Embers Ad Infinitum

Bai Chen shook her head. “When we live here, the boss doesn’t ask anything. Same for the reverse.”

Jiang Baimian turned her head to look at the door. “When Shang Jianyao and I returned, we realized that there was no one at the front desk…”

She recounted the process of hearing the beast growl in the boss’s room and emphasized, “According to my senses, there was only a cluster of electric signals that can be considered a large creature inside.”

“There was only one human consciousness,” Shang Jianyao added.

“Mourning, growling, pale, sweating…” Bai Chen ruminated over these words and guessed, “He has some kind of disease? Or is he some kind of Subhuman?”

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian and the others to respond, she made another guess. “Maybe he believes in a strange religion? In First City, there are many religions of all kinds.”

Jiang Baimian recalled and said, “Forget it. Let’s not discuss the boss. It has nothing to do with us.”

At this point, she clapped her hands. “Rest up. We still have to meet the company’s intelligence agent at night.”

…

It was already dark by 7:40 p.m.

Red Wolf Zone, Bulis Street, Silver Candle Café.

After Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava entered the surveillance cameras’ sights, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao pushed open the slightly heavy, glass-inlaid door and walked in.

The tables here were a little greasy. This place clearly also doubled up as a restaurant.

Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian each ordered a cup of coffee. Then, they found a seat by the window in the corner before sitting down.

Before long, two cups of coffee—which the locals called Bouchard—were served.

Jiang Baimian sniffed it, picked up the cup, and took a sip.

“It’s not too fragrant, and the taste is very ordinary. It’s rather bland…” she suppressed her voice and commented.

The coffee they had at Genava’s place was better. Furthermore, milk and sugar were relatively valuable here. Additional payment was needed if one made a request, and at times, they weren’t even available.

Shang Jianyao picked up his cup and gulped it down.

“It’s quite quenching.” He also voiced his feelings.

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged his words. “This place should be prepared for lower and middle-class citizens. All the places in the Ashlands that can grow food are definitely planted with food. How many good coffee beans can there be, and how many instant mixes can there be?”

The two of them drank and chatted like normal customers. At this moment, a person walked over from the table behind them and sat down with his back facing them.

The spot faced a wall along the street, preventing pedestrians from looking in.

After about a minute, the person sitting beside Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao suddenly lowered his voice and whispered, “I’m Garibaldi.”

He spoke in Ashlandic.

Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment. She turned her head and looked at Shang Jianyao. “Ah, what did you say? I’m hard of hearing.”

As she spoke, she touched her metal cochlear.

The person who called himself Garibaldi was immediately dumbfounded. He didn’t expect the secret meeting he had meticulously prepared to encounter an almost insurmountable difficulty from the beginning.

There was at least one condition when communicating with backs facing each other while pretending not to know each other: the other party had to hear him clearly.

Fortunately, Shang Jianyao controlled his voice and simulated his performance. “I’m Garibaldi.”

Jiang Baimian nodded and slowly exhaled.

Garibaldi was the company’s intelligence agent’s code name.

“I’m the company’s Old Task Force team leader. Have you gathered any information regarding the target?” With her disability, Jiang Baimian could only suppress her voice to prevent herself from being overheard by the guests at the other tables.

She also spoke in Ashlandic.

This time, Garibaldi couldn’t hear her clearly.

Shang Jianyao took on the role of interpreter and seemed to be enjoying it.

After Garibaldi figured out what Jiang Baimian was asking, he quickly replied, “There’s some progress on the two targets’ general situation. It’s written in the information. In addition, the company has also prepared 1,000 Oray for your mission expenses so that it’s easier for you to bribe the people around the target.”

The company is pretty generous this time… The intelligence network in First City seems to be very rich… Jiang Baimian muttered in surprise after hearing Shang Jianyao’s recount.

However, this was still far from the Oray needed to purchase the military exoskeleton and mechanical arm.

Garibaldi continued, “Anything else you need?”

Jiang Baimian looked at Shang Jianyao and fell silent for a few seconds. “I want detailed information on the Anti-intellectualism Church’s assassination of Elder Salus. Uh, we had a conflict with the Anti-intellectualism Church in Weed City. We discovered their tracks not long after arriving in First City. We have to take precautions.”

She spoke in a dignified manner, and every word was the truth.

“Alright, give us some time.” Garibaldi didn’t shirk his responsibility.

After Shang Jianyao’s interpretation, Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and asked, “Is there anything worth paying attention to in First City recently?”

Garibaldi thought for a moment and said, “Nothing special. There are only two things if you insist. The first is that a strange white wolf appeared in the North Shore Mountains. You can go to the Hunter’s Guild to understand the details. The second is that the new member of the Senate, Geus, has expressed his extreme views at the Citizen Conclave many times and has incurred the displeasure of many of the Elders, including Superintendent Alexander.”

Members of the Senate could be called Elders or Senators.

In name, First City had three powerhouses. They were the consul, the inspectorate, and the Chief of Homeland Security. The latter was also known as the commander-in-chief, but it was currently held by Consul Beulis.

The three giants were elected by the Senate every four years.

With his amazing memory, Shang Jianyao repeated Garibaldi’s words word for word.

This made Garibaldi inexplicably have the feeling that the other party was being sarcastic. It’s fine as long as the meaning is clearly expressed during a recount. How can one repeat the entire text without missing a single word while maintaining the same tone?

Jiang Baimian listened seriously and thought for a moment. “I have no other questions. If I need your help in the future, I’ll contact you again.”

“It’s not about who’s helping who. This is our job. It might be better to call it a cooperation,” Garibaldi said politely. As he stood up, he said, “I’ll leave the things on the table. Don’t forget them.”

Just as he said that, he had already left his spot and walked toward the door of Silver Candle Café.

In order to prevent others from discovering the item and raising questions to find the owner, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian only waited for a moment before turning around and looking at the table behind them.

There was a small gray cloth bag there.

Shang Jianyao sat outside, so he could move more freely. He grabbed the cloth bag and hid it in his arms.

During this process, he and Jiang Baimian saw Garibaldi’s side profile.

This intelligence agent was less than 1.75 meters tall. He wore a very old black coat and a cap that was pressed very low. As he walked, his left hand kept pressing down on his cap, blocking his face.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao didn’t look any further. They retracted their gazes, sat up straight, and continued drinking their coffee.

After waiting for nearly ten minutes, they slowly got up, left the coffee shop, and got into the jeep parked nearby.

Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava waited for a while until they confirmed that nobody was keeping tabs on them before leaving one after another and returning to the gray SUV.

…

Ugo Hotel, Room 202.

Jiang Baimian held some of the information and flipped through it as she said, “Marcus likes to watch gladiator fights…”

In First City, a form of entertainment was popular. It was to choose strong captives and slaves and let them wrestle each other to determine the final winner.

The victor would obtain freedom and become a member of the Senate Guard or a member of a particular noble’s private army.

Long Yuehong also shared what he had read. “Avia really likes to bathe. She made half of her home a bathroom.”

This referred to 14 Round Hill Street in the Golden Apple Zone.

“How enviable.” Jiang Baimian stood up with a smile and walked to the bathroom.

As she approached, she felt the light dim a little. At some point in time, the ajar wooden door had been tightly shut.

She then heard a gasping sound coming from inside. This was like a beast panting, wailing, and growling; it made one’s hair stand on end.

Jiang Baimian suddenly looked around and saw that the room was pitch black. An instant later, she opened her eyes and realized that she was lying in bed.

The moonlight shone weakly through the curtain.

It was just a dream.

The dream mixed the Old Task Force’s discussion of the information at night with her afternoon encounter with Shang Jianyao.

Jiang Baimian sensed something and turned her head in confusion. She saw that Shang Jianyao had already sat up and was deep in thought in the darkness.

“You’re awake too?” Shang Jianyao asked.

Jiang Baimian gave a terse acknowledgment and recalled. “I dreamed about what happened in the afternoon. It was when I heard the strange sounds in the boss’s room. I woke up in shock.”

Shang Jianyao looked at her and calmly said, “Me too.”