Compared with the time when the "Old Tune Group" just came back from Qifeng Town, the scenery in the wilderness was even more bleak, as if it had entered the early winter from late autumn overnight.
"Is it about to snow?" Long Yuehong guessed expectantly, looking at the lead-colored sky outside the window.
He had only seen snow in textbooks and slides.
"At this time in previous years, it was almost time for snow." Jiang Baimian replied casually while driving.
Bai Chen, who was in the passenger seat, glanced at the rearview mirror and said:
"North of the swamp, it may have snowed several times."
The northernmost part of the Black Marsh Wilderness is connected to the ice field, which is a cold and frozen world.
However, because of the large area of the Black Marsh Wilderness, the area south of the swamp has less extreme weather and has four distinct seasons.
"I really want to see what it means to be a vast expanse of whiteness." Long Yuehong retracted her gaze and sighed.
Shang Jianyao, who was sitting upright, immediately responded:
"It's not a lucky word."
"Why?" Although Long Yuehong knew that Shang Jian Yaogou couldn't spit out ivory, he couldn't help but ask.
He is very sensitive to topics such as luck, bad luck, and fate.
Shang Jianyao laughed:
"Think about it, when everything on the earth is covered up by the blizzard, and only a white expanse is left, can it be auspicious?"
"Also..." Long Yuehong had to admit that what Shang Jianyao said had some truth.
Listening to the conversation between the two, Jiang Baimian added:
"Every winter, I don't know how many wilderness wanderers freeze to death. Snow is a disaster for them, right, Bai Chen?"
"Yeah." Bai Chen pulled the gray puffy scarf around his neck. "Many houses in settlements have been in disrepair for a long time, and they can easily collapse when it snows. Many people don't have enough clothes, let alone heating."
Long Yuehong was silent for a while, before sighing after a long time:
"It's still a good company."
In any case, employees can have winter clothing and a real hot water bottle.
Higher tiers, more energy rations, and the occasional heater or two for an hour or two—if you can snap it up, or trade it in.
Speaking of "Pangu creatures", Long Yuehong suddenly thought of one thing, and asked fearfully:
"Team leader, you said, if our mission plan is really seen and leaked by the hidden people of the 'Rite of Life' sect, will the cultists on the surface ambush us in Shuiwei Town?"
The route can be changed, but the destination cannot be changed!
"Faced with this situation, we can send bait to test it first." Before Jiang Baimian could answer, Shang Jianyao's smile had become bright.
He patted Long Yuehong on the shoulder and said:
"This glorious task is left to you."
"Why me?" Although Long Yuehong was reluctant to admit it, she still knew that the weakest person in the group was herself, and she really couldn't bear the responsibility of being a bait.
On the one hand, it is really dangerous, he is very scared, on the other hand, he feels that his psychological quality has not reached the level of the team leader and Bai Chen, and it is easy to screw up the task of baiting.
—Long Yuehong divided the psychological quality of the members of the "Old Tune Group" into four grades. He himself is the lowest fourth grade, and the first grade up is Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen, who are in the second grade at the same time. Yao is unique.
Shang Jianyao explained "seriously":
"Because you look like a bait."
"..." Long Yuehong couldn't sort out the logic for a while.
"Don't scare him!" At this time, Jiang Baimian, who was driving, scolded Shang Jianyao with a smile.
She turned to Long Yuehong and said:
"I'll ask you a question:
"Does the company know where Shuiwei Town is?"
"I don't know." Long Yuehong first subconsciously replied, and then suddenly realized. "Is that so..."
He just remembered that Shuiwei Town has been able to continue relatively safely from the time when the old world was destroyed to the present. One of the important reasons is that the location is hidden and it is difficult for outsiders to find it.
When Jiang Baimian reported this incident, he consciously concealed the specific situation of Shuiwei Town, and only said that he met their hunting team in the wilderness.
After thinking about it, Long Yuehong was quite ashamed:
"I forgot about that."
"You are mainly prone to panic when you encounter situations that may bring danger. Remember to keep your head down and think about it in the future." Jiang Baimian taught a sentence first, and then comforted, "But well, you can think of 'life sacrificial ceremony'. 'The fact that the outside members of the sect are ambushing us at the intended destination is quite good for you who are only on the surface for the second time."
Long Yuehong, who was praised, suddenly became more confident.
He thought about it and said excitedly:
"So, the possible danger is not in Shuiwei Town, but in Weed City?"
The two intended destinations of the "Old Tune Group" are Shuiwei Town and Yecao Town.
Compared with Shuiwei Town, Wild Grass City is a well-known city among the three major forces of "Pangu Creature", "First City" and "White Knights". It is well known by many relic hunters and wilderness wanderers. unreachable problem.
Before Jiang Baimian spoke, Shang Jianyao said to Long Yuehong with the same excitement:
"It's in good shape, keep it up!"
In good shape... wait, why am I getting excited? What a serious and dangerous thing this is! Long Yuehong suddenly wanted to raise her hand and pat her face.
"Why are you excited?" Jiang Baimian scolded Shang Jianyao again, and then said to Long Yuehong, "It's not bad, it's good to be able to react so quickly. We all have to think about it on the next road. How can I enter Wild Grass City without revealing myself, and how can I determine whether there is a problem with the intelligence personnel in the company there
"Yes, team leader!" Long Yuehong responded loudly.
He felt that he was slowly morphing into a reliable team member.
After the jeep drove for a while, Bai Chen looked outside for a long time, frowned and said:
"There are a lot of traces of animal migration."
Hearing her words, Long Yuehong realized that there were many footprints crowded in one place on the grayish yellowish deserted wilderness, as if they had stepped on a road connecting the north and the south.
"The weather this year is not normal, many monsters are migrating, and the animals should be similar." Jiang Baimian recalled the news and news he had seen and heard, his expression seemed to be quite emotional, "I am very impressed with many wanderings in the wilderness. For those, it's a sad winter."
As soon as she finished speaking, a group of strange birds flew through the air.
They are much larger than crows, their bodies are covered with black feathers, and their skulls are exposed and stained with filth.
The birds flew lower and lower, and soon fell into the swamp not far away.
During this process, they didn't make a sound, and they were silent as if they didn't exist.
Seeing this scene, Bai Chen said with a slight sigh:
"Slay the bird...
"There seems to be a lot of dead bodies over there."
"A dead bird? Is this a kind of crow?" Long Yuehong asked curiously.
He remembered it being mentioned in textbooks that many parts of the Old World regarded crows as ominous creatures, calling them birds of death.
Bai Chen retracted his gaze and explained in detail:
"It's an aberration, we call it a dead bird or a bone raven.
"They only eat dead bodies, and where they gather, there must be death."
Jiang Baimian, who was driving, nodded lightly and added two sentences:
"This distorted crow is amazing, with its skull exposed, it can still live very well.
"They're not aggressive towards living creatures, but if you come across, be careful. They can stick a tube out of their mouth, similar to a fly, from which they spit out digestive juices, which are dangerous and can melt corpses very quickly. Into the juice, convenient for the skeletal crow to eat.
"Since this digestive juice can melt dead corpses, I think it should not be bad if it gets on living people."
Long Yuehong thought about the scene and hissed.
"Then here comes the question." Shang Jianyao said enthusiastically, "How is the meat of this crow? What does it taste like when it is roasted?"
Jiang Baimian glared at this guy sideways:
"This kind of crow itself is distorted, plus the food characteristics and living environment, I don't know how many toxins and germs it carries."
After she finished speaking, Bai Chen suddenly said:
"The meat is good."
Jiang Baimian grasped the steering wheel with one hand and touched his ear with the other:
"You have eaten?"
"Well, it was a winter like now, and there wasn't enough food. Compared with humans, I think it's more acceptable to eat white-boned crows..." Bai Chen said in a reminiscence tone, "The meat is surprisingly good, and their eggs are even better. Best eggs I've ever eaten..."
Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong raised their hands at the same time and wiped the corners of their mouths.
After doing this action, Long Yuehong woke up and felt ashamed.
Shang Jianyao turned his head and said to him seriously:
"I controlled you with the 'reasoning clown', so you did the same thing as me."
"Really?" Long Yuehong was relieved and frightened.
"Fake." Shang Jianyao replied with a smile.
Jiang Baimian ignored the conversation between the two in the back seat and asked Bai Chen curiously:
"Won't you be poisoned or infected with disease?"
"The poisoning may not be obvious, but it's okay." Bai Chen subconsciously glanced out the window, "but we were about a dozen or 20 people at the time, almost half of them died of illness, and their bodies fed more skeletal crows..."
The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, with a bit of ridicule at whom she didn't know.
"On the dusty soil, sometimes, we can only choose the lesser of two evils." Jiang Baimian sighed sincerely.
In such an exchange, the gray-green jeep galloped in the wilderness. Before it was getting dark, it got into the swamp and arrived at Shuiwei Town in a roundabout way.
Because they already knew each other, had transactions, and belonged to reliable people, so after Bai Chen came forward, the guard put them directly into the town and parked the car at the old location - outside a wooden shed at the corner of the fence.
Jiang Baimian just got out of the car when he saw an acquaintance.
"Dog." She greeted with a smile.
The little dog, the town guard member in the gray windbreaker, suddenly flushed red and muttered:
"I, my name is Ding Ce..."
Bai Chen didn't give the dog a chance to continue, and asked directly:
"Where's Mayor Tian?"
Ding Ce's expression suddenly became sad:
"Mayor, mayor, he's ill.
"Quick, it's almost gone."