Embers Ad Infinitum

Long Yuehong looked at the corpses and injured on the ground and realized that Bob’s companions were also dead. He didn’t know if he should feel lucky or sad about this.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian’s instructions entered his ears through the walkie-talkie. Afterward, he immediately asked Roen, “When you followed that white wolf, what did you rely on to survive? I mean, what did you eat?”

The brown-haired, greasy, and dirty Roen recalled and said, “We’d help it hunt, and its leftovers were ours. However, there usually wasn’t much left. The prey we obtained each time was limited, and we had many people. Most of the time, we followed the white wolf into a cave. There’s a large amount of food in the cave’s depths, which comes from the Old World. There was canned food, spam, biscuits, and various kinds of food. Although they’ve basically expired, they can still be eaten. Nothing wrong happened…”

There’s a large amount of human food from the Old World in that cave? Long Yuehong became more and more confused.

This was too abnormal—or rather, too unnatural and strange.

He then asked, “Do you know how many exits there are in the cave?”

“Many. In any case, there’s more than one. Just the ones we’ve taken number three,” Roen replied thoughtfully. “They are located in different areas of the mountains. Heh heh, that cave is really huge. There might be a passage that can allow us to leave the mountain directly.”

Long Yuehong quickly reported this situation to his team leader.

He originally wanted to ask in detail where the other two exits were, but Roen was a Ruin Hunter who had just come to the North Shore Mountains, making him unfamiliar with the area. It was still possible to find the exits by letting him lead the way, but it would be difficult when describing it verbally.

Therefore, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others arrived earlier than the advance base camp’s rescue team.

When Roen and the other lightly injured saw Bai Chen in a military exoskeleton and Genava in a black military uniform, they were dumbfounded and speechless.

The Old Task Force was decked out in a way that exceeded their imaginations!

They had been in an abnormal state in the prior battle and didn’t have a deep understanding of the situation around them. Genava also didn’t waste his time on them and went straight for the white wolf, so they had subconsciously ignored the robot.

As for the military exoskeleton Bai Chen wore, they imagined that she had given it to Long Yuehong.

This was still acceptable. It wasn’t especially rare for Ruin Hunters or even bandits to obtain an old military exoskeleton model that had been decommissioned in First City.

Now, what they just saw were two military exoskeletons and a robot. Furthermore, the models weren’t too old.

With such a setup, they could attack the advance base camp and easily occupy it! Of course, the premise was that they had come to a certain level of understanding with the few powerful lone rangers and reached a certain agreement.

“You can take off your equipment; conserve electricity,” Jiang Baimian casually instructed. She looked at Roen and asked, “Are you willing to be hired to help us search for the other cave exit?”

Roen quickly nodded. “Yes, no problem!”

He would only dare to give such an answer even if he was asked to do it for free, much less be paid.

He then revealed a pained expression. “Can you let me recuperate for two days? My injuries still hurt when walking.”

“No problem. We have to rest and observe the situation.” Jiang Baimian expressed her understanding. Her eyes darted around slightly before she looked at Roen again and said with a faint smile, “You didn’t see the two military exoskeletons just now, right?”

Roen suddenly shivered and blurted out, “No! I didn’t see anything!”

In fact, Jiang Baimian didn’t care much about this matter. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been the one to warn Roen. Instead, she would’ve gotten Shang Jianyao to ‘persuade’ him.

In the advance base camp, it was no big deal to reveal the ‘secret’ of their two military exoskeletons. Would anyone dare to snatch them?

Even if someone had such thoughts, they would have to consider if they or their team had the ability.

As long as the powerful lone wolves weren’t the type that could restrain robots, they wouldn’t clash with the Old Task Force because of their greed.

Very few people could restrain robots. They also had to seriously consider whether the team that could obtain two military exoskeletons and had a robot following them had other hidden strengths or powerful backgrounds.

Thus, they would receive more respect and reverence from others if this matter were to be leaked.

There were only two things the Old Task Force needed to be vigilant about. The first was that the elite team from First City’s regular army had just entered the mountains and heard of this matter. The second was that the lone wolves could band together in pursuit of wealth.

Early warnings could be obtained for the former, and contact could be made with the latter through Wang Fugui.

After receiving Roen’s repeated assurances, Jiang Baimian glanced at the other lightly injured people and considered letting Shang Jianyao do the job so as not to ruin her image and appear like a villain.

The next second, the lightly injured trembled and anxiously shouted, “I don’t know anything!”

“I didn’t see anything!”

…

The corners of Jiang Baimian’s mouth twitched as she slowly exhaled.

She didn’t specially deal with the deceased’s surviving companions.

Being born in the Ashlands, were there a lack of such situations? With the Old Task Force’s current strength, would they be afraid of revenge?

She then got her team members to cooperate with her and gave the injured further treatment to prevent them from failing to wait for medical help to arrive. Traversing the mountain paths was difficult after all, and it would take a while for those people to arrive.

When the advance base camp’s rescue team arrived, the shocking scene of corpses strewn about and the soil dyed red reflected in their eyes.

Jiang Baimian realized that Wang Fugui and the self-proclaimed ‘scared’ Waite were among them. She quickly said, “We saved these people who were bewitched by the white wolf.”

Wang Fugui’s eyebrows twitched as he gave a thumbs-up.

Waite was first stunned before he searched for his missing companions. However, he only found two corpses.

He quickly found an acquaintance and asked about his other companions.

The Ruin Hunter—who had also been controlled by the white wolf—sighed and said, “They were all eaten by the white wolf.”

Waite’s expression sank again, and he didn’t say anything else.

When cleaning up the scene, apart from taking away their weapons and items, the injured left everything else to the Old Task Force. The advance base camp’s rescue personnel did the same.

They were considered Jiang Baimian and the others’ war spoils.

…

After returning to the advance base camp, Jiang Baimian didn’t participate in the treatment of the injured. She gathered her team members and discussed the situation at the parking lot.

“I can now understand why Waite was able to escape back then.” Jiang Baimian sighed and said, “That white wolf can only Bewitch—or rather, control a limited number of people each time. Yes, but the total number seems large. It’s almost the size of a small army of servants.”

Long Yuehong deliberated and said, “According to Roen, he seemed to be Bewitched but not entirely. He didn’t have a strong sense of possessiveness and—uh, desire to mate with the white wolf. Instead, he expressed his submission to its charm.”

“Maybe it’s a form of mind control.” Shang Jianyao touched his wig. “Unfortunately, I’m not bald; otherwise, I could’ve resisted it.”

Jiang Baimian couldn’t understand his train of thought this time and nodded. “Fortunately, we discovered it early. It seems like our preparations were a little off.”

Their enhanced understanding gained through Inference Clowning was focused on not being attracted by the white wolf.

Bai Chen quickly added, “In addition, there are survivors who say that they chose to work for and curry favor with the white wolf because they liked it very much.”

Jiang Baimian muttered to herself, “Maybe it has both Bewitchment and Control? Just like human Awakened, it has more than one ability?”

Nobody could answer her.

Only Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “What a waste!”

These two abilities overlapped too much.

After speculating about the white wolf’s situation, Jiang Baimian raised the biggest question. “That cave is very large, so the other exits might be a few kilometers or even more than ten kilometers away. There’s also a large amount of human food stored inside. Does that ring a bell?”

What? Long Yuehong couldn’t think of an answer.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao smiled and said, “Company.”

Almost at the same time, Bai Chen said, “Underground Ark.”

“Yes.” Genava agreed.

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and said, “Could the cave be a shelter or secret base that humans created for themselves before the Old World was destroyed? Where will its other exits lead…”

With this guess, Jiang Baimian immediately had a new idea. She thoughtfully continued, “Could it be that the white wolf isn’t a naturally mutated creature but a product of an experiment?”

The experiment might’ve happened in a secret base in the deepest depths of the cave or connected to one of the caves’ exits.

Just as she said that, Shang Jianyao opened his mouth and replied, “Howl!”

Jiang Baimian’s expression froze for two seconds before she understood what this fellow meant: The white wolf gave a similar feeling to the monster in Swamp Ruin 1’s secret laboratory.

“Phew. Based on Swamp Ruin 1, this might be related to the Old World’s destruction.” Jiang Baimian gradually became excited as she spoke.

This was the Old Task Force’s primary mission.

Team Leader, you are terrifying this way… Long Yuehong felt his innards tremble inexplicably when he saw Jiang Baimian’s excitement.

Genava also seemed to have a sense of mission. He moved his metal neck and said, “When Roen recovers, we’ll find the other entrances.”

Jiang Baimian was just about to respond when she suddenly realized that someone was approaching.

The person was thin and black. He wore a long-sleeved black T-shirt and dark-blue canvas pants with traces of sewing—Wang Fugui.

Wang Fugui came to the Old Task Force and smiled casually. “Do you want me to help deal with the items you obtained? I don’t think they’re of much use to you.”

Before Jiang Baimian could respond, Shang Jianyao looked at Wang Fugui sympathetically. “Don’t you have any clothes to change into?”