Embers Ad Infinitum

“The Water Conservation Department will gradually organize a series of water conservation lectures…

“At 6:20 p.m. today, a murder on the 568th floor happened. Preliminary investigations suggest that the reason is a major outbreak after the accumulation of various day-to-day trivial conflicts…”

“…” A slightly childlike voice echoed on every floor, allowing the employees listening to the radio to understand what had happened in the company today.

There was positive news and negative news, but this didn’t stop Shang Jianyao’s room from becoming quieter.

After Newspoint, the radio station had scheduled a review program to talk about today’s murder. They introduced all the vile cases and the corresponding judgment after Pangu Biology moved into the underground building to serve as a warning to their employees.

This program was still hosted by Hou Yi. The Shang Jianyaos listened with relish.

Some of the vile cases were familiar to everyone, such as the explosion on the 386th floor. It happened back in the Chaotic Era. Supplies in Pangu Biology were seriously inadequate, especially when it came to mineral resources. For this reason, the Board of Directors specially sent some teams to occupy some of the mines in the surrounding area.

Among them was a D6 middle-ranking employee. After working at the mine for six months, he returned home and realized that his wife and neighbor were having an affair. Not only did the neighbor rank slightly higher than him, but he also had a certain level of connection with the management and was a relative of a certain family.

The employee fumed the more he thought about it. He believed that it would only result in a divorce if the matter escalated and that it wouldn’t deal any damage to the culprit. Therefore, he pretended not to know and returned to the mine.

He returned home six months later and knocked on his neighbor’s door that very night.

The person who opened the door was the man.

The employee didn’t say anything else as he pulled open his clothes, revealing a belt of dynamite strapped around his waist.

The man was grabbed before he could identify what it was. Then, an explosion happened.

The duo was naturally blasted to pieces. It was said that the children on that floor found a few fingers while playing the next day.

The rooms and floors in that area were seriously damaged. Fortunately, the explosion happened at the door, so it didn’t affect the bedroom inside that much. Otherwise, more than two people would’ve died.

Due to danger such matters caused to the underground building’s structural integrity, Pangu Biology began to put emphasis on the entry inspection and management of the mines. This resulted in the subsequent series of regulations. At the same time, the act of destroying outfield employees’ marriage was deemed illegal and was made an amendment to the statute.

After quietly listening to the review episode, Shang Jianyao raised his hand to rub his temples reluctantly.

…

His figure appeared in the room corresponding to the Mind Corridor.

Shang Jianyao didn’t search for 1215. He chose a new target further away from his room: “522.”

5 represented the domain of May’s Kalendaria, Monitor. This was the target of the Naturalism Church’s faith.

Of course, ‘5’ might also belong to the Master Zhuang domain.

After a new round of voting, the Shang Jianyaos confirmed their initial exploration approach. Therefore, they combined into one and opened Room 522.

What Shang Jianyao saw was a ruin. The glass windows were already shattered, and the outer walls were cloaked in the darkness of the night. Large patches of blood also dyed different spots.

Shang Jianyao had clearly walked into the room, but it appeared as though he had walked out of a building. He was immediately on a street filled with cars.

He was in no rush to advance as he stood in the middle of the street and observed his surroundings.

At this moment, the front door of a car beside him was suddenly pushed open, and a figure jumped out.

His hair was messy, and his eyes were turbid and bloodshot. He was clearly a Heartless.

Shang Jianyao had already sensed something the moment the door opened. But just as he was about to dodge, he came to an abrupt pause and treated himself as a target.

The Heartless pounced on him and tore at his shoulder. The corresponding spot was instantly mangled.

“Howl!” Shang Jianyao howled in pain. Only then did he exert strength and throw the Heartless out.

He didn’t even glance at the dangerous creature as he split into ten and sized each other up.

Every Shang Jianyao had a hideous wound on their shoulder.

The Shang Jianyao wearing a deer-hunting hat with a pipe in his mouth nodded thoughtfully. “The situation just now explains two things: First, this is the mind world, not the real world. The perception of human consciousness depends on the room owner’s condition or cognition back then. It might or might not exist, so we can’t rely on this during future explorations. Second, not only does it seem like one’s mind will be damaged when exploring another person’s mind world, but the body isn’t immune either.”

“How can there be a body now? This itself is a manifestation of the mind,” the honest Shang Jianyao immediately retorted.

At this moment, the Heartless pounced over again.

But as he was in midair, a billboard—which was already on the verge of collapsing—suddenly fell from above. It smashed toward him amidst the wind.

Bam!

The Heartless—who couldn’t duck in time—was smashed to the ground by the billboard, blood flowing from his head.

He convulsed and struggled, seemingly unable to suffer an immediate death—a full display of a Heartless’s tenacious vitality.

However, he couldn’t do anything else. At the very least, he couldn’t interfere with the convening of the Shang Jianyao Democratic Association.

The Shang Jianyao wearing a deer-hunting hat took out the pipe from his mouth. “I mean that I was under the impression that apart from Awakened abilities, the attacks in the mind world only deal with emotion, such as causing panic, fear, confusion, and other reactions to force us out into the Mind Corridor and leave a nasty mark. But from the looks of it, a physical attack can also cause damage.”

The timid but definitely smart Shang Jianyao agreed. “This physical attack is essentially a mental attack, but it has a similar manifestation due to the different environments.”

“We seem to be bleeding from our shoulders, but our minds have actually suffered a certain level of trauma,” said the Shang Jianyao that paid attention to inner emotions. He wore daily clothes, a caricature of the clothes he wore when he was young.

The rash and bold Shang Jianyao immediately said, “Then, should we make some preparations for such attacks? How can we exhibit the ability to deliver physical attacks?”

The Shang Jianyao wearing a deer-hunting hat shook his pipe. “We can materialize guns and ammunition and add the effects of Matter Interference when firing. As the bullets are small and light, such interference can be added bit by bit to conserve our mental energy.”

It was clearly impossible to materialize a weapon in another person’s mind world and fire directly. One had to purposely ‘imbue’ their psyche powers.

In this regard, Matter Interference had a unique advantage.

The Shang Jianyaos quickly came to an agreement. In order to reduce mental exhaustion, they combined as one.

In his hand was their usual Berserker assault rifle. With this weapon in hand, Shang Jianyao walked toward the street step by step.

Before long, figures appeared from the abandoned cars, many corners of the streets, and behind the many windows in the surrounding buildings.

There were more than a hundred of them, and there were men and women of all ages. Their clothes were tattered and dirty, and their eyes were terrifyingly turbid.

Some of these Heartless carried all kinds of firearms, some held poles and wrenches, and others attacked Shang Jianyao from all directions with their bare palms.

Ta! Ta! Ta! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shang Jianyao skillfully rolled and fired, allowing each bullet to drill into the different enemy bodies precisely.

The Heartless were also very skilled with their weapons. If not for the fact that Shang Jianyao occasionally used Hands Immobility and Corny Person, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to fight 100 enemies alone without suffering any damage.

Compared to a human army in reality, the Heartless here couldn’t be defeated by fear!

Ta! Ta! Ta!

A large number of Heartless lost their lives and fell to the ground in the intense gunfight. But at the end of the street, more Heartless rushed over when they heard the commotion.

Looking at these countless blurry figures, Shang Jianyao sighed dramatically. “There’s not enough ammunition…”

The essence of this sentence was that his mental reserves might not be able to keep up with the expenditure. Even if he could finish off the group in front of him, he would be subsequently powerless.

Shang Jianyao then asked himself, “How did the room owner escape from such an environment back then, leaving only some psychological trauma?”

Unable to get an answer, he suddenly turned around and ran toward the spot he had entered from.

Shang Jianyao pounced and rolled before returning to the Mind Corridor and ending this exploration.

The best strategy was to get out while the going was good!

…

When Shang Jianyao entered Room 14 on the 647th floor the next day, Jiang Baimian was informed that the entire Old Task Force would undergo a strict review.

Only after completion of the review would the bonuses be distributed.

This was the second review for Shang Jianyao.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and reminded him, “Mei Shou’an might not be in charge this time.”