Chapter 136 - Unexpected Clue (1/2)

Chapter 136: Unexpected Clue

Advanced Hunter, I wonder what areas he is advanced in… Jiang Baimian muttered to herself and waved her hand with a smile. “Thank you.”

Before the Ruin Hunters in line behind her became irritated, she took the initiative to end her inquiries.

After returning to the seats at the edge of the lobby, Jiang Baimian saw that no one was around and said to Shang Jianyao, “None of them match the age. We have to get Chen Xufeng to gather information on the family members of the guild’s higher-ups.”

“You can also ask them directly.” Shang Jianyao gave another plan without hesitation.

Jiang Baimian easily understood Shang Jianyao’s meaning. “Visit them one by one and ask if they’ve seen Lei Yunsong, Lin Feifei, and the others?”

“Yes!” Shang Jianyao looked eager.

Jiang Baimian laughed. “If it were anyone else who suggested this, I would be worried about alerting the enemy or failing to get the truth from them. However, it’s different for you.”

They were Shang Jianyao’s potential siblings, uncles, aunties, godparents, etc. There was no risk of them lying or selling them out in the short term.

“Then, let’s wait here and see who we can encounter.” Jiang Baimian looked back at the stairs that led to the second floor. “Don’t be in a rush to go up. There’s a high chance that there are Awakened and genetically modified people in such a large Hunter’s Guild. We have to be careful.”

“We can make all of them friends,” Shang Jianyao suggested.

“They can then vouch for you with each other and form a cycle?” Jiang Baimian remembered that Shang Jianyao had mentioned some key points regarding Inference Clowning.

If a person ‘became’ Shang Jianyao’s friend and the people around him confirmed this, it would be very difficult for them to discover the truth and realize the mistake in the inference.

Of course, this was relatively difficult in practice. After all, it was impossible for Shang Jianyao to follow a person all the time and deal with everyone and everything they met.

For example, Ferlin from the Rootless camp would always treat Shang Jianyao as his sworn brother during the two to three days he often saw Shang Jianyao. Their rapport with each other also deepened this knowledge and gave the people around him a reason to accept him. But after the two of them separated for a period of time, even if the people in the Rootless camp didn’t suspect anything, they would just imagine that their Convoy Leader clicked well with the other party. Their occasional words might also make Ferlin instantly wake up and realize the truth.

This was also the reason why Jiang Baimian didn’t approve of Shang Jianyao abusing Inference Clowning.

Under the premise that they didn’t silence the other party, the affected people would realize their mistakes sooner or later. The more people who knew of this, the harder it was for Shang Jianyao to keep this ability a secret.

This was not inside the company, where it was sealed. The people everyone could come into contact with every day were basically fixed, so it reduced the possibility of accidents. The reason Shang Jianyao could make the Life Ritual parish’s members on the 495th floor constantly believe that he had joined through official channels was that the people involved had been ‘convinced’ by him, forming round-robin proof.

People who weren’t involved didn’t know what had happened and didn’t care about the exact details. As for the neighbors and colleagues they interacted with during daily life, the believers definitely could not discuss the parish with them.

The parish’s concealment helped Shang Jianyao cover up the traces perfectly.

Of course, with the current communication conditions in the Ashlands, Shang Jianyao would still be fine elsewhere as long as he didn’t do anything that caused a huge commotion, even if he revealed his abilities in one place.

Shang Jianyao nodded slightly in response to Jiang Baimian’s question. “This is very challenging.”

“When the time comes, will they choose you to be the next guild leader?” Jiang Baimian first joked before saying seriously, “You don’t know what abilities the Awakened here might have. It’s best not to take too many risks. What if they restrain you? For example, a deaf person or someone who doesn’t know how to make inferences and only wants to refute you.”

“Writing can similarly work on the deaf,” Shang Jianyao said seriously. As for the latter situation, he seemed unable to resolve it.

“That works too?” Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully. “The more accurate description of the key point doesn’t seem like a conversation but an exchange.”

At this point, she suddenly sighed. “What a pity…”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know sign language?” Shang Jianyao asked in a guessing tone.

“No.” Jiang Baimian smiled and was very pleased with herself. “It’s finally your turn to be unable to keep up with my train of thought. It’s a pity that there’s a distance restriction. Otherwise, you can complete a misdirection using a telephone or a telegram to communicate with someone remotely. What’s this called in the Old World? I think it’s—it’s a telephone scam? An Internet virus?”

Just as she said that, the Hunter’s Guild lobby suddenly became noisy.

Jiang Baimian looked back at the Ruin Hunters before following their gaze to the large screen hanging in midair.

The slow-moving missions on the screen stopped and fixed on one of them.

“Emergency mission: Find clues regarding Liu Dazhuang’s murder.

“Description: On November 23, 7:56 a.m., Liu Dazhuang was shot on South Street and died on the spot. The scene of the incident was three meters away from Red Silk Alley…”

“Reward: A clue that passes a review and is deemed valid will earn you at least 10 Oray, with a maximum of 500 Oray.

“Mission rank: C, 100 credit points.

“Mission requirements: Unrestricted.

“Commissioned by: Weed City’s City Defense Command.”

As it was an official organization’s mission, there was no guild guarantee. In Weed City, the City Defense Command was in charge of public security due to the large number of personnel it could deploy and weapon owners.

500 Oray was enough for an ordinary family to live a relatively comfortable year in Weed City. Even the lowest reward of 10 Oray could allow many Ruin Hunters—who were already in dire straits—to catch their breaths. After all, this was nearly half a month’s worth of food and rent for an individual.