Embers Ad Infinitum

Underground building, third floor, the place where Shang Jianyao had previously met the psychiatrist.

This time, he didn’t turn right along the corridor outside the door. Instead, he entered the true research area through the metal door after being examined by the four security guards in bionic lizard armor.

He soon came to a small room with white walls. There was only a table, four chairs, and a machine that shimmered with a strange red-green glow.

A man sat opposite the table. He looked to be in his thirties and wore heavy black-framed glasses; he looked rather stern.

He pointed opposite him and said, “Sit.”

With that said, he simply introduced himself. “Liu Shiyan.”

“Good morning.” Others could be rude, but Shang Jianyao couldn’t.

After he sat down, Liu Shiyan pointed at the many data cables and the various sensors that extended from the instrument on the table. “This is a lie detector. Wear them properly, and we shall begin.”

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao’s eyes instantly lit up, and he excitedly fiddled with the lie detector.

Liu Shiyan did not stop him. He observed Shang Jianyao’s actions and occasionally took notes.

Finally, Shang Jianyao put the different sensor devices on the correct spots.

Liu Shiyan looked at him and asked according to procedure, “Have your mental problems worsened recently? In layman’s terms, have your brain spasms gotten worse?”

Shang Jianyao stared at the polygraph and truthfully replied, “It’s about the same as before. Nothing worse or better.”

The lie detector didn’t react.

Liu Shiyan didn’t completely rely on the detector and asked, “Are you sure?”

“We’ve already chatted for a while, but did you notice anything abnormal?” Shang Jianyao continued staring at the lie detector.

Liu Shiyan frowned slightly. “Why are you looking at it and not my eyes?”

Shang Jianyao glanced at Liu Shiyan as if he were mentally ill. “It’s not like you’re the lie detector.”

Liu Shiyan opened his mouth and realized that he didn’t know how to retort. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Apart from this, have you sensed anything different about yourself from others?”

“Yes,” Shang Jianyao replied frankly. He then stood up and began unbuckling his belt.

“What are you doing?” Liu Shiyan was shocked.

“I’ll show you something different from others,” Shang Jianyao replied in all seriousness. “You can also take off your pants and compete with me.”

Liu Shiyan felt a surge of blood rush to his head. He resisted the urge to roar with anger with great difficulty.

He calmed down and said, “I mean: do you have something that others don’t or if others have something you don’t.”

Shang Jianyao regretfully buckled his belt and sat down again. “Clearly, I haven’t exhibited any abnormalities.”

Liu Shiyan looked at the lie detector and saw that it had no reaction. He then lowered his head and recorded this.

“Then, what changes have you felt in the past few months?” he continued asking.

Shang Jianyao began to recall. “My weight has increased by about five kilograms, and I mainly grew muscles…

“My skin has become more tanned, and my strength has increased…

“I eat about one-third more than before, and I shit more…”

The blood vessels on Liu Shiyan’s forehead throbbed, but he didn’t interrupt Shang Jianyao’s recount. He dutifully observed the lie detector’s reaction and data and made detailed notes.

“I’ve already happily accepted my current state. When I’m calm, my thinking abilities seem to have improved. When I’m impulsive, my courage is clearly enhanced…” Shang Jianyao spoke seriously about his changes. “To put it simply, I’m stronger.”

Who would be indecisive and cowardly when they are impulsive? That wouldn’t be called being impulsive! Who wouldn’t be able to analyze the pros and cons and search for patterns when they are calm? Liu Shiyan felt that Shang Jianyao was mostly speaking nonsense.

And this nonsense was undoubtedly true.

After a few seconds of silence, Liu Shiyan asked, “Do you have any abnormal abilities that exceed normal humans?”

“This depends on your definition of human.” Shang Jianyao began to debate with the other party. “If you treat mutated humans and smart bots as humans, what I have is within reasonable limits.”

Liu Shiyan felt a headache coming on. “Only ordinary humans.”

“Yes,” Shang Jianyao replied abnormally firmly. “In the field of combat, I can solo two of you or even more.”

Liu Shiyan felt like he couldn’t suppress the fire in his heart. He could only pick up the cup in front of him and gulp it down. “I’m referring to superpowers that ordinary humans don’t have.”

“No,” Shang Jianyao replied briskly as he looked at the lie detector.

The lie detector didn’t change.

Upon seeing this, Liu Shiyan asked about something else.

About ten minutes later, he put down the fountain pen in his hand and said to Shang Jianyao, “The Q&A part ends here. Next is a physical examination.”

As Shang Jianyao took off the various sensors he wore, he asked in anticipation, “Is my condition very stable? Do I still have to seek Dr. Lin for follow-up checks regularly in the future?”

Upon hearing these two questions, Liu Shiyan wanted to say that if Shang Jianyao could maintain his current state in the future, he could cancel the regular mental evaluation and have it done once a year.

However, he suddenly recalled a certain record in the information and probed, “Why did you apply to carry out missions on the surface?”

“To find my missing father,” Shang Jianyao replied frankly.

He’s normal… Liu Shiyan heaved a sigh of relief and casually asked, “What else?”

Shang Jianyao’s expression immediately turned serious, and his voice deepened. “To save all of humanity!”

“…” Liu Shiyan looked at him and didn’t say anything for a long time.

After a while, he raised his hand and pinched his temples. “I suggest you have regular follow-ups. At least once a month.”

“Alright…” Shang Jianyao was rather disappointed.

He then stood up and shook Liu Shiyan’s hand in farewell. Under the guidance of a researcher in a white coat, he entered an abnormally spacious room.

There was the Old World’s latest CT machine here.

In the other nearby rooms was a series of inspection equipment, including but not limited to things like an MRI machine. Shang Jianyao didn’t recognize most of them.

He did the body check-ups according to procedure.

…

On the third floor of the underground building, in a room which could see Shang Jianyao’s check-up.

Mei Shou’an—who was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and had a refined bearing—scratched the black hair on the side of his head and shouted at the door, “Please come in.”

Liu Shiyan then pushed open the door with a stack of documents. He said respectfully, “Director Mei, these are the notes during the interrogation and observations. There’s also the previous records of Volunteer 32.”

In the C-14 project, Shang Jianyao’s number was 32.

“Leave it.” Mei Shou’an looked at the inspection data and the corresponding images on the screen. He thought for a moment and said, “Organize the details regarding Volunteer 32’s past six months and print them out as documents for me.”

“Alright, Director Mei.” Liu Shiyan switched on a nearby computer and got busy. It didn’t take long for him to download the missions and rewards Shang Jianyao had completed and obtained after joining the Old Task Force.

Mei Shou’an took the pile of information and seriously flipped through it for a while. After an unknown period of time, he chuckled and muttered to himself, “What he encountered is quite overboard, huh? There shouldn’t be any type of Awakening ability that can control luck… Whether luck itself exists or not remains to be verified…

“To be able to survive after encountering so many things and obtain sufficient harvests means that their team is very strong. It’s so strong that it exceeds the model’s predictions…”

As he muttered to himself, Mei Shou’an wrote a sentence on the surface of the information docket: “It’s reasonable to suspect that there are Awakened in this team. The most likely possibility is Volunteer 32.”

He then flipped through Shang Jianyao’s experiment records and the subsequent situation. After all the tests were over, he deliberated and wrote: “Volunteer 32’s logic is intermittent and chaotic, and his thoughts appear jumpy. If we assume that this is a price paid and is related to his Awakening abilities, there’s a high chance that he’s in Master Zhuang’s domain.”