Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao had just returned to their room on the third floor when Long Yuehong asked curiously:
“Team Leader, what information did Zhang Lao give us?”
He noticed that Jiang Baimian’s hands were empty.
Jiang Baimian smiled and said:
“We already went through it once downstairs just now, and we didn’t find anything worth noting.”
As she spoke, she took out the folded stack of papers from her pocket.
“Yes, yes.” Shang Jianyao nodded in agreement.
Long Yuehong was a little disappointed, but also relieved:
“There aren’t any valuable clues…”
He looked at the stack of papers in Jiang Baimian’s hand, considering whether to waste time browsing through them again.
Compared to Jiang Baimian, he believed that his attention to detail, keenness, and logical ability were inferior. If she couldn’t find a problem, he probably didn’t have much hope either.
In other words, if the team leader certified that there was no problem with the information, there was no need for him to waste time on it.
While Long Yuehong hesitated, Genava directly said:
“Even the wisest can make mistakes. I think it’s better to circulate the information for everyone to look at.”
“Yes.” Bai Chen expressed agreement.
Long Yuehong suddenly regretted it, feeling that he shouldn’t have hesitated.
Clap clap clap, Shang Jianyao applauded for Genava.
Jiang Baimian also nodded and smiled:
“I’m not some wise person. Mistakes are inevitable. Everyone should read, ask questions, and communicate more to effectively avoid oversights.
“This is called fully utilizing the collective wisdom.”
If she thought it wasn’t necessary to give the stack of information to her team members, she wouldn’t have taken it out at all.
The several pages of information were quickly divided and given to Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava.
After just a quick scan, the honest Genava raised a question:
“This point is very suspicious:
“Two days before the lockdown, a hotel guest had his antihypertensive medicine stolen. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.”
“What?” Long Yuehong blurted out.
Bai Chen pursed her lips, organizing her words:
“This is very similar to a situation we anticipated:
“The person who obtained the nuclear warhead was accidentally ‘hit’ by a weakness, and it took him two to three days to recover, missing the opportunity to leave the city and getting stuck in Ubei due to the lockdown.”
Moreover, the guests at the "Gray Earth Hotel" were all outsiders, which made it even more suspicious.
“Good, very perceptive.” Jiang Baimian praised, and said with a smile, “When I looked at it earlier, I thought the same thing, but on the way back, I met the hotel’s Manager Shen. He told me that the unlucky guy who was hospitalized because his antihypertensive medicine was stolen hasn’t fully recovered and is still receiving treatment. A person like that has neither the time nor the ability to hijack the broadcast.”
“Indeed.” Long Yuehong nodded.
From this perspective, the unlucky guy's suspicion can be ruled out.
Shang Jianyao raised his hand and stroked his chin:
“But that doesn’t mean he’s completely without problems.
“What if he was the person in the middle? Because he was unexpectedly hospitalized, the corresponding ‘line’ was cut off, causing the hijacker to take two or three days to figure out what was wrong with him and find a way to get back the nuclear warhead, but he had already missed the best time to leave the city.”
Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and nodded slightly:
“That makes sense.”
She then pointed at Shang Jianyao and joked:
“This is called even a fool can sometimes give good advice.”
Not giving Shang Jianyao any chance to refute, Jiang Baimian looked at the floor and said:
“That unlucky guy was staying in room 214. Did you sense any human consciousness there?”
Shang Jianyao sketched a layout of the entire building in his mind, taking a little time to confirm the direction.
“No.” He shook his head.
He turned to look at Jiang Baimian:
“What about you?”
This referred to the results of sensing bioelectrical signals.
Jiang Baimian also discerned for a while before saying:
“No.”
“It seems he’s still in the hospital.” Bai Chen cast her gaze out of the not-so-brightly lit window. “But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of him being the middleman.”
She turned back and looked at Jiang Baimian:
“Did you ask about the whole story? Maybe some details are hiding devils.”
Jiang Baimian “Mm”ed, and from the fact that the guest of 214 went out for a long time that day, and when he came back, his condition was not right, he seemed to have run out of his antihypertensive medicine by chance, to the fact that he discovered that the antihypertensive medicine and many items in the room were missing, and after being burglarized, he became angry and his blood pressure soared uncontrollably, so he had to be taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.
“Captain Ding’s decision to have us leave people on guard was really prescient.” Long Yuehong clicked his tongue secretly.
The thieves at this “Gray Earth Hotel” were too exaggerated, right?
The “Old Task Force” had never encountered such a thing when they first stayed in hotels in First City.
Of course, most of that was because Bai Chen was half a “local snake,” and the hotels she found were relatively reliable, and the boss secretly managed them quite strictly.
Regarding Long Yuehong’s comment, Jiang Baimian only corrected one point:
“Not prescience, but experience.”
“First City” had no requirements for settling down, at most it wouldn't give you citizenship, and the benefits attached to the citizenship of "First City" had actually become negligible, so many ruin hunters used this city, which was the most convenient for resupply, as a base to expand outwards and explore various ruins. As the saying goes, a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its own burrow. If they were not forced to, they were unlikely to commit crimes wantonly in the "base."
On the "Salvation Army" side, although there were also no requirements for settling down, the control over outsiders was quite strict. Many ruin hunters often could not replenish the supplies they wanted, and they felt very restricted in their daily lives.
In this case, once they found that there was no hope of joining the "Salvation Army," they often chose to go elsewhere and never return in the future.
Since they would never return in the future, it was natural to take advantage of the situation and find opportunities to get some benefits.
In other areas of the "Salvation Army" settlements, control was strict and order was good. It was difficult for these ruin hunters to have opportunities. Only places like the "Gray Earth Hotel," where there were many outsiders and the management staff were bound to make mistakes, were safe for them. Anyway, their bottom line was not to let the chaos leak out and affect the official members of the "Salvation Army."
Bai Chen thought for a few seconds and said:
“I’m increasingly suspecting that the guy in room 214 is the middleman.
“The reason he was out for so long that day was likely to meet with the defector, give him supplies, and take away the nuclear warhead.”
Hearing this, Shang Jianyao’s eyes lit up:
“He had just driven back when he discovered that his antihypertensive medicine had been stolen, and he was so angry that he went to the hospital, and he hasn’t come out yet.
“Could there be a possibility that the hijacker hasn’t actually obtained the nuclear warhead yet, and that item is still hidden in the trunk of the 214 guy’s vehicle?”
“There is a certain probability.” Genava gave his analysis results.
Jiang Baimian deliberated for a moment and said:
“Wei, go find Manager Shen, guide his thinking, and have him tell you which vehicle belongs to the guest in room 214.
“When it gets even later at night, we’ll go check it out.”
“Okay!” Shang Jianyao became excited.
…………
Close to dawn, the “Old Task Force” bypassed the hotel security personnel, who had already become friends with Shang Jianyao, and found the vehicle belonging to the guest in room 214.
This was a black SUV with a modified trunk.
Although not very knowledgeable about electronics, after tinkering for a while, Bai Chen opened the vehicle’s trunk without much help from Genava.
The alarm wasn’t triggered.
Bread, biscuits, instant noodles, various canned goods, a box of bullets, and two rifles were revealed under the light of the flashlight.
“It’s not here…” Shang Jianyao couldn’t hide his disappointment.
Although Chairman Huang had said that it was a miniaturized hydrogen bomb, in Jiang Baimian’s mind, no matter how small it was, it shouldn’t be too exaggerated, becoming only as big as a high-performance battery.
Technological breakthroughs in the Old World were breakthroughs, but they certainly hadn’t reached that level!
Jiang Baimian felt that the nuclear warhead must weigh at least one or two hundred kilograms. It would be difficult to hide an item of this size in such a small space in the trunk.
As the flashlight beam moved, Bai Chen and Long Yuehong checked the front part of the vehicle.
“Nothing.” They gave the results at the same time.
Jiang Baimian slowly exhaled and said:
“Okay, it seems the whole thing was just a coincidence.
“Let’s go back and rest.”
…………
After returning to her small room, Jiang Baimian lay down on the bed.
She closed her eyes, listened to Shang Jianyao humming a song, and quickly went over the events of the day in her mind.
Suddenly, she felt a little guilty.
As someone who was terrible with directions, she wasn’t sure if she had made a mistake when sensing room 214 based on the architectural layout she had sketched in her mind, miscounting the "door numbers."
It seemed, probably, possibly she really made a mistake… She sensed the room across the hall… After some careful discernment, Jiang Baimian awkwardly wanted to rub her head.
This was too embarrassing, right?
Luckily, no one noticed.
Luckily, she was already lying on the bed.
Since she was sure she had gotten the wrong room, she had to make up for the reconnaissance, and immediately shifted her attention over.
The next second, Jiang Baimian suddenly opened her eyes.
Inside room 214, there was a bioelectrical signal highly suspected to be human!