“There has never been any savior, nor reliance on gods or emperors.

"To create human happiness, we rely entirely on ourselves..."

Amidst the strained singing, the jeep traveled wildly through the mountains and forests.

"Finally going back to the company..." Long Yuehong gazed at the seemingly endless road and couldn't help but sigh.

Although the greylands had blue skies, white clouds, sun, trees, various sceneries, and an exceptionally open environment, after being away from the company for a long time, he still missed the stable and quiet life inside.

And for those in the greylands who were knowledgeable, the name "Pangu Biology" was not unfamiliar, but almost no one knew where the company's headquarters was located, which added a layer of mystery to "Pangu Biology"—many ruin hunters only knew that the area where the "Old Task Force" was currently located had several powerful bandit groups entrenched, and they simply didn't dare to approach.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Jiang Baimian heard Long Yuehong's sigh, touched her cochlea, tilted her head slightly, and smiled:

"I thought you didn't want to go back to the company at all. Those girls in Qifeng Town were really enthusiastic."

Hearing this, Long Yuehong blushed with embarrassment:

"That's not true, team leader, don't talk nonsense!"

Qifeng Town was located in the mountain forest area of the Black Marsh Wilderness, in a remote and difficult-to-find location. The "Old Task Force" couldn't even drive the jeep in.

They followed the guards from the foot of the mountain and walked a small path for about a quarter of an hour before their eyes suddenly opened up, and they saw a large area of farmland.

The geographical advantage provided Qifeng Town with security, but it also brought a shortage of water resources.

This wasn't to say that there was no water on the mountain, but the water looked very dirty, as if it had a lot of mud dissolved in it. Even if it was used for irrigation, the townspeople of Qifeng Town were not at ease, fearing pollution and uncleanliness.

Before relying on "Pangu Biology," they either collected rainwater or went around to the other side of the mountain to carry water, which was very arduous.

When the season was bad and the mountain roads were difficult to travel, they had to grit their teeth and drink the sedimented dirty water, and their average lifespan was far inferior to that of Shuiwei Town.

Therefore, when they saw the "Old Task Force" bring new water purification chips and repair the simple waterworks, the townspeople of Qifeng Town were sincerely happy and grateful.

For this reason, they took out their treasured food to entertain the honored guests.

At that time, many women from Qifeng Town surrounded Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong, and were extremely enthusiastic, just like the men who circled around Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen.

Jiang Baimian smiled and said:

"Hey, I just have bad hearing, but that doesn't mean my eyes are bad.

"These past few days, you had girls accompanying you wherever you went, and I think you were quite happy."

"Cough..." Long Yuehong coughed dryly, not knowing how to respond.

He was indeed very happy at the time. After all, this was the first time in his life that he was so popular with the opposite sex.

Jiang Baimian didn't "understand" the real meaning of Long Yuehong's cough at all, and asked mischievously:

"What? Didn't have a relationship that transcended friendship with anyone?

"Shouldn't be..."

Shang Jianyao, who was driving and playing music, interjected:

"He was scared."

Long Yuehong wanted to refute, but sadly found that this was the truth.

Those girls were too enthusiastic, which scared him and made him afraid to do anything.

Of course, this was also because he heard the team leader say the girls' true purpose:

To marry into the paradise-like "Pangu Biology."

If that wasn't possible, then strive to get pregnant and add excellent offspring to the town.

In addition, Long Yuehong also had to admit that a small part of the reason he was scared was that those girls looked dirty, after all, Qifeng Town lacked clean water before the water purification chips were delivered.

"Scared, huh." Jiang Baimian "tsk"ed and turned to ask Shang Jianyao, "What about you? Why didn't those girls bother you later? Did you use your ability on them?"

Shang Jianyao's body swayed slightly to the rhythm of the music:

"No.

"I just seriously discussed the current situation of mankind with them, discussed pollution, disease, famine, mutation, and 'Heartless,' and discussed the fate that each of us should shoulder.

"They were very moved, very inspired, and said that they would go back and think about it carefully.

"Well, this takes some time to digest, and I hope they can figure it out as soon as possible."

Jiang Baimian pursed her lips tightly, afraid of laughing out loud.

"I still underestimated you." She finally praised with a "serious face."

Sitting in the back row, Bai Chen listened to the three of them chatting, without joining in, but her expression seemed very gentle. She listened very attentively, and occasionally showed a smile.

The jeep drove for a few more minutes, and Jiang Baimian patted the center console and said:

"Stop, I'll drive next. Otherwise, when we get to the entrance, we'll still have to switch when we go through inspection."

Shang Jianyao parked the car reluctantly and sat in the passenger seat.

Jiang Baimian then turned off the stereo and smiled:

"Going home!"

Then, she stepped on the accelerator and headed straight for the entrance of the "Pangu Biology" underground building.

During this process, Long Yuehong couldn't help but flash back to the scenes he had experienced before:

The great battle with the Black Marsh Iron Serpent and the military exoskeleton device; the children's reading in Shuiwei Town; encountering Jingfa in the steel factory ruins; the massacre of Black Rat Town; Qiao Chu's powerful charm; "Higher Heartless" and mutated creatures; after the "light" was on, the "Heartless" who seemed like normal people; the mournful singing echoing in the dead city; the enthusiastic Qifeng Town; wilderness survival training...

In just one month, he felt like he had lived more than ten years.

Soon, the four members of the "Old Task Force" saw the entrance of the "Pangu Biology" underground building.

At this time, Long Yuehong's heart finally returned to its original position, and he felt extremely at ease and stable.

It was like a fallen leaf finally drifting to the roots of a tree.

"People want to come back after being out for a long time, and they want to go out again after staying back for a long time. People are really contradictory creatures." Jiang Baimian said with a sigh while driving.

The vehicle continued to move forward, approaching the gate.

...

After a series of inspections, the four members of the "Old Task Force" returned to room 14 on the 647th floor.

"Give me all the things you brought back from outside." Jiang Baimian looked around and said, "These must be reviewed by the company before their fate can be decided."

She smiled and added two sentences:

"Don't worry, those that ultimately need to be handed over to the company will definitely have contribution point subsidies, and you won't be treated unfairly.

"And many small things, the company probably won't like, and they will be returned to you.

"Haha, I wonder if Wang Beichen and the others from the action team are back yet. We have a whole armored vehicle of stuff with them."

Hearing the three words "Wang Beichen," Bai Chen opened her mouth thoughtfully:

"I wonder if they found any useful clues about the various anomalies in that city ruins."

Jiang Baimian "hmmed" and said:

"I'll ask when I meet them later. I hope the security level isn't too high.

"Well, I don't think they're likely to find any clues either. That laboratory was destroyed, and the creature inside that was roaring might not even have any remains left..."

As she spoke, Shang Jianyao had already taken out his personal outdoor gains one by one and placed them on the table.

They were:

A pair of black sunglasses, a mechanical watch with a black dial, a transparent glass ball inlaid with yellow petals exchanged from Shuiwei Town, a piece of paper from the steel factory hospital ruins, a recording pen from the little girl in Black Rat Town, a Wu Bei 7 pistol and twelve coins from Wu Shoushi, and a hunter badge from the exoskeleton armor bandit...

—The other gains were in the jeep.

Jiang Baimian glanced at them and pointed to the piece of paper and said:

"What's this?"

"A piece of paper picked up from the clinic of the steel factory ruins hospital." Shang Jianyao replied.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Jiang Baimian asked subconsciously.

Shang Jianyao said matter-of-factly:

"Forgot."

"...That's right, we encountered Jingfa at that time." Jiang Baimian withdrew her gaze. "It's good to hand it over to the higher-ups and let them study whether there is any useful information."

After taking care of this matter, Jiang Baimian beckoned everyone to sit down and said with a smile:

"I know you are all very tired, but we still have to do a debriefing of the entire field training."

Saying that, she looked at Bai Chen:

"Do you have anything to say?"

Bai Chen thought for a moment and said:

"What should be said has already been said in the previous debriefings."

"This time, we will mainly talk about it from an overall perspective." Jiang Baimian proposed the direction of the discussion.

Bai Chen was silent for a few seconds and said:

"There were too many accidents.

"One field training had as many dangers as I encountered in the previous three years."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shang Jianyao nodded earnestly and said:

"Mainly bad luck..."

Hearing this, Long Yuehong's expression suddenly collapsed.

"Don't say it." Jiang Baimian interrupted Shang Jianyao's "statement" and said to Long Yuehong with a smile, "I don't believe in fate or luck, it's not scientific at all!"

Long Yuehong silently breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to say something casually, but saw the team leader looking at him with a smile:

"But, your name is really not very good, why don't you go back and change it? How about Long Aihong? Your parents will definitely be very satisfied."

"..." Long Yuehong replied with a blank expression, "Team leader, don't you not believe in these things?"

"In the greylands, sometimes, it's better to believe it than not to believe it." Jiang Baimian laughed as she spoke, "Haha, just kidding. Well... I will mark you as qualified in this mission report, and at the same time write that you are not suitable for the life of the Old Task Force, and suggest a replacement. In this way, even if you are transferred to another position, there will be no stain."

Long Yuehong was moved:

"Thank you, thank you."

Jiang Baimian smiled and shook her head:

"Don't say thank you so early. I only have the right to suggest. Whether you can be transferred in the end depends on the ideas of the higher-ups.

"Unless I write that I am incompatible with you, write that you are completely unqualified, and have ideological problems, then I can guarantee that you will be transferred, but in that case, your file will have a stain."

"I understand, thank you, team leader." Long Yuehong replied sincerely.

Jiang Baimian turned to smile and said:

"Actually, I'm a little reluctant to let you go.

"Bad luck is not always a bad thing. Think about it, if we hadn't encountered so many accidents, how would we have entered that city ruins and discovered that the humans of the old world were doing some very dangerous experiments? This is a very valuable gain!"

Long Yuehong weakly defended:

"Team leader, I'm really not that unlucky..."

ps: Thank you to classmate Flying Ashes Blackness for rewarding the Silver Alliance~