Embers Ad Infinitum

Long Yuehong was shocked. He thought that Shang Jianyao was going to ’cause trouble’ again and quickly said, “He probably has no intention of making a bet with you.”

When his team leader assigned him to carry out missions with Shang Jianyao, he always felt that he had to keep an eye on this fellow and not let him cause any trouble. Of course, Long Yuehong also knew that he couldn’t stop Shang Jianyao from doing anything.

At this moment, Theresa’s bodyguards had already loaded the firearms into the car. She also ended her prayers and walked out of the cathedral with Harbinger Song He.

“We can go to the Hunter’s Guild now.” Theresa nodded at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong.

Although the hunter team opposite her had yet to figure out the real culprit behind Helvig’s death, Theresa was already very satisfied that they could retrieve the missing batch of firearms.

Recently, she had taken out a lot of supplies and distributed them to Helvig’s subordinates or to the smuggler, Lehman, as gifts. She hoped to maintain her family’s business in arms trading.

Her family had quite a bit of savings, but if there was only expenditure and no income, it would still leave her a little anxious. The return of this batch of firearms was perfect timing.

Shang Jianyao nodded slightly and questioned Song He in Ashlandic in front of Theresa. “How can I visit DiMarco directly, Sir?”

Perhaps he found it rude to call him by his full name, so he added the word ‘sir.’

Song He laughed and shook his head. “Impossible. Even I can’t directly visit Mr. DiMarco. Only the bishop officially appointed by the Terror Episcopal can communicate with Mr. DiMarco through a video call.”

After Shang Jianyao heard that, he seemed to have solved a major problem. He clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “He’s really still alive.”

What are you saying? Long Yuehong was stunned. He then tried to decipher Shang Jianyao’s train of thought.

As DiMarco never went out, nor did he see outsiders, nobody knew even if he was dead. In order to maintain their status and power, the three butlers could disguise the fact that DiMarco was still alive.

This ‘inference’ was clearly impossible with the fact that the Vigilance Church’s bishop could video-chat with DiMarco.

At this thought, Long Yuehong was curious, but he also wanted to change the topic. He asked, “Will Mr. DiMarco attend your Mass at the same time?”

“No.” Song He shook his head. “He will send a butler to participate on his behalf every time. Heh heh, back when he converted to my Lady, he didn’t leave the Underground Ark or let the bishop in.”

That’s too vigilant… Long Yuehong cursed inwardly when he started hearing Shang Jianyao clap.

Long Yuehong wasn’t surprised at all.

After expressing his admiration, Shang Jianyao asked, “Where can we get a boat in Redstone Collection?”

“Anhebus has a speedboat, and so does the town guard. The rest are simple wooden boats.” Song He thought for a moment.

He could roughly guess what Shang Jianyao and the others wanted to do, and it wasn’t his place to persuade them against it. He only reminded them, “The merfolk have absolute dominance in the lake.”

After two seconds, Song He said, “I’ve already reported the matter regarding the temple in the lake to the Terror Episcopal. If you aren’t in a rush, you can wait a while to see if they are interested and if they will specially send people to investigate.”

He’s really nice. He even specially provided us with solutions… Will he unknowingly become friendly if he uses his amiable abilities for long periods? Long Yuehong sighed with emotion and made endless guesses.

Shang Jianyao fell silent for a moment before saying, “Thank you.”

After bidding Song He farewell and getting into the jeep, Long Yuehong smiled and said, “You actually gave him the highest treatment.”

He remembered that Shang Jianyao had said, “Thank you is an improved version of clapping.”

“He’s very sincere.” Shang Jianyao was rather calm.

Long Yuehong tersely acknowledged it. “Then, should we wait for the Vigilance Church to make a decision?”

As Shang Jianyao drove, he turned his monkey-masked head. “Doesn’t he mean that we have to go as soon as possible? We can forget about it once the Terror Episcopal sends people over?”

“…” Long Yuehong replied without much confidence, “You’re reading too much into it.”

“This is the inferred result using Jiang Baimian’s train of thought.” Shang Jianyao was very confident. He then mimicked Jiang Baimian’s tone. “The only thing to worry about is the merfolk’s existence.”

Long Yuehong couldn’t refute Shang Jianyao and could only change the topic. “Are you really going? A sleeping deity is definitely very dangerous, even if it’s only a so-called deity.”

“Look.” Just as Shang Jianyao said that, he saw Long Yuehong shrink back toward the door.

He laughed and said, “Didn’t that Awakened murloc end up fine?”

“You call that fine? Didn’t Team Leader say that a monster was about to be born in his body after he fainted?” Long Yuehong argued.

“Don’t you find that very interesting?” Shang Jianyao looked eager.

This successfully shut Long Yuehong up.

The car continued driving through the city ruin, but Shang Jianyao fell silent and didn’t say anything else.

Long Yuehong gradually felt that the atmosphere wasn’t too good, so he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m wondering how I can visit DiMarco,” Shang Jianyao replied truthfully.

Long Yuehong hissed. “That’s very difficult.”

He racked his brains and suggested, “You can try making friends with the butler DiMarco sends outside. Through him, you can sneak into the Underground Ark and find an opportunity to meet DiMarco.

“Yes, the Underground Ark will regularly replenish supplies. You can consider hiding in a box and entering. With the butler’s help, you definitely won’t be discovered.”

Shang Jianyao quietly listened and commented, “Uncreative.”

“Think of something creative then!” Long Yuehong felt a little angry.

Shang Jianyao fell into deep thought again.

At this moment, a red sedan with a skyroof drove over.

The sedan wasn’t considered new, but it was very clean. Sitting in the driver’s seat was the Public Security Department’s coroner, the playboy—Weiler.

“His car is the same as his person,” Long Yuehong commented.

After waving at Weiler and watching him drive north of the city ruin, Shang Jianyao smiled and retorted Long Yuehong. “How clean is his car? His face is covered in facial hair.”

How is this the same? Long Yuehong held it in for a long time before finally coming up with an explanation. “He might think that a beard represents manliness.”

As they joked and chatted, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong drove into Redstone Collection and ‘escorted’ Mrs. Theresa to the Hunter’s Guild to complete the procedure.

For this mission, each of them obtained 100 credit points.

After this, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Jiang Baimian were still far from becoming Intermediate Hunters. They needed at least 700 more points, while Bai Chen only needed 140 more credit points to become a Senior Hunter.

…

As a human who had undergone genetic enhancement since she was born and then subsequent genetic modification, Jiang Baimian’s illness came and went quickly. She was back in the pink of health the second day.

She stretched her body and swung her left arm before smiling at Shang Jianyao. “How is it? Do you find diseases less terrifying?”

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao fall silent, she continued, “Many diseases can be cured by oneself as long as we are strong enough. Look, ain’t I fine now? For some diseases, we can rely on medicine, surgery, and other methods to receive treatment before we get better.

“Although we can’t deal with a small number of diseases now, as long as human civilization hasn’t been destroyed and medical technology is still developing, it’s very likely that we can resolve them in the near future.”

Shang Jianyao thought for a while before he suddenly revealed an enlightened expression. “I get it!”

“What do you get?” Jiang Baimian asked warily.

Shang Jianyao sat back on his bed and said with a serious expression, “Let me give it a try first.”

He then lay down and massaged his temples.

…

In the Sea of Origins, Shang Jianyao followed the previous strategy and transformed into Pangu Biology. He split into countless Shang Jianyaos and formed a proper hospital.

But this time, he prepared an additional, sci-fi-looking Shang Jianyao metal cabin. He then skillfully relied on the Shang Jianyao groups—which had been organized in various ways—to resist the faceless figures draped in white bedsheets.

After the busy and repetitive delivery of medicine, treatment, quarantine, disinfection, and injections, the Shang Jianyao doctors and Shang Jianyao nurses won again. However, they also became abnormally exhausted and gradually had ‘diseases’ arise from within.

Unlike in the past, they were no longer helpless. They ran to the Shang Jianyao metal cabins not far away.

Human cryogenic chambers!

This was a sci-fi item from a radio story. It could allow a terminally ill person to be frozen at ultra-low temperatures until their diseases could be treated in the future.

At the last moment, the Shang Jianyao doctors and nurses looked at each other and shouted, “We have to survive!”

After the cheer, they—who had already become draped in white bedsheets—entered the cryochamber one after another and closed the hatch.

All they saw was pitch-blackness as an unbearable low temperature spread.

The Shang Jianyaos kept their eyes open, unwilling to sleep. They didn’t seem to have much confidence in the future.

In his twenty-plus years of life, the acquaintances who had contracted diseases and recovered appeared on his left one after another as if they were using their success to give him confidence. The people who had died from illnesses appeared on his right one after another. They were gray and gloomy.

After a brief hesitation, Shang Jianyao closed his eyes and chose to believe in his companions and the future.

In the darkness without any light, it was as if they had lost their last consciousness. Their entire bodies were frozen until they couldn’t feel anything.

There was also a benefit to this—the benefit was that he couldn’t even think of giving up.

After an unknown period of time, Shang Jianyao suddenly felt the darkness in front of him turn red.

Shang Jianyao opened his eyes; he realized that the cryochamber had already been opened and that he was still alive.

He suddenly sat up and looked around. He realized that the Shang Jianyao cryochambers had been destroyed, but four Shang Jianyao doctors and four Shang Jianyao nurses were still alive.

They weren’t draped in white bedsheets anymore.

Finally, the few Shang Jianyaos jumped up at the same time and held each other’s hands to celebrate their victory.

…

Shang Jianyao opened his eyes and saw the expectant Jiang Baimian.

He immediately revealed a sunny smile. “It worked.”

“How did you succeed?” Jiang Baimian was happy and curious. Although she knew that Shang Jianyao’s method was definitely mind-blowing, she couldn’t help but ask this question.

Shang Jianyao immediately shared his successful experience.

Jiang Baimian frowned and thoughtfully said, “When you decided to believe in the future and accept the cold, you’d actually succeeded. The key to defeating the fear of disease is confidence.”

With that said, she asked with interest, “Any changes in abilities?”

Shang Jianyao looked down at his hands. “The most obvious change is that I can cast Hands Immobility on nine people at the same time.”

“Why nine?” Jiang Baimian was curious.

Shang Jianyao explained seriously, “Only nine of me survived.”

“…” The corners of Jiang Baimian’s mouth twitched.