Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao’s performance, Jiang Baimian jolted. It was as if a ‘soul’ that didn’t belong to her had been expelled from her body—or rather, a thought.

Lehman looked around in confusion, confused by Shang Jianyao’s strange reaction. It was obvious that he had nobody he desperately wanted to protect at the moment.

“There’s something wrong with that sentence.” Genava analyzed the anomaly from his companion’s situation and reminded them solemnly.

Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze from Shang Jianyao and cast it at the radio.

The magnetic man’s voice still echoed in the room through the loudspeaker. “I’ve finished explaining the principles. Let’s return to the topic at hand.

“In the field of electronics, the fundamentals are in 0s and 1s. This can combine into different numbers, and it can also represent true and false, on and off, serial and parallel…

“0, 1, and the large number of states they produce form the entire electronic world…

“This is very similar to the Dao. Yin, Yang, and the many things they produce form this world. As the saying goes, the Dao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things…

“When repairing different appliances, any problem will become simple as long as one can grasp the hidden underlying…”

The latter part doesn’t have that strange effect… Jiang Baimian—who was prepared to cover her ears—frowned and said, “Let’s go out first. Old Ge, stay here and record the content that is broadcast later. At the same time, figure out the radio station’s approximate location.”

“Alright.” Genava sat down—his butt only touching the chair by a sliver.

After leaving Richardson’s room, Jiang Baimian closed the wooden door to prevent the strange radio’s sounds from transmitting out.

“Are you awake?” She then looked at Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao shook his head frankly. “No.”

He smiled and explained further, “But it only affected one of us. I’ll have a meeting later and have a chat. The problem will be resolved.”

…Your problem is much more serious than that problem… Jiang Baimian didn’t respond in front of outsiders.

Of course, she wouldn’t do so under normal circumstances to prevent agitating Shang Jianyao and causing the relatively harmonious Shang Jianyaos to split.

“Is there a problem?” Lehman looked at them in confusion and asked in his awkward Ashlandic.

Jiang Baimian looked at Rondar and the others. “I’ll answer you later.”

Just as she said that, Shang Jianyao walked toward Lehman’s subordinates and asked with a smile, “Have you listened to the radio recently? Any good private radio station recommendations?”

Rondar replied in a rather relaxed manner, “I didn’t listen to the radio in the past, but I listened in with Richardson twice and found it rather interesting. It’s about appliances and maintenance. It’s practical and fun…”

Shang Jianyao was immediately excited. “Is it the Dao and Electronic Appliance Repairs?”

“Yes, yes, yes. You listened in too?” Rondar asked in a tone that suggested he had found something in common.

Shang Jianyao didn’t answer and asked, “All of you listened in before?”

“That’s right. Here in First City, we aren’t able to go home outside working hours. We also can’t go out to have fun, or else we won’t be able to protect our boss in time. We can only stay in our rooms to watch television programs and listen to the radio with Richardson. Sigh, there are only two or three channels on television, and there aren’t many programs…” Rondar rambled.

Shang Jianyao gave a look of agreement. “After arriving in First City, how can you not go to the bathhouse? Not only can you enjoy a sauna and take a hot bath, but you can also eat a buffet, read newspapers, watch performances, and get a massage…”

Upon hearing this, Lehman vaguely understood what was going on. He couldn’t hide his surprise as he looked at Jiang Baimian and suppressed his voice. “Did the problem with Richardson, Rondar, and the others happen because they listened to that radio station?”

The radio station’s owner named Wu Meng didn’t show his face; yet, by simply using a radio broadcast from an unknown distance, he had made the bodyguards around him unfamiliar and strange. They had worked together to put him under house arrest?

I-Isn’t this too unbelievable? Just the thought of this made Lehman’s legs tremble. He was no ordinary person but an arms dealer accustomed to combat. However, he was still shocked by Wu Meng’s almost godlike performance.

Jiang Baimian didn’t hide anything and thought for a moment before saying, “From the looks of it, we were almost affected by the Dao and Electric Appliances Repairs radio station. You seem fine?”

The strange radio station and the mysterious host surreptitiously changed their minds without warning. Together, all these factors combined into a terrifying matter.

Fortunately, Jiang Baimian had once imagined that after Shang Jianyao’s Inference Clowning ability was raised to its limits, he could successfully achieve the goal of misleading a target with a similar method by making a call. This strange radio station had only advanced this idea a step further. Therefore, she didn’t panic.

But no matter what, the person named Wu Meng was terrifyingly powerful.

In the face of Jiang Baimian’s question, Lehman shook his head. “There was nothing wrong with me when I listened to the radio…”

He then muttered to himself, “No, there was a little. I actually thought of protecting someone midway. As you… all of you know, Lars is already dead.”

He had changed the term ‘you’ to ‘all of you’ because Shang Jianyao had walked back.

“The focus of that sentence is ‘protection’ and ‘safety?'” Jiang Baimian muttered to herself and replied without any anticipation, “We aren’t sure that’s the case for the time being. We need to ask Richardson first.”

As she spoke, she looked at Shang Jianyao.

About two minutes later, Shang Jianyao and Richardson—who had been thrown out of the room after being woken up by Genava—had their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders as they giggled.

This time, Shang Jianyao still used Inference Clowning to not waste Destiny Pearl’s powers.

“I also like to listen to radio programs, especially those that broadcast ghost stories.” Shang Jianyao asked seriously, “What recommendations do you have?”

Richardson seriously thought for a moment and said, “The most recommended one is from our United Industries. I established a radio station with a few fellow enthusiasts, and it mainly talks about the daily lives of the company’s middle and lower-ranking employees. Many people like it. As for First City, there’s a program called ‘Awakening Your Ears’ every night on the official radio. It mainly talks about the Old World and all kinds of erotic stories in the current era. The female anchor’s voice is soft and sweet…”

As he spoke, he revealed a ‘you get what I mean’ expression.

As Jiang Baimian was beside him, he didn’t go into detail and said, “There are a few private radio stations that play music, promote certain religions, and entice you to go to the casinos. They aren’t too interesting, but there’s a radio station called Dao and Electrical Appliances Repairs. The radio host is interesting, and his professional knowledge is excellent. It’s not bad.”

“How did you discover this radio station?” Jiang Baimian interrupted and asked.

Richardson replied truthfully, “I was randomly tuning the frequencies and accidentally discovered it. I do such things in every large city.”

This wasn’t targeted at Lehman, or did they specially use such a method knowing that Richardson had such a habit? But isn’t this too complicated? How can someone who can do such a thing not be able to deal with Richardson and Lehman’s other bodyguards? Jiang Baimian furrowed her brows even more tightly.

She looked at Lehman and asked seriously, “What’s the purpose of your visit to First City?”

Lehman didn’t dare to hide anything and said with a confused expression, “Apart from transacting with you, it’s to sell a batch of firearms to a large client. The deal has been completed—nothing happened. We only moved here after that.”

He was also very confused about this encounter. He spread his hands and continued, “If they want to take away the military exoskeleton and mechanical arm I reserved for you, it’s been a few days, but nothing has happened. If they plan on kidnapping me and placing me under house arrest to obtain ransom, intelligence, or some evidence from me, why did they only affect Richardson, Rondar, and the others, but not me?”

Jiang Baimian nodded and added, “They also gave you a certain level of freedom, giving you an opportunity to send a telegram.”

Lehman’s heart palpitated. “The target is you?”

“That’s what I’m looking forward to. Sigh.” Shang Jianyao felt very regretful.

Jiang Baimian then said, “Ignoring the fact that nobody in First City should know that we know each other and have a transaction to close, the development of the matter isn’t right even if someone beside you leaks this information. At least until now, we haven’t sensed any danger other than the radio station’s influence. Even so, it’s a difficulty our team can overcome.”

A difficulty that you can overcome… Lehman looked at Richardson, Rondar, and the others, and the polite smile on his face became increasingly sincere.

He thought for a moment and decided that he would reserve a bodyguard robot from Mechanical Paradise as soon as possible through Redstone Collection, no matter the price.

“What does the radio station owner want?” Lehman asked after some deliberation.

Jiang Baimian paced around and thought for a moment. “Maybe the target isn’t you. Maybe he doesn’t even have a specific target.”

“What?” Lehman was confused.

Shang Jianyao immediately helped Jiang Baimian explain. “This is called indiscriminate killing!”

Nobody has died yet… Lehman was also an experienced person. He roughly understood what Jiang Baimian and the others wanted to say. “Do you mean that the radio station’s owner has been using the radio to influence possible listeners, regardless of their identities, where they come from, or what they want to do, and that we were just unfortunate to encounter it?”

This misfortune came from Richardson’s hobby.

This guess terrified Lehman the more he spoke. A scene even surfaced in his mind: An unknown existence so mysterious that it was a question of them being human could constantly influence the cognition and thoughts of listeners who chanced upon the radio station…

“I can only say that this is very likely.” Jiang Baimian didn’t give a definite answer to Lehman’s guess.

After waiting for a while, Genava opened the door to Richardson’s room and walked out. “The radio broadcast has ended. The subsequent content was mostly knowledge pertaining to electronic appliance repairs, mixed with some Daoist theory. There’s nothing special about it, nor were there any strange fluctuations. Of course, I’m not a carbon-based being. I can’t be sure if it was completely without problem, but I’ve recorded everything that needed to be recorded.”

Jiang Baimian nodded and directly asked, “Did you detect the radio station’s general location?”

Genava moved his metal neck up and down. “It’s probably somewhere at the intersection of the North Shore Mountains and the wastelands. It’s slightly northeast, and the straight-line distance from here is less than 40 kilometers. After comparing it with the map, I can preliminarily confirm that it belongs to an Old World city ruin. First City labels it 13.”