Embers Ad Infinitum

To Yu Tian and Bode, the experts of the Vigilance Church had fulfilled their promise and arrived as promised, increasing their confidence. However, the DiMarco family had ruled the Underground Ark for decades and had accumulated a lot of power. Before they saw the dawn, their worry wasn’t something that could be dispelled.

Shang Jianyao stood up, turned around, and looked at them. He raised a finger and pressed it to his lips.

This was considered relatively common body language. Yu Tian and Bode shut their mouths tightly and didn’t dare to ask any questions.

At the same time, Bai Chen—who was carrying an Orange rifle and a Short Neck submachine gun in her hand—and Long Yuehong, who was wearing a military exoskeleton, squatted down, removed out the passed-out guards’ belts, and tied their hands.

They also stuffed the four guards’ mouths with pre-prepared cloth bundles and pulled their pants down to their ankles.

This way, they didn’t have to worry about these people shouting for help or escaping on their own after waking up.

Although Jiang Baimian’s Operation Beheading required them to deal a swift strike and there was a high chance that they would end the operation before the guards woke up and updated the Ark, there was nothing wrong with being careful. After all, nobody knew if an accident would happen.

After Bai Chen and Long Yuehong were done, Genava—who had one hand on the gap and was firmly adhered to the wall—retracted his finger that was inserted into the B12 camera’s socket.

The blue light in his eyes flickered quickly for a while before he inserted his finger back ten to twenty seconds later.

It didn’t take long for him to retract his hand and insert the B12 camera back into its socket. He also repaired the malfunction caused by the electric shock.

After repairing the B10 and B11 cameras in the same way, Genava gently jumped back to the ground.

He spoke quickly, but his words were clear. “I’ve already analyzed the Ark’s system and compiled a virus for the invasion. In another 30 seconds, all the cameras will be rebooted, and they will replay footage from the past 15 minutes. The footage will then loop back.”

This way, the guards on duty in the surveillance room would see that everywhere in the Ark was fine and that everything was normal, just like the previous 15 minutes.

It would be truly identical.

Of course, someone would definitely discover the problem if the footage was repeated for too long, but Operation Beheading didn’t need that much time.

“Got it.” Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged it and suppressed her voice as she said to Yu Tian and Bode, “Do you know what to report?”

Yu Tian and Bode looked at each other and nodded excitedly. They couldn’t quite understand what Genava had just said, but this didn’t stop them from finding it impressive.

They originally imagined that the Underground Ark’s defense system could prevent a fly from flying in without everyone knowing. Any potential invaders had no way of launching a surprise attack and could only choose to fight head-on. Who knew that the Vigilance Church’s experts—with their strength and comprehensive smart bot—could easily finish off the surveillance system without causing any commotion? They even made it an accomplice in the invasion.

Yu Tian and Bode’s confidence doubled. They began to think that the operation to overthrow DiMarco’s tyranny had a high chance of success!

Upon seeing that time was almost up, Yu Tian gripped the electronic product on his collar and reported, “It’s not a big problem. We fiddled with it a few times, and I think it’s almost fixed.”

The guards in the surveillance room were just about to ask about the corresponding details when they saw the three surveillance cameras on the black screen light up again, revealing Zone B3’s situation.

The three groups of guards—six in total—were at their posts. Everything was normal.

“Alright, I won’t rush the mechanic then, but we still have to conduct an inspection later to prevent it from malfunctioning again,” replied the guard in charge through the regional radio.

They really pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes… Yu Tian and Bode looked at each other again and saw the pleasant surprise in each other’s eyes.

Shang Jianyao walked in front of them, pressed down the smug monkey mask on his face, and smiled. “We won’t trouble you next.”

Before he could finish his sentence, he had already raised his right hand.

Yu Tian and Bode were first stunned before something dawned on them. They turned their bodies one after another, exposing the spot behind their ears to Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao hand-chopped each of them with perfectly controlled strength.

Yu Tian and Bode felt dizzy, but they didn’t really faint. However, they took the opportunity to lie on the ground. During this process, their actions were abnormally gentle as if they were afraid of hurting themselves.

If the Vigilance Church’s operation didn’t succeed, they would really be forced to faint. If everything went smoothly, they would get up and incite other guards to strive to obtain a larger piece of the pie from the Vigilance Church’s subsequent management.

After doing all of this, Shang Jianyao stretched out his right hand to Genava.

Genava took out a rubber glove containing the yellowish-green night pearl and threw it over.

Shang Jianyao pinched the fish-eye-sized bead with his left hand and stuffed the rubber glove into his pocket.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian took a deep breath and ordered, “Get ready.”

Bai Chen picked up the Short Neck submachine gun. Her back was slightly bent, fully prepared to run out at any moment.

Long Yuehong—who was wearing a military exoskeleton—walked in front of Bai Chen and assumed a similar posture.

Further ahead were Jiang Baimian—who held the Death rocket launcher in one hand—and the silver-black robot, Genava, who was prepared to fire lasers and grenades.

Shang Jianyao stood right in front of them and sighed regretfully. “Unfortunately, I can’t have my stereo…”

This was because there was no trick left to pull off. All they had to do was rush forward and kill DiMarco before most of the Underground Ark’s forces reacted. If they used the small speaker along the way, it would definitely incur the surveillance team’s suspicion.

The Old Task Force didn’t consider re-entering the ventilation ducts and winding their way down because it would take more time. More accidents would happen with time.

“DiMarco lives in Zone C at basement six; there’s only one room there. He usually stays inside and rarely changes rooms at the last minute… Zone C has two latest military exoskeletons, eight teams of 16 armed guards, and two ‘consultants’ with superpowers… Zone A has a large number of DiMarco’s mistresses… Zone B now belongs to the mistress who is pregnant with DiMarco’s child. The surveillance room is also there…”

“The elevator can’t go straight to Zone C. We can only go to Zone A first, then enter Zone C through Zone B…

“There seems to be a secret escape route in DiMarco’s room. There’s a special elevator…”

The pieces of information described by Yu Tian and Bode flashed across Jiang Baimian’s mind one by one before finally fixing on DiMarco’s figure in the Old World’s black priest outfit.

“Move out!” she shouted softly and ran out of basement two’s Zone B3 without hesitation.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Shang Jianyao held the yellowish-green night pearl in his left hand and was the first to rush into Zone B2.

Before the guards could react, they felt indescribable horror. They couldn’t help but rush to different corners, curl up, and tremble.

They had all become ‘cowards.’ Apart from being afraid, they couldn’t have any other thoughts!

Shang Jianyao almost used all his strength to stimulate the night pearl’s power, hoping that the Coward effect could last longer.

After their previous experiments, they confirmed that under no additional influence, the effects lasted a maximum of one minute and a half.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Old Task Force ran toward the elevator. Along the way, all the guards separated like a tide, their faces filled with extreme horror.

None of them shouted, afraid that any sound would make them a target. They only wanted to find the safest place and stuff themselves in, waiting for the horror to blow over.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The Old Task Force only took about ten seconds to rush to the elevator.

During this process, Jiang Baimian and the others strictly maintained their distance and position. On the one hand, they were worried that they would suddenly be attacked and wiped out. On the other hand, they would enter the range of the night pearl’s powers if they overtook Shang Jianyao.

At this moment, three grayish-black elevators stood silently in front of them, appearing very heavy.

Genava had already infected the entire Underground Ark’s system with the virus he had written. Therefore, after having the elevator wait for them, they didn’t need to swipe cards or enter any passwords after entering. The corresponding button for the sixth floor lit up automatically.

The carriage door slowly closed in front of Long Yuehong and the others. It only took a few seconds for it to open again.

Outside was a corridor covered in a yellowish-brown carpet. There were many rooms on both sides.

According to the layout given by Yu Tian and Bode, Shang Jianyao held the yellowish-green night pearl—which had dimmed significantly—and led the way into the area. His expression was hidden under the smug monkey mask—something no one could see.

At this moment, many people in this area fell asleep. They couldn’t help but have nightmares. Some struggled with all their might, twisting and turning, while some suddenly woke up, gasping for breath.

The patrolling guards were the same as their colleagues at basement two—they each found a place to hide. Some hid in corners, trembling, and some snatched blankets and wrapped themselves tightly.

There was definitely some commotion, but it was not too obvious.

In the surveillance room, the guards on duty seriously watched the images displayed on multiple screens and confirmed that nothing abnormal had happened. It was the same as the past 15 minutes.

It was truly identical.

Suddenly, they felt like countless ghosts were wandering around them. For no reason, they believed that their companions wanted to kill them.

Their courage quickly melted away as they left their seats and ran to places where they could hide.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The five people from the Old Task Force rushed into basement six’s Zone C.

It had only been slightly over 40 seconds since they began rushing forward.

Basement Six, Zone C.

The two guards wearing military exoskeletons fled first, leaving only Shang Jianyao and the others behind.

As the abilities of the two middle-aged men—who were suspected to be Awakened—were far inferior to the yellowish-green night pearl, they rushed into a safety passage like birds startled by the twang of a bow and scrambled down the stairs before they sensed the approach of the human consciousness.

The others quickly dispersed.

The defensive strength that the Underground Ark took pride in didn’t even last three seconds.

“There’s only one person in the room!” Jiang Baimian shouted as she ran. At this point, she no longer needed to hide her actions.

Shang Jianyao—who was in the lead—had always treated the person in the room as Coward’s main target. At this moment, he didn’t relax at all.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a grayish-blue camouflage uniform—ran to DiMarco’s door and kicked open the dark-red wooden door.

He didn’t enter. Instead, he bounced back before running a few steps forward.

Jiang Baimian—who was following closely behind him—instantly ‘braked.’ She aimed the Death rocket launcher at the dark door and the human inside.

Without any hesitation, she fired the rocket.

A rumbling sound shook basement six as blazing flames surged out.

Jiang Baimian had already pounced to the side to avoid the ensuing effects of the explosion.

Genava and Long Yuehong arrived at the door in time after the ‘aftershocks.’ They fired grenades into the room.

The four grenades landed in different directions, overlapping each other without leaving any blind spots.

Boom! Boom!

Amidst successive explosions, the Old Task Force completed Operation Beheading’s first wave of attacks.