Embers Ad Infinitum

These familiar words of ‘distance is our friend’ made Jiang Baimian and the others suddenly feel like they had truly returned to Redstone Collection.

This was a settlement that had all its members believing in the Vigilance Church. Everyone was overly vigilant and always emphasized hiding themselves and maintaining distance.

For the few people that the Old Task Force encountered yesterday, they either didn’t have any conversation at all and only had a weak interaction with each other, or they acted very humbly due to their hegemonic reputation in Redstone Collection. They didn’t show their local characteristics or religious habits.

As her thoughts raced, Jiang Baimian turned her head to glance at Shang Jianyao and vaguely gloated. She meant: See, to vent your anger, you revealed your secret and allowed others to know that you are an Awakened. With sufficient preparation, there’s no way to close the distance with them now and rely on Inference Clowning to make key friends for the infiltration of the Underground Ark.

This also meant that at least one-third of the feasible plans that Shang Jianyao was drafting was dead in the water, and this one-third was the plans with a relatively higher chance of success.

This was a good thing for Jiang Baimian—who was wavering inwardly while preferring not to be a busybody.

She smiled and replied to Ulrich, “I can understand your vigilance.”

It’s already very polite of him not to leave them out in the cold after what happened last time.

Ulrich clearly had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. He asked, “What’s the matter?”

Jiang Baimian pointed at Genava—who was wearing sunglasses. “As you can see, we recently obtained a robot, and we don’t have enough high-performance batteries. We want to trade a batch with you.”

As she said this, Shang Jianyao looked at Genava and spoke like he did to ordinary robots. “Come, play a song for Mr. Butler.”

Genava analyzed the situation and felt that it was necessary to disguise himself. Therefore, he loaded the play module, and a three-dimensional voice sounded from his mouth. “Only…”

He had just sung a word when Jiang Baimian stopped him. “There’s no need. Mr. Butler can understand.”

Ulrich had a certain level of understanding of this Ruin Hunter team. He ignored this interlude and said with an unchanged expression, “It’s still winter. The goods stored at the end of the year have already been sent out. As for the smugglers from Future Intelligence, they might only arrive in a month or two.”

What he meant was that the Visa Trading Company didn’t have much stock now. It would still be a long time before the new smuggled batteries arrived.

Long Yuehong’s conclusion was: The landlords don’t have any surplus food either!

He now quite understood Bai Chen’s fear of the Old World’s entertainment. If not for his team leader, the mission restrictions, and the pursuit of Mechanical Paradise, he suspected that he would’ve been obsessed with it.

The people of the Old World sure enjoyed themselves!

Jiang Baimian remained unmoved and smiled. “The Underground Ark also consumes a large portion of high-performance batteries. You definitely kept a portion for backup. I wonder if you can carve out some. The price is negotiable?

“New goods will arrive in a month or two. Maybe Future Intelligence will have another breakthrough in battery technology. The new model will have much greater capacity than the old batteries. We can help you clean up your inventory.”

Ulrich thought of the Ruin Hunter team’s performance in Redstone Collection and the fact that his master didn’t fly into a rage despite the previous shock. He pondered for a few seconds and inquired, “How many do you need? If it’s not that many, I’ll see if we can squeeze out a few.”

Jiang Baimian smiled. “Fifty.”

Ulrich suddenly coughed, unable to maintain a serious and professional attitude.

Twenty to thirty seconds later, he finally collected himself. “That many?”

Are they forming a robot guard?

This could be used to support ten robots—as long as they didn’t use high-energy modules like laser weapons or often needed to fight.

“How many pieces can you provide at most?” Jiang Baimian asked in response.

Ulrich thought for a moment and said, “Five.”

“That’s too little,” Shang Jianyao commented on Jiang Baimian’s behalf.

“There’s nothing more.” Ulrich’s attitude was rather firm.

I’ll get Shang Jianyao to storm into the Ark and turn your warehouse upside down! said Jiang Baimian inwardly in an angry fit and deliberated before saying, “Reserve these five high-performance batteries for us for three days. We’ll ask elsewhere.”

She didn’t plan on letting the team stay in Redstone Collection for too long. After all, this place had a very close trade connection with Mechanical Paradise. Furthermore, they had also revealed that they had passed by Redstone Collection in Tarnan. Therefore, there was a high chance that Mechanical Paradise’s pursuit team would chase after them.

Although Jiang Baimian already had different thoughts about this, she still felt that she had to be careful.

“No problem.” Ulrich didn’t harp on the issue. From his point of view, it was definitely worth it to use five high-performance batteries to send this Ruin Hunter team away. It wasn’t like the other party wasn’t exchanging for them with other supplies.

…

After leaving the underground mall, the Old Task Force drove straight to the lake and arrived at the lakeside villa where Anhebus often lived.

Outside the corresponding underground parking lot, just as Bai Chen stepped on the brakes, Jiang Baimian looked at the entrance and said in confusion, “There’s no one inside…”

“Yes.” Shang Jianyao and Genava gave affirmative answers respectively.

Jiang Baimian then turned around and looked at Genava. “Do you have a mine sweeper?”

“Yes.” Genava pointed outside and said, “Do you need me to do a sweep?”

“Of course.” Jiang Baimian smiled.

After watching Genava alight, Shang Jianyao said regretfully, “I thought he had Minesweeper installed.” He seemed to envy such matters.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “Then, it should be unified in the entertainment module. Uh, why is an artificial intelligence like him playing Minesweeper? His computational ability is much better than ours.”

As they chatted, Genava confirmed that there were no landmines or explosives at the underground parking lot’s entrance. It was very safe.

Jiang Baimian then got Bai Chen to drive the jeep in.

After a more detailed search, they discovered traces of human life, which were rather fresh.

“Did they leave in the morning, or did they leave in the middle of the night yesterday?” Jiang Baimian made a preliminary judgment in a questioning manner.

She suspected that Anhebus and his subordinates were still here last night.

Bai Chen thought for a moment and said, “Maybe he received news of our return to Redstone Collection and left overnight.”

“Isn’t this reaction a little too excessive? It’s not like we’ll do anything to him!” Jiang Baimian said in exasperation and amusement. Of course, she also admitted that the possibility was very high.

It wasn’t strange at all for this to happen to Eidolon Nun’s believers. Besides, it wasn’t like Anhebus had never been screwed over by the Old Task Force.

…

In the hotel camp, Shang Jianyao and the others returned to their rooms.

It wasn’t even noon.

They had gone to Redstone Collection to ask the town guards—Anhebus had indeed left with a portion of his trusted aides in the middle of the night yesterday. He said that he was going to United Industries to discuss a business deal.

At this point, Jiang Baimian was certain that this fellow had been scared away by the news of the Old Task Force’s return.

“Are we that terrifying?” Jiang Baimian asked while in the car.

No one answered her.

After sending a telegram to the company and informing them of their schedule, Jiang Baimian walked out of the room and saw Shang Jianyao standing outside the door, looking at the other side of the hotel camp while deep in thought.

“What’s on your mind?” Jiang Baimian asked warily.

Shang Jianyao didn’t move his gaze and muttered to himself, “I’m wondering if I can use Inference Clowning to mix in with those servants and enter the Underground Ark…”

“It’s not feasible.” Jiang Baimian directly rejected Shang Jianyao’s idea. “Those servants will undergo training in the Vigilance Cathedral’s basement for a period of time; they can only enter the Underground Ark after they qualify. Do you think you can disguise yourself for so long under surveillance? It’s not like DiMarco and his stewards don’t know you.”

Shang Jianyao was just about to say something when the silver-black smart bot—Genava—approached and asked in a slightly synthetic voice, “Are you trying to infiltrate the Underground Ark?”

“Him, not me.” Jiang Baimian ‘distanced’ herself.

Genava held the sunglasses he had exchanged from Redstone Collection in one hand and spoke in a flat tone. “Our Mechanical Paradise was in charge of the Underground Ark’s system modification.”

Oh right… Jiang Baimian instinctively asked, “Didn’t they say that the corresponding data was destroyed? Didn’t they say that only non-smart engineering robots could be sent in?”

“Could it be that you secretly made a copy or left behind a fatal loophole?” Shang Jianyao asked excitedly.

Genava shook his metal head. “We have professional ethics.”

He further voiced his thoughts. “As long as there’s a data network, there’s a possibility of invasion.”

“Do you have a solution?” Shang Jianyao asked.

Without a change in tone, Genava said, “In such a situation, I can’t do it myself. Someone has to cooperate internally. They need to tell me the general system structure; then, I’ll write a corresponding virus and install it in a flash drive. After that, they will bring it in and insert it into a node in the data network…”

Jiang Baimian could understand what Genava was saying, but she found it a little unrealistic.

She had never come into contact with such means of ‘warfare.’ Although she had once relied on the auxiliary chip to crack the Hunter’s Badge and had once tried to hack into the mechanical monk—Jingfa’s internal system, she had only read about methods of using data networks to open a faction’s ‘door’ in Old World books.

In the Ashlands, most places didn’t have computers, systems, or networks. Therefore, the fundamental requirements for such matters to happen were lacking.

Jiang Baimian naturally lacked the necessary experience, so it was difficult for her to directly relate the descriptions in the books to reality.

Upon seeing that Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian were looking at him and not saying a word, Genava added, “Writing a virus is very simple for smart bots. There are many templates for reference. The most important thing in this matter is to find the insiders who can provide help. This needs to be achieved through social engineering…”

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Shang Jianyao smile. “Leave this to me.”