Embers Ad Infinitum

Amidst the gale, the sudden knocking echoed in Wild Pigeon. It made the people playing cards, playing mahjong, bargaining, and dancing fall silent.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao smiled and commented, “How polite.”

Long Yuehong was first stunned before he realized what Shang Jianyao meant.

The door to Wild Pigeon wasn’t closed at all. Two wooden panels that allowed free movement blocked the entrance. They could be opened with a push, so there was no need to knock.

“It’s a little strange…” Jiang Baimian echoed.

At the door, the Mountain Fox bandit leader—Panania—was also a little nervous. However, there was an even more ferocious and terrifying existence in the bar. Therefore, he finally signaled one of his subordinates to push open the wooden partition that only existed in the middle of the doorframe.

On the street outside, the light from the street lamps illuminated a portion of the area. A black figure flashed from within and entered the area ruled by night.

Panania heaved a sigh of relief and laughed. “Who’s the brat causing trouble?”

Amidst his laughter, he led his 13 subordinates out of Wild Pigeon. The two wooden panes bounced back and swayed a few times before gradually coming to a stop.

Upon seeing that there was nothing else, the card players began to push out the chips in front of them. The mahjong players touched the tiles in their hands, and the bargainers gradually reached a consensus. The dancers asked the bar owner, Cai Yi, if the dance floor would be open tonight because of the strong wind and sleet.

Jiang Baimian also retracted her gaze and cast it at the billiard table beside her.

Shang Jianyao had already set up the billiards and pulled out a wooden pole. He chalked the cue, leaned down, and assumed an abnormally professional posture.

Handsome!

“Yo, you’re pretty good at it,” Jiang Baimian commented with a smile.

The next second, Shang Jianyao swung his cue and struck the white ball.

With a bang, the white ball flew up and smashed into the pile of red balls.

The red balls scattered, some jumping and some rolling. One of them slipped into the hole.

Jiang Baimian watched with a slightly dazed expression and couldn’t help but ask, “You’ve never played before?”

“I’ve only seen them play,” Shang Jianyao replied truthfully.

In Pangu Biology, not every Rec Center had a billiard table. The Rec Center on the 350th floor—where the university was located—had one, but people were often queuing for it. It was impossible to get a table without some ability.

“What about you?” Jiang Baimian turned to look at Long Yuehong.

Long Yuehong shook his head. “I’ve only seen others play.”

“Ha, I’ll teach you. With your eyesight, wrist strength, and physical control, it’s very easy to master.” Jiang Baimian immediately felt pumped.

She then looked at Bai Chen. “Little White, do you know how to play?” Jiang Baimain remembered that Bai Chen was no stranger to bars, dance halls, and nightclubs in Weed City. Bai Chen clearly roamed these places from time to time in search of opportunities.

In such places, there were special billiard rooms.

“Yes,” Bai Chen replied concisely.

“Then, let’s play a round and give them a demonstration.” Jiang Baimian took out a cue stick and threw it to Bai Chen.

As the two ladies played billiards, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong watched as they listened to their explanations of the techniques and rules.

In this round, Jiang Baimian won against Bai Chen by relying on her wide-open attacks and precise grasp of her trajectories and strength.

“You’re quite an Attrition Queen,” Jiang Baimian praised with a smile. She meant that Bai Chen was very good at defense and always placed the ball in a very uncomfortable and awkward position.

This also meant that this round had entered a long period of attrition. The bar owner, Cai Yi, had already finished his work and had prepared the first serving of food—spam.

Cai Yi took out the spam inside and fried it in an air fryer for eight minutes, making both sides a little crispy. The grease also seeped out.

This made the spam’s fragrance become increasingly obvious. Even the four Old Task Force members—who were sick of eating canned food—had their appetites whet when they took a sniff of the fragrance.

They held their chopsticks, and each took a piece. After taking a bite, they found it much more delicious than normal.

It had the fragrance of fried food, but it was also devoid of the cloyed taste of meat.

“Not bad,” Jiang Baimian praised sincerely after finishing a piece.

Shang Jianyao—who was eating the second piece—nodded in agreement and echoed, “Our culinary methods… are… lacking… in development…”

Just like that, they ate the food delivered from time to time and played billiards happily.

After finishing dinner, Jiang Baimian decided not to give Shang Jianyao a chance to dance because the wind outside was still strong. She led the three Old Task Force members away from Wild Pigeon with the canned food that had been exchanged for the portable computer’s remaining value.

Shang Jianyao looked back with every step and reluctantly stepped out the door. He then walked to the street and commented, “The wind isn’t that strong either…”

“Ah, what did you say?” Jiang Baimian touched her ear.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen also didn’t hear Shang Jianyao’s words because the wind was too strong.

The wind could send a person flying, much less his voice.

They put their hands in their pockets and slightly shrunk their bodies as they walked toward Serene Dream.

The light from the street lamps and the darkness of the night alternated. The stall owners on both sides had already returned home, and the streets were silent.

It was so quiet that Long Yuehong felt a chill run down his spine.

After walking for a while, Jiang Baimian—who had been observing the surroundings—suddenly had her gaze freeze.

She saw a sign diagonally ahead. On the sign were many small, glowing light bulbs that formed five words: “Wild Pigeon Bar.”

“This…” Jiang Baimian stopped.

“These are the machinations of fate.” Shang Jianyao used a magnetic male voice to deliver a ‘voice-over’ while the wind was less intense.

“Fate my ass!” Jiang Baimian replied and said with a serious expression, “It seems like there’s big trouble.”

Jiang Baimian had never been lost ever since she underwent an arm transplant and obtained an auxiliary chip! Most importantly, they didn’t sense anything abnormal prior to this.

Long Yuehong was already tense, and he was highly vigilant.

Shang Jianyao seriously explained to Jiang Baimian, “This academic term for this phenomena is Ghosts Pounding the Wall.”

Hiss… Long Yuehong immediately felt a chill run down his spine.

“Maybe we haven’t left and were just circling the area outside.” Bai Chen voiced her guess. Her expression was a little solemn.

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged her words. “There’s no need to be nervous. We’ll deal with whatever comes our way. Let’s go in and see if there are any changes. We’ll see if the problem lies inside, outside, or with ourselves.”

Just as she said that, Shang Jianyao had already walked to Wild Pigeon’s entrance and slammed the two wooden partitions.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At this moment, Jiang Baimian’s first reaction wasn’t that this fellow was bold, but that she came up with an idea that scared herself. Could the knocking we heard in the bar be created by the current Shang Jianyao?

This idea was too ridiculous and involved time, which humans had yet to understand. Jiang Baimian quickly rejected it. She didn’t voice out such a guess because she knew that it would definitely scare Little Red and make him overly tense.

This wasn’t a good state.

The wooden partition quickly opened, and the bar owner, Cai Yi, appeared in front of the Old Task Force.

Phew… Jiang Baimian secretly heaved a sigh of relief and was penitent over her thoughts.

She remembered that the person who had opened the door after the knocking was a member of the Mountain Fox bandits.

From the looks of it, it’s just a simple case of Ghosts Pounding the Wall. Pui! Why did I say that? Ghosts Pounding the Wall… An illusion in the area of distance? Jiang Baimian had a vague guess.

“Why are you guys back? Did you leave something behind?” Cai Yi asked in confusion.

The wind outside became stronger again, making it difficult to hear what he said.

“Let’s go in first.” Jiang Baimian pointed inside.

Without waiting for Cai Yi’s response, Shang Jianyao had already turned his body and ‘slipped’ into the bar from the other party’s side.

There’s a huge gap… Long Yuehong couldn’t help but criticize inwardly. He also didn’t feel so tense anymore; he passed by Cai Yi normally and walked into Wild Pigeon.

The third was Bai Chen. Jiang Baimian was in charge of the rear.

After everyone was in place, Jiang Baimian looked at the wooden partition that gradually stopped moving and asked Cai Yi, “How long were we gone?”

She had a rough estimate of the time and wanted to match it with Cai Yi. This was both a test and a verification.

“Just three to four minutes.” Cai Yi looked back at the clock near the bar counter.

“Then, there’s no problem.” Jiang Baimian confirmed that her judgment of time hadn’t been messed up.

Just as she said that, a black figure suddenly flew in from above the wooden partitions and slammed to the ground.

Bang!

Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and the others looked over at the same time and realized that it was a mangled corpse.

His eyes were wide open, frozen with extreme horror. His clothes were tattered, and one of his arms was missing. There were obvious bite marks on his neck.

This was like a person who had encountered a starving man-eating beast.

…

Nanke Convent.

Zhou Yue—who was draped in black hair and a white robe with a hemp rope—was sitting cross-legged on a mat. She faced the dragon symbols in the shrine and read the Old World sutras that the Church had organized for reading. These were all related to hallucinations.

Around her, a few Dream Guides and many Dream Bewilders were either reading the sutras or praying attentively. No one made a sound.

After a while, a Dream Guide stood up and walked in front of Zhou Yue to consult her on some classic interpretations.

Zhou Yue calmly replied.

Suddenly, a blurry light flashed across the surface of the shattered mirrors that formed the dragon symbol in the shrine.

Zhou Yue’s heart palpitated as she subconsciously looked up.

Her gaze froze.

Around her, most of the figures—including the Dream Guide—gradually disappeared. Only five people really existed.

…

In Serene Dream, the lady boss—Aynor—was huddled at the front desk in a gorgeous dress. She was using three electronic devices simultaneously.

In front of her was the computer she originally had—it was playing a drama serial from the Old World. She held a palm-sized machine with lines of words on it. On her right was the latest portable computer that Shang Jianyao and the others had used for payment. At this moment, some patterns, words, and data were running.

While engrossed, Aynor suddenly looked up, straightened her body, and looked at the door.

An eerie gust of wind blew in.

The electric lights in the hotel whirred and dimmed strangely, and black figures vaguely appeared outside the window.

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