Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao sideways, without reprimanding "Can you handle it?" "What are you going to use to handle it?" nor asking "How do you plan to handle it?" She said quite calmly:
“Let’s discuss it when we get back.”
Shang Jianyao nodded, not refuting.
Only then did Long Yuehong react, his first thought being:
This guy’s having another episode.
However, when he has an episode, he always likes to say "we," why did he only say "I" this time... In an instant, Long Yuehong felt puzzled, but vaguely, he understood why Shang Jianyao only emphasized "I."
He feels this is his personal behavior and doesn’t intend to involve us, going to handle it alone? Long Yuehong silently exhaled, remaining silent like Bai Chen.
Genaver looked left and right and also chose silence.
Back in the Red Wolf Zone, back at their rented place, Jiang Baimian slowly took out her waterskin, took a sip, and then looked at Shang Jianyao and said:
“At times like this, we must never forget that we have a background, that we have a large force backing us.
“The most important thing for us to do right now is to report today’s findings to the company, propose the idea of taking action against that man in sunglasses, and see how the company responds, whether they will allocate resources to help.
“I think the directors on the board and those big shots in the ‘New World’ should know better than us how dangerous these kinds of ‘Nightmares’ are, and what the chances of success are if we try to forcibly interfere.
“If they agree with our idea, then it means there is some hope.”
“Okay.” Long Yuehong answered before Shang Jianyao could.
Shang Jianyao didn’t object.
When the agreed time arrived, Jiang Baimian turned on the radio transceiver, but received no telegrams.
She quickly sent out the draft telegram she had prepared earlier and turned around to say:
“The directors probably won’t be working overtime, let’s see if there’s a reply tomorrow.
“Uh… I know you’re anxious, but there are still forty-five minutes until the agreed time ends, so let’s wait.”
Jiang Baimian said the last sentence to Shang Jianyao, who was sometimes "life is but a dream, why take it seriously," and sometimes recklessly pacing back and forth.
She left the radio on and took out the information provided by the True Self Church, seriously studying the garrison intelligence around the No. 13 Ruins in the wasteland.
Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and others found things to do, while Shang Jianyao tried to use a small speaker, only to be glared back by Jiang Baimian.
As time ticked by, a telegram suddenly came in.
“The company actually replied? That’s efficient!” Jiang Baimian was quite surprised.
Her first reaction was that it might be in response to her previous telegram, regarding the encounter with the "Nightmare."
But after thinking about it carefully, she felt that it was impossible.
If that were the case, a telegram should have come in earlier!
The board of directors would have made a decision during the day, not waited until the evening.
Upon hearing this, Shang Jianyao looked pleased:
“The directors still work overtime!”
“It’s not necessarily overtime, they have a rotation system.” Jiang Baimian was quite familiar with this.
The rotation system doesn’t mean that the directors have to stay up all night like employees, but that if there are urgent matters at night, there must be a director who can be contacted immediately.
As she spoke, Jiang Baimian copied the code and began to translate it into text:
“Can try…”
Reading this, Jiang Baimian said in surprise:
“The directors actually agreed to us taking action against that man in sunglasses!”
This shows that, after research and judgment, the director on duty today and the directors he communicated with believed that the Old Task Force had a certain chance of overcoming the threat of the "Nightmare," completing this mission, and obtaining valuable information.
At least Jiang Baimian didn’t think that with Shang Jianyao’s level and the strength of the Old Task Force, they would be so easily abandoned by the board of directors.
At the same time, Jiang Baimian hadn’t said all along:
After experiencing the second gaze of "You Gu" and the illusionary changes in the No. 2 Food Company in Tieshan City, she felt that they might be carrying the "expectations" of a certain or several Ruling Gods, and would not be so easily abandoned before their value was exhausted.
Seeing Shang Jianyao beaming, Long Yuehong couldn’t help but retort:
“Could it be a hasty decision made by a director?”
“Who knows?” Jiang Baimian casually replied.
In fact, based on her understanding of the board of directors and the high-level system, this possibility was quite low.
Because before the on-duty telegraph operator reported upward with "urgent matters," he would complete backup documents, send emails to all directors, and a series of other things.
Unless the director on duty insisted on having his own way and was willing to bear the subsequent blame, he would not easily make a decision and would have to go through collective discussion.
Of course, if things were so urgent that they could not be delayed, it would be another matter, but this was obviously not the case.
Jiang Baimian continued to translate the subsequent telegram content:
“The hidden risks in this matter are very high. You need to constantly assess the situation and be prepared to interrupt the action at any time.
“If you are in danger, the ‘Angel of Life’ necklace.”
The sentence that followed was a bit disjointed, and Long Yuehong frowned and blurted out:
“Huh?”
Jiang Baimian chuckled:
“The company isn’t giving us any extra resources, just mentioning the ‘Angel of Life’ necklace?”
That’s too stingy, right?
Bai Chen listened quietly and recalled:
“I remember that the company modified that ‘Angel of Life’ necklace.”
“Yes.” The rash Shang Jianyao smiled, “Saying that the foreign aura in my Sea of Origin is deteriorating, and if it causes an accident, I can also put the aura in the necklace into the Sea of Origin and let him deal with those outsiders.”
“Tch, you guessed that yourself!” The honest Shang Jianyao retorted.
The company didn’t say it explicitly.
Jiang Baimian followed with a smile:
“This seems to be at least the aura deep in the Mind Corridor, and may even come from a strong person in the New World, otherwise the company wouldn’t say that we can rely on the ‘Angel of Life’ necklace if we are in danger.”
So that’s how it is… Long Yuehong breathed a slight sigh of relief.
“When are we taking action?” Shang Jianyao was already impatient.
The honest Genaver replied:
“At least we have to wait until dawn.”
“Why can’t we take advantage of the night?” The honest Shang Jianyao asked back.
Jiang Baimian hurriedly “hmm”ed:
“Tomorrow, rent another car, split into two teams, and disguise ourselves. Go to the alley where the target entered to track his whereabouts, find out where he lives, and collect various intelligence along the way to try to grasp what special features the target has in advance.”
Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian smiled:
“Actually, the True Self Church and the Dawnlight aren’t unwilling to do further investigations into the ‘Nightmare’ matter, it’s just that they want to have enough certainty. We should try to create such a situation so that they also join in.
“Don’t be repulsed. The more friends, the weaker the enemy!
“And if things are impossible, never be brave, because it’s not just you who will die, but most likely us, as well as tens of thousands of innocent people in the Green Olive Zone.”
Jiang Baimian said the last sentence while staring at Shang Jianyao.
Shang Jianyao was silent for a while:
“Okay.”
Then, it was unknown which Shang Jianyao added:
“If this doesn’t work, I’ll try again when I grow up!”
…………
The next morning, Green Olive Zone.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao, who had changed their disguises, drove a common, old car into the alley where the man in the black sunglasses had disappeared.
Various buildings lined both sides, and the road was only wide enough for one car to pass.
Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genaver drove the Old Task Force’s jeep, circling the area, secretly observing whether Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao’s tracking would lead to abnormalities, and where those abnormalities came from.
After driving for a while, Jiang Baimian stopped the car and sent Shang Jianyao to ask the owner of a nearby grocery store.
Shang Jianyao put on his sunglasses, walked over, and said seriously:
“Give me a bag of salt.”
In the resource-scarce Green Olive Zone, this was called a grocery store, but it didn’t sell much. Salt was one of the most prominent items.
After paying with one hand and receiving the goods with the other, Shang Jianyao smiled:
“You see:
“I patronized your business;
“I didn’t haggle;
“So…”
The Hongan owner immediately lowered his voice, suspiciously, and said:
“What do you want to do?”
“Have you seen someone like this?” Shang Jianyao described him in detail before taking out Genaver’s portrait of the target.
The owner only glanced at it and replied:
“I’ve seen him, he’s the only one I’ve seen wearing sunglasses at night!
“Every time, he walks to the end of the alley and turns right.”
Having gained something, Shang Jianyao returned to the car and repeated the owner’s words verbatim.
The focus of Jiang Baimian’s attention wasn’t the target’s whereabouts, but something else.
She muttered to herself in confusion:
“Still wearing sunglasses at night?
“Then what’s the point of him wearing sunglasses to cover up the feature of having different-sized eyes?”
Different-sized eyes and wearing sunglasses at night are both features, but the latter is more obvious!
After hearing this, Shang Jianyao stroked his chin:
“If it were me, I would choose to wear tinted plain glasses, so others wouldn’t pay too much attention to whether I have different-sized eyes.”
And wearing glasses at night, no one would think there’s a problem.
After he finished speaking, the honest Shang Jianyao chuckled:
“Isn’t it allowed for someone to have low intelligence?”
ps: Asking for monthly votes at the beginning of the month~