Jiang Baimian looked at Zhou Yue's smiling face and remained silent for a long time.
In the yellowish light of the bulb, she abandoned all extraneous thoughts and said to herself:
"I once read a lot of information. They came from certain wasteland wanderer settlements, some were private diaries, some were production records, some were distribution lists.
"Through them, I seemed to see groups of humans in that chaotic and harsh era, surviving with less-than-clean water sources, less-than-productive farmland, and abandoned towns and villages.
"I could feel their heartfelt joy when they finally found clean water sources or water purification chips, the pride they felt when they painstakingly cleared ditches to lay the foundation for next year's planting, the happiness they felt when they had a good harvest or hunted enough beasts, the value they placed on every sacrifice, and the relief at protecting the settlements.
"Looking at these materials, I felt like I had joined them, sharing the satisfaction of creating something from nothing."
Zhou Yue listened intently:
"And then?"
Jiang Baimian looked down at the corpse and smiled:
"Later, a 'Heartless Disease' broke out, and many people lost their minds overnight, turning into beasts and attacking the companions who had fought alongside them.
"The settlements that so many people had built up little by little were destroyed in the blink of an eye, leaving only some materials to tell of their efforts and struggles.
"If we had discovered it later, perhaps those materials would have been scattered in the wind.
"Well, some had epidemics, some had climate change that brought famine, and some were breached by bandit groups or large forces after exhausting all their efforts to resist, but these were better compared to the sudden outbreak of 'Heartless Disease' and the lack of any effective way to fight it."
Zhou Yue opened her mouth, unsure whether to sigh or say, "Everywhere is a dream, why take it seriously."
Just then, she heard Jiang Baimian's tone become a little ethereal:
"That's why I've always wanted to figure out the pathogenesis and transmission mechanism of 'Heartless Disease', to understand the cause of the Old World's destruction, otherwise all efforts will eventually become futile.
"Even if this is just a dream, I will try my best to change it before I wake up."
Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian gave a self-deprecating smile:
"Rebuilding order, restoring production, and changing the environment are also important components of saving the world, but these are things that big forces do, and it's not our concern.
"We can only set ourselves a seemingly unrealistic goal."
At this moment, Shang Jianyao raised his head, looked at Zhou Yue, and asked with a smile:
"So, will you join us in saving all of humanity?"
Anyone else would have secretly sneered at this point, but Zhou Yue, adhering to the philosophy of "Everywhere is a dream, why take it seriously," replied with a smile:
"We are also saving all of humanity.
"Our goal is to have everyone believe in 'Shattered Mirror', serve Him, please Him, and ultimately, with His help, escape the dream and enter a new world without 'Heartless Disease', without war, without epidemics, and without famine."
Since Zhou Yue didn't laugh at her ideals, Jiang Baimian didn't say anything like "self-reliance" or "don't put your hope on the illusory Grand Arbiters." She smiled and said:
"Then let's see which of us succeeds sooner."
"Want to have a competition?" Shang Jianyao helped add a question.
Zhou Yue shook her head and said with a smile:
"No matter which of us succeeds, it's a good thing. There's no need to compete."
Saying that, she sighed:
"With the strength your team has shown, you definitely won't have to worry about food sources in the Graylands. You can find a large force to settle down and live a better and more stable life, like, for example, Tarnan."
"But maybe one day, they will get 'Heartless Disease'." Jiang Baimian looked at Shang Jianyao, "And I don't know if it will be my turn next. There's no way to prevent it, no way to cure it, and no way to figure out who it will 'draw'."
Perhaps it is because of this unknown fear that those people within the major forces who have initially solved the problem of food and clothing are also developed into believers by various sects, whether openly or secretly.
In the Graylands, almost no group really has a sense of security.
If you really want to find one, the employees of Pangu Biology barely count.
Zhou Yue was speechless for a moment, and after a while, she said:
"I just wanted to express my admiration for your strength."
"You could tell?" Shang Jianyao was "surprised."
Jiang Baimian jokingly added:
"We don't seem to have done anything?"
Except for knocking out a bunch of people in the Wild Pigeon Bar to prevent them from being affected by hallucinations and killing each other, and holding their own defensive zone for a day and a night without letting the Advanced Heartless breach it, the Old Task Force hadn't really exerted its strength.
Zhou Yue replied casually:
"Being able to survive after he repeatedly exerted hallucinatory influences, being able to have him proactively create illusions derived from Jiang Xiaoyue's mental world, being able to deduce and interpret the hidden information behind it, and being able to stay and guard without fear of danger, all show that you have both brains and confidence in your own strength."
"He" refers to the Advanced Heartless on the ground.
"Maybe it's just a wild guess, and we're reckless." Shang Jianyao offered another possibility.
"Teams that are both reckless and brainless don't live to see today." Zhou Yue smiled and glanced at the guy.
As the Abbot of Nanke Temple and a Dream Weaver of the Mirage Dragon Cult, she had this much discernment, but she just couldn't remember faces.
"That's because our name is good." Shang Jianyao had a logically consistent theory.
Jiang Baimian held back her laughter, preparing to see how Zhou Yue would respond.
Zhou Yue's mouth twitched slightly. After thinking about it, she decided not to continue arguing with the other party.
There was no need to be so serious.
The three of them were silent at times and chatted a few words at other times, guarding the corpse of the Advanced Heartless until the sky began to brighten.
Looking at the gradually emerging outline of the Taoist temple's courtyard, Jiang Baimian took out her phone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" Genaeva's slightly synthetic baritone came from the other end of the line.
"Chief Genaeva, the problem is solved. You can send someone over to handle the follow-up matters." After Jiang Baimian finished speaking, she added, "Well, it's also possible that what we experienced was just an illusion. Be careful on the road and don't abandon the protection of the mirror."
Genaeva was silent for two seconds and said:
"Okay."
...
At nine o'clock in the morning, after confirming that the Advanced Heartless was really dead and that Tarnan was no longer affected by the illusion, the local residents, foreign hunters, and caravan members who had previously evacuated to Hexi returned to Hedong with their respective supplies.
Seeing Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian coming out of Nanke Temple, they nodded to them one after another to express their respect.
They had all heard that it was these two relic hunters and Zhou Yue, the Abbot of Nanke Temple, who stayed behind last night and solved the Advanced Heartless. And earlier, they had also saved a bar full of people.
"You are now celebrities in Tarnan." As soon as Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao opened the Jeep's door and sat in the back row, Long Yuehong turned his head and smiled.
He was sitting in the passenger seat.
Shang Jianyao emphasized:
"We."
"Yes, it is our Qian Bai team that has become famous in Tarnan." Jiang Baimian understood very well what Shang Jianyao wanted to express.
Bai Chen, who was driving, couldn't help but whisper:
"Why is it still the Qian Bai team?"
She had always been the most low-key member of the team.
"Because you are the only 'Intermediate Hunter'." Jiang Baimian replied with a smile.
Then, she and Shang Jianyao recounted their experiences last night, focusing on the three things: "consciousness infection", "503", and "the Advanced Heartless committed suicide by jumping off the building".
At the end, Jiang Baimian couldn't help but sigh:
"I even want to join a certain sect and try their mass ceremony to see if I can awaken.
The secret hidden in Room 503 of the Mental Corridor must be significant..."
And now, it seemed that only Shang Jianyao could explore that place in the future.
Hearing this, Shang Jianyao seriously suggested:
"Should our team join the Crucible Church together and receive baptism?"
Taking a sauna should be quite enjoyable... Jiang Baimian was a little tempted.
Anyway, she would just believe casually, mainly for the sake of awakening, and had no piety towards the Scorching Gate.
"That's a way..." Bai Chen muttered as she drove.
Long Yuehong in the passenger seat was a little scared and weakly asked:
"Should we first file a report with the company?"
"Haha, just joking, just joking." Jiang Baimian laughed dryly.
Bai Chen turned and asked:
"Did you tell Genaeva all the details?"
"No." Jiang Baimian shook her head, "We discussed it with Abbot Zhou, and only mentioned the general development, without specifically mentioning the consciousness infection brought about by Jiang Xiaoyue's mental world and the intelligence that the Advanced Heartless desperately transmitted."
"Mm." Long Yuehong had expected this.
After all, this could be considered a secret of the Mirage Dragon Cult.
At this moment, he heard Shang Jianyao lower his voice:
"Will we be silenced?"
Long Yuehong was shocked and felt that this was not impossible.
"If it were another sect, I think we really couldn't be careless." Jiang Baimian said with a smile, "But the Mirage Dragon Cult, uh, everywhere is a dream, why take it seriously?"
"That's true." Long Yuehong thought of Abbot Zhou's appearance and performance, and felt that she couldn't or wouldn't be able to commit murder and silence them.
As they spoke, the Jeep drove back to Youmeng Inn.
As soon as the four of them entered the hall, Aino, the landlady who was huddled at the front desk, stood up and asked with a curious face:
"Did you solve that Advanced Heartless yesterday?
"He was so strong..."
Before the landlady could finish her sentence, Shang Jianyao asked in confusion:
"How do you know he was strong?"
"Just, just, heard it! Everyone is saying that this Advanced Heartless is very strong and different from the previous ones." Aino stuttered and organized her words.
Why are you stuttering... Jiang Baimian had an idea and replied with a smile:
"We can't count it as us solving it. This matter is deeply related to the Mirage Dragon Cult.
"By the way, have you encountered other Advanced Heartless before?"