Embers Ad Infinitum

In a bath that was filled with white steam, Long Yuehong picked up a towel beside him and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“First City’s citizens sure know how to enjoy themselves,” he sighed with emotion.

Here, even the lowest-ranking citizens could go to cheap bathrooms every few days as long as they could survive and earn a little extra money. There was no exception, be they men, women, old, or young.

This was more cost-effective than boiling water and showering at home.

Shang Jianyao—who was also soaking in hot water—spread his arms to the sides and placed them on the edge of the pool. He smiled and replied to Long Yuehong, “It’s not like you haven’t been in one when you were young.”

Inside Pangu Biology, most employees had no place to shower at home. They could only go to the public bathroom, which was filled with showers.

But children under the age of three didn’t need to care about such things. They could boil a pot of water at home, get a basin, and adjust the temperature before throwing the child in for washing.

“I have no impression of that at all,” Long Yuehong said honestly. “If it weren’t for the fact that I still see children bathing in basins, I would’ve doubted that I had such an experience.”

After finishing off the real Father, Jiang Baimian specially brought Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong to a relatively large bathhouse in the Red Wolf Zone to reward the entire team.

Shang Jianyao ignored Long Yuehong’s answer and sighed. “Unfortunately, Old Ge can’t soak in it.”

Although this robot was waterproof, it couldn’t keep soaking in hot water.

“What suits him is a pool of engine oil, but that’s too extravagant,” said Long Yuehong with a smile.

After taking a steam bath, he felt relaxed all over. Even his mind was less tense.

Therefore, he casually said, “I wonder how the Church of Spiritual Transcendence will deal with Cynthia… Actually, they can find a middleman to directly reveal the information to Superintendent Alexander and make him vigilant. This way, they might even establish a relationship with this big shot.”

Shang Jianyao leaned his head back slightly and smiled. “They really should hire you as a consultant.”

Long Yuehong suddenly felt a little nervous and asked unconfidently, “Is there a problem?”

Shang Jianyao glanced at him. “What if Alexander and Cynthia are in cahoots?”

“That’s true…” Long Yuehong thought for a moment and realized that he couldn’t rule out this possibility. In that case, the Church of Spiritual Transcendence would be exposed and targeted.

Shang Jianyao smiled and said, “If it were me, I would find an opportunity to invade First City’s radio station and television station. I would then bring the radio announcer under control and play a piece of news on loop: Attention, attention. Cynthia is a Church of Paragon Desire member and is in cahoots with the Anti-intellectualism Church. She’s currently looking for an opportunity to establish contact with Superintendent Alexander.”

As he spoke, he revealed an eagerness to try.

Long Yuehong imagined the scene Shang Jianyao described and couldn’t help but laugh. “In that case, Superintendent Alexander and Cynthia have to maintain sufficient distance regardless of what relationship they have.”

“Actually, we can also fabricate some news of romance between him and Cynthia and link him to the Church of Paragon Desire. It will make all the citizens who see and hear the news despise and spurn him.” Shang Jianyao placed his right hand in the water and patted his thigh. “Unfortunately, that newly-promoted Elder—Gaius—didn’t hire the two of us as consultants. Otherwise, he would’ve succeeded in leading the Reformists’ coup.”

“Why am I included?” Long Yuehong subconsciously asked.

Shang Jianyao said seriously, “I’m in charge of coming up with bad ideas, and you’re in charge of eliminating the wrong ones.”

As Shang Jianyao had admonished even himself, Long Yuehong was momentarily at a loss for words.

Feeling that he was done with soaking, he turned his body around in embarrassment and crawled out of the bath. He then picked up the towel beside him and tied it around his waist.

“You have to be confident.” Shang Jianyao educated Long Yuehong sincerely. Then, he calmly got out of the bath, picked up the towel, and walked all the way to the showers.

After cleaning themselves, he and Long Yuehong put on their bathrobes, buckled their belts, and walked into the buffet restaurant on the first floor.

The food here couldn’t be considered a spread, but there was no lack of bread, bacon, fried fish, vegetables, sausages, and macaroni.

Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen had also taken a bath. They coiled their hair, wore bathrobes, and picked out food to place on their trays.

Jiang Baimian sighed with emotion when she saw Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong enter. “Why do I feel that 1 Oray per person is a very good deal?”

Long Yuehong had never seen a woman in a bathrobe after she took a shower. He was a little embarrassed to look up.

“Unfortunately, I can’t come every day. Otherwise, I will make the boss go bankrupt with my eating.” Shang Jianyao casually picked up a tray.

He then mocked Long Yuehong. “You won’t be able to see where the food is if you continue that!”

Jiang Baimian felt that it wasn’t a good idea to tease Little Red in this regard. She smiled and changed the topic. “Let’s sit separately later. Otherwise, I’m afraid the boss will include me in the future blacklist.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” Long Yuehong found an opportunity to counterattack.

At this moment, Bai Chen suddenly asked Long Yuehong a question. “If you face a female enemy in the future and she suddenly takes off her clothes, will you be embarrassed to watch and miss the opportunity to attack?”

“Uh…” Long Yuehong felt that no female enemy would do such a strange thing.

Jiang Baimian replied on Long Yuehong’s behalf. “The process of undressing is enough for Little Red to kill her eight times.”

They stopped chatting and continued choosing their food separately.

After lunch, the four of them entered a lounge. They each occupied a recliner and covered themselves with a thin towel before falling asleep.

“This is called enjoying a moment of peace…” Jiang Baimian sighed in satisfaction.

Nobody replied.

As the four of them were in a state of reverie, they heard chatting from elsewhere in the lounge.

“The masseuse upstairs is very good. You can give it a try next time.”

“Is the massage you mentioned proper?”

“Of course. I haven’t been sleeping well recently, and I’ve always had nightmares. I fell asleep shortly after the massage.”

“Heh heh, you couldn’t sleep well because you had something on your mind?”

“No, I encountered a terrifying mutated creature when I passed by the Green Olive Zone some time ago. It scared the bejesus out of me… Sigh, how many years has it been since the New Calendar? Why are there still mutated stray animals in the city?”

“It might’ve slipped in from outside the city. As you know, the city defense forces can only defend against people and not these things. Oh right, what does it look like? Should we report it to the Public Security Department in case we encounter it again and get injured?”

“It’s very similar to a cat—no, like a baby leopard. Its entire body was blood red as if it didn’t have any skin. Its tail was like a scorpion, and there were white spikes on its shoulders. Oh right, it had four ears…”

Shang Jianyao opened his eyes and sat up.

At the same time, Jiang Baimian and the others had similar reactions.

As they looked at each other, Shang Jianyao excitedly mouthed: Xiaochong!

The mutated creature described by the person was very similar to Xiaochong’s pet—Slumber Cat or Ghost Cat!

…

In the lobby of First City’s Hunter’s Guild.

Long Yuehong—who had disguised himself—asked casually, “Do you think Team Leader and Shang Jianyao can find Xiaochong?”

The Old Task Force was now acting separately. Long Yuehong and Bai Chen went to the Hunter’s Guild to gather information. Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao went to the Green Olive Zone to find Xiaochong, Nightmare Horse, and Slumber Cat.

As for Genava, it was temporarily inconvenient for him to go out because he was too eye-catching. After all, the news that a robot in the Golden Apple Zone had kidnapped a man was rather terrifying.

“Difficult,” Bai Chen replied simply.

The Green Olive Zone was much larger than the Golden Apple Zone. The permanent residents and registered residents numbered more than a million. It was almost impossible to find Xiaochong, who had the intention to hide.

He wasn’t like Father, who would take the initiative to do certain matters and leave behind certain traces. He would only stay at home and play games.

“It’s quite easy to be seen and remembered if the Nightmare Horse enters the city,” Long Yuehong muttered.

At this moment, he was holding a bag of documents. Inside was some of the information about the Anti-intellectualism Church obtained from Father’s memories.

In this regard, Father actually didn’t know much. This was because the Anti-intellectualism Church’s style was that they were each in charge of their own businesses, and applications for help needed permission from the higher-ups. Therefore, Father only knew the matters under his charge and some of the matters related to Shepherd Bouillon.

In his memories, Shepherd Bouillon’s immediate subordinates had code names such as Father, Doctor, or Trashman. However, they rarely contacted each other. Nobody knew what the other was doing.

As for Shepherd Bouillon, Father couldn’t remember him either. Only when he encountered him would he come to a realization and recover his corresponding memories.

Like the fake Father, he only had an impression of Shepherd Bouillon’s croaking voice that sounded like a result of an unrecovered injury. However, Jiang Baimian suspected that this was a fake characteristic that Shepherd Bouillon had deliberately created because he had concealed everything else except this one.

The real Father actually thought the same.

Therefore, the more valuable parts in Father’s memories were the matters he was in charge of and the situation of his immediate subordinates. The Old Task Force had sorted them out and planned on mailing them to First City’s Hand of Order. As was customary, they didn’t leave their names when doing good deeds.

At the same time, through confirmation using the real Father’s memories, the Old Task Force was completely certain that the Anti-intellectualism Church’s next target was General Phocas. However, the real Father was only a deputy in this operation when assisting Shepherd Bouillon. He didn’t grasp the complete plan.

As they spoke, Bai Chen and Long Yuehong went up to the second floor and saw the old man—Friedrich—who had previously received them.

Friedrich—who was wearing a black robe—glanced at them and smiled. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“We realized a few enemies were in First City,” Bai Chen explained calmly.

Friedrich nodded and didn’t ask any further. He smiled and said, “There are clues to the person you previously commissioned us to find. A Ruin Hunter saw him.”

Han Wanghuo has been found? Long Yuehong was pleasantly surprised.