Embers Ad Infinitum

On the way to Antanna Street, Jiang Baimian and the others saw many temporary checkpoints.

Fortunately, they had the smart bot, Genava—who discovered the checkpoints far in advance. This allowed the jeep to take a longer detour to not incur any suspicion.

On the other hand, these checkpoints’ targets were mainly cars and pedestrians coming from Antanna Street. They weren’t that strict toward cars heading to Antanna Street.

Therefore, the Old Task Force’s jeep arrived at Antanna Street relatively smoothly. They also planned a safe route back.

“Stop by the side of the road.” Jiang Baimian looked out the car window and gave instructions to the driving Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao didn’t question her. As he parked the jeep by the street, he smiled and asked, “Is it time to ‘make friends?'”

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and habitually asked, “Do you know what we need your ‘friend’ to do later?”

Shang Jianyao replied confidently, “Be a scapegoat.”

“…” Han Wanghuo—who was in the backseat—was confused, but the corners of his mouth twitched. So in your minds, are friends equivalent to scapegoats?

After Shang Jianyao parked the car, he turned around and smiled at Han Wanghuo. “There are three necessities for adventure in the Ashlands: Guns, knives, and friends.”

Han Wanghuo could roughly tell that he was joking and didn’t respond. He then asked, “Aren’t we going straight to the parking lot?”

From his point of view, what they needed to do was actually very simple—disguise themselves, enter the parking lot that was no longer the focus of attention, and drive away the car that nobody knew belonged to him.

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer immediately and said to Shang Jianyao, “Pick a suitable target and try your best to choose outlaws from Antanna Street.”

The outlaws in Antanna Street naturally wouldn’t tattoo the corresponding description on their faces or place it above their heads so that others could tell their identities at a glance. However, it wasn’t that difficult to distinguish them.

Their clothes weren’t that tattered, and they often hid pistols at their waists. They also looked more ferocious.

In just a few seconds, Shang Jianyao found a candidate to be his friend. He changed his baseball cap to a cap, put on his sunglasses, pushed open the door, and got out of the car. He then walked toward the young man with the bluish-black tattoo on his arm.

The young man saw such a fellow approaching from the corner of his eye and immediately became vigilant. He reached for his waist.

“Hello, I want to ask for directions.” Shang Jianyao smiled kindly.

The young man said coldly, “Nothing is free in these parts of town.”

“I understand, I understand.” Shang Jianyao reached into his pocket and pretended to pull out some cash for payment. “Look, we’re all adult men. You rely on guns and skills to earn money, and so do I. So…”

The young man’s expression changed as he gradually smiled. “Even biological brothers have lines that mustn’t be crossed when it comes to money. Yes, lines—that’s an especially good word. Our boss often says that.”

Shang Jianyao handed him a one-Oray note. “I need your help with something.”

“Leave it to me!” The young man took the note with one hand and patted his chest with the other.

Shang Jianyao quickly turned around and shouted at the jeep, “Old Tan, come here.”

Han Wanghuo was stunned in his seat, momentarily unsure who Shang Jianyao was calling. He instinctively believed that the other party was shouting for him and cast a look of confirmation at Jiang Baimian.

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly.

Han Wanghuo pushed open the door and got out of the car before walking to Shang Jianyao’s side.

“Tell him where the car is parked and what it looks like.” Shang Jianyao pointed at the young man with a tattoo in front of him and said to Han Wanghuo, “Also, give him the car keys.”

Although Han Wanghuo was suspicious, he still did as Shang Jianyao said.

After watching the tattooed young man leave with his car keys, he walked to the jeep and turned his head to ask, “Why did you call me Old Tan?”

What’s the connection?

Shang Jianyao said sincerely, “Your real name has been exposed, so there’s a certain risk in calling you Old Han. You were once the sheriff of Redstone Collection, and many Ashlandics there have the surname Tan.”

That’s true, but that’s quite a leap in logic… Han Wanghuo didn’t say anything else. He opened the door and returned to the jeep.

After Shang Jianyao returned to the driver’s seat, Han Wanghuo looked at Jiang Baimian and said, “There’s no need to be so careful, right?”

They found a stranger just to retrieve a car.

Jiang Baimian laughed self-deprecatingly. “There are too many strange abilities in this world, and you will never know which one you will encounter. Also, a faction as large as First City definitely doesn’t lack powerhouses. Therefore, you have to be careful where you can. Otherwise, it’s very easy to be disadvantaged.”

The Old Task Force had been taught a lesson in this regard. If it weren’t for General Phocas’s ulterior motives, they would’ve already failed terribly.

Having been a sheriff in Redstone Collection for a few years, Han Wanghuo—who had long interacted with the Vigilance Church—easily accepted Jiang Baimian’s explanation.

No matter how careful they were, could they be more exaggerated than those from the Vigilance Church?

“Is that person trustworthy?” Han Wanghuo was worried that the other party would drive away with the car.

As for selling them out, he didn’t think it was possible. This was because both he and Shang Jianyao had disguised themselves. The other party clearly didn’t recognize them as one of the few wanted by the Hand of Order.

“Don’t worry. We’re friends!” Shang Jianyao was filled with confidence.

Han Wanghuo’s eyes flickered slightly as he shut his mouth.

…

Northwest of Antanna Street, in a six-story building.

A figure stood in a room on the sixth floor and looked down at the parking lot not far away through the glass window.

He wore a black robe that was considered ancient even in the Old World. His hair was messy and abnormally fluffy as if he had encountered a bomb blast. His face was thin and long, and his cheekbones were relatively obvious. He had a lot of white hair on his head, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth also indicated that he was no longer young.

The elder maintained the same posture as he looked out the window. If not for the fact that his light-blue eyes occasionally moved, he looked more like a wax statue.

He was Marcus’s protector, the master of the Virtual World—Nasis.

He had learned from one of the Crystal Consciousness Church’s Enlightened that the target would return to this parking lot at some point in time today. Therefore, he had specially rushed over to monitor it personally.

At this moment, the parking lot was already covered by the Virtual World. People coming and going had to be filtered.

As time passed, people constantly entered the parking lot and took away their battered or old cars.

They didn’t realize that their every move had been screened by the Virtual World. They didn’t feel like whatever they did required the support of multiple programs.

A young man in a short-sleeved T-shirt with a bluish-black tattoo on his arm entered the parking lot. He swung his car keys and searched for a car according to his memories.

His relevant information was immediately replicated by the Virtual World and compared with the few targets.

The final conclusion was: No problem.

After spending a certain amount of time, the young man finally found the black SUV that ‘he’ had parked here for many days and drove it out.

…

The grayish-green jeep and the black SUV drove out of the area around Antanna Street one after another.

Although Han Wanghuo didn’t know if Jiang Baimian’s caution had any effect, he didn’t discuss it after seeing that the matter had been successfully settled.

Following a winding path that lacked temporary checkpoints, they returned to the safe house in the Golden Grain Zone.

“What took you so long?” Bai Chen asked. She knew very well how long it would take to return to Antanna Street.

Jiang Baimian casually said, “We got our payment, returned the money, and retrieved the mechanical arm.”

She then said to Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo, “We’ll rest today and won’t go out again. We’ll make a trip to Xiaochong’s place tomorrow.”

Xiaochong? Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo couldn’t help but repeat this alias in their hearts.

Who was such a powerful team visiting in such a dangerous situation? Which faction in the city did this person control? How powerful is he? Furthermore, from his nickname, he shouldn’t be too old. He is definitely younger than October Xue.

…

This is way too young… Zeng Duo looked at the black-haired boy sitting in front of the computer and almost couldn’t believe her eyes.

Han Wanghuo felt the same. What surprised and confused him even more was that part of October Xue’s team was playing games with the boy, another part was busy in the kitchen, and another part was cleaning the room.

This made them look like a professional team of nannies instead of a dangerous team that was wanted by the entire city with a bounty worth tens of thousands of Oray, having done many major deeds and daring to resist the Hand of Order.

This stark contrast stunned Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo. They couldn’t blend in at all.

The scene in front of them was so harmonious that they looked like normal citizens living in their homes. It was filled with sunlight and filled with warmth.

Suddenly, Zeng Duo heard meowing.

There’s a cat as well? She subconsciously looked at the balcony and saw a creature that only existed in nightmares.

It had blood-red exposed ‘muscles’ Its body was a meter long, and its shoulders were covered in white bone spikes. Its tail was covered in a brown carapace and had barbs as if it came from a scorpion…