Jiang Baimian swiftly regained her composure and asked:
"Did you sense where they are?"
Surrounded by mountains, there were simply too many creatures emitting electrical signals outside, including those of a certain size. Therefore, she couldn't immediately distinguish which two corresponded to Nightmare Horse and Sleepy Cat.
As soon as she spoke, Jiang Baimian regretted it, because Nightmare Horse and Sleepy Cat were aberrant creatures, not humans, and Shang Jianyao might not be able to sense their consciousness.
The next second, Shang Jianyao retracted his hands and put the "Ring of Blindness" on his left wrist.
Then, he took off his tactical backpack and took out a blue and white megaphone from it.
Immediately afterward, he turned on the megaphone, held it to his mouth, and made the ornament woven from black hair light up with a fire-like glow.
Jiang Baimian didn't stop him, watching the development with anticipation.
Time seemed to stand still at this moment. After several seconds, Shang Jianyao's voice spread to a certain area outside the camp and echoed around:
"You should know:
"I'm Xiao Chong's friend:
"I want to find Xiao Chong to play games together;
"So..."
Using 'Reasoning Clown'... Can he sense Nightmare Horse and Sleepy Cat's consciousness now? While Jiang Baimian's thoughts surged, she noticed that many people in the camp were awakened or interrupted from what they were doing.
This included Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Genaeva.
On the fourth floor of the castle's main building, Wang Fugui, who was staying in a hotel room, listened intently for a while, frowned slightly, and walked to the window, casting his gaze towards the area where the "Old Task Force" was located.
With the help of the streetlights, he saw Shang Jianyao and the megaphone in Shang Jianyao's hand, his expression becoming more puzzled.
He couldn't figure out who this guy was talking to, what the meaning of those words was, and who Xiao Chong was.
Following Shang Jianyao's direction, Wang Fugui looked out over the camp from his high vantage point.
Under the moonlight, the darkness was hazy, and it seemed like there was nothing there.
Shang Jianyao waited for a long time, repeated the words he had just said twice, and finally put down the megaphone in his hand.
He said with a regretful expression:
"Their IQ might still be a bit of a problem, maybe they didn't understand what I was trying to say."
You're the one with the problem, expecting them to understand... You're not Xiao Chong... While Jiang Baimian scoffed inwardly, she glanced at Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genaeva who were getting out of the car.
Then, she asked Shang Jianyao:
"Can you sense their consciousness?"
"Normally, I can't." Shang Jianyao raised his left hand, showing the "Ring of Blindness" on his wrist, "With it, I can sense that in that direction, about thirty meters away, there are two consciousnesses that aren't human but are relatively close, and they are different from other creatures, because other creatures don't exhibit a clear consciousness that can be sensed."
Thirty meters is within Shang Jianyao's "Missing Hand Action" range, but he couldn't find the targets without the "Ring of Blindness."
Reaching the 'Mind Corridor' level allows one to sense the consciousness of aberrant creatures? Jiang Baimian nodded in understanding.
When ambushing the white giant wolf before, she had Shang Jianyao use the "Ring of Blindness" to sense the situation in the distance, not to confirm this point, but to prevent accidents.
And accidents often come from humans.
Of course, she also had the idea of trying to see if the "Ring of Blindness" could sense the consciousness of aberrant creatures.
"What about now? Are they still there?" Jiang Baimian pressed.
Shang Jianyao shook his head:
"When I shouted the second time, they retreated out of the thirty-meter range. Alas, they probably can't even tell which pair is the hand and which pair is the foot. 'Missing Hand Action' didn't have any effect."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Jiang Baimian originally wanted to add, "Why don't you chase after them?" but after thinking about it, it would be more reliable to have Old Ge take action.
Shang Jianyao truthfully replied:
"I thought they were going to notify Xiao Chong, but it doesn't seem like it."
Xiao Chong might still be playing games in the city... Jiang Baimian slowly exhaled and said:
"Xiao Hong, Xiao Bai, get two sets of exoskeletons out.
"Wei and I, Old Ge, will chase after them and see if we can stop them in time."
In the mountains, at this distance, it's almost impossible to catch up with two aberrant creatures without exoskeletons.
"Then I'll go first." Genaeva said without delay.
"Okay." Jiang Baimian had the same intention.
After listening to Shang Jianyao's description of the location, Genaeva immediately rushed to the castle wall, pressed his hand against it, and soared into the air.
Under the stunned gaze of the patrolling soldiers, he jumped directly outside and ran towards the target area.
ββAt this moment, the gate of the Advance Camp was closed.
Wang Fugui on the fourth floor of the castle's main building was also stunned for several seconds when he saw this scene.
"It's so good to have a robot..." he sighed with envy.
Using the moonlight, he observed Genaeva's destination, and found it stopped dozens of meters away, not knowing what it was looking for.
After a long time, Wang Fugui, who didn't gain anything, shifted his gaze back and refocused on the area where the "Old Task Force" had parked.
Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian had just put on their military exoskeletons and were moving their limbs to get used to the state.
"This..." Wang Fugui's eyeballs almost popped out.
He knew that this team had a background, was strong, and had a lot of equipment, but he didn't expect them to have so much equipment and be so strong.
And they aren't even too old models... What kind of people are these... Watching Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao run towards the castle wall, Wang Fugui also pressed his hand against it, jumped up, and flew over the four-meter-high wall.
The patrolling soldiers stared blankly, not daring to stop him.
They felt that this was the most humiliating day for the castle wall.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao quickly arrived next to Genaeva.
"There are hoof prints, but they disappeared in that forest." Genaeva pointed to a dense forest.
It was overgrown with weeds and complex terrain, making it very difficult to find clues.
"Forget it." Jiang Baimian exhaled.
With Genaeva around, there was still some hope of tracking the traces, but it was unknown how much time it would take.
And Nightmare Horse and Sleepy Cat couldn't stay still all the time. With that time, they would have long been out of tracking range.
Jiang Baimian then looked around and turned to Shang Jianyao and said:
"Nightmare Horse wasn't really tricked here by your imitation of the white wolf's howl, was it?"
There is still some difference between a human's wolf howl and a wolf's howl.
If Nightmare Horse was really fooled by this, it would simply be a disgrace to the aberrant creature world.
"There's no other possibility." Shang Jianyao said with a proud expression.
Jiang Baimian "hmm"ed and muttered to herself in confusion:
"But why did it make Sleepy Cat deal with me instead of you?"
It was Shang Jianyao who tricked people, no, tricked the horse!
Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and said seriously:
"Maybe you're more charming."
"Huh?" No matter how quick-witted Jiang Baimian was, she couldn't understand what this guy meant. Genaeva couldn't analyze it either.
Shang Jianyao explained seriously:
"Nightmare Horse heard the white wolf's howl and came over, but didn't find the target. And you are the most charming person in the area where the sound came from, so it thought you had abducted the white wolf, preventing them from being in love with each other, so it started targeting you.
"You know, it's not too bright, after all, it's just a horse."
"..." On the one hand, Jiang Baimian felt that this explanation was bizarre to the extreme, but on the other hand, she vaguely suspected that this might be the truth.
After several seconds, she exhaled and said:
"Let's go back, hopefully they can understand what you mean by being Xiao Chong's friend."
The group of three returned to the castle wall, which served as the Advance Camp, and easily jumped in by pressing their hands against it.
The patrolling soldiers pretended not to see anything.
After exchanging information about the situation with Long Yuehong and Bai Chen, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao took off their exoskeletons and continued their night watch.
After several rotations, a faint glimmer of light appeared on the horizon.
After breakfast, the members of the "Old Task Force" separately asked everyone in the Advance Camp if they had seen a creature similar to Nightmare Horse.
This time, no matter who it was, they were all polite and had a good attitude towards them.
"Have you seen a horse? Black, not as tall as me, the color of its mane and tail is like blood that has been congealed for a long time, and its eyes are similar..." After asking a lot of people, Shang Jianyao found the owner of the camp's hotel.
They hadn't actually seen Nightmare Horse, and all descriptions of Nightmare Horse's appearance came from Qiao Chu.
The hotel owner was also quite old, with graying temples. He said in confusion:
"I've seen it, did you lose it?"
"Where did you see it?" Shang Jianyao asked excitedly, and Jiang Baimian also became energized.
The owner recalled and said:
"It has a special appearance, so I have a deep impression.
"Some time ago, we were short of livestock to transport supplies to the mountains, so we asked the wanderers from the surrounding gathering points for help. Someone brought over such a horse.
"It worked very hard, and I even wanted to buy it, but that person wouldn't sell it."
Vehicles have difficulty traveling in many places in the mountains, so they can only rely on livestock to transport supplies, or humans to carry them on their shoulders.
"After that period of work, it was taken away." The owner continued, "I paid a total of 15 ore in coins."
Jiang Baimian listened blankly, wondering if the owner had mistaken the horse.
Nightmare Horse actually came to the Advance Camp to do hard labor and transport supplies?
This is a rather powerful aberrant creature!
After Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao repeatedly asked, the owner said that there was indeed such a horse.
"I understand!" Shang Jianyao suddenly clenched his right fist and hit his left palm.
"What?" Jiang Baimian asked subconsciously.
Shang Jianyao replied seriously:
"It's working to earn money."
"Huh? Why?" Jiang Baimian couldn't understand at all.
Shang Jianyao said with a gratified expression:
"To earn rent, electricity, and water bills for Xiao Chong."
He seemed to think that raising a pet to this extent was already enviable.
"..." Jiang Baimian once again had the feeling that although this was bizarre, it happened to a bizarre creature, so it might not be impossible.
But, does the dignified "King of the Heartless" also have to pay rent, water, and electricity bills?
At this time, the hotel owner looked at them in confusion and said:
"The Xiao Chong you're talking about, is that the person who brought it?"