Embers Ad Infinitum

Ferrington’s voice echoed over the street, giving Long Yuehong goosebumps. He subconsciously wanted to aim the muzzle at the Ruin Hunter and fire to stop him from continuing.

He was fast, but Shang Jianyao was even faster. Shang Jianyao took a stride forward, raised his fist, and walloped the spot behind Ferrington’s ear.

Bam!

Ferrington’s eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground and fainted.

Jiang Baimian then turned her head and said to Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and the others, “Check your condition immediately to see if you have the intention to stay longer, gather supplies here for extended periods, or the urge to solve the radio station’s mystery.”

Long Yuehong’s heart tightened as he quickly did some self-reflection. Then, he quickly shook his head. “No.”

At this moment, he wished he could leave Wasteland Ruin 13 the very next second.

“No,” Bai Chen replied.

“Not only do I not want to adventure any further, but I also plan on evacuating.” Waite indicated that he had only suffered from shock.

Wang Fugui, Fars, and Gray didn’t dare to delay. They also examined themselves and shook their heads.

Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief and said to Shang Jianyao, “Phew, it seems like Wu Meng’s influence can’t be spread through an affected person’s words. Check Ferrington and see what he has on him.”

Shang Jianyao quickly crouched down and dug out a stack of notes, a pile of coins, a pistol, four to five loaded cartridges, a lighter, a small cloth bag containing shotgun ammunition, a few expired compressed biscuits, an Old World thermos with plenty of water, and a neatly folded newspaper.

“Newspaper?” Jiang Baimian swept her gaze across the items and felt that the newspaper—which was folded to the size of a piece of tofu—was the odd one out.

After all, Ferrington didn’t look like the kind of person who would read newspapers when in danger.

She reached out to take it and examined it carefully for a few seconds. She realized that the outermost page was the front page, and the section with the newspaper’s name was: Fakh Post.

The newspaper had turned yellow, but it wasn’t fragile enough to fall apart at the slightest touch.

Jiang Baimian quickly browsed through the news printed on the exterior and only confirmed that it was likely a remnant of the Old World. She didn’t discover anything worth paying attention to.

This isn’t a good time to study it seriously. She held the newspaper and said to Shang Jianyao, “Stuff the items back into his clothes and wake him up.”

Before long, Ferrington opened his eyes, which were blank. He didn’t seem to remember who had attacked him.

After he got to his feet, Jiang Baimian asked seriously, “Something abnormal happened to you just now.”

“Abnormal?” Ferrington asked in horror.

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer and waved the newspaper in her hand. “Do you still remember this?”

Ferrington frowned and looked at it for a while. “I have a slight impression of it but nothing too deep. I should’ve seen it somewhere here.”

“We found it on you.” Shang Jianyao spoke the truth like he was telling a ghost story.

Ferrington’s pupils suddenly dilated. “How can that be?”

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and raised a new question. “How many days have you been here?”

“More than ten days…” Ferrington recalled.

Jiang Baimian stared into Ferrington’s eyes and asked, “With more than ten days, it’s enough for you to cover this city even on foot and leave in the opposite direction. However, why are you still so close to the cave entrance?”

Ferrington’s body suddenly froze. After a few seconds, he said in a trembling voice, “I had the idea that such a city ruin definitely has many valuable supplies. It’s a waste of this opportunity to leave just like that. The more dangerous it is, the more I should take risks…”

At this point, Ferrington stopped in horror.

Jiang Baimian’s heart palpitated as she asked another question. “It’s true that you don’t have any electronic products on you, but have you used any during this period of time?”

Ferrington suppressed his panic and fear and recalled. “When I was looking for expired food in a mall, I found a radio that looked like it could still be used. I then put in a common Old World battery I had on me—it fitted perfectly. I fiddled with it and found that it really could be used. I tuned into a radio station called Dao and Electrical Appliance Repairs. The radio host said, “The more dangerous it is, the more one should take risks…”

As he spoke, Ferrington’s expression changed continuously as if he had finally woken up from a dream.

“I-I actually stayed here for so long…” he muttered to himself hysterically. After taking a few seconds to calm down, Ferrington added, “I have an impression of that newspaper. I-I took the newspaper from a car while I was shouting for help and running. I don’t know why I did it…”

The more Ferrington spoke, the more confused he became. He was terrified and perplexed.

“What does Wu Meng mean by getting him to take this newspaper?” Wang Fugui looked at Jiang Baimian’s right hand.

“We’ll go back and read it from beginning to end.” Jiang Baimian placed the newspaper back into her tactical backpack.

On the one hand, she felt that it was a waste of time to read it and delay the evacuation. On the other hand, she was afraid that something bad would happen if she read the newspaper. She felt that it was safer to find a safe place to do this.

“Alright.” Wang Fugui clearly thought so too.

The group of nine didn’t stay or take any further detours. They walked toward the cave entrance back the way they came.

They had already obtained the supplies that were easier to obtain along the way. Waite and the others focused their attention on the shops lining both sides of the street.

They could either enter directly and take away the items they fancied or shatter the glass and reach out to take out their shiny targets. They wanted to end this all quickly and not delay their return.

As they walked, Jiang Baimian suddenly cast her gaze to the side.

Long Yuehong followed her gaze and saw a mall with a signboard on the ground.

“Something happened?” Bai Chen asked.

Jiang Baimian frowned. “There’s a loudspeaker at the mall entrance. There seemed to be some development just now…”

She didn’t say that she sensed an electric current flash by.

“Wu Meng wants to use the loudspeaker to tell us about Dao and Electrical Appliance Repairs!” Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched the Berserker assault rifle in his left hand as if he had already figured out the truth.

“Gasp…” Waite beat Long Yuehong to it again. “Leave quickly. Don’t listen to it!”

Ferrington’s encounter left a deep impression on him, and he felt uneasy.

“That’s right, that’s right.” Long Yuehong agreed.

Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze and continued forward. After taking a few steps, she muttered to herself, “Back then, Wu Meng controlled Genava. Yes, our robot also used a radio broadcast to say, ‘the more dangerous it is, the more one should take risks—the more one should act in an antithetical manner as the saying goes.’ Why aren’t we affected?”

Wang Fugui and the others were deep in thought when Shang Jianyao suddenly smiled. “When did you have the illusion that we weren’t affected? Is it normal to explore twice in such a short period of time?”

Long Yuehong and the others were shocked.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Jiang Baimian turned her head and glared at Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao smiled and replied, “Because I was also affected. This influence is too weak—it’s not like what Ferrington encountered. It only slightly strengthened our inclinations, so it’s very difficult to discover anything without any problems.”

You sure are proud… Long Yuehong couldn’t help but criticize inwardly.

Bai Chen pursed her lips and didn’t show the weakness she had buried.

Wu Meng was really impossible to guard against!

“Wu Meng is really terrifying…” Wang Fugui sighed with emotion. “I actually wanted to figure out this city ruin’s secret and figure out what kind of existence he is.”

Just as he said that, Waite spoke like a startled bird. “I remember him saying that the Dao is in circuits, circuit boards, and electrical appliances twice. Will this affect us?”

“This sentence doesn’t involve subjectivity, so there shouldn’t be any problems.” Jiang Baimian was relatively certain about this.

Gray—who was wrapped in a leather coat—voiced his doubts as he walked. “Why didn’t Wu Meng seize those two chances and instead insist on saying such nonsense?”

Nobody had an explanation. Only Shang Jianyao smiled and replied, “Maybe he has OCD. He has to preach to the target before exerting any influence.”

“That’s… not impossible…” Wang Fugui thought for a few seconds and actually agreed.

As they conversed, they didn’t slow down at all as though there was a monster behind them that wanted to devour them.

No, it wasn’t ‘as though’ but the truth.

After circling around the building that might have a loudspeaker, the nine of them finally saw the park again.

…

As First City’s elite team had yet to arrive, the Old Task Force returned to the advance base camp and prepared to rest for the night before heading down the mountain.

Under the evening sun, they, Wang Fugui, and the others looked at the newspaper that Ferrington had found.

This was a local newspaper. Its content was mainly about the various matters in the Fakh region, mixed with some international politics and entertainment gossip.

As she quickly browsed, Jiang Baimian saw a piece of news: “The 29th International Biotechnica Expo was held in Fakh. The Northern Company displayed the latest genetic research results…”