Embers Ad Infinitum

Shang Jianyao looked at the helicopter in midair and smiled as he invited the city defense soldiers at the door in. “Why don’t you come in for a while? It will be relatively troublesome if the higher-ups see you leaving after asking a few questions at the door. It would also be easy to expose my and my companions’ secrets.”

The city defense soldiers found Shang Jianyao making sense and walked into Grimm Watch Shop with their standard assault rifles. As they habitually sized up the area, they saw Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen guarding the area that led to the back.

These two people were also wearing city defense uniforms, but they were equipped with military exoskeletons that made the soldiers’ eyelids twitch instinctively.

“They too?” The leader of the city guards turned to look at Shang Jianyao. His tone was still normal, but his actions had unconsciously assumed a defensive posture.

He was about the same height as Shang Jianyao. His face was rugged, and he had blond hair and blue eyes; he clearly had Yargai blood in him.

“Yes.” As Shang Jianyao nodded slightly, Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen took out their identification documents.

The city guards took a few steps forward and saw the corresponding content and the most important steel seal. They then relaxed and retreated to the door one after another, afraid to see any secrets in the area guarded by their two colleagues.

This was the experience they had accumulated over the years. They shouldn’t see things they shouldn’t see or ask about things they shouldn’t ask.

Shang Jianyao completely violated such behavior. After receiving Jiang Baimian’s hint, he didn’t pretend and asked curiously, “What are you searching for?”

The Yargai city guard in the lead didn’t hide anything and frankly replied, “A Daoist priest. The Senate overrode General Phocas and issued a direct order.”

A Daoist priest? From the Eternal Time Church? In this First City chaos, the Kalendaria—Master Zhuang—lost his original influence? This series of thoughts immediately jumped into Jiang Baimian’s mind. She had seen very few Daoists, so she could only associate them with the Eternal Time Church for the time being.

“Daoist priest?” Shang Jianyao asked. “What does he look like? Let’s see if I’ve seen him before.”

The lead city guard took out a photo from his chest pocket and showed it to Shang Jianyao. In the photo was a man in his fifties. He wore a Daoist robe similar to Galoran’s and had his hair tied into a loose bun.

He looked like a pure Ashlandic. His sideburns were gray, and he had serious eye bags. He had a long beard, and his wrinkles were obvious.

“I’ve never seen him.” Shang Jianyao was very disappointed. He seemed to have perfectly taken on the role of an elite city guard soldier.

“We’ve never seen him before today either,” the city guard leader consoled Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao listened to the helicopter rotors not far away and asked, “Who’s in charge of the commandeering?”

“Not one of ours.” The city guard leader looked at the ceiling diagonally behind them. “Someone from the Senate.”

“What does he look like?” Shang Jianyao asked without hiding anything.

The city guard leader recalled and said, “He wore a black robe. His hair was messy, and his eyes were light blue. His face was very long, and his cheekbones were very high. He also had many wrinkles…”

“I don’t know him.” Shang Jianyao expressed his regret again. Upon receiving Jiang Baimian’s gaze, he organized a new round of questions. “Did he show any abilities?”

“No.” The city guards shook their heads in unison.

While Jiang Baimian was slightly disappointed, the Yargai leader added, “But the higher-ups tell us that with this person around, we can be at ease and be bolder when carrying out the mission today. We don’t have to worry about the danger and will definitely be fine.”

This… Jiang Baimian’s thoughts raced as she instinctively believed that this sentence contained a lot of information. She quickly thought of an ability: Virtual World!

Only when this area was covered by the Virtual World could the soldiers on missions truly not worry about danger and definitely be fine.

The Virtual World owner who protects Marcus? The one whose price is claustrophobia? Jiang Baimian suddenly had a guess. She then fell into deep thought. The Kalendaria—Shattered Mirror—believed by the Mirror Church previously supported First City’s officials. Furthermore, it had deep ties with Oray…

They have now given up on the original Conservatives and turned to support the new consul, Gaius? The fact that Gaius is still willing to accept it means that Shattered Mirror isn’t in an irredeemable relationship with the supporters behind him. They can be at odds but also cooperate depending on the situation?

There was no loud commotion in Sikhara Temple’s direction, indicating that the Crystal Consciousness Church had yet to encounter a devastating blow… The Kalendaria, Subhuti, shares a similar position to Shattered Mirror? In this chaos, the ones who suffer the greatest losses seem to be the supporters of the Kalendaria, Master Zhuang…

Some of the Kalendarium are resisting the god that represents the entire year?

“Is that so?” Shang Jianyao had a look of suspicion toward the city defense soldiers’ claim that there was no need to worry about danger as if he wanted to draw his pistol and verify it on the spot.

The Yargai leader replied with uncertainty, “Soldiers like us believe whatever the higher-ups say. However, we will still be careful when carrying out missions. It’s our life after all.”

With that said, he looked at the clock in the shop and estimated the time. “We should be leaving.”

“Be careful.” Shang Jianyao waved his right hand.

His left arm had been wrapped up again on the way to Antanna Street. He then got the doctor from the unlicensed clinic to help him with a few stitches.

After watching the city defense soldiers leave, Jiang Baimian quietly listened for a while and realized that the helicopter in midair had yet to leave the area and was still ‘hovering’ nearby.

She frowned slightly and suddenly cursed inwardly. If the Virtual World did cover Antanna Street, our ‘data’ definitely would’ve been uploaded at the same time. Three city defense soldiers hiding in an underground workshop, with two of them wearing military exoskeletons, will make them undoubtedly suspicious. Once the Virtual World’s owner reviews this portion of data, it’s very easy for him to discover the problem.

This wasn’t a big problem to begin with. After all, the Old Task Force had General Phocas’s credentials and documents, which were enough to muddle their way through.

But inside the helicopter was the Virtual World’s owner they had interacted with previously and were familiar with each other! When the time came, there was a high chance that the other party would recognize them!

Upon thinking of the worst possible outcome, Jiang Baimian immediately had the intention to get Bai Chen to take off her military exoskeleton with her.

In a flash, she thought for a moment and realized that this only served to reveal their intentions to hide something.

It was impossible for the exoskeleton that had been removed to disappear from the Virtual World! Furthermore, the Virtual World’s owner—who originally didn’t pay attention to this area—might cast his gaze over in advance due to such ‘data fluctuations.’

Nothing seemed to work, and Jiang Baimian found it difficult to make a decision.

She saw Shang Jianyao’s expression turn serious, and she believed that he had also noticed the problem.

…

In Early Spring Town in the North Shore wastelands.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Genava fired the anesthesia rounds into the bomb shelter. To be safe, he even searched for nearby ventilation outlets and fired a few rounds in.

After waiting for a while, Genava—who was closely monitoring the target area—turned his head to Zeng Duo and said, “The people guarding the entrance are no longer in the right state. I’ll rush in first, and you’ll follow behind.”

“Alright.” Zeng Duo switched the exoskeleton’s visor to anti-poison mode.

Han Wanghuo opened his mouth but didn’t say a word.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Genava jumped and ran, leaping crazily and repeatedly until he reached the permanent fortifications.

It was only at this moment that gunshots sounded from inside along with a flying shell.

Boom!

Genava dodged the shell and tanked the gunshots. He then rushed into the bomb shelter and fired with a submachine gun in his hand.

Amidst the gunfire, many First City soldiers fell to the ground. The rest were either unconscious or had curled up to temporarily hide.

Zeng Duo quickly jumped over the fortifications and used the grenade launcher to cause damage.

After clearing away the enemies in this area, she and Genava entered the bomb shelter.

Han Wanghuo waited for the anesthetic gas to spread for a while and have its effects minimized before wearing a mask and following them. Along the way, he observed the enemies—who were dead or alive—and frowned slightly.

The garrison’s equipment was worse than he imagined. Of course, them being ‘worse’ was compared to their usual standards.

Although most of them have been transferred away, it’s unlikely that only one tank, two armored vehicles, a bionic artificial intelligence armor, and two Awakened are left… There aren’t even any military exoskeletons? Han Wanghuo prayed for such good luck as he raised his guard.

There were many rooms in the deep and wide bomb shelter.

Zeng Duo swept her gaze around and suddenly saw a familiar face; it was Uncle Li Ji, her neighbor.

At this moment, Li Ji—whose lips had degenerated, exposing his teeth—had his face so tightly pressed against the glass window in a certain room that it was almost deformed.