"Old Task Force" stayed another day in the outer area of the Iron Mountain ruins, still without waiting for that special "Higher Mindless," and then they broke camp and headed north to First City, preparing to explore the Holm Reproductive Medical Center within the No. 13 wasteland ruins.

After driving around various polluted areas and dangerous zones for nearly two days, Genava glanced at the wilderness outside:

"There's a wanderer settlement nearby. Should we go over and replenish some supplies?"

This was a place he had passed by when he went south from First City before.

As for this wilderness, Bai Chen was not familiar with it because she had never been here.

Jiang Baimian in the co-pilot seat thought for a moment and said:

"We can."

Although the "Old Task Force's" jeep had been modified with a wider trunk, three sets of military exoskeletons and two bionic intelligent armors still took up a lot of space. Adding bullets, grenades, hand grenades, rockets, high explosives, and spare weapons, there wasn't much room left for other supplies.

With the help of real "intelligent navigation," the jeep passed through a small forest and several round hills, arriving at a settlement built on the terrain and old-world ruins.

When the vehicle was a little over a hundred meters from its destination, Shang Jianyao suddenly sat up straight:

"There's no one inside."

"Did they migrate?" Bai Chen guessed as she slowed down.

This was quite common in the graylands. Every few years, or even less, wilderness wanderers would leave their current settlements and migrate to safer places due to exposed location information, drastic weather changes, environmental problems, mutated creatures, and changes in the hunting range of "Mindless."

"Impossible." Genava gave a definite answer. "When I passed by before, they were farming in the fields behind the settlement."

Humans about to migrate would not do such a waste of resources.

The honest Shang Jianyao immediately retorted:

"Maybe the 'First City' slave-catching team discovered them in the last few days."

Forcing them to migrate in a hurry.

During the exchange between a carbon-based human and a silicon-based human, the jeep approached its destination.

"There are indeed no human bioelectrical signals," Jiang Baimian confirmed Shang Jianyao's earlier discovery.

The settlement's gate was made of wooden logs, and at this time, one side was half-closed, and the other was open.

Bai Chen swept her gaze and said in a deep voice:

"There's blood underground."

Her observation position was better than Genava, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao, while Jiang Baimian was focused on sensing.

The "Old Task Force" members looked in the direction of her voice and saw several pools of blood outside the gate that had turned dark red and black.

This gave Long Yuehong a bad feeling.

He remembered the encounter in Black Rat Town.

"Attacked?" Jiang Baimian stopped the jeep.

She slung a grenade launcher over her shoulder, held a man-portable rocket launcher, and stepped out of the car.

Shang Jianyao and the others followed closely behind, entering the settlement one by one.

Some of the houses here originated from the Old World and were later renovated to a certain extent. Others were newly built of wood. The mix of these two styles brought a unique charm.

Like what Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian sensed, there were no humans here, but many places had obvious bloodstains.

They were either splashed on the walls or scattered far on the ground. They could be seen around almost all the houses.

A massacre… the thought naturally emerged in Long Yuehong's mind.

During the subsequent search, he accumulated some doubts:

Since a massacre was suspected, why were there no corpses here, only occasional fingers, rotten flesh, and other things?

It couldn't be that the wilderness wanderers settled here were all blown to pieces, right?

Even if that were the case, the amount of residual flesh and blood didn't match up!

Moreover, all the weapons in the settlement were gone, including choppers and other items.

In addition, quilts, blankets, clothes, and various foods had also disappeared without a trace.

--These things must have existed originally, otherwise, the wilderness wanderers in the settlement would not have been able to survive the winter.

However, there were metal objects accumulated in each house for trading other resources, as well as two fuel generators.

After checking, Bai Chen pursed her lips and said:

"The initial judgment is that it was attacked by a group of 'Mindless'."

Seeing Long Yuehong's puzzled expression, she explained simply:

"If it were a gang of robbers or a slave-catching team, the generators and metal objects would not be left behind. These are sometimes more valuable than slaves.

"If it were mutated creatures or other wild beasts, they would not take weapons, clothes, quilts, and blankets.

"Only an attack by a group of 'Mindless' would leave such a scene."

Speaking of this, Bai Chen concluded:

"Many wilderness wanderers believe that the 'Mindless' who lack food in winter are the most aggressive and dangerous, but the 'Mindless' in spring are the same. After the long winter, the 'Mindless' who can still survive have often exhausted their food and are in urgent need of replenishment."

Jiang Baimian had only experienced incidents of "Mindless" groups attacking human settlements a few times when she was serving in other teams of the Safety Department. With their help, those settlements attached to "Pangu Biology" had survived the crisis without encountering such a catastrophic disaster.

At this time, she sighed:

"The wanderers who can survive in the wilderness will not be lax in such matters. It seems they were crushed by strength..."

"It's also possible that there wasn't a powerful 'Mindless' group here originally, and a group suddenly migrated here after the beginning of spring," Bai Chen recalled the situations she had encountered and heard about.

Jiang Baimian glanced at the silent Shang Jianyao, not knowing what to say for a moment.

"Now, what do we do?" Long Yuehong asked.

Exchanging supplies was obviously impossible. He wanted to ask whether to rest here for a while and set off again tomorrow, or to continue on the road while it was still early.

Shang Jianyao suddenly turned his head and asked Genava:

"Are there any other wilderness wanderer settlements nearby?"

"There are three within twenty kilometers," Genava replied.

Bai Chen followed closely and said:

"They should not have been attacked yet.

"The food harvested from here is enough for those 'Mindless' to survive for a long time. Under such circumstances, their aggressiveness will be greatly reduced."

This was just like how many wild beasts, after eating their fill, are lazy and don't want to attack people.

Moreover, hunting too much in one breath, without being able to preserve it for a long time, would be a great waste. For the "Mindless," whose intelligence is slightly higher than that of wild beasts, it would be better to continue "ranching."

Shang Jianyao laughed and took the initiative to suggest:

"Do you want to eliminate that 'Mindless' group?"

"With the strength they have shown, if they launch an attack, the other three settlements should not be able to resist either..." Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and said, "We can try, but we can't be reckless."

For the current "Old Task Force," this was something that could be done without much effort and would not be too difficult.

…………

Near dusk, when the clouds in the sky were still fiery red, after Genava and Long Yuehong collected, compared, and analyzed environmental information, the "Old Task Force" tracked down the target group.

They were hiding inside a larger hill, occupying a hidden cave.

Genava put on the "Chameleon" bionic intelligent armor and sneaked closer to do a careful observation.

"There are four 'Mindless' acting as guards at the cave entrance. Their weapons are hunting rifles, rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns," Genava returned to the jeep and reported.

"Their weapons are not weak… The harvest from looting the previous wilderness wanderer settlement?" Jiang Baimian said, half in doubt and half with emotion.

Bai Chen pursed her lips and said:

"That's one aspect. On the other hand, judging from the previous scene, their own firepower was not weak either."

Genava continued:

"From time to time, a unique aura overflows from the cave, causing the four 'Mindless' acting as guards to tremble with fear."

"Tremble with fear?" Jiang Baimian muttered to herself.

"A 'Higher Mindless'?" Shang Jianyao was a little excited.

Long Yuehong suddenly understood:

"No wonder they were able to crush the previous wilderness wanderer settlement."

This group of "Mindless" was not only well-equipped with firepower, but also had a leader equivalent to an Awakened!

"In that case, their origins are likely to be problematic to a certain extent," Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully.

The number of "Higher Mindless" was quite small. They only appeared in large city ruins after there were tens of thousands of "Mindless." According to Genava's observation, there were no more than fifty "Mindless" in this cave.

Of course, there were exceptions to this. No matter how small the probability, it meant that it could happen.

After pondering slightly, Jiang Baimian issued an order:

"Put on your equipment and prepare for unexpected situations.

"Bai, enter the sniper position; Xiao Hong, you and Lao Ge rush ahead, and I'll support you; Hey, you influence the back and control the whole situation."

After a busy time, Bai Chen, wearing her military exoskeleton, followed Genava to a sniper spot he had found during his reconnaissance.

This was located on a half-withered tree, where they could see the four "Mindless" guarding the cave entrance from nearly 300 meters away.

ps: Recommend a book, Xiao Long's *Mink Street No. 13*, still the familiar style, still the familiar taste.

The description is: I like to sit on the empty streets at night, listening to the whispers of "them" and enjoying the hustle and bustle of "them."