Sensing the change in Zhang Qubing's gaze and recalling Xue Shiyue's claim that he was a fervent admirer of the "Salvation Army," Hong Guangming stuffed the pile of receipts into his pocket and grumbled:

"Isn't the whole point of working my whole life to make sure my children and grandchildren have a better life?"

He then waved his hand:

"Alright, come inside and I'll issue your permits."

This wave was with his non-mechanical right hand.

Seeing Hong Guangming walk back to the "Wubei Management Committee" building with a slight limp, Jiang Baimian glanced sideways at Shang Jianyao again.

Shang Jianyao's expression was solemn, seemingly a little confused and a little lost.

"Let's go, weren't you already mentally prepared?" Jiang Baimian urged him.

Shang Jianyao sighed and said:

"You don't understand."

Seeing Jiang Baimian narrow her eyes slightly, he quickly added:

"Reality is reality, and ideals are ideals. When there's a gap between the two, emotions are inevitably affected. To give an example, it's like Little Red..."

"Stop!" Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong said in unison, interrupting Shang Jianyao's potentially very magical analogy.

Ding Ling didn't quite understand their way of interacting and could only quietly observe, not wanting to interrupt.

Soon, the "Old Task Force" returned to Hong Guangming's section chief office.

While Hong Guangming buried himself in issuing the permits, he said:

"Take out all the receipts you have on you, I need to check them."

"Do we have to check those too?" Jiang Baimian asked, puzzled.

Hong Guangming was still quite tolerant towards polite and good-looking women:

"Routine inspection, mainly to prevent you from carrying a large number of fake receipts into the area."

Ding Ling added in explanation from the side:

"Our receipts are all made of pressed plastic; ordinary people can't fake them at all. They don't have the source of materials, and they can't get the corresponding machines.

"But the major forces like 'First City' can do it, so one of the responsibilities of our border settlements and entry points and security checkpoints is to intercept fake receipts from outside."

So that's how it is... In the Old World, you could find any small factory, or even a family workshop, to manufacture those small plastic cards. Well, that was the convenience brought about by the highly mature industrial system at the time. Now, in the Ashlands, even getting oil is a difficult thing... Jiang Baimian suddenly felt a little emotional.

This is the difference between the old and new eras.

Ding Ling turned to Hong Guangming and said:

"Grandpa Hong, all the receipts they have were just exchanged for them by me yesterday."

"Then there's no problem." Hong Guangming's steel arm popped out a key with a snap, opened the mechanical lock of the drawer below, and took out the official seal and inkpad from inside.

With a *smack*, he stamped a bright red seal on the permit.

After Jiang Baimian took the permit, she found that there were indeed two extra sentences added to it in addition to the regular content:

"This permit does not include intelligent robots.

"When the corresponding four personnel enter the settlement, they cannot carry heavy weapons, high-tech equipment, or crates."

"Thank you, Section Chief Hong." Jiang Baimian finally said a sincere thank you.

Although there were many restrictions, with this permit, the "Old Task Force's" subsequent journey would be much easier, especially in replenishing supplies, which would be more convenient, allowing them to go straight to the Icefield without distractions.

After leaving the "Wubei Management Committee," the "Old Task Force" drove their jeep, following Ding Ling's green mountain bike, to a place on the edge of the city called the "Ashlands Grand Hotel."

It was called a grand hotel, but it was actually converted from an old-world warehouse. The area it occupied was quite large, making parking very convenient, but it only had three floors at most.

"This is specifically for you outsiders to stay in," Ding Ling said with a smile after helping the "Old Task Force" with the check-in procedures and following them into one of the rooms. "You're not qualified for other places, even with a permit."

Inside and outside belong to two different systems... Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully:

"Thank you for your trouble these past two days.

"How many receipts did you give Section Chief Hong before? We'll reimburse you."

"No need." Ding Ling shook her head and smiled. "That was all the difference in price I earned from you before, and I can get a little reimbursement later."

Hearing the second half of the sentence, Long Yuehong and the others suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

Ding Ling looked around and took the initiative to close the door, saying with a serious expression:

"You said before that you stole some intelligence from 'First City.' What area is it about? Is it possible to sell it to us?"

She hadn't believed it at first, but after seeing the three sets of military exoskeletons and two bionic intelligent armors, she felt that Xue Shiyue's team might not have been exaggerating.

Worthy of a team with a total bounty value of over 100,000 Ores!

Jiang Baimian and the members of her team exchanged glances and smiled at Ding Ling:

"That intelligence doesn't really need to be kept secret. In fact, the relevant personnel even asked us to publicize it widely.

"It's like this, we tried to contact the descendants of Ore in First City. You know Ore, right? He used to be the governor of 'First City' and even served as emperor for a while."

"We have him in our textbooks." Ding Ling nodded and said solemnly, "Please continue."

Jiang Baimian said, "Mm":

"Ore currently has two descendants left, one is his granddaughter Aviya, and the other is his grandson Marcus.

"These two jointly hold some secrets left by Ore, and they are being closely protected by 'First City,' which is equivalent to being monitored.

"I won't go into the specifics, but in short, we went through a lot of trouble to finally contact these two descendants of Ore and obtained the corresponding intelligence from them.

"This includes a secret laboratory inside the Wasteland 13 Ruins. Ore hid his guesses about the cause of the Old World's destruction, his understanding of the 'New World,' and how to deal with the 'Source Brain' of 'Mechanical Paradise' inside. It also includes Aviya having a mysterious phone that Ore used to use, which can be used to dial a string of garbled codes to connect to an unknown, terrifying existence. And it includes the secret laboratory's opening password being 'Messiah'...

"We later sneaked into the Wasteland 13 Ruins, found the secret laboratory, and used the password to open the door, but there was nothing inside. All of Ore's remaining information was gone.

"All of this stems from a brand new artificial intelligence 'Future' that he created in his later years. It can manipulate the electromagnetism in the laboratory through the 'New World' node and control those computers. It had already transferred the information left by Ore and turned the laboratory into a trap..."

Jiang Baimian knew what could be said and what couldn't be said, mainly to publicize the matters left by Ore.

Hearing this, Ding Ling was stunned.

Her mental journey just now was like this:

"Why publicize that information widely?

"It's related to the former emperor of 'First City'... That information is indeed quite important.

"This team is really strong, able to bypass the close protection of 'First City' and contact key personnel.

"Although I don't quite understand, it sounds pretty amazing.

"Wait, what is she saying? What 'New World' node, what artificial intelligence manipulating electromagnetism..."

The further it went, the more confused Ding Ling became, feeling like the other person was speaking in a language she didn't understand.

When Jiang Baimian finished speaking, she subconsciously swallowed and said:

"I, I will report these things.

"If, if it really has great value, we may compensate you with some supplies or receipts."

After expressing a friendly attitude, Ding Ling calmed herself down and asked:

"What's the state of that secret laboratory now?"

Although she didn't understand what happened at the time, just like listening to a heavenly book, her experience told her that the secret laboratory was one of the key points, and she didn't need to understand those terms, just grasp the key points.

Jiang Baimian hesitated and said:

"It was destroyed."

The honest Shang Jianyao quickly added:

"Don't misunderstand, we didn't destroy it. It was to escape the predicament set up by the artificial intelligence 'Future' at the time that we had no choice but to trigger the laboratory's self-destruct device."

That sounds even more terrifying... Ding Ling nodded:

"I understand. I'll report this before I get off work, and there should be a result tomorrow."

With that, she raised her hand and waved:

"See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow!" Shang Jianyao was always so enthusiastic.

Ding Ling thought for a moment and added:

"If you encounter any situation, don't rush to take action yourself, especially using those pieces of equipment. Just report it to the 'Wubei Public Security Management Committee.' There's a telephone in the hotel room with the corresponding number written on it."

"No problem." Jiang Baimian agreed sincerely.

Anyway, the "Old Task Force's" greatest strength wasn't the equipment, nor was it Genaava, but Shang Jianyao, who could subtly influence people.

After seeing Ding Ling off, because it was still early, Jiang Baimian didn't ask what they would eat for dinner, but instead walked to the window, looked outside, and observed the surrounding environment.

Although this was only on the third floor, the surrounding buildings were generally not high, so the view was relatively good.

During the observation, Bai Chen, with his keen eyes, noticed that on a certain road in the distance, a line of camouflage green armored vehicles and tanks were driving by, accompanied by soldiers in black uniforms with live ammunition. The atmosphere seemed a bit tense.