Embers Ad Infinitum

With the patrol routes, drone surveillance patterns, and the surrounding terrain of Early Spring Town provided by his ‘friends,’ Yass led the Vulture bandits to drive the armored vehicles and drag their cannons down a road that provided relatively more cover to the target location.

The moon hung high in the sky, its light scattering down and dyeing the black and green land with a sheen of silvery light.

Early Spring Town stood beside a stream that flowed down a hill. It was suspected to have been modified from a large farm—a relic of the Old World—but the fences had been replaced with stone. There were many more buildings inside, and they were all relatively simple.

First City’s garrison was split into four parts. One was in town, one was at the main entrance, one was at the rear exit, and the other was a few hundred meters outside town.

They didn’t gather together to prevent themselves from being wiped out all at once.

Through the binoculars, Yass examined the khaki-colored armored vehicles and tanks of the same color blocking the entrance. He smiled at his trusted aides and said, “It’s indeed as the intelligence described. They are relatively well-equipped, but there’s no morale among them. All of them miss home and have slacked off. As long as we complete this ‘business,’ our firepower will be ranked first among all the bandits in the wastelands. When the time comes, we will have the confidence to recruit people with special abilities.”

One of Yass’s trusted aides said hesitantly, “Boss, this will anger First City and incur their crazy revenge.”

Although he also believed that this was a rare opportunity, he still felt that there would be serious repercussions.

“It’s not like they haven’t organized an army to besiege us all these years. However, the wastelands are so vast, and there are ruins everywhere. As long as we are careful and hide well, we don’t have to worry too much about such matters. Would First City send an army to search for us in the wastelands for years? If that’s the case, we can still head north and stay in the White Knights’ sphere of influence for a period of time,” Yass replied confidently.

His trusted aides no longer had any objections. According to their leader’s instructions, they organized the bandits under them into different groups and took on the corresponding missions.

With everything in place, Yass used his binoculars to glance at the few pairs of soldiers patrolling Early Spring Town. He then raised his right hand and swept it down. “Artillery battery, attack!”

The cannons dragged by the tractors entered the preset positions.

They were split into two groups. One group fired at the garrison camp a few hundred meters outside the town, while the other targeted the enemy at Early Spring Town’s entrance.

Boom! Boom!

On a night illuminated with only moonlight, flames appeared one after another as salvos sounded incessantly.

One shell after another was fired, carpeting the two target areas.

Smoke and dust soared as air blasts raged out. The successive explosions caused the ground to tremble.

“The armored vehicles are ahead. Men, charge!” After catching the defenders of Early Spring Town off-guard, Yass decisively gave the second order.

The Vulture bandits’ armored vehicles drove out and, under the anti-tank cannons’ cover, charged toward the entrance of Early Spring Town. The rest of the personnel either drove or jogged as they followed behind in echelon formation.

Amidst the rumbling explosions and gunshots, First City’s army—which had indeed slacked off—was thrown into chaos. They couldn’t organize an effective counterattack in a short period of time.

With the town in sight, Yass became increasingly convinced of the information his friend had provided. He no longer had any doubts about the weakness of the garrison here.

Just as the salvos subsided, music suddenly sounded in Early Spring Town.

Its melody and rhythm were extremely strong. Together with the passionate singing, it made one involuntarily want to dance.

This wasn’t an illusion. Sitting in the armored vehicle, the Vulture bandit leader—Yass—couldn’t help but gyrate his waist.

Amidst his alarm and confusion, he subconsciously looked around. He saw the armored vehicle’s driver stand up, raise his hands, and shake them crazily, completely ignoring the vehicle’s condition.

Go, go, go

Ale, ale, ale[1].

Amidst the passionate singing, the Vulture bandit members raised their guns, stopped in their tracks, raised their hips, or waved their hands as they rhythmically moved their bodies.

In an instant, the sound of the salvos and gunshots stopped. The black battlefield outside Early Spring Town turned into a square filled with revelry.

The defenders of Early Spring Town weren’t affected. They took this opportunity to reorganize their troops and launch a counterattack.

Ta! Ta! Ta!

The heavy machine gun’s sweeping fire was like a sickle harvesting wheat in autumn, causing the bandits to fall one after another.

Boom! Boom!

The two khaki-colored tanks fired as they steamrolled outward.

Blood and pain jolted many bandits awake—they couldn’t believe that they had actually attacked First City’s army head-on!

Yass was the same. He had a feeling that he had been blinded by the devil and had only returned to normal now. How can a band of bandits fight against First City’s army? Furthermore, the other party is fully equipped and aren’t defeated troops that have been left stranded!

Under the ferocious firepower, Yass and company attempted to escape, but they were still affected by the passionate song. They couldn’t utilize their full strength and could only gyrate and sway as they counterattacked with their weapons.

There was definitely no accuracy to speak of.

…

At the top of the hill, Jiang Baimian held the binoculars and sighed. “The Vulture bandits are finished…”

Although she knew that it was impossible for the Vulture bandits to succeed and that they would ultimately suffer a tragic defeat, she never expected them to be defeated so quickly and cleanly.

However, the Old Task Force’s goal had been achieved. They had probed the existence of a Mind Corridor-level Awakened in Early Spring Town.

This kind of powerhouse could play an unimaginable role on such a battlefield!

Of course, Jiang Baimian wasn’t too surprised by this. After using Wu Meng’s recording to easily gain the ‘trust’ of so many Vulture bandit members, she knew how terrifying a Mind Corridor-level Awakened was when dealing with ordinary people. Ones that had explored the depths were even more unimaginable.

This wasn’t something the off-form DiMarco and Tarnan’s Superior Heartless could compare with.

“What a pity…” As Shang Jianyao echoed Jiang Baimian’s words, he gyrated his waist and moved according to the rhythm.

He didn’t look disappointed at all; instead, his face was filled with anticipation. Although he couldn’t hear the music coming from Early Spring Town from so far away, the dancing of the Vulture bandit members allowed him to keep up with the beat.

“Let’s retreat first to prevent ourselves from being discovered.” Jiang Baimian lowered the binoculars.

Apart from Shang Jianyao, nobody had any objections. They had witnessed the encounter of the Vulture bandits and were filled with fear toward the powerhouse who hadn’t appeared.

Of course, the Old Task Force still had some things to do before retreating.

Jiang Baimian cast her gaze at Bai Chen, Han Wanghuo, and Genava and nodded at them.

Bai Chen—who had set up the Orange rifle—had already moved her eyes behind the scope. The muzzle kept following a certain figure.

Finally, she saw an opportunity.

A bullet flew out of the muzzle, crossed Early Spring Town, and arrived at the entrance of one of the Vulture bandits’ armored vehicles. It drilled into Yass’s head.

With a bang, the bandit leader—who had finally overcome his urge to dance and escaped the out-of-control armored vehicle—had his head explode into a bloody firework.

Almost at the same time, Han Wanghuo and Genava completed their long-range sniping.

Amidst the gunshots, Yass’s two trusted aides collapsed.

These were the people who had communicated with Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao face-to-face. They could describe their general appearances. At the same time, these people definitely had those scenes in their memories.

As for the other bandits, it was almost impossible for them to see Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s faces from afar on a dark rainy night with the illumination provided by the torches.

As the few ‘witnesses’ were eliminated, the Old Task Force and Han Wanghuo followed Zeng Duo down a relatively hidden road and returned to their cars before heading to a distant town ruin.

Behind them, the sound of gunfire continued for a while.

…

In the ruins of the collapsed town, in what was once a police station.

Jiang Baimian looked around and said, “Two things can be confirmed: First, Early Spring Town’s First City army has Mind Corridor-level Awakened. Second, one of his abilities is to make a large number of targets dance to the music.”

“Why isn’t it a problem with the music itself?” Long Yuehong subconsciously asked.

The recordings of Wu Meng and Xiaochong proved this possibility.

Shang Jianyao smiled. “Those First City soldiers didn’t participate in the mass dance.”

That’s right… Long Yuehong agreed with this reason.

Every time the Old Task Force used Wu Meng’s recording, they had to stuff their ears in advance.

The attack had come so suddenly that First City’s soldiers had clearly fallen into disarray. Even their counterattack was haphazard, so they definitely didn’t have time to stuff their ears.

“Which domain is this?” Han Wanghuo asked in deliberation. During this period of time, he and Zeng Duo had learned a lot of Awakened ‘general knowledge’ from October Xue’s team.

Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation, “Door of Scorching!”

Just as he said that, he twitched his body and did a dance as if he had been scalded.

[1] From The Cup of Life, Ricky Martin.