Embers Ad Infinitum

With the augmentation of the yellowish-green night pearl, the Old Task Force’s Operation Beheading progressed abnormally smoothly. They virtually met with zero obstacles before they arrived at DiMarco’s door and completed two rounds of firepower bombardment.

In the unrestrained flaming storm, the room became very messy. Jiang Baimian couldn’t sense any weak electric signals for a while.

Although Jiang Baimian could infer the outcome based on common sense after such a barrage of attacks—as long as the person inside wasn’t DiMarco’s double, this Underground Ark owner would definitely be doomed. However, Jiang Baimian still wasn’t at ease. After all, the DiMarco she had expected was a powerhouse at the Mind Corridor level. Even if he couldn’t compare to Tarnan’s Superior Heartless, he didn’t deserve to die without putting up a fight.

Not only did this not make her relax, but it served to raise her guard.

After the explosion subsided, she immediately rolled to her feet and rushed to DiMarco’s room.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A figure in a grayish-blue camouflage uniform rushed past her and stepped through the collapsed door, which was in a sorry state.

It was Shang Jianyao! He led the way as always.

At this moment, two grenades suddenly flew over from the ends of Zone C’s corridor.

Jiang Baimian—who had long sensed something—gave up on trying to sense the electric signals in the room. She directly pounced forward and rolled in, avoiding the attack.

Genava and Long Yuehong also used their comprehensive warning systems to discover the enemy’s approach in advance. One of them jumped up, grabbed the four to five-meter-high ceiling, and retracted their legs while another shoved Bai Chen in advance, allowing her to jump into DiMarco’s room with Jiang Baimian before following closely behind. Although Long Yuehong was a little nervous, he didn’t panic.

Rumble!

Two grenades landed where Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian were originally standing, and an explosion sounded.

For the smart bot, Genava, it was very difficult for him to be harmed as long as he wasn’t directly hit. The worst case would be to exchange for supplies to give himself a new paint job.

Therefore, he—who was hanging from the ceiling—only swayed a few times from the blast.

At this moment, he saw the attacker clearly; it was an iron-black robot with red-light-emitting eyes.

The Underground Ark had dominated the smuggling node, Redstone Collection, for years. It had accumulated a lot, and its hidden defenses were indeed astonishing.

In the blink of an eye, Genava determined that the attacker was a relatively ancient smart bot based on the various characteristics. This was a smart bot based on Old World standards, not a smart bot produced by Mechanical Paradise.

In Genava’s eyes, such things without humanization modules were pure tools. They were no different from the maintenance robots and non-intelligent combat robots in Tarnan that could transform into cars.

He would never acknowledge it as a smart bot.

“Leave the area outside to me!” He simulated the necessary tone for the situation according to the information in his database. His body then swayed like a swing before he flung himself out. He jumped across a considerable distance and landed in front of the iron-black robot.

At this moment, the iron-black robot was dutifully rushing toward DiMarco’s room.

Genava turned slightly and slammed into the iron-black robot. During this process, he adjusted the direction of his palm.

Clang!

A clear reverberating sound echoed in basement six. The iron-black robot’s back chest suddenly melted, shooting out a beautiful yet dangerous red laser.

Almost at the same time, its back swelled up and cracked. A metal ball—wrapped in electric bolts—penetrated its many key components and flew into the distance.

Genava seized the opportunity to use his laser weapon and electromagnetic weapon! Furthermore, he had downloaded the blueprints of all kinds of robots and had done some research. He knew very well where the other party’s fatal spots were.

Amidst a series of explosions, the iron-black robot lost all its mobility and fell to the ground with a thud.

Genava didn’t waste any time; he turned around and ran to DiMarco’s door.

In Operation Beheading, he—who had no human consciousness—would be the main force in the latter half of the battle.

When Genava pounced at the iron-black robot, Jiang Baimian had already completed her roll. She switched on the flashlight and shone it at the spot where she had sensed a human before firing the rocket launcher.

There was a large, cracked bed with wisps of flames. Beside the bed lay a man in silk pajamas.

This man wore a tattered black mask with white patterns, and there were many badly mangled wounds on his body.

Shang Jianyao could sense that he no longer had human consciousness. This meant that he was already dead.

According to the mask and flaxen hair, the deceased was DiMarco.

Jiang Baimian was not happy but shocked. This was because from where DiMarco was lying, he shouldn’t have escaped the first rocket’s blast.

The power of Death wouldn’t allow the target to retain an intact corpse!

This is a powerhouse at the Mind Corridor level? He would’ve managed to survive if our weapons were slightly weaker? Jiang Baimian held a rocket launcher in one hand and a flashlight in the other. She quickly rushed to DiMarco’s corpse, removed his mask, and sought confirmation.

In the yellowish light, a muscular man’s face appeared in front of her.

Under his short, flaxen hair were a high nose bridge and pale-blue eyes that looked like he had died with remaining grievances. There was also a cyan birthmark on his forehead.

Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment and found this face abnormally familiar. She soon recalled where she had seen this face.

This belonged to Lehman’s lover—Lars—the Ruin Hunter who had previously disappeared and was later confirmed to have entered the Underground Ark!

The cyan birthmark’s location was identical to the photo Lehman had given them!

Lars is the one who’s dead? DiMarco has always been using Lars as a substitute? He doesn’t sleep in this room at all, but who is he guarding against? With his authority and potential strength, there’s no need for him to do so… He sensed our approach and left here in advance, leaving only Lars behind? But why did he leave Lars behind? At this moment, countless questions surfaced in Jiang Baimian’s mind.

At this moment, she felt the entire room being enveloped by a weak and abnormal electric field.

With a whoosh, Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Shang Jianyao’s flashlights turned extremely dim.

The surrounding environment seemed to be injected with ‘darkness,’ making it appear eerie and cold.

In the blink of an eye, an emotionally suppressed voice came out of nowhere and echoed in everyone’s ears. “Do you think you can kill me just like that? If it were any other Awakened who stepped into the Mind Corridor, they might’ve truly died aggrievedly. Unfortunately, the person you encountered was me…”

At this point, Shang Jianyao seemed to have finally grasped the source of the sound. He suddenly turned his head and looked in a certain direction.

In the dim, yellowish light, Long Yuehong slowly turned his head and looked back at Shang Jianyao.

The corners of his mouth curled up bit by bit, and his eyes—which were covered by the goggles—turned extremely deep. He then asked in an ethereal voice, “Are you looking for me?”

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a monkey mask—frowned.

At this moment, Bai Chen also looked at Shang Jianyao. She had taken off her mask at some point in time, and the flashlight in her hand illuminated her face partially.

With an indescribable smile, she asked in an equally ethereal, genderless voice, “Are you looking for me?”

Shang Jianyao suddenly raised his left hand, revealing the yellowish-green night pearl.

At the same time, Jiang Baimian stood up from beside the corpse and looked over. She was also no longer wearing a mask.

She raised her chin slightly, and the light and shadows on her face intertwined, giving a bizarre feeling.

“Are you looking for me?” she asked with a chuckle.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Genava ran into DiMarco’s room.

He immediately saw Shang Jianyao’s eyes turn abnormally deep and dark.

…

In the Sea of Origins, on the sunny island with mountains and rivers.

A figure in the Old World’s black priest outfit and an old-fashioned bonnet appeared. He looked to be in his forties and was nearly 1.8 meters tall. He had short, flaxen hair, light-blue eyes, and a prominent hooked nose. There was no cyan birthmark on his forehead.

The figure’s gaze swept across Shang Jianyao, who wasn’t wearing the monkey mask any longer. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly as he asked with a leisurely smile, “Is this your mind island?”