Arriving at the back door of "Afu Gun Shop," Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao saw An Ruxiang waiting there.
Meanwhile, in a room on the second floor, Bai Chen and Long Yuehong, who had also been awakened, monitored the surroundings through the window, guarding against possible accidents.
In the moonlight, An Ruxiang clutched her simply bandaged lower left abdomen, with visible traces of blood on her hands and clothes.
"Are you alright?" Jiang Baimian asked with concern.
"I'm fine," An Ruxiang said calmly.
Clearly, her injury wasn't too severe.
Jiang Baimian breathed a sigh of relief:
"Let's go upstairs and talk."
Their room had a first-aid kit for better treatment and to prevent subsequent infection.
After taking care of this, Jiang Baimian said to Gu Changle:
"Go back. Don't worry about what happens next.
"Getting involved will bring you unnecessary trouble."
Gu Changle thought about his child and, without trying to be brave, left Shang Jianyao's room.
Closing the wooden door, Jiang Baimian turned to face An Ruxiang:
"What exactly happened?"
She hadn't rushed to ask because An Ruxiang hadn't rushed to tell her, indicating that there was no need to rush; knowing a few minutes earlier wouldn't help catch the culprit.
An Ruxiang said calmly:
"I was attacked."
"Attacked?" Jiang Baimian was slightly surprised.
In her opinion, direct attacks weren't the "Father's" style.
An Ruxiang said methodically:
"I was working as a 'temporary teacher' in another place, teaching late-working people to read.
"After finishing at 11:30, I was returning from West Street to where I live when I encountered someone."
After 8:30 p.m., only West Street and North Street had electricity; the "temporary classroom" was in the home of a student there.
"Wearing a black trench coat, looking thin and sickly?" Shang Jianyao interjected.
An Ruxiang wasn't surprised and nodded:
"Yes."
"It was him," Shang Jianyao said with a smile.
An Ruxiang continued:
"He walked up to me and said, 'Madam, knowledge is the root of the Old World's destruction.'
"I'm always wary of such inexplicable people, and remembering the investigation you did this afternoon, I didn't give him a chance to continue and immediately pulled out my dagger, telling him to stay away from me."
As expected of An Ruxiang's style... Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, knowing that things had taken a different turn here.
Shang Jianyao asked, puzzled:
"Why didn't you shoot?"
"I just wanted to scare him away at the time; drawing the dagger was more convenient," An Ruxiang explained simply. "Luckily, I drew the dagger, not the gun."
"Hmm?" Jiang Baimian expressed her confusion with her tone.
An Ruxiang pointed to the wound on her left abdomen:
"My hand suddenly went out of control and stabbed myself."
"Another Awakened ability..." Jiang Baimian wasn't too surprised, just more vigilant.
"I think so too," An Ruxiang, who had seen "Advanced Heartless" and come into contact with Awakened relics hunters, said. "If I had a gun, it might have shot myself."
"And then?" Jiang Baimian pressed.
An Ruxiang's expression changed slightly:
"That person didn't take the opportunity to attack me, nor did he leave directly.
"He stood there, looked at me, and continued, 'You are poisoning humanity. Please stop this behavior immediately, or the noose of Taisui will be coming for you.'
"I controlled myself and didn't attack him again. After he finished speaking, he turned and left."
"What a psycho!" Jiang Baimian cursed sincerely.
Shang Jianyao said with understanding:
"So ceremonial."
As Jiang Baimian glanced sideways at Shang Jianyao, An Ruxiang concluded:
"I did a simple bandage and came to find you."
It was just past midnight.
"That's the 'Anti-intellectualism Church.' The person who attacked you probably has a nickname called 'Father'," Jiang Baimian revealed some of the information they had.
Shang Jianyao immediately shook his head:
"He's so pitiful."
"Huh?" Jiang Baimian couldn't grasp Shang Jianyao's train of thought this time.
Shang Jianyao sighed and said earnestly:
"This is the evil consequence of anti-intellectual education.
"You have to do everything yourself. Subordinates are useless and will only hold you back."
Jiang Baimian smiled when she heard this:
"Indeed.
"The 'Father' personally took action in three consecutive attacks. This leader is losing too much face. I feel tired for him."
At this point, Jiang Baimian muttered to herself thoughtfully:
"No wonder he wants to control Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei. For the 'Anti-intellectualism Church,' good helpers are too rare...
"Well, another reason might be to frame them and provoke conflict."
She suspected that the "Anti-intellectualism Church" knew that Lei Yunsong and the others were employees of "Pangu Biology" and attacked them, controlling them to do things that would severely offend Wild Grass City and "First City," thereby provoking a conflict between the two major forces.
An Ruxiang often paid attention to the missions released by the guild, knew about Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei, and didn't find Jiang Baimian's "muttering" strange.
Jiang Baimian quickly regained her thoughts and said to An Ruxiang:
"You sleep here tonight.
"At dawn, go to the City Defense Force, report the matter, cooperate with them, and release a mission to the guild to find the 'Anti-intellectualism Church' leader nicknamed 'Father'."
An Ruxiang was an unrelated line from Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei, so there was no need to worry about alarming the enemy.
"Why not now?" An Ruxiang asked.
"Relying on the City Defense Force alone can't do anything in the middle of the night; we still have to wait for the guild to open," Jiang Baimian explained. "Moreover, there is a small problem that needs to be solved."
An Ruxiang didn't ask any further questions:
"Okay."
At this moment, Shang Jianyao raised his hand:
"Where do I sleep?"
"Of course you sleep in your own bed," Jiang Baimian glared at him. "An Ruxiang and I will squeeze in together."
"Abuse of the injured," Shang Jianyao said objectively.
"Okay, then!" Jiang Baimian said without hesitation. "An Ruxiang sleeps in your bed. You can either go across the hall and squeeze in with Long Yuehong, or you can sleep sitting on a stool."
Although An Ruxiang didn't understand the interaction between the two, she didn't have the habit of interfering in other people's affairs. Following the arrangement, she lay down on the bed and began to drift off to sleep.
Shang Jianyao took the opportunity to go next door and tell Bai Chen and Long Yuehong what had happened.
He didn't stay overnight. Returning to this room, he sat down on the stool at the table and assumed a posture of sleeping facedown.
After an unknown amount of time, An Ruxiang suddenly woke up and found that her neck was hanging in a "rope loop," and holding the sides of the "rope loop" were her own hands.
That "rope loop" was connected to the top bunk of the bunk bed, enough to hang her to death.
It was Shang Jianyao who woke An Ruxiang. In the midnight moonlight, his eyes were bright.
Jiang Baimian, on the top bunk of the bunk bed, had also woken up and was lying there, looking down.
"I did it myself?" An Ruxiang asked hesitantly as she removed her neck from the "rope loop."
"That's the small problem that needs to be solved," Jiang Baimian explained with a smile.
According to the experience of Zeng Guangwang, the "suicide" brought about by hypnosis should only happen once.
Of course, it wasn't necessarily going to happen while asleep.
An Ruxiang recalled what she had seen and heard:
"Hypnosis?"
"Sort of," Jiang Baimian didn't say much.
She didn't let Shang Jianyao use "Reasoning Clown" to eliminate the hypnotic effect, partly because she didn't know the characteristics of the "Father's" ability and was afraid of missing something, which would harm An Ruxiang, and partly because she didn't want to expose Shang Jianyao's Awakened ability unless it was absolutely necessary.
"Does this count as being resolved?" An Ruxiang asked cautiously.
"Theoretically, it does," Jiang Baimian replied. "You continue to sleep, and we'll observe further."
Anyone else would have felt a little uneasy hearing these words. After all, few people can get used to sleeping under the watchful eyes of others, but An Ruxiang had no problem at all and quickly fell asleep.
This time, she slept until dawn.
After breakfast, around 8:30, they went out separately, one to the City Defense Force and the other to the Hunter's Guild to find Odick.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao had just entered the hall when they saw Odick sitting in the waiting area on the edge.
"Good morning," Shang Jianyao greeted energetically, showing no sign of having been awake all night.
Odick nodded in response.
Then, he pointed to the stairwell:
"City Lord Xu wants to see you."
"Okay," Jiang Baimian agreed without hesitation.
This was exactly what she had been hoping for.
Following Odick up to the second floor, after walking about ten meters, Jiang Baimian suddenly turned her head to look at Shang Jianyao.
Shang Jianyao looked back and nodded after a few seconds.
All the way to the end of the corridor, Odick stopped outside a room guarded by four armed personnel.
After a brief conversation and surrendering their firearms, they were allowed to enter.
The room was large and well-lit, making it appear quite bright.
Inside, there was a wide desk and two rows of bookshelves, with fully armed bodyguards guarding several key locations.
Sitting behind the desk was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a rather old-fashioned black top with his hair neatly combed back, as if trying to make himself look more mature.
He was of medium build with relatively deep features, possibly with some Red River heritage.
"City Lord Xu, they've arrived," Odick said, stepping forward two steps.
Xu Liyan nodded slightly and pointed to the chairs across from the desk:
"Sit down."
Standing beside him was a rather tall man.
This person was wearing a hooded robe, completely concealing himself.
After exchanging greetings, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao sat down quite naturally.
Xu Liyan's gaze swept across their faces as he opened his mouth thoughtfully:
"Are you with Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei?"
"We are investigating the reason for their disappearance," Jiang Baimian said evasively, then asked, "City Lord Xu, what exactly did they want to ask you at the time?"
Xu Liyan smiled:
"Something about Mechanical Paradise.
"They heard from somewhere that Mechanical Paradise has a 'Master Brain,' a 'Master Brain' that was running before the Old World was destroyed."
ps: Seeking guaranteed monthly tickets at the beginning of the month~