Chapter 267 - Major Progress (1/2)

Translator: CKtalon

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian’s sigh, Bai Chen—who was driving—thoughtfully replied, “About Ninth Zhang seeing a dragon? That Superior Heartless might have a certain connection with the Clam Dragon Church?”

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded slightly. “I can now make a preliminary judgment that the hallucination created by the Superior Heartless is rooted in his own understanding, knowledge, and experience. It has nothing to do with our memories or emotions. At most, he will constantly make some adjustments according to the target’s reaction. For example, you show signs of fear when watching a horror film. The illusion created by the Superior Heartless might very well develop in this direction then.”

At this point, she turned to look at Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao and teased, “Otherwise, the Mountain Fox bandits wouldn’t have seen mutated monsters, starving beasts, and commonly seen Heartless in the illusion. Instead, they would’ve seen the aggressive us.

“Yes, we can’t rule out the possibility that they are lying about this matter, but I don’t think there’s a need for them to do so. Everyone can barely be considered as being on the same boat. If we don’t finish off the Superior Heartless as soon as possible, everyone might die. Unless… unless they are already controlled and have begun acting as accomplices.”

Shang Jianyao shook his head. “He didn’t lie.”

“Didn’t you not use your powers?” Jiang Baimian asked in amusement. Why are you so sure?

Shang Jianyao replied truthfully, “Although he has killed, robbed, and raped and deserves to be hanged, he’s a polite person.”

“…” At this moment, Long Yuehong didn’t know where to start criticizing.

Wasn’t that fellow’s manners taught by you? Jiang Baimian was just about to scold him jokingly when something in her pocket suddenly buzzed.

She then took out a palm-sized electronic product. On its front was a black LCD screen. On the screen, the image of two robots leaning against each other flickered.

This was a phone. In Tarnan, such communication tools could be directly used because Mechanical Paradise had installed a base station and the relevant department.

Of course, the four phones that Genava had distributed to the Old Task Force were self-produced models from Mechanical Paradise. They weren’t repaired leftovers from the Old World.

This Tarnan Mayor and robot guard captain probably knew that the Superior Heartless could interfere with electromagnetic signals to create an illusion that could affect robots. However, it felt that it shouldn’t avoid something essential because of a slight risk and completely abandon the communications between the various defenses.

They couldn’t just rely on shouting to communicate, right? Their voices could also be distorted and tampered with!

After the mission was completed, the participants could choose to return the phones or keep them as partial payment.

The only problem was that the cell phone’s main functions would basically be non-functional once they left Tarnan. It could only be used as a miniature computer to read novels and play some simple games.

Even if one were to head to a place like Weed City—which also had a base station—they had to register with the supervisor and obtain permission before they could make calls again.

Although Jiang Baimian had never used a cell phone, she was smart enough and had experience with other electronic products. After struggling for a few minutes, she roughly figured out how to answer phones, make phone calls, read novels, and play games.

At this moment, she swiped her thumb and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“I’m Genava.” A mellow male voice sounded from the other end of the line.

Jiang Baimian smiled and asked, “Good news?”

“Yes,” Genava replied firmly.

Yes… Jiang Baimian’s other hand instantly clenched into a fist, and she gently pumped it.

Upon noticing her reaction, Shang Jianyao turned around and stretched out his right hand toward Long Yuehong.

Long Yuehong was taken aback, not wanting to show that he understood this lunatic. But under Shang Jianyao’s persistent gaze, he still stretched out his right hand and slapped Shang Jianyao’s palm.

At this moment, Genava’s subsequent words entered Jiang Baimian’s ears. “Source Brain just gave a reply: When this matter is resolved, and you have made the corresponding contribution, you can pose the questions you want to ask over the phone. The time limit is five minutes.”

Shang Jianyao—who had narrowed the distance with Jiang Baimian’s head and was eavesdropping on the phone call—gasped. “That’s difficult. How can we come up with five minutes’ worth of questions?”

“…” Genava fell silent for a moment before saying, “This includes the answers.”

“That’s too short.” Shang Jianyao didn’t show any signs of being ashamed of his mistake.

Jiang Baimian suspected that Genava had succumbed to Shang Jianyao’s ‘rhetoric.’

“…” Genava fell silent again before saying, “This is decided by the Source Brain. I can’t make any further compromises.”

“No matter what, thank you!” Jiang Baimian’s mood became rather good when she saw that her main mission had made significant progress.

“Thank you,” Shang Jianyao said.

Jiang Baimian then hung up, put away her phone, and smiled. “That’s strange. Why doesn’t the Source Brain agree to a meeting request and has an extremely unyielding attitude, but it doesn’t reject a call?”

This was her usual form of leading questions.

“Is it because there’s something special about the Source Brain that will result in the leakage of secrets when we meet?” Long Yuehong was now considered an experienced and knowledgeable Ruin Hunter.