Hearing An Ru Xiang's question, Jiang Bai Mian, anticipating it, turned back and glared at Shang Jian Yao, signaling him to be quiet. Then, she pursed her lips and said to An Ru Xiang:
“When we encountered him, he was sleeping by the roadside.
“We were just about to wake him up when his face suddenly twisted, and his body convulsed a few times, completely losing all movement.
“He, he just died like that.”
Saying that, Jiang Bai Mian suddenly felt like she was describing a fantasy. She immediately became anxious and added:
“Do you believe me when I say that?
“No, what I mean is, you have to believe us.”
Frankly, if she hadn't experienced it herself and seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed such a thing. After all, aberrant monsters with such bizarre abilities were rare on the Greylands. And Jiang Bai Mian had been transferred to the "Safety Department" for less than three years. She had been on a fair number of missions, but the aberrant creatures she encountered were of the relatively common type.
An Ru Xiang's cold and indifferent face had changed as early as the beginning of Jiang Bai Mian's description. Her expression gradually became complicated and could no longer be concealed.
Although Jiang Bai Mian couldn't decipher all of the micro-expressions, she directly felt the strong, rich, and uncontrollable sadness.
She hadn't seen An Ru Xiang many times, but she had already judged that the other party was a very restrained person who never revealed her emotions. And now, she saw An Ru Xiang's expression for the first time, an expression that was out of control.
An Ru Xiang took two deep breaths and said:
“I believe you.
“Because after we entered this city ruins, we encountered a similar situation.
“If we hadn't witnessed it ourselves, I believe you wouldn't be able to make up such an experience.”
Her voice was low and hoarse, as if she was trying her best to suppress something.
The man beside her had an expression that was a mixture of sadness and fear.
Jiang Bai Mian said "Mm" and didn't say any words of condolence. Instead, she asked:
“What exactly did you encounter?”
An Ru Xiang raised her hand and wiped the corner of her eye. Her expression returned to indifference:
“We drove into this city ruins from a road deep in the Great Swamp.
“We didn't plan to explore what secrets were hidden here. We only planned to scavenge around the edge of the ruins and find some valuable items to take back.
“Just as we got a pile of supplies, Xiao Guang, one of our teammates, suddenly fell asleep. He fell asleep like he fainted while carrying a box of thick clothes.
“We thought he had suddenly developed some kind of disease, so we didn't wake him up immediately.
“As a result, when we confirmed that he was just asleep, his face, with his eyes closed, suddenly twisted, as if he had encountered something extremely terrifying.
“Then, then, he died.”
Jiang Bai Mian wanted to say, "Forced sleep seems to only target one person at a time," but after looking at An Ru Xiang's eyes, she forcibly suppressed the impulse.
An Ru Xiang continued:
“We were terrified after Xiao Guang died.
“We are not afraid of fighting ‘Heartless’ and monsters head-on, but this kind of attack, where we don't know the reason, don't know how to defend against it, and don't know who will be next, is really frightening and crushing.
“We decided on the spot to evacuate this city ruins, anyway, we had already gained enough.
“Who knew, we were like we were possessed by a ghost. We strongly believed that there was something extremely valuable at the street corner ahead that we had to get.
“We just went over there and saw a ‘Heartless’.
“She was a woman, between the ages of seventeen or eighteen and twenty-five or six. You know, it's difficult to judge the age of a ‘Heartless’ based on appearance alone.
“She was dressed more neatly than the two ‘Heartless’ we encountered when we were looking for items. Her clothes were not so dirty, and her face was cleaned up relatively well, but her eyes were still cloudy and bloodshot.
“Mm, she was wearing a white, already shriveled down jacket.
“At that time, we felt that the extremely valuable thing that we had to get was on this ‘Heartless’, so we accelerated to approach her, ready to shoot.
“Who knew, a large number of ‘Heartless’ appeared. They seemed to be lying in ambush nearby.
“It's a trap!”
Saying that, both An Ru Xiang and the man next to her uncontrollably showed a hint of fear.
“And then?” Jiang Bai Mian didn't make any judgments or guesses and asked.
An Ru Xiang took another deep breath:
“When the ambushing ‘Heartless’ appeared, that feeling of being possessed by a ghost directly disappeared. We no longer felt that there was anything unusually valuable or that we had to get on that special ‘Heartless’.
“Fortunately, only some of those ‘Heartless’ had guns. Among those with guns, some were using them as iron bars, probably because they didn't have bullets.
“In short, we hid in time and didn't die in the first wave of gunfire. Next, it was a fierce battle.
“Originally, we would have died there after taking down several ‘Heartless’, but the heavens favored us. A mechanical monk wearing a red kasaya, for some reason, and from somewhere, suddenly rushed over and violently attacked all the female ‘Heartless’.
“I could feel that he was also full of malice towards me.”
Jiang Bai Mian finally couldn't help but blurt out:
“Jing Fa?”
Did this mechanical monk repair himself and come to join in the fun of this newly discovered ruin?
“You know him?” An Ru Xiang asked in astonishment.
“We've had dealings with him.” Jiang Bai Mian replied briefly.
Qiao Chu, who hadn't stopped their conversation, listened quietly from the side, seemingly wanting to obtain useful information as well.
An Ru Xiang didn't ask any more questions and returned to the topic:
“With the addition of that mechanical monk, we found an opportunity to escape. Shou Shi took the initiative to cover our retreat, helping us leave.
“We had agreed on a meeting place and time. As a result, hehe, he always said that he was a punctual person, but this time he will definitely be late…”
At this time, Shang Jian Yao took a few steps forward and said seriously:
“Maybe it's because he wasn't wearing a watch.”
An Ru Xiang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed:
“Yes, his precious watch had its strap broken during the ambush and fell there.”
As she laughed, An Ru Xiang raised her hand and wiped her eyes.
After a few seconds, she said in an even more hoarse voice:
“At that time, it wasn't dark yet. We first found a place to hide for a while. After all the movements subsided, we circled around and headed to the meeting place. As a result, we encountered you before we even arrived.”
“Those gunshots earlier weren't made by you?” Jiang Bai Mian sighed thoughtfully.
She then cursed herself:
“Really, why am I always overlooking things these days? My thinking isn't rigorous enough.
“Maybe Qiao Chu said that a Nightmare Mare was creating the realistic nightmares, so my thinking was limited to aberrant monsters.
“Judging from An Ru Xiang's experience, there may be aberrant ‘Heartless’ in this city ruins, and they are very special, with bizarre abilities, and rarely seen outside.
“Besides monsters, there is also the possibility of aberrant ‘Heartless’ being able to force people to fall asleep.”
She said this to Bai Chen, Long Yue Hong, and the others, and also reminded An Ru Xiang to be careful of similar aberrant creatures.
Bai Chen nodded and said:
“In ‘First City’ and its affiliated forces, these kinds of ‘Heartless’ are called ‘Higher Heartless’.”
Long Yue Hong was terrified again.
After listening to this conversation, An Ru Xiang took a breath and said:
“I've said everything I should say. I believe it will be of some enlightenment and help to you.
“Now, can you tell me where Shou Shi is?”
Jiang Bai Mian turned around and pointed to the street they had come from:
“Go from here, turn right, and it’s in the only room with the door closed on the right side of the street.
“However, this street is relatively dangerous. There are many ‘Heartless’. You'd better take a detour.”
“Thank you.” An Ru Xiang and the man responded at the same time.
At this time, Shang Jian Yao took a few more steps forward and took out the neatly folded piece of paper:
“It was on him.”
“His hunter badge.” Jiang Bai Mian also took out Wu Shou Shi's ruin hunter badge.
An Ru Xiang reached out and took it, instinctively unfolded the piece of paper, brought it to her eyes, and scanned it under the not-so-weak moonlight:
“Owes Ru Xiang a can of beef;
“Owes A Gang two payments, equivalent to a large bag of compressed biscuits;
“Owes Cripple Zhang half a bowl of oil;
“Owes O'Langke a handgun, ten bullets;
“Owes Xiao Guang a meal of meat;
“Owes Ru Xiang a flower…”
The corners of An Ru Xiang's mouth pulled back slightly, but her lips were tightly pursed and didn't open.
This made her expression rather strange, and there seemed to be something reflecting the moonlight in her eyes and around her eyes.
Jiang Bai Mian and the others didn't speak, quietly waiting for her to recover.
After a while, An Ru Xiang let out a breath and said:
“Thank you.
“You don't have to give me the remaining items.”
After saying that, she turned her head to the man next to her and said:
“A Gang, let's go find Shou Shi.”
“Okay.” The man replied in a deep voice.
An Ru Xiang didn't linger and didn't say goodbye. She quickly ran towards the streets further away, planning to take a detour and avoid the danger.
“The most important piece of information just now is that forced sleep should only target one person at a time.” Jiang Bai Mian retracted her gaze and reminded her team members.
At this time, Qiao Chu, wearing a helmet and covered in a black metal exoskeleton, suddenly asked:
“Who is Jing Fa?”
“A mechanical monk, and also an Awakened…” Jiang Bai Mian, Long Yue Hong, and the others rushed to tell Qiao Chu the relevant information about Jing Fa that they had previously learned, and finally said, "The price he paid was 'enhanced lust', and because he uploaded his consciousness, he became a mechanical being, lost the ability to satisfy that desire, and became extremely twisted, hating women."
“Hates women…” Qiao Chu repeated, no longer asking any more questions, and pointed ahead, "Continue, the destination is just around the corner."
Shang Jian Yao and the others once again took up their weapons and jogged along.
……
An Ru Xiang, who had entered another street, suddenly slowed down and rubbed her temples in confusion.
“What's wrong?” the man next to her asked strangely.
An Ru Xiang replied with a solemn expression:
“Don't you think there's a problem? Just now, we actually didn't have any sense of vigilance and even wanted to follow that person wearing the exoskeleton device.
“At that moment, I even forgot about Shou Shi and just wanted to please that person.”
The man next to An Ru Xiang gradually frowned:
“Yeah.
“I, you know, I like women. Just now, I was actually thinking, thinking, if it was him, it wouldn't be bad either…
“This… is too weird, right?”
ps: Seeking recommendation tickets~