Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon noticing Jiang Baimian’s abnormality, the honest Shang Jianyao asked, “What’s wrong?”

The honest Genava immediately interrupted him. “This isn’t a good time to discuss it.”

As he spoke, the red light in his eyes swept across the face of the Ark Management Committee’s interim president, Ulrich.

Uh, Old Ge, there’s no need to be so direct. Be tactful, be tactful… Long Yuehong couldn’t stop grumbling.

Fortunately, Ulrich’s observation skills were definitely top-notch. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become the tyrannical DiMarco’s butler.

He calmly asked, “President Xue, do you need me to provide Captain Tan feedback? If not, I have to deal with the management committee’s daily matters.”

Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and replied, “Not at the moment.”

After Ulrich left this floor, she showed the last page of the information in her hand to Shang Jianyao and the others.

“Suspected to be related to the Eighth Research Institute… In other words, it’s unlikely that Lin Sui is one of the Eternal project’s leads.” Bai Chen quickly interpreted the key meaning of this information. Although she didn’t know which research institute was in charge of the Eternal project back then, she was certain that it wasn’t the Eighth Research Institute in the north.

The Monks Conclave’s Glazed Pure Lands was in the Monk Wastelands, and it wasn’t considered in the vicinity of the north. The Glazed Pure Lands was suspected to be the research institute’s headquarters.

The honest Shang Jianyao that enjoyed rebutting others shook his head. “Not necessarily. What if Lin Sui is from the Eighth Research Institute while also participating in the Eternal project? Who stipulated that the large research institutes can’t share talents?”

Bai Chen couldn’t deny it, but Long Yuehong stubbornly said, “You can’t discount such a probability, but it’s definitely very low. In terms of confidentiality, there should be an information block out between the nine research institutes. As the Third Research Institute’s Chief Scientist, Oray had a relatively limited understanding of the other research institutes.”

“You’re so serious.” Shang Jianyao—who had switched to another, unknown personality—glanced at Long Yuehong and surfaced a teasing smile on his face.

Long Yuehong’s face flushed red as he defended himself. “I’m having a serious discussion!”

Jiang Baimian cleared her throat and interrupted their conversation. “Before any opposing information appears, I chose to temporarily trust the Salvation Army’s judgment. Therefore, could Lin Sui either be Vice President, Charlie, Professor Li, or Doctor? Or did she die when the Old World was destroyed?”

Vice President, Charlie, Professor Li, and Doctor were the few surviving Old World members of the Eighth Research Institute. They had already entered the New World and slept all year round other than the occasional movement.

This was information obtained by the Old Task Force from the Eighth Research Institute’s commissioner, Khal. Shang Jianyao privately called them the Eighth Research Institute’s four giants.

“First, we can eliminate Professor Li because Lin Sui’s surname is Lin.” Shang Jianyao was the first to comment.

Long Yuehong immediately retorted, “Professor Li is only a code name. It doesn’t mean that the person’s surname is Li.”

After blurting out this sentence, Long Yuehong felt the pleasure of exacting revenge.

“That’s right.” Shang Jianyao surprisingly agreed. “Just like how Gu Zhiyong might not be surnamed Gu and might even be surnamed Long. Sigh, he’s only 1.75 meters tall after genetic enhancement. He’s not handsome, and his grades are ordinary…”

Long Yuehong’s face flushed red and white. He didn’t expect Shang Jianyao to change his lines.

Yes, he still didn’t grow tall after the three genetic modifications—Enhanced Self Recovery, Increased Immunity, and Increased Reaction Speed.

Now, Long Yuehong sadly realized that Increased Reaction Speed didn’t seem to include thinking.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to retort Shang Jianyao.

“The four of them might be Lin Sui. They clearly want to hide something by using codenames and not their real names.” Bai Chen steered the topic back on track.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “This is also a direction for future investigations.”

…

Shang Jianyao completely recovered from his mental damage a few days later.

The night before the Old Task Force set off, they happened to encounter the parish assembly held by the three religions under Eidolon Nun.

Jiang Baimian—who was interested in such matters—suggested that everyone attend the assembly in the Vigilance Cathedral and help maintain order.

Shang Jianyao raised his hands and feet in agreement. He did so by jumping up and raising his hands and feet.

Upon seeing this, the honest Genava specially reminded him, “Hey, your condition is getting worse. You have to be careful.”

“Don’t worry. We have a mature consultation and swapping mechanism,” Shang Jianyao replied.

The Old Task Force quintet took the elevator to the Vigilance Cathedral’s main hall thanks to their geographical advantage.

There were already more than 100 people here, and they were divided into three groups. Of course, this was only the situation on the surface. In the ventilation ducts and in the hidden spots outside the windows, countless cathedral guards and Redstone townsfolk—who were interested in the debate—were hiding.

According to Shang Jianyao’s ‘calculations,’ their numbers were three to four times that of the people who had appeared.

“Viel, I see you!” Shang Jianyao suddenly shouted.

Nobody answered him.

Shang Jianyao sighed, feeling regretful that he hadn’t tricked Viel into appearing.

Just as he, Jiang Baimian, and the others found and sat down in an empty spot in the dimly lit cathedral, a scoff sounded from somewhere.

This scoff had a clear drake-like voice as if it came from a boy in puberty.

Shang Jianyao ignored him, took off his tactical backpack, and grabbed something. He then asked Jiang Baimian and the others, “Do you guys want it? How can we leave out melon seeds at a time like this?”

“Melon seeds?” Long Yuehong widened his eyes and looked at Shang Jianyao’s hand. As expected, he saw a handful of plump sunflower seeds[1].

“W-why do you have that?” he asked in surprise.

With a beaming smile, Shang Jianyao replied, “It’s not like you don’t know that I’ll save up the sweets and melon seeds for appropriate times. Sigh, I’ve already given the sweets to those children.”

This referred to the young mountain monsters.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuehong inexplicably felt like he had transmigrated back to the past—back when he was seven or eight.

“Give me some.” Jiang Baimian didn’t stand on ceremony as she stretched out an open palm.

“You’ll get beaten up if you continue like this.” Shang Jianyao gently patted Jiang Baimian’s palm with his other hand before putting a small handful of melon seeds on it.

Jiang Baimian closed her fingers and asked with a smile, “A game you played when you were young?”

“It was his prank.” Long Yuehong began to complain. “He often deceived me, Yang Zhenyuan, and the others. He said that he had snacks for us, but he would slap our palms the moment we stretched out our palms.”

“You sure know how to fool others.” Jiang Baimian held in her laughter.

Long Yuehong began to regret having a loose tongue.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian casually added, “This means that you are pure-hearted and will treat people well with all your heart.”

“How did you infer the second half of the sentence?” the honest Genava asked.

“That’s right, that’s right,” the honest Shang Jianyao also asked.

“It’s about to begin! Cut the chit-chat?” Jiang Baimian pointed at the beginning parish assembly.

As a bishop of the Vigilance Cathedral, Antonella—a bald, muscular clergyman—walked to the Vigilance Sacred Emblem as host despite his rank and strength being inferior to the few present.

He looked at the Church’s Terror Bishop—Saint Sigmund, who had specially traveled over—and loudly said, “The topic of this parish assembly is: which comes first for the Kalendaria—wariness or fear.'”

Chu Ge—who was in charge of maintaining order—wanted to raise his hand and say: “Please add ‘friendliness.'” However, he decided not to wade into this mess after some thought.

Friendship first, friendship first!

After Antonella announced the topic, the tall and thin Terror Bishop—Sigmund—stood up. “Wariness, of course. Why do we feel fear when facing danger? It’s because we are born to be vigilant.

“Why do we feel fear when facing the unknown? It’s because we are wary of its hidden dangers and the loss of our precious lives…

“When we were still infants—before we knew fear—we would still instinctively show vigilance when facing many things!”

Trembling, someone from the Terror Church immediately stood up and retorted, “No, we already had fears when we were infants. Our ancestors ‘wrote’ it in our genes and passed it down generation after generation. To put it simply, infants who don’t know how to fear certain things couldn’t survive in ancient times. Their genes naturally can’t be inherited…”

The theoretical debate’s standards are a little higher this time… Jiang Baimian listened with relish as cracking sounds occasionally sounded beside her.

Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen were quietly munching on melon seeds.

The muscles on Jiang Baimian’s face twitched as she criticized inwardly and picked up a few melon seeds.

The debate gradually deepened, and she became increasingly focused. Toward the end, she forgot that she still had melon seeds in her hand. Shang Jianyao quietly and secretly stole a few.

As she listened, Jiang Baimian suddenly felt the Vigilance Hall turn a little darker. Her heart palpitated as she subconsciously looked up at the gigantic Sacred Emblem in front of her.

Behind the half-closed white door, the indistinct female figure seemed a little clearer in the darkness as she stared at everyone.

[1] Melon seeds collectively refer to sunflower seeds, watermelon seeds, and pumpkin seeds in modern-day Chinese culture with the former being most prevalent.