Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian’s translation, Long Yuehong, Waite, and the others felt their scalps tingle again. This was like the radio station’s owner—Wu Meng—had specially sent them a greeting.

Long Yuehong’s mouth gaped open, wanting to say something, but he ultimately chose to shut his mouth.

Shang Jianyao seemed to sense something and turned to look at him. “Don’t speak. I’ll help you.”

He then sighed and said, “Sigh. Thankfully, the electronic products here aren’t aggressive, nor can they produce any sound.”

If that happened, the danger level would rise exponentially.

“…” Long Yuehong wanted to retort Shang Jianyao and say that this wasn’t on his mind, but he ultimately felt a little guilty and gave up on arguing.

“Let’s go.” Waite repeated Long Yuehong’s ‘evacuate as soon as possible.’

This time, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao didn’t remain silent and cast their gazes at the street outside.

The eight of them took their places and left the roadside shop in an orderly fashion. As they left, the blinking light tube inside went off, returning to the state prior to the two teams’ approach.

“How hospitable,” Shang Jianyao praised.

Nobody answered him as they carefully walked forward. Compared to before, they were even more nervous as they paid attention to the various electric appliances around them.

Although most of them should’ve been damaged and couldn’t be operated even if there was electricity or a signal, there were always exceptions. With a large number of cases, it was inevitable that some could still be used, just like the lamps and wires in that shop.

Once these things were ‘taken over’ by Wu Meng, something terrifying might happen.

Upon seeing that nobody was paying attention to him, Shang Jianyao held his assault rifle and maintained the tactical formation with his team members as he smiled. “If that white wolf were human, it would definitely be very reckless.”

“What do you mean?” The person asking this time was Wang Fugui—who didn’t know Shang Jianyao well enough. He inexplicably felt that this fellow should have some deep theory.

“It dared to attack such a large group of us just because we didn’t bring a robot,” Shang Jianyao replied with a smile.

Jiang Baimian chuckled. “Maybe it thinks it can really finish off the eight of us. After all, its ability that’s similar to Bewitchment can directly give it helpers and seriously weaken us. However, it’s indeed reckless. It might still be an animal in essence, and its intelligence can’t exceed those natural limits. It won’t figure out that since we dared to make a second attempt to explore the area and hunt it a second time, there must be a way for us to prevent or weaken the effects of Bewitchment.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Fugui, Waite, and the others looked at the Old Task Force. They could sense the meaning behind Jiang Baimian’s words.

Not only did Wang Fugui have a way to resist Bewitchment, but so did this team that seemed to rely on advanced technology! The reason they didn’t show it was that the white wolf had chosen the lone Hunter team back then.

If one thought deeper, the underlying reason might be that the white wolf found them harder to deal with.

As Shang Jianyao bent his back slightly and walked forward, he moved the muzzle to guard against his surroundings and shook his head. “The white wolf might not know that, but how can Wu Meng not know that? I noticed the white wolf wearing a headset, so it should be receiving orders.”

Isn’t this a little ridiculous? Long Yuehong recalled the scene and actually felt it was possible that the white wolf was wearing a headset. With Wu Meng’s influence on electrical appliances, it was very easy for him to give orders to the white wolf through the headset.

“Maybe it was a test?” Bai Chen said after some deliberation.

“Maybe.” Jiang Baimian nodded.

At this moment, Wang Fugui thoughtfully said, “There’s also another explanation. When a general is far away on the battlefield, they don’t have to obey all of the emperor’s orders.”

He said this to the Old Task Force, ignoring whether Waite, Gray, or Fars understood him. Of course, he still spoke in the Red River language in order not to arouse suspicion.

Jiang Baimian recalled Xiaochong, the Nightmare Horse, and the Superior Heartless who worked for Xiaochong’s expenses, and she retorted Wang Fugui, “Wu Meng should have pretty good control over his ‘subordinates.'”

After what had just happened, she could preliminarily determine that the white wolf fully obeyed Wu Meng.

“It might not be that it deliberately disobeys, but it might be a flaw in personality.” Wang Fugui said meaningfully, “Since mutated creatures can obtain abilities similar to Awakened, they might have also paid a corresponding price.”

“The price is recklessness or arrogance?” Jiang Baimian felt enlightened.

Wang Fugui didn’t give an affirmative answer.

At this moment, Gray—who was wrapped in a leather coat—shrank his body and laughed. “You guys sure have fortitude. You can discuss and share your views in such a situation and environment.”

If it were any other team, they would definitely be tense to the point of silence at this moment. They would overreact without so much as a breeze.

“We didn’t stop, nor did we relax our guard against our surroundings. What’s wrong with talking?” Jiang Baimian smiled. “The earlier we discuss certain matters, the more useful it will be for us to take precautions against any accidents.”

“Won’t that distract you?” Waite couldn’t help but ask. “I can’t be that focused just by listening to your conversation.”

He was even more careful than before. He no longer casually opened the doors of the abandoned vehicles on the road to search for valuable items. Every time he planned on doing so, he would first carry out an appraisal and avoid pure electric vehicles since those might be affected by Wu Meng.

Shang Jianyao smiled and answered Waite’s question. “Not at all. We have the numbers.”

“…” Waite, Fars, and the others couldn’t understand.

After they were done discussing the white wolf, they slowly walked toward the park. Apart from the crows cawing from time to time, nothing else happened along the way.

All of this was stifling.

Finally, they returned to the park, circled around the artificial lake, and arrived at the cave entrance. But at this moment, the heavy metal door closed.

“He can’t bear for us to leave.” Shang Jianyao was rather gratified.

“What do we do?” Waite blurted out a question.

Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief because he wanted to ask the same question.

“Force it open.” Jiang Baimian didn’t hesitate and walked over. She checked the door, removed a button that seemed to be a switch, and inserted her left hand. This time, she didn’t attempt to invade or crack the program because it might be reverse-influenced by Wu Meng.

Her method of choice was violent destruction.

Spark!

Bright light flickered in the hole as violent electric currents surged in.

After the door opening procedure was destroyed, Jiang Baimian returned to the door, stretched out her hands, and pressed it.

Shang Jianyao took a few steps forward and mimicked her actions to provide help.

Amidst the zapping sounds, the heavy metal door slowly opened.

This made Wang Fugui, Gray, Fars, and Waite’s eyes widen as their foreheads twitched. They had previously believed that it was due to the robot that the Old Task Force could push open such a heavy metal door. But from the looks of it, these two humans were monstrously strong!

They might not get the door to budge even if the four of them pushed together!

“Why didn’t you use any strength?” Jiang Baimian asked Shang Jianyao with her eyes.

Shang Jianyao suppressed his voice and said, “I’m just covering for you so as not to scare them.”

“…” Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth. “Thanks a lot.”

After entering the cave and returning to Genava, most of the two teams’ members heaved a sigh of relief. They realized that a layer of cold sweat had soaked their backs at some point in time.

Compared to the danger, they had plenty of harvests. It was equivalent to a year or even several years of work.

…

In the advance base camp, a corner of the parking lot.

Long Yuehong—who had eaten his fill—sighed with emotion. “As expected of Wasteland Ruin 13.”

Jiang Baimian nodded and sighed. “I only hope that Ferrington didn’t escape into the city ruin in his haste and left via another exit.”

Ferrington was the Ruin Hunter they were looking for to learn more about the Mirror Church. If he entered Wasteland Ruin 13, there was a high chance that he would end up like the missing people.

Shang Jianyao said in a rare serious tone, “Not all of the missing people have been found. There might still be survivors.”

“I hope so.” Jiang Baimian exhaled.

After a brief silence, Long Yuehong sighed with emotion again. “Are there abnormally terrifying existences in such city ruins?”

He had thought of Swamp Ruin 1. There was Xiaochong—who was suspected to be the King of the Heartless—there, and Wasteland Ruin 13 had Wu Meng.

“From the appearance of mutated creatures, such city ruins might also be related to the nine research institutes,” Genava added.

Jiang Baimian smiled. “But it shouldn’t be a highly correlated relationship. Isn’t Mechanical Paradise the original Third Research Institute? Doesn’t it not have…”

Jiang Baimian suddenly stopped as she spoke, and her eyes seemed to widen.

Bai Chen and the others could vaguely guess what she had thought of. If Mechanical Paradise had an abnormally terrifying existence like the city ruins, it could only be the Source Brain!