Like most people in the noodle shop, Jiang Baimian only turned her head to look at the roadside without leaving her seat.
Before long, the fifty-something-year-old owner, covered in the smell of grease, carried a tray and placed four large bowls of oil-splashed spicy noodles in front of Shang Jianyao and the others.
Amidst the intense aroma that tempted the taste buds, Jiang Baimian restrained her appetite and asked casually:
"The library burned down?"
"Yes," the owner sighed. "But I didn't see much smoke over there, so I guess the fire wasn't too big."
Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao, who had already picked up his bowl, lowered his head, and started slurping the noodles. She asked "curiously":
"Have there been a lot of fires recently, or what?"
She didn't mind if such a question made her seem like an outsider. Wild Wheat City had more outsiders than anything else.
"It's not even the hottest part of the year!" The owner shook his head in denial. "I think it's those lunatics who did it?"
"Lunatics?" Jiang Baimian became even more interested.
The owner sighed:
"Ever since winter started, a bunch of weirdos suddenly appeared in the city, stuffing papers under your door every day. They write things like 'The old world was destroyed by knowledge,' 'Don't learn anything beyond your instincts,' 'Stay away from books, don't think.' Listen to that! Is that human language? And these papers aren't free, you know!
"Those lunatics are definitely capable of burning down the library!"
"Don't the noble lords care?" Jiang Baimian listened to Shang Jianyao's slurping while restraining herself and asking another question.
"No one knows who they are! How can they care?" The owner was quite happy to talk about this.
His sideburns were mostly gray, his hair was cut very short, and he already had some wrinkles around his eyes.
"That's true." Jiang Baimian lowered her expectations for the security situation in Wild Wheat City.
It definitely couldn't compare to the inside of Pangu Biology.
Seeing that the owner was quite angry, she changed the subject and asked:
"Do you guys really like that library?"
The owner wiped his hands on his white apron:
"How can we not care?
"The children rely on it to learn to read."
"Doesn't Wild Wheat City have schools? It should." Jiang Baimian hadn't heard Bai Chen mention that, so she assumed there were schools.
The owner glanced at the door:
"There is one, but it's on North Street, and ordinary people aren't allowed in.
"Regular families like us can only teach our own children. Fortunately, my grandfather's generation knew a lot, and my dad also received some formal education, so I can barely recognize most of the characters in Ashlands language and most of the words in Red River language.
"But when it comes to teaching kids, how can you do it without books? Relying solely on yourself... the effect, oh, don't even mention it. I'm just hoping that my grandson will be successful, recognize more characters, read more books, and have the opportunity to work in the municipal building, instead of being like his dad, who didn't like reading or recognizing characters, and became a ruins hunter, throwing his life away!"
Speaking of this, remembering the library burning down, the owner cursed hatefully again:
"Those idiots!"
Listening to the team leader's conversation with the owner, Long Yuehong suddenly realized how difficult it was for Water Town to maintain public education.
In the Ashlands, education wasn't a natural right that everyone had. In fact, most people couldn't read or write.
Seeing that there were potentially quite a few "arsonists" and that things seemed more like a coincidence, Jiang Baimian secretly breathed a sigh of relief and joked:
"Boss, your dialect is quite mixed."
"When my grandfather's generation established Wild Wheat City, people came from all directions, speaking all sorts of dialects, and some even spoke Red River language. Listening to it all the time, you just learned it and mixed it all together. Hey, folks, what would you like to eat?" The owner saw that new customers were coming in and stopped chatting to greet them.
Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao, who was scraping the bottom of his bowl, picked up her own bowl, and asked Long Yuehong with a smile:
"How's the taste?"
"Delicious... but... a little spicy..." Long Yuehong answered vaguely.
Jiang Baimian had already mixed the noodles while chatting earlier. Now, taking a bite, the noodles were soaked in red oil, fragrant and spicy. The chewing brought out the unique sweetness of the starch and just the right amount of tangy sourness, and the breath was filled with a mixture of scallion, oil, and chili aromas.
"It's just too little," Shang Jianyao put down his chopsticks and "helped" Long Yuehong add.
Jiang Baimian never treated her team members poorly. She half-turned her body and shouted loudly:
"Boss, another bowl, no, two bowls."
She felt that one bowl probably wouldn't be enough for her either. Two bowls might be a bit much, but she could share them with Long Yuehong and Bai Chen.
And so, they ate until sweat beaded on their foreheads.
In the cold winter, it was an indescribable pleasure.
Then, when they paid the bill, it cost 18 Deraser.
--A small bowl of oil-splashed spicy noodles was 1.5 Deraser, and a large bowl was 3 Deraser. The Old Task Force ate six bowls in total, which was close to two Orei.
After receiving two 1-Deraser banknotes in change, Jiang Baimian counted the remaining bills with a slightly pained expression:
"This money really goes quickly!"
They had only exchanged 10 Orei in total, and one meal had cost them almost a fifth of it.
This amount of money would only last them about two days.
"Let's go, let's go to the Hunter's Guild to get a badge. If we're going to stay for a while, we'll have to earn money to support ourselves," Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao, who had eaten the most.
By this time, they had returned to the street and were back in their two-person groups.
Shang Jianyao touched his stomach and said regretfully:
"I should have ordered a different type of noodle for the second bowl, the one with meat."
"As long as you can earn money, definitely next time," Jiang Baimian didn't mind that this guy only thought about eating.
This was because the Old Task Force had taken a detour, and the remaining food was not much. Therefore, their current priority was to solve the problem of survival.
Of course, if they could contact the intelligence personnel, they would most likely have other channels for obtaining supplies.
On the streets of Wild Wheat City in the afternoon, the sunlight wasn't as intense, and gusts of cold wind drilled into the pedestrians' clothes.
This led to many people not going out unless necessary. The streets were exceptionally deserted, except for the Wild Wheat City patrolmen carrying submachine guns and the ruins hunters who were hurrying to find food.
After arriving at the central square, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao turned towards West Street. After a few steps, they saw the Hunter's Guild, which occupied an entire building.
Beneath the imitation of flying eaves and brackets were mottled white walls and the words "Hunter's Guild" made up of small light bulbs.
The latter was in two languages. One could imagine how bright and eye-catching it would be at night when the lights were turned on.
On the ground floor of the Guild, all the rooms had been knocked through, leaving only the pillars and the walls that couldn't be knocked down, forming a very large hall.
At this time, all the doors were open, allowing people to enter and exit at will.
On the walls and pillars beside the different doors were written the same large black characters:
"Working hours: 8:30 AM to 8:30 PM.
"Remember: Guild staff have the right to carry guns legally.
"Warning: Please maintain order.
"..."
While Jiang Baimian was browsing this content, a group of people walked out of the Hunter's Guild.
Two of them were quite conspicuous.
One was a robot, silver-black overall, with smooth lines and a distinct texture. Its eyes were like two light bulbs, flashing red light; the other was a man in his thirties, with an ordinary appearance and sharp eyes. The five fingers on his right hand were on the longer side, a sheet of metallic black, and the area above the corresponding wrist joint was covered by his sleeve, so it couldn't be seen.
"Mechanical arm..." Jiang Baimian knew that she was talking to herself very loudly, so she suppressed it in her heart.
The ruins hunters coming and going were all looking at this group with envy.
Bai Chen's gaze was also following them.
"There's an intelligent robot... amazing!" Long Yuehong exclaimed sincerely.
Even if it wasn't a combat-type intelligent robot, it was still a good helper for survival in the wild!
They wouldn't get hungry, wouldn't get tired, weren't afraid of poisonous gas, weren't afraid of ordinary firearms, weren't afraid of harsh environments, and had super load-bearing capabilities.
The only problem was how to provide them with energy.
Unfortunately, since the Old World was destroyed, there were no more than three places that could still reliably produce intelligent robots. As the "antiques" gradually broke down or were destroyed, a group that could have such a "companion" was indeed worthy of envy.
In the past few years, many humans had survived all sorts of dangers, thanks to being accompanied by intelligent robots.
--Even in the Old World, intelligent robots hadn't really become widespread.
Jiang Baimian sized them up for a while, withdrew her gaze, and asked Shang Jianyao, who was beside her, with a smile:
"If you had the opportunity to install a mechanical arm, what function would you choose first?"
"Opening cans," Shang Jianyao replied very seriously.
"...How practical." Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth.
As they spoke, the two of them had already walked into the hall of the Hunter's Guild.
There were fluorescent lights on the ceiling, casting a pale white light, seemingly without any need to save electricity.
Inside the hall, around the central circular platform, were scattered tables, each with a machine with its own LCD screen.
Above the large circular platform hung a super-huge screen, which was displaying various tasks in a relatively slow scroll.
Below the screen were rows of windows, each with black electronic instruments.
Looking at it like this, Jiang Baimian felt that the inside and outside were in completely different worlds.
The level of technology was vastly different.
She then found an empty window and pulled Shang Jianyao over.
Looking at the clean and tidy girl behind the window, Jiang Baimian said with a smile:
"Registering as hunters."
"Fill out the form. If you can't write, I'll help you fill it out." The female staff member handed over two pieces of paper, with an attitude that was neither enthusiastic nor arrogant.
The contents of the form were very simple, just regular items such as name, gender, and age. Jiang Baimian took the pen from the window and filled it out quickly.
It was actually quite difficult to make up fake names.
In order not to give Shang Jianyao a chance to do his thing, Jiang Baimian helped him complete the form.
After submitting the form, they took pictures in front of the black instrument at the window one after the other and recorded their fingerprints.
Soon, they received two "Hunter Badges."
The badge was made of bronze overall. The front had a blurry face and a knife and a gun, and the back was inlaid with a chip.
"You are now 'Rookie Hunters.' Work hard to accept tasks and you will soon become 'Official Hunters,'" the staff member said with the same cookie-cutter blessings as she handed over the badges.
Jiang Baimian tossed the badge in the air and said to Shang Jianyao with a smile:
"Let's go, let's see what tasks there are."
Shang Jianyao then pinned the badge to his chest, very solemnly.