Embers Ad Infinitum

After making this judgment, Jiang Baimian exhaled without hiding anything. “What a pity…” It was a pity that her dream of using such an item to experience Awakened abilities had been shattered.

At this moment, Bai Chen thought for a moment and said, “Its effects seem different from what the murloc Oracle showed.”

The murloc Oracle’s ability mainly affected breathing and heartbeats.

“Different domains.” Shang Jianyao became serious and succinctly voiced his judgment.

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded. “From the way Yama Tiger could use the tree branch laurel to open the murloc Oracle’s mind world and attempt to descend in reverse, that item is likely an amalgamation of his aura of some corresponding object. This night pearl seems to be his harvest from exploring the Mind Corridor. I wonder which powerhouse it belongs to…”

At this point, Jiang Baimian turned to look at Genava. “Did Mechanical Paradise categorize Awakened abilities?”

Genava shook his head and said, “As you can see, our Mechanical Paradise actually has very little contact with the outside world. Most of the time, we do it through Tarnan. Occasionally, we will send teams out to places like Redstone Collection, Weed City, and the Linhai Alliance, but overall, we haven’t encountered too many Awakened. We can’t establish categories for a more in-depth analysis.”

“Indeed.” Jiang Baimian expressed her understanding. She suspected that Mechanical Paradise was most likely not as knowledgeable as Pangu Biology when it came to Awakened. However, the Old Task Force still didn’t have the clearance to do so.

After Shang Jianyao put the yellowish-green night pearl into a rubber glove and threw it to Genava, Jiang Baimian raised her hand and touched her cochlear. “Now that everything is in place, there’s only one problem left.”

She didn’t plan on contacting the various Redstone Collection factions—large or small—for Operation Beheading. She didn’t think of cooperating with Tan Jie and the others either.

Success in such matters had to do with them happening like a bolt out of the blue. The more people knew about it, the easier it was to have leaks.

If a ruler does not keep his deliberations with his minister, he will lose that minister. If a minister does not keep his deliberations with his ruler, he will lose his life.

The Underground Ark had a longer history than Redstone Collection. It was through their business that this settlement was established. Over the years, Redstone Collection’s residents and the Underground Ark inevitably had all kinds of connections. There could be conflicts or secret ties.

Jiang Baimian didn’t want to take the risk of a leak under the situation of not being able to carry out an effective screening in a short period of time. After all, Operation Beheading didn’t require a large number of people. It was more suitable for a small and elite team.

As for informing Pangu Biology, that was definitely a no-no. Such matters would definitely be stopped.

If they chose not to say anything, it would just boil down to how a general far away on the battlefield doesn’t obey an emperor’s orders.

“What problem?” Long Yuehong asked cooperatively.

Jiang Baimian’s right hand—which was rubbing her cochlear implant—slid to her chin, and she said with a serious expression, “As the saying goes: one needs to predict the enemy’s actions from a comprehensive perspective. I previously hypothesized that DiMarco might be a Mind Corridor powerhouse not much weaker than Yama Tiger, didn’t I?”

Long Yuehong still seemed to experience the effects of Coward. His liver trembled when he heard that. “It’s better to give up on the operation then.”

After he expressed his attitude, Shang Jianyao began a story. “One day, Long Yuehong met a girl he really liked. They hit it off and soon fell passionately in love with each other…”

“What kind of adjectives are those!?” Long Yuehong couldn’t help but interrupt. He was a little confused about what Shang Jianyao wanted to say, so he chose to listen.

“Just get the meaning.” Shang Jianyao didn’t patronize him with the excuse of ‘everything is but a dream; why so serious’ and sincerely expressed his apology. “Later, they encountered danger, and that girl was about to die at gunpoint. At this moment, Long Yuehong felt that he wasn’t strong enough. Therefore, it was better to give up. Or should he risk his life and leave no regrets?”

Long Yuehong turned agape and fell silent. Although he felt that Shang Jianyao’s story was inapplicable to the situation at hand, he still felt like he had taken an arrow in the knee.

Jiang Baimian raised her hand and pressed it down. “How can it be the same? Yes, we have the night pearl and Genava—who isn’t affected by most Awakened abilities. Even in the worst-case scenario, it’s not like we can’t put up a fight. Besides, do you still remember? When DiMarco’s father was seriously ill, a rebellion happened in the Underground Ark, causing heavy casualties to their family members. It was only then that DiMarco became the Underground Ark’s owner.

“Although I suspect that DiMarco is behind this matter, it means that DiMarco wasn’t too strong back then. Otherwise, things wouldn’t have developed this way. Think about it. A powerful DiMarco would be able to protect his family members from being killed during the rebellion while easily killing the family members who stood in his way without the rebellion’s help.”

After saying so much in one breath, Jiang Baimian pursed her lips and moistened her throat. “It hasn’t been many years. No matter how fast DiMarco improves, he definitely can’t compare to Yama Tiger. I think he’s at most a little stronger than Tarnan’s Superior Heartless…”

At this point, Jiang Baimian suddenly had an idea, and her expression changed twice.

Long Yuehong—who felt that he was still affected by the residual effects of Coward—asked in fear.

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer him. She looked at Shang Jianyao with a slightly complicated expression and thoughtfully asked, “Do you still remember how DiMarco evaluated Eidolon Nun?”

Shang Jianyao was like an artificial computer as he basically repeated DiMarco’s words from back then. “Not all Kalendarium like Eidolon Nun like to watch their cathedral.”

“Yes, yes, yes. DiMarco’s explanation is that Eidolon Nun wields vigilance, so she will also appear vigilant.” Long Yuehong recalled the relevant information.

Jiang Baimian nodded and asked Shang Jianyao again, “Do you remember what happened when we felt Eidolon Nun’s gaze?”

Before Shang Jianyao could answer, Long Yuehong’s eyes widened. “You’ve been gazed upon by Eidolon Nun?”

Bai Chen also revealed a surprised expression.

Jiang Baimian naturally wouldn’t say that she kept it from them because she was afraid that it would scare them out of their wits. She smiled and sighed. “We also couldn’t be sure back then; we thought it was an illusion. Now that we’ve recalled DiMarco’s words, I think it might not be fake.”

She didn’t make up any other reason because she had long realized that Bai Chen lacked a sense of security and didn’t like being excluded.

Long Yuehong hissed. “We were… watched by a Kalendaria… The Kalendarium really exists…”

Bai Chen turned her head to glance at him and nodded thoughtfully without saying anything.

Shang Jianyao then replied to Jiang Baimian’s question. “Before we sensed Eidolon Nun’s gaze, Bishop Renato contracted the Heartless disease. Viel believes that this is a divine punishment stemming from his affair with Mrs. Theresa.”

“There’s no need to say the latter half…” Jiang Baimian weakly stopped him. She then looked around and said seriously, “If it’s really Eidolon Nun’s divine punishment, I believe Bishop Renato will be directly ‘scared to death.’

“Yes, if we assume that DiMarco is suspected to be a powerhouse at the Mind Corridor level—an existence that can be called a false god as a premise—we will come to a different conclusion when we consider his evaluation of Eidolon Nun and Eidolon Nun’s gaze.”

Shang Jianyao helped her continue, “Eidolon Nun often watches Redstone Collection’s Vigilance Cathedral. It’s not only because ‘She’ wields vigilance, but it’s also possible that a powerhouse at the Mind Corridor level is suppressed at the bottom of this cathedral. Back then, the Vigilance Church didn’t choose other places and only rented a few floors above the Underground Ark as a cathedral. It was probably one of the reasons.”

As he spoke, Shang Jianyao disagreed with himself. “That’s not right. DiMarco wasn’t born when the Vigilance Cathedral was established.”

Jiang Baimian was also confused about this problem. Could it be that DiMarco’s grandfather or great-grandfather were also powerhouses at the Mind Corridor level?

“The descendants of powerhouses at the Mind Corridor have a higher chance of Awakening and are more likely to enter the Mind Corridor? Yes… Every generational Underground Ark owner will give birth to a large number of children and choose the most outstanding one as his successor. Is this using numbers to exchange for the descendants’ Awakening? Whoever awakens will be the Ark’s next owner? Did DiMarco become crazy after his youngest son died because his youngest son was a natural Awakened?”

This could explain some of the phenomena inside the Underground Ark, but it couldn’t cover everything.

Long Yuehong felt that his team leader’s guess wasn’t wrong and said in fear, “From the looks of it, DiMarco might really be a very dangerous person. Then, should we…”

It was unlikely that the Old Task Force could deal with him.

Jiang Baimian smiled. “This gives me a little more confidence.”

“Why?” Long Yuehong was very surprised.

Jiang Baimian turned to the north and smiled. “This means that not only will the Vigilance Church or Eidolon Nun not protect DiMarco, but they might also provide us with some help.”

This was a great benefit.

Long Yuehong was very excited and felt much more at ease.

“What should we do next?” Bai Chen asked.

Jiang Baimian restrained her smile. “This will have to go back to what I just said: ‘Now that everything is in place, there’s only one problem left.’ If DiMarco is a powerhouse who has explored the Mind Corridor’s depths, he will definitely be able to sense the existence of human consciousness in a large area. Let alone entering through the ventilation duct, we probably won’t be able to hide from him just by approaching the ventilation duct.

“Heh heh, don’t think of taking advantage of the dead of night. Shang Jianyao will automatically sense things around him when he sleeps. A powerhouse at the Mind Corridor level will only be stronger.”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “I can hide my consciousness.”

This was an ability that every Awakened had. As long as they weren’t discovered by the other party’s five senses or tried to use their abilities to influence the other party, they wouldn’t be exposed.

Genava said in a slightly muffled voice, “I don’t think I have human consciousness.”

This meant he wouldn’t be sensed.

Jiang Baimian frowned slightly. “But it’s impossible to enter silently through the ventilation duct with just the two of you. It’s the same even if there are two moles inside.”