Upon hearing Hayden's words, Eric couldn't help but ask, "What if an executive from another large company stole the Terasque and used teleportation to take it to the other side of the earth? What should we do then?"
"In that case, we'll consider this commission a failure. There's nothing we can do about it."
Hayden shrugged.
Human strength has its limits.
That being said, we should at least do our best for now.
The Retribution Company has fewer than fifty mercenaries, and it's impossible to send them all out to search for the missing Terasque; at most, they can send half. That's insufficient for a thorough search.
The wastelands outside of urban areas are extremely dangerous. Not only are they teeming with monsters, bandits, and demons, but the environmental pollution itself is appalling. To ask mercenaries to search alone for a missing Terasque in the wasteland is tantamount to murder.
Hayden had to get them to operate in teams, and in relatively large teams at that.
But if that's the case, how many teams can twenty-odd people form?
The Volkov family is very familiar with the smuggling routes through the wastelands south of New Jersey, but even with their help, they probably still won't have enough manpower.
Fortunately, Hayden also knew another friend who was very familiar with the wilderness and smuggling.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number he had just called a few days ago:
"Abigail, do you have a moment? I'm looking for a medicine that might be helpful for your ailment, and I need your help."
Abigail would certainly have plenty of free time because of this.
Even so, after hearing Hayden's words, she couldn't help but frown: "You want me to drink an aging potion made with Terasque's blood? That sounds really... unsafe."
“I’m not going to use you as a human guinea pig,” Hayden said helplessly. “But this is Terasque. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Abigail touched her hair and realized that Hayden was right.
"I'll send you a team; feel free to use them."
So she decisively said,
"It's okay if there are no results in the end; just consider it an investment. I believe you will use your resources wisely."
--------------------------
And so, Hayden managed to gather forty mercenaries, five to a team, divided into eight squads, to conduct a search and rescue operation near the last known location of Terasque's disappearance. Just to be on the safe side, Eric personally took command and was put in charge of any emergencies.
Hayden, on the other hand, didn't need to team up with anyone. He could have simply stayed home and waited for Eric to report the results. However, Hayden didn't like that. He didn't want to become a despicable creature who lay at home, reaping the benefits of others' labor.
So he and Angela flew around in the skies north of Montessano for an entire afternoon, but they didn't see any wandering monsters. Eventually, Hayden even started to find it a little ridiculous.
"Even if you're busy with work, Master, you should still maintain healthy eating times and habits."
As the sun was about to set, Angela spoke gently yet firmly.
Actually, she had a lunchbox in her hand at some point.
Hayden, of course, had no reason to object. He chanted a spell, conjuring a cloud that solidified, and then he and Angela sat on it. They opened the bento box and, sure enough, Angela had prepared it like a small set meal, with a very generous amount of ingredients. The main dish was a large, very substantial beef burger, wrapped in paper, probably to prevent the filling from spilling out when eating it outside.
Next to the hamburger, there was a small dish of something that looked like a stir-fried, white, mollusc-like creature. Hayden picked it up with his chopsticks to examine it closely, but still couldn't identify it. He had no problem eating things that looked like this; he picked it up with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, took a bite, and immediately felt something that was both soft and had a unique chewiness, somewhat like eating beef.
Moreover, Angela seemed to have added some seasonings, and Hayden found it to be both numbing and spicy after eating it.
...Then he realized something was strange.
"Where did you get this meat? And you don't usually cook spicy food."
This time, everyone is out searching for the missing Terasque, not having a picnic. Besides, Angela doesn't seem like the type of person who would intentionally cook spicy or stimulating food.
“This?” Angela tilted her head. “It’s a wild clam that I just caught in the north, based on the address Miss Karen gave me.”
what?
In the past, if Hayden had been fed strange food by Angela, he would have been quite alarmed, but unfortunately, he's gotten used to it now. So what surprised him now was something else entirely: "Wait, what address did Karen give me? She wasn't involved in this matter."
"Miss Karen mentioned before, the small town where she and her parents hunted serpent dragons,"
Angela then explained.
"Right here in this wasteland. Only fifty kilometers further north from here."
109: Could it be that they're robbing people and eating human flesh buns?
The setting sun painted the edge of the wasteland, but the sun itself, as it was falling, was not crimson; instead, it was filled with a lifeless, murky color.
A howling wind swept through the void, stirring the desert filled with tumbleweeds, through which a narrow road ran.
Shuainan, an ordinary yet declining rural town in North America, is nestled in this desert, right next to this highway.
As Hayden and Angela landed at the gate of the fenced town of Shuenan, the western sunset was beginning to fade, and the moonlight was beginning to paint the eastern sky silver.
Large cities like New Jersey don't need physical city walls. The arcane barrier covering the entire metropolis can be adjusted in range according to needs and consumption, so there's no need to bother with the cumbersome old-fashioned city walls.
But the towns and villages in the wilderness are different.
Although everyone has arcane barriers—without the protection of barriers, mortals simply cannot survive in the heavily polluted and harsh wastelands—the energy consumption of these protective barriers, built on the basis of fixed material fences, is much less than that of the flexible barriers found in large cities.
Therefore, the town of Shuainan is surrounded by a fence, albeit a rather low metal protective wall. A magical barrier, resembling transparent glass, emanates from this protective wall, enveloping the entire settlement.
If you have money, this kind of thing is easy to expand, but... having money...?
In fact, when Hayden and Angela walked through the gate, there wasn't even a gatekeeper at the town's entrance. The barrier automatically scanned them, found that they both had legally issued identification codes, and let them in directly.
Of course, some might ask—wait a minute, Hayden is a normal citizen, so where did Angela get a legitimate identification number? Well, she actually does have one. Last year, Hayden bought her a nearly indistinguishable fake identification number, and he doesn't even need it anymore. Because besides national governments, giant corporations with extraterritorial rights can also issue their own identification numbers, such as Mitra Corporation.
So last month, the Peacock King gave Angela a real "fake" identity as a gift. With a senior executive from a large company endorsing her, no one could say her identity was fake, and no one could say she wasn't a legitimate living person.
Ultimately, what determines whether a person is truly alive in modern society is society itself, and the few giant corporations that built modern capitalist society. For this system, a person without identity is simply non-existent.
However, discussing this now is a bit of a stretch. Since Angela already has a "real" identity, she is undoubtedly a living, breathing person. People living in the countryside may be poor, but they are still living people recognized by modern society—it would be too much of a loss of face for a large company to treat them as if they were dead.
The strange thing was that after Hayden and Angela entered Shuenan Town, they didn't see a single person on the streets. The road leading in through the main gate was lined with low bungalows, no more than two or three stories high. The hazy sun had already set, but few houses in the town had lights on; in fact, most were pitch black.
"The air here is much more polluted than in New Jersey."
Angela looked up at the setting sun sinking below the horizon, frowned, and said...
"Even though there's an ecological control barrier here, why does the wind smell so unpleasant?"
“Because increasing the barrier’s power would cost a lot of money,” Hayden shrugged. “What I’m really wondering is why there’s no one here. Although it’s clearly decaying, this shouldn’t be a completely dead town…”
It's too late, but it's soon.
No sooner had Hayden finished speaking than a young woman, probably in her early twenties, emerged from a roadside grocery store, carrying a large plastic box. As she walked, she glanced casually at Hayden and Angela… and then froze.
She froze for a few seconds, as if frozen in place, then opened her mouth and murmured, "I didn't see wrong, did I?"
what?
Just as Hayden and Angela exchanged a glance, and Hayden began to consider how to ask the locals about his purpose in coming, many unexpected things happened.
"Guests! We have guests!"
The woman, clutching her plastic suitcase, rushed across the street into a motel that appeared to be completely closed, shouting as she did so.
In less than ten seconds, all the neon lights and signs of the motel were turned on, and all the lights inside were switched on.
Not only that, but the lights in all the other shops and houses around the road also... well, let's just say many of them suddenly turned on, while most were still dark and deserted.
But Hayden and Angela both heard someone shouting, "The guests are here! Everyone! We've rehearsed this before, let's get moving!"
what?
Is this town a place where people rob and eat human flesh buns?
For a moment, Hayden instinctively reached out and grasped the new scepter hidden inside his new robes. But before he could actually take it out, the shops that had started lighting up all hung up their glowing "Open for Business" signs!
"Hello! Welcome to Shuainan Town!"
Then the young woman who had just rushed into the motel rushed out again, firing off a barrage of words at Hayden and Angela.
"We are known for our friendly service and kind attitude! Is there anything I can help you with?"
Following closely behind, two or three more townspeople darted out of the shop that resembled a general store: "Would you like something to drink? How about a glass of sweet and healthy freshly squeezed cactus juice?"
"No, no, no, look! That customer has a full-body prosthetic body! Our shop offers perfect mechanical prosthetic body repair services! We even include free painting and waxing! Do you like traditional stripes? Or any style is fine!"
"Great! You want to take an interstate trip? Our store has all the supplies you need to cross the wasteland!"
More and more—in less than twenty seconds, Hayden and Angela were surrounded by layers upon layers of townspeople swarming out and relentlessly promoting their goods and services.
Not to mention Hayden, even Angela was a little confused.
What's going on?
"No, we were just passing by and came here to look for something!"
Hayden had barely finished half a sentence when the young woman who had spoken first jumped out:
"Looking for something? My motel has the most comprehensive map of the area! And if you stay one night, we'll even include breakfast for free!"
Dozens of small-town businessmen stared intently at Hayden and Angela with longing eyes, and their numbers were growing. The entire lifeless town seemed to have come alive because of their sudden arrival.
Hayden finally realized what was going on and understood what was happening.
"it is good."
So he immediately changed the subject.
"I need to find a place to have a drink first."
————————————————————————
In modern wilderness areas, the operation of towns is largely determined by the local council. However, in most cases, the council only elects the town's head, while the head holds the power to make decisions on matters large and small.
In remote, desolate towns situated in harsh environments, the time-consuming and sluggish collaborative decision-making system is doomed to destruction.
So, although the townspeople initially made a ruckus around Hayden and Angela, they immediately quieted down when the mayor appeared. Then the mayor quickly put on a smiling face and began to show Hayden and Angela around the town.
"Our town has a history we can be proud of!"
The mayor enthusiastically explained the town's history to Hayden and Angela. He looked like a middle-aged gentleman in his thirties or forties, but was surprisingly young.
"Three hundred years ago, this town was a pioneering frontier in the development of the northern mountains and a transit point for freight. It was a shining gem on Highway 106!"
He spoke as he led the way, but his face suddenly darkened again.
"Unfortunately, as the mineral resources and soil fertility of the northern mountains have been exhausted, the town has lost its value as a freight transit point."
Hayden calmly followed and listened. This in itself wasn't anything strange. When capital starts construction in a place, it creates business opportunities and stimulates the economy in the surrounding area. It's just that once the local resources are exhausted, the people who made money in the surrounding area have to find ways to make a living on their own.
...But wait, if the situation in this town is really that bad, then what was the reason for their behavior just now?
These townspeople can serve natural tea and juice (although cactus juice might be a bit odd), can tell at a glance that Angela is a fully cyborg, and even dare to claim they can help her with maintenance—maintaining a robot isn't like washing a car, this kind of technical expertise and equipment is indispensable.
The town's ecological protection perimeter is also very well maintained. Although it wasn't running at full power, this was probably just to save money, so it's not surprising. As for the houses in town that weren't lit at all, they were probably just empty houses that no one lived in.
Is Shuainan Town really as bad as the mayor says?
The mayor, however, was clearly keeping everyone in suspense.
“Day after day, year after year, our town of Shuainan has become weaker every day as it has lost its value as a freight transit point. People who have lost their income have no choice but to leave here and seek a living in places like slums in big cities.”
He said in a heavy tone,
"Twenty years ago, our town had declined to the point where only a few people remained, surviving solely on synthetic proteins and carbohydrates. Without change, it would have been destroyed within a generation."
At the same time, he led Hayden and Angela to the town center, to the only coffee shop, and deliberately showed them a huge thing placed in front of the door.
That thing immediately made Hayden gasp, and at the same time, he suddenly realized what it meant.
Because right at the entrance of the coffee shop, there was an enormous serpentine dragon skull!
The flesh on its bones was scraped off until it was pure white, yet it still ceaselessly exhaled faint poisonous gas, and drops of darkness kept seeping from its ancient fangs, making it look almost as if it were still alive!
"Until seventeen years ago, the Peacock King led his retinue to kill this serpent dragon in the sky above our town and gave its corpse to us, which allowed us to survive our predicament and escape to safety."
The town mayor spoke with a tone that was both proud and grateful.
"After that, we seized the opportunity to develop new industries in the town. In the past few decades, the Peacock King has rarely personally demonstrated his power, but this place is the actual site where the Peacock King did indeed slay the snake and subdue the dragon seventeen years ago!"
Hayden was speechless, unsure of what to say. He noticed several photographs taken by the townspeople beneath the platform where the serpent dragon skull had been placed.
Peacock King looks exactly the same as he did seventeen years ago, so there's nothing to say about that; however, in the corner of that photo, Hayden could see a tiny twelve-year-old Karen, with braids, wielding a large knife and slashing at the serpent dragon, helping her father.
That's really impressive.
"From now on, you can use this to develop tourism and attract fans, worshippers, and company employee groups for sightseeing tours?"
Hayden finally couldn't help but ask.