Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 841: Fully Armed

After arriving at the underground parking lot attached to the Fire & Iron Hotel, Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao, “You’ll do the driving for now. Let Little White or Little Red do it on the way back.”

“No problem.” Shang Jianyao agreed, but he didn’t walk to the driver’s seat’s door. Instead, he circled to the back of the jeep and opened the trunk.

“What’s wrong?” the honest Genava asked.

The Old Task Force had already transferred the equipment that Genava guarded in the suite back to the car in advance. There was nothing else that needed to be stuffed into the trunk.

Shang Jianyao seriously flipped through the crates, boxes of bullets, a few spare weapons, and a small number of canned food, biscuits, and energy bars. After doing this, he answered Genava’s question. “I’m checking if the Subhuti figurine suddenly appeared in our car.”

What a hellish joke… Just as this thought flashed through Long Yuehong’s mind, he couldn’t help but peek into the trunk.

He still remembered how they had worked hard to investigate the nuclear bomb’s whereabouts in the Salvation Army’s Ubei. In the end, they realized that the target item was quietly lying in the trunk of their jeep.

Therefore, Shang Jianyao’s sudden fantasy was definitely not impossible.

“It’s not there.” Shang Jianyao retracted his gaze in disappointment. “Sigh…”

Those existences shouldn’t have such a lack of imagination. They can’t always be so patronizing using the same script… Jiang Baimian muttered and walked to the passenger seat before opening the door.

The jeep soon drove to the street. Spant was standing by the side of the road, waiting for them.

His car was a reinforced brownish-green sedan. The door was open, allowing one to see the canvas backpack and double-barrel shotgun in the passenger seat at a glance.

“Your breakfast.” Spant walked to the jeep and handed the khaki-colored paper bag in his hand to the slowly lowering glass window.

“What is it?” Shang Jianyao reached out to take it and eagerly opened it.

Inside were pieces of bread with sausages and pickles.

“Pure meat.” Spant pointed at the sausages.

This was considered a rather good breakfast in Gesterbourg.

“Mutated meat?” Shang Jianyao asked.

“Otherwise?” Spant smiled. “Sausages made from natural meat are too expensive. The meal allowance isn’t enough.”

Although Gesterbourg was located near Icefield and was considered cold from late autumn to early spring every year, the climate was relatively normal elsewhere. However, this place lacked basic electrical appliances. Even if there was sufficient electricity, not many people had refrigerators. Therefore, in order to preserve meat for long periods, smoking and curing meat were necessary.

The electrical appliances in Gesterbourg mainly came from the surrounding city ruins, but only a few could truly be repaired after they were dragged back. Most of them had to be dismantled and sold as components.

“Oh…” Shang Jianyao didn’t mind at all and excitedly distributed the bread with sausages and pickles.

He had long wanted to taste the mutated meat.

With their genetically enhanced bodies, it wouldn’t affect them as long as they didn’t eat it for extended periods.

After taking a large bite and chewing for a while, Shang Jianyao commented, “It’s not much different from normal meat, but the gamey smell is stronger.”

Despite being made into sausages, it still had a slightly gamey smell. This was enough to elucidate how it was originally.

“That’s right.” Long Yuehong thought so too.

After they finished breakfast alongside their waterskins, Spant honked, indicating that they could set off by following him.

After driving along the street for a while, the two cars circled around the castle one after another and drove into the road that led out of the city beside the factory area.

The blast furnaces and chimneys immediately reflected in the Old Task Force members’ eyes. They spewed gray, yellow, or black smoke upward as if they were fingers reaching into the sky.

Shang Jianyao sighed sincerely. “This is a real Buddhist Holy Land!”

Long Yuehong and the others had no retort.

The two cars left Gesterbourg on a cemented road one after another and drove toward the nearby mountains. On the way, they saw railroads and roads that led to the mines in the mountains, as well as trains and strange trucks that chugged past them, filled with goods.

In about ten minutes, Spant’s brownish-green sedan and the Old Task Force’s jeep officially entered the mountains.

The greenery on both sides gradually increased, and the roads became more winding. From time to time, they could see bald mountains, collapsed cliffs, and black rivers.

The two cars didn’t stop despite passing by the mines; they kept driving deeper.

The road situation limited their speed. About 30 to 40 minutes later, Spant spoke through the inter-vehicle walkie-talkie. “We’re almost there. Remember, don’t spout nonsense. I’ll negotiate.”

He had long noticed that the tallest man—whose name was Doug—had a habit of interjecting.

“No problem.” Jiang Baimian didn’t want to cause trouble over two Grand Knight gold coins and affect the subsequent investigations. Therefore, she was very determined to watch Shang Jianyao and prevent him from doing whatever he wanted.

Shang Jianyao turned around and reminded Long Yuehong and Genava in the backseat, “The two of you heard that, right? When the time comes, silence is gold. Leave it to Spant.”

Heh heh… Long Yuehong criticized in the most succinct way possible.

“What if he can’t deal with it?” the honest Genava asked.

Shang Jianyao immediately laughed. “Then, we can only reluctantly do it on his behalf.”

I hope it doesn’t come to this… Long Yuehong didn’t dare to say that.

After two to three minutes, an open area appeared in front of them. Old trees surrounded a few Old World villas built in the Red River style.

These villas seemed to have been renovated and didn’t seem to have any signs of rot. Their parking lot was at the edge of the forest and was connected.

At this moment, there were more than ten cars and 30 to 40 people in the parking lot. Jiang Baimian looked over and realized that the trucks, sedans, and vans that were carrying the goods were either tightly bundled up in tarpaulin covers or had dark plastic film pasted over the windows, preventing others from seeing the interior.

Most of those people had excellent equipment—bulletproof vests, assault rifles, grenades, walkie-talkies, grenade launchers…

The other 12 to 13 people were relatively poorly equipped. They surrounded different vehicles, mainly carrying rifles, pistols, shotguns, and modified hunting rifles. Only a few held submachine guns.

They undoubtedly didn’t have bulletproof vests. Their clothes were different, and the air they exuded allowed Bai Chen to determine that they were unquestionably Ruin Hunters.

The subordinates and a few Ruin Hunter teams they hired… Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully and signaled for Shang Jianyao to find a parking spot with Spant.

They were the last to arrive, and all the good parking lots had been occupied. They could only find two spots in the corner of the parking lot.

This was also in line with Jiang Baimian’s intentions.

Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit, much less a slightly mysterious commission that had been warned to hold a certain risk. The Old Task Force wouldn’t participate in the mission slovenly; they planned on being fully armed to prevent any accidents.

Just as they alighted, a man in a gray coat walked over and stopped in front of Spant.

This man looked to be in his thirties. His face was chiseled as if it were carved from stone, and his nose was hooked. His short hair was brownish-yellow, and his eyes were light-blue. He was stoic.

He carried a Red River pistol with 9mm rounds and didn’t bring any other weapons, making him appear very different.

Of course, he wore a bulletproof vest under his coat.

“You were almost late,” the man reprimanded Spant bluntly.

Spant smiled. “Mr. Sandro, we encountered a car accident on the way and were stuck in a jam for a while.”

This was undoubtedly a lie—an excuse.

Sandro didn’t harp on the question and directly said, “I’ll give you ten minutes to prepare. During the mission, you are in charge of driving your cars and leading the way. Pay attention to the situation on both sides at all times and intercept any problematic vehicles.

“When we return to Gesterbourg, I’ll pay you at the Hunter’s Guild.”

He swept his gaze across Genava and nodded slightly, seemingly rather satisfied with Spant’s team. This might be the reason why he didn’t mind the fact that Spant and his team were almost late.

With that said, Sandro turned around and walked to the other Ruin Hunters.

“Is this the employer?” Shang Jianyao—who had been holding back his questions for a while—asked curiously.

“Yes, he’s our employer, but he’s not the owner of this batch of goods. He’s the cargo owner’s security supervisor, and he used to be a very powerful Ruin Hunter,” Spant casually introduced. He then asked, “Do you need to make preparations?”

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian glanced at the troops and saw that their gazes were blocked by Spant’s sedan. Therefore, she circled to the trunk and raised the crates.

“What are these?” Spant was a little curious.

Nobody replied. The Old Task Force members opened the crates and helped each other put on their equipment.

A military exoskeleton! Two, three… Bionic artificial intelligence armor, two… Spant’s eyes gradually widened, and he forgot to close his mouth. What’s up with this team? What’s going on? Why did a team like theirs take on a mission that’s only worth two Grand Knight gold coins? Can it be that their real goal is to rob the goods?

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