Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

After adjusting his shirt’s cuffs, the black figure cast its gaze at the gap that emitted sunlight as if it were taking note of the time.

Suddenly, it saw a pair of eyes there—dark-brown eyes.

The next second, the eyes’ owner passed through the wall and glass before bizarrely entering the chamber.

He was less than 1.8 meters tall with long black hair, and had his body draped in a loose black robe. He was in his forties, and he had a very elegant beard around his mouth. He was Du Heng, who called himself an antiquarian.

“You…” The white-haired elder and the gigantic black figure behind him spoke at the same time.

Du Heng bent his back slightly, coughed, and smiled in response. “Although I’ve forgotten many things, I vaguely remember that my responsibility is to stop you guys from coming to the Ashlands and send those who are already here back…”

All of a sudden, a blazing sun seemed to rise from the chamber that only had certain areas illuminated.

…

Golden Apple Zone, 14 Round Hill Street, outside Avia’s classic-looking villa.

Upon seeing the rocket being pushed away, Kanna—who was also prepared to use Matter Interference—heaved a sigh of relief.

In this regard, her ability was actually about the same as Khal’s. However, she was still maintaining the effects of another Awakened ability. Unable to use Matter Interference to its full extent, she was afraid that she couldn’t send the rocket far away enough and would end up injured by the ensuing blast.

The ability she was maintaining was called Friendly Halo.

There was no need for words or actions. Kanna could make all creatures with high intelligence that entered a certain range have a good impression of her and become friendly. She could also make two people—who were supposed to be at odds and close to coming to blows—sit down and have a chat over tea.

This ability was so powerful that Kanna naturally became the Mind Corridor-level Awakened’s friend the moment she entered the Virtual World. It made the Awakened stop being vigilant and wary, allowing her to deactivate the Virtual World.

If it weren’t for the fact that Khal had used Forced Sleep from a long distance away and switched to Real Dreamscape, causing Kanna’s Friendly Halo to disappear, he would’ve treated this lady differently and shown a certain level of friendliness the moment he drove close.

After Kanna was woken up by the fatal danger Shang Jianyao had created, her first reaction was to use Friendly Halo to resolve the hostility, not Matter Interference to deal with the rocket.

This was a method she had tried time and time again, allowing her to escape danger every time. However, there was something wrong with Shang Jianyao’s brain. Despite clearly becoming friendly, he still pulled the trigger. It scared Kanna so much that she almost cursed out loud.

Fortunately, Khal was also affected by her Friendly Halo and took the initiative to help her resolve the danger.

The Friendly Halo ability came under Eidolon Nun—it was the opposite of vigilance. It was very strong and very useful. It could resolve many problems, but it was also not omnipotent. For example, it had a relatively obvious flaw: It had to be maintained to be effective.

In other words, Kanna couldn’t immediately switch abilities after others became ‘friendly.’ That would directly lose any friendliness.

Friendly Halo wasn’t like Inference Clowning or Forced Sleep, which could stay in effect for a certain period of time after the Awakened stopped casting them. Also, they could only be removed when negatory conditions were met.

Once Friendly Halo was stopped, the target would immediately return to normal. Therefore, once Kanna used this ability, she couldn’t show other abilities unless she planned on giving up on such effects.

In such a state, she could only use Matter Interference that had been weakened by more than two-thirds, a few items, and the pistol she carried with her.

Boom!

The rocket exploded on the wall not far away, shattering many windows and shaking the entire building.

Kanna turned her head to look at the old woman in the black beanie. Upon seeing that the latter’s eyes were moving slightly and that it wouldn’t be long before she woke up, Kanna could only continue maintaining Friendly Halo. She then looked out the window and calmly pleaded with Khal as a ‘friend.’

“Can you give me some time to speak to Avia?”

Khal’s eyes were unfocused, and he relied on his perception of human consciousness to turn toward Avia’s classic-looking villa again. Although he was very friendly to Kanna, he didn’t forget his mission and duties. “No, I’ll have to kill you too if you come into contact with Avia and obtain something from her. Since we’re friends, don’t make things difficult for me.”

Shang Jianyao—who was holding the Death rocket launcher—nodded in agreement.

In fact, he didn’t hear anything—his hearing had been deprived. He only felt that since the other party was speaking, he had to show agreement out of politeness.

Kanna also couldn’t hear what Khal said. She only guessed that he had rejected her request from his attitude and reaction.

She instinctively believed that the enemy had already locked onto Avia and was attempting to kill her, so she quickly changed the topic. “Do you know what the dangerous item on Avia is? Where does its danger originate from?”

As Kanna asked, she—who had already walked to the window—gestured at Shang Jianyao to infiltrate the villa while she held the enemy back. He was to find Avia, wake her up, and make preparations to administer emergency treatment.

Of course, a gesture definitely couldn’t express that much. The two parties didn’t have the tacit understanding that they needed time to build up. Kanna could only point toward the villa in the hopes that Shang Jianyao would comprehend her thoughts.

She felt that such an experienced outfield member should know what to do next, but she also felt that this still awake fellow was abnormal in the head. He might misunderstand.

Just in case, she decided to exploit the strong against another adversary at the same time. Kanna pulled out a pistol hidden under her clothes and threw it at the old woman in the black beanie.

Bam!

The pistol smashed into the Mind Corridor-level Awakened, making her body tremble.

At the same time, Khal shook his head. “I’m not sure what it is. I only know one thing: I definitely can’t give Avia a chance to use that item. Alright, let’s end it here. How about we have afternoon tea after I finish off Avia and these people who obtained the passcode from Marcus? Uh, it’s still morning. Let’s have lunch then.”

“Alright.” Kanna—who had no idea what the other party was saying—nodded repeatedly.

Shang Jianyao—whose arm was stained with blood—crept toward Avia’s classic-looking villa. He was taking advantage of the fact that the enemy couldn’t see his surroundings and couldn’t sense him.

At this moment, the Life Angel necklace in Khal’s right hand lit up with a bright glow. He then laughed. “Done. Main objective accomplished. Yes, my vision is almost restored.”

Although Kanna couldn’t hear him, she guessed that he had already attacked Avia based on the item he used.

The lady’s expression sank. She glanced at Shang Jianyao and pointed at Khal.

She wanted the other party to cooperate with her and finish off this enemy as soon as possible before saving Avia.

Shang Jianyao understood what she meant. He turned around and raised the Death rocket launcher.

At this moment, Kanna also aimed her left hand at Khal. On it was a ring made of diamond shards.

It was called Sluggish. It could slow down the target’s instinctive reaction toward another person they were watching, as well as slow down any corresponding premonition.

This—combined with Khal’s current blind state—was enough to make the rocket blast to his side before he sensed something and hastily attempted Matter Interference.

It would be too late.

Mind Corridor-level Awakened still had the body of a human. They couldn’t compare to a mechanical monk, and an explosive rocket would be a fatal blow to them.

14 Round Hill Street, in the classic-looking villa’s bathhouse lobby.

Avia—who was wearing a white bathrobe with wet blonde hair—woke up from the armchair due to the quakes caused by the rocket explosion.

Beside her, a maid—who was also wearing a bathrobe—lay on the ground. Her entire body convulsed as her breathing sounded like a sigh.

Avia’s eyes focused as she pulled her left hand from her bathrobe pocket. She held a phone in her left hand—an old silver-white phone with cracks on the glass screen.