Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon seeing that the speech-capable surveillance camera was ignoring him, Shang Jianyao walked back to Jiang Baimian’s side in disappointment.

Jiang Baimian looked at the dumbfounded bandits and chuckled. “Where are you guys going?” At this moment, she inexplicably felt that she was really suitable to play the villain.

The Mountain Fox bandits’ leader, Panania, forced a smile and said, “We’re visiting Officer Genava. It’s the mayor of Tarnan and the robot guard captain.”

He mentioned this name to boost his confidence.

Jiang Baimian immediately smiled. “What a coincidence; we are also visiting Mayor Genava.”

At this point, she pointed at Jorgensen and the others as if she had just met the bandits opposite her for the first time and deliberately said, “We captured a few bandits on the way and are prepared to hand them over to Mayor Genava to deal with.”

Panania felt like he had been slapped in the face. He endured the burning pain in his heart and forced a smile. “Tarnan does come equipped with prisons.”

He acted as if he had never met Jiang Baimian and the others or Jorgensen and his subordinates.

He was worried that the Ruin Hunter team opposite him would take action after he admitted that the bandits were his companions. They would then produce evidence and claim that they were arresting the bandits. Another possibility was them reporting to Mechanical Paradise’s smart surveillance on the spot to request the local law enforcement robots to take action.

Panania had no experience with these two situations before. He didn’t know what Mechanical Paradise’s smart robots would do, so he didn’t dare to take the risk.

Jorgensen and the others looked a little embarrassed. Fortunately, they didn’t need to say a word.

Jiang Baimian didn’t say anything else. She swept her gaze across Panania and the other bandits and smiled humbly. “Since we’re all here to visit Mayor Genava, you guys go first.”

How hypocritical… Long Yuehong criticized inwardly.

“You’re speaking ill of Team Leader!” Shang Jianyao suddenly turned his head as if he had caught Long Yuehonng red-handed.

“N-no!” Long Yuehong stammered. This fellow’s ability has mutated to the point of being able to read minds?

Upon hearing his stutter, Shang Jianyao laughed. “You fell for it as expected!”

I’m really stupid, seriously… Long Yuehong hid his guilt and retorted adamantly, “There was no such thing!”

The bandits were a little surprised by their conversation, but this didn’t stop Panania from responding to Jiang Baimian. “We’re in no rush. We’re in no rush at all; we have other things to do.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so polite despite your vulgar and barbaric appearance.” Jiang Baimian praised him before turning around and walking to Genava’s bungalow.

Panania wore long, greasy blond hair. His face was rugged, and he held the bull-horned helmet in his hand. He indeed looked like a barbarian.

The team leader could be rude, but Shang Jianyao couldn’t. He waved at the Mountain Fox bandits and said, “Goodbye!”

It’s best if we never meet again… Although Panania felt hate and wanted revenge, he couldn’t muster the intention to wash away the humiliation from before when he recalled their encounter.

If it was just the military exoskeleton, he felt that he still had a chance if his bandit team was well-equipped. However, the most terrifying thing was that only one person from the Ruin Hunter team opposite them had attacked with all his might back then. The other three were just providing some assistance and appeared very relaxed. It was unknown where some of them were. They might be monitoring the captives or playing music.

As long as they weren’t much weaker than the man wearing the military exoskeleton, their team would be having a death wish if they wanted revenge.

As the name suggested, the nickname ‘Mountain Fox’ definitely had a hint of cunning and caution. There were only wrongly chosen names; it didn’t apply to nicknames.

As he had this in mind, Panania and the other bandits realized that the tall, handsome, and sunny young man was standing there, staring at them without moving.

Their hearts rose to their throats again.

As his thoughts raced, Panania tentatively raised his right hand and waved it. “Goodbye.”

Shang Jianyao turned around in satisfaction and quickly followed Jiang Baimian and the others.

“…” The bandits were speechless, finding it ridiculous and aggrieving.

“You had fun,” Jiang Baimian commented.

Shang Jianyao shook his head. “The present me is the one with strict requirements on manners.”

The corners of Jiang Baimian’s mouth twitched slightly, and she decided to go with the flow. “They really should thank Mr. Shang, the teacher.”

Bai Chen—who was beside them—silently glanced at them and decided not to participate in such a conversation in case something went wrong with her mental state.

The Old Task Force quickly brought the ‘servant army’ to Genava’s bungalow. They passed through the lawn that remained green despite the winter and arrived at the door.

There were no guards here.

Jiang Baimian turned her head and said to Shang Jianyao, “It’s time to show your manners.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t disappoint. He took two steps forward and pressed the doorbell.

The door opened as the ringing echoed, and a robot appeared in front of them.

This robot was about 1.9 meters tall. Its metal bones were silver-black, and it wore a neat, dark-green military uniform. Its eyes flickered with a blue glow.

As it was covered by clothes, Jiang Baimian couldn’t tell what functional components or which weapon modules it had.

“You are?” the robot asked in a mellow male voice.

Its voice fluctuated and changed. It sounded like a human, but it still had a clearly synthetic tone; it didn’t have much emotion.

Shang Jianyao mimicked Jiang Baimian’s usual tone and words and said with a smile, “We are a Ruin Hunter team that has just arrived in Tarnan. We are here to visit Mayor Genava.”

The tall robot in the dark-green military uniform nodded and said, “That’s me. Come in.”

It then asked, “Coffee or tea? They are all produced in the northern mountains of the Linhai Alliance.”

“Let’s have coffee.” Jiang Baimian thought that the Old Task Force members had probably never tasted coffee apart from her. With a mischievous thought, she chose such a beverage.

In Pangu Biology, it was still possible for employees to exchange for some tea leaves around the end of the year. Although tea leaves in Redstone Collection were goods that could be exported and smuggled to factions like Future Intelligence, they weren’t too rare.

As the smart robot in the dark-green military uniform, Genava, made way, it shouted into the house, “Susanna, prepare eight cups of coffee.”

“Four cups are enough. They don’t need it,” Shang Jianyao said politely.

Genava’s shimmering blue eyes looked at Jorgensen and the others before it corrected itself. “Four cups!”

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen listened to their conversation and inexplicably felt like the feeling would be no different from a conversation between humans if Genava’s face, neck, and hands were covered.

This member of Mechanical Paradise—Tarnan’s mayor and robot guard captain—acted too much like a human.

Is this the latest smart robot from Mechanical Paradise? The same thought surfaced in Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen’s minds.

After entering the house, they walked into the living room and sat on the long sofa. Jorgensen and the others stood behind them.

Genava sat in an armchair, raised his right foot, and placed it on his left thigh. “What may I do for you?”

Jiang Baimian began with the trivial matters and pointed at Jorgensen and the others. “We encountered a band of bandits on our way to Tarnan and captured these captives. We wanted to leave them to you to deal with.”

Genava was not surprised and nodded. “I’ll get someone to send them to prison later for trial.”

Upon hearing this, Jorgensen and the others heaved a sigh of relief. They knew that Tarnan’s sentencing of bandits wouldn’t be too strict, especially to those who had never committed a crime in the city. They would only be sentenced to one to two years and be forced to participate in some form of labor.

Although losing two years of freedom did make these bandits uncomfortable, and they didn’t know if their wives would wait for them, it was at least much better than being killed or sold to the mines. It was a result that they were rather satisfied with.

After she was done communicating this problem, Jiang Baimian said, “A Superior Heartless appeared in the southwest area of Mount Chilar. Caravans and Ruin Hunters no longer dare to take that route.”

Genava moved its metal neck. “I just learned of this in the evening. I’ll send the guards to deal with it tomorrow. However, I still have to thank you for specially coming to report this piece of news.”

As they spoke, a robot in a white dress walked out with a tray. It had a silver-white metal body and stood about 1.75 meters tall. A diamond necklace in the Old World’s style hung from its neck, and its eyes also shimmered with a blue glow.

There were a total of five cups on the tray. They emitted a rich coffee aroma and a smell that Jiang Baimian was rather familiar with.

“Hello.” The silver-white robot—who took on the role of a woman—bent down and placed four cups of coffee in front of Shang Jianyao and the others before pushing the remaining cup to Genava.

“This is my wife, Susanna,” introduced Genava.

“Hello, Ma’am Susanna.” Shang Jianyao politely greeted her.

Susanna was very happy about this. “You’re a really polite young lad.”

Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen greeted her and cast their gazes at Genava as if nothing had happened.

They were very curious about how this smart robot drank coffee.

Genava picked up the cup with one hand and reached into his mouth with the other, twisting a switch. It then poured a little of the cup’s liquid inside.

It was only then that Jiang Baimian realized that the liquid was much thicker than coffee.

Suddenly, she knew what the familiar smell mixed with the coffee aroma was—the smell of oil!

Genava looks like it’s drinking coffee, but it’s actually applying lubricant to itself and doing maintenance? Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen felt an indescribable sense of strangeness.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong didn’t have much of a reaction. They had seen Zen Master Jingfa pour lubricant into his body while preaching the Buddhist Dharma.

At this moment, the blue light in Genava’s eyes gently flickered a few times. It then sighed with emotion. “How delicious.”

“…” Jiang Baimian controlled the corners of her mouth and silently picked up her coffee to take a sip.

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