Embers Ad Infinitum

In just a few minutes, Zhou Yue was done with her equipment.

On the hemp rope tied to the waist of her white robe hung a piece of an Old World symbol—the Eight Trigrams. In the middle was an object that looked like a normal mirror. She held a black flashlight in her left hand and a transparent plastic water bottle in her right hand. It contained dirty water with ashes floating in it. On her back was a loose sack.

This strange and contradictory combination made the others in Nanke Convent find it ridiculous. Zhen Lian couldn’t help but ask, “Abbess, are you ghostbusting?”

“Something even more terrifying,” Zhou Yue answered seriously.

Zhen Lian’s heart tightened as he hurriedly said, “Abbess, you didn’t bring your peach wood sword!”

“That’s useless,” Zhou Yue answered based on some theory.

Seeing that Zhen Lian—who wasn’t an Awakened—was a little dumbfounded, Zhou Yue shook her head and said with a smile, “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious? ”

With that said, she switched on the flashlight and cast the beam at the impluvium. Following that, she walked out of Nanke Convent step by step.

Outside, Zhou Yue covered the lidless plastic water bottle with her right thumb, leaving only a tiny gap.

As she walked, she shook the bottle, letting a small amount of the talisman liquid inside spill to the front and sides.

During this process, her flashlight kept sweeping from left to right and from top to bottom without stopping. It was as though she was searching for an enemy hidden in the night.

As for the street lamps on both sides of the street, she ignored them.

At the same time, she kept gyrating her waist, allowing the Eight Trigrams Mirror hanging from the hemp rope to reflect different spots.

If Jiang Baimian were here, she—who knew quite a bit about the Old World—might’ve mistaken Abbess Zhou Yue as performing the ‘Samdambi,’ a feudal ritual that was akin to a shaman dance.

…

Inside Wild Pigeon Bar, upon seeing the Heartless with turbid eyes that looked like ferocious beasts, Long Yuehong would’ve most likely committed Ninth Zhang’s mistake if he hadn’t known beforehand that this might be an illusion. He would’ve drawn his gun and shot randomly.

Meanwhile, when Jiang Baimian heard Shang Jianyao’s suggestion of switching off the lights, the first thought that flashed through her mind wasn’t that this fellow was causing trouble again, but whether this method worked.

With the lights off, nobody could see each other, so they wouldn’t treat each other as monsters and Heartless, resulting in a maniac attack in a bid to protect themselves…

From this angle, switching off the lights was indeed a good idea. After all, hallucinations mainly affected the senses. Vision was one of the most important senses of humans.

However, the problem was the limits of the Superior Heartless’s ability. Could it be that it could still make people see a ‘fake’ monster even without light? Maybe it could distort the information obtained from the sense of hearing and smell to the vision center or directly create a corresponding scene in the target’s mind.

In that case, switching off the lights not only made it easier to cause more tension and greater chaos, but it also couldn’t resolve the illusion’s effects.

What if the Superior Heartless sneaked in while there was no light?

At that instant, countless thoughts clashed in Jiang Baimian’s mind. With her experience and intuition, she made a decision in a split second. “No need!”

As she shouted these two words, she quickly moved and changed positions. She speedily issued orders: “Plan 2! Close the door! Close the windows! Nakdanin!”

Plan 2 was the second strategy commonly used by the Old Task Force. The content was: “Find cover to hide and observe the situation. Don’t attack; await further orders.”

Condensing such a sentence into the words ‘Plan 2’ could effectively shorten the time.

In such a situation, every second could spell life or death.

In addition, using Plan 2 to replace the specific orders prevented the enemy from figuring out the Old Task Force’s concrete plans. This avoided the hallucination from ‘tampering’ the content.

Not attacking meant that they wouldn’t accidentally cause friendly fire.

As for the second order, it was shouted by Jiang Baimian after she had completed the first action of lunging to the back of a door.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen had already found a short wall that divided the building into different areas, pillars that supported the building, and corners with shockingly thick bricks to hide.

The next second, there was a gunshot.

In their eyes, one of the Heartless pulled out its pistol and—driven by its hunting instincts—shot at the door.

Fortunately, private fighting was forbidden in Tarnan. There were cameras everywhere, and the locals were used to not bringing weapons since they had no use for them. The already chaotic scene didn’t immediately turn worse.

Of course, a few townsfolk, foreign Ruin Hunters, and caravans—who lacked a sense of security—had one or two pistols on them, although they didn’t carry rifles or submachine guns that weren’t easy to conceal.

At this moment, their first reaction when they realized that they were surrounded by Heartless was undoubtedly to draw their guns.

However, the Heartless also attacked them at the same time and fought them, preventing them from drawing their guns even if they wanted to.

Only a few people successfully pulled out their pistols. Some shot at the monsters at the entrance, and some dealt with the nearest Heartless.

Two to three Heartless collapsed after a few gunshots, blood flowing out of their bodies.

The people who had drawn their guns didn’t engage any further or stay. They fought as they retreated, heading for the exit they had chosen.

In their eyes, there were too many Heartless here; some of them even held guns. It was better to wait for the robot guards to deal with them.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen—who had heard Jiang Baimian’s instructions—bent their backs and approached the window before closing it with a clang.

After doing all of this, they found cover nearby, took off their tactical backpacks, took out a drug from within, and swallowed it.

Jiang Baimian had already closed the door. She leopard-crawled and rolled as she approached the most chaotic area.

She didn’t join in. Instead, she used the dance floor and the low wall around the card tables as cover. Jiang Baimian then raised her left hand and extended it a little.

Gunshots sounded one after another. The group of Heartless kept fighting, appearing hysterical.

Jiang Baimian held her breath and didn’t interfere. From time to time, she would change her position and approach the crowd in different areas.

The few gunmen finally retreated to different windows, wanting to jump out and leave this dangerous place.

Smack!

One of the gunmen was hit in the ear and fainted on the spot; he didn’t even see who the attacker was.

Shang Jianyao squatted down and reasoned with him. “It’s more dangerous outside. It’s better to remain unconscious here.”

At the other window, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen had also knocked out the panicked gunmen.

This was what the second order implied.

Closing the door and windows was equivalent to not letting anyone open them. If they encountered the latter situation, they could deliver force to a certain extent.

Time passed minute by minute. The Heartless—who were capable of grabbing, biting, pinching, and colliding—gradually felt exhausted and couldn’t open their eyes.

“You carry the luggage; I rein the horse[1]…” When a song from Shang Jianyao’s small speaker sounded, the Heartless fell to the ground one after another, just like people who had taken anesthesia described in Pangu Biology’s radio programs.

Yes, they had all inhaled the anesthetic gas released by Jiang Baimian’s left hand.

Shang Jianyao and the others had taken the neutralizing agent, Nakdanin, in advance.

This was the best solution Jiang Baimian could think of to protect the humans here. Therefore, she got Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen to help her close the door and windows.

“Phew…” Jiang Baimian couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief when she saw that the ‘Heartless’ had fainted. She then said loudly, “Nobody came in!”

The Superior Heartless didn’t take advantage of the chaos to sneak into Wild Pigeon Bar!

This was Jiang Baimian’s judgment based on the electric signals. She believed that the Superior Heartless definitely didn’t know any technology or knowledge in this regard. After all, Pangu Biology was the only one in control of such technology at the moment. Therefore, no matter how the other party distorted her senses and ‘concealed’ their tracks, they would still leave a flaw due to their own illiteracy.

According to her monitoring, Jiang Baimian confirmed that no foreign biological electric signals had entered. This is a little strange. Could it be that the Heartless is so careful that it wants both sides to be seriously injured before it enters to hunt?

Just as Jiang Baimian had this thought, Shang Jianyao replied loudly amidst the music. “He’s afraid of you!”

Pui!

Jiang Baimian spat before being a little stunned. Could it be that the Superior Heartless didn’t take advantage of the chaos to sneak in and hunt because it was afraid of something? Something in this room scared it… Since humans have to pay a price for awakening their abilities, do Heartless follow similar rules when they have abilities? Of course, being a Heartless themselves might’ve been a price.

As Jiang Baimian’s thoughts raced, Shang Jianyao had already looked up and said to the surveillance cameras in the bar, “Say something. Why aren’t you saying anything?”

That’s right; there are cameras in the bar. I wonder if they are connected to Tarnan’s network… In short, I have to think of a way to inform the robot guards and the various Churches about the anomaly. They all have certain abilities… Jiang Baimian felt that she couldn’t continue waiting in Wild Pigeon Bar, but she couldn’t rush out blindly.

At the same time, she was also thankful that the Superior Heartless had yet to make them have auditory hallucinations. The Old Task Force could maintain effective communication; they also saw their team members as Heartless.

However, Jiang Baimian couldn’t guess how long this state would last. Therefore, she wanted to find a solution before the situation worsened.

…

In Serene Dream, the lady boss, Aynor, could sense someone loitering behind her even without turning her head.

This person would occasionally approach her, move closer to her neck, or occasionally move away, producing a cold wind.

Aynor stared at the computer screen and muttered to herself in fear, “If—if you come again, I-I’ll attack indiscriminately. Although I-I can’t determine where you are, I-I can attack indiscriminately!”

[1] [Annotation text missing]