So quickly there are clues? Long Yuehong was taken aback.
Frankly speaking, he always felt that unless one was extremely lucky, hunting down someone on the Greylands would inevitably be a prolonged affair.
As one of the key wanted individuals by First City, he believed he had some right to speak on this matter.
Admittedly, on the Greylands, the Old Task Force was definitely among the best in terms of experience, ability, and caution. However, their ability to enter and exit First City multiple times and bounce back and forth was also due to the lack of corresponding population management methods, the various technological gaps, insufficient resource investment, and problematic information exchange.
But now, they had only heard about the two Salvation Army traitors who stole military supplies in the morning, and by the afternoon, there were already clues. The efficiency was so high that it was astonishing.
In an instant, Long Yuehong thought of the various rumors he had heard about the Salvation Army and the situation that Ding Ling had inadvertently revealed in her words, and he felt that this was somewhat reasonable:
The Salvation Army had very strong control over all personnel. Outsiders needed to be screened and obtain permits, and bandits and wasteland wanderers were basically eliminated internally. Even becoming a ruin hunter required approval.
In such an environment, unless the two traitors did not contact various settlements or ruin hunters acting as black market merchants and were self-sufficient in the wilderness and mountains, they would be at great risk of exposure.
Even if they possessed special Awakened abilities, they could escape for a while, but not for too long, at most delaying the discovery of clues by a day or two.
Of course, things like the "Reasoning Clown," which had a long-lasting effect, were another matter. However, judging from the Salvation Army's degree of control, how to circumvent the influence of corresponding abilities during investigations and ask about the true situation might have already been printed into a handbook and distributed to frontline personnel.
This was completely different from First City's tactic of concealing many abilities from lower-level security personnel to improve the stability of their rule.
What Long Yuehong could think of, Jiang Baimian could naturally also think of.
She looked up at the ruin hunters who were hurriedly getting up to chase after the leads on the wanted criminals, then turned her gaze back to Ding Ling and her subordinates, and said with a smile:
"I'm wondering what to eat for dinner. Are there any particularly unique foods here?"
"Caring about dinner so early?" Ding Ling looked a little surprised.
Shang Jianyao helped explain:
"Eating is a major event in life. We must examine ourselves three times a day: what to eat for breakfast, what to eat for lunch, and what to eat for dinner."
This was what he had learned from the Old World entertainment materials. It was equally suitable for the Greylands today, just with one word changed:
What is there for breakfast, what is there for lunch, what is there for dinner.
Jiang Baimian glanced at the guy and said helplessly:
"I'm half a folklorist. I like to experience the customs of different places, which includes all kinds of unique foods."
"So that's it." Ding Ling nodded first, then smiled, "I thought you were deliberately changing the subject, not wanting to show concern for the internal traitor incident, afraid of arousing our suspicion."
Isn't that the case? Long Yuehong muttered.
Jiang Baimian's long-term performance made him feel that Ding Ling's speculation was perfectly correct.
"There is that intention. You have to know how to avoid suspicion when you first arrive," Jiang Baimian admitted frankly.
Clap clap clap, clang clang clang, Shang Jianyao and Genaava applauded at the same time.
Shang Jianyao then turned his head and said to Genaava:
"You won't be able to hide your degree of humanization anymore!"
"I feel like I understand a little more about human relationships," Genaava replied honestly.
The two's conversation made Bai Chen want to turn her head to look to the side, pretending not to know them. However, Ding Ling and her subordinates did not care much. After all, Wubei was one of the Salvation Army's core cities, and there was no shortage of robots. They had seen the kind that could perform crosstalk with humans.
Crosstalk was an art from the Old World that had been preserved in some places dominated by Greylanders. The Salvation Army and Pangu Biology were both in this category.
"Pretty good," Ding Ling praised Jiang Baimian's idea, "Many foreign ruin hunters didn't understand this principle before, so we politely sent them away or sent them to court and sentenced them to labor."
Is this a veiled warning? Long Yuehong's thoughts were always rich.
Without waiting for Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao to respond, Ding Ling smiled:
"I freeloaded off your canned food for lunch, so I'll treat you to a meal with Wubei characteristics tonight."
"Okay, okay!" Shang Jianyao was not polite at all.
As the sun set, Ding Ling exchanged a pile of firewood from the settlement, borrowed an iron pot, an aluminum basin, and a soup spoon, and began to prepare dinner.
She first poured a lot of flour into the aluminum basin, then added water, white sugar, and other things, stirring them into a paste. Then, she heated the pot and wiped the edge of the pot back and forth with a small piece of lard.
After completing these preparations, Ding Ling used a metal soup spoon to scoop up the white paste from the aluminum basin and poured it on the inner edge of the iron pot.
With a sizzling sound, each spoonful of white paste was spread into a thin pancake.
Ding Ling skillfully controlled the heat, and after a certain amount of time, she flipped the pancakes over.
A sweet and enticing aroma gradually filled the air, causing Shang Jianyao to gulp.
After both sides were browned, a male Salvation Army member waiting next to them picked up the pancakes one by one and placed them in various lunch boxes.
Round after round, everyone was given six or seven pancakes.
Jiang Baimian restrained herself from eating and gestured to her team members, especially Shang Jianyao, not to rush, as Ding Ling was still busy.
After finishing the last round of pancakes, there was still some residual batter in the aluminum basin. Ding Ling added a lot of water, stirred it, and poured it all into the pot.
Before long, a pot of fragrant hot pot soup was ready.
After everyone received half a lunch box of soup, Ding Ling took out several meat cans and cooked them in the pot.
"People like us who do physical labor won't feel full if we only eat pancakes without meat," she said to Jiang Baimian and the others with a smile, "Eat, everyone eat."
Shang Jianyao eagerly picked up a pancake and stuffed it into his mouth.
Long Yuehong followed closely behind.
Taking a bite, he felt that the pancake was soft, glutinous, and elastic. Chewing it carefully, he could taste the aroma of flour and the sweetness of sugar. He couldn't stop at all.
After devouring a pancake, Long Yuehong buried his head and took a sip of the hot pot soup.
He felt that it was not greasy at all, like clear water with the aroma of wheat and a hint of sweetness.
"Not bad, what's this called?" Jiang Baimian asked, looking up.
Ding Ling smiled:
"In Wubei, we call this Guo Bian Tan."
"Your cooking is really good!" Shang Jianyao praised.
The twenty-four- or five-year-old female subordinate of Ding Ling nodded in agreement:
"Yes, Team Leader Ding often cooks herself to improve our meals."
"Learn from others!" Shang Jianyao said to Jiang Baimian, turning his head.
Jiang Baimian raised her left hand expressionlessly, stopping the subsequent noises.
After eating their fill, the Old Task Force scrambled to do the cleaning, with Shang Jianyao, who was designated by Jiang Baimian, as the main force.
At this moment, Bai Chen discovered that the ruin hunters who had gone to track down the clues to find the two traitors had returned to the settlement one after another.
Ding Ling walked over and casually asked someone:
"Any gains?"
The ruin hunter glanced at the black uniform and corresponding epaulets she was wearing and answered with slight fear:
"Yes, we found the two traitors. We killed one of them, and the other one committed suicide with a gun when he saw there was no escape."
Ruin hunters belonging to the Salvation Army always mocked the regular army for being rigid and conservative, but they still didn't dare to act presumptuously when they actually encountered them, unless their families had some background.
"They're both dead?" Ding Ling frowned slightly, "What did you find on them?"
The ruin hunter replied:
"We didn't find any so-called important military supplies, only some canned food, biscuits, energy bars, as well as bullets and lighters."
Seeing that Ding Ling's expression was still serious, he added:
"Most of these were produced in Wubei. They might have been to Wubei and gotten some supplies from the black market."
"Then someone will have to take responsibility!" Ding Ling muttered.
The important military supplies seem to have been sold off... If they can't be found later, there will probably be a chain reaction... Since her hearing recovered, Jiang Baimian has been able to complete the task of secretly eavesdropping.
Nothing happened overnight. At seven o'clock the next morning, the Old Task Force followed Ding Ling's mountain bike and continued to drive towards Wubei.
After nearly nine hours, around four o'clock in the afternoon, they finally arrived at this renovated city located on the bank of the Moonscale River and backed by a nuclear power plant.
The overall appearance of this city was very similar to the Old World, but there were not so many high-rise buildings, and the colors and shapes of the buildings were relatively monotonous.
With Ding Ling around, Jiang Baimian and the others passed the inspections at several intersections very smoothly and entered the city.
Suddenly, Shang Jianyao pointed out the window, saying "Ah ah ah" with an excited look on his face.
What the hell? Jiang Baimian followed his gaze and found two strangely dressed people passing by in the alley on the side.
They were dressed plainly, all covered in greyish dust. The strange thing was that they were both wearing aluminum pots for boiling water and cooking on their heads, making one wonder how they could see the road ahead.
The two quickly disappeared at the end of the alley. Shang Jianyao seemed eager to catch up and communicate with them.
After Ding Ling parked the green mountain bike in front of a rather imposing ten-story building, Shang Jianyao quickly got out of the car and asked what the origin of those citizens was.
Ding Ling frowned:
"They are a bunch of lunatics!"