Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian’s words, Shang Jianyao stood there motionless.

“Is there anything else?” How could Jiang Baimian not understand this fellow’s body language?

“What do you think is behind Room 1215’s door?” Shang Jianyao asked without hiding anything.

Jiang Baimian exclaimed in bemused anger, “Who should I ask if you’re asking me? The corresponding knowledge is no longer something our confidentiality rank can grasp. You shouldn’t have told us the latter half of your conversation with Director Su.”

Afraid that Shang Jianyao wouldn’t understand her true meaning, she added, “Even if you want to say it, you should wait a few days when not many people are paying us attention.”

She could prevent different technological forms of wiretapping, but she couldn’t stop Awakened-related matters.

Fortunately, the conversation they just had wasn’t considered taboo. However, they had to be careful in the future.

Shang Jianyao revealed an ‘enlightened’ expression. “I get it!”

As for what he understood and how much he understood, Jiang Baimian didn’t think much of it and simply answered his previous question. “The horror behind that door might very well exceed our expectations. When you encounter such situations in the future, you can’t go any deeper unless we have a certain level of understanding of the New World and have sufficient confidence in what these scenes truly represent.”

“That might be a door that leads to the New World.” Bai Chen voiced her guess.

Jiang Baimian immediately replied, “If that’s the case, entry is even more forbidden! Have you forgotten Oray’s attitude?”

Although Long Yuehong hadn’t heard Avia mention this matter personally, he still had a deep impression of it when Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao recounted it.

Father of the Source Brain and First City’s former emperor—Oray Ubis would rather die than enter the New World!

“Unless he has reached a point where he can’t continue investigating without passing through that door, I don’t recommend him entering the New World.” Jiang Baimian gave a simple summary and changed the topic with a smile. “Since the review is over, the two of you can bring Little White around and let her see the difference between the Rec Centers on different floors.”

She didn’t bring Bai Chen around herself because she lived on the 349th floor. The Rec Center there was equally boring—it mainly provided all kinds of services to the management and their families.

Before Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao could answer, Bai Chen shook her head. “Let’s wait for the bonuses to be distributed first.”

Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and agreed. “Indeed.”

The end of the review didn’t mean that they had cleared the review. Although she, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong—who were born in the company—could already run around freely, foreign employees like Bai Chen had to be careful. It was safer to wander around the other floors after everything was settled.

…

495th floor, Zone C, Room 11.

The moment Long Yuehong returned home, he saw his younger brother—Long Zhigu—playing with his laptop in the living room. His sister, Long Aihong, was jumping up and down, attempting to snatch it from him. However, she sadly failed every time.

“Why are you on the computer again?” Long Yuehong subconsciously used his authority as the eldest brother. “You’re at a critical moment in your university entrance exam!”

Long Zhigu turned his head to glance at him and helplessly said, “Bro, it’s almost November. I’ve long finished my exams and am already studying.”

Long Yuehong was stunned for a moment. He then realized that he had been outside for too long and was a little slow on the uptake of how much time had passed.

It was spring before the Old Task Force left the company, and it was now late autumn. He had missed Long Zhigu’s final revision, exams, and application.

“Haha.” Long Yuehong laughed in embarrassment. “My memories of home are still stuck at the point before we set off.”

During their family chats the past few days, Long Yuehong mainly shared his experiences outside.

Without waiting for Long Zhigu to respond, he asked in confusion, “It’s not the weekend. Why are you home?”

Long Zhigu smiled awkwardly. “Aren’t you back? I applied for leave and will be staying home for the next few nights.”

“He just wants to take the opportunity to use the computer!” Long Aihong mercilessly exposed the truth behind Long Zhigu’s excuse. “Bro, you have to teach him a lesson!”

Long Zhigu quickly explained, “Bro, it’s not like you don’t know that school only has a few computer-related classes a week. If I want to learn more, I can only use the one at home.”

“Learn more Old World entertainment?” Long Aihong scoffed.

Long Zhigu couldn’t help but glare at the girl.

Some of the Old World’s entertainment material was outright nonsense. Any man with a sister would know that there was no such thing as having the cutest sister. A younger sister was the most annoying!

Long Yuehong didn’t mind his brother and sister’s bickering because he thought of something due to this opportunity.

Little White previously said that she generally stayed at home to sleep or be on the computer when she returned to her floor. But in order to bribe Xiaochong, she gave away her laptop in First City. The funds we applied for later were used to replenish our nutritional needs and supplies for our return trip. We didn’t manage to make up for her sacrifice. Won’t she be very bored at home these few days? Long Yuehong cast his gaze at the laptop on the living room table.

Long Zhigu and Long Aihong suddenly felt an indescribable sense of danger.

…

When Shang Jianyao returned to Zone B, Room 196, Newspoint had yet to begin. He lay on the bed and massaged his temples.

In fact, this action was no longer necessary for him. However, a large number of Shang Jianyaos were rather ritualistic.

Mind Corridor, Room 131.

Shang Jianyao looked at the LCD screen hanging on the bedroom wall and shouted at Xiaochong’s residual aura inside. “Xiaochong! Xiaochong! Xiaochong!”

Nobody replied.

“Engrossed in his games?” Shang Jianyao muttered to himself and could only give up helplessly. After that, he came to the corridor covered in thick, dark-red carpet and arrived at Room 522 again.

“It’s still here…” Shang Jianyao sighed with emotion as he pushed open the door and entered.

What appeared in front of him was still the same city ruin. Cars were parked haphazardly everywhere. The walls were vaguely visible in the darkness, and large patches of blood could occasionally be seen. As for the windows, they were almost incomplete.

Shang Jianyao was in no rush to advance. He cast his gaze at the spot where he had been attacked previously.

The door to a car was suddenly pushed open the next second, and a Heartless pounced out.

All of this happened in an identical fashion to the last instance. However, Shang Jianyao didn’t experiment with the incurring of an injury. The tottering billboard in midair fell to the ground with a thud, smacking the attacker to the ground.

“I get it.” Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “A save was loaded!”

The various aspects of this psychological trauma had been reset with the corresponding mental recovery! In theory, most of the details of such a reset would be restored. Only tiny changes would happen. After all, this presented the room owner’s subconscious mind activity. It was impossible for it to be the same every time.

The calm and smart Shang Jianyao quickly recalled where the Heartless had emerged from last time. Then, he bent his back and quietly sneaked into a building by the street.

Many Heartless were attracted by the heavy thud a few seconds later. They circled around and didn’t discover any prey that could be hunted. They then returned to hide in the darkness.

Shang Jianyao had infiltrated an Old World supermarket. All the edible items inside only had their wrappers left or had been taken.

The rest were either scattered on the ground due to collapsed shelves or were neatly placed in their original spots. However, a large number of their names were either wrong or strange. In short, they didn’t seem real.

Shang Jianyao knew why. After all, the room owner was busy hiding and moving. How could they have paid attention to all the details?

Therefore, when they subconsciously reenacted the scene from back then, they extracted from other experiences to perfect the situation. This inevitably brought about conflicts. For example, a toothbrush-like item was labeled as sour orange.

Shang Jianyao conjured his usual Berserker assault rifle and walked to another exit of the supermarket with it. Although there was nobody else here, nor were there any Heartless, he still inched forward according to his training.

This meant that the one in control of the body wasn’t the rash and bold him.

When he approached the other exit, Shang Jianyao swept his gaze and saw a small display rack with newspapers and magazines.

Iron Mountain Daily, People’s Magazine… Shang Jianyao walked over with interest, picked up two of them, and flipped through them.

Unfortunately, apart from the relatively clear cover and front page—with pictures and words—the contents were almost blank.

This meant that the room owner had indeed passed by, but he had only taken a few looks and had no time to read it carefully.

Shang Jianyao’s gaze quickly landed on two spots. The first was the newspaper’s name: Iron Mountain Daily.

The second was a figure on the Renwu magazine: the 23-year-old genius scientist, Lin Sui.

She was a young woman who wasn’t considered beautiful but looked very sweet. Her hair was tied up in a box braid.