Seeing the room empty again, Jiang Baimian walked towards a wooden-backed chair, smiling as she said:
"Our company, as the name suggests, researches biotechnology, and the relationship between biology and medicine has always been very close, so we are relatively strong in related fields."
As she spoke, she picked up the wooden chair and walked towards Tian Erhe's bed.
During this process, her gaze seemingly casually swept across Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, Li Zhengfei, the radio transceiver, and the window on the other side of the bed.
She had originally intended to have Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong return to the Jeep's location to guard the "Old Task Force's" most valuable property and the spare batteries and large amounts of food inside.
But she quickly abandoned this idea.
On this night, which was likely to be fraught with undercurrents, it was better for the members of the "Old Task Force" not to be separated.
"Anyway, if the car is lost and the things are robbed, the company will make up for it...
"The most important people now are Town Leader Tian and Li Zhengfei, and the most important item is this radio transceiver that maintains contact with the company. If they are here, there is no need to divide manpower to go to the Jeep...
"If something really happens, it will be difficult to run away there, and it will be easy to be surrounded. Climbing over the wall is not such an easy thing...
"Behind this room is the surrounding wall, and you can see the fields not far away. At that time, if it is impossible to defend this place, you can directly open the window and jump down to break through half of the encirclement...
"Playing guerrilla warfare over there, it is not difficult to hold out until the company's people arrive...
"Well, the pistol and corresponding bullets are all on my body..." In a flash of thought, Jiang Baimian had already considered how to deal with the worst situation.
She then placed the chair beside the bed and sat down, introducing the various situations of "Pangu Biology" to Tian Erhe, Li Zhengfei, and the two town guard team members in the room, focusing on the treatment of formal employees and the circumstances of other affiliated forces.
Of course, before Shuiwei Town is officially accepted by "Pangu Biology," some things definitely cannot be said, including the existence of the underground building, the location of the company's entrance, and so on.
In this, Jiang Baimian also deliberately glossed over topics such as genetic modification. She knew that on the Ashlands, many people hated these technologies, which they believed seriously violated nature and would bring disaster, and she could not determine whether Tian Erhe and Li Zhengfei opposite were such people.
Although the name "Pangu Biology" could make everyone associate with similar aspects, since the other party did not show it, Jiang Baimian would not be stupid enough to actively provoke sensitive topics.
Tian Erhe's mental state was obviously not as good as he had said just now. After listening for a while, he would close his eyes to rest or sleep for a while. Li Zhengfei and Bai Chen originally wanted everyone to leave this room so that the town leader could rest well, but Tian Erhe always woke up quickly and stopped them.
As they stopped and chatted, the color of the sky outside the window gradually became stained with a hazy light.
Morning arrived.
Seeing that the most dangerous time period had passed, Jiang Baimian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She had not rested the entire night, only occasionally leaving the chair to move her body, but she had arranged for Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen to take turns sleeping to maintain their energy.
Jiang Baimian was about to have her team members fetch breakfast when she suddenly heard the radio transceiver make a sound.
"There's a telegram..." Jiang Baimian explained to Tian Erhe and Li Zhengfei before walking over.
Under the expectant gazes of everyone, she quickly deciphered the contents of the telegram.
She raised her eyebrows and said:
"The people sent by the company have arrived at the swamp entrance."
"So fast?" Long Yuehong asked on behalf of everyone.
According to the normal process, the company should only now be starting to arrange manpower and prepare medicines, which would take about an hour.
If nothing happened on the way, and everything went smoothly, the dispatched team should arrive in the evening or a little earlier.
Compared to the expected situation, it was now a whole day earlier.
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said:
"Night marching is not too uncommon.
"Moreover, the road conditions from the company to this side are relatively good."
She didn't say that at least half of the journey was within the company's actual control area, and many combat teams of the security department had long ago figured out the situation in that area clearly, and wouldn't step into a pit even with their eyes closed.
Of course, traveling at night is indeed prone to problems, after all, visibility will be limited, but sometimes, people have no choice, and environmental constraints are definitely not just empty words.
Based on this, the high-level executives of the "Pangu Biology" security department consciously added night marching to the training subjects of various combat teams and action brigades.
This is the difference between a regular army and a wilderness bandit.
"Could it be that there happened to be a team nearby?" Seeing that Tian Erhe and Li Zhengfei were still surprised, Bai Chen offered his guess.
Jiang Baimian shook her head:
"I emphasized bringing doctors, medicines, and equipment, so the outgoing team should not have any."
Speaking of this, she smiled at Tian Erhe and Li Zhengfei:
"I let you guess the approximate distance between the company and here."
The distance a team can march in a hurry at night.
"This is good, it's reassuring to come early." Tian Erhe gave up his previous worries and breathed a sigh of relief with a smile.
This made him cough a few more times, and Bai Chen patted his back worriedly.
Jiang Baimian glanced at it and said directly:
"I'll go pick them up. The route into town is winding, and people who come for the first time will definitely get lost."
"Okay." Tian Erhe didn't think there was anything wrong with this.
Li Zhengfei thought for a while and said to Ding Ce, "Dogzi," who was guarding the room:
"Xiao Ce, you go with her."
When he said this, his eyes were solemn and his head nodded slightly.
Ding Ce immediately understood what the boss meant:
If he found something wrong on the way, he would have to notify the people in the town even at the cost of his life.
"Yes, boss!" Ding Ce's blood surged and he straightened his chest.
He was a little scared, but he thought it was worth it.
Jiang Baimian did not refuse and said to Long Yuehong:
"You come with me."
Compared to picking up the company's people, it was obviously more dangerous to stay here, so Jiang Baimian asked Long Yuehong to follow her.
At that time, if the situation in the town suddenly changed, Shang Jianyao, who was good at "making friends," and Bai Chen, who was familiar with the environment, would have a higher chance of survival together.
"Yes, team leader!" Long Yuehong answered louder than Ding Ce.
This was a habit.
After Jiang Baimian and the three left, Bai Chen said to Tian Erhe:
"You should be at ease now, right?
"Sleep for a while, they won't be here so soon."
Her tone was like comforting a child.
"I won't really be at ease until they enter the town." Tian Erhe stubbornly shook his head.
He looked at Bai Chen and coughed twice:
"I wanted to ask you before, why are you always wearing this scarf?"
There was a stove in the room, and the temperature was not that low.
Bai Chen's expression changed slightly, and then she smiled wryly:
"There are bad things..."
Tian Erhe didn't ask any more questions, and half-closed his eyes, as if his energy could no longer support him and he needed to rest for a while.
Seeing this, Li Zhengfei turned his gaze to Shang Jianyao, seemingly wanting to pass the remaining time by chatting—this might be able to obtain more information.
However, Shang Jianyao made a gesture of zipping his mouth shut with his finger in front of his mouth and made two "woo woo" sounds.
"Ah?" Li Zhengfei looked blank.
Bai Chen tried to explain with some speculation:
"He means, it's inconvenient for him to speak."
He might be afraid that his mind would suddenly twitch and ruin this somewhat sad and solemn atmosphere... Bai Chen completed the remaining words in her heart.
Shang Jianyao nodded heavily to indicate that this was the case.
Seeing that her guess was confirmed, Bai Chen's gaze towards Shang Jianyao became a lot gentler.
She didn't expect this teammate with mental problems who was very jumpy to have silently made such a great effort and sacrifice.
However, Bai Chen also felt inexplicably that Shang Jianyao's condition seemed to be a little more serious than before.
Li Zhengfei couldn't understand why it was inconvenient for Shang Jianyao to speak, so he could only think that this was a more euphemistic way to refuse to reveal more information.
He had no choice but to turn to Bai Chen, but Bai Chen became busy, cleaning up the spittoon, opening the door to ventilate, and cleaning the room.
After an unknown amount of time, Tian Erhe woke up. He turned his head, listened for a while, and asked weakly:
"What's the sound outside?
"Are they here?"
Bai Chen walked a few steps to the corridor outside, supported the railing with both hands, and looked towards the gate of Shuiwei Town.
There were no outsiders appearing there yet, only the sounds of "one two three four" "one two three four" vaguely drifted over.
"The sound outside is 'one two three four' 'one two three four'." At this time, Shang Jianyao imitated what he heard.
Tian Erhe's expression quickly became gentle, and the wrinkles unfolded in turn:
"The children are doing morning exercises..." He muttered to himself with a smile, and his mental state seemed to have improved at once.
…………
Outside the swamp, Ding Ce followed Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong to meet the team sent by "Pangu Biology."
The cars flashing with metallic and glass luster, the soldiers in neat gray-green uniforms, and the weapons that gave people a brand-new feeling all deeply shocked him.
Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and greatly praised the person in charge of this matter in her heart:
"The company is indeed very experienced...
"Knowing that similar receptions must have a bright appearance to subdue the enemy without fighting..."
…………
Shuiwei Town, outside Tian Erhe's room.
Bai Chen didn't know how many times the town leader had urged her to go to the corridor to see if Jiang Baimian and the others had returned.
Finally, she saw the convoy slowly approaching the town and saw the familiar gray-green Jeep.
"They're here! They're here!" Bai Chen quickly turned around and shouted into the room.
Tian Erhe instantly relaxed.
He gasped a few times and turned his head to Li Zhengfei:
"You arrange the manpower and maintain order.
"After meeting, gather everyone and announce this matter."
Li Zhengfei had already gotten up and replied:
"I'll go right away."
Bai Chen still stayed in the corridor, holding the railing with both hands, constantly turning her head to report the situation to Tian Erhe, like a somewhat excited little girl:
"They passed through the gate."
"They got out of the car."
"They are lining up and passing through the square.
"Everyone is a little confused, but they quickly restored order."
Reporting to here, Bai Chen suddenly stopped.
She felt that the room was terribly quiet, without any echo.
Bai Chen turned around and looked, only to see Shang Jianyao standing closer to the door, looking at the bed with a solemn expression, while Tian Erhe had shrunk down at some point and gone from sitting up to lying down.
A bad premonition instantly emerged, Bai Chen's expression changed, and she quickly ran in and squatted beside Tian Erhe.
She saw that the town leader's face was cyanotic and devoid of any luster.
She tremblingly stretched out her finger and put it to Tian Erhe's nose.
After more than ten seconds, she suddenly retracted her hand and tentatively shouted:
"Town Leader!"
This time, there was no response.
Bai Chen's vision blurred, her knees lost support, and she knelt to the ground with a thud.
She grabbed the edge of the bed in a frenzy and shouted with a voice that seemed to be mostly blocked:
"Grandpa!"
…………
Under the gaze of townspeople with messy and dirty clothes, Jiang Baimian led the people sent by "Pangu Biology" through the area chaotically built with mud houses, brick houses, and tents.
Just as she walked to the flagpole platform, she suddenly heard a neat and childish voice coming from the deepest building in Shuiwei Town:
"When the Great Way prevails, the world is for all. Select the virtuous and able, and practice sincerity and harmony.
"Therefore, people do not only love their own parents, nor do they only cherish their own children, so that the old may have a resting place, the strong may be employed, the young may grow, and the lonely, widowed, orphaned, and disabled may all be cared for..."
Note 1: Excerpted from the *Book of Rites*