"Okay." Shang Jianyao took the lead, holding the "Berserker" assault rifle, and walked past Qiao Chu towards the stairs leading to the underground machine room.

At this moment, an arm stretched out in front of him.

"I'll go first," Jiang Baimian said in a deep voice.

Of course, no matter how much she lowered her voice, it was still not quiet enough without a comparison.

"I'm an Awakened," Shang Jianyao insisted, his expression serious and solemn.

"What? Start saving all of humanity with us?" Jiang Baimian chuckled. "Can you sense attackers in advance?"

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"Yes."

"..." Jiang Baimian never expected such an answer, and the subsequent words were stuck in her throat.

After a few seconds, she squeezed out a sentence:

"How big is the range?"

"Ten meters," Shang Jianyao replied frankly.

Jiang Baimian quietly breathed a sigh of relief:

"Then the range I can sense is larger than yours.

"In this environment, it's definitely better to discover attackers as early as possible.

"So, I'll go first."

Saying that, she smiled:

"This isn't to prevent you from taking responsibility, but rather that skill comes from specialization, and professional matters should be left to the most professional people.

"If one day, our team encounters an even more dangerous situation, and your abilities are the most suitable to break the situation, then I will not hesitate to send you out."

Shang Jianyao said nothing, nodded, and took a step back, making way.

Jiang Baimian adjusted the gun strap, slung the grenade launcher, and then grabbed the "Icetear" in one hand, leaving the other hand free.

The inside of the staircase was a very narrow environment with limited space to hide, so mistakes could not be made.

Based on this consideration, Jiang Baimian temporarily abandoned the "Joint 202" pistol, which was prone to jamming, and the grenade launcher, which could easily affect herself.

——Although she regularly maintained and calibrated her "Joint 202", and was confident that it was unlikely to malfunction, in the current environment, it was better to be safe than sorry. If she was really unlucky and encountered a jam, there would be no place to dodge.

Of course, her grenade launcher was also slung in the easiest-to-reach position. As long as those "Heartless" dared to gather below the stairs, she would choose a trajectory and wipe them all out.

As for her side, she would definitely issue a prone command in advance.

And the empty hand was to prepare to take a flashlight.

Jiang Baimian could sense the enemy's electrical signals, but could not see the steps in the dark environment.

There was not even a faint moonlight or starlight here.

Holding the flashlight, Jiang Baimian slightly hunched over, looking at the yellowish light ahead, and stepped down the stairs.

She didn't dare to walk too fast, for fear that she would not have time to react if she encountered an attack.

When Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong entered the elevator in turn, she turned her head and reminded them:

"As soon as I say 'prone', you all lie down immediately."

She was worried that the "Heartless" would launch grenades or throw hand grenades from afar.

Although Qiao Chu in the back had a good chance of blowing up the grenade in advance with the help of the "Comprehensive Early Warning System" and the "Precise Aiming System", he also had to guard against the splashing of shrapnel.

If the opponent's grenades were of the toxic gas type, Jiang Baimian had no other choice but to have everyone hold their breath and rush back to the first floor. At that time, except for Bai Chen, they could rely on the physique of gene modifiers to hold on until they used the "General-purpose Biological Antidote" produced by the company—Qiao Chu's exoskeleton device came with a "gas-proof filtration system" and was not considered.

And she couldn't be sure if this would ultimately be effective.

If that group of "Heartless" even had thermobaric bombs, Jiang Baimian could only admit that her fate was bad.

However, she wasn't too worried about the latter two situations, because she felt that the "Heartless" couldn't maintain firearms and ammunition well, and almost no one had entered here since the destruction of the Old World, only a few groups of people had come this time, without so much equipment.

Thinking of the strangeness of the "Advanced Heartless", and thinking that they could use various weapons, Jiang Baimian felt a toothache.

Hearing Jiang Baimian's instructions, Long Yuehong subconsciously responded:

"Yes, Team Leader!"

This very energetic voice immediately echoed in the stairwell, reverberating downwards, buzzing.

Long Yuehong then realized and found that he had made another mistake.

"Not bad."

"Very good."

"Very energetic."

Jiang Baimian, Bai Chen, and Shang Jianyao praised almost simultaneously.

Qiao Chu looked at them indifferently, turned on the flashlight that came with the exoskeleton device, and used the beam of light to signal the four people in front not to delay time.

Jiang Baimian thought for a while, and after confirming that there was nothing that needed to be specially reminded or emphasized, she turned on the flashlight, held Icetear, and stepped down the stairs one step at a time.

The wind here was a bit cold, the right wall had peeled off its plaster, and the black paint on the left railing was mottled, and the metal railings were rusty.

Under the yellowish light, the stairs spiraled deep into the dark underground, as if entering the mouth of a giant beast.

This made Long Yuehong's tension and fear uncontrollably deepen, and all kinds of thoughts rolled in his mind, again questioning the necessity of this operation.

While descending layer by layer, the stairwell was extremely quiet, as if the whole world had died.

If it weren't for the slight sound of their own footsteps, Long Yuehong felt that he might have been mentally broken by such an environment and atmosphere.

And even so, he felt that time was passing abnormally slowly.

After an unknown amount of time, Qiao Chu, who was hanging at the back of the team, suddenly said:

"This is it."

"Phew..." Long Yuehong breathed a sigh of relief.

It was great that they hadn't been attacked during this journey down the stairs!

Once they were out of this narrow and enclosed environment, there would at least be space to run, roll, and jump, which would allow them to dodge effectively.

"They didn't take this opportunity to attack us..." Bai Chen said to himself.

Jiang Baimian subconsciously responded:

"The 'Heartless' shouldn't be trying to prevent us from entering the underground machine room. They don't have that motive or intelligence, unless this is their nest.

"And as hunters, when they find that their prey is too strong and difficult to deal with, the best option is to observe in the dark, wait for an opportunity, and summon their companions to come and help.

"These are 'Heartless' after who knows how many generations. They won't lack similar instincts or wisdom in hunting."

Long Yuehong heard the content he was most concerned about and looked around with great concern:

"So, they're hiding in the surrounding darkness?"

"Yes, yes," Shang Jianyao said with a smile. "Once someone shows that they're nervous, shows that they're cowardly, not vigilant enough, they'll target him."

Long Yuehong was startled.

Isn't that me?

He instantly overcame his fear and became highly tense, not allowing himself to show a trace of weakness.

"Alright, it's confirmed that there are no electrical signals in the area behind the door." Jiang Baimian stopped here, not just to talk. "However, we still have to follow the procedures and be careful."

They then provided cover and prepared suppressive firepower without any slack.

Then, Jiang Baimian, with some control, suddenly slammed open the security door leading to the underground machine room.

And using the force of the rebound, she turned and hid to the side.

After confirming that no one was attacking, they reorganized into a combat formation and rushed out of the stairwell and into an underground floor.

In the swaying beams of the flashlights, they saw the layout here clearly:

The current location was an intersection, with corridors leading forward, right, and left, and the corridors were lined with many rooms.

"Which way is the underground machine room?" Jiang Baimian asked Qiao Chu.

Qiao Chu looked around and said:

"I'm not sure either."

Then, he added:

"You guys go straight ahead first and explore the way.

"If it's there, just tell me. If it's not, come back and change direction."

He had hardly thought about it, as if he had already made this decision.

Jiang Baimian and the others didn't think there was anything wrong with this and entered the vertical corridor in the same formation as before.

At this time, Qiao Chu took two steps forward and emphasized:

"When you get to the end, don't rush to turn to other places. Report back first."

"No problem," Shang Jianyao seemed to be answering on behalf of Jiang Baimian.

He even waved his hand with a smile.

"Okay," Jiang Baimian refocused her attention on the front.

The four of them, illuminated by the flashlights, went deeper and deeper into this floor along the corridor.

On both sides of them, some of the rooms were open, some were closed, the doors were sometimes wooden, sometimes cast from gray-blue metal, and inside they could occasionally see square tables, long tables, chairs, and various machines.

But none of them looked like or had the size of a generator room.

As they walked, Jiang Baimian suddenly raised her hand and fired a shot into a room on the side.

In the sound of the bang, a figure staggered from another door into the opposite corridor.

As the flashlight beam swept over, Shang Jianyao and the others saw a back wearing a white shirt.

The upper part of this back's right arm was rapidly dyed red, obviously having been shot.

However, his speed did not slow down at all, and before Jiang Baimian and the others could fire a second shot, he darted out of their sight.

"His injury is a bit strange," Bai Chen retracted his gaze and said.

"What's strange about it?" Long Yuehong asked in a panic.

Bai Chen glanced at Jiang Baimian:

"Although the power of 'Icetear' can't compare to 'Joint 202', it's not too small either. If it hits a person, it shouldn't only cause this little damage."

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly:

"Could it be that the muscles of the 'Heartless' after many generations have evolved to this extent, allowing them to effectively reduce the tumbling or tearing of bullets?"

"It's not certain that this is the reason, but we have to pay attention to it later and not misjudge their injuries," Bai Chen reminded with a serious expression.

"Hopefully, their heads are hard enough too," Shang Jianyao replied with a smile.

Long Yuehong silently noted this point.

The Old Task Force continued forward and did not encounter any more "Heartless" along the way.

Soon, they reached the end of the corridor.

Jiang Baimian used a flashlight to illuminate the open room on the right, wanting to confirm what was inside.

And the first thing that caught their eyes was a person!

An old woman with a hunched body, wearing a dark-colored knitted hat, wearing a black woolen dress, and a face full of wrinkles.

The hair of this old woman that was showing outside the hat was completely white, and she was holding a swaddled baby wrapped in red and blue cloth in both hands.

She raised her head and looked at Jiang Baimian and the others with cloudy eyes, saying one word at a time:

"You... are disturbing... Xiao Chong..."

ps: Asking for recommendation tickets~