The Tarnan Sect had many members and quite a few Awakened, so Genaver wasn't unfamiliar with them. Perhaps it was because he had done such a good job maintaining law and order in Tarnan that, aside from the "Higher Mindless" illusion they had encountered this time, he didn't usually have the chance to witness the effects of various abilities. He mainly relied on information from the "Mechanical Paradise" public network.

At that moment, he asked somewhat uncertainly:

"Is that so?"

"You can ask them," Shang Jianyao said with a smile.

His gaze was directed at Long Yuehong.

Long Yuehong shivered inexplicably:

"Yes, yes."

Jiang Baimian chimed in:

"In some ways, human consciousness, memory, and self-awareness are also very fragile."

Genaver slowly nodded, no longer raising any questions.

Jiang Baimian continued with a smile:

"Actually, you don't need to think so much right now. Since you're already out, it's best not to bring any preconceived notions. Listen with your heart, look with your eyes, and experience it all. When you've experienced enough, maybe you'll get the answer you're looking for. At that time, mountains will still be mountains, and water will still be water."

Genaver didn't quite understand the last sentence, but he understood what the first part meant. He pondered for a moment and said:

"I will strive to find the answer."

Jiang Baimian smiled, not saying anything more. She turned to Shang Jianyao and the others and said:

"Get in the car."

After figuring out Genaver's confusion, she understood one of the reasons why he hadn't been so insistent on rescuing Susanna and Redes.

...

The next day, the vehicle wasn't too far from Redstone Collection anymore. They were about to enter the Angry Lake area, and they should arrive the day after.

Long Yuehong looked out the window and noticed that the surface of the hills, in the cracks between the rocks, and away from the road, little bits of new green had already sprouted.

"Is winter over?" In his experience, it wasn't spring yet.

Jiang Baimian, who was taking turns driving, explained with a smile:

"This is the south, so it's a bit different from the Blackmarsh Wilderness. The weather warms up earlier."

"And this area is surrounded by mountains on three sides, blocking the cold air and creating a relatively warm zone..." Genaver added from a geographical perspective.

Long Yuehong thoughtfully asked:

"As far as this area is concerned, winter is over?"

The most difficult season on the graylands was finally coming to an end?

"Yes." Bai Chen, who was in the passenger seat, pointed diagonally ahead. "The wanderers are starting to come out to look for food."

Late winter and early spring was the time when food reserves were running out, and new crops hadn't been planted yet. The wilderness wanderers from various settlements began to venture out, living off the land.

As for those whose food didn't last until now, they might have already become members of the refugee population outside the city of Wildgrass.

Following Bai Chen's lead, Long Yuehong saw a few small trucks.

They were battered and old, with several armed people standing in the back.

These people had rather dirty faces, their clothes had obvious patches, and their weapons were mainly homemade shotguns, mixed with rifles and handguns.

Seeing that it was just a jeep of "Old Task Force", this group turned around and approached.

"They want to rob us?" Long Yuehong found it somewhat amusing.

"In this season, robbery is more efficient than hunting," Bai Chen calmly explained.

As soon as she finished speaking, Shang Jianyao had already taken out a blue-and-white megaphone and opened the window beside him.

His voice echoed:

"Abandon illusions, accept reality.

"Turn back now, it's not too late.

"You see, we have a man-portable rocket launcher..."

While repeating these words in Red River language, he glanced at Long Yuehong.

Long Yuehong was tacitly aware of this. He instantly understood and picked up the "Grim Reaper" man-portable rocket launcher, sticking it out of his window so that the wilderness wanderers could see it clearly.

Shang Jianyao continued to shout:

"We also have an auxiliary combat robot..."

As he shouted in both languages, he winked at Genaver, who was squeezed in the middle of the back row.

Genaver hesitated and asked:

"Do you want me to intimidate them?"

Shang Jianyao nodded to indicate that was the idea.

Genaver supported himself on the back of the seat, leaning over Shang Jianyao, trying to stick his head out the window.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian, who was driving, handed over an item.

It was a pair of sunglasses.

Genaver analyzed it slightly and understood what she meant. He took the sunglasses and put them on the bridge of his nose.

In this way, the blue light emanating from his eyes was concealed, and no one would suspect that he was an intelligent robot unless they looked closely.

--During this period of getting along, he had finally figured out one thing:

The real name of Qian Bai's team was "Pangu Biology Old World Destruction Cause Investigation Team". The team leader was not Qian Bai, but this woman who used the pseudonym Xue Shiyue, whose real name was Jiang Baimian.

A woman who could take down an intelligent robot in a one-on-one duel.

Although it relied on a sneak attack, it was still outrageous.

Genaver stuck his head out the window wearing the sunglasses for only a few seconds before the battered little trucks carrying people forcibly turned around and "whooshed" away.

Before long, they disappeared into the hills.

Genaver withdrew his body, took off his sunglasses, and looked at Shang Jianyao, asking very directly:

"Did you use an Awakened ability on them to change their perception?"

"Yes, he can use a megaphone to increase the range of his ability, but he can only do it one-on-one at the moment," Long Yuehong felt that he could answer this question, so he helped Shang Jianyao explain.

Shang Jianyao glanced at him and Genaver, respectively, and asked in confusion:

"When did you get the illusion that I have abilities?"

"Uh..." Long Yuehong was a little stunned.

Shang Jianyao then smiled:

"I just simply scared them a little.

"Think about it, a combat auxiliary robot, a man-portable rocket launcher, can easily take them down. If they still dared to rush up, I would suspect that their brains had been eaten by the 'Mindless'."

Even the "Mindless" who only had animal instincts wouldn't dare to rush up in this situation, unless they were really starving.

Genaver nodded:

"There's really no need to add abilities."

Intimidation and showing strength could produce good results.

Then, he corrected Shang Jianyao:

"You said earlier that it was an auxiliary combat robot."

"Haha, don't worry about the details," Shang Jianyao laughed, reaching out his left hand and putting it on Genaver's left shoulder. "You can't be too rigid in life."

He looked like a good buddy with his arm around Genaver's shoulder.

"You can't be too rigid in life..." Genaver repeated in a tone of having learned something new.

Jiang Baimian, who was driving, couldn't help but frown slightly.

Wouldn't this Shang Jianyao corrupt even the intelligent robot?

As the saying goes, "He who touches pitch shall be defiled therewith," and intelligent robots rely on special learning algorithms to absorb "nutrition" from their surroundings and construct their own cognitive systems, which would reflect this even more.

"Cough." Jiang Baimian cleared her throat. "Genaver, there are universal differences between humans. You can't just look at a single sample, only accept one point of view, you have to contact other humans more."

"I understand." Genaver indicated that he understood, and handed back the sunglasses. "I also tried to communicate and get along with many townspeople and outsiders in Tarnan before, but they were relatively reserved and didn't dare to express themselves much."

After saying that, he sincerely suggested:

"You can call me Old Ge, directly calling my name seems unfamiliar."

"Who taught you to take that nickname?" Jiang Baimian was both surprised and amused.

Genaver explained seriously:

"I analyzed your nicknames and found the pattern, so I took one for myself.

"Well, in this process, I couldn't find any similarity between his nickname and your nicknames, so I can only rule it out first and not use it as a reference."

This referred to Shang Jianyao's "Hey."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Chen, who was in the passenger seat, laughed almost imperceptibly.

Jiang Baimian also couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth:

"I said earlier that there are universal differences between people. His way of thinking is different from ours. You don't have to think too much about it."

Genaver "hmm"ed, and said to himself:

"From the perspective of us intelligent robots, taking nicknames doesn't necessarily follow a pattern. It can also be one's habits or the touch of certain scenes. I lack understanding of him, so I can't analyze it."

As he spoke, he glanced at Shang Jianyao with blue light flashing in his eyes, seemingly to establish a special observation sample to enrich his database.

Shang Jianyao didn't mind this at all. He withdrew his left hand that had been around Genaver's shoulder and shook Genaver's hand heavily:

"Welcome to communicate, let's dance together later."

Genaver himself might be a little resistant to dancing, but thinking about fitting in, he finally agreed:

"Okay."

"..." Jiang Baimian looked at the road ahead and sighed helplessly.

...

Within the city ruins where Redstone Collection was located, silence was still the main theme here.

The jeep drove to the underground shopping mall, which was the entrance to Redstone Collection, and was unexpectedly targeted by guns hidden in the rock walls and cannons in the caves.

"Do you need me to negotiate?" Genaver analyzed the situation and felt that it would be safest and most appropriate for him to come forward.

Before he could finish speaking, Shang Jianyao carelessly pushed open the car door and walked down.

While raising both arms and waving to the people hidden at the entrance of Redstone Collection, Shang Jianyao shouted happily:

"We're back!"

He had already put on that furry-faced, pointed-mouthed mask at some point.