Embers Ad Infinitum

Han Wanghuo slowly straightened his body and turned to look at Genava. “It’s a solution, but we might not be able to find the proper equipment and doctors. If I really need it to hold out a little while longer, I can consider it.”

As he spoke, Han Wanghuo subconsciously glanced at Zeng Duo. I can rely on the pacemaker to barely survive, but what about her?

…

Jiang Baimian looked around and frowned slightly. “The Crystal Consciousness Church’s Chief just committed suicide last night. No, he rid himself of his mortal coils and passed on. Today, we found a draft he left behind in a scripture book. The content on it happens to be the secret we wanted to know. He even considerately wrote the title ‘Five Great Holy Lands’…”

She spoke in Ashlandic.

When communicating in this room, the Old Task Force mostly used Ashlandic. As for whether Mind Reading was ‘obstructed’ by language, they had no idea.

Shang Jianyao immediately replied, “Two answers: One, it’s 100% since it happened.

“Two, there’s a 0.03% chance that such a coincidence will happen.” After saying that, he quickly added, “A guess.”

Regardless of whether Shang Jianyao was spouting nonsense, in Bai Chen and Long Yuehong’s hearts, the probability of such a coincidence happening was indeed so low that it was almost negligible.

“Could it be that the Chief deliberately left us this information?” Bai Chen guessed after some deliberation.

“Why?” Long Yuehong subconsciously asked.

Jiang Baimian was momentarily unable to answer.

Shang Jianyao nodded seriously. “Because our goal is to save all of humanity, and the Chief’s dream is to deliver all living beings from suffering. Since everyone is like-minded, it’s normal to help each other.”

“How do you know that the Chief’s dream is to deliver all living beings from suffering?” Long Yuehong asked in exasperation and amusement.

“A guess,” Shang Jianyao replied without stuttering.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment. “I might have to ask Master Zennaga about this later.”

She didn’t explain how she would do so. After waiting for a while and seeing that Zennaga didn’t ‘reply,’ she smiled and said, “Regardless of whether the Five Great Holy Lands written on the piece of paper are fake or not, they hold considerable interest. Look…

Upon hearing this familiar catchphrase, Long Yuehong subconsciously shrank his body and had the urge to cover his ears. Fortunately, he quickly came to a realization and quietly listened to his team leader’s words.

“We’ve never been to Iron Mountain City’s Second Food Company, Icefield’s Tai City’s No. 1 Senior High School, and the old pagoda tree in Linhe Village, Dajiang City. We don’t know much about them. We also don’t even know where the last two places are. Let’s not discuss them for now.

“Long River City’s United Steel Plant should be the steel factory ruins in the Blackmarsh Wilderness. Therefore, the mechanical monk—Jingfa—specially went to pay his respects to Buddha. And the Holm Fertility Center in the Fakh region is clearly related to Wasteland Ruin 13. In other words, these two holy lands are more or less strange and have many secrets.”

Long Yuehong nodded. “But we didn’t find anything in the steelworks factory ruins other than that medical record. Perhaps the Ruin Hunters who explored that place previously took it away?”

The Blackmarsh Wilderness’s steelworks factory ruins came under the kind of ruins that had been ‘mined.’ There were only things like blast furnaces that couldn’t be moved and clearly worthless remains.

“Could it be that medical record?” Bai Chen deliberated and guessed.

As Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, she turned to look at Shang Jianyao. “What do you have in mind?”

Shang Jianyao raised his hand and stroked his chin. “The monk previously said that the Five Great Holy Lands are where the Kalendarium—Subhuti and Master Zhuang—descended, passed on, or preached. This means that the Kalendarium were once active over the land? At least, that’s what they believe.”

Jiang Baimian made a terse grunt. “So the biggest secret hidden in the Five Great Holy Lands is actually someone’s whereabouts? It will be interesting if we discover that anyone in the Old World has been to three or two of the Five Great Holy Lands…”

After a brief silence, Long Yuehong suddenly had an idea. “Could the secret laboratory in Wasteland Ruin 13 be the former Holm Fertility Center in the Fakh region?”

“We can’t rule out that possibility.” Jiang Baimian deliberated and said, “But I think that although there’s a high chance that the two are related, they aren’t completely the same. The Crystal Consciousness Church has always gone to the Five Great Holy Lands to pay respects to Buddha. It’s impossible for them to just ignore the one at their doorstep, right? They probably don’t have the pass to enter the secret laboratory in Wasteland Ruin 13.”

At this point, Jiang Baimian chuckled. “After encountering Jingfa, I specially read some of the Old World’s Buddhist scriptures. Combined with this matter, I discovered a very interesting point. Do you still remember the passcode to the secret laboratory in Wasteland Ruin 13?”

She no longer cared if Zennaga was using his Mind Reading to monitor them.

“Messiah,” Long Yuehong replied.

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly. “In the Buddhist scriptures, there is a future Buddha named Maitreya, and Maitreya and Messiah originate from the same word stem. In other words, they developed from the same word in a language from the Old World’s ancient times. In addition, in the teachings of the Crystal Consciousness Church and the Monks Conclave, all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Wisdom Kings other than Subhuti and Lokeśvara-Tathāgata are the embodiments of these two Kalendarium, including Maitreya.”

This formed a preliminary connection between one of the Five Great Holy Lands—the Holm Fertility Center in the Fakh region—and the secret laboratory of Wasteland Ruin 13.

Of course, there was a high possibility that this was a coincidence.

As the Old Task Force discussed these matters, Garibaldi had already recovered from another bout of his cold turkey. He could understand every word, but he didn’t know what they meant when they were strung into a sentence.

Jiang Baimian and the others knew when to stop and didn’t continue the corresponding topic. However, this was mainly because they had too little information.

At four in the afternoon, the monk who delivered the food knocked on the Old Task Force’s door in advance.

“Where’s the food?” Shang Jianyao—who was in charge of opening the door—looked down at the young monk’s hands.

The young monk pressed his palms together and said a Buddhist proclamation, “Patrons, are you willing to participate in the Chief’s funeral?”

Cremation ritual? Long Yuehong automatically translated it in his mind.

Thinking of the piece of paper in the sutra, Jiang Baimian nodded. “That happens to be in line with our wishes.”

The Old Task Force quartet then left Garibaldi in the room and followed the young monk all the way down to the bottom of Sikhara Temple before arriving at an indoor square at the back.

There stood an iron-black and strange ‘tower.’

At this moment, many monks had already gathered in the square. They sat cross-legged, either chatting softly or cultivating with their eyes closed.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others walked forward for a distance before they finally saw Zennaga.

Zennaga—who was so thin that he was almost all bones—stood there and stared intently at the pagoda.

“Zen Master,” Shang Jianyao greeted him politely.

Zennaga turned around and nodded slightly.

Jiang Baimian suddenly recalled something and hurriedly said, “Zen Master, I need your help with something.”

After saying that, she moved her eyes from side to side, signaling to him that it wasn’t convenient to talk here.

Zennaga held one hand vertically in front of him and pointed to his chest with the other, indicating that she only needed to ‘think.’

Yes, Zen Master, I have two friends who are terminally ill and need treatment urgently. That’s the reason for our return to First City. We have their blood samples and want to send them to a trusted medical organization or corresponding laboratory for examination. We hope to determine their condition completely and find more suitable medicine… Jiang Baimian quickly organized her thoughts.

What she meant was that the Old Task Force couldn’t do anything regarding the matter as a result of being watched over in Sikhara Temple.

Lives were at stake!

Zennaga chanted a Buddhist mantra. “Leave this matter to This Penniless Monk.”

“Thank you, Zen Master.” Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief and found a place to sit cross-legged with Shang Jianyao and the others.

It was much more reliable to find medical institutions through the Crystal Consciousness Church than to do it on their own or use the company’s intelligence network.

As the sun set in the west, four monks carried out the old monk’s corpse.

A mortician had processed his head. It no longer looked ghastly and instead appeared dignified, and the surface of his body was coated with a faint golden substance.

The four monks placed the Chief’s corpse in front of the iron-black tower and scattered to the sides before chanting Buddhist proclamations.

Looking at the corpse sitting cross-legged, the monks on the square chanted Buddhist scriptures with hushed voices. “Paradise is serene and solemn. There is no suffering, no difficulties, no evil, no frustration, and no seasons, day or night, winter or summer, rain or drought…”

Long Yuehong instinctively prepared to lower his head to show his respect when he heard this chant that sounded similar yet different from the Old World’s Buddhist scriptures. During this process, his gaze swept past the Chief’s corpse and face.

He realized that there was an indescribable, irremovable pain on that golden and solemn face.

The moment he jumped off the building and landed on the ground, the physical pain overwhelmed his crystal consciousness? Just as this thought flashed through Long Yuehong’s mind, he told himself in horror that he couldn’t let his imagination run wild.

There were countless monks in the square who could Mind Read!

After a simple ritual, the four monks beside the iron-black tower stepped forward again, opened the heavy ‘tower door,’ and carried the Chief’s corpse inside.

It was only at this moment that Jiang Baimian recognized that this wasn’t a pagoda but a cremation furnace!

Seeing the monks’ respectful attitude toward Buddha, she felt that the cremation furnace was also a tower. It was no different from the iron-forging and steel-forging towers. They could also enjoy the treatment of being a stupa.

Bang!

The door of the cremation furnace was tightly shut, and the Chief completely disappeared from this world.

After the funeral ended, Jiang Baimian found Zennaga again and asked thoughtfully, “Was the Chief also good at Prophecy?”

Zennaga held one hand in front of him and spun the prayer beads with the other. He fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “Yes.”