Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Genaeva arrived at Forkas's residence almost ten minutes ahead of schedule, and the open space here was already crowded with hundreds of people.
They were either gathered around the gray-green military vehicles or standing in straight lines, at attention.
Jiang Baimian found a guard stationed outside the iron gate and asked him to report to General Forkas that the ruins hunter team hired by the Zhao family had arrived.
About three to five minutes later, a man and a woman came out of the main house and walked along the path in the middle of the lawn.
Both of them were tall, the man over 1.8 meters and the woman just over 1.7 meters. They were both Red River people, wearing gray military uniforms and sporting major's epaulettes.
"The General mentioned you," the man said with a slight nod.
He had short, reddish-brown hair, and the same color eyes. His arm muscles strained his clothing, and he had a cool, stern demeanor.
He immediately looked at Genaeva, who was wearing a cloak:
"And this is?"
"A member of our team, a secret weapon," Jiang Baimian said with a smile.
She emphasized the last few words.
The male major glanced at the three of them:
"You mean, you don't want to remove the cloak for us to inspect?"
"You can come closer to look, but don't let him remove the cloak. There are too many people here, and there might be spies from the 'Antiquity Religion'," Jiang Baimian had already thought of a workaround.
"Yes, he would be embarrassed to take off his clothes in public," Shang Jianyao considerately took Genaeva's dignity into account.
The male major exchanged a look with his female companion, signaling her to be on guard for surprises. He then took two steps forward and approached Genaeva.
At this distance, the height difference between the two minimized the cloak's concealing effect.
The reddish-brown-haired male major then revealed a look of realization.
He turned around, returning to his earlier coolness:
"You didn't need to bring him. We are prepared.
"If you bring him, you must stay away from the General's vehicles later."
"No problem," Jiang Baimian responded with a smile.
The male major looked at her and Shang Jianyao, nodding slightly:
"At your height, you are still too thin and lack sufficient muscle."
The topic change was a bit sudden, and Jiang Baimian couldn't react for a moment, as if standing opposite her was another Shang Jianyao.
The male major added to her:
"If you had muscles like mine, I wouldn't be able to resist pursuing you."
As he spoke, he flexed his elbow, causing his muscles to bulge.
It was exaggerated to the point of almost bursting his clothes.
It's not necessary... Jiang Baimian replied silently.
At this time, Shang Jianyao chuckled:
"Excessive pursuit of muscles often leads to being good-looking but useless."
The male major glanced at him:
"I won't argue with you during the mission. Afterward, we can have a one-on-one fight, you can choose either a fight or an arm wrestle."
Shang Jianyao smiled and pointed at Jiang Baimian:
"You want to arm wrestle me? You can't even beat her!
"Come back after you win against her."
As if you can win against my left hand... Jiang Baimian had a lot to say but couldn't say it.
The muscle man opposite obviously fell into Shang Jianyao's trap.
"Okay," the male major controlled his impulse.
He turned around, passed through the iron gate, and walked towards the main house, preparing to report to General Forkas.
The female major who came with him was a few steps behind and smiled:
"Don't mind him, he is obsessed with muscles and almost changed his sexual orientation because of it."
"He's more impressive than I thought," Shang Jianyao said with genuine admiration.
Seeing the female major's amiable attitude, Jiang Baimian asked:
"What are your names?"
The female major's hair was a dark yellow color, neatly combed into a middle part, with a length just past her ears.
Her features were decent, but like most Red River people, her skin was rough with large pores.
In addition, her face shape was not so soft, very hard and masculine.
She flicked her right hand and said with a smile:
"My name is Cassier, and he is Ducas."
After speaking, Cassier followed Ducas into the General's residence.
At exactly nine o'clock, a gray armored vehicle drove out from inside. Forkas, wearing his crisp general's uniform, waved to the soldiers through the car window.
He saw the jeep and Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao parked in the distance, and nodded slightly, signaling them to follow.
The convoy headed south, out of the Gold Wheat District.
Three to four hundred soldiers were waiting outside the city.
Some were driving tanks, some were holding drones, some were riding motorcycles, some were carrying iron-black combat robots, and some were driving armored vehicles, all fully armed.
This was also an army that accepted Forkas's orders. Added together, the two groups numbered nearly five hundred people.
Dealing with a few cultists hiding in the manor could be described as a huge show of force.
Similar to the company, the directly commanded and mobilized unit is the Action Group, four or five hundred people... Forkas should have obtained permission from the Governor and Commander Beulis, otherwise, such an army acting autonomously in the suburbs would be a very serious mistake... Jiang Baimian looked far through the windshield, trying to use Pangu Biology's model to apply to the situation in First City.
In the First City's organization, this would be a city defense battalion, and the commander would often be a major.
The team advanced towards the manor where Zhao Yixue and Meng Gang were located in an orderly manner, and it didn't take long to reach their destination.
Under Forkas's command, four-fifths of the people and several combat robots spread out to surround the place. The two majors, Ducas and Cassier, led the remaining soldiers and combat robots, together with Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and Genaeva, took out their warrants, and forcibly entered the manor.
After looking at the environment that was small but complete, Jiang Baimian looked back at the armored command vehicle next to a small forest.
This time, Forkas was not reckless and did not lead the search of the manor, but waited in the distance.
"He is qualified enough to be a target of the Antiquity Religion. There is a good chance that this trap is designed to target him... If he doesn't enter the manor, how should the trap unfold? Is the purpose of the manor to lure away the strongest guardian forces around him and create a time difference? Forkas shouldn't be unable to think of this and make corresponding arrangements, and he himself is also very likely to be a strong person..." While following Ducas, Cassier, and others, Jiang Baimian subconsciously thought.
When the servants and slaves in the manor saw the regular army breaking in, they were all scared and shrank back. No one dared to stop them, and the team easily arrived at the main house.
"Any targets found?" Ducas turned his head and asked Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian.
Shang Jianyao shook his head.
The next second, several stewards walked to the door of the main house, waiting respectfully for the officer to speak.
Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up. He rushed to Zhao Shourren's side and asked with a smile:
"Where are Meng Gang, Shen Kui, and Zhao Yixue?"
Seeing it was a brother, Zhao Shourren breathed a sigh of relief and answered with great emotion:
"They went into the basement after breakfast. I don't know what they are doing. Alas, they have been behaving strangely lately!"
"Basement..." Ducas repeated, instructing Zhao Shourren, "Lead the way."
The entrance to the basement was on the first floor of the main house. Jiang Baimian and the others quickly saw the brown wooden door at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
Ducas raised his hand and pressed down, signaling everyone to stop, and then instructed the surrounding soldiers:
"Blow up the door.
"Use flashbangs.
"Fire hypnotic grenades."
He had no intention of forcefully breaking into the basement and fighting head-on.
There's more than just muscle in his brain... Jiang Baimian sighed silently.
Several soldiers immediately moved into the corresponding positions.
Boom!
A shell flew out from a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, blowing the wooden door to pieces, shaking the house a few times, and shattering the glass with a crash.
Immediately afterward, flashbangs were thrown into the basement, and the sudden burst of white light caused most viewers to temporarily lose their sight.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao had already quietly put on sunglasses. Those without sunglasses chose to turn their backs and close their eyes.
After the flashbangs, shells that could release hypnotic gas were fired into the destination one after another.
Without waiting too long, Ducas and Cassier put on gas masks, led soldiers in similar outfits, and rushed into the basement.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao also took the corresponding equipment from the nearby soldiers and followed closely behind to help identify people.
As for Genaeva, hypnotic gas had no effect on him.
The basement of this manor was not too big, about the size of a normal living room. As soon as Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian passed through the broken door, they saw the scene inside.
A circle of people had fallen on the gray-white slate floor. They seemed to be forming a circle, each wearing a black robe and a white mask without facial features, looking quite eerie.
Ducas walked to a black-robed man, squatted down, uncovered the Antiquity Religion's signature mask, and asked Shang Jianyao, raising his head:
"Is this the target?"
"Shen Kui," Shang Jianyao reported the name of the unconscious person.
So smooth? The power of formalized warfare? Jiang Baimian frowned suspiciously.
Ducas uncovered the masks of those people one by one, and Shang Jianyao identified their identities in turn.
But in the end, they found two people missing:
Meng Gang, who had the ability to hypnotize, and Zhao Yixue, the second young master of the Zhao family!