"The Old Task Force" members exchanged glances, each sensing the gravity of the situation.

Well, except for Shang Jianyao. Long Yuehong even thought he might break into song and dance.

"As the office of the center's director, this is the most likely place to hide secrets," Bai Chen said carefully.

The secret to why it became a Buddhist holy site.

The honest Shang Jianyao never cared who he was talking to, always saying what was on his mind:

"This is just a normal situation, but the whole Buddhist holy site thing is abnormal.

"The Changhe City United Steel Factory became a Buddhist holy site because there was a small jade Buddha in Room 302, Building 4, Residential Area 2, and the corpses of Fan Wensi and Li Jinlong; the Tieshan City Second Food Company became a Buddhist holy site because of an ordinary sales manager, Liu Lu, and a former employee who was possibly hit and turned into a vegetable. None of this had anything to do with the steel factory director or the food company general manager."

Long Yuehong tried to refute, but couldn't form the right words, and could only mutter:

"Times change.

"Maybe the anomalies here are related to the center director."

Not giving the honest Shang Jianyao a chance to speak again, Jiang Baimian smoothed things over:

"In any case, this is a very important place, and it can help us further understand the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center."

She then pointed to the office with her chin:

"Go in one by one."

"Team Shield" Long Yuehong stepped forward without hesitation, carrying the "Berserker" assault rifle, and entered the office belonging to the director of the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center.

It was quite large, bigger than Long Yuehong's home, and the floor was covered with a thick gray carpet.

"Luxurious!" Shang Jianyao commented as he entered.

Room 14 on the 627th floor, which belonged to the entire "Old Task Force," was smaller than this.

The left side was occupied by bookshelves, display cabinets, and other items, while the right side was a reception area, consisting of a set of sofas, a coffee table, several chairs, a small bar, and a coat rack.

In the middle, with its back to the floor-to-ceiling windows, was a large, dark black desk and a leather-backed chair.

On the other side of the desk were two ergonomic chairs.

"It looks very comfortable to sit in," Shang Jianyao said, eager to try.

At this moment, Long Yuehong noticed that there were many black marks on the carpet of this office, suspected to be splattered blood.

Corresponding to them, the items on the surface of the large desk in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows were in disarray, with documents, pens, and other things scattered around.

"This should be the traces left by someone who was shot but didn't stop moving," Jiang Baimian said, examining it closely. "The blood dripped all the way to that desk."

The reason she said it was a gunshot wound rather than a slash was that she found several bullet holes on the wall near the entrance.

As she spoke, Jiang Baimian walked step by step towards the large desk. Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen tacitly dispersed, each guarding a direction.

Soon, Jiang Baimian reached her destination and saw that there were many darker areas on the leather-backed chair, and the surrounding carpet was noticeably dirtier than other areas, with black marks everywhere.

Jiang Baimian subconsciously raised her head and looked at the ceiling, finding a large amount of blackness that also appeared to be blood.

"The carotid artery was ruptured, and blood sprayed several meters high?" she muttered to herself.

This was the most reasonable explanation she could think of.

Unfortunately, there were no remains here to prove her judgment.

Jiang Baimian examined the traces at the scene again, turned around, and said to the team members:

"When the Old World was destroyed, many people at the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center turned into 'Heartless.' They chased humans, trying to hunt them, and one of the 'Heartless' broke into here, and the center director, supposedly named Qikov, shot him but didn't kill him on the spot. Instead, he rushed in front of the director, jumped onto the desk, and bit or scratched his carotid artery. After that, the 'Heartless' dragged the corpse away and found another place to enjoy it?"

"Why didn't they die together, benefiting other 'Heartless'?" the honest Shang Jianyao had a different opinion.

Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth:

"You're right."

Bai Chen followed up:

"Did the monks of the 'Crystal Consciousness Sect' ever go up to the second floor or other floors, or enter these rooms?

"Why did they let the documents, books, and pens fall on the ground without tidying them up?

"Did they always go straight to a certain room that truly represented the holy site?"

"I think they did come in," Long Yuehong answered Bai Chen's question. "Otherwise, it's impossible that we've searched for so long and haven't even seen a single corpse."

This was not in line with the law, not in line with the behavior of the "Heartless."

——Although they might drag the corpse to a safer place to hide and enjoy it, they rarely carried heavy objects and traveled long distances. In other words, the corpses of those who died in the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center should still be in this building.

Of course, this was only the behavior of the "Heartless" in the early days of the chaotic era. Later, many relic hunters discovered that with the reduction of "food" and competition from their own kind, the surviving "Heartless" began to form small groups, cooperating and dividing labor. After a successful hunt, they would have one or more members carry the food back to the nest, while the others provided protection.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said:

"Maybe for the monks of the 'Crystal Consciousness Sect,' besides cleaning up the dirty corpses, it's best to keep this holy site in its original state."

She then issued the order:

"Search everywhere and see if there are any clues.

"Finally, let Abbot Pudu recite scriptures and worship Buddha, repeating the attempt on the first floor."

Jiang Baimian called Shang Jianyao Abbot Pudu in a joking tone, but Shang Jianyao became excited:

"Namo Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, am I the first member of the Shang Jianyao Democratic Consultative Conference to be recognized besides the main body?"

"..." Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment, then silently repented, "I was wrong."

The next second, Shang Jianyao "heh"ed:

"Make it clear, who is the main body?"

On this question, the Shang Jianyaos began to argue, arguing so much that Long Yuehong felt that the solemn and serious atmosphere that he had managed to create quickly dissipated.

In the end, Jiang Baimian used the authority of the team leader to stop the Shang Jianyaos' "friendly discussion."

According to the division of labor, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong went to the bookshelves and display cabinets, Bai Chen checked the reception area, and Jiang Baimian focused on the black desk next to her.

She found a place to put down the man-portable rocket launcher and bent down to pick up the documents, books, and pens.

Jiang Baimian quickly flipped through them one by one, finding nothing, so she had to open the desk drawers to look for other clues.

In the process, she tried to turn on the computer placed here—powered by Shang Jianyao—and found that it was completely damaged. She planned to disassemble the corresponding storage components later to see if Gena could recover some data.

Time passed quickly. After a while, Shang Jianyao said without hesitation:

"They are all biographies of celebrities, management experience, horse-raising knowledge, and wine appreciation. There are even fewer scientific books related to genes and reproduction."

"Yes," Long Yuehong echoed. "There are many awards won by the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center in the display cabinet, as well as trophies from golf tournaments, winner's medals from horse races..."

"The reception area is very clean," Bai Chen also gave his search results.

Jiang Baimian was about to respond when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a document in the drawer with the title "Arrangement of Academic Lectures on the Frontier of Gene Research."

She picked it up and flipped through it.

The date marked on it made her perk up:

This academic lecture was two days after the delegation from the Northern Company visited the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center.

Jiang Baimian immediately concentrated her mind and read it carefully from beginning to end.

At this time, the idle Shang Jianyao curiously walked over.

"The first lecture, Research on the Possibility of Genetic Modification... Speaker, Richard Aluwa (Senior Researcher of Northern Company...)"

Jiang Baimian felt that this document was valuable enough just by skimming through the first part.

It showed that after the people from the Northern Company visited the Holmes Reproductive Medical Center, they did not immediately leave the Fafah District and return to their own city, but stayed for a few days and held a joint lecture.

Jiang Baimian didn't quickly read on, but instead raised her head and said in a deep voice:

"You guys increase your vigilance."

Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao simultaneously entered a state of high alert.

Among them, Shang Jianyao occasionally poked his head towards Jiang Baimian, trying to take a few glances.

Jiang Baimian read through the daily arrangements item by item, remembered the names of some researchers, and confirmed that the owner of this office was indeed that man named Qikov.

At the end of the document were more than a dozen special guests. According to the annotations next to them, they were either scientists in related fields, representatives of several companies in the genetic industry, or people with government backgrounds.

Jiang Baimian read the names one by one and found that there were several Ashlanders among them.

Their Red River language names were followed by parentheses, indicating the transliterated Ashland language names and corresponding positions.

"Caitlin," Jiang Baimian habitually spelled out the name of the first Ashland guest, "Sui, Lin..."

According to the naming habits of the Ashlanders, it should be reversed. That is to say, Caitlin's correct name was Lin Sui.

Shang Jianyao quickly corrected:

"Sui, Lin.

"Lin Sui!"

Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment, her eyes widened slightly:

"Lin Sui?"

The genius scientist who had been on the *People* magazine?

This was the name that Shang Jianyao had seen in the psychological shadow corresponding to the ruins of Tieshan City!

"It feels like it," Shang Jianyao nodded sincerely.

Jiang Baimian quickly scanned the identity of the suspected Lin Sui:

"Young scientist of Northern Company, member of the Major Projects Committee."

And Jiang Baimian had previously noticed that Oak, the vice president of Northern Company, was also a special guest. He also had the title of "Deputy Director of the Major Projects Committee."

"Lin Sui is actually from Northern Company?" Jiang Baimian said to herself while quickly browsing the next few names.

Among them, the one at the end had no Red River text name, only a transliteration of the Ashland language.

Jiang Baimian carefully spelled them out:

"Heng, Du..."

Reaching this point, her eyes suddenly widened, her expression became extremely serious, and then she said the name:

"Du Heng..."