Embers Ad Infinitum

Vigilance Cathedral, basement one.

Ge Miao woke up, having not slept too well in the unfamiliar environment she was in.

“What’s wrong?” asked her elder sister, Ge Lin, in a daze.

Ge Miao thought for a moment and said, “I-I’m going to the bathroom.”

She originally wanted to use the word ‘piss,’ but she recalled that Warden Locke had said that one had to be cultured after entering the Ark; otherwise, it would anger Mr. DiMarco. Hence, she quickly changed her choice of words.

For a wilderness nomad from a small settlement, this was a very awkward matter. The three meals a day, a safe and stable environment, a warm, soft bed, and a future where she didn’t have to separate from her sister prompted her to change.

Even Ge Miao felt that the headache-inducing task of learning the Red River language wasn’t that unbearable. It even made her happy; it was as if every word carried a hint of hope. They could be exchanged for a better future once she had enough of them.

“I’ll go too.” It struck Ge Lin that her sister was only 15 years old. Although she had become much more mature after losing her parents when their settlement was breached, she still felt worried.

The sisters used the light from the street lamps that shone through the door to grope their way out of the room and walked to the bathroom according to their memories. On the way, they encountered patrolling guards sent by the Underground Ark. However, they weren’t put in a spot after explaining their goal.

Amidst the flushing sounds, Ge Miao looked at the toilet bowl with a dazed expression. “Sister, this thing is so convenient.” She couldn’t help but sigh with emotion again.

She remembered that the most powerful Elder’s family in the past didn’t have such an item.

Ge Lin tersely acknowledged it and unconsciously smiled. “The good days are really coming.” This was the first time she looked forward to the future.

She remembered that Warden Locke had said that, not only did Mr. DiMarco not forbid servants from finding a partner, but he also encouraged everyone to get married and have children.

The two sisters reluctantly washed their hands with what seemed like precious water, walked out of the bathroom, and retraced their steps.

When they were only a few steps away from the six-person room, two Underground Ark guards came walking by.

One of the guards—a black-haired, brown-eyed Ashlandic—nodded at them in a friendly manner.

Ge Lin’s heart palpitated as she smiled timidly. “Good evening.”

“Don’t run around,” reminded the Ashlandic guard.

“Yes, Sir.” Ge Lin smiled obsequiously. “Thank you for your service.”

Although the two sisters couldn’t be considered good-looking, they looked rather presentable among the batch of slaves. The two patrolling Underground Ark guards didn’t show any aversion and instead said with a smile, “There’s no need for that. When you enter the Ark, we will all be colleagues.”

Ge Lin seized the opportunity and sincerely asked, “Sirs, I heard from Warden Locke that we could express interest in the work we do if we can pass the training. Is that true?”

“Yes, but there are limited choices. It can’t exceed the quota either…” the Ashlandic guard explained simply.

Ge Lin held her sister’s hand and looked at the two of them eagerly. “Then, what would be the better choice?”

The Ashlandic guard fell silent for a moment before looking at his companion of Red River heritage beside him. He then looked at the surveillance camera above him that belonged to the Vigilance Cathedral and not the Underground Ark. He deliberated and said, “Try not to go to Mr. DiMarco’s side. H-he doesn’t have a good temper, and he is prone to anger. When he gets angry…”

He didn’t make it too clear. A certain fear was like a boulder, pressing heavily on his heart.

Upon seeing this, the other Red River guard reminded Ge Lin and Ge Miao, “We often replenish servants like you, and the Ark is only so big…”

They didn’t say anything else and strode forward to continue their patrol mission.

Ge Miao was confused and had no idea what the conversation implied.

Ge Lin’s expression changed a few times, and she roughly understood what underlay the conversation. The servants before them were chased away because of Mr. DiMarco’s bad temper? No, Warden Locke mentioned that nobody could leave the Ark unless they are sent out to do something. They live and die in the Ark… Could it be that the servants before us are all dead?

Ge Lin recalled the two guards’ expressions of pity and solemnity and increasingly felt that her guess was right. Dead, all dead…

Ge Lin’s footsteps became unsteady; she felt despair as if she had just jumped out of the wok and into the fire. However, she also knew that wilderness nomads like her and her sister could die from all kinds of accidents at any moment, and who knows where they might be sold to if they failed to enter the Ark—becoming prostitutes and being tortured to death.

Everybody wanted to live a good life.

After returning to her room, she quietly got into bed. Ge Lin looked at her sister, who had fallen asleep again. Her sorrow came from the bottom of her heart, and she could no longer hold it back.

She buried her face in the blanket, her body trembling slightly.

In the corridor outside, the two Ark guards glanced at each other while patrolling and sighed. “Sigh…”

…

“Sigh…” At basement two, Yu Tian sighed silently beside a ventilation duct.

After he and Bode returned to the Ark, they didn’t take any action despite their excitement and the urge to mobilize everyone they knew to cooperate with the Vigilance Church and overthrow DiMarco’s brutal rule. This was because they didn’t have much confidence, nor had they recently suffered any pressure from DiMarco. They lacked the fuse that ignited the gunpowder keg.

Upon recalling that the other party had said that the two of them only needed to do very little and didn’t need to take any risks, Yu Tian and Bode decided to cooperate to a certain extent and observe the progress.

If everything went well, they would join without reservations.

Yu Tian sighed because he didn’t know if this matter would succeed. Furthermore, he had hit it off with a maidservant—it was the time when they were passionately in love.

His father—an old guard—firmly objected to this matter because the maid had immediate family members who were also servants.

In the Underground Ark, the guards had a relatively special status. They were rarely killed due to DiMarco’s brutality, and the same went for their families.

This made them prime choices as spouses for the servants who hoped to obtain some form of death exemption.

The guards weren’t too happy about this. This was because although the marriage between a servant and a guard would indeed earn them a certain level of tolerance from DiMarco, they still had immediate family members. If their immediate family members made a mistake or offended DiMarco, they would be killed.

According to DiMarco’s habits, it was very likely that they would implicate the corresponding guard’s family as a way to eliminate any latent dangers.

Therefore, it was better for guards to intermarry. This also made many guards feel superior.

But there was no reason in relationships.

Yu Tian felt vexed about this matter. The Vigilance Church’s actions gave him hope.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, he—who was holding a submachine gun—turned his head and glanced at his companion, Bode. He realized that Bode was also a little tense and uneasy.

Yu Tian shook his head indiscernibly, indicating for Bode not to panic.

Maybe the Vigilance Church has already given up on their original plan? As his eyes darted around, he swept his gaze across the metal-grilled ventilation duct, the three surveillance cameras that didn’t leave any blind spots, and the other guards under the other two cameras as usual.

There were four of them, and they were also divided into two groups. Three were of Red River heritage, and one was Ashlandic; they were wearing olive-green uniforms and carrying the latest submachine guns.

From Yu Tian and Bode’s point of view, such a defense wasn’t impregnable, but there was definitely nothing that could be exploited. The invaders could only fight head-on and face wave after wave of reinforcements sent from the surveillance room.

At this moment, silver-white lightning and the resulting sparks lit up in front of them.

A circuit malfunction? This was the first thought that flashed through Yu Tian and Bode’s minds.

At the same time, in the surveillance room at basement six, the two guards—who were rotated in shifts—saw an electric spark appear on a screen before it lost its image and turned black.

“B3 guards, check if there’s a malfunction with the B12 cameras.” One of the men in charge of surveillance immediately gave instructions using the electronic products purchased from Mechanical Paradise.

His voice then echoed in Yu Tian and the others’ ears through the corresponding area’s loudspeaker.

Yu Tian looked up at the B12 camera and realized that there were charred marks on its interface.

Suddenly, he saw a hand waving at him from the other side of the ventilation duct’s metal grills.

Yu Tian’s pupils suddenly dilated. He followed his instincts and slowly retracted his gaze.

The next second, electric arcs and sparks flashed twice.

In the surveillance room, the man—who had just spoken through the loudspeaker—saw the corresponding images of the B10 and B11 cameras disappear.

Before he could give any further instructions, Yu Tian snapped to his senses and said with the help of the electronic product clipped to his collar, “Yes, the three cameras here are malfunctioning. It should be a circuit problem.”

At this moment, he realized that he was unprecedentedly calm. After all, he didn’t have to do anything dangerous. He just had to report the most likely situation.

“Check again. I’ll send someone over to repair it immediately.” The man in the surveillance room handled the matter according to standard operating procedure.

Yu Tian, Bode, and the other two groups of guards obediently split up to make confirmation. During this process, Yu Tian and Bode deliberately occupied the area under the ventilation duct, leaving the others with their backs facing the area.

The metal grill around the vent silently moved away.

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a furry-faced, mouth-protruding monkey mask—and Jiang Baimian, who was wearing a graceful monk mask, jumped down one after another.

It was impossible for them to completely mute their landing, but they had moles who produced all kinds of normal sounds in time to cover up the corresponding commotion.

Without any hesitation, Shang Jianyao pounced at the two guards who were checking the cameras with their backs facing him.

Bang! Bang!

He struck from both sides, striking the bottom of each target’s ears.

The two guards fainted without a grunt.

Shang Jianyao’s hands slid down, caught their bodies, and slowly lowered them to the ground.

Meanwhile, Jiang Baimian easily knocked out the last two guards and made them ‘sit’ against the wall without making any loud thuds.

After doing all of this, Jiang Baimian gestured at the vent.

The silver-black, blue-shirted robot—Genava, who had blue-light-emitting eyes—jumped down. The landing made relatively little noise.

He climbed up and directly snapped open a metal finger and inserted it into the B12 camera’s interface.

Behind him, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen—who were wearing military exoskeletons—also entered the Underground Ark.

Yu Tian and Bode heaved a sigh of relief while reeling in anxiety.