Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

Behind the door is Jiang Xiaoyue’s mind world… After hearing Jiang Baimian’s words, Long Yuehong realized that this very unscientific guess was the most reasonable one. After all, this explanation regarding how a vegetable in the north established a connection with a Superior Heartless that appeared south of the Ashlands was more possible than any other.

Of course, be it the Superior Heartless coming from a mysterious research institute or Jiang Xiaoyue—who had long woken up and formed a union with someone during her wanderings in the Ashlands to give birth to this child—there was still a high chance of it happening. It was impossible to eliminate the possibility.

At this moment, Bai Chen thought for a moment and added, “Song He said that the doors which can be opened in the Mind Corridor are either the Kalendarium’s dream or powerful Awakened who have explored the Mind Corridor’s depths. It’s normally impossible for an ordinary Awakened’s corresponding door to be opened in the opposite direction…

“Not only has Jiang Xiaoyue woken up, but she has also become a powerful Awakened and explored the Mind Corridor’s depths? That research institute is studying the awakening of humans? They are looking for vegetable volunteers because these patients’ conditions are more suitable for such experiments?”

Long Yuehong’s head nearly exploded when he heard this series of questions. He kept having the feeling that the secret was too big for his ordinary shoulders to handle.

If this discussion continued, he suspected that something extremely terrifying would erupt before him soon.

“Maybe this can eliminate the interference brought about by human thought…” Jiang Baimian agreed with Bai Chen’s guess and then said excitedly, “Do you still remember the contents of the medical record? Fan Wensi always saw her child appear around her, and her child had long become a vegetable and was sent to the north for experimental treatment. It would be interesting if we eliminated the possibility that this mother had a mental illness and everything she saw was real.

“Her child might’ve indeed woken up, but he’s trapped in the Mind Corridor. He can only show concern for his mother by projecting himself into reality in the reverse direction…”

This matched her initial guess regarding Jiang Xiaoyue and the Superior Heartless’s relationship.

Although Long Yuehong felt that his team leader and Bai Chen’s guess was reasonable, he still raised a question. “Why is the Superior Heartless obsessed with Tarnan?”

Jiang Baimian thought for a while before suddenly saying a word. “Dragon!”

Upon seeing Long Yuehong’s confusion, she exhaled and explained with a smile, “The dragon Ninth Zhang saw in the illusion! If that Superior Heartless really contracted the disease after entering the Mind Corridor, which faction did he belong to prior to that?”

There were many possibilities, but when combined with the ‘dragon’ in the illusion, there seemed to be only one answer.

Shang Jianyao replied, “He’s a high-ranking member of the Clam Dragon Church.”

An expert who was either a Dream Protector or someone close to this rank.

Long Yuehong came to a realization. “It’s no wonder Abbess Zhou keeps emphasizing that the Superior Heartless is very dangerous. It’s best to wait for their Church’s Dream Protector to deal with him.”

“B-but…” Long Yuehong had new doubts. “He’s obsessed with Tarnan because there’s a Clam Dragon Church convent here? Why is he obsessed with this?”

Jiang Baimian fell silent and thought about the corresponding possibilities.

At this moment, Long Yuehong saw Shang Jianyao touch his lips with his right hand and smile.

“We still took something for granted on one point.”

“Which one?” Jiang Baimian asked in confusion.

Shang Jianyao looked around and smiled. “The door corresponding to Jiang Xiaoyue’s mind world might not necessarily belong to an expert who has explored the Mind Corridor’s depths. It might also come from…”

He paused and gave his answer. “The Kalendaria’s dream.”

Just as Long Yuehong’s scalp tingled, Shang Jianyao laughed. “I’m joking. It might also belong to an ordinary Awakened or even ordinary people.”

Long Yuehong objected. “But didn’t Harbinger Song say that it’s impossible to open the door in reverse under normal circumstances? Unless one reaches the level of Yama Tiger…”

“He also said that it’s only under normal circumstances that they can’t be opened,” Shang Jianyao explained with a smile. “Before the Superior Heartless contracted the disease, he opened the door that represented Jiang Xiaoyue. He originally thought that it was left behind by an expert who had explored the Mind Corridor’s depths and wondered if he could find some mystical items that could be used.

“To his surprise, the more he explored the mind world, the more puzzled he felt. It clearly belonged to an ordinary Awakened—or even an ordinary person—but he could actually open the door and enter. After that, a series of terrifying things happened. For example…”

Just as Shang Jianyao deliberately paused to make Long Yuehong nervous and curious, Jiang Baimian said in a deep voice, “For example, he contracted the Heartless disease.”

“…” Long Yuehong felt inexplicably terrified. He knew that his team leader would always associate some strange matters with the source of the Heartless disease’s breakout and attempt to analyze it. This had already become her professional habit.

But at this moment, this guess was very reasonable!

He was indeed a Superior Heartless!

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped.

This time, Jiang Baimian didn’t glare at him and continued, “Therefore, the Superior Heartless’s obsession is to inform the Clam Dragon Church of this strange and fatal encounter and remind later generations to pay attention? His goal in entering Tarnan is Nanke Convent. Hunting and eating humans is only a Heartless’s instinct…”

Room 221 suddenly became quiet. After a while, Bai Chen said, “This can indeed string all the details together, even though it sounds unbelievable…”

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly. “We have to visit Abbess Zhou again. This time, I hope she doesn’t hide anything. If it really doesn’t work out…”

At this point, Jiang Baimian smiled and looked at Shang Jianyao.

“I think I can get her to speak the truth without Inference Clowning,” Shang Jianyao replied thoughtfully.

Abbess Zhou, you’re being looked down on by a mental patient… Long Yuehong didn’t know if he should sympathize with Zhou Yue. However, he also felt that Abbess Zhou was rather muddle-headed. There might be no problem with her intelligence, but she really was easier to deceive.

Jiang Baimian smiled and asked Shang Jianyao, “Aren’t you worried about Shattered Mirror’s attention?”

Shang Jianyao silently took out a piece of paper.

The piece of paper depicted a simple baby picture, a featureless face, a woman hiding behind a door, and other symbols.

…

Nanke Convent.

Prayer mats were placed in the hall. A few Dream Guides and Dream Bewilders were focused on praying.

Zhou Yue was still wearing the white robe and a belt made of hemp rope. She stood in front of the shrine and stared at Jiang Baimian and the others. “Are you here to join our Clam Dragon Church, or are you here for an investigation, Team October Xue?”

This time, she was very careful and hadn’t blindly recognized them.

She had a deeper impression of October Xue than Qian Bai. After all, they had spoken on the phone.

“Abbess Zhou, you finally managed to recognize me this time.” The person who spoke wasn’t Jiang Baimian but Shang Jianyao.

Zhou Yue sized him up a few times. “You’re not a woman.”

Jiang Baimian raised her hand to stop Shang Jianyao from speaking. “Yes, I’m October Xue. I have a question for you this time, Abbess Zhou.”

“Please speak.” Zhou Yue smiled until her eyes narrowed.

Jiang Baimian directly asked, “Was that Superior Heartless from the Clam Dragon Church before he fell ill?”

“Ahem…” Zhou Yue—who was feeling pleased with herself—suddenly broke into a fit of coughs.

After a while, she calmed down and sighed. “Since you’ve discovered it, I’ll be honest. I’m also unable to determine if the Superior Heartless is one of our Dream Protectors. He lost his way more than half a year ago, and we couldn’t find him after searching for a long time. We found it very strange back then. After all, the price he paid wasn’t becoming directionally challenged… Uh…”

Zhou Yue suddenly realized that she had let something slip and quickly laughed dryly. “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious?”

As expected… This phrase flashed across the Old Task Force members’ minds.

Shang Jianyao excitedly asked, “You knew long ago that he was afraid of looking in the mirror?”

“Sort of, but I wasn’t sure if it was him, so I prepared everything…” Zhou Yue stopped abruptly. I’ve let it slip again!

She quickly half-raised her body, slightly spread her arms, and prayed. “Clam Dragon, thou art supreme!”

Without giving Qian Bai’s team a chance to ask again, Zhou Yue ‘took the initiative’ to say, “What’s the point of you figuring this out? In any case, we don’t have to deal with him ourselves. We just need to focus on defense and wait for the people above to arrive.”

Upon hearing Abbess Zhou’s ‘frankness’—revealing all kinds of things she shouldn’t have said—Jiang Baimian replied according to the results of her discussion with Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong before they set off.

“Here’s the thing. When we were investigating Jiang Xiaoyue’s matter, we found some clues and connected them to a medical record we previously found…” Jiang Baimian explained everything she could, only concealing the analysis process regarding Pangu Biology and the Old Task Force.

“Do you mean that the Superior Heartless might’ve become like this because of the hidden problem in Jiang Xiaoyue? He has always wanted to enter Tarnan in hopes of finding Nanke Convent and ‘reporting’ the matter to us?” Zhou Yue clearly had a certain level of understanding of the Mind Corridor. Under the Old Task Force’s guidance, she came to a conclusion without Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao’s detailed descriptions.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao suddenly applauded. “That’s right.”

Zhou Yue felt a little smug. “You want to verify this guess?”

Jiang Baimian smiled. “It’s not us but you. Don’t you want to verify this question as soon as possible and see if there’s truly any important information?”

Zhou Yue fell into deep thought. After a while, she hesitantly said, “But won’t it be verified when our Church’s Dream Protector comes?”

But we won’t know the answer if you do that… Jiang Baimian realized that she had failed to deceive this Abbess Zhou.