Chapter 88: Chapter 88

Even with Ron joining, the search efficiency didn’t immediately improve, because Ron didn’t start out by searching inch by inch like Jason, who was practically combing through the area.

He was thinking about whether he could use a specific method to lock onto the general location of the wounded first, then narrow down the area, and ultimately find the target.

“The scent of blood? Breathing sounds? Or on-site traces?”

Ron thought of these few methods in a flash, but he quickly ruled out the scent of blood. At this moment, a faint smell of blood permeated almost the entire battlefield. With Ron’s current olfactory abilities, he still couldn’t distinguish the exact source.

Let alone pinpoint a source like a wounded person.

Breathing sounds were also very problematic. The wounded who hadn’t been found by now were fundamentally the kind whose breathing was weak and on the verge of death. If their breathing were normal, it was highly probable that they wouldn’t have been unable to call for help.

A faint breathing sound could only be perceived if one was extremely close; from even a slight distance away, it would be filtered out by the subconscious.

Finally, there were on-site traces, which Ron valued the most. The critically wounded soldiers who were hard to find must have been covered up by something, which meant there was a considerable probability that they left traces before they were buried.

Just like Mata from earlier, who was blasted away by the enemy’s immense force and then buried under a collapsed house. However, the trajectory of him being sent flying had left quite obvious traces.

Even if some of these traces disappeared during the ongoing battle at the time, they wouldn’t have completely vanished.

…

During the past month of training, Ron had also been taught tracking, and despite having little experience, it was barely sufficient for a situation like this.

Of course, his greatest reliance wasn’t tracking. After all, when it came to tracking, Jason’s experience far surpassed his own.

Ron’s true reliance lay in his newly acquired ability to directly observe Pollution Secret Patterns from yesterday. This area originally belonged to the core zone of the territory, where Pollution Secret Patterns were exceptionally scarce.

But now, it had become similar to the edges of the territory. The Pollution Secret Patterns had even multiplied to the point where distinct signs of flow appeared in the air.

Just like turbulence on Earth, the overall movement was difficult to predict, but locally, it concealed enough rules for one to make a judgment.

If the flow patterns of the Pollution Secret Patterns in the air truly resembled turbulence, then Ron might really be out of options; after all, he hadn’t majored in fluid dynamics on Earth.

But Pollution Secret Patterns were not turbulence; they possessed an even more distinct characteristic:

They approached Order, yet were simultaneously excluded by Order.

And the human body was a natural self-organizing system, innately possessing the characteristics of Order.

The specific manifestation of this was that those Pollution Secret Patterns would continuously flow toward the direction where human bodies were located, only beginning to make completely unpredictable, irregular movements after reaching a certain concentration.

Occasionally, one or two Pollution Secret Patterns would enter the human body. This was actually the Pollution Secret Patterns mixed within the Body Secret Patterns that Ron had seen through the perspective of his Light Orb true form.

It was just that, after gaining the ability to directly observe Pollution Secret Patterns, he could now see this process in a highly intuitive manner.

Naturally, it wasn’t just the human body that attracted Pollution Secret Patterns; everything of Order did. For instance, flora and fauna in nature, which, like humans, were all natural self-organizing systems.

Additionally, there were artificially manufactured items, including buildings and roads. These things inherently represented a certain degree of Order, while also serving as extensions of civilized Order.

Because of these observations, Ron was able to make some inferences, which were:

Civilized creations situated in the wilderness constantly suffered the erosion, or rather, the pollution, of Pollution Secret Patterns.

All flora and fauna were the same. It was just that intelligence was more orderly, so non-sentient plants and animals experienced a lesser degree of erosion than humans.

If intelligence played no role in this, then this world’s ultimate fate was actually already destined to be total desolation. It was even entirely possible for it to reach the ultimate heat death of the universe like on Earth.

But intelligence had changed everything. Despite the numerous prices paid, such as enduring more intense pollution and erosion, and even the existence of something like the scholar’s curse, it continued to exist, continuously changing this world.

In the future, there might even be a possibility of changing this world’s ultimate destiny!

“With sacrifice comes lofty ambition, daring to command the sun and moon to bring a new day!” [1]

Somehow, this quote from his mentor suddenly surfaced in Ron’s mind, and for a moment, he felt an inexplicable sense of mission.

…

However, the most important task right now was still to utilize his ability to directly observe Pollution Secret Patterns to find the eleven wounded who hadn’t been found yet as quickly as possible.

Next, Ron dove into focused observation. Combining on-site traces with the distribution of Pollution Secret Patterns in the air, he quickly locked onto a target.

In an area that was clearly just ruins, there was a density of Pollution Secret Patterns that exceeded the current environment.

Evidently, in that area, there had to be some sort of Order carrier substantial enough to generate such a massive attraction. It wasn’t necessarily a human; it could also be some kind of intricate artifact.

But in this area, it was far more likely to be a person, one of the eleven wounded!

Before confirming the target for certain, Ron didn’t call out to Jason. Instead, he went alone to the front of the rubble, cautiously moving the debris aside piece by piece, and then he saw an unconscious soldier pinned beneath a wooden beam.

Based on the distribution and free-floating state of the Pollution Secret Patterns in this area, he was even able to determine this soldier’s current condition!

His condition was terrible, worse than even an ordinary person’s, but he was still alive!

“Uncle Jason, I found one, come quick and take a look!” Ron shouted to Jason.

Hearing the voice, Jason immediately came over to the rubble where Ron was. By this time, Ron had already cleared away a portion of the debris, allowing one to see the situation inside from the outside. Jason also saw the soldier pinned beneath the wooden beam.

“It’s Gerald! Ron, well done!”

After saying this, Jason immediately signaled the others, then entered the rubble to briefly check Gerald’s condition, sending out another signal.

“Ron, you wait here, I’ll go search other areas first.”

“Wait, Uncle Jason.”

Jason was about to leave but was stopped by Ron. Jason paused for a moment, then comforted him, “What’s wrong? It’s fine, Gerald is just unconscious. You stay here and wait for the others to come. This is also a good opportunity to get your face known, which will benefit your future development in the Territory Guard.”

“…”

Ron hadn’t expected Jason to say such a thing, but he wasn’t worried about that at all. He hurriedly explained, “It’s not that, Uncle Jason. I feel like you won’t be able to find anyone in the direction you’re heading. Try changing to this direction.”

Saying so, Ron casually pointed in a new direction, which happened to be the direction where he could roughly confirm another wounded person was located.

At Ron’s suggestion, Jason hesitated for a moment. However, thinking about how he had searched for so long without success, while Ron had found one as soon as he arrived, even if it was just luck, Ron’s luck was better than his.

And if it wasn’t just luck…

Jason immediately changed his original plan and headed in the direction Ron pointed to conduct his search.

…

[1]: “With sacrifice comes lofty ambition, daring to command the sun and moon to bring a new day!” is a famous line from the poem “Shaoshan Revisited” by Mao Zedong, symbolizing the courage and determination to transform the world through immense struggle and sacrifice.