Embers Ad Infinitum

"Is this a direct modification of memory?" Jiang Baimian held his right elbow with his left hand, and placed the five fingers of his right hand between his mouth and nose.

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"I haven't compared the difference between people who were hypnotized and those who had their memories tampered with, so I can't be sure."

Oops, now is the rigorous Shang Jianyao... Jiang Baimian sat there, thinking and saying:

"If some people within the Zhao family are indeed related to the assassination of Xu Liyan by the 'anti-intellectual sect', then the real 'priest' may have done it himself. However, with his caution, he should not be in the manor, but Hiding somewhere nearby and watching everything quietly.”

Shang Jianyao made exactly the same movements as Jiang Baimian:

"Then how do you explain that Zhao Shouren and the others have had their memories tampered with?"

"Maybe he appeared when he first took control of the manor, and then only a fake 'priest'-like puppet was left behind." Jiang Baimian felt provocative and spoke of his speculation in detail, "Those who entered the manor to investigate What people encounter should not be to modify their memories, but to be 'hypnotized'. Those who hide outside and observe will naturally not be affected because they are not discovered."

Before Shang Jianyao could question, she discovered another problem herself:

"But what exactly do the 'Anti-Intellectual Cult' want to do? If they plan to use the Zhao family manor as a base to draw benefits from it, they should not do it so cruelly. In this matter, the most important thing is not to arouse the Zhao family's head. Suspicion, in that case, follow-up investigations will come one after another, which is very detrimental to their dormancy. If it were me, I would definitely only withhold part of it and turn it over to make reasonable losses, and the water will flow steadily. The pot is over, who doesn't doubt it?

"If they just want to invade and expand the sect, this method is not smart. If it were me, I would directly modify the memories of the corresponding personnel, sell a few manors in the shortest time, and then leave by myself and replace them with someone else. Come forward and use the money from selling the manor to buy another manor openly..."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian noticed that Shang Jianyao looked at him strangely, and immediately said "uh", subconsciously maintaining the glorious image of the team leader:

"I just put myself in someone else's shoes and put myself in the villain's perspective to analyze the problem. I didn't really want to do that. Bah, I mean, I don't even have this idea at ordinary times. I just brought it into this kind of scene. I will strictly follow logic to reason about what kind of development there will be.”

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"Look at my mouth shape."

After speaking, he opened his mouth several times without making any sound.

"I don't know lip reading!" Jiang Baimian said angrily.

She said this, but she actually moved her mouth, as if she was recreating Shang Jianyao's performance just now.

"Anti-intellectualism? You want to say 'anti-intellectualism'?" Jiang Baimian tentatively gave the answer.

Shang Jianyao showed a happy smile, clapped and said:

"bingo!"

"You mean, it's not surprising that the 'Anti-Intellectual Cult' behaves with no IQ?" Jiang Baimian shook his head in disapproval, "But according to the teachings of the 'Anti-Intellectual Cult', high-level officials must keep their heads. , thinking on behalf of the congregation, it should be smarter, well, the real 'priest' is an example."

Shang Jianyao solemnly said:

“Stupidity is contagious.”

"Prove it to me!" Jiang Baimian retorted subconsciously.

Shang Jianyao immediately said:

"look……"

"Stop!" Jiang Baimian stopped him directly, raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, and expressed his guess, "I think the 'anti-intellectual sect' wants to use the Zhao family manor as a base to plan something. This should be a This is a short-term behavior, so you don’t need to consider whether it will be exposed, and you can get quick success.”

"Where are they printing flyers?" Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up.

He seemed to be interested in anti-intellectualism flyers filled with typos.

Jiang Baimian stood up from the edge of the bed in the room, walked towards the door, and answered:

"Maybe."

Shang Jianyao stood up after her and walked out step by step.

"Don't you ask me where I'm going?" Jiang Baimian asked with a smile after pressing the door handle with her palm.

Shang Jianyao replied sternly:

"I'm not Long Yuehong."

"Then tell me where I'm going and what I want to do?" Jiang Baimian asked with a smile.

Shang Jianyao thought for a while and said:

"You have to pay more!"

Jiang Baimian's eyebrows moved slightly, and he smiled slightly in surprise:

"Since the 'anti-intellectual religion' is involved, we really need to talk to Councilor Zhao to make him mentally prepared for the possible premium in the future. At the same time, we should also see what helper he can find in the First City, preferably someone A powerful figure who deeply hates 'anti-intellectual religion'."

If the final assessment result is that the degree of danger is very high, she will consider giving up directly. After all, "anti-intellectualism" is also a major force. It is not a wise thing to provoke such a group of lunatics without intelligence when it has nothing to do with the main mission. .

At this time, Shang Jianyao said something out of nowhere:

"I don't know if the 'Melting Pot Sect' and the 'Anti-Intellectual Cult' are related."

Jiang Baimian said "hmm":

"I won't go directly to Lanster. Let's go back and send a telegram to Congressman Zhao."

After saying that, she turned the handle and opened the door.

The two of them walked all the way down, said goodbye to Lanster, and returned to the jeep.

Looking sideways at the harvest bathroom, Jiang Baimian sighed sincerely:

"It's really comfortable to steam and take a bubble bath like this. My body feels a lot more relaxed. Well, I will definitely bring Xiaobai and the others to try it out in the future."

Shang Jianyao's expression suddenly became embarrassed, as if he was thinking hard.

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian to ask, he took the initiative and said:

"Can Gnava take a steam bath?"

"I don't know about that..." Jiang Baimian is not that good at robots.

The jeep started slowly and entered the city's main road. However, it did not return to the Green Olive District in the northwest of the original city. Instead, it went straight to the southernmost exit of the Golden Wheat Sheep District.

"It's still early. We can observe the environment around the Zhao family manor. We won't do any investigation. We are only familiar with the terrain." Jiang Baimian explained casually.

Their Jeep had been newly modified after the turmoil in Weed City, so they didn't have to worry about being recognized by the "anti-intellectual cult" people.

Hearing this, Shang Jianyao sighed:

"It's a pity that Xiaohong didn't follow."

You mean, if Xiaohong is here, a simple familiarity with the terrain will develop into a direct conflict? You think too highly of Xiaohong. Didn't you feel fine for so many days before? Jiang Baimian's thoughts turned and he gave up his objection.

…………

At early three o'clock in the afternoon, the Jeep returned to the Ugo Hotel and parked at the same spot as yesterday.

Glancing at the gray off-road vehicles nearby, Jiang Baimian smiled and said:

"Xiaobai and the others should have returned."

Shang Jianyao carefully checked the condition of the off-road vehicle and said with regret or relief, not knowing whether it was regret or relief:

"There were no bullet holes."

Jiang Baimian didn't want to pay attention to him, turned around and walked into the hotel.

In the hall, there was no one at the front desk, and the wooden door of the corresponding room behind it was closed tightly.

While Jiang Baimian frowned slightly, Shang Jianyao had already jumped over, as if he wanted to enter the front desk and pretend to be the hotel owner.

Hey... Jiang Baimian didn't dare to shout loudly. He quickened his pace and tried to catch up with Shang Jianyao without giving him a chance to express himself freely.

The two of them walked around the reception desk one after another. Jiang Baimian stretched out his hand to stop Shang Jianyao's subsequent actions.

At this moment, she heard the sound of washing coming from behind the closed wooden door.

It's like a beast wailing and roaring.

All the expressions on Jiang Baimian's face disappeared instantly. She turned her ears and tried hard to listen to what was going on in the room.

In her induction, there was only the electrical signal of a large creature.

Hehe's voice rang twice more, then disappeared completely.

It was quiet behind the wooden door.

Jiang Baimian's heart moved, he winked at Shang Jianyao, and then he quietly exited the front desk area and returned to the lobby.

Shang Jianyao imitated her appearance and walked backwards away from the room faster.

As soon as the two of them reunited and walked towards the stairs, the wooden door opened with a creak.

The one who walked out was the hotel owner Ugo. His blond hair and linen shirt were slightly damp, as if he had sweated a lot, and his slightly wrinkled and tanned face looked a little pale.

He glanced at Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao, and asked slowly:

"Is there a problem?"

Shang Jianyao immediately replied:

"You can't leave someone at the front desk. It's easy for thieves to visit."

Ugo nodded:

"Don't worry, I know all the thieves in this area."

"It seems we are worrying too much." Jiang Baimian smiled and pulled Shang Jianyao away.

When he returned to the second floor, Jiang Baimian turned his head to look at Shang Jianyao and asked in a lowered voice:

"Did you go there because you sensed something unusual inside?"

Shang Jianyao shook his head:

"I want to help him guard the front desk for a while."

Jiang Baimian was speechless.

The two quickly returned to room 202. After a short rest, Bai Chen, Long Yuehong and Gennava knocked on the door.

After exchanging today’s experiences, Jiang Baimian smiled and breathed a sigh of relief:

“At least I don’t have to worry about running out of money these days.

"Well, tomorrow I will take 100 Orei as a deposit and redeem the individual rocket launcher. Since we are in the First City, we still have to try to ensure sufficient firepower."

100 Ole certainly cannot buy a brand new vehicle, but as a deposit for an off-road vehicle that is over seventy years old and has obviously undergone major repairs, it is enough.

After finalizing the matter, Long Yuehong asked slightly hesitantly:

"Do you really want to take care of the 'anti-intellectual religion' thing?"

"If we don't care, there may be drastic changes like the one in Weed City, involving us." It was Bai Chen who answered.

Jiang Baimian was a little surprised by this, but did not make fun of him.

She also thinks so. After all, "anti-intellectual religions" always like to do bad things that affect a large number of people.

Of course, whether you should take care of it or not ultimately depends on the degree of danger. If it is really too dangerous, you can consider reporting it to the relevant departments in the First City.

Shang Jianyao then smiled and said:

“Fighting against cults is everyone’s responsibility!”

Dang Dang Dang, Gnawa applauded.

Shang Jianyao greeted him repeatedly and thanked him for his support.

After a few seconds, Jiang Baimian looked at Bai Chen and asked seriously:

"What else do you know about the owner of this hotel?"