CKtalon
Long Yuehong jolted to his senses and used the Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor’s power to jump out of the hole and hand the name tag to Jiang Baimian. “Team Leader, look!”
His abnormal behavior attracted the attention of Bai Chen and Shang Jianyao. But due to the presence of outsiders and the fact that this place might not be safe, they could only continue monitoring the people and things around them. They couldn’t leave their posts.
Jiang Baimian took the name tag, focused, and raised her eyebrows.
The Old Task Force was no stranger to the name ‘Du Shaochong.’ They had once seen him in Master Zhuang’s dream, and Shang Jianyao had ‘acted’ the role. This was suspected to be Master Zhuang’s identity during a descent!
Now, the incomplete corpse in front of the Old Task Force belonged to Du Shaochong—Master Zhuang’s body of descent?
However, the entire matter exuded an indescribable bizarreness.
A certain fellow hired three Ruin Hunters and gave them parts of Du Shaochong’s remains and a name tag indicating his identity, commissioning them to bring these things into Swamp Ruin 1 according to a location on a map and bury everything at the edge of the secret laboratory.
This looked like it was to mislead subsequent excavators. Therefore, the burial ground was fake, and the corpse might also be fake. They couldn’t rule out the possibility that the name tag was also fake.
As these thoughts raced through her mind, Jiang Baimian lowered her right hand and placed the name tag in the darkness that the starlight couldn’t reach. She then calmly said to the three Ruin Hunters, “Anything else the client gave you?”
“Nope.”
“There’s nothing else.”
“Just the bones and the tag,” the three people replied one after another.
Jiang Baimian nodded. “It’s already so late, and this place isn’t too safe. It’s better if you leave early.”
Shang Jianyao knew what she was getting at and immediately said to the three Ruin Hunters, “Don’t mention us when you get back; just pretend that nothing happened. Think about it. You did complete the mission and buried the remains and name tag at the edge of this ruin. You also took photos to
prove this matter. Then, you left. You didn’t encounter anyone on the way, and nothing unexpected happened.”
“Got it.” The three Ruin Hunters smiled in understanding.
They brought their backpacks, carried their shovels, waved at the Old Task Force, and walked in another direction out of Swamp Ruin 1.
After leaving the laboratory ruins, the tallest person suddenly shook his head. He said in confusion, “Why do I feel like something’s missing?”
“No?”
“Everything is very normal,” his two companions replied.
They all indicated that things had gone smoothly. They had successfully buried the bones and tag at the designated spot and completed the mission. Nothing had gone wrong during this process.
“It seems like I’m a little suspicious.” The tallest Ruin Hunter heaved a long sigh of relief.
After they left, Long Yuehong—who had restrained his thoughts—asked Shang Jianyao curiously, “Is this equivalent to hypnotizing them to forget what just happened?”
“It can’t be considered forgotten; it’s just neglected. Furthermore, they found a reason to deceive themselves,” Shang Jianyao explained seriously. “Memory Erasure involves the deleting of the corresponding content in the physical sense. Forgetting through Hypnosis involves hiding the corresponding
memories and burying them in places that aren’t easy to be discovered. Forgetting under Thought Guidance is probably equivalent to requiring someone to right their bearings, allowing the keywords that can stir this memory to point toward other content.”
The more he spoke, the more esoteric it sounded. He sounded very professional.
Fortunately, Long Yuehong had learned this before and could understand.
“Team Leader, what was wrong with the item from before?” Bai Chen paid more attention to the item Long Yuehong had picked up from the hole.
Jiang Baimian raised her right hand and showed the name tag to Shang Jianyao and Bai Chen. “See for yourselves.”
Shang Jianyao looked over and suddenly wailed. “Xiaochong, you died a tragic death!”
Xiaochong says, “don’t curse me…” Jiang Baimian sometimes found Shang Jianyao very gullible.
Of course, this depended on which personality presided over the body.
“How can Xiaochong’s corpse be that large?” She chose the most direct reason to patronize the fellow.
“That’s right.” Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm.
Long Yuehong couldn’t help but criticize inwardly. An existence with a mysterious background like Xiaochong that might involve Master Zhuang might not even have a normal skeleton
Bai Chen looked at the incomplete corpse on the ground and pursed her lips. “Why did someone want these bones buried here and make later generations believe that they belong to Du Shaochong?”
Shang Jianyao ‘recovered’ from his outbreak of emotions and excitedly said, “I get i
You get it again… Jiang Baimian didn’t interrupt his wandering thoughts.
Shang Jianyao explained excitedly, “This is a ritual—a form of evil-warding. They buried Du Shaochong’s corpse and the name tag somewhere in the city where he had studied middle school or even primary school. They used the corresponding principle to suppress the other party’s resentment and
hatred. The reason the corpse is incomplete is that the rest are buried elsewhere for the same reason.”
You make it sound like it’s real… If Long Yuehong hadn’t watched a large amount of Old World entertainment, he might’ve been convinced by Shang Jianyao.
Jiang Baimian followed Shang Jianyao’s train of thought and asked with a smile, “Then, who killed Du Shaochong? Or rather, who made him have overwhelming resentment and hatred?”
Shang Jianyao shook his head. “I don’t know. It will require further investigation.”
Bai Chen remained silent for a moment before slowly saying, “We can’t be sure that this skeleton really belongs to Du Shaochong. Maybe even the name tag is fake and was forged later.”
“Besides, there’s no way to conduct a DNA test. Without a sample for comparison, we can’t find Du Shaochong’s descendants for the time being.” Jiang Baimian exhaled. “I don’t sense any power from these bones.”
She deliberated for a moment and said, “I’m more willing to believe that this skeleton and name tag were buried here to mislead subsequent excavators. For example, people like us who pursue the truth behind the Old World’s destruction.”
“I we believe that this is Du Shaochong and that he died in this laboratory, what will happen?” Long Yuehong boldly hypothesized based on Jiang Baimian’s suspicions and raised a question.
Bai Chen tried to analyze the situation. “At most, we’d believe that Master Zhuang is already dead. But after ‘He’ returned to the New World, isn’t it normal for ‘His’ body to die?”
Jiang Baimian stared at the pile of remains for a while. “We don’t have any clues for the time being. Let’s store away the remains and name tag first. We’ll study them later.”