Embers Ad Infinitum

As Jiang Baimian thought about it, the driving Bai Chen listed out the places she felt that Father might appear at. “Will he become addicted to Flagship cigarettes after smoking them? Will he often need to buy them at the port?”

“Based on Father’s prolonged lack of sleep, he will definitely continue using such items as long as they are effective,” echoed Long Yuehong.

Shang Jianyao scoffed when he heard that. “But there are only five of us.”

Jiang Baimian nodded. “The possibility of the real Father continuing to buy Flagship cigarettes is indeed very high, but the problem is that there are many shops selling such cheap cigarettes at the port alone. Many people purchase from the port every day. The real Father definitely won’t personally appear. He will definitely hypnotize passersby and use them as tools. We can’t monitor so many shops at the same time, nor can we determine who the tools among the purchasers are.”

“That’s right.” It was unknown when Genava had started using Long Yuehong’s mantra. “If only the port area, including the entire Green Olive Zone, could be filled with cameras like Tarnan.”

That way, he could hack into the municipal system, write a program, filter through the surveillance cameras, and use time and patience to find clues about the real Father.

“This place does need some revamps,” Shang Jianyao agreed.

After a brief silence, Long Yuehong raised the second possibility. “Monitor General Phocas’s residence? Since you were planted with seeds there and were tailed by the real Father’s puppet, could the real Father be hiding there? Or does he often need to go there to communicate with the hidden Anti-intellectualism Church experts in the residence? Once we discover a target that matches his characteristics, we’ll get Old Ge to confirm it.”

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and said, “This is an idea, but I don’t think it’s likely. Since there are puppets, there’s no need for the real Father to establish communications personally. He can just use someone like Sandel, a fake Father.”

She deliberated and continued, “From the way the real Father does things, he will only walk out of the darkness and appear under the sun when he needs to do things himself.”

“Therefore, we need to find a target that the real Father might personally deal with?” Long Yuehong asked in response.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “The Anti-intellectualism Church’s current focus should be to stir up internal strife in First City and make the situation here chaotic. Now that they’ve taken the first step, we need to know who the key figure that’s preventing them from taking the second step is. This can be gathered through the company’s intelligence network. On the account that Elder Varro is involved in colluding with the Salvation Army and the Anti-intellectualism Church, whoever is trying their best to maintain stability and suppress excessive behavior is the obstacle between the Conservatives and the Reformists. They are the one preventing them from completely falling out with each other, and it’s also their death that will worsen the conflict.”

At this point, Jiang Baimian laughed. “After locking onto the corresponding target, we might have to act as free and hidden bodyguards. When the time comes, we won’t participate in a confrontation at the Mind Corridor level. We will only find an opportunity to deliver a blow to the real Father.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped, and he asked in anticipation, “Shall we meet Garibaldi again? Will he switch to a better café this time?”

“Maybe it will be a restaurant?” Jiang Baimian replied with a smile.

Shang Jianyao’s eyes lit up immediately.

…

Two days later, the fake Father—Sandel—sent a telegram reporting an assault on him to the real Father. After barely escaping, he didn’t appear to have been suspected or investigated, but he didn’t receive any further orders by mail.

He felt that the real Father should’ve sensed something and that he might just be reserving him as poison bait.

During the hidden contest with the real Father, the Old Task Force became increasingly careful. Not only did they secretly move back to Ugo Hotel, but they also rented a few additional rooms as safe houses.

They didn’t send any more telegrams from their residences, afraid that someone would monitor the radio signals and lock onto their locations. They would always go to a specific safe house to deal with such matters.

Near this safe house that was specially used for telegrams was another safe house. Its purpose was to monitor if the former was exposed and if there were any suspicious people lurking.

In this aspect, the Old Task Force quickly accumulated sufficient experience.

This was a ‘subject’ that Jiang Baimian and the others had been exposed to, but nothing considered in-depth. It was more of a theoretical approach.

After getting the fake Father—Sandel—to continue lurking, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao went to Silver Candle Café in Red Wolf Zone’s Bulis Street like before.

Yes, the intelligence agent—Garibaldi—had chosen the same old place.

Before leaving, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao did some level of disguise. The military-green jeep had completed a new round of spray painting at a modification factory Bai Chen trusted. It was now dark green.

This was quite different from what the real Father knew.

In fact, there were several Rootless campsites around First City, but Ferlin’s Hometown caravan wasn’t in the vicinity during this period of time. Jiang Baimian didn’t trust the other Rootless teams.

At Silver Candle Café, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao—who deliberately acted like mercenaries—each ordered a cup of coffee and sat in their usual seats by the window in the corner.

Afraid of an accident, Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava didn’t split into three teams. All of them stayed in the same surveillance spot.

As he drank the inferior Bouchard coffee, Shang Jianyao raised an idea. “Our height and race are still too eye-catching in First City. Even if we disguise ourselves, it’s easy to leave an impression on others. Why don’t we get the Rootless to dye our hair? Sigh, it’s a pity that there are very few contact lenses that can change the color of our eyes in the Ashlands.”

Even ordinary contact lenses were in very low production.

Ordinary people didn’t care if they were short-sighted. They didn’t have the capability to get glasses at all.

As for middle-class people who led slightly better lives, normal glasses were enough. There was no need to get contacts.

Only the group of people at the top of the pyramid in the Ashlands had the leisure and motivation to seek out contact lenses.

Jiang Baimian held in her laughter and suggested, “You can shave your head.”

Surprisingly, Shang Jianyao seriously considered it.

“That would be more eye-catching.” Jiang Baimian quickly dismissed his idea. To be honest, she couldn’t imagine Shang Jianyao bald—even though he might become stronger as a result.

As the two of them spoke, a man—who was less than 1.75 meters tall—wearing a thin, black coat and a cap entered Silver Candle Café.

He quickly scanned the area and chose to sit behind Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao. As he passed by Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian, the man took the opportunity to draw out his right hand and wipe his face before taking out a neatly folded piece of paper.

The piece of paper landed in front of Shang Jianyao, which he easily scooped up in a concealed manner.

The man didn’t seem to notice and sat in the spot he had chosen.

He was one of Pangu Biology’s intelligence agents in First City, Garibaldi. This time, he didn’t introduce himself or ask anything. Instead, he patiently waited for Jiang Baimian’s new requests.

As for his feedback, it was in the folded pieces of paper.

This included the details of the assassination conducted by the real Father on First City’s Elder—Sols—the results of the cigarette butt test, First City’s current political situation, and the roles of several key Elders.

The latter two were used to analyze the Anti-intellectualism Church’s next target.

Jiang Baimian then picked up her cup and drank a mouthful of coffee. “There’s nothing else this time.”

She deliberately suppressed her voice as if she didn’t want to disturb the other customers in the café.

Shang Jianyao then helped by repeating it.

Garibaldi didn’t leave immediately. Like an ordinary customer, he waited for his coffee and slowly finished it.

Jiang Baimian was in no rush either. After a while, she unfolded the piece of paper Shang Jianyao handed her and quickly scanned it.

On the first page were the cigarette butt’s test results. “Human saliva was extracted… There’s a mint component in the saliva. After comparison, it’s been pinpointed to be Ralph sugar. It contains root parts of a plant like Ralph. It can effectively enhance one’s mind and cause diarrhea to a certain extent. It’s relatively popular in First City. (Note: First City’s dietary system makes one prone to constipation and indigestion)… DNA doesn’t match any sample in the laboratory database. It’s impossible to confirm the identity…”

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian sensed that Garibaldi had put down his cup and slowly walked out of the café.

She lowered her head and continued reading the information.

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded outside.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao suddenly looked up at the window and saw a person lying on the street.

He wore a thin black coat and a cap—Garibaldi!