Embers Ad Infinitum

After lights out, outside Room 23 in Zone C.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong—who were wrapped in thick, military-green cotton coats—met up and shone their flashlights at the brownish-red wooden door with white numbers.

“Are we really going to give it a try?” Long Yuehong was still a little timid now that they were going ahead with the plan.

Shang Jianyao took out an electronic card with his other hand and calmly said, “Pay attention to my condition. If anything goes wrong, shout immediately.”

“Shout?” Long Yuehong subconsciously asked. Wake him up?

Shang Jianyao held the door handle with the flashlight and replied seriously, “Shout for help.”

Long Yuehong was speechless. He then took a deep breath and got his lungs ready, prepared to shout at any moment.

Shang Jianyao gently pried open the lock and slowly turned the doorknob. He pushed the door forward bit by bit as if it weighed more than 500 kilograms.

Finally, the door to Room 23 opened a huge gap. The scene inside was vaguely visible under the flashlight’s illumination.

“There’s nothing abnormal this time,” Shang Jianyao said as he pushed open the door completely.

Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief and reminded, “You have to be careful when entering.”

Shang Jianyao half-turned his body and glanced at him strangely. “Shouldn’t you be the one going in first?”

Long Yuehong felt suffocated instantaneously. The next second, he saw Shang Jianyao light up Room 23 with his flashlight.

This place wasn’t large, similar to Long Yuehong’s original home. The walls were painted mottled white, and the ground was paved with standard stone bricks. Apart from that, it was empty.

After the flashlight illuminated every corner, Shang Jianyao took a step forward. He walked very slowly as if he had become a robot with rusty joints. He passed through the open door almost by shuffling his feet.

Long Yuehong forgot about the joke from before and tensed up again. He was ready to shout for help at any moment.

After more than ten seconds, Shang Jianyao completely entered Room 23. Then, he turned around and placed the flashlight under his chin, allowing the light to illuminate his face.

“Long Yuehong…” Shang Jianyao slowly shouted with an ethereal voice.

“What?” Long Yuehong’s body tensed up.

Shang Jianyao’s voice remained creepy. “Do I look like a ghost…”

“…” Long Yuehong wanted to curse. He exhaled and said tactfully, “Fortunately, the small speaker hasn’t been returned to you. Otherwise, playing a song that can create a terrifying atmosphere this very moment would create a stronger feeling.”

Shang Jianyao glanced at him disdainfully. “That will be a nuisance to people sleeping.”

Long Yuehong found himself unable to retort.

Shang Jianyao then retracted his gaze and used the flashlight’s light to examine Room 23 inch by inch.

Upon seeing that he was fine, Long Yuehong mustered his courage and slowly moved past the door.

“No…” Long Yuehong swallowed the words he had just said. He wanted to say, “Nothing seems wrong.”

Shang Jianyao looked at him regretfully. “Why didn’t you finish your sentence?”

I’m not stupid… Although I still don’t think there’s anything wrong with my luck, I’d rather believe it than not at a time like this… Long Yuehong muttered silently before using the flashlight’s beam to search for any possible abnormalities.

The tattered furniture in Room 23 had been removed, so Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong quickly ended their work.

“There’s nothing at all…” Long Yuehong retracted the flashlight’s beam from the vent above.

Shang Jianyao looked at him and asked with a smile, “What’s your overall evaluation of this place?”

“What do you mean by overall evaluation?” Long Yuehong was a little confused and replied according to his understanding. “This place is relatively old, and it seems a little colder than the outside…”

At this point, he suddenly paused.

After a few seconds, Long Yuehong asked in horror, “Don’t you think it’s a little like the atmosphere in DiMarco’s room back then, but less severe?”

He still had a fresh memory of the gloomy, dark environment created by DiMarco’s consciousness lifeform.

“Congratulations, you got it right.” Shang Jianyao patted the side of the flashlight with his palm.

Long Yuehong looked around and probed, “The abnormalities have been removed. These are only traces.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t answer him. He held the flashlight and strode out of the room.

“Where are we going?” Long Yuehong quickly followed. He didn’t dare to stay in Room 23 alone.

Shang Jianyao looked ahead and calmly replied, “Back to sleep.”

Long Yuehong thought for a moment and realized that there was nothing else they could do.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao—who was in front of him—casually said, “Remember to close the door.”

…

The next day was Pangu Biology’s weekend break. Shang Jianyao bought a pile of things like cloth, canned food, and bagged rice at the Supplies Allocation Market with his electronic card.

In order to transport them, he borrowed a cart from the Supplies Allocation Market.

“Yo, Jianyao, you earned so much from a trip?”

“You hit it rich?”

“Is it really that good to be in the field?”

Along the way, the neighbors who knew Shang Jianyao greeted him.

Shang Jianyao wasn’t modest and directly replied, “Yes, I’m already a D5; Long Yuehong as well.”

He acted frankly, just short of shouting along the street with a loudspeaker.

“D5?”

“It’s not like I don’t know other Security Department employees. How can you be promoted so quickly?”

“W-what unit are you in at the Security Department?”

The neighbors were either shocked, envious, or felt tempted to introduce a girl to Shang Jianyao. In their impression, Shang Jianyao was an honest child.

He probably wouldn’t lie about such matters. Furthermore, such lies were very easy to expose.

As they chatted, Shang Jianyao came to an open room.

This was Shen Du’s home.

Shen Du’s child was sitting at the dining table, reading the numbers in his simplified textbooks.

He looked up at the door and didn’t greet or shy away. He lowered his head and continued reading the basic numbers.

Compared to Shang Jianyao’s memories of him, he didn’t grow up much, but he had clearly become a quiet child.

Shen Du’s wife, Tian Jing, was taking advantage of the break from work to clean the room. She only turned around when she sensed someone at the door.

Tian Jing grabbed the dirty rag and nervously said, “Jianyao, why are you…”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “I’ve been promoted to D5.”

“Huh?” Tian Jing’s first reaction was: Why are you telling me this?

She was a little surprised and envious next.

Her employee rank was only D3 now. With just a little calculation, she knew how many contribution points a D5 employee’s average monthly income was.

She then understood Shang Jianyao’s hidden meaning: “I’m already a D5. Giving you this won’t affect my quality of life.”

Tian Jing replied bitterly, “You’ve already given me a lot of things back then. There’s really no need…”

She wanted to say that they were unrelated, but she instantly recalled Shang Jianyao’s words—”You can choose to be my mother.”

Shang Jianyao glanced at Shen Du’s child and looked back at Tian Jing. He then said in an incongruous manner, “Don’t tire yourself out. You will collapse if you do that.”

Tian Jing opened her mouth and closed it again when she thought of Shang Jianyao’s family matters.

She didn’t stop him and watched Shang Jianyao move the items on the cart into her room.

After doing so, Shang Jianyao waved his hand. “I’m leaving.”

Tian Jing nodded and took a deep breath. “The two of us will always remember you.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t look back and pushed the cart away like he was on a tour.

After returning the cart, he entered the elevator and pressed the button ‘490.’

The Eleventh Orphanage was there.

…

At noon, Long Yuehong was just about to use all kinds of leftover ingredients to try cooking the Rootless’s specialty, Hodgepodge, when he saw his mother rush in.

“Y-you’ve been promoted to D5?” Gu Hong was surprised and astonished.

Long Yuehong was stunned. “How did you know?”

He planned on telling his parents that he had been promoted and given a raise when he brought the portable computer back home.

“Really?” Gu Hong blurted out.

Long Yuehong nodded honestly. “I was preparing to tell you in two days.”

He was still confused as to how his mother knew so quickly. An instant later, a name surfaced in his mind.

Long Yuehong probed, “You bumped into Shang Jianyao?”

Gu Hong grumbled with a joyful look, “How can I not know when Jianyao was telling everyone he met on the street? Gosh, how did you reach D5 all of a sudden? There’s no need to worry about nobody introducing their daughters to you…”

As she spoke, the smile on Gu Hong’s face vanished. She looked at Long Yuehong and fell silent for a moment. “Are your missions very dangerous?”

Long Yuehong subconsciously forced a smile. “It’s fine. Besides, it won’t take long before I transfer out.”

“That’s good, that’s good…” Gu Hong heaved a sigh of relief.

…

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

After hearing Shang Jianyao’s recount, Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and asked, “You saw yellowish-green fog in the Sea of Origins, and there seems to be a city from the Old World in the fog?”

“Yes,” Shang Jianyao replied firmly.

Jiang Baimian deliberated and said, “You suspect that this is the aftereffect of letting the Coward aura into your mind world?”

When dealing with DiMarco, Shang Jianyao had brought the yellowish-green aura in the night pearl into his Sea of Origins.

“That should be the case.” Shang Jianyao appeared very calm, perhaps even a little excited.

Jiang Baimian then looked at Long Yuehong. “After you entered Room 23 in Zone C the night before, you felt that it was colder than the corridor. It was a little like the environment DiMarco created after he transformed into a consciousness lifeform?”

“Yes.” Long Yuehong nodded heavily.

Jiang Baimian looked at Bai Chen again and paced around before facing Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong. “I have an idea. It might not be a coincidence that you saw a Naturalism Church member running naked. Even if it’s an illusion, it’s not a coincidence.”

She paused and said seriously, “Could this be related to the yellowish-green fog in Shang Jianyao’s mind world?”