Embers Ad Infinitum

Jingnian was most thankful that, although he wasn’t a professional bodyguard, he still remembered one thing: Never leave his employer for a moment and remain within range to block any bullets with his body.

Therefore, as he used Animal realm, he moved his metal joints and pounced at Xu Liyan.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Bullets struck Jingnian’s head and back, producing sparks and inconspicuous marks.

This wasn’t a human shield, but a real armored shield!

Thud!

Xu Liyan slammed onto the ground and almost fainted from the abnormally heavy mechanical monk’s pressure.

At this moment, Jingnian’s Animal realm had already taken effect.

The five bodyguards went into crawling positions as if they were no longer accustomed to standing on their feet. They either howled or tried to pee with a hind leg lifted.

Only the one with the dark eye circles could barely stand upright. He only lowered his arms like an ape that had intruded into the human world.

Like an ape, he ran and jumped toward the stairwell before Jingnian could get up. He gripped the staircase railing and jumped down.

During this process, he didn’t roar like a beast. Instead, he shouted crazily, “Blow them up! Blow them up!”

Jingnian seemed to have installed a spring as he sprang up with Xu Liyan. He then looked at the stairwell and cautiously said, “Let’s jump out the window.”

“Alright.” Xu Liyan—who had almost been shot to death—was still in shock. He could only trust Zen Master Jingnian completely.

Jingnian wrapped his arm around Xu Liyan and bent his knees slightly. He easily leaped toward the window, broke the glass, and jumped down.

The four bodyguards—who had transformed into beasts—recovered.

They looked at each other in confusion before instinctively following Jingnian. They jumped from the broken window to the back door of the Hunter’s Guild.

At this moment, the Castellan Guard nearby had already gathered and surrounded Xu Liyan.

After Xu Liyan sat in a custom-made bulletproof car, he calmed down and instructed the driver in a deep voice, “Return to the manor.”

With that said, he looked at Jingnian—who was sitting beside him—and said with abnormal gratitude, “It’s all thanks to you, Zen Master. Otherwise, I would’ve died.”

Jingnian replied in an electronically synthesized voice, “Namo Annutara-Samyak-Subhuti. Saving a life is better than building a seven-storied pagoda.”

He paused and added, “I hope you remember your previous promise to allow our parish to preach in Weed City.”

“No problem,” Xu Liyan replied firmly. “But Zen Master, the premise is that you can’t send those monks who are prone to going crazy. Otherwise, I won’t be able to convince the public.”

To be honest, Xu Liyan often felt uneasy when facing Jingnian because he had no idea when he would hit Jingnian’s sore spot, making him lose his mind.

As he spoke, the bulletproof car door closed.

The relatively small convoy then drove into West Street and returned north.

In the vice president’s office on the third floor of the Hunter’s Guild.

Christina stood behind the glass window and watched this scene. She smiled and said, “I hope things can develop as you expect; otherwise, I’ll be transferred back to First City.”

A figure walked over from her side. He was about 1.8 meters tall, and he wore a black shirt and pants. He also had commonly-seen short hair. Although he looked pretty good, his dark eye circles made him appear listless; it seemed as though he hadn’t slept well for a long time.

He was the person who had sneaked into Xu Liyan’s bodyguard team. After he jumped to the bottom of the stairwell, he returned upstairs from the other side.

The only difference from before was that he had already escaped Animal realm’s influence.

This man covered his mouth and yawned. “I can’t guarantee that there will be any more variables involved. I can only say that the chances of success are high. You didn’t participate in any of this at all; why are you afraid of having scores settled in the future?”

Christina had only appeared in the Real Hallucination once, so nobody could criticize her for it.

Christina looked at the person beside her and smiled with moist eyes. “If Xu Liyan survives, he will be wary of me no matter what. He will do his best to request headquarters to transfer me away. Besides, he doesn’t need a reason. It’s not impossible for him to control me and get Oudick to use his Awakened abilities to search for clues.

“If it weren’t for the orders from above, I really wouldn’t have wanted to get involved in this matter of yours. Speaking of which, your Real Hallucination ability doesn’t seem to come from Last Man’s domain. Instead, it’s closer to a bestowment from Shattered Mirror.”

Shattered Mirror was the Kalendaria that controlled November, also known as the God of Illusions.

The man with the dark eye circles smiled and ignored Christina’s words.

That ability did belong to Last Man’s domain, but he produced spectacular effects with it.

It was called ‘Dream Journey.’ It could stimulate certain memories of the target and make them have a real hallucination.

For many Awakened with this ability, they often only used it to such an extent that their enemies would fall into a daze, dementia, fear, and obsession.

They ignored the fact that this was an area-of-effect ability that could simultaneously trigger many people’s memories and create multiple illusions.

After many attempts and ‘evolution,’ he finally grasped the technique to connect these illusions together. Thus, a large-scale real illusion was staged.

Before the target woke up, this illusion could last for several minutes. Therefore, the man could switch abilities and use Hypnosis to guide the plot development.

Hypnosis was an ability with a very small effective range. Every time he wanted to use it, he had to be within five meters of the enemy and make eye contact. But when the enemy’s psyche expanded outward and connected with others, they would sink into a hallucination together.

The corresponding Awakened could then perform some crude hypnosis in reverse by affecting the hallucination.

To put it simply, he could first ‘hypnotize’ himself and change his corresponding hallucination. He would then use a mental link to influence the hallucinations of others and use the changes in the hallucination to plant a certain ‘cue’ in their minds.

This way, two effects could be achieved.

The first was to rehearse what would happen next in the Real Hallucination and ‘observe’ the targets’ response and abilities.

The second was to perform a few simple ‘hypnosis’ that benefited the subsequent actions.

Through the former, this man with relatively dark eye circles grasped most of Jingnian’s abilities. He had mentally ‘hypnotized’ himself in advance so that he could transform into an ape that knew how to avoid danger and escape while shouting in human language once he lost his human consciousness. This way, he could deal with Animal realm.

Using the latter, he made Jingnian, Xu Liyan, and the others accept the fact that there were five bodyguards. He surreptitiously mixed in and ‘hypnotized’ his few ‘companions.’

Upon seeing that the other party didn’t answer, Christina could only sigh. “You should’ve already found yourself in the Sea of Origins. As long as you defeat him, you can enter the Mind Corridor.”

“If you think so, so be it.” The man with dark eye circles smiled and retracted his gaze before walking to the office door.

Christina called for him to stop. “Remember to bring those people from Pangu Biology to North Street. We have to establish a major villain later.”

“I’ve already got them to go over,” said the man calmly.

Christina glanced at him and asked, “Since you’re the real Father, who’s the one in the hospital?”

The man smiled and said, “When he thinks he’s Father, he’s Father.”

With that said, he raised his hands, covered his eyes, and bowed in the Anti-intellectualism Church’s style. “Please believe in God with all your body and heart.”

After bowing, he turned around and walked out the door.

The image of him in Christina’s mind suddenly became a little blurry, and she couldn’t remember the corresponding characteristics.

Her eyes became increasingly moist. She squeezed her legs slightly and sighed regretfully. “What a pity…”

…

North Street, Weed City First Hospital.

Although they had discovered the problem and suspected that the person in front of them might not be the real Father, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao still stayed on-scene. They moved Oudick, Lei Yunsong, Lin Feifei, and the fellow—who claimed to be Father—to an empty space outside and tried to wake the first three people up as soon as possible.

The reason they did this was that they knew that Xu Liyan had an Eternal beside him, so his safety was still guaranteed. Furthermore, Xu Liyan had nothing to do with them. They had only met once, and they only had a verbal promise between them.

Thus, Jiang Baimian actually didn’t care about his safety.

She decided to wake Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei up as soon as possible and ask about Wei Yu, Lu Jiqi, and Yun He’s whereabouts.

Saving them was of utmost urgency! This was the Old Task Force’s primary mission in Weed City.

Perhaps it was a problem with his nose, or perhaps it was because he had taken in too much vinegar, but Oudick had previously sneezed until he was almost unconscious. He had inhaled very little anesthetic gas, and he was strong enough, so he was the first to wake up.

He looked at Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao before suddenly sitting up. “Where’s Father?”

“Don’t disturb him.” Shang Jianyao raised his finger and gestured for Oudick to lower his voice.

“He won’t wake up that easily.” Jiang Baimian quickly stopped this fellow’s confusing behavior.

Of course, Jiang Baimian could roughly guess Shang Jianyao’s meaning. Father was relatively strong and good at Hypnosis. It would be very troublesome once he woke up.

As the two of them conversed, Oudick had already stood up and looked around.

Oudick didn’t ask if they were the ones who took down Father because it was a question with an obvious answer. Instead, he only sighed. “You guys are much stronger than I imagined.”

In the beginning, he had only determined that the two people opposite him came from a large faction and had certain standards. Who knew that these standards were a little terrifyingly high?

“Now’s not the time to talk about that.” Jiang Baimian pointed at the pale man suspected to be Father. “I have a feeling that he might not be the real Father. It’s best if you contact Castellan Xu.”

Oudick recalled what had happened and felt a little suspicious. He quickly took out the electronic product known as a cellphone in the Old World—which used the local base station built by Mechanical Paradise—to dial a number.

The call quickly connected.

Oudick gave a reminder and received a response. He then briefly reported the situation here.

As Shang Jianyao had been making faces and kept giving ‘hints,’ Oudick didn’t mention their exact role.

After hanging up, Oudick said to Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao, “Castellan was indeed attacked by the real Father. Fortunately, there was a powerful bodyguard. A portion of the Castellan Guard will come over to take over soon.”

Jiang Baimian looked down at the unconscious Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei. “Can we take these two people away? I’ll leave the suspected Father to you.”

Oudick—whose nose was still red—fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “Alright. It’s inconvenient for you to bring these people with you; it’s very eye-catching. Drive my car.”

His red SUV was near First Hospital’s entrance.

“Thank you,” Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian said in unison.

Jiang Baimian then asked in concern, “Did you ask about what happened at South Street?”

Although she had her guesses, she still needed accurate information.