Embers Ad Infinitum

Badump! Badump!

Jiang Baimian’s heart raced from 50 bpm to 180. This made her chest tighten, her breathing difficult, her vision turn black, and her head spin.

Unlike Tan Jie—who could still muster his strength and broadcast the enemy’s abilities to everyone—Jiang Baimian felt like she could faint at any moment. It wouldn’t be long before she suffered heart failure.

She wasn’t too surprised by this. The ability’s effects at close to 100 meters were clearly different from those at a dozen meters.

She just didn’t expect that her body—which had undergone genetic modification—would show signs of collapse so quickly.

Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth, took out another grenade, pulled out the ring, and threw it at the murloc wearing the laurel wreath with her left hand.

She wanted to use an explosion to interrupt the other party!

At this moment, the area where she, Shang Jianyao, and the remaining merfolk were was mostly blocked by the technology building. The suppressive fire from the rear was no longer effective, and they could only rely on themselves.

Before the grenade could be thrown, the tall murloc wearing the wreath laurel had already begun moving.

His destination was the car covered in thick armor. He wasn’t fast, and it seemed like he had to divert his attention to maintain the effects of Heart Acceleration.

At this moment, one of the two remaining merfolk guards suddenly jumped out from behind their cover, threw him to the side of the armored vehicle, and covered him with their bodies.

Boom!

The grenade exploded where the tall murloc had been standing. A crimson wave of fire swept through a large area with shrapnel.

The murloc—who used his body as a shield—didn’t feel any pain as he died on the spot. He vaguely seemed to see the hometown that his great-grandfather’s generation often described: It was fertile land by the lakeshore, a city that was brightly lit. Although it wasn’t spacious, it was an abode that belonged to them…

Badump! Badump!

Jiang Baimian’s speeding heartbeat didn’t ease at all. She felt like she would faint at any moment or even go into shock.

The tall murloc wearing the wreath laurel pushed away the incomplete corpse and looked at Jiang Baimian with hatred.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao had already seized the opportunity to roll into the seven-meter radius of the armored vehicle.

He didn’t waste any time. He found cover, turned his back to the target, opened his mouth, and shouted, “If you have what it takes…”

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Baimian couldn’t hold on any longer. She collapsed behind the abandoned flower bed and entered a half-conscious state. This was another place she had chosen as cover.

The main reason she took the risk and did so many things was to protect Shang Jianyao until he entered the range where he could use his abilities.

The next second, Shang Jianyao’s heartbeat also began to accelerate. It sounded like someone was drumming beside his ear.

He resisted the discomfort and continued shouting, “Suffocate us to death!”

Combined, it was: ‘If you have what it takes, suffocate us to death.’

This was not Provocation, but Corny Person. However, Shang Jianyao was using a mild method in an attempt to make the effects last longer. Furthermore, it wasn’t so easy to be discovered. If he forced the other party to do something irrational, the murloc would quickly come to a realization. Before that, he might not have a good opportunity to attack.

As for how to use Corny Person, it mainly depended on which method suited the situation.

To make the other party’s relatively mild corny behavior evolve in the direction he wanted, Shang Jianyao deliberately said this to induce him into doing so.

This was the experience he gleaned from his battle with the fake Father.

As his heart raced to the brink of losing control, Shang Jianyao’s voice became softer and softer as if it came from the horizon.

Suddenly, gunfire, booms, and rumbling sounds drilled into his ears.

His heartbeat had returned to normal at some point in time.

Shang Jianyao panted heavily, but he realized that the air around him seemed to be being sucked out by someone, becoming thinner and thinner.

His breathing became difficult.

At the same time, the Redstone town guards along the defensive line at Aiur Supermarket and Sixth Day Mall felt the world being flooded again, trapping them beneath with no way to surface.

Experienced, Long Yuehong no longer wasted his precious energy breathing heavily. He held his breath and fired a grenade.

However, muted fire appeared in many areas of the defense line. The interweaving firepower could no longer suppress the merfolk and mountain monsters not far away.

They pushed out artillery—the temporarily assembled mortars—picked up their rocket launchers and grenade launchers, and attacked Redstone Collection’s defense line.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless salvos sounded at the same time, sending Long Yuehong and the others scrambling to the ground, not daring to show their heads.

Seizing this opportunity, the mountain monsters with blue skin and sharp teeth carried submachine guns and assault rifles as they ran through the collapsed buildings like they were on flat ground.

When the salvos stopped, Long Yuehong looked up and mounted the grenade launcher on the windowsill.

Under the dim moonlight, he saw distorted and hideous faces covered in blue skin. He also saw black guns and occasionally blooming blood.

Some mountain monsters fell, but the mountain monsters behind didn’t stop. They drowned their companions like a tide and continued surging toward Redstone Collection’s defense line.

Long Yuehong had never seen such a scene before, leaving him deeply shocked. However, he didn’t fall into a daze. A certain fear drove him to fire the grenade.

Amidst the loud explosion, Bai Chen and Han Wanghuo calmly aimed at the gunners and the leader of the vanguard.

Each shot took away a life.

The salvos soon sounded again. Coupled with the vanguards’ shots, the defenders—who were increasingly lacking in oxygen—sprawled to the ground again.

They opened their mouths in an attempt to breathe in more oxygen, but it was useless. Some people had already begun retching, and some were getting dizzy.

In the parking lot behind the technology building, the tall murloc wearing a wreath laurel and his last guard each held a submachine gun. As they fired at the spot where Shang Jianyao was hiding, one of them approached the unconscious Jiang Baimian’s flower bed. They planned on killing her directly so that they didn’t have to deal with her using Heartbeat Acceleration when she woke up.

Similarly, the two town guards—who were unconscious at the edge of the parking lot—had to be dealt with together to eliminate any future problems. After all, they were wearing exoskeleton equipment. Once they woke up, it was enough to reverse the situation.

The tall murloc wearing the wreath laurel was in a rush to deal with other enemies just now, so he stopped his abilities before the target developed heart failure.

Of course, this was only a thought, and it wasn’t pressing. This was because Asphyxiation wouldn’t stop when one fainted. As long as it lasted long enough, any unconscious person would die from the lack of oxygen.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao—who was hiding behind cover—was in no rush. He held his breath and casually put down his tactical backpack. Amidst the roaring salvo, he took out the small, black speaker with a blue bottom. He then placed it on a rock pile in the corner and simply protected it.

After adjusting the music’s sequence, Shang Jianyao gave up on the assault rifle, unzipped his clothes, took a grenade from his belt, and pulled out the ring.

With his back facing the enemy, he excitedly calculated the distance and casually threw the grenade behind him.

A loud explosion sounded, forcing the tall murloc and his guard to dodge to a certain extent.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao quickly took off his blue coat and threw it out horizontally.

Accompanying this coat’s flying out were gunshots from the small speaker.

Ta! Ta! Ta!

Several bullets penetrated the coat.

Seizing this opportunity, Shang Jianyao followed closely behind. He drew his United 202s and jumped out.

The first thing he saw was an ordinary murloc. He was half-squatting there, holding a submachine gun. The gills under his ears and on both sides of his neck kept trembling.

Bang!

The two United 202s in Shang Jianyao’s hands fired at the same time.

The murloc’s gaze focused as his skull was sent flying, scattering red and white on the ground.

Shang Jianyao fell to the ground with a thud. He rolled around continuously and hid behind a pile of concrete—this was a fortification that the merfolk guards had previously built.

Upon seeing this, the murloc wearing the wreath laurel gave up on using the submachine gun. He maintained the Asphyxiation effect and quickly walked into the thick armored vehicle.

The engine roared as the heavy and sturdy vehicle began moving, attempting to rush out of the parking lot and rendezvous with the troops.

With him alone, the murloc wearing the wreath laurel knew one thing: to stop entangling with these humans—who had already entered the Asphyxiation state—and quickly return to the gunners’ ranks to receive a new round of protection.

This was not only because he cherished his life and didn’t want to put himself at risk, but also because he was considering the overall situation. Now was the best time for the merfolk and mountain monsters to join forces and break through Redstone Collection’s defense line. He definitely could not fumble the ball.

In any case, as long as they maintained the current situation, the people who killed many of his guards would ultimately suffocate to death.

With a whirl, the armored vehicle approached Shang Jianyao and was about to pass him and drive for the exit.

At this moment, the murloc wearing the wreath laurel suddenly felt hot-headed. He felt that he couldn’t let the enemies here off just like that.

Without thinking, he turned the steering wheel and made the car rush toward Shang Jianyao, attempting to hit him and flatten him repeatedly.

Corny Person!

When Shang Jianyao had only used his abilities slightly, the murloc wearing the wreath laurel hadn’t treated him as an Awakened. Therefore, Shang Jianyao gave up on inducing mild inceptions. After the other party entered his range, he directly made the murloc abnormally corny.

However, the murloc seemed to have a certain level of resistance to this. He didn’t stop the car and chose to fight Shang Jianyao as a man. He remained firmly seated in the safe bulletproof car and floored the accelerator.

Amidst the revving engine, the armored vehicle zoomed toward Shang Jianyao like an unbridled horse.

At this moment, the small speaker was no longer playing the gunshots recorded in Weed City. It played the next track.

A striking trumpet sounded as a majestic melody echoed, pumping zeal and ardor through one’s veins.

Dagger Group Prelude.

Note: Composer: Mr. Shang Yi. 1959. Folk Dance, Dagger Group’s prelude.