Jiang Baimian listened quietly and sincerely offered her advice:
"You should select your best people to form a small team and scout the area."
She didn't volunteer because it wasn't within the scope of the "Old Task Force's" work.
Delivering supplies and proactively offering "employment" was already a bit of a risk for them, but at least it had the benefits of acquiring military exoskeletons and training the team, and the danger level was still acceptable.
Forming a reconnaissance team to venture into a clearly strange place and risk their lives for a settlement they had only recently arrived at was obviously not something the "Old Task Force" should be doing.
Mercenaries need to have "professional ethics."
If it were just Jiang Baimian alone, she might have taken on the reconnaissance mission out of personal interest, but now she was the team leader, and any order she gave would affect the safety of her team members. She couldn't afford to be capricious.
While giving her advice, Jiang Baimian quietly turned her head and glared at Shang Jianyao, preventing him from volunteering.
Even though Shang Jianyao was wearing a mask, she could sense his eagerness.
After listening to Jiang Baimian's words, Han Wanghuo sighed helplessly:
"I brought this up a long time ago, but they are too cautious and can't make up their minds. They've been arguing about whether to send a reconnaissance team and who to send."
It's really hard to reach a consensus when there's a lack of trust. Without an authority figure, this could drag on until the danger is right in their faces... Jiang Baimian thought to herself, but didn't say it out loud.
She knew Han Wanghuo knew this.
Sure enough, while directing them to hide the jeep and all-terrain vehicle, Han Wanghuo said with some worry:
"Before, in similar situations, Bishop Renato would make the decisions, and both sides would listen to him. But sooner or later, he was recalled to headquarters. None of the remaining Vigilantes can replace him. They don't have the same weight!"
Mentioning this, Han Wanghuo was clearly not very satisfied with the Vigilance Church.
Uh, is the Vigilance Church temporarily explaining Bishop Renato's "Heartless Disease" in this way? Jiang Baimian revealed a thoughtful expression, but Han Wanghuo clearly couldn't detect her reaction because she was wearing a mask.
--They spent the afternoon and evening squatting in the lakeside villa area and didn't contact any other residents of Redstone Town, so they didn't have enough understanding of the situation.
At this moment, Shang Jianyao interjected:
"Vigilante Song is coming soon."
When they set off from the Vigilance Church, Song He was already organizing the church's armed forces, preparing to head this way.
Han Wanghuo nodded:
"I hope they don't directly oppose Vigilante Song."
He was referring to the Red River people.
"You can also gather them together, and I'll persuade them," Shang Jianyao offered another solution.
Han Wanghuo looked at him suspiciously, not thinking he was particularly eloquent at all.
Of course, he didn't say that directly, but said with a bitter smile:
"With their caution, no one can gather them together for something like this."
"Then where are they hiding? I'll visit them one by one," Shang Jianyao wasn't afraid of hard work at all.
Han Wanghuo suddenly felt a sense of vigilance and said with a perfunctory smile:
"Let's see if Vigilante Song can persuade them first."
As he spoke, Han Wanghuo led the four members of the "Qian Bai Squad" to the area he was responsible for defending.
This was a relatively intact, low building, but the building in front of it had completely collapsed, blocking its lower floors and forming a natural fortification--a fortification made of stacked concrete.
Standing on the sixth floor of this building, one could see the southeast corner of the ruins from the window. If the enemy counterattacked, one could simply shrink down and be almost impossible to hit.
"You're responsible for the left side," Han Wanghuo began to redeploy, giving orders to Jiang Baimian and the others impartially.
He and his men quickly moved to the window on the right, setting up two machine guns.
Shang Jianyao put on his night vision goggles and enthusiastically squatted down, switching his "Berserker" assault rifle for an "Orange" rifle.
He imitated Bai Chen, posing as a "seasoned sniper."
Long Yuehong glanced at him and squatted down to his left.
He was assigned a "Tyrant" grenade launcher.
To Shang Jianyao's right, in order, were Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen, one with a "Grim Reaper" man-portable rocket launcher, and the other still using her most familiar "Orange" rifle.
The night outside was deep, with the moonlight alternately bright and dim, making the entire city ruins seem to have sunk into an abyss.
As time passed, Han Wanghuo frequently picked up the walkie-talkie to communicate with the town guard members responsible for different areas.
This included the temporary meeting presided over by Vigilante Song He.
Finally, the residents of Redstone Town reached a consensus: to send a five-person team composed of Tan Jie, Hamil, and other strong individuals to scout the situation in the southeast corner of the city ruins.
Just then, Bai Chen, who had been monitoring the front, saw a blurry figure quietly approaching through his night vision goggles.
His gray-black scales shimmered faintly in the moonlight.
A Fishman... Bai Chen adjusted his rifle position, his finger about to pull the trigger.
Bang!
The Fishman's head exploded, and he fell backward.
Bai Chen turned his head slightly in astonishment, looking at Han Wanghuo not far away.
That shot wasn't fired by her.
Security Officer Han Wanghuo reacted faster than her and accurately hit the Fishman's head at that distance.
Han Wanghuo noticed Bai Chen's gaze, glanced at her, and nodded slightly.
Retracting his gaze from those slightly yellowish eyes, Bai Chen confirmed something:
Han Wanghuo's shot just now was definitely not luck.
He was a genuine sniper expert, with observation and shooting skills no worse than her own, possibly even a little better.
No wonder he was able to become a "Seasoned Hunter" and be chosen as the Security Officer of Redstone Town... Bai Chen realized, no longer distracted.
At this time, Han Wanghuo picked up the walkie-talkie and reminded the town guard members in other areas:
"The Fishmen are here. There's no need to send out the reconnaissance team anymore."
Will it be that simple? Jiang Baimian suddenly had such a thought in her mind.
Long Yuehong's body tensed slightly as he held the grenade launcher, observing the front more intently.
Gradually, he felt a sense of difficulty breathing.
This was a situation that usually only occurred when he was particularly nervous.
I'm not that nervous... Long Yuehong was a little puzzled.
After experiencing the trials of Wildgrass City, he didn't think the current situation would make him so nervous.
Most importantly, his heart wasn't beating much faster.
He suspiciously examined his condition and found that his breathing was indeed becoming a bit difficult, slowly feeling like he was holding his breath.
"Something's wrong!"
"Is this a lung capacity competition?"
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao spoke at the same time.
They also realized that there was something wrong with their respiratory systems.
They were taking in less and less air!
Hearing the reminder, Han Wanghuo and the others realized something was wrong.
They had previously thought that a big battle was imminent and that they were subconsciously holding their breath.
Huff, huff... They opened their mouths and gasped for air.
But no matter what they tried, the feeling of breathlessness couldn't be alleviated, and was even getting noticeably worse.
It was like sinking into water. As long as you couldn't float, and you didn't have an oxygen tank on your back, you couldn't get fresh air. The more you struggled, the more you tried to breathe, the worse the situation would become.
"It should be an Awakened," Jiang Baimian added.
She had a strong ability to hold her breath and was currently the one least affected.
As she spoke, she looked at Shang Jianyao, and they both shook their heads at the same time.
In their perception, there were no living beings within a certain distance to the southeast.
If an Awakened could hide their consciousness and deceive their peers, then as long as they still had a body, the corresponding electrical signals couldn't be eliminated, unless they completely hid themselves in a grounded metal cage.
Without knowing about Jiang Baimian's genetic modification abilities in advance, no one would make such a cumbersome and useless preparation.
Eliminating all impossibilities, only two answers remained:
One, the person causing the breathing difficulties was an inside agent, somewhere in the current defensive line;
Two, the other party was approaching the "Mind Corridor" on the Awakening level, or had even entered it, and their ability range had undergone a qualitative change.
--In relatively open areas, Jiang Baimian's range for sensing electrical signals wasn't small, as evidenced by her dealings with the Mechanical Monk Jingfa. But now, she was being affected by the other party's abilities, yet couldn't detect his presence!
Han Wanghuo knew the power of Awakened and had witnessed it several times, but he had never thought it would be so powerful.
He made a decisive decision and issued an order:
"Retreat!
"Team up and fight separately."
This was to break into smaller groups and rely on familiarity with the terrain and hiding abilities to fight a guerrilla war against the Fishmen and Mountain Monsters.
--If they stayed together, everyone would likely suffocate to death at the same time, with no one surviving.
"That would only make them die a little slower."
"He's better at finding people than you are."
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao reminded them again in unison, using different words but meaning the same thing.
An Awakened with such a large range of abilities would also have a large sensing range. He could completely lead a team to find the hidden "rats" one by one, or not even need to find them, simply letting them suffocate to death in their hiding places.
Just then, someone shouted loudly through a loudspeaker:
"You ball-less cowards, daring only to hide in the distance, harming people in secret!
"Come over here if you have the guts!"
This was spoken in the dialect of the Fishman race.
Although it was a Subhuman dialect, it was derived from the Red River language, which Jiang Baimian couldn't speak, but could barely understand the general meaning.
"Huff, Tan Jie..." Han Wanghuo said a name with some difficulty.
Tan Jie? Can his "provocation" ability be amplified by the loudspeaker to increase the range of influence? Jiang Baimian immediately had a guess.
Because the loudspeaker sound wasn't directed at their location, she didn't feel any anger, so she couldn't verify it.
At this time, Shang Jianyao said with a slightly heavy breath:
"It's really useful to know another language."
Otherwise, even if he "provoked," the Fishmen and Mountain Monsters wouldn't understand.
Tan Jie cursed again in "Mountain Monster language," but the feeling of suffocation didn't ease at all and became increasingly severe.
Tan Jie didn't stop, taking turns cursing in "Fishman language" and "Mountain Monster language."
During this process, he constantly changed his orientation, changing the areas he could influence.
When he shouted for the sixth time, everyone suddenly had a feeling of emerging from the water.
The air was so fresh, the world was so beautiful.
"Parking lot behind the Tech Building!" Tan Jie's voice rang out again.
With the help of feedback, he tentatively identified the location of the terrifying Awakened.
The map that Vigilante Song He provided immediately flashed through Jiang Baimian's mind.
The map quickly zoomed in, showing the layout of this area.
The parking lot behind the Tech Building was nearly a hundred meters away in a straight line from here.
Jiang Baimian quickly adjusted the man-portable rocket launcher in front of her and fired a shell at the location Tan Jie described.
Shang Jianyao arched his back and stood up.