Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian couldn’t be bothered to watch the gladiators appear. She controlled the speed at which she turned her head and casually looked back at the spot where the conflict had happened.

At the exit, the security personnel returned to their original positions one after another. The surrounding audience members would glance over from time to time.

All of this meant that someone had probably been running for their life unless the person lurking in the darkness had affected the thousands of people in the area.

If not for the fact that she was in the aristocratic VIP room, Jiang Baimian really wanted to check if there were any bullet holes in the ground and if the brownish-yellow rope was still there.

Her intuition told her that it was most likely true.

She vaguely seemed to grasp something and had a guess.

When she turned around, she heard the noble’s companions mocking him. “Haha, you almost became the first person in high society to choke to death from drinking water.”

“Only that one person was more embarrassing than you.”

“How was it? Tell us how you felt.”

With a gloomy expression, the noble said, “This was an assassination attempt on me! I don’t even know who I offended!”

He paused and exhaled. “Let’s watch the gladiator fight first. We’ll talk when we get back.”

It was only then that Jiang Baimian really paid attention to the noble’s appearance.

He was about 27 or 28 years old, and he was also an Akson. His black hair was tied into a small braid, and his blue eyes were relatively clear. He showed no signs of alcohol addiction.

He seemed to have undergone genetic enhancement. Although his facial features weren’t outstanding, he had a rather elegant bearing when all of them were put together. He gave off the feeling of an artist.

As for his height, Jiang Baimian couldn’t accurately determine his height because he was sitting. She could only believe that he wasn’t shorter than Long Yuehong based on her experience.

“Dino, don’t use assassination as an excuse,” the noble’s companions giggled and replied.

They had all seen Dino choke on his water and almost die… Dino definitely couldn’t hold the cup back then under normal conditions and would’ve let it fall to the ground… Dino insisted that he had suffered an assassination attempt, but he didn’t deny that he had choked on the water… The cup was placed on the table intact, and the rest of the water didn’t spill… Jiang Baimian extracted the details and tried to guess the possible truth.

She had heard of the person who was more ’embarrassing’ than Dino. A certain aristocrat suddenly had diarrhea in the suburbs. He quickly found a farmer’s house and borrowed their latrine, but he accidentally fell in and died young.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian saw Oray’s grandson—Marcus—reveal a slightly mocking smile again. He then cast his gaze at the arena.

The next second, Jiang Baimian heard Shang Jianyao chuckle softly. “A virtual machine…”

Virtual machine… Jiang Baimian’s research direction in the past wasn’t in the electronic or computer field, but she had come into contact with such things since she was young. After installing the auxiliary chip in her biological prosthetic limb, she had a deeper understanding of the field and naturally understood what a virtual machine was.

A virtual machine was a computer operating system emulated by the corresponding technology. Its functions were the same as the original, and using it was no different from using the original.

Everything that happened in the virtual machine wouldn’t affect the original version. After all, it was only a mirror image that could be used for relatively risky operations.

Shang Jianyao used a virtual machine to describe what had just happened. He meant that everyone had actually synchronized with a virtual world after entering the aristocratic VIP room and a specific area—or rather, a large-scale illusion. Everyone’s data and reactions had been replicated. They would communicate inside, and the results of the communication would be filtered by the powerful Awakened who created this illusion and send the feedback to their real selves.

In other words, the people the Old Task Force saw and heard had undergone three rounds of conversion. When a person spoke in reality, the corresponding words, expressions, and actions were synchronized with the virtual world. Jiang Baimian and the others in the virtual world would hear those words and see the other party’s expressions and actions. The data received by the images were then synchronized onto their bodies in reality.

Therefore, this seemingly normal private communication mechanism was abnormally complicated.

The complicated goal was to ensure safety.

To put it simply, everyone in this area’s interaction—people with people and people with objects—had undergone a round of filtering in the virtual world.

This made Jiang Baimian think of the Old World’s online games. She and the others were in control of an account that belonged to them to build a virtual world with other players and objects. What they saw and heard came from it, but the changes in their emotions were real.

The only difference was that most of the people present didn’t realize they were ‘playing games.’ They believed that everything was real and normal.

No matter how much damage one suffered in the game, they would be fine as long as their emotions didn’t exceed a certain limit.

In the current situation, this game also had a Censorship Mechanism installed. Gore, danger, and violent matters would be filtered out. It was to ensure that the players maintained a healthy body and mind while remaining emotionally stable.

Jiang Baimian had previously been wondering how First City could protect Oray’s two descendants and prevent them from being killed by an organization.

It had to be known that Awakened had many abilities. They were also concealed and bizarre. When assassinating a person without showing any signs, even powerhouses of the same level as the assailant might not discover them.

Just like how the noble nearly choked to death after taking a sip of water.

According to Jiang Baimian’s thoughts, the most effective way to prevent Awakened assassinations was to carve out a safe zone and prevent strangers from approaching. If they needed to travel, they could clear the area in advance and filter out the people coming and going.

But from her observations of Marcus and Avia, she realized that the two of them often went out—they participated in gatherings or watched gladiator fights. They never deliberately kept some distance from others.

This filled Jiang Baimian with confusion, but she couldn’t find a suitable explanation.

Now, she roughly understood the reason: the Marcus and Avia people saw were actually in a virtual machine!

This way, whoever wanted to do something nasty would definitely be discovered by the virtual world’s owner after the three layers of emulation and be stopped in time.

This ability is really interesting… In the virtual world, the aristocrat eventually choked on his water. This means that the first layer that synchronizes real-life data is an unconscious, instinctive replication. Therefore, it’s impossible to filter out such dangerous information… This also explains why I can sense bioelectric signals and why Shang Jianyao can also detect human consciousness. This is a rigid mechanism that completely replicates every detail…

After that, the choking on water isn’t reflected back to reality. Therefore, the noble is fine, and so is his cup… Here, the virtual world’s owner discovered something amiss. In other words, the data filter is actually at this level…

He provided us synchronized feedback on this matter to see everyone’s reactions? Yes… The subsequent performance of the noble choking to death was purely virtual. There’s no longer any real-life basis… This means that the virtual world’s owner has very strong control over this illusion…

By tracking the dangerous information, he easily locked onto the Awakened who used his abilities and found his location… This can explain most of what just happened… Thoughts flashed through Jiang Baimian’s mind as she connected all the details.

Long Yuehong also knew what a virtual machine was. He roughly understood Shang Jianyao’s meaning after some thought.

This made his eyes involuntarily widen a little. He increasingly found Awakened terrifying and strange.

Jiang Baimian then glanced at Shang Jianyao and didn’t say anything about her guess or communicate with him. She knew very well why the latter had used the relatively professional term ‘virtual machine’ to describe the current situation. This was because their every word and action would enter the virtual world and be monitored and filtered.

It was normal for the virtual world’s owner not to understand the meaning of ‘virtual machine’ if they weren’t educated.

This should be considered an illusion ability. It’s highly likely to belong to the Shattered Mirror domain… Previously, Avia also had Awakened in the Shattered Mirror domain… However, the Clam Dragon Church is mainly popular in areas where Ashlandic gather… According to the company’s information, First City doesn’t have any traces of Clam Dragon Church activity…

Jiang Baimian knew that only the thoughts in her mind were safe. Therefore, she cast her gaze at the colosseum and made all kinds of guesses as she watched the competition. Having one individual appear can be considered a special exception, but two might not be a coincidence. Could it be that they come from a Red River religion that worships Shattered Mirror? This religion has a very close partnership with First City?

In fact, they had said something that they shouldn’t have said just now. However, the overall situation was still fine. It could be explained that the two of them had a certain level of understanding of Awakened and were relatively familiar with General Phocas. They knew the two city guard majors—Ducas and Cassiel—and had never met Marcus. They had only heard a little about him and thought that he was leading an oppressed life.

Such conditions would be common from any filtering amongst First City’s high society. It wasn’t considered special.

With their new discovery, Jiang Baimian felt that their operation today had been fruitful.

Amidst orderly and intense thumping sounds, the tall gladiator—who was wearing leather armor and holding a shield and a spear—walked out. The black double-headed tiger jumped out and looked at its prey with brutal and bloodthirsty eyes.