Embers Ad Infinitum

“Enemy attack.” Jiang Baimian didn’t have the time to explain the situation in detail to ‘Garibaldi’ Giuseppe, so she only gave a simple explanation.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao had already cast his gaze at the side window. Compared to the night outside and the lights inside, it was like a mirror that reflected Shang Jianyao’s face.

He faced himself and said in a deep voice, “Look, this world might very well be a dream. There’s no need to be so serious. We can’t tell when we’re awake and when we’re dreaming. So…”

After a brief pause, Shang Jianyao gave his conclusion. He curled the corners of his mouth and smiled. “So, we’ve actually been dreaming the entire time.”

Long Yuehong was confused and couldn’t help but ask, “Can’t you exert your influence on yourself without a mirror?”

At most, he had to list out Inference Clowning’s conditions.

“If I didn’t do this, how could I give you a demonstration?” Shang Jianyao replied righteously.

In the passenger seat, Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully. “Do you want to categorize all encounters as a dream, making no distinction between reality and dream? This way, as long as you remember this, you won’t die in real life from any fatal damage you suffer from in the dream…”

With the subconscious understanding that it was a dream, the dream would at most give Shang Jianyao a start no matter how realistic it was. It wouldn’t trigger the corresponding physiological changes and bring about sudden death.

“How can there be reality? Everything is a dream!” Shang Jianyao emphasized firmly. He then spread his arms, raised his body slightly, and looked into the air. “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious?”

His Inference Clowning had used the Clam Dragon Church’s teachings. This was the foundation that the ‘inference’ needed to be successfully established with good effects.

“You want us to accept this philosophy as well?” Jiang Baimian deliberated over her words to match Shang Jianyao’s intention to prevent him from escaping his current state. After all, Inference Clowning was very easy to see through when faced with contradictory facts or certain words.

Using ‘philosophy’ at this moment was clearly more in line with Shang Jianyao’s intention than ‘inference.’

Shang Jianyao laughed. “Yes. No matter what happens in the dream, it will always be a dream and won’t have any actual effects. If we understand and grasp this fact, there won’t be any problems.”

He indirectly answered Jiang Baimian’s question with an affirmative attitude.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuehong had to admit that Shang Jianyao’s method made sense. However, he felt that something was amiss or oversimplified.

He thought for a moment and said, “If we don’t distinguish between reality and dream and treat everything as a dream, we can indeed avoid the effects of Real Dreamscape. But this way, what if we are really in reality? It doesn’t seem safe to face attacks in reality with the attitude of facing a dream…”

They would be careless, numb, and show belittlement.

A real-life attack could directly result in death.

Shang Jianyao smiled. “The entire Ashlands is a dream. Unless you enter the New World, we will always be in a dream. There will be no real reality.”

You are forcing the issue… Long Yuehong knew that Shang Jianyao’s theory was wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint the problem.

Shang Jianyao continued, “Besides, we can’t surrender and be at their mercy even in a dream. When you play games, will you freely accept the deaths of the character you control, lose experience, and lose equipment because it’s only a game?”

“No.” Long Yuehong still had a competitive streak in this regard.

Shang Jianyao smiled again. “So…”

This ‘so’ made Long Yuehong tremble. He kept wondering if he had unknowingly fallen for Inference Clowning.

“Therefore, we have to do our best to avoid anything that can harm us, be it in reality or in a dream. If we really can’t avoid it, we still have a chance of survival in a dream. In reality, the game will really end,” Shang Jianyao explained further. “It’s better to treat it as a dream.”

That’s true. What can’t be avoided in a dream most likely can’t be avoided in reality… Long Yuehong agreed with Shang Jianyao’s theory.

“Make the best use of your time.” Jiang Baimian urged Shang Jianyao. “Take the opportunity while everyone can still ‘communicate.’ Yes, be it reality or a connected dream, they are better than an individual dream where we have no communication among each other.”

Shang Jianyao immediately used Inference Clowning to spread the ‘teachings.’ At the same time, he made Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Giuseppe believe that the entire Ashlands was a dream and that there was no need to be so serious when dealing with attacks or harm.

His Inference Clowning could now affect nine at once, but the premise was that the corresponding conditions could be shared.

Of course, he couldn’t guarantee the final outcome. After all, everyone’s experiences and cognition were different. The kind of conclusion obtained under the same conditions was distorted depending on an individual’s uniqueness. Shang Jianyao could only say that he did his best to incept such thoughts in them.

Fortunately, the four people in the car ‘inferred’ similar outcomes when it came to dreams.

Jiang Baimian turned her head and instructed Bai Chen, “Drive a little slower—just a little slower.”

Bai Chen casually said, “It’s a dream anyway. Besides, this speed is considered slow even in the city. With me at the wheel, there won’t be an accident.”

“You can’t think that way,” Jiang Baimian said seriously. “Maybe it’s a dream now. You might implicate the dreamer outside if you don’t slow down. Although it’s fine to have an accident in a dream, it’s equivalent to failure.”

Bai Chen thought for a moment and didn’t understand what her team leader meant, but it wasn’t a big deal to slow down the car a little. She couldn’t be bothered to argue, so she made the jeep crawl like a giant snail.

Vroom!

A motorcycle overtook it.

Ding ring ring!

A bicycle overtook it.

Heh heh.

A few pedestrians smiled and overtook it.

Beep! Beep!

The cars behind either rushed the jeep that was seemingly out of power or circled around it.

Bai Chen remained unmoved. She drove slowly and treated this as a dream.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin, and his expression had already turned serious. “There’s another problem now.”

“What problem?” Long Yuehong blurted out.

Shang Jianyao said seriously, “What if the enemy launches a physical attack in reality while we’re all in a dream?”

“This…” Long Yuehong immediately understood the seriousness of the problem. At this moment, he suddenly felt the air around him turn sticky—it quickly condensed into an ‘iron plate.’

His breathing became irregular, and the oxygen entering his lungs decreased. This reminded Long Yuehong of his encounter on Sikhara Temple’s seventh floor.

He subconsciously cast his gaze at Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and his companions. Long Yuehong was so shocked that his heart and lungs almost stopped.

Apart from Bai Chen—who he couldn’t see because she was right in front of him—the others’ expressions became wooden, and their eyes were extremely dull.

They sat there, allowing their faces to gradually turn red and purple bit by bit. They allowed their breathing to become more and more rapid, but it was useless.

Long Yuehong was just about to push Shang Jianyao out of the car when he felt a chill run down his spine as if he had been invaded by coldness. His movements quickly became stiff, and his thoughts became slower and slower.

He felt the difficulty of breathing and the discomfort of having his neck gripped, but he was powerless to do anything about this. He could only watch helplessly as he endured it.

Before long, he saw Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Giuseppe’s faces turn purple from extreme pain. Their tongues were also sticking out.

Long Yuehong’s thoughts became blurry, and his vision turned black. Am I going to die? Is this the experience of death? Fortunately, it’s only a dream. Otherwise, I would really die… Long Yuehong’s thoughts gradually scattered.

After an unknown period of time, he suddenly woke up and realized that he was still sitting on the left of the jeep’s backseat. Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others were still alive, and nothing had changed.

In addition, Bai Chen kept the car moving slowly like before.

In the passenger seat, Jiang Baimian sighed with emotion. “As expected—one won’t really die when they wake up after knowing that it’s a dream. The human body has a self-protection mechanism under extreme conditions.”

She immediately said to Shang Jianyao, “Inference Clowning again.”

After having the concept of ‘awakening,’ the previous ‘inference’ was eliminated.

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao was very proactive and enthusiastic about this.

…

In the real world, the sapphire-blue jeep drove forward like a snail, attracting many surprised gazes, horning, and curses.

In the car, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Giuseppe leaned back in their chairs with their eyes tightly shut. Their breathing was very smooth and long as if they had fallen asleep.

At this moment, a brown SUV drove out from a diagonal street.

The window suddenly rolled down, and a rocket launcher containing anti-tank rounds extended out.

The rocket launcher’s black muzzle was aimed at the Old Task Force’s jeep.