Bai Chen followed Shang Jianyao's line of thought and said:
“It’s possible that the person who possessed the Buddhist ‘relic’ died in the Renhui Hospital's vegetative state rehabilitation center. The survivors either don't know why they were able to enter True City, or they guessed it but didn't dare to go back to Renhui Hospital, hoping to find another way to escape from here.”
Jiang Baimian “hmm”ed and said in an enlightening tone:
“Humans have path dependencies. After the survivors escaped Renhui Hospital and got rid of their initial panic, they would most likely choose to retreat along the most familiar path.
“When they reached the edge of the city, they should have discovered that the exit was gone, buried by the collapse of the mountains and the cracking of the earth.
“So, where is the corresponding exit, or rather, which part of the city edge did the survivors return to?”
Geva was the first to answer:
“If this group of people really belonged to the scientific expedition team of Ding Ling's husband, Ji Qiang, then based on the information we obtained earlier, they came from the southwest, just like us.”
This was the news that the "Old Task Force" had inquired about at the "Salvation Army" rest stop when they met the "Asceticism Department" monks.
Long Yuehong's heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out:
“They entered True City from the place we entered?
“And returned there?”
The honest Shang Jianyao sneered:
“Have you forgotten that our entry wasn't so smooth either?
“We encountered a fault zone in the middle. We relied on the military exoskeleton, Old Geva, and Dabai to avoid detours and directly entered the city from that direction.”
Why are you putting me and the military exoskeleton and Old Geva on the same level? It's as if I wasn't wearing a military exoskeleton back then… Jiang Baimian suspected that Shang Jianyao was slandering her strength as comparable to a smart robot and a military exoskeleton, and she had evidence.
Long Yuehong reluctantly admitted his mistake:
“Yeah.”
He then made a suggestion:
“Then let's go back to the fault zone and see which place we can enter the city from by detouring?”
Jiang Baimian shook her head and said:
“No need to be so complicated.
“Think about it, think from the perspective of a normal person instead of a feed's logic. If you returned along the original route and found that the exit was destroyed and difficult to cross, what would you do?”
Long Yuehong took a breath, calmed his mind, and thought for a moment:
“Then I would definitely change to another exit to leave the city. Such a big city, how could there be only one exit?”
After peeling back the layers to this extent, his thoughts gradually became clear:
“After discovering that every exit was unable to leave the city, they should choose the one that seemed most promising, try to pave roads and build bridges, cross the natural barrier, and at the same time search nearby supermarkets and other places to collect food.”
His paving roads and building bridges didn't mean literally paving roads and building bridges, but rather referred to a series of actions such as blowing up obstacles and laying down barriers to pass through the ravines.
“So, what we need to do now is to circle the edge of the True City ruins and look for places with traces of paving roads and building bridges. The survivors are likely to be nearby, and there is a certain probability that they are still alive.” Jiang Baimian took over Long Yuehong's words and gave the order.
The citizens of True City all died instantly when the Old World was destroyed, and it seems that no one survived. Therefore, the food here has not been consumed.
Of course, after decades, with no electricity for most of the time, much of the food has long rotted and is no longer suitable for human consumption. However, canned goods, which can be preserved for a long time, are enough to support a team with only a few people left to survive for two to three years.
Upon hearing this, Bai Chen turned the steering wheel and drove the jeep towards the edge of the city.
At this time, Shang Jianyao, who took it as his duty to "save all mankind" and hated evil as if it were an enemy, said with hatred:
“If it weren't for the Eighth Research Institute's missile strikes, it would be much easier for us to find people.”
Although those missiles mainly targeted Renhui Hospital and True City First High School, some inevitably deviated elsewhere, which might destroy the traces of the survivors' paving roads and building bridges.
“It hasn't been confirmed that it was the Eighth Research Institute yet.” Jiang Baimian casually retorted, “This is just our speculation, and we think it's highly probable, but we don't rule out that it was someone else.”
Shang Jianyao, who had switched personalities, chuckled and said:
“Anyway, their base is somewhere in the ice sheet, which is a perfect match.
“Let's just assume they did it. For them, after doing so many bad things, one more or one less doesn't make a difference.”
As he spoke, Shang Jianyao became excited:
“It's like the destruction of the Buddhist holy land, which can also be blamed on them!”
Hearing these words, Long Yuehong turned his head and glanced in the direction of True City First High School, his emotions instantly becoming very complicated.
This Buddhist holy land ultimately did not escape the fate of being razed to the ground.
Fortunately, Shang Jianyao didn't mock him, saying that he was a jinx, a prophet of doom, good things never come to pass, but bad things always do, but instead put the blame on the Eighth Research Institute.
That's right, they did it, they launched missiles and destroyed Renhui Hospital and True City First High School! Long Yuehong slowly became convinced that the Eighth Research Institute did it.
True City covers a large area, and many roads are severely damaged. It took the "Old Task Force" an entire morning to circle the edge.
Except for the places that were mistakenly bombed by missiles and were completely unrecognizable, the other exits had no traces of paving roads and building bridges.
“Is there a problem with our reasoning? Which part is wrong?” Long Yuehong retracted his gaze with disappointment.
He would rather believe that the missiles destroyed the clues.
Jiang Baimian smiled:
“It's okay, the previous reasoning was based on several assumptions, so it's normal for mistakes to occur.
“Don't I often say? Make bold assumptions and verify them carefully. Now we have at least ruled out some possibilities.”
“Could it be that there are no other survivors, only one escaped from Renhui Hospital and entered True City First High School?” Bai Chen muttered to himself.
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said:
“It's also possible that other survivors encountered accidents along the way and lost their lives before they could try to pave roads and build bridges.”
“That would be troublesome.” Geva was the one who made the assessment.
Because in this way, finding traces left by survivors in True City, which had been bombed by missiles, would be like finding a needle in a haystack, with possibilities everywhere.
“Yes, yes.” Shang Jianyao echoed, “Those survivors may have had accidents on the way back to the exit from Renhui Hospital, or they may have encountered accidents while searching for other exits.”
Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and said:
“Let's do our best and leave the rest to fate.
“We'll use a simple method now: leave True City, return to the fault zone, and then drive from the only detour towards Renhui Hospital to see if we can find anything along the way.
“If there is still no gain, then tomorrow we will report to the company that the target location has been destroyed, and at the same time inform the company that we are about to return.”
“Okay!” Long Yuehong replied very simply.
He immediately felt that the mission had a purpose.
About two hours later, the "Old Task Force" returned to the edge of True City according to the planned schedule.
When the buildings that still stood there came into their sight, Jiang Baimian and the others' pupils dilated simultaneously.
On the surface of a gray-yellow high-rise building, a window and the surrounding exterior wall were dyed bright red.
Even from a distance, it was exceptionally eye-catching.
The "Old Task Force" had actually been to this entrance before, but they had only checked for traces of paving roads and building bridges, and had never looked at the corresponding building complex from the direction of entering the city.
“It was painted red with paint.” After a few seconds, Geva issued a slightly synthetic voice.
If it was blood, unless it had just been put on not long ago, it would not be possible to not oxidize and turn black.
Bai Chen recalled for a moment and said:
“It feels like a distress signal…”
When some wasteland wanderers are trapped in a certain place, because they don't understand writing, or are not sure whether the people who might pass by understand writing, they often choose to use bright red and purple colors to attract attention.
Long Yuehong's heart skipped a beat:
“Did the survivors do it?
“They entered the city from here, and they believe that the people who come later will also enter the city from here.”
So they chose to create a distress signal here.
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao rarely applauded for Long Yuehong.
Jiang Baimian thought for a few seconds and said:
“Let's go take a look, be careful.
“Prepare according to the standards of encountering a 'New World' node or a powerful aberration creature or a high-level 'Heartless'.”
Not long after, the "Old Task Force" arrived at the bottom of the building. Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen put on military exoskeletons, and Long Yuehong and Geva put on bionic smart armor.
Then, Bai Chen and Long Yuehong went to the opposite building to find suitable sniping and fire support positions.
Geva stayed downstairs, on the one hand guarding the jeep, and on the other hand preparing to receive the teammates.
Fully armed, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao climbed the stairs and successfully arrived at the thirty-second floor where the "red" window was located.
The corresponding room door was ajar, and a stale smell wafted out.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time.
From their own perspectives, they confirmed that there were no humans inside, no living humans.
Relying on the helmet of the military exoskeleton having a poison gas filtering function, the two were bold and skillful, pushed open the door, and entered the room.
This was an ordinary residence, with tables, chairs, benches, sofas, TVs, and other furniture.
Near the "red" window, there was a computer desk with a stained computer on it.
Opposite the desk, in the chair facing away from the door, sat a corpse wearing dark-colored clothes.
He was lying on the computer desk, and his neck and head had turned into bones.
Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao moved over step by step, and when they got closer, they discovered that the corpse had a dark green canvas backpack placed between its thighs and waist, and a Ubei 7 was lying quietly on the ground beside it.
And besides this one, there were no other bones around.