Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian and Long Yuehong were amused when they heard Shang Jianyao’s answer. Even Bai Chen couldn’t help but purse her lips.

This fellow also works hard when it comes to smearing himself!

“The name ‘Zhang Qubing’ is great,” Jiang Baimian joked and said, “I’ll call them and ask them what they saw on the surveillance cameras.”

Just as she said that, she picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

After the line connected, she briefly explained Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong’s encounter last night and raised her questions.

She then listened to the person on the other end of the line as she tersely responded from time to time with a focused expression.

“It’s as I expected.” Finally, she hung up and said to Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong, “There was nobody running naked in the surveillance cameras. Shang Jianyao did stand in front of Room 23 for a period of time as if he was talking to someone, but nobody lives there. The Order Supervisory Department opened the room this morning; there were no traces of human activity inside.”

Shang Jianyao nodded slightly, raised his body halfway, raised his arms, and sang beautifully, “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious?”

“Do you think you suffered an illusion?” Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “Your mental problems are in other areas. In theory, there shouldn’t be any visual or auditory hallucinations. Besides, Little Red was beside you back then. He’s a normal person, so it’s even more unlikely for him to fall ill suddenly.”

Long Yuehong was deeply gratified by his team leader’s evaluation. “Yeah, yeah, but the Naturalism Church’s philosophy doesn’t sound like it believes in Shattered Mirror.”

Bai Chen pointed out the problem with Long Yuehong’s words. “The information from before mentioned that there’s no definite connection between the belief in a Kalendaria and awakening abilities.”

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged her words. “You can’t say that. To be more precise, there’s no absolute connection. The information also states that among the Kalendaria’s believers, an Awakened’s abilities are highly likely to belong to the corresponding domain.”

But no matter what description he used, Long Yuehong’s judgment couldn’t be valid.

Jiang Baimian left her seat, paced a few steps back and forth, and deliberated before saying, “There are two possibilities. The first is that you encountered an illusion and that there was nobody running around naked. The second possibility is that the surveillance cameras were tampered with and that they recorded an illusion.”

With their experience in Tarnan, they were extremely confident that the Shattered Mirror domain’s abilities could affect electronic products. However, they weren’t sure what level an Awakened needed to be to achieve this.

“Maybe all of them.” Shang Jianyao suddenly became excited as he spoke. “I want to prepare the Eight Trigrams Mirror, the Confining Ghost Pouch, the Qian Yang Golden Lamp, and the Pure Yang Talisman Water!”

In human terms, they were makeup mirrors, linen pockets, flashlights, and bottled water with floating ashes.

It was obvious that Shang Jianyao had a deep impression of Abbess Zhou Yue’s performance back then. Furthermore, he had grasped a series of phrases after studying the Old World’s entertainment.

Jiang Baimian secretly curled the corners of her mouth and said, “There’s no need; we’ll just report our guesses. The company is large. I don’t believe there aren’t many powerful Awakened. It’s better and safer to leave any problems to them. After all, someone can grab the wheel from us in the worst-case scenario.”

Shang Jianyao had a look of disappointment.

Jiang Baimian had originally written a mission report for this trip. At this moment, she specially selected one of their encounters in Tarnan. Coupled with Shang Jianyao and the others’ encounters, she gave simple feedback on what happened last night and raised the Old Task Force’s guess.

As for doing a mental evaluation, she was still prepared to delay it until the review was over.

…

In the evening, Long Yuehong—who didn’t have dinner at the Security Department’s cafeteria—returned home. He rolled up his sleeves and showed his parents and siblings how to cook hotpot.

The bone soup stock had long been boiled, and the subsequent process was relatively simple. The family quickly surrounded the dining table and enjoyed a brand-new experience.

Long Dayong took out a piece of tender pork and dipped it in the sesame oil that had been mixed with salt, Tabasco peppers, garlic paste, and onions. He rolled it around before stuffing it into his mouth.

This was all that could be obtained from the Supplies Allocation Market on the 495th floor.

“Not bad…” Long Dayong praised in a muffled voice. “I only remember when I actually ate it. Your grandfather had mentioned something similar, but I couldn’t get it before. After he died, nobody knew what to do. Sigh, it’s just too wasteful of energy quotas…”

“Eat! Swallow your food before talking!” Gu Hong felt that Long Dayong was teaching the children a bad lesson.

Fortunately, Long Zhigu and Long Aihong were focused on picking up the scalded meat slices and didn’t spare their father any attention.

Long Yuehong didn’t snatch any from them. As he smiled and watched, he casually asked, “Mom, I heard that the Order Supervisory Department sent people to check Rooms 20 to 30?”

Gu Hong immediately nodded. “Yes, they came in the morning. There were still people who weren’t at work back then, so they happened to see them.”

“Are they going to assign people to those empty rooms?” Long Yuehong asked despite knowing better.

Gu Hong wore an ‘are you stupid?’ expression. “Why would the Order Supervisory Department come to reassign the rooms? I guess someone used the empty rooms to do something bad.”

This wasn’t too rare in Pangu Biology. For example, although gambling was prohibited in the company, and whoever lost the game usually lost their seats and could only squat, it was inevitable that some people would bet their contribution points during a card game. The company definitely couldn’t manage family entertainment during festive seasons, nor was there a need to. However, real gambling couldn’t be done publicly. It could only be secretly carried out with the help of an unallocated room or someone’s home.

“Is that so…” Long Yuehong didn’t ask any further and immersed himself in eating hotpot.

…

Shortly after lights out, Long Yuehong appeared outside Room 23 in Zone C with a flashlight.

As expected, Shang Jianyao arrived after some time.

Long Yuehong was happy that his judgment was correct and asked, “Do you want to go in and conduct a search?”

This was also his goal.

He really couldn’t feel at ease with things happening in a room that wasn’t too far from his.

Although the company definitely had high-level personnel handling this matter and might’ve secretly resolved everything, he had to personally confirm it before he could truly feel at ease.

In any case, the Order Supervisory Department’s people had already gone in to search. There were no problems, nor did they issue any warnings to the surrounding residents about prying into the situation inside out of curiosity.

This made Long Yuehong feel that there were no latent dangers. Of course, he didn’t say this out loud because he was afraid that whatever he said would turn out true.

Shang Jianyao sized up Long Yuehong and smiled brightly. “You really need to do a mental evaluation.”

“Huh?” Long Yuehong was first stunned before he came to a realization. If it were in the past, he would definitely pretend that nothing had happened.

He lived each day as they came. After all, there was someone to grab the wheel if things turned bad; there was no need for him to worry.

How could he be as proactive as he was now?

As his expression changed slightly, Shang Jianyao walked to Room 23. He held the door handle with one hand and took out his electronic card with the other. Then, he inserted it into the crack and gently pried open the lock.

He gently turned the doorknob with his left hand and prepared to push open the door.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao stopped.

The curtains by the window beside the door were still tightly shut without any gaps.

Shang Jianyao seemed to have turned into a statue and stiffened for a few seconds.

“What’s wrong?” Long Yuehong asked warily.

Finally, Shang Jianyao retracted his hand and electronic card and allowed the door to be locked again.

His face flickered under the flashlight’s illumination.

Long Yuehong took a step back and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shang Jianyao cast his gaze at him. “The moment I opened the door, I felt like my consciousness would leave my body. It was like there was a vortex inside.”

Long Yuehong’s pupils dilated as he glanced at Room 23. “How did you discover it?”

Shang Jianyao pointed at his head and smiled. “You’ll have to thank Mr. DiMarco.”

Sharp acumen brought about by the green night pearl? A sharp sense for such matters? Long Yuehong said in enlightenment, “Weren’t the people from the Order Supervisory Department fine during the day?”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “Maybe it’s targeting us.”

Long Yuehong shuddered in fear.

“It’s also possible that something abnormal happens only after lights out.” Shang Jianyao raised the flashlight and shone it at his face. “It’s also possible that something has happened to those people, but it just hasn’t been discovered…”

His voice became ethereal and slow.

Gasp… Long Yuehong finally couldn’t help but gasp. “What should we do now?”

Shang Jianyao replied matter-of-factly, “Go back and sleep!”

With that said, he walked to Zone B.

Long Yuehong thought for a moment and felt that it was indeed the best solution. He completely gave up on the idea of entering the room to search.

After taking a few steps, he suddenly heard Shang Jianyao say, “Don’t wake your parents up when you open the door yourself later.”

Afraid that I’ll encounter a similar problem? Long Yuehong quickly nodded. “Alright.”

Shang Jianyao fell silent again. He held the flashlight and slowly wandered back to Room 196 in Zone B.

He took out the brass key, inserted it into the keyhole, and gently twisted it.

When Shang Jianyao pushed open the door, his actions were so slow that they felt exaggerated. It was as if he was performing a silent play alone.

This slow process only lasted for two seconds before it returned to normal. Shang Jianyao easily opened the door and walked into his house.

Nothing happened.

…

The next morning, Room 14 on the 647th floor.

Jiang Baimian couldn’t help but frown when she heard Shang Jianyao recount his feelings from yesterday. “It seems like there’s really a problem with that room…”

“I suggest cannon bombardment.” Shang Jianyao suggested a plan.

Jiang Baimian knew that he had made the connection with ‘execution by cannon fire.’ She smiled and said, “Let’s not bother about this matter and let the higher-ups handle it.

“I’ll warn them. Yes, say that you heard a slight commotion in that room again when you passed by last night. I’ll suggest closely monitoring all the Order Supervisory Department employees who entered that room.”

She didn’t want to expose DiMarco’s residual aura.

“That’s good.” Long Yuehong felt that this was the best solution. Not only would they warn the company’s higher-ups, but they also didn’t need to take the risk.

Jiang Baimian then smiled. “Let’s not talk about this. Our review is over, and the rewards have been distributed.”