For some reason, Long Yuehong sensed a hint of sorrow from the old man wearing the aluminum pot, whose voice had risen an octave, and at the same time, he felt that he was carrying some kind of unspeakable expectation.
Bai Chen was silent for a few seconds before asking:
"Why do you think mind control really exists?"
The old man wearing the aluminum pot seemed to be a little breathless due to his earlier excitement. After taking a couple of breaths, he said:
"Didn't I make it very clear just now?
"If it weren't for mind-wave instruments and secret control, how could those who have been tested by mountains of corpses and seas of blood suddenly change and even abandon their ideals?
"And..."
He paused, and the head wearing the aluminum pot seemed to lift a little:
"As relic hunters, you must have seen the so-called Awakened ones on your way to Wu North.
"They influence targets through brainwaves to achieve various bizarre effects. This is one of the manifestations of mind control!
"However, this kind of artificial intervention is still too inefficient. The mastermind who caused the destruction of the Old World created the mind-wave instrument, which can cover one or even several cities at a time, affecting hundreds of thousands of humans!
"Only those of us who are prepared and wear aluminum pots can escape this secret control, maintain independent and autonomous thinking, remember our ideals, and not collude with them!"
The old man's emotions became agitated again, and the last few words were emphasized.
Long Yuehong blurted out:
"Wearing an aluminum pot can prevent the Awakened from exerting influence?"
The old man's face above the nose was blocked by the gray-white aluminum pot, making it impossible to see his expression:
"Yes, it definitely can!
"Let me tell you, if I hadn't been wearing an aluminum pot all the time, I would have become a 'Heartless One.' The mastermind behind the scenes will not be soft-hearted towards those who discover the secret of mind control. They will either completely control you, not allowing you to have autonomous thinking, or directly destroy your brain, making you a 'Heartless One'!
"Many of my comrades were not cautious enough and did not wear aluminum pots at all times. They were subjected to reverse secret control, and suddenly contracted 'Heartless Disease,' and were tragically eliminated. Alas..."
But Shang Jianyao had said before that he could sense the consciousness of the two passersby wearing aluminum pots, and being able to sense consciousness meant being able to exert influence... Long Yuehong muttered in his heart, but did not say it out loud, for fear of stimulating the sensitive and extreme nerves of the old man opposite him.
Moreover, he also remembered that Ding Ling had said that this group of people who promoted mind control and always wore aluminum pots thought they could avoid being infected with "Heartless Disease" in this way, but they didn't.
Of course, these people seemed to have found suitable reasons to explain it internally.
Bai Chen listened quietly and suddenly asked:
"Why are you telling us so much?"
She had originally prepared a whole set of arguments to induce the other party to talk about related matters, but she did not expect that everything would go so smoothly, so smoothly that she had a feeling that perhaps she and others were just acting as listeners at the right time and in the right place.
The old man wearing the aluminum pot waved his right hand:
"I'm sharing these things with you because I see that you have just entered Wu North and have probably not encountered mind control yet. Alas, saving one is saving one, and having one more comrade is having one more comrade."
At this moment, Long Yuehong felt that if Shang Jianyao was there, he would probably step forward, press his right hand to his left chest, and shout the slogan "For all mankind" with慷慨激昂.
Bai Chen was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to respond, and simply squeezed out two words:
"Thank you."
The old man wearing the aluminum pot was about to say something more when he suddenly turned his body and faced the back door of the hotel not far away.
"The lackeys of the fallen are coming. I can hear his footsteps. I have to leave." The old man waved his hand, lowered his head, looked at the road under his feet, and walked step by step towards the side exit of the parking lot.
Following the old man's previous turn, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen looked towards the back door of the small building and saw the slightly balding, middle-aged hotel manager standing there with an awkward and ugly expression.
Just then, the old man who was slowly walking out shouted again:
"Remember to find an aluminum pot to wear!"
The hotel manager finally came back to his senses, quickly walked to Bai Chen and Long Yuehong, and said, both angry and anxious:
"Don't listen to him, he has problems with his brain..."
While speaking, the hotel manager pointed to his temple:
"Problems!"
Bai Chen remained calm, deliberately allowing a trace of doubt to appear on her face:
"Who exactly is he? He feels very strange?"
Eh, Little Bai Study Group Leader is learning very well... Or rather, did she know how to perform like this before joining the company? Long Yuehong's focus was not quite right.
The hotel manager looked around and lowered his voice:
"He is an old warrior who joined our 'Salvation Army' during its founding period and has survived to this day. As you also know, people who have experienced large-scale wars and casualties definitely have that war trauma syndrome, and in the chaotic era and the early New Era, no one paid much attention to this area. It was good enough for everyone to be alive. After such a series of wars, he slowly became暴躁,易怒, and unable to concentrate.
"He's like this, and many of his comrades are like this. Some even started drinking heavily. Our 'Salvation Army' has placed a considerable amount of resources on them.
"Even if that's the case, the problem became more serious after he and his comrades who also had trauma syndrome retired from the front-line positions. They began to be suspicious, always feeling that someone was going to harm them, always feeling that the committee members and directors who were still on the front lines had fallen and forgotten their ideals. They didn't even look at what era it was, or see that the current problem was different, from how to survive to how to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm to develop better.
"Later, they became like they had a mental illness, and organized an anti-secret control organization, calling on everyone to wear aluminum pots to escape the mind control of the mastermind behind the scenes. Is this, is this not a sign of illness?"
Long Yuehong did not bother to correct him that it should be syndrome rather than disease. For a middle-aged hotel manager, being able to know such a word was already quite good, which showed that the "Salvation Army" had been doing普及型 education very early on.
Why can a hotel manager say that the current problem is different, from how to survive to how to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm... A question flashed through Bai Chen's mind, but what she said was completely unrelated:
"Manager, why did he run to the hotel parking lot?"
The hotel manager sighed:
"He and his old comrades live in a nearby sanatorium. We wouldn't dare stop people of their seniority from entering the hotel.
"Ah, he used to like to stop young people on the road to talk about mind control and the matter of falling into corruption. Later, no one liked to listen anymore, so he focused his attention on foreigners staying at our hotel.
"He often comes over, pretending to accidentally bump into something and fall to the ground, waiting for someone to help him up. Then, he can take this opportunity to talk about mind control to the person who helps him."
Ah... Long Yuehong was dumbfounded.
He finally determined that he and Little Bai had really been "touched."
It turned out that the old man deliberately crashed into the jeep, waiting for someone to help him up. The reason why he kept sitting there without suffering any injuries was because getting up too early wouldn't have any effect.
No wonder he answered whatever Little Bai asked, and even took the initiative to expand on it, saying a lot... The more Long Yuehong thought about it, the more he felt that he was too stupid and naive at the time.
Bai Chen also stayed silent for several seconds before frowning slightly and saying:
"Will merchants who come to trade and relic hunters who enter the country really help him up?"
Based on her many years of experience as a wanderer in the wilderness, she didn't think that these two types of people would have any kindness. People like Wu Shoushi were too rare.
The hotel manager laughed:
"Many people are always willing to show their kindness in order to become a member of our 'Salvation Army'.
"Hehe, good deeds may really help them shorten the number of years of settlement. This is what the 'Materials Coordination Committee' encourages."
So that's how it is... Long Yuehong felt that this policy was still good.
Having exchanged to this point, there was nothing more to say. He and Bai Chen said goodbye to the hotel manager named Shen Kang and returned to the room on the third floor through the normal通道.
…………
After Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao returned, Bai Chen took the initiative to talk about the old man wearing the aluminum pot.
Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up when he heard it. He tilted his head and said to Long Yuehong:
"Why don't you try wearing an aluminum pot? Let me see if I can control you?"
"No need." Long Yuehong shook his head without hesitation.
This was obviously possible!
Genava gave a scientific denial:
"That won't work. Unless the aluminum pot covers the whole body and is grounded, it can produce an electromagnetic shielding effect."
"Maybe we can try it this way..." Jiang Baimian began to ponder.
She also wanted to see if the abilities of the Awakened were carried by electromagnetic waves.
Long Yuehong suddenly became a little nervous.
Bai Chen then talked about the hotel manager's full of high-sounding rhetoric.
In response, Jiang Baimian smiled:
"It's very easy to understand. Since the old man occasionally comes to the hotel to find people to 'talk', he must have also told him about mind control and the matter of falling into corruption. And he is someone who will accept benefits and sell out a little bit of the 'Salvation Army's' interests, so he must be very虚得很 in his heart. When he has nothing to do, he probably often thinks about how he should defend himself if he faces such accusations.
"In this case, listening to the radio more, reading the issued documents more, and chatting with the people around him more will naturally slowly form a self-consistent statement."
Seeing that it was already late, Jiang Baimian was about to call her team members to go to the hotel restaurant for lunch when the broadcasts in the room, in the corridor, and in the high places outside on the street suddenly sounded.
They sounded simultaneously.
A male voice that obviously used a vocoder said亢亢说道:
"Everyone, I am a game enthusiast.
"Now I want to play a game with you:
"I have already hidden a nuclear warhead somewhere in Wu North. If you don't find it within three days, it will explode with a 'bang'.
"Everyone work hard. I hope Wu North doesn't turn into ruins in a grand fireworks display."
After the male voice finished these few sentences, it no longer appeared, and a 兹 sound of current came from the broadcast.