Embers Ad Infinitum

ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom

Ugo’s friend wants to meet us? He wants to cooperate to capture the Nightmare Horse? With Xiaochong around, who would dare… This was the only reason Long Yuehong could think of in his puzzlement.

Xiaochong’s whistling left a deep impression on him—it was the same for his mind and body.

Jiang Baimian fell silent for a moment before saying, “Sure. The more friends you have, the more paths you have in life. But we have to decide when, where, and how we will meet.”

Although Ugo didn’t understand how friends and paths could be connected, he still nodded. “Alright.”

Uh… Long Yuehong didn’t expect this answer. From his point of view, Boss Ugo didn’t have the right to agree on his friend’s behalf since he was only a messenger.

Ugo glanced at him and simply added, “He knew that you would make such a request.”

“Then, does he know which place we will choose to meet?” Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

“He’s not one of those monks who claim to be clairvoyant.” Ugo didn’t choke at all and calmly replied.

Jiang Baimian stopped Shang Jianyao from speaking and nodded slightly. “We’ll inform you when we determine the time and place.”

…

“I wonder why Boss Ugo’s friend is looking for us.” As the car started, Long Yuehong—who was in the backseat—glanced at the hotel.

“Who knows?” Jiang Baimian chuckled. “In any case, we’ll reject it if we have to. There’s no need to be apprehensive.”

She looked at the rearview mirror and added seriously, “This also reminds us that we have to cut ties with the people and matters from before as soon as possible. Otherwise, we won’t know when they will come knocking on our door. Think about it. If we didn’t check out and still returned to the hotel from time to time, wouldn’t you have to worry about being betrayed after rejecting Ugo’s friend?”

‘You’ specifically referred to Long Yuehong.

The Old Task Force had been busy dealing with the previous safe houses and changing to a batch of new ones.

“That’s true.” Long Yuehong had always been timid regarding such matters. He couldn’t help but ask, “Is there anything else that needs to be taken note of and dealt with in advance?”

Shang Jianyao—who was separated from him by Genava—raised his hand and stroked his chin. “Three points.”

After Long Yuehong assumed a listening posture, Shang Jianyao laughed. “First, I can’t let you say things like ‘we’re finally safe,’ ‘there shouldn’t be anything else,’ or ‘we can return to the company’…”

I’m already very careful… Long Yuehong roared inwardly as he scoffed. “If it’s that effective, I’ll just say the opposite.”

Bai Chen—who was driving—automatically ignored the previous topic and asked Shang Jianyao, “What about the remaining two points?”

Shang Jianyao’s expression gradually turned serious. “In the character portraits and description given by the bounty mission, the Bangle of Blindness is mentioned. I’m afraid that the Anti-intellectualism Church’s Shepherd will notice it, confirm that we are the murderers who hunted the real Father, and get involved in the pursuit of us.”

“That will indeed be troublesome.” Jiang Baimian nodded in agreement.

Shepherd Bouillon was an Awakened who could read other people’s memories on a large scale.

“It won’t be a problem if it’s just the Anti-intellectualism Church alone,” Jiang Baimian said further. “We all have the ability to prevent such situations. What I’m most worried about now is that the Anti-intellectualism Church will help the Hand of Order anonymously in order to take revenge on us.”

Hand of Order was the name of First City’s Public Security Department.

“What will happen then?” Long Yuehong asked anxiously.

Jiang Baimian made a terse grunt. “For example, will Sheriff Wall—who was lured away by Little White—subsequently think about why he was lured away? It’s very likely that he suspects that he has seen us before. This is also a fact, but it has been many days since we last met, and we didn’t have much interaction. It’s very difficult for him to recall it, and a sufficient opportunity is required. However, with the Anti-intellectualism Church’s involvement, things will be different.”

Many Awakened in the Anti-intellectualism Church were experts at memory manipulation. Shepherd Bouillon was one of them.

“If Sheriff Wall remembers you, things will become rather troublesome,” Genava said.

After learning of the last words left to Marcus, he had been a little silent recently and only participated in the discussion occasionally.

Long Yuehong was alarmed and consoled himself. “I remember Team Leader a-and Hey disguised themselves back then.”

Before meeting the company’s intelligence agent—Garibaldi—Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian had indeed disguised themselves to a certain extent.

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded. “But Hey also said that we’re still too eye-catching with our height and race. Besides, we didn’t take precautions against the Anti-intellectualism Church’s memory search back then. If they continue investigating, the Hand of Order will sooner or later create a portrait that’s close to our true appearances. When the time comes, they will know who we are when they compare it to the photos in the Hunter’s Guild.”

Long Yuehong was shocked. “Then, we should stay away from the Hunter’s Guild!”

But in the past few days, the Old Task Force had gone to the Hunter’s Guild more than once.

Jiang Baimian smiled and said, “There’s a process to the investigation. It takes time, and they won’t be that fast. Just take note in the future.”

Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief and thought of a question. “Aren’t we still going to the Hunter’s Guild to see if there are any high bounty missions and to find Old Han?”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “The one looking at the mission is Revan. What has it got to do with Zhang Qubing?”

That’s right. Nobody knows that we are from the Qian Bai team after we disguise ourselves… When the Hand of Order finds out that Qian Bai’s team has taken on the mission to capture Qian Bai’s team, I wonder what expressions they will have… Long Yuehong realized that he had lost his clarity of mind from nervousness.

He subconsciously asked, “Who’s Revan?”

“A Red River name I just came up with.” Shang Jianyao asked excitedly, “Do you want to choose one? How about Ryder?”

Long Yuehong exhaled and decided to ignore this fellow. The next second, he recalled something and blurted out, “Didn’t you say that we have to pay attention to three points? You only mentioned two.”

“Weren’t we discussing the third point?” Shang Jianyao was surprised.

“…” Long Yuehong took more than ten seconds to figure out that Shang Jianyao’s third point was also referring to Sheriff Wall.

…

In a manor in First City.

A figure received a clue from his subordinate.

The investigation of the real Father’s death had made progress.

Upon seeing the strange accessory that seemed to be woven from human hair on the portrait’s left wrist, the figure unconsciously clenched the paper in his hand.

…

Hand of Order, Evidence Department.

Wall sat in front of a colleague. Combining the various eyebrows, eyes, and noses presented on the computer, he described the two people in his memories.

After repeated feedback and adjustments, the Evidence Department’s Hand of Order personnel pointed at the portraits of a man and a woman on the computer screen. “Do they look like this?”

Wall looked at it carefully for a few seconds and exhaled. “Yes, something like that.”

This was at least much more similar to the few he came up with previously.

Wall then added, “They might’ve also disguised themselves.”

“We can combine this disguise and do a certain level of comparison and restoration.” The Evidence Department’s Hand of Order personnel indicated that the current technology allowed for this. However, he emphasized, “Don’t place too much hope on the results.”

“How long will it take?” Wall asked.

The Hand of Order personnel controlling the computer replied, “I’m not sure. It depends.”

He didn’t make any promises.

Wall nodded and stood up. “Then, I’ll investigate in a different direction for now. It seems like there’s something wrong with the injured person back then.”

…

At the appointed time in the evening, the Old Task Force switched on the radio transceiver and waited for the company’s instructions. However, they didn’t receive a telegram from Pangu Biology.

“Isn’t this taking too long?” Long Yuehong frowned.

Normally speaking, the company would reply to the Old Task Force’s report or request for instructions from as early as that very night or up to two to three days. This time, it had been too long.

Long Yuehong couldn’t help but wonder if the telegram hadn’t been successfully sent and had been hijacked by Wu Meng or a similar powerhouse.

Of course, this was only a random thought. The Old Task Force had received confirmation back then, and this was in accordance with the passcode. Outsiders didn’t know anything about it, so it was difficult to forge the content unless the other party could figure out the pattern and crack the passcode through a limited number of telegrams.

Jiang Baimian smiled thoughtfully. “This means that the response process has become longer, and this means that the problem’s importance has elevated.”

Bai Chen seemed to understand something and asked, “Board of Directors?”

Ah, our harvest has reached the Board of Directors? Long Yuehong suddenly felt a little nervous.

This was an organization that could determine the survival of every Pangu Biology employee.

Jiang Baimian smiled and nodded. “It seems like the company values it very much. It’s just that it’s impossible for the Board of Directors to convene in advance for us. We have to wait a while.”