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Chapter 276. Presence

Jiang Jianxin did not land directly at his destination, but instead chose a hidden spot nearby.

She landed lightly, casually dusted off non-existent dust from her black robe, and slowly walked forward, carrying the Grim Reaper's scythe disguised as a broom.

Through the Bluetooth earphones, A-Yu's voice, accompanied by a slight static, kept coming through:

"Our current location is 2000 meters away from the Tingyutan pollution zone, which is within the outer buffer zone..."

With each step she took, the count in her earpiece was updated precisely once:
"1995 meters..."

"1982 meters..."

"1968 meters..."

"1951 meters..."

Just as the numbers continued to decrease, two long swords gleaming with a cold light suddenly crossed in front of her.

Two fully armed soldiers, wearing protective goggles, warily scrutinized the visitor—a black hood completely concealed her face in shadow, revealing only a smooth chin. The strange black broom in her hand added to her eeriness, making her resemble a legendary witch.

"Please show your identification."

The soldier's voice came through his protective mask, sounding somewhat muffled.

The girl in the black robe rummaged in her pocket for a moment and pulled out a cell phone.

The moment the screen lit up, the mercenary's authentication information was displayed.

The soldiers sheathed their swords and made way for her, then took a gray vest from a nearby cardboard box and handed it to her.

"The contaminated area ahead is corrosive. Here are some protective vests; please wear them. When it's your turn, just follow the person in front of you into the contaminated area."

Jiang Jianxin nodded and draped the vest over his black robe.

She told her intuition:
Why is the Rose Group issuing anti-corrosion vests? Aren't these mercenaries they recruited meant to fill the gaps with flesh and blood?

Intuition stirred:

[Perhaps they were worried about recruiting people who died in the wrong places—the corrosive substance is too strong, and if they died on the outskirts, it would be a waste of recruitment time.]

It slowly said:

These people were all bought with real money by the Rose Group. Having money and being extravagant are two different things.

Jiang Jianxin remained silent.

She came into the crowd wrapped in a black robe and saw that the sky was in the ambiguous moment between day and night. The last rays of the setting sun dyed the clouds dark purple, but not much light could be seen through them.

Dozens of mercenaries stood silently before her.

They were all dressed in lead-gray tactical vests, their outlines blurred in the deepening night, resembling a forest of stone tablets.

No one spoke, no one even moved; only the occasional rustling of the straps on the tactical vests as the night wind swept by.

Jiang Jianxin blended into the forest of stone tablets, but he couldn't understand the current situation—why was he waiting here instead of going in?

So she thought for a moment, then looked around, wanting to ask someone.

Besides fully armed mercenaries, the scene was filled with soldiers from the Rose Group.

They were wrapped in protective gear from head to toe—face shields, tactical helmets, and isolation suits—every inch of their skin was tightly covered, gleaming with a cold metallic sheen in the twilight, exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay.

Jiang Jianxin wasn't the type to be overly friendly. After thinking for a moment, he decided to find a mercenary who seemed easy to talk to and ask him about the situation.

She scanned the crowd and her gaze fell on a figure wearing a brown top hat from behind.

The man's slightly relaxed posture made him stand out conspicuously among the group of tense mercenaries.

"Hello?"

She gently patted the other person's shoulder.

The man's body stiffened slightly, yet he remained motionless, like a frozen statue.

Jiang Jianxin thought to himself that he was really unlucky, having randomly picked someone who was hard of hearing.

She had to slap him again with more force, raising her voice as she said:
"Hello, handsome young man?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she was taken aback by the flippant way she was addressed—it sounded like a middle-aged woman trying to pick up a young man at a bar. Fortunately, this time it worked, and the brown hat slowly turned around.

Beneath the brim of his hat, his curly hair fell to either side, and his deep red eyes stood out starkly in the twilight, his long eyelashes casting dappled shadows on his eyelids. A black mask completely concealed his face, revealing only a small portion of his pale skin.

He spoke hesitantly, his voice extremely low, and further muffled by the fabric:

"You...were calling me?"

His hoarse voice seemed to be soaked in the night, carrying a somewhat unreal and ethereal quality.

"Yes."

Jiang Jianxin answered frankly.

Just as she was about to get to the point and begin her questioning, she saw a hint of surprise flash in the eyes of the person in front of her.

"You can sense me... or why don't you ask someone else?"

Jiang Jianxin was also stunned. She thought to herself that this person's question was really strange.

She simply randomly selected a lucky passerby from the crowd to answer her question, and it just so happened that he was chosen.

His words made it sound like she had come to ask him specifically.

"I just happened to ask you, that's all."

Thinking that he would have to ask him about his current situation, Jiang Jianxin still explained politely.

The young man in front of her didn't say anything after hearing this, his beautiful, ruby-like eyes fixed on the shadows on her face hidden by the hood.

Jiang Jianxin sensed a kind of scrutiny, but when she looked closely, that scrutiny vanished. The person before her seemed to have given up all hope, becoming devoid of desire and ambition, even his eyes were empty.

"Well... you're really boring."

The young man took a deep breath, suppressing his resentment, and tried his best to finish speaking calmly.

"?"

Jiang Jianxin hadn't expected the other person to be such a sharp-tongued individual. Even though he hadn't said anything, the other person suddenly started being sarcastic and sarcastic.

She was baffled and was just hesitating whether to ask someone else, when he spoke:
"What do you want from me?"

Jiang Jianxin glanced at him and, sensing that the man's emotions were relatively stable, hesitated before speaking:

“I’m a mercenary too, but I’m new here and don’t understand what’s going on—are we just going to wait here?”

The young man adjusted his hat brim and pointed into the distance:

"The Rose Group has divided its mercenaries into twelve legions. The tenth and eleventh legions are currently entering, and we are the twelfth group."

Looking in the direction he indicated, all that could be seen was the gloomy outline of the forest in the twilight, like a lurking giant beast.

"Is Tingyu Tan inside?"

"Ah."

The young man nodded:

"The 11th Legion has been inside for quite some time now, so it should be our turn soon."

Just then, the still crowd suddenly began to flow slowly, like a thawing glacier.

The young man subconsciously lowered the brim of his hat and moved forward with the crowd. Jiang Jianxin, carrying a broom, naturally followed beside him.

The young man suddenly turned his head, his voice muffled through his mask:

"...Could you please not walk next to me?"

"?"

Jiang Jianxin sensed the disdain in his words. Although she didn't understand, she chose to respect his words—what if he had some unspeakable difficulties?

She quickened her pace, her black cloak weaving nimbly through the crowd, quickly leaving the figure in the brown hat behind.

Therefore, she failed to see the complex emotions that flashed in the young man's red eyes as he stood there.