Embers Ad Infinitum

When their dancing reached a climax, Miens and the others raised their hands and shouted, “Praise be to thee, the New World’s door!”

As an official member of the Life Ritual parish, Shang Jianyao did the same thing without committing any mistakes. “Praise be to thee, the New World’s door!”

After such a mass dance, even if Shang Jianyao didn’t use Inference Clowning, the way Miens and the others looked at him was as if they were looking at their companion.

Two female employees of Omnidirectional Commerce—who originally thought that he was ‘unattainable’—plucked up their courage and chatted with him.

At this moment, Miens wiped the sweat from his forehead and came to Jiang Baimian. “We have to leave.”

Jiang Baimian casually asked, “Are you guys going to continue heading to the Linhai Alliance or return to Tarnan?”

Miens frankly replied, “We decided to go home. Half a day’s drive southeast will bring us to the Mount Chilar area. There are settlements attached to our Linhai Alliance there, so we don’t have to worry about being attacked by bandits.”

“Alright, bon voyage.” Jiang Baimian didn’t urge him to stay.

After writing the letter to Dedicator Li Zhe in front of Shang Jianyao, Miens waved his hand and boarded the relatively intact car left behind by the bandits.

As the two cars that the Old Task Force had given to Omnidirectional Commerce slowly drove off, Shang Jianyao followed behind them. He waved his right hand with all his might and shouted, “Be careful on the way! We must meet again!”

How sincere… Jiang Baimian criticized inwardly and turned to look at the four bandits who had just finished their leftovers.

Upon sensing her gaze, the captives froze at the same time, not knowing what would happen.

Jiang Baimian slowly swept her gaze across their faces and smiled. “I’ve decided…”

She deliberately paused at this point, causing the four bandits’ hearts to leap into their throats and almost stop beating.

Jiang Baimian continued, “We’ll take you to Tarnan. If nobody comes to redeem you, we’ll hand you over to Mechanical Paradise.”

As the four bandits’ eyes lit up, Jiang Baimian changed the topic. “However, it depends on whether you guys are willing to cooperate.”

“Sure thing!”

“We’ll definitely cooperate!” The bandits enthusiastically expressed their attitude.

“Good.” Jiang Baimian pointed at the valley that was in a sorry state. “Clean it up.”

This ‘sorry state’ mainly arose from the previous battle and not the junk created by the hotpot Holy Communion.

The bandits didn’t hesitate at all and agreed. Under Bai Chen’s supervision, they cleared up all kinds of trash and recycled the useful items.

Long Yuehong—who originally thought that this was his mission—was stunned when he realized that he suddenly had nothing to do.

Jiang Baimian stood beside him and asked with a smile, “Does it feel good to have someone help you with your labor?”

Long Yuehong carefully experienced it. “Yeah, yeah.” Although he didn’t feel unhappy when he was instructed to do these menial chores, he liked to slack off when he could.

After the bandits completed their mission, Jiang Baimian asked the blond-haired, intelligent-looking captive, “What’s your name?”

“Jorgensen.” The blond-haired bandit beamed and gave his name. He had heard that if the other party was willing to know one’s name when they were held captive, it meant that they wouldn’t be killed on the spot.

“Tie up the hands of the other three and drive this car with them on-board and follow behind us.” Jiang Baimian pointed at a white car left behind by the Mountain Fox bandits.

Apart from the two cars that Omnidirectional Commerce had driven away, this was the most intact one. Apart from the dust and mud on its surface, preventing one from identifying its original color, there was nothing wrong with it.

Jorgensen quickly agreed and tied his companions’ hands with a hemp rope with their cooperation. However, he was suddenly stunned when he got into the car. This was because Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others didn’t care about him at all. Not only did they not assign anyone to monitor him, but they also started the jeep and slowly drove to the valley’s other exit.

In the area upstream of the stream, only the four bandits—who were considered captives—were left.

“Jorgensen,” a bandit with a scar on his face shouted. “Why don’t we turn around and flee in the opposite direction?”

Jorgensen hesitated for a moment and said, “Do you think they really don’t care? Could they be testing us?”

The bandits fell silent. Nobody dared to guarantee anything.

This was clearly a perfect opportunity to escape, but they couldn’t make up their minds. This was because Shang Jianyao and the others had really acted too casually and put on a ‘do whatever you want’ expression, causing them to instinctively think that something was amiss.

Upon seeing his companions remain silent, Jorgensen started the car and said, “Maybe they have absolute confidence in preventing us from escaping.”

After seeing that his companions still didn’t respond, Jorgensen added, “Think about it. They defeated us with just one exoskeleton-wearing member. The other three didn’t even do much. I don’t know if you’ve heard the proverb, ‘a lion will not be company with a wolf.’ The person wearing the exoskeleton definitely won’t choose companions that are much weaker than him. The other three most likely have their own strengths and can effectively monitor us or react to our escape in time.”

After hearing Jorgensen’s words, the bandit with the scar on his face exhaled and said, “Then, let’s follow. I don’t want to be swallowed by the rocket just like Snaketooth and the others.”

Snaketooth was the driver of the first car that had chased after Jiang Baimian and the others.

“That’s right. Even if nobody redeems us and we are handed over to Mechanical Paradise, we will be locked up for a year or two at most. It won’t be a big deal,” echoed another bandit.

Although Mechanical Paradise’s prisons definitely didn’t provide enough food, they wouldn’t starve to death.

Upon seeing that his companions had no objections, Jorgensen drove and followed closely behind the modified jeep.

He had already thought about it. If these boorish idiots really decided to take the opportunity to escape, he wouldn’t have bothered. After all, they had their hands tied behind their backs and couldn’t threaten him.

In the backseat of the jeep, Long Yuehong turned around and looked at the car the captives were driving. He said in surprise, “They really followed us…”

He thought that his team leader had deliberately created this opportunity to release the captives because they didn’t know what to do with them.

Under normal circumstances, the Old Task Force didn’t kill captives. However, it was troublesome and prone to accidents if they brought them all the way to Tarnan. They also needed to assign manpower to watch over them.

In the end, the group of captives actually chose to supervise and escort themselves. They didn’t have to worry the Old Task Force the entire time.

Shang Jianyao tersely acknowledged it and said in agreement, “Maybe they can’t bear to miss out on hotpot.”

“Are you talking about yourself?” Long Yuehong muttered.

Just as he said that, Shang Jianyao suddenly clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “Damn it. I forgot something.”

“What is it?” Long Yuehong instantly became nervous.

Shang Jianyao replied with a pained expression, “I forgot to borrow spices from Miens.”

“…” Long Yuehong felt a sense of familiarity that he shouldn’t have bothered with this fellow, but he also inexplicably felt that this was something worth ‘grief.’

Without the spices and condiments, it meant that they wouldn’t be able to make delicious hotpot in a short period of time. They could only make do with a simple and basic version.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian looked into the rearview mirror and smiled. “This is mainly because your performance just now crushed their courage to resist. The human heart is a very fascinating thing.”

Bai Chen—who was driving—added, “Compared to an acceptable outcome, the unknown is more terrifying.”

They continued driving into the evening. With the help of bandits—who were familiar with the terrain—the Old Task Force found a place with a clean water source and set up camp.

“Remove their ropes and bring them around to gather twigs and wood,” Jiang Baimian instructed Jorgensen. She could already tell that this fellow was bent on being a good servant in exchange for a better outcome.

With such a ‘shepherd’ around, Jiang Baimian believed that the captives would be more obedient.

After Jorgensen arranged jobs for the other three bandits, Jiang Baimian suddenly thought of something and shouted at him, “You don’t have to go. I still have something to ask you.”

“Yes.” Jorgensen wanted to respond to this powerful female warrior in a respectful manner, but he didn’t know how to address her. It was impossible to call her ‘boss,’ right?

As Jiang Baimian watched the other bandits go into the surrounding forest to gather firewood, she casually asked, “Have you heard of the Mainframe in Tarnan?”

“No.” Jorgensen shook his head. “Communication with those robots is like getting blood from a stone. There’s no way to get any useful information from their mouths.”

The mainstream language in this area was Ashlandic, so a Red River bandit like Jorgensen could use a few idioms.

“Who’s their mayor?” Shang Jianyao interrupted and asked. He seemed very interested in the smart robots.

“It’s a smart robot named Genava. It calls itself the leader of the Tarnan branch under some Security Hall.” Jorgensen recalled what he had seen and heard in Tarnan. “It’s a slightly strange robot.”

“How is it strange?” Jiang Baimian asked many questions mainly to verify the information provided by Redstone Collection.

Jorgensen scratched his head. “Maybe it’s not too strange; Tarnan has many similar smart robots. They will take the initiative to identify as men and women and form families. Some will also exchange for various modules through their internal channels and assemble small robots to be their children. What gender can a robot have?”

While Shang Jianyao and the others were discussing Tarnan, the other three bandits had already left the camp and were gathering firewood in the forest that had many dead branches.

As this place was no longer in the enemy’s line of sight, an idea flashed through their minds almost simultaneously. Should we escape?

On second thought, they recalled Jorgensen’s words. “They have absolute confidence…”

“A lion will not be company with a wolf…

“The other three most likely have their own strengths and can effectively monitor us…”

As these thoughts raced through their minds, they gradually calmed down. They felt that going to Tarnan wasn’t a bad choice.

Forget it, forget it… They quickly abandoned the idea of escaping and diligently completed the assigned mission.

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