Facing Long Yuehong's defense, Jiang Baimian chuckled:

"I know, I know. Wasn't I just trying to build up your confidence?

"It shows you played an important role in this wilderness training."

Seeing the team leader make things worse with each explanation, Long Yuehong was too lazy to emphasize it further, only muttering:

"Such a role is better off not having."

"What did you say?" Jiang Baimian tilted her head, as if listening intently. "Never mind, let's get back to the main topic and continue the debriefing."

She then looked around:

"We've had detailed discussions and summaries of every incident encountered during this wilderness training, so we won't repeat them today.

"What I want is for you to stand at an overall level and evaluate each choice before and after the events, to see if there's anything that needs to be reviewed."

Bai Chen listened quietly and recalled:

"I don't think there's anything wrong. Every decision you made was the best choice under the circumstances. It's just that we encountered too many accidents that made it seem fraught with danger."

"Yes, yes, whether it was encountering that group of robbers with exoskeletal devices, or the mechanical monk Jingfa, or the Black Rat Town massacre, you did your best to keep everyone alive and lead us out of the dangerous vortex," Long Yuehong echoed.

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"It's mainly bad luck."

"..." If he didn't know that Shang Jianyao was just like that, Long Yuehong would definitely think he was targeting him.

Jiang Baimian glanced at him and said seriously:

"If you don't like such jokes, just tell him directly that he won't have any friends if he's like this."

"Actually, actually, I'm used to it," Long Yuehong subconsciously replied.

Jiang Baimian spread her hands and teased:

"What else can I say?"

She smoothed the hair at her temples, her expression gradually becoming serious:

"Although you're all praising me and making my heart flutter, I still have to say that many things could have been avoided if we had done better from the start.

"Think about it, how long could Jingfa stay in the Iron Plant ruins? How long could Qiao Chu wait at the broken bridge?

"As long as we staggered by a few hours, we most likely wouldn't have run into them.

"If we had opened fire directly when we encountered those robbers and annihilated them, preventing them from having the chance to wear exoskeletal devices, then our jeep wouldn't have been damaged. And if the jeep wasn't damaged, we wouldn't have detoured to Shuiwei Town and would likely have arrived at the Iron Plant ruins on the evening of the same day, leaving on the morning of the next day. At that time, the mechanical monk Jingfa shouldn't have come to look for the destined person.

"Similarly, I definitely wouldn't have encountered Wu Shoushi and the others afterwards. After grasping the information about the newly discovered city ruins, we might have even crossed the river and could have chosen other wilderness wanderer settlements to send the information, without being 'blocked' by Qiao Chu."

Seeing Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and the others showing thoughtful expressions, Jiang Baimian asked in a deep voice:

"If it were up to you to make the decisions, when encountering similar teams again, would you choose to deter each other and disengage without conflict, or would you directly attack to eliminate the hidden dangers?"

Shang Jianyao immediately replied:

"Team Leader, I think you have some misunderstanding about my lofty ideals.

"Do I look like someone who would attack innocent people? A brief encounter makes it difficult to judge whether a group of people is guilty."

Jiang Baimian was stunned by what he said, and then laughed:

"You do look like it!

"Who was it who wanted to open fire because the other party was too noisy?"

"I sensed their hostility," Shang Jianyao replied seriously. "Moreover, I also knew you wouldn't agree."

"Okay." Jiang Baimian turned her head to look at Long Yuehong and Bai Chen. "What about you? What kind of decision would you make?"

Long Yuehong "hissed" and said:

"I wouldn't directly order an attack either.

"What difference would that make from those robbers?"

Bai Chen pondered and said:

"Humans are different from wild beasts.

"Unless I had no food at the time and was about to die, and had to rob them."

Jiang Baimian looked around with a serious expression, the corners of her mouth gradually turning up:

"Congratulations, you passed the first psychological test."

Seeing Long Yuehong looking a bit dazed, Jiang Baimian explained with a smile:

"I still hope that my team members have basic morals and principles for being human.

"Although I can't use this to measure behavior in desperate situations, at least most of the time, I can safely entrust my back to such companions."

Shang Jianyao "hmm"ed and said:

"True companions can dance the hula together on the Golden Coast."

Jiang Baimian was too lazy to respond to this guy and continued the debriefing.

Nearing the end, she thought for a while and said:

"We haven't analyzed the problem of that city ruins before. Today, we happen to have time, so we can discuss it specifically.

"What do you think is the relationship between Taoist Jialuolan's sentence 'There is an aura left by the Ruling Years' and the various anomalies of that city ruins?"

During this period, Bai Chen occasionally thought about this question and was the first to put forward her guess:

"Could it be that the city's laboratory was conducting some taboo research involving the realm of the gods, which angered the Ruling Year Zhuang Sheng, who represents the entire year? Thus, He sent down divine punishment?

"Maybe this also started the prelude to the destruction of the Old World.

"And because this city was the origin of the destruction, even the surrounding villages and towns were not spared, so the ruins were completely forgotten until recently when they were discovered."

She linked the widely circulated saying on the Ashlands that "the Ruling Years destroyed the Old World" with this discovery.

"Possible, it's only possible," Jiang Baimian didn't directly deny it.

Shang Jianyao then asked back:

"Then why didn't the Ruling Year Zhuang Sheng erase the creature roaring in the laboratory? Why did He still allow so many 'Higher Mindless' and mutated creatures in the city ruins?

"Isn't this divine punishment too incomplete?

"If that's really the case, I'd be embarrassed for the Ruling Year Zhuang Sheng."

Bai Chen was speechless and couldn't answer.

If she could answer these doubts, she wouldn't just say it was a guess.

"If the Ruling Year Zhuang Sheng knew that there was someone like you who was so concerned about His face, He would definitely feel embarrassed too," Jiang Baimian joked. "Personally, I prefer a bolder guess."

She then looked around, lowered her body slightly, and said in a "suppressed" voice:

"Could it be that the taboo research in that laboratory gave birth to the Ruling Years?

"Did the humans of the Old World try to create gods, only to be destroyed by the gods they created?"

Such a guess, such a low, echoing voice, made Long Yuehong's temples twitch, and an inexplicable fear arose, a feeling of blasphemy.

Human laboratories created the Ruling Years?

And the Ruling Years turned around and destroyed humanity?

"Then why did the Ruling Years leave behind the creature roaring in the laboratory? Because it was Their younger brother?" Shang Jianyao asked again. "Also, why didn't They destroy that laboratory and hide the secret of Their birth? What was the Eighth Research Institute behind Qiao Chu thinking, sending people to find this city ruins and blow up the laboratory?"

"I said it was just a guess!" Jiang Baimian glared at Shang Jianyao. "Moreover, we can't be sure that Qiao Chu's mission was to blow up that laboratory. What if he was just looking for information? You know, there are many reasons for an explosion, such as a self-destruct device."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian eased her "fierce" expression:

"What we can initially confirm is that if it weren't for Qiao Chu, that city ruins would still be difficult to discover for a long time.

"Ah, when will we be able to find the Eighth Research Institute? They must have mastered many secrets of the Old World!"

After discussing for a while, Jiang Baimian looked at the watch on her wrist:

"That's about it. Let me tell you about the arrangements for later:

"You have two days off, and then everything will return to normal.

"However, the various training sessions each day will be halved. The morning time must be reserved for studying materials and sorting out clues to prepare for the official start of the investigation.

"When spring begins next year, we will have to set off for the planned first investigation point or the area where the investigation object is located.

"Before that, I will also organize a winter wilderness survival training, but it will be near the company, not going far, to avoid trouble."

Speaking of the word "trouble," Jiang Baimian felt a little lingering fear.

"Actually, that city ruins is a very suitable investigation point," Bai Chen said, nodding.

Jiang Baimian "hmm"ed and said:

"It depends on whether the company has found any valuable clues from there in the past few months.

"I'm pessimistic about it."

Because the most important laboratory was completely destroyed.

Mentioning this, Long Yuehong asked, unsure whether it was out of curiosity or concern:

"Team Leader, what will happen to the 'Higher Mindless' in that city ruins after the company intervenes?"

"What else can happen? Either they migrate, or they are killed, or they become experimental subjects," Jiang Baimian said seriously. "On the Ashlands, unnecessary compassion has no value."

Long Yuehong was silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly said:

"But they will definitely bring considerable casualties to the company... Those are all our colleagues, maybe we even know them..."

Jiang Baimian was silent for a while, and smiled without much joy:

"This is the Ashlands."

As she spoke, she stood up and patted Shang Jianyao on the shoulder:

"That's why we must pursue a new world."

"That's why we need to save all of humanity," Shang Jianyao said very cooperatively.

Jiang Baimian took the opportunity to finish and pointed outside:

"It's almost dinner time. Today, I'm treating, celebrating the successful completion of our first mission."

Long Yuehong, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen stood up at the same time.

"To be honest, I've been missing the company's cafeteria for a long time," Long Yuehong sighed from the bottom of his heart.

Although he tasted a lot of wild animal meat this time, the meat was either very tough or had a not-so-good taste. In the absence of sufficient seasonings and cooking techniques, it could only be said that it could barely be used to fill his stomach, and the experience was not very good.

"Me too," Jiang Baimian responded frankly.

Shang Jianyao then raised his hand and wiped the corner of his mouth.