Lowering her head to look at the map and the branch crown that had fallen beside it, and thinking of Han Wanghuo's account of the origin of the Fishmen and Hill Monsters, Jiang Baimian was silent for several seconds before laughing self-deprecatingly:
"How come I feel like I've really become a villain?"
Without waiting for Shang Jianyao to respond, she sighed again:
"But the townspeople of Redstone Town aren't wrong to defend their homes now..."
…………
"This damn world!"
Watching the Hill Monster in front of him completely lose its breath and turn into a corpse, Long Yuehong was silent for a long time before cursing in a low voice.
He stood up, walked back to Bai Chen's side, and reloaded the grenade launcher while sincerely sighing:
"I'm beginning to understand Shang Jianyao's ideal of saving all mankind more and more."
Han Wanghuo, who was not too far away from them, had sharp ears and looked over in surprise.
After equating the three words "Shang Jianyao" with that strange young man, he felt that everything was so natural.
It wouldn't be strange for such a person to have any kind of ideal.
Bai Chen had heard the last words of the Hill Monster before, and replied upon hearing this:
"Other people's grievances and right and wrong have nothing to do with us. It's enough for me to do my own thing."
She paused, then added:
"How can we save all of mankind with just a few of us?
"Even if we possessed an ability as benevolent as Song the Awakened, and were a hundred or a thousand times stronger, allowing the humans in this area to trust each other and stop killing each other, everything would slowly return to its original state after we left."
Because Han Wanghuo and another member of the Town Guard were present, she changed her example to Awakened Song He, as she originally wanted to say that the "Reasoning Clown" could only create false peace.
Long Yuehong was silent for a while and said:
"What we are doing now is not without meaning. If we don't understand the cause of the Old World's destruction, and don't find the true origin of 'Heartless Disease', even if the 'Salvation Army' can truly fulfill their ideals and build a better new world, it could return to the current situation, or even worse, at any time due to something like another major outbreak of 'Heartless Disease'.
"I think Shang Jianyao also has this idea: first find out the 'cause of the disease', and then completely cure it."
Listening to their conversation, Han Wanghuo felt more and more strange.
Although he had previously judged that this should be a relic hunter team from a large force, he didn't expect that the things this team wanted to do, or the ideals they possessed, were so "grand".
Can they accomplish such ideals with just the four of them? This is something that "First City" and "United Industries" cannot do... Han Wanghuo silently shook his head, maintaining his surveillance of the Fishman and Hill Monster positions.
…………
After finishing her sigh, Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao:
"Quickly search for anything else, we have to evacuate.
"The Fishmen and Hill Monsters' assault has come to an end, and they will organize people to come and check the situation soon."
Shang Jianyao neatly folded the map and put it back in the tall Fishman's tattered cloak pocket.
Then, he took out a pile of odds and ends.
These included dried fruit, the roots of some kind of grass, simply packaged green candy, and a few thick needles.
At this moment, Jiang Baimian had walked to the edge of the parking lot, picking up the guns she had discarded, while looking back.
After scanning the items in Shang Jianyao's hand, her brow furrowed slightly.
This was somewhat beyond her expectations.
Without wasting time discussing, she quickly came to the side of a Redstone Town Guard member wearing an exoskeleton.
This was an ordinary person, different from them who had undergone gene optimization or even modification. Until now, there was no sign of awakening, even when Jiang Baimian squatted down and pushed her body, it didn't have any effect.
Fortunately, I prepared a Non-Card... Jiang Baimian quickly took out the first-aid bio-agent and injected it into the Redstone Town Guard member's vein.
After helping the Fishman put on the branch crown, Shang Jianyao walked back a bit, turned off the small speaker, and put it into his tactical backpack.
At this time, the female Town Guard member wearing the exoskeleton finally woke up.
After opening her eyes, the first thing that caught her eye was the mask of a delicate monk.
For the townspeople of Redstone Town, this was not a terrifying thing. She asked urgently:
"Who are you?
"Where are the enemies?"
Jiang Baimian first shouted at Shang Jianyao:
"Give that one a Non-Card too."
She was referring to the Town Guard member wearing another exoskeleton.
After giving the order, Jiang Baimian smiled and said to the woman in front of her:
"We are mercenaries hired by Captain Han.
"The enemy has been dealt with."
"Dealt with?" The female Town Guard member wearing the exoskeleton blurted out in astonishment.
That god-like monster was dealt with by these two humans?
While she, wearing the exoskeleton, was as fragile as a baby in front of that monster.
"Yes." Jiang Baimian replied with a smile, while watching Shang Jianyao pick up the clothes he had used as bait and walk to the other Town Guard member, "This is also thanks to you. If you hadn't attracted his attention and cleared most of his guards, we wouldn't have been able to succeed."
Without waiting for the female Town Guard member to respond, Jiang Baimian urged:
"The enemy's main force will be here soon, we have to leave as soon as possible."
Seeing that her companion had also woken up under the rescue of the mercenary wearing the monkey mask, the female Town Guard member sincerely said:
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. One of the purposes of waking you up is to use you as bait to attract enemy fire, so that our return journey will be easier. Anyway, you're wearing exoskeletons, so there shouldn't be any problems." Jiang Baimian laughed, laughing like a fox, but unfortunately, it was all blocked by the mask.
The female Town Guard member didn't know how to respond for a moment.
A dozen seconds later, she and her companion ran out of the parking lot behind the Tech Building and returned towards the El Supermarket and Sixth Sky Mall area.
This undoubtedly attracted the attention of the Fishmen and Hill Monsters, and some shells and bullets flew towards them.
With the help of the military exoskeleton's powerful strength, the two Town Guard members easily avoided the attacks and leaped onto the collapsed buildings in a few steps, disappearing from the enemy's sight.
The presence of the two exoskeletons covered up Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian's stealth. They circled around and easily climbed to the top from the side of the collapsed building that was not easily visible from the enemy's position.
Approaching the original fortifications, Shang Jianyao shouted loudly:
"It's us! It's us!"
This was not only to prove their identity, so as not to be accidentally injured, but also to notify their companions to provide cover fire.
Of course, Jiang Baimian had originally planned to use the walkie-talkie to notify them, but Shang Jianyao directly opened his throat and shouted.
She could only sigh helplessly and take back her hand that was reaching for her armed belt.
Soon, with the help of cover fire, they flipped back into the room where Bai Chen and Long Yuehong were located.
With one glance, seeing corpses, blood, bullet holes, and traces of explosions everywhere, Jiang Baimian nodded to Long Yuehong and said:
"Well done."
Being able to survive when facing a large number of enemy assaults was in itself a praiseworthy thing.
"Indeed." Bai Chen also echoed.
Shang Jianyao then gave a thumbs up. If he wasn't wearing a mask, Long Yuehong should have been able to see his sunny smile.
"It's mainly because of everyone's cooperation." Long Yuehong said modestly, feeling both happy and embarrassed.
At this time, Han Wanghuo opened his mouth and asked:
"How's the situation over there?"
Seeing that Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian were able to return alive from that terrifying Fishman Awakened, he raised his evaluation of their strength by several levels.
Before Jiang Baimian could speak, Shang Jianyao sighed and said:
"I couldn't play a lullaby for him.
"There wasn't one in the speaker."
"..." Han Wanghuo felt that the other party's answer was irrelevant.
Jiang Baimian then replied:
"It's been taken care of, you don't have to worry about suddenly suffocating anymore."
"Taken care of?" Han Wanghuo asked in surprise.
Even the townspeople who didn't know much could tell from their previous encounter how terrifying that subspecies Awakened was, let alone Han Wanghuo, a "seasoned hunter":
Causing hundreds of humans to suffocate simultaneously from a hundred meters away was an ability only possessed by messengers of gods or incarnations of devils!
Even if Bishop Renato was still around, he wouldn't be able to do anything similar.
And this kind of subspecies Awakened was actually dealt with by the two normal humans in front of him who didn't have anything special about them except for their height and appearance!
"Yeah." Jiang Baimian nodded, "Without your cover fire and those two military exoskeletons, we wouldn't even be able to get close."
Frankly speaking, if it weren't for those two military exoskeletons attracting attention and eliminating the guards, she would have considered finding an opportunity to give Shang Jianyao an "electric shock" to drag him away and not "disturb" that Fishman Awakened.
Han Wanghuo fell silent, his gaze moving back and forth between Shang Jianyao and the others.
At this time, he began to feel that this team might really be investigating the cause of the Old World's destruction, and doing things that many large forces couldn't accomplish.
Where exactly do they come from? Such a question popped up in Han Wanghuo's mind.
…………
At the parking lot behind the Tech Building, a mixed team of Fishmen and Hill Monsters arrived as reinforcements.
The first thing that caught their eye was a ground of corpses, either complete or fragmented corpses.
Feeling a tightness in their hearts, they quickly entered the depths of the parking lot and soon saw the tall Fishman.
He was lying on the ground, his eyes closed, covered in blood, and had lost his breath, but the branch crown on his head was still neatly worn.
"Divine Envoy..." a Fishman at the head whispered in terror.
In their eyes, the Divine Envoy was the most powerful human in this world. If it wasn't for his strong performance, the Hill Monsters wouldn't have cooperated and listened so obediently.
But now, he, who had begun to transform in the direction of a god, was dead, killed by a small team sent by the enemy.
In the silence that was hard to describe, a Fishman shouted as if his spirit had collapsed:
"Demons!
"They sent demons!"
…………
Just when the Redstone Town Guard members were worried about the second wave of attacks that the subspecies coalition was about to launch, the Fishmen and Hill Monsters began to retreat.
With three sharp whistles, they put away their artillery and other things, and retreated like a tide towards the outside of the city ruins.