little worried, Huo Zhi smiled and said:

“Can a team of this caliber deal with us for dozens of slaves?

"What status do they have? Do they need slaves?"

Aqiang said "hmm":

"I'll arrange patrol for the night."

…………

In the middle of the night, Jiang Baimian woke up in a daze, turned over and grabbed the water bag on the bedside table.

At this moment, she saw a figure sitting quietly on the bed opposite.

Jiang Baimian woke up instantly.

She took a closer look and found that it was indeed Shang Jianyao.

"You're still up so late?" Jiang Baimian asked in shock and amusement.

Shang Jianyao supported the bed with both hands and turned his body around.

In the faint moonlight streaming in from the window, he answered with bright eyes:

"I'm thinking of feasible solutions."

"So serious..." Jiang Baimian didn't know how to comment, so he said casually.

She turned to ask:

"Do you have an idea?"

Shang Jianyao shook his head:

"not yet."

"Oh..." Jiang Baimian was relieved.

Before her voice fell, Shang Jianyao added:

“There’s so much inspiration.”

"..." The smile on Jiang Baimian's face became a little forced.

Shang Jianyao continued, minding his own business:

“I am now considering this matter together with crossing the third island.

"Aren't you afraid that even though you have given everything, nothing can be changed? Then do something difficult in reality and try to change some cruel conditions that are beyond your sight.

"Saving all mankind must of course start with saving small groups, starting with small changes."

"When the time comes, I hope there will be some gains that can be fed back into the spiritual world."

After Jiang Baimian listened quietly, he hugged the quilt and adjusted his posture so that he could lie down more comfortably.

"This idea... is really good." She said matter-of-factly, "The key to defeating the third island may really be to connect with reality and break the doubts in your heart through the affirmation of reality."

At this point, she changed the subject:

"However, there is no need to choose such a difficult thing from the beginning, right?"

Shang Jianyao laughed, his face dim under the moonlight:

“It’s not like I’m considering feasible solutions just to defeat the third island.

"It's just incidental."

At this moment, Jiang Baimian felt that his smile was like a child's, very clean and pure.

Jiang Baimian opened his mouth, closed it again, and complained after a long time:

"You can wait until dawn and think about it again. It's so late at night, so go to sleep quickly. Only when you have enough energy can you come up with a good idea."

She originally wanted to throw a pillow over and hit Shang Jian Yao to increase the intensity of her words, but considering that there was only one pillow, she gave up the idea.

"Yeah." Shang Jianyao thought for a while and nodded.

Snapped!

He slumped forward and stretched his legs.

Jiang Baimian wrapped herself tightly in the quilt and changed her position so that her back was facing the bed opposite.

In the quiet night, she suddenly whispered:

"Sometimes, I really envy your purity..."

Shang Jianyao replied in a serious tone:

"This is in exchange for a doctor's note."

"..." Jiang Baimian chose to close his eyes.

…………

The next morning, the "Old Tuning Group" had a simple breakfast, and under the watch of the residents of Hongshiji who repaired the faulty circuit of the hotel camp, drove the Jeep to the underground shopping mall in the park.

This was their original plan, to visit "Visa Trading Company" to discuss high-performance batteries.

The person on duty at the "Visa Trading Company" is still the lady wearing the green ghost mask but as timid as a rabbit.

"Come on, come on, good morning." Obviously, this lady recognized the former Hongshi Jiyiba.

Jiang Baimian asked with a smile:

"Which butler is here today?"

"Butler Ulrich." The lady in charge of reception answered honestly.

Righteous Lord... Jiang Baimian secretly lamented his good luck and pressed the delicate monk mask on his face:

"Please pass the word that we would like to visit Mr. Ulrich."

"Okay." The lady hurriedly took out the walkie-talkie and avoided Shang Jianyao and the others, not knowing who she was talking to.

Gennava, who was wearing sunglasses, looked at her figure that was mostly obscured by the wall, and asked Jiang Baimian and others:

"Do you need me to repeat their conversation?"

"Can you hear it?" Shang Jianyao looked curious.

Unfortunately this is all covered up by the monkey mask.

Gennava nodded:

"This distance, this volume, is within my monitoring range."

Jiang Baimian amusedly lamented that the average hearing of the "Old Tune Group" had been significantly improved, and asked thoughtfully:

"Do you usually take the initiative to monitor the surrounding environment?"

"Not in a safe environment, but not when performing tasks or in similar scenarios." Gnawa answered in concise language, "Not turning it on is mainly to save power and protect the battery. The endurance and life of high-performance batteries The cycle is still one of the key factors that restricts the number of our intelligent people and the development of society. Therefore, 'Yuan Brain' has been looking for the old world's 'nuclear power miniaturization technology', 'ultra-high performance battery technology', and 'controllable nuclear fusion'. Study the information in the field and hope to turn these into reality."

As expected of a smart person, he could repeat the words I heard at that time almost word for word... It is amazing to have a large database and advanced search algorithm... Long Yuehong deeply admired Gnawa's "memory".

At this time, the lady in charge of the reception at "Visa Trading Company" came back, her body trembling slightly as if facing a natural enemy and saying:

"Butler Ulrich invites you to the conference room."

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and others followed the guidance and found a conference room, which was furnished with a long table, a dozen chairs and an LCD screen.

The lady in charge of the reception turned on the LCD screen. After adjusting the status, she exited the room and closed the door.

Gnawa then said:

"This is a product of our 'mechanical paradise'..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw Shang Jianyao raising his index finger to his mouth and making a "shh" sound.

Gennava immediately stopped talking.

Just two or three seconds later, a serious man in his forties wearing a black dress and black tie appeared on the LCD screen.

He is one of Dimarco's butlers, Ulrich.

"Mr. Butler, aren't you in the company?" Jiang Baimian asked funny.

Ulrich calmly replied:

"There are awakened ones among you, and they are very aggressive."

When Shang Jianyao restrained Di Marco's guards, it was revealed that he was "missing the movement of his hands."

As for aggression, there is no doubt that it refers to Shang Jianyao's scary behavior of throwing grenades.

Having said this, Ulrich clasped his hands and put them on his chest. Then, he took a step back:

"Distance is our friend."