Embers Ad Infinitum

The North Shore Mountains in the Red River wastelands were a vast stretch. There were many mutated creatures, Old World military bases, and research centers. Valuable discoveries were often made.

As many of the roads here had been destroyed and couldn’t be repaired, and the environment was very complicated, it was difficult for First City’s troops to enter on a large scale. They could only explore using platoons or small teams. Therefore, it became a paradise for Ruin Hunters.

Countless people came and went every year, working ceaselessly for survival. Several places in the mountains naturally formed different-sized advance base camps. They provided food, water, weapons, ammunition, bandages, fuel, batteries, and other necessities for Ruin Hunters that tried to enter the mountains.

At the same time, these advance base camps provided a relatively safe resting space for the Ruin Hunters that returned, allowing them to be treated for any ordinary diseases or relatively light injuries in a timely fashion.

As long as one could pay with the necessary supplies, one could even hire a helicopter to evacuate them to First City regardless of the severity of the injuries for emergency medical treatment. Such services were said to be related to the military.

The camp that the Old Task Force had arrived at was the closest to the mountains. Vehicles couldn’t navigate beyond that point, forcing personnel to go by foot only.

Jiang Baimian looked over and took in the camp’s general appearance.

It was built using an Old World ancient castle as its foundation. It had a stone wall as its perimeter, and its interior was a five-story main building and secondary buildings scattered around.

There was a relatively spacious square that was likely used to train soldiers in ancient times. Now, it was filled with cars.

Jiang Baimian noticed that apart from the dense green plants on the castle’s outer walls, there were also a large number of bullet holes and obvious burn marks.

All of this meant that this place wasn’t safe all the time.

After driving into the castle and finding a place to stop, Jiang Baimian led Shang Jianyao and the others through the sparse number of Ruin Hunters and entered the Coss Bar on the main building’s first floor.

Although it was called a bar, there was no alcohol most of the time. By a stroke of luck, a caravan might occasionally bring some private brew over for sale.

Long Yuehong casually observed the area and realized that most Ruin Hunters used it as a restaurant. The only man sitting in front of the bar was holding a cup that wasn’t filled with alcohol; instead, it was some sticky blob.

The man looked to be in his thirties. His beard was messy, and it was obvious that he hadn’t shaved for days. The lack of thickness also meant that the man used to tidy his appearance.

At this moment, he drank the cup’s contents and occasionally made chewing sounds. He looked down at the damaged watch in his palm with a pained expression.

Shang Jianyao walked over, pulled over a stool, and inquired as though he knew him. “What happened?”

The man turned his head to glance at him and smirked. “New here? For the white wolf? I advise you to give up. There are plenty of opportunities in the mountains. Don’t be blinded by the high rewards.”

Jiang Baimian also sat down and asked as if in thought, “Is this a lesson you learned?”

The blond, green-eyed man’s expression changed slightly before he fell completely silent. After a few seconds, he sighed and said, “That’s very obvious. In order to seize the opportunity in the mountains and ensure our own safety, hunters need to form teams. Just like you, there are very few lone rangers here. They are often terrifyingly powerful.”

Without waiting for Shang Jianyao to ask, the man drank his cup’s contents and chewed twice. “I no longer have any companions…”

As he spoke, his voice was low and deep.

Bai Chen pursed her lips and gently asked, “They died at the white wolf’s claws?”

The man put down the cup and covered his face with his hands. After a while, he said, “We confirmed the white wolf’s activity patterns and believed that we could hit it with a tranquilizer gun from beyond its strange bewitchment range. B-but it discovered our existence at some point in time. It actually changed directions at the last minute and circled to the spot where we were hiding… T-then, can you imagine the outcome?”

Toward the end, the man—who had already lowered his palms—had a panicked and terrified expression as if he was still immersed in the ‘nightmare’ that he couldn’t wake up from.

Upon seeing that the Old Task Force didn’t respond, the corners of his mouth twitched as he frantically said, “I don’t know how I escaped. Maybe the white wolf was satiated. I’ll never forget the way they looked at me. It was unfamiliar, hateful, and cold. It’s like I’ve become that wolf’s servant.”

Phew… The man exhaled and said, “Later, I mustered my courage and returned there, only to discover this watch. It’s Sachi’s most precious item, and it’s wrecked…”

He didn’t continue speaking as if he didn’t want to admit that his companions might’ve been wiped out.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others looked at each other as a thought surfaced in their minds: Can the white wolf sense human consciousness? Therefore, it easily resolved the Ruin Hunters’ ambush.

“That’s unfair,” Shang Jianyao suddenly said.

This time, Jiang Baimian roughly understood what he meant.

Human Awakened couldn’t sense beasts, but mutated creatures could discover human consciousness.

The man was stunned. “What’s unfair?”

“It’s unfair to humans,” Shang Jianyao replied truthfully, but he didn’t explain the full statement.

The man agreed deeply. “That’s right. Why can a beast be so strong and have such strange abilities?”

He glanced at Jiang Baimian and the others again. “Those who encountered the white wolf and returned alive have all given up. However, there is an endless stream of confident rookies such as you guys.”

At this moment, he saw Genava and was stunned. “You guys brought a robot… Good luck.”

It was common knowledge among Ruin Hunters that robots could resist such special traits.

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer and instead asked, “Can you share your summary of the white wolf’s activity patterns with us? We will pay for it.”

“That’s a good deal.” The man laughed self-deprecatingly. “We’ll talk about it when we get out. There are too many people here.”

“Alright, how should I address you?” Jiang Baimian asked. She had done her best to disguise herself to look ordinary with makeup.

The man casually replied, “Waite.”

This is as ordinary as a fake name… Long Yuehong criticized inwardly.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao asked out of curiosity, “What are you drinking? It smells good.”

Waite pointed at the bar owner. “The meat brew here.”

The boss was an elderly man with white hair. He looked up and said, “The most commonly harvested prey in the mountains that are delicious, unique, and not dangerous have all been acquired by the nobles. The rest are either poor-quality meat, sour, and smelly, or have some problems. They aren’t suitable for eating often and can’t be sold for a high price.

“But it’s meat after all. I acquire them and turn them into meat paste. Coupled with some plants in the mountains, I stew them into such a thing. It smells good, but it doesn’t taste that good. It just satisfies some cravings.”

Jiang Baimian thoughtfully asked, “There should be people who specially buy such meat to eat, right?”

“Very few people have a choice, but many people don’t have a choice,” the boss replied concisely.

In the brief silence, Long Yuehong thought of something and quickly asked, “Is there a Hunter’s Guild office here?”

Waite laughed when he heard that. “How can there be?”

“Why not?” Long Yuehong was confused.

Waite pointed outside. “This place has been destroyed twice in the past ten years. It’s unknown how many people have died because of the large number of Heartless attacks and the migration of mutated creatures. How would the guild’s employees dare to come? In any case, it’s only half a day’s journey from here. People can take the opportunity to relax when submitting missions in First City.”

Long Yuehong stopped asking when he thought of the various marks on the outer wall.

Waite pointed at the boss again. “It’s not that there’s no other way. Who would be willing to open a bar here?”

“In any case, I’m already old,” replied the boss calmly.

Waite turned to look at Shang Jianyao and the others. “Ashlandic… You guys only came recently? It’s no wonder you don’t know about these matters.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” Shang Jianyao didn’t hide anything and directly asked, “Have you seen a Ruin Hunter named Ferrington? He’s the same height as him, has grayish hair, dark-brown eyes, and likes to use a shotgun.”

The ‘he’ Shang Jianyao was referring to was Long Yuehong.

Ferrington was the Ruin Hunter that the Blackshirts’ second boss—Terrence—had mentioned, the one who knew about the Mirror Church.

As Waite shook his head, the bar owner replied, “He went to chase after the white wolf. I don’t know if he will return.”

“Okay.” As Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, a person walked into the bar.

The person was thin and tanned. He was in his thirties and less than 1.7 meters tall. He wore a long black T-shirt and dark-blue canvas pants with traces of patching. This was a familiar face—the Ruin Hunter who had first informed the Old Task Force of the information—Wang Fugui.