Embers Ad Infinitum

At the appointed time, Pangu Biology replied with a telegram.

There was very little content this time, so it didn’t take Jiang Baimian long to complete the translation. She wrote it on a piece of paper and showed it to Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen: “Pay close attention to this matter and gather as much information as possible.”

This referred to First City’s secret experiments in the wasteland’s North Anheford area.

The company does things in a safe and moderate manner as always… Long Yuehong realized that Pangu Biology’s reply was similar to what he had expected. In fact, it was obvious that when they could only command remotely, the responsible superiors would definitely choose as stable a plan as possible and give more discretion to the frontline personnel.

“What other information can we gather?” Shang Jianyao sounded troubled.

With regards to Early Spring Town, the Old Task Force had obtained all the information they could gather.

Jiang Baimian ignored him and glanced at Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo. She muttered to herself, “Report the situation of First Spring Town’s troops first.”

She planned on subdividing the information the Old Task Force currently had into several submissions to the company to show that they were working.

“Yes… Also, inform them we’ll be divided into two groups. One group will stay in the wastelands and pay attention to the secret experiment. The other group will return to First City and attempt to complete the mission.” Jiang Baimian quickly drafted the telegram in her mind.

As for how they were divided into groups, that was an unnecessary detail.

After replying to the telegram, she put away the machine and walked to Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo. She then smiled and said, “By the way, leave a sample of your blood.”

Without waiting for the other party to ask why, Jiang Baimian took the initiative to explain, “When we return to First City, we’ll get someone to find a good medical institution or corresponding laboratory and check on your problems.”

“I can sense that my heart is ailing. Furthermore, it’s getting worse with each passing moment,” Han Wanghuo replied calmly, indicating that there was no need to do any more tests.

“You’ve misunderstood Big White’s meaning.” Shang Jianyao forcefully interrupted. “What she wants to say is that your condition is definitely serious, but we have to figure out how many months you still have and make preparations in advance.”

Preparations for a mourning? Long Yuehong criticized inwardly.

Jiang Baimian also spat. “What preparations do you want to make?”

“Oh right.” She turned to Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo and said, “Perhaps after the testing and analysis, we can find more effective drugs that will allow you to live for another year or so. To others, this might be useless. But if you can last until winter, perhaps there will be a good development that aids the saving of Early Spring Town.”

Zeng Duo was moved by the last sentence. Without hesitation, she said, “Alright.”

She rolled up her sleeves as she spoke, revealing a vein that could be used to draw blood. She was quite open-minded about this matter. In her own words: I won’t live past a few months anyway, so what is there to be afraid of?

Upon seeing this, Han Wanghuo suppressed his vigilance and prepared to cooperate.

“There’s no rush. We’ll draw it tomorrow morning.” Jiang Baimian smiled and turned her head to look at Genava. “When the time comes, Old Ge, do a few more scans of them.”

Genava had a wealth of detection modules, many of which could be modified to examine the human body.

The next day, after busying herself with drawing blood and transmitting and checking the images, Jiang Baimian said to Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo, “The first thing you need to do is get another radio transceiver. Although Old Ge can also take on this task, it’s inconvenient to charge in the wastelands. Let him conserve as much power as he can.”

In order to charge Genava, Jiang Baimian even gave the Old Task Force’s solar charger board to them. In any case, the jeep and the two high-performance batteries’ remaining power was more than enough to return to First City.

They could charge the batteries and attempt to buy new solar panels when they were there.

“Alright.” Han Wanghuo nodded calmly.

After waving goodbye to them, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong got into the jeep belonging to the team.

Under Jiang Baimian’s stern watch, Shang Jianyao didn’t let himself loose this time. He only changed the jeep’s paint job to a sapphire blue.

In Jiang Baimian’s words: “It’s quite fashionable.”

…

After watching October Xue and the others drive to the Red River’s coast, Han Wanghuo asked Zeng Duo for her opinion. “Where are we going next?”

Although he had gone on expeditions in the surrounding area of First City, he believed that he was inferior to Zeng Duo—who grew up here—in terms of his understanding of the North Shore wastelands.

“Head toward the mountains.” Zeng Duo had long made plans. “There are many settlements there that we can transact with, and they are rather wary of First City.”

Han Wanghuo rubbed his knitted brows and heaved a sigh of relief. “Alright.”

He turned to Genava and asked, “Do you have anything to add?”

This was a habit Han Wanghuo had developed when he was Redstone Collection’s sheriff and town guard captain. He tried his best to take care of everyone so that nobody would feel neglected.

Genava moved his metal neck from side to side. “Not at the moment, but…”

He looked at Zeng Duo, his eyes flashing red. “I’m making a rough map of the North Shore wastelands. I need your opinion.”

Zeng Duo and Han Wanghuo were stunned. They never expected a real smart bot to be so proactive.

…

Unlike when they fled, the Old Task Force didn’t encounter any trouble on their way back to First City.

The bridge’s inspection points paid more attention to the people leaving the city. It only maintained its daily vigilance against the vehicles and pedestrians entering. In other words, they could be bribed.

Be it the people in the car or the weapons in the trunk, the Old Task Force received preferential treatment from First City’s soldiers after handing over a stack of Oray when lowering the window—they turned a blind eye to it.

They passed through the bridge along the familiar path and entered the main city.

Long Yuehong’s mentality was very different from before. To be more precise, he had become numb. He no longer had the excitement of coming to the largest city in the Ashlands.

Bai Chen turned the steering wheel and drove the car into the Green Olive Zone.

Their destination this time was another room that Han Wanghuo had previously rented. He and Zeng Duo had only stayed inside for a few minutes, so the safe house wasn’t exposed.

After driving for a while, Long Yuehong looked out the window and suddenly sighed with emotion. “Wolf’s Den…”

It turned out that the Old Task Force had passed by the place where they had saved the Ashlandic prostitutes.

The fast-food restaurant on the first floor was still open, and business was good. Although Su Na and the others were busy, their faces were filled with hope.

Ever since the real Father’s incident, the Old Task Force had never looked for them again. This was to avoid implicating them and causing the future they had painstakingly obtained and built to suffer an undeserved calamity.

From the looks of it, the Old Task Force’s original goal had been achieved.

Their relationship with Su Na and the others could only be traced in two places. One was the Blackshirts’ second boss—Terrence—and the other was the source of the food that Su Na’s fast-food restaurant used.

The manor pertaining to the latter had already gone through two buyers. To the sheriffs, there was no need to continue investigating after investigating the manor that October Xue’s team had obtained and encashed after completing the mission. As for Terrence, Shang Jianyao would visit regularly to consolidate their ‘friendship’ until they completely left First City and had no value to be tapped.

Jiang Baimian—who was in the passenger seat—smiled and said, “Seeing how they are now, I feel that what we did back then wasn’t in vain.”

On the other side of the back row, Shang Jianyao was also smiling. “This is the joy of saving all of humanity.”

“…” Long Yuehong was stunned for two seconds and couldn’t help but criticize. It might be more convincing if you change the grand, empty mantra of ‘saving all of mankind’ to ‘helping others.’

As they spoke, the sapphire-blue jeep drove past the original Wolf’s Den and headed for another street.

Suddenly, seven or eight people walked out of an alley.

The leader was a handsome middle-aged man in a black suit. He was slender and had white sideburns.

Most of the people behind him were wearing the grayish-blue sheriff uniform, and two of them were holding a man hostage.

The man wore a mottled leather coat. His eyes were green, and his facial features were soft. His black hair was long and messy.

This… Bai Chen and Long Yuehong’s pupils dilated.

The Old Task Force knew the man being held. He was a suspect in the Citizen Conclave explosion, an accomplice of the gladiator arena assassin, and a member of the Behavioral Church. He was Dimis, who liked to cover his mouth with a scarf to mislead the sheriffs!

This ‘behavioral artist’ was actually caught!

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong looked over and realized that Dimis—who came out to ‘walk’ the sheriffs from time to time—had a blank expression. His eyes were empty, and there was obvious confusion on his face.

He was clearly not unconscious. He also wasn’t handcuffed, shackled, or held at gunpoint, but he was like a puppet without any intention of resisting.