Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian seemed to have expected the hotel owner's rebuttal, and said with a smile:

"I thought that Hongshiji, as a smuggling center, could get cheap robots, military exoskeleton devices and smart armors."

The hotel owner once again spoke through the loudspeaker high in the room:

"These are not cheap goods, and they are very popular. To me, it is very good as it is now. There is no need to waste a lot of materials and rare contacts to make improvements."

"That's it..." Jiang Baimian nodded with satisfaction.

Through this conversation, she determined two things:

First, it is indeed possible to get military exoskeleton devices in Hongshiji; second, they are very popular and cannot be obtained without the corresponding connections and sufficient supplies.

Jiang Baimian just commented "loudly" on purpose, just to get the words right.

She's not as mean-mouthed as Shang Jianyao, and she can't control herself.

The hotel owner was quite vigilant and repeated the previous question without saying anything more:

"How many rooms do you want and how many nights do you want?"

"Two, twin beds, with bathroom, let's take a week first." Jiang Baimian had already considered this issue.

The hotel owner replied through the loudspeaker:

"What supplies can you give?"

"Military cans." Shang Jianyao answered without hesitation.

During this period of traveling south, the "Old Tune Group" became a little tired of canned food again.

"It must not have been opened." The hotel owner emphasized, lest someone could easily poison him.

She continued:

“1 can per room per night, 14 cans total.

"You open the metal door in the wall, put the cans in, and then close the door."

Jiang Baimian signaled Shang Jianyao to open the metal door like a window on the wall.

Inside is a hollow platform with a similar metal door on the other side of the platform.

Shang Jianyao was not in a hurry to retreat and said proactively:

"We also want masks."

"Four masks are considered free." The hotel owner replied.

Shang Jianyao was overjoyed and asked curiously:

"If I didn't ask, would you take the initiative to send it?"

"No." The hotel owner was very calm.

Shang Jianyao still wanted to say something, but Long Yuehong, who had received Jiang Baimian's hint, took a few steps forward with the carton in his arms, counted 14 cans, and put them on a tray on the platform.

Then, he closed the metal door on the outside.

There was a click, and the metal door seemed to be locked.

Shang Jianyao then heard a friction sound coming from inside, so he asked seriously:

"What if she takes the can and runs away?"

Jiang Baimian smiled like a villain:

"Then bring our rocket launcher and blast it against the wall here!"

After a few dozen seconds, the speaker high in the room sounded:

"You can open the door and get the electronic card and mask."

Shang Jianyao, who had been guarding the wall, opened the metal door with great interest.

The cans in the tray were gone, and instead there were two electronic cards in white plastic casings and cloth masks stacked haphazardly together.

Shang Jianyao didn't even look at the two electronic cards. He shook open the cloth mask and carefully selected it.

The four masks are of a delicate monk, a monkey with a hairy face and a pointed mouth, a fat pig with garlic in its nostrils, and a ferocious man with a full beard.

"It's boring, it's boring..." Shang Jianyao first excluded monks and men.

Apparently he thought it was too ordinary.

After some comparisons, he chose the lively monkey and put the mask on his face.

Jiang Baimian shook his head helplessly:

"You've never seen a real monkey, so you can't imitate the essence."

"Yes." Shang Jianyao was very sorry.

Jiang Baimian moved closer and immediately eliminated the fat pig mask.

Finally, she chose the delicate monk mask.

Long Yuehong endured her anxiety and said to Bai Chen quite humbly:

"You first."

Bai Chen was not polite and took away the fierce man's mask.

Long Yuehong sighed silently and could only accept this result.

"These masks remind me of some stories from the old world." Jiang Baimian reached out and grabbed the electronic card and said casually, "I'll tell you about it later when I have time."

There are labels affixed to the two electronic cards, one is "05" and the other is "06".

According to the introduction of the hotel owner, the four members of the "Old Adjustment Team" drove away from the underground Hongshiji and went around to the other side of the hill.

This is a flat land surrounded by trees, with many rows of blue and white simple houses.

At this time, the sky had darkened, and the surrounding area seemed silent and deserted, as if no one existed at all.

But both Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen could sense that there were people hiding in some hidden places nearby, monitoring the place.

Rooms "05" and "06" are located near the hills and are relatively spacious. In addition to two single beds, a table, chair and sofa, they also have their own bathroom with a bath.

"Take a rest and deal with it later." Jiang Baimian was quite satisfied with the environment of the simple hotel and did not want to enter Hongshiji again to find the hidden restaurant owner.

"Yes, team leader!" Long Yuehong and Bai Chen responded at the same time. Shang Jianyao was quite sorry.

…………

After the sky completely darkened, the cold and humid air penetrated into the room, making Long Yuehong start to feel cold while listening to the team leader's stories about the old world.

He regretted why he didn't put on more clothes before coming back.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door of room "05".

Shang Jianyao, who had sensed it for a long time, had already put on the monkey mask, came to the door, and asked:

"Zhizhizhi?"

"..." The person outside the door was obviously stunned.

Jiang Baimian sighed helplessly:

"Use human words."

Don't imitate the monkey!

Only then did Shang Jianyao return to normal:

"who?"

"Is Qian Bai here?" It was a man outside, speaking in gray dialect.

Qian Bai was Bai Chen's name when he registered as a hunter.

"What do you want from me?" Bai Chen stood up and put on his mask.

The man outside the door lowered his voice:

"I have a task I want to entrust to you."

"Why?" Bai Chen asked.

"Because you are an 'intermediate hunter', and you are about to become a 'senior hunter'." The man outside the door simply explained.

Bai Chen glanced at Jiang Baimian and saw her nodding slightly, so he said to Shang Jianyao:

"Open the door."

Shang Jianyao immediately opened the door and stretched his monkey-masked face forward a little.

The man outside the door was about 1.7 meters tall, wearing a black cloak and a mask with white background and black stripes. He was not surprised to see a scary "monkey".

At Redstone, this is basic "etiquette."

What kind of mask has he not seen before?

After entering the door, the man crossed his hands in front of him and took a step back:

"Be vigilant forever."

"Are you a member of the Vigilance Sect?" Bai Chen led the conversation, and Jiang Baimian chose to listen with interest.

The man in a cloak and mask nodded:

"I am Renato, the Bishop of the Vigilant Sect in Red Stone."

"Sit down." Bai Chen pointed to the empty seat on the sofa.

Shang Jianyao continued to guard the door, folding his arms and acting like he was a thug.

When Renato sat down, Bai Chen asked:

"As the mainstream sect of Hongshiji, you should have considerable strength. Why do you want to entrust me and my team?"

Renato was silent for a moment and said:

"Some things are not convenient for believers to know, so I didn't go through the Hunter Guild either."

"If it's too difficult, don't say it." Bai Chen chose to communicate in his own style.

Renato said quite honestly:

"I don't know if it's difficult or not, or how dangerous it is."

"Then let's talk briefly first." Bai Chen nodded.

Renato glanced at the other people in the room:

“You should have heard Gaudi say something about our sect.

“We just held a mass a few days ago, and the theme was ‘hiding’ to please the gods, who are the ‘yougu’ of our faith.

"In this hiding game, there is still one person who has not been found."

Upon hearing this, Shang Jianyao responded quickly:

"Viel!"

"Yes." Renato confirmed, "Because he has been hiding for almost three days and everyone else has been found, I decided to end the mass and let him come out, but..."

At this point, Renato's tone changed slightly. As for his expression, he couldn't see it because he was wearing a mask:

“In the end, I didn’t find him either.

"And he didn't take the initiative."

What do you call me? You seem to be better at finding people than other believers? Because he is an awakened person and can sense the existence of consciousness? Is Veyer dead, or has he awakened on his own and been able to hide his consciousness? Jiang Baimian caught Renato's words and began to analyze them in his mind.

Bai Chen nodded slightly:

"Do you want us to help you find Viel?"

"Well." Renato sighed, "If something goes wrong during the mass ceremony, the believers will question my piety and think that I have brought shame to the gods."

Bai Chen pretended to discuss with the team members, first glanced at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong, and then looked at Jiang Baimian.

Jiang Baimian nodded gently.

Bai Chen immediately responded to Renato:

"We can take on this task, and we trust your credibility, but without knowing the details, I can't guarantee that it can be completed."

"I understand." Renato expressed his understanding, "What kind of reward do you hope to receive?"

"Introduce me to arms dealers who can buy heavy weapons and advanced equipment." Bai Chen said calmly, "This is part of it. The rest will be discussed after the site has been surveyed, and we will pay after we find Viel."

Simply making an introduction was no burden to Renato, and he answered without hesitation:

"no problem.

"Then when will you go to the exploration site?"

"It's already dark, let's do it tomorrow morning." Bai Chen was not in a hurry.

"Yes, very vigilant." Renato praised, stood up and said, "Tomorrow morning, you can drive along the road outside the park to the lakeside. Someone will be waiting there."

"Okay." Bai Chen stood up and said, "I wish you a happy cooperation."

Renato once again crossed his hands, placed them on his chest, and took a step back:

“Be alert is a reminder from God.”

After watching him leave, Shang Jianyao closed the door and announced with bright eyes:

"The final showdown has begun."

Jiang Baimian took off his mask and said "ha":

"If you dare to hide so that I can't find you, I will leave you in the Red Stone Collection!"

"I am a spear." Shang Jianyao emphasized that he did not want to hide, but wanted to break the opponent's "shield."