Embers Ad Infinitum

The Old Task Force originally thought that encountering the mechanical monk, Jingfa, was a matter of coincidence and bad luck—Jingfa had happened to pass by the Blackmarsh Wilderness’s steelworks factory ruins and entered to search for the fated. In the end, he encountered Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong and heard a woman’s voice through their walkie-talkies, thus going crazy.

Excluding the reason why Jingfa—who was mainly active in the Monk Wastelands—suddenly came to the Blackmarsh Wilderness, the rest didn’t seem to be problematic. The development adhered to basic logic, so it was just a case of the Old Task Force being unlucky.

Jiang Baimian and the others didn’t find anything strange about it after the incident. Humans always encountered all kinds of people and all kinds of unlucky matters. Even if there wasn’t Jingfa, there might be other powerhouses.

They now suddenly realized that some of the coincidences in this matter might not be coincidences.

Jingfa came to the Blackmarsh Wilderness and entered the steelworks factory ruins, not because he left the ‘Pure Lands’ for no reason. It was actually one of the Five Great Holy Lands of the Crystal Consciousness Church!

As for the Monks Conclave and the Crystal Consciousness Church, they worshiped the January Kalendaria, Subhuti. It was completely reasonable for them to have similar holy lands!

After more than ten seconds, Shang Jianyao came to a realization. “So Zen Master Jingfa went to the steelworks factory ruins to pay respects to Buddha. His devotion to those blast furnaces was real.”

Upon hearing Shang Jianyao’s words, Long Yuehong immediately recalled the mechanical monk, Jingfa, bowing to the blast furnace. A line that often appeared in the Old World’s entertainment appeared in his mind: “Excellent, excellent.”

“So that’s how it is…” Jiang Baimian nodded in relief. “But how can this be a holy land? What relationship can this Buddha have with the steelworks factory? Could ‘He’ have passed away thanks to the blast furnace, molten steel, or smog?”

“‘His’ immaculate body might’ve been forged in that steel factory.” Shang Jianyao let his imagination run wild.

Bai Chen tried her best not to imagine the scene Shang Jianyao described and said with uncertainty, “What’s related to Kalendaria Subhuti might not be the steelworks factory but something else that’s located there…”

Before she could finish speaking, she paused as if she had thought of something.

Following that, she, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong said in unison, “Medical records!”

This wasn’t referring to the medical record itself but the volunteer described in it—who had become a vegetable due to a car accident and was sent to a place in the north to receive novel treatment.

This was similar to Jiang Xiaoyue’s experience in Room 503 of the Mind Corridor. Not only did the latter have a room that could be opened in the Mind Corridor, but she had also infected a Clam Dragon Church Dream Protector that had accidentally entered her room with the Heartless disease.

“Combined with some rumors related to the Old World’s destruction, the experiment involving Jiang Xiaoyue and the vegetative man from the steelworks factory might’ve breached the forbidden zone of the gods. This angered the Kalendarium and caused the Heartless disease to descend, depriving humans of their intelligence?” Jiang Baimian recalled the various apocalyptic theories she had come into contact with. She picked out some theories that were related to the current discovery and used them to form a logical guess.

Bai Chen made a further assumption. “When Kalendaria Subhuti unleashed ‘His’ anger, ‘He’ used that vegetable, and it happened to happen in the steelworks factory ruins?”

“There’s a certain possibility, but there’s no way for us to verify it now.” Jiang Baimian nodded.

To this day, the reason for the Old World’s destruction was still a guess.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao raised his hand and stroked his chin. “Isn’t it inappropriate for us to discuss this in a temple?”

“…” Long Yuehong was first stunned before he felt a sense of fear.

Ignoring the fact that the Old Task Force had already said those words, Zennaga could hear them clearly with his Mind Reading even if they were only letting it run through their minds.

Would this be blasphemous toward monks who cultivate day and night and piously worship Buddha? Long Yuehong was especially afraid that he would experience the pain of being frozen again the very next second.

Fortunately, his worries were unfounded.

Jiang Baimian made a terse grunt. “Indeed. In the Crystal Consciousness Church temple, we should hold back on saying certain words to prevent offending them and causing unnecessary trouble. In any case, this is just empty speculation. There’s no need to discuss it further.”

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen agreed with this statement.

The four Old Task Force members cast their gazes at the piece of paper again and read the subsequent content.

“3. Icefield’s Tai City’s No. 1 Senior High School.

“4. Under the old pagoda tree in Linhe Village, Dajiang City.

“5. Holm Fertility Center in Fakh region.”

Although they were shocked by the intelligence regarding the steelworks factory ruins, Jiang Baimian and the others couldn’t help but question when they saw the subsequent holy lands.

“What kind of holy lands are these?”

“Won’t the Crystal Consciousness Church monks suspect anything when they see these names?”

“This absurd, rustic, and comical feeling is very unconvincing. Could it be that someone is deliberately playing a prank?”

“Also, did Subhuti descend into this world through the Fertility Center? Is ‘He’ so law-abiding, or was ‘He’ preaching there?”

“Fakh is the region where Wasteland Ruin 13 is located?”

After a while, Jiang Baimian calmed down and muttered to herself, “This shouldn’t be anyone’s prank. Even if a normal person was joking, they wouldn’t think of using the United Steel Plant as a holy land…”

And this was actually related to some secrets.

Long Yuehong took the opportunity to ask a question he wanted to ask previously. “Who put this piece of paper in the scriptures? We just asked about the Five Great Holy Lands before breakfast and were told that it was a secret. Isn’t it too much of a coincidence to get the answer now?”

“This is called willing it to happen!” Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm.

Jiang Baimian rolled her eyes at him and looked at the mottled wall. “Who left this behind? Was it specially left for us?”

Nobody answered her.

“From the looks of it, the Zen Master isn’t listening to our thoughts.” Shang Jianyao smiled.

While Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief, he also felt rather regretful. With Zennaga’s honesty, he might really tell them the answer.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment, took the piece of paper, and carefully wrote a few words without any clear direction. Then, she smiled and said, “I’ll ask the monk who delivered the food later to see if he recognizes this handwriting.”

In the following period of time, the Old Task Force would occasionally read scriptures or control Garibaldi when his addiction flared up. Soon, lunch arrived.

Jiang Baimian took out the pieces of paper and asked the young monk, “We found these things in the scriptures. Do you know who wrote them? The handwriting is quite nice.”

The young monk took it and said indifferently, “It was written by the Chief. He always likes to tuck drafts into scripture.”

“Chief?” Jiang Baimian’s pupils dilated slightly.

“Yes.” The young monk nodded. “The one who passed on last night.”

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others immediately recalled the bloody and evil scene: An old monk jumped down from the top of the temple and fell to the ground, his brain and blood gushing out.

And before that, he had stuffed a piece of paper with the Five Great Holy Lands’ names into a particular piece of scripture.

…

In the North Shore Wastelands, after Han Wanghuo rendezvoused with Genava, he looked at the rearview mirror and said in a deep voice, “There might be something wrong with that Ruin Hunter team. Where’s the nearest city or town ruin?”

Zeng Duo immediately replied.

Han Wanghuo didn’t delay. He floored the accelerator and drove straight to his destination.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the ruins of a small city. Han Wanghuo then drove the car into a relatively intact underground parking lot and left it near the entrance.

Zeng Duo was about to say, “Isn’t this reaction a little overboard?” when she suddenly heard the sound of a drone flying outside.

The sound circled the city ruins a few times before gradually fading away.

“How harrowing…” Zeng Duo followed Genava—who was checking the surroundings—out of the car and sighed with emotion. “I’ve never been chased by a large faction before.”

She had no experience in this area.

In the Ashlands, there were actually quite a number of people who had similar experiences and were still alive. After all, there were no man’s lands everywhere. Once they left their strongholds, the various major factions’ control over the wilderness wasn’t that strong.

As soon as Zeng Duo finished speaking, she suddenly frowned. Her face turned pale, and her sickness became more obvious.

Han Wanghuo—who had already alighted—wanted to reach out to help her up when his heart stopped. He staggered and almost fell backward.

He finally took out a small bottle, poured a pill from it, and stuffed it into his mouth. Han Wanghuo then bent his back and supported his knees with his hands. He panted heavily and slowly calmed his heart palpitations.

He saw Zeng Duo doing the same thing. He saw himself in her eyes, and his expression wasn’t good either.

As they silently stared at each other, Zeng Duo laughed at herself.

The two of them maintained their current posture and continued to pant.

Nobody spoke—it was quiet.

“Actually, you should be able to last a little longer with a pacemaker.” Genava—who had returned from patrolling the surroundings—broke the silence.