Embers Ad Infinitum

Fifteen minutes later, Xiaochong picked up some tomato omelet and stuffed them into his mouth.

“Delicious,” he praised in satisfaction. “They don’t know how to cook this. All they know is roasting and boiling. Besides, they sometimes have it either charred or covered in blood.”

With that said, he took another bite of a slice of pizza and looked rather happy.

“This dish is very simple.” Jiang Baimian deliberately suggested, “Why don’t I teach them?”

The reason she took 15 minutes was that she still had to clean up the messy kitchen with Long Yuehong and Bai Chen.

Xiaochong hesitated for a moment. “Not for the time being. They can’t learn it now either.”

The Superior Heartless’s intelligence can only be restored to such a level? Jiang Baimian pretended to sigh in disappointment. “Alright.”

She had sensed the bioelectric signals around her, but this was an apartment building. People lived here, so she couldn’t tell where the Superior Heartless—who were protecting Xiaochong—were hiding.

As for the Slumber Cat, it lay on the balcony and dozed off while basking under the sun.

Upon seeing Xiaochong eat happily, Shang Jianyao accompanied him and asked in concern, “Did you directly come here after leaving that area?”

“Mm, mm.” Xiaochong was busy eating and couldn’t answer clearly. “After leaving the swamp, I heard some Hunters say that First City is the largest city in the world. Believing that it should have electricity here, I came over.”

“Have you always lived in this apartment, or have you just moved here?” Jiang Baimian asked casually.

Xiaochong swallowed the tomato omelet in his mouth. “It’s so troublesome to move, so I try not to move if I can. There aren’t many power outages here either.”

“Is that so…” Jiang Baimian slowly nodded. If Xiaochong isn’t lying, the Heartless disease epidemic that happened in the Green Olive Zone shouldn’t have been brought about by him based on the current situation. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have turned out that his surroundings weren’t affected while a disaster happened far away.

After Xiaochong was half-full, he politely asked, “Why are you guys here?”

“We’re here to investigate something.” Jiang Baimian used Mechanical Paradise’s concern for Oray’s whereabouts as an excuse to talk about how they had tried to find Avia and Marcus but couldn’t approach them. While doing so, she emphasized the Virtual World.

“Amazing,” Xiaochong praised as if he were listening to a story. As he ate, he listened with relish.

This answer… is almost no different from the company’s response… Jiang Baimian helplessly sighed inwardly. She then said, “We later met a person in a bathhouse. He was scared by your cat, so we knew that you were in First City as well.”

“I see.” Xiaochong came to a realization, but this didn’t stop him from eating the pizza and tomato omelet.

Shang Jianyao added, “We spent some time searching for you. We heard that the Nightmare Horse appeared in the North Shore Mountains, so we went there, hoping to encounter it.”

“It’s taken fancy to a white wolf and spends all its time wandering that area. It doesn’t even spend its time doing proper work,” grumbled Xiaochong.

Does proper work refer to being a laborer to earn money to support you? Long Yuehong couldn’t help but criticize inwardly.

Facing the King of Heartless, he didn’t dare interject, afraid that he would accidentally say something wrong and anger the other party.

The next second, Xiaochong turned his head and glanced at him. This scared Long Yuehong so much that his heart started racing.

He can sense that I’m speaking ill of him behind his back? Long Yuehong couldn’t help but make such a connection and dared not mutter nonsense again.

Jiang Baimian went along with Xiaochong and said, “We also encountered that white wolf. It can control humans…”

She recounted her two encounters with the white wolf and took the opportunity to talk about how the Old Task Force had entered Wasteland Ruin 13. She then mentioned Wu Meng’s horror and how Waite, Fars, and Ferrington committed suicide with a tone of lingering fear.

“That person is very strong,” said Xiaochong without looking up. His attention was on the plate of tomato omelet and the remaining pizza in front of him. As for the two cream buns, he had already made arrangements and planned on eating them at night.

Without waiting for Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian to say another word, Xiaochong suddenly looked up and smiled. “If you wish to go again, you can find the Ruin Hunter named Du Heng.”

At this moment, Jiang Baimian actually saw craftiness on the seven-year-old boy’s face.

“We met Du Heng some time ago,” Shang Jianyao immediately reminded his good friend.

“Huh?” Xiaochong’s chopsticks froze in midair. After a few seconds, he muttered, “I knew it. I was wondering why I kept getting a little frustrated these days. I wasn’t enjoying my games anymore.”

“What does he want to do to you?” Jiang Baimian probed.

Xiaochong’s face clouded over with a hint of grievance. “He wants to capture me and bring me back.”

“Bring you back?” Bai Chen was rather sensitive to this term as she blurted out.

Xiaochong snorted and continued eating his lunch without answering.

Du Heng’s background isn’t simple… Long Yuehong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

Jiang Baimian instantly had a guess based on this sentence. Could Du Heng be a high-ranking special agent from a research institute whose mission is to capture Xiaochong? In the end, he lost his memories because of a certain problem during his mission, and all that’s left is his obsession?

“Are you moving? We can help,” Shang Jianyao suggested enthusiastically.

Xiaochong stopped eating and thought for a moment. “There’s no need. I’m better at playing hide and seek than him, so he shouldn’t be able to find me for the time being. He might go elsewhere in a few days.”

Why does a ‘child’ like you have the problem of procrastination… Jiang Baimian didn’t force him.

As they chatted, Xiaochong finished his lunch and rubbed his stomach in satisfaction. He then turned his head and said to Shang Jianyao with bright eyes, “Let’s play games!”

“Sure!” Shang Jianyao had a look that said: “I’ve been waiting.”

He then said, “We previously obtained a batch of the latest models of portable computers in Tarnan. There are many Old World games installed on them. Do you want one?”

Xiaochong was stunned for all of two seconds. “H-how can I accept it? There’s no need…”

His heart palpitated, and he was just short of opening his bag and getting the Old Task Force to stuff it in as he rejected the offer.

“Are we good friends?” Shang Jianyao asked seriously.

Xiaochong hesitated for a moment. “Yes…”

He then nodded. “Yes.”

“Don’t refuse it then,” Shang Jianyao said righteously.

Xiaochong smiled. “When are you coming next?”

“We’ll come again in a few days.” Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief.

“Can you bring some more food?” Xiaochong had an expectant look. This matched his childlike appearance, inexplicably melting Jiang Baimian and the others’ hearts.

This was what they had planned to do.

“That’s simple,” Shang Jianyao replied with a smile.

Xiaochong immediately beamed and pulled Shang Jianyao to the game console.

At 4 p.m., the Old Task Force—which had other matters to attend to—left Xiaochong’s rented apartment.

“Cya!” Shang Jianyao waved his hand reluctantly.

“Cya!” Xiaochong said the same.

After returning to the jeep, Long Yuehong exhaled and said, “This kind of social interaction is exhausting.”

“How is it exhausting?” Shang Jianyao expressed his confusion.

“Of course, you aren’t exhausted. You were only playing games!” Jiang Baimian snorted. “We still had to help Xiaochong clean the kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom.”

This made her no different from a nanny.

Shang Jianyao hesitated for a second and said, “I can let you play games with him next time.”

“Thanks a lot!” Jiang Baimian replied in amusement. She then sighed with emotion. “Our visit met my expectations today.”

“Yes, I can tell that Xiaochong’s impression of us has improved significantly.” Bai Chen—who was driving—also felt that their visit had achieved their goal.

Jiang Baimian turned to look at Genava in the backseat. “Did you discover anything abnormal about Xiaochong?”

Genava shook his head.

…

9 Haray Street, Golden Grain Zone, under the apartment building rented by the Mirror Church member, Smith.

“503… This door number always reminds me of something bad,” Long Yuehong said in fear.

Jiang Xiaoyue’s room in the Mind Corridor was 503.

Jiang Baimian deliberated and said, “This should be a pure coincidence. There doesn’t seem to be a connection between the two.”

Of course, she wasn’t too sure. Anything was possible.

The quintet maintained a vigilant attitude and slowly walked up the stairs. Upon reaching the target floor, Shang Jianyao looked at Room 503 and smiled. “No one.”

Jiang Baimian nodded. “There are no electric signals from medium-large creatures.”

The room was silent.

Upon seeing this, Long Yuehong asked, “Shall we wait a while or find a way to enter to see if there are any clues?”

Before Jiang Baimian could answer, Shang Jianyao had already ‘reprimanded’ Long Yuehong. “That’s rude!”

“Yes, we’re asking about the Mirror Church, not becoming enemies with them. There’s no need to do such a thing.” Jiang Baimian stood on Shang Jianyao’s side this time.

“I’m actually more inclined to wait,” Long Yuehong defended himself softly.

Therefore, the Old Task Force chose to wait. They waited for hours until the sky turned completely dark.