Embers Ad Infinitum

Galoran calmly said, “I don’t know what the monster’s name is. If I rashly answer, I will only mislead you. The only thing I can say regarding this matter is to maintain a gentle and humble attitude and face it with a tolerant attitude. Don’t be rash or arrogant. Weakness marks the course of the Dao’s mighty deeds.”

Although she was using the Red River language and no longer spoke with articulation and a mellow, full tune, Gray, Waite, and Fars were stunned. They felt that the sentence made sense, but they also felt that it was no different from an ordinary person’s advice. It was only the packaging of some simple words.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao turned his head and looked at Long Yuehong. “Any questions you would like to ask?”

How do you know that I have questions? Wait, why should I be the one asking? Long Yuehong struggled inwardly for a moment before he finally couldn’t help but ask, “Daoist, don’t you think the matter you described is different from what’s happening now?”

In fact, he was no stranger to the concept of ‘sealing.’ DiMarco seemed to be trapped in the Underground Ark because of this, but it involved the Kalendaria. The principle was unknown, and nobody explained it in religious jargon, so it didn’t sound that strange.

Galoran wasn’t angry at all. She smiled and said, “Everyone’s understanding of the world is different. Yours might not be wrong, and mine might not be right. Everyone has their own path, so there’s nothing to argue about.”

Your answer makes me feel like an idiot… Long Yuehong opened his mouth but muttered inwardly. This was because Galoran’s words reminded him of a skit from the Old World’s entertainment.

Someone asked a wise man: How do we persuade those idiots?

‘There’s no need to persuade them,’ the wise man replied, ‘nor is there any possibility of persuading them. It will only waste your time. I generally stop explaining and choose to echo them. I say to them, ‘Yes, you’re right.’

The other person objected. ‘How can that do? You are escaping reality and not facing the problem head-on!’

The wise man replied, ‘Yes, you’re right.’

Galoran glanced at Long Yuehong and added, “All knowledge is only superficial. What we need to do is find the existence of the Dao from this knowledge, take it in, and comprehend it until we gain something…”

Upon seeing that Long Yuehong, Gray, and the others were confused, Galoran stopped explaining and smiled. “In the simplest words: we see the essence through phenomena.”

Jiang Baimian stopped this unilateral discussion in time and smiled as she made small talk. “Daoist, do you plan on traveling around this city ruin after paying your respects, or are you prepared to leave?”

Galoran listened seriously and suddenly smiled. “I adapt myself to my circumstances and don’t have a clear destination. But after hearing what you said, I suddenly recalled that First City is nearby. I’ve been away for many years. Since I’m passing by, I’ll go back and take a look.”

She didn’t explain that this was another form of adaptation to the circumstances. In any case, she didn’t care about what others thought of her.

At this point, Galoran turned around and bowed in a certain direction three times with the still-smoking incense.

Jiang Baimian and the others noticed that the direction basically overlapped with the area where the Dao and Electrical Appliance Repairs radio station was.

“I’m done paying my respects. It’s time to leave.” Galoran looked at the incense sticks that had burned to the ends and smiled at the Old Task Force. She then bowed again. “The Perfected Man has no self; the New World is before us.”

With that said, she slowly walked the way the two teams came. After walking nearly ten meters, she turned around and reminded them, “There are still many powerful monsters here. Although they aren’t as powerful as that one, they aren’t easily dealt with. It’s best if you don’t randomly wander around.”

Daoist, you must’ve encountered many powerful monsters through your adaptation to the circumstances, right? Long Yuehong didn’t think Galoran was very strong the last time they met. But after experiencing all kinds of things, he realized that this Daoist priestess—who could come and go as she pleased in extremely dangerous places like Swamp Ruin 1 and Wasteland Ruin 13—was definitely more extraordinary than he imagined.

Even if she was inferior to Du Heng, she was definitely one of the best in the Sea of Origins.

Also, that was the past Galoran—who didn’t know about the Mind Corridor back then. Long Yuehong had no idea what level she had reached now.

“Understood,” Jiang Baimian replied to Galoran with a smile.

After watching the blonde Galoran with her casually tied hair disappear around the street corner, Shang Jianyao suddenly sighed. “She is going to face herself.”

“Huh?” Jiang Baimian was first stunned before she understood what Shang Jianyao was saying.

Galoran ‘went with the flow’ to the vicinity not only because of the machinations of fate but also because of her subconscious. She might’ve already reached the Sea of Origins’s end and needed to face the person she least wanted to face.

She was clearly ‘rooted’ in First City. Since she couldn’t escape, she would face it.

The reason Shang Jianyao sighed was that he had yet to make any progress in this regard. He was still unable to persuade the other him, defeat him, or accommodate him.

Wang Fugui and Gray’s expressions changed slightly, but they didn’t say anything. Waite and Fars were slightly confused.

At this moment, the incense sticks stuck to the railing using a lump of black mud had almost burned out, turning into grayish-white powder.

Wang Fugui retracted his gaze and asked, “From the Eternal Time Church?”

With such behavior and mannerisms, it was difficult for him not to make connections.

“You sure are knowledgeable,” praised Shang Jianyao. Accompanying the praise was the never-missing applause.

Are you confirming my guess, or are you trying to evade the topic? Wang Fugui couldn’t figure out the actual meaning of Shang Jianyao’s praise.

“That’s what she said. We don’t know if it’s true or not,” Jiang Baimian added for Shang Jianyao.

At this moment, a terrified voice sounded from somewhere in the city ruin. “Help! Help!”

It was spoken in the Red River language, giving off a heart-wrenching feeling.

“Are we going?” Shang Jianyao turned his head and asked Jiang Baimian.

Jiang Baimian looked at the source of the sound and deliberated before saying, “It’s several hundred meters away. If we continue in that direction, we will soon exceed the two-kilometer range.”

The two-kilometer range was the exploration limit that the two teams had agreed on. Once they exceeded it and encountered danger, they wouldn’t have the stamina to run back to the exit.

Phew, Team Leader is still considered rational… Besides, who knows if the person shouting for help is a human or a monster… Long Yuehong praised Jiang Baimian inwardly.

In fact, if someone really pleaded for help in front of him, he might not be able to steel his heart given his abilities. But since he didn’t see anyone and only heard voices, he wouldn’t be troubled or soft-hearted.

Shang Jianyao then exhaled and didn’t retort.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian smiled and said, “But we can still walk in that direction—as long as we don’t exceed the limit and stay within two kilometers. If the person seeking help is lucky enough to encounter us, we can save them while we’re at it.”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “Don’t worry, Little Red is here!”

Hey! Long Yuehong expressed his displeasure inwardly.

“I have no objections.” Bai Chen agreed with this plan.

Gray and the others looked at each other and didn’t say anything in support, but they didn’t object. To them, it was fine as long as they had supplies to gather along the way. In any case, they felt that the chances of the rescuee encountering them were slim.

Besides, if anything were to happen, they didn’t plan on sharing the same fate as October Xue’s team.

Wang Fugui thought for a moment and nodded. “That works too.”

He then glanced at the four Old Task Force members and smiled. “You guys are kinder than I thought…”

In the Ashlands, this was a good quality but not a useful one.

Shang Jianyao smiled and replied, “Do you know what our real goal is?”

“What is it?” Wang Fugui asked curiously.

Shang Jianyao’s expression turned solemn. “Save all of humanity!”

“…” Wang Fugui, Gray, Waite, and Fars were stunned for two seconds before laughing. This joke is really good!

The two teams began to advance in the particular direction slowly. Along the way, they smashed car windows, rummaged through the skeletons, and gathered all kinds of valuable and portable items. These included but weren’t limited to gold, technical information, useful books, intact components that had yet to be unwrapped, and items that used special alloys.

After walking for about 300 to 400 meters, a figure suddenly appeared in Long Yuehong’s eyes.

The figure stumbled over and kept looking back as if they were being chased by something extremely terrifying. He was about the same height as Long Yuehong, and he wore a linen shirt with additional pockets sewn on it. His hair was gray, and his eyes were dark brown. He also held a shotgun in his hand.

Ferrington!

He was the Ruin Hunter—Ferrington—that the Old Task Force had been searching for.

Shang Jianyao picked up the Berserker assault rifle and asked loudly, “What happened?”

Ferrington turned his head and saw them. He hurriedly shouted, “Help! There’s a monster!”

“There’s nothing behind you,” Jiang Baimian reminded him before Shang Jianyao could scare him.

Ferrington panted and said, “It’ll catch up soon!”

There are no medium-sized creatures within dozens of meters… As Jiang Baimian muttered, she went with the flow. “Then, let’s retreat to the square from before.”

On the way back to the place Galoran paid her respects, Ferrington finally relaxed a little when he saw that no monsters were chasing after him. He was no longer as tense and terrified.

“What did you see?” Jiang Baimian asked.

Ferrington took a deep breath and said, “I hid from the white wolf’s puppets and entered this place. I wanted to find another way to leave while gathering supplies and expired food. In the end, I saw many corpses over the past few days—corpses that died recently. Some of them cut their arteries with glass shards. Some shot themselves. Some were splashed with gasoline and burned to death…”

The other suicides? Long Yuehong thought with a solemn expression.

Ferrington continued, “This scared the hell out of me. I didn’t dare to stay any longer and sped up my search for a way out. Just now, I saw—saw—on a street…”

The horror from before gradually surfaced on his face again. “I saw a living person.”