Embers Ad Infinitum

On a street near Hurst Apartments, the suspected real Father finished listening to Genava’s broadcast. He looked at the robot with red-light-emitting eyes for two seconds before suddenly opening his mouth and shouting, “Help! Help!”

As he shouted, he turned around and tried to run to an area with the most pedestrians.

He was fast, but Genava was even faster. He traversed several meters in a single stride and grabbed the back of the target’s collar with his steel hand.

Amidst the tearing sound of clothes, the man suspected to be the real Father was forcefully dragged back.

Bang!

Genava knocked the target unconscious with a well-calibrated punch. Under the pedestrians’ horrified and terrified gazes, he dragged the man into a quiet and deep alley.

At this moment, the fire engine’s sirens approached from afar. Genava also heard Bai Chen’s report.

…

“Hey, I really miss you…”

Beside the mailbox by the street, the man suspected to be the real Father saw Shang Jianyao—who was wearing sunglasses and had a sunny disposition.

Shang Jianyao was just about to take action when he suddenly heard Bai Chen’s voice coming from the walkie-talkie. “Another suspected target has appeared at the back door.”

He twitched his eyebrows and bowed at the man in front of him. “Sorry to disturb you.”

After apologizing, he turned around to search for another target.

Just as the man suspected to be the real Father was still in a dumbfounded state, Shang Jianyao turned around and seriously said, “I can’t completely eliminate your suspicion, so I’ll still have to bring you back.”

The man suspected to be the real Father’s eyes suddenly turned deep. He took advantage of the moment when the two parties’ gazes met to perform Hypnosis.

Even with the sunglasses separating them, he could ‘hypnotize’ the enemy as long as their gazes met!

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing sunglasses—didn’t seem affected at all. He suddenly took two steps forward, lowered his body, and punched the target’s lower abdomen.

Amidst the suspected Father’s surprise, he turned sideways and blocked with his hands. But at this moment, he realized that his hands were no longer under his control.

Bam!

He was punched in the gut, and his entire body bent like a gigantic prawn.

Shang Jianyao calmly took off his sunglasses and punched again, knocking the target unconscious.

His sunglasses weren’t simple. There was a piece of paper pasted behind each lens, and on the other side of the paper was a photo of his left and right eyes.

In other words, the eyes the suspected Father saw through the sunglasses were printed photos. After Shang Jianyao wore the sunglasses, he was no different from being blind. He faced the enemy and punched out purely based on his perception of human consciousness.

After knocking out the target, Shang Jianyao disguised himself so that he looked more like a Red River native. As he carried the man suspected to be the real Father, he shouted to the pedestrians around him in Red River language, “What are you looking at? Have you never seen a kidnapping before?”

He seemed to have been waiting to say this sentence for a long time.

The next second, Shang Jianyao carried the ‘hostage’ on his back and ran toward the other target.

…

Bai Chen placed her eyes behind the Orange rifle’s scope and focused on observing the target in the beanie.

The target’s gait and physical characteristics were very similar to the real Father that the Old Task Force had deduced.

He was slightly thinner than the previous two targets.

Upon seeing that the target was using the various obstacles and pedestrians in the back alley to hide from possible snipers and monitors as he walked quickly toward Geder Building, Bai Chen diverted her attention to observe her surroundings and didn’t discover Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, or Genava rushing over.

There’s not enough time… Just as this thought flashed through Bai Chen’s mind, she saw the target suddenly turn around and rush straight for an ordinary building that was only eight to nine stories tall. He looked like he wanted to enter, pass through the lobby, and leave through another exit in order to shake off any potential stalkers or monitors.

Bai Chen didn’t hesitate, nor did she have any concerns that the other party might be innocent. She adjusted the muzzle and aimed at the target’s legs.

After getting her cadence down, she calmly squeezed the trigger.

Almost at the same time, the man suspected to be the real Father seemed to sense something and suddenly pounced to the side.

Bang!

Stone chips splattered where he was about to step, and a deep bullet hole appeared.

The man suspected to be the real Father rolled over, turned around, and cast his gaze at the tall building where Bai Chen was.

At his wrist, a strange accessory that seemed to be woven from black hair emitted a fiery glow.

Bai Chen’s vision suddenly went black. At this moment, she lost all her vision and became blind.

To her surprise, the distance between her and the target was definitely more than 100 meters away. It far exceeded the ability range of Awakened at the Sea of Origins level. However, she was still affected by a suspected Awakened ability.

The real Father has items from the Mind Corridor on him, and it has a relatively large range? Bai Chen shrank back without thinking and put away the Orange rifle to avoid any possible attacks.

Nothing happened.

Ten seconds later, a beam of light entered Bai Chen’s pitch-black field of vision. This light dispersed all the darkness, allowing her to see her surroundings again.

Her eyesight returned. She quickly regained her vision since the man suspected to be the real Father had no intention of deliberately maintaining the effects.

Without hesitation, Bai Chen stood up again and carried the Orange rifle to the edge of the rooftop.

With the scope’s help, she looked at the spot where the target had been and realized that there was nobody there.

There were several high-rise condos there, making it impossible to determine where the man suspected to be the real Father had entered.

…

Alex—who had short hair, obvious dark eye circles, and relatively good facial features—looked at the woman beside him and reached out to take the linen shirt from her.

The male owner of this family also handed over his coat and pants enthusiastically.

In exchange, Alex gave him his blue beanie and watched him wear it happily.

After quickly changing his clothes and putting on the corresponding disguise, Alex touched the glass bead ring on his left pinky. He waved at the couple and walked out the door.

His expression was rather gloomy as if he were very angry about the situation he was in. Fortunately, the difficulties were about to pass, and he would pay them back double.

After watching Alex leave his house, the man in the blue beanie smiled at his wife. “I picked up a hat on my way back.”

His wife replied sadly, “But a thief came to our house, and we lost some clothes.”

Outside, Alex walked along the aisle toward the side exit.

There was a small alley that led to the Red Wolf Zone at the side exit. As long as he entered the Red Wolf Zone, Alex believed that he would be completely out of trouble with the crowd there.

In fact, he didn’t find it very dangerous now. He was sure that he had already shaken off all the stalkers and monitors.

The reason he remained vigilant and high-strung was that he couldn’t figure out how he had been exposed and targeted. He always hid himself behind layers of disguises like the very famous Matryoshka dolls in the Old World, hoping to place himself in an absolutely safe environment.

Before this, apart from having to take action personally and face the target, he had never encountered a situation in which an enemy had locked onto his position and almost entrapped him.

What’s the problem? To the proud real Father—Alex—this was a question that dealt a heavy blow to his confidence and made him lose a lot of sense of security.

If he didn’t figure out the answer to this question, such things would definitely happen again with no end. When the time came, Alex didn’t think he could successfully escape again and again.

He was still human, and there were always limits.

After some thought, Alex still couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong. He even suspected that the other party had chanced upon him by luck.

No, it can’t be luck. I haven’t been out during this period of time. Everyone else’s memories have been modified. Even if those people are sufficiently lucky, it’s impossible for them to know that I’m in Alpha Building without setting off the alarms… Even Elder Bouillon doesn’t know my exact location. I’m the only one who knows… It must be that some detail wasn’t handled well, and I left behind clues that can be traced… I have to investigate it as soon as possible and nip the latent danger in the bud… As Alex thought coldly, he gripped the door handle and pulled it open.

He lowered his head slightly and leaned forward as he walked into the alley.

The only benefit from this experience was that the intense stimulation and tense atmosphere made him highly excited. He was no longer tired and had regained the absolute clarity he had lost for a long time.

At this moment, he felt a still human consciousness in front of him. It was unknown what it was doing.

Alex instinctively looked up, and his pupils abruptly dilated.

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a gray camouflage uniform—stood in the middle of the alley. Beside him was a man with a bearing and characteristics similar to Alex’s.

Upon seeing Alex, Shang Jianyao put on a pair of Old World-style sunglasses and smiled brightly. “Mr. Father, long time no see.”

Further away in a corner that was shielded from bullets, a song sounded. “Hey, I really miss you…”