Embers Ad Infinitum

The man holding the watermelon knife said "Hey":

"Don't mention it, I was forced here by the old bat. I kept telling him to wait a day, but he just didn't listen!"

Jiang Baimian subconsciously wanted to ask who the old bat was, but after opening his mouth, he closed it rationally.

In fact, Shang Jianyao also planned to ask this question, but his logical reasoning ability told him that this would definitely damage the "brotherly relationship" between the two parties and make the other party feel confused - since they are brothers, how could they not know who the old bat is? ?

He laughed:

"Old Bat...why is he so anxious?"

"What can he do? There's no one urging him over there!" The man carrying a watermelon knife and a black pistol rubbed his greasy hair and said with a frown, "Those guys will kill people if they say a bad word. Who dares to be perfunctory..."

"Those guys?" Shang Jianyao deliberately showed a puzzled expression, "How long has it been since I didn't go back and something happened?"

Although he wanted to ask directly who those guys were, he held back his temper.

The man holding the watermelon knife was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect that the brother opposite him had not been back for a while.

A few seconds later, he sighed again:

"Don't mention it. Ever since the Hyenas came, we haven't even been able to sleep in the ground! Several old people froze to death in the night."

When he said "hyena", he instinctively looked around, as if he was afraid of being overheard.

"Hyena"... Shang Jianyao turned his head and looked at Jiang Baimian to see if the experienced team leader had heard of this nickname.

Jiang Baimian's expression calmed down a bit, and he nodded thoughtfully.

"Fucking hyena!" Shang Jianyao deliberately cursed.

The man holding the watermelon knife seemed to want to curse a few words, but in the end he didn't dare and said sadly:

"He has no mother."

Speaking of this, the man whose age did not indicate his specific age said in retrospect:

“I was only a teenager at the time, and Hyena hadn’t become a bandit yet.

"I heard that his mother was eaten by a bunch of people who came from nowhere."

Shang Jianyao's eyebrows moved slightly and he blurted out:

"Did the Rat Man do it?"

He learned from Jiang Baimian that the residents of Black Rat Town were called "rat people" by the surrounding humans.

This is also a discriminatory title.

"No." The man holding the watermelon knife shook his head, "Those group of rat people have been here for decades. They came here before I was born, and they are good at collecting and digging. They can find everything. Eat, not the kind that wanders around.”

Shang Jianyao was silent for a few seconds and said:

"What are the hyenas doing here?"

"Yes, there was something discovered at Yuelu Station. Old Bat asked, and the Hyena people don't know, so they are sending people to investigate." After the man with the watermelon knife said the word "investigation", he suddenly Remembering his mission, he suddenly turned gloomy again, "I don't know what's unusual here. If I don't report the results today, the 'Hyena' people might throw me to feed the dogs."

"Dog?" Shang Jianyao asked subconsciously.

The man holding the watermelon knife spat:

"'Hyena' has a very ferocious dog, just like his own son!

"He also always said that we are useless. No one can win his dog one-on-one, so it is better to feed it to the dog."

After complaining, the man asked expectantly:

"Brother, what did you find here?"

"Nothing." Shang Jianyao answered truthfully, "The people who set off the fireworks had already withdrawn, leaving nothing behind!"

"That's it...then what kind of fireworks did they set off? Uh...what kind of flare did the old bat say?" The man with the watermelon knife seemed to want to return.

Shang Jianyao glanced at the direction in which the man with the baseball bat ran away:

"Who knows?

"Just go back like this. If 'Hyena' doesn't believe it, let him send someone to check again.

"By the way, I scared that brother just now. You can catch up with him later and help me explain."

"Okay." The man holding the watermelon knife patted his chest, "When will you return?"

"It's coming, it's coming." Shang Jianyao raised the corners of his mouth a little bit, "Remember to tell Old Bat that we will visit the 'hyena' when we get back."

"Visit..." The man carrying the watermelon knife suddenly realized something was wrong, but after looking at the grenade gun held by Shang Jianyao and the assault rifle carried by Jiang Baimian, he wisely gave up thinking.

He quickly turned around and waved his hand:

"Hope to see you again."

"Hope to see you again." Shang Jianyao waved enthusiastically in response.

After watching the man carrying the watermelon knife disappear at the end of the road, Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao:

"What? You still want to stand in the middle of the road, afraid that others won't see you?"

There is no complete and well-formed road between the hills and hills, but as more people walk on it, a thoroughfare will naturally form.

While talking, Jiang Baimian turned to a more secluded place on the side of the hill.

Shang Jianyao followed, exchanged weapons with the team leader first, and then asked:

“Who is ‘Hyena’?”

Jiang Baimian said "ha":

"A relatively well-known bandit leader in the Black Swamp Wilderness. His main activities are with the White Knights.

"He became famous more than ten years ago, and he was not too old at that time. Now there is a question mark as to whether he has reached thirty.

"His bandit gang has grown little by little. From the initial three or four people with four or five guns, it now has core members of No. 17 or 18, with plenty of firepower and equipment. Some people suspect that the 'hyena' has mastered some old world. The arsenal is why it can develop so fast.

"If he hadn't occupied better mines and fields, he would definitely have more than seventeen or eight core men now, and could expand to at least two or three hundred people. This would allow him to build a large settlement of his own, similar to the weeds Then, consider which big force will win over you, so that you can have a guarantee from now on, or you can have both sides and become an influential small force.

"Haha, it may be that the 'Hyena' feels that raising hundreds of thousands of people is too hard, and managing the city is too troublesome. It usually has to be angry with big forces, which is far less comfortable than being a bandit, so it maintains the current scale.

"Ah, by the way, his real name is Lin Li."

Shang Jianyao listened carefully and concluded:

"The suspicion is high and there are more people than we expected."

There are nearly twenty core members alone, and at least hundreds of vassals.

"They even have armored vehicles, heavy machine guns, and rocket launchers." Jiang Baimian added, "However, they should not have military exoskeleton devices, bionic smart armor, Gauss weapons, plasma weapons, etc. It seems that even if the rumors are true, Yes, the arsenal controlled by 'Hyena' is also for general use, there is nothing sophisticated."

Jian Shang Jian Yao remained silent, Jiang Baimian smiled and said:

"With the current strength of our 'Old Tune Team', there is indeed a lot of hope that we can defeat this bandit group in a sneak attack. Those vassals will not really work for the 'Hyena', as long as they do not give the 'Hyena' the commander Just give the team a chance.

"However, with the quality of their members and weapons and equipment, we have to be prepared to kill at least half of them."

As he said that, Jiang Baimian turned his head and looked outside the hiding place:

"Besides, there may not be a chance for a sneak attack.

"You actually let the wilderness wanderer go back just now. Aren't you worried that he would notice something unusual due to the change of environment?

"Aren't you worried that he will report it and let the 'hyena' guess that there is an awakened person on our side?"

"Otherwise? Kill him?" Shang Jianyao responded without changing his expression.

"You are so soft-hearted." Jiang Baimian sneered, "Me too. People like us who were born into powerful forces and have not experienced all kinds of disputes in the chaotic era are always easy to be soft-hearted."

She turned around and said:

"But if you really want to make a sneak attack, you can control the wilderness wanderer first and let him go after the matter is over.

"You shouldn't have thought of this. You are always vigilant about when your abilities will fail."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian laughed:

"To sum up, you have given up the idea of ​​attacking that bandit gang on your own.

"What a good friend!"

"It's not certain yet that they are the 'Hyena' group." Shang Jianyao responded expressionlessly, "Let's wait until the company sends someone."

"Good idea!" Jiang Baimian praised with a smile.

Shang Jianyao looked around, suddenly frowned, and asked:

"Team leader, tell me, how will the Hyenas react when they hear the report?"

"I have never had any dealings with them, so it's hard to make a judgment. However, you can tell from the nickname 'Hyena' that that group of people are good at bullying the small numbers, stalking, and sneak attacks from behind. Although they are fierce , Cruel, but definitely not crazy or reckless, ah, I just said it casually, I can't be sure, I have to ask Bai Chen for confirmation." Jiang Baimian thought about it and replied, "Anyway, there are only two ways to deal with it:

"The first is to search the area in reverse before the company's large forces arrive, kill us investigators, and erase the corresponding traces. However, this must take into account that the emergency flare itself is a trap, waiting for them to fall into the trap themselves. .

"Second, immediately leave the vassals that are holding you hostage here and move with the core members. They are not many people, and they have enough transportation. They also got a lot of supplies from Black Rat Town. Their actions are definitely not as big as The troops were so procrastinating and slow, and there were too many hiding areas in the wilderness.

"When you find out who the enemy is, then move around other major forces and change the area for robbery."

Jian Shang Jian Yao's eyes lit up, and Jiang Baimian deliberately "hummed":

"Are you thinking that if they dare to search in reverse, you would dare to wear an exoskeleton device and defeat them one by one?"

Before Shang Jianyao could respond, the tall woman with a ponytail smiled:

"How could I give you such a chance?

"Obviously it's me!"

She immediately changed the subject:

"But I think it's more likely that the Hyenas didn't respond at all."

"Why?" Shang Jianyao was quite confused.

Jiang Baimian suppressed most of his smile:

"The forcibly held vassal and the 'hyena' may not be of the same mind.

"They are eager for a big force to come and drive away the hyenas. Anyway, the worst is to be captured as slaves, which is better than being cannon fodder for the hyenas. Moreover, if there is a fierce battle, they will have enough opportunities to escape.

"If that old bat was smart, he would know what to report and what to conceal."

Shang Jianyao listened thoughtfully and nodded slowly.

The two stopped their discussion and continued to observe their surroundings, but no more suspicious people were found.

When it was almost time for dinner, they ended their operations and returned to the hidden camp on the hill.

After a day of silence, in the middle of the night, Shang Jianyao, who was sleeping in the tent, was woken up by Long Yuehong, who picked up the "Berserker" assault rifle and took over the night duty.

After patrolling around, he cast his gaze downwards.

You can directly see the grove and the blocked entrance to Black Rat Town from here.

Under the dim and extremely quiet night, a stone suddenly fell from the cave.

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