Embers Ad Infinitum

As an experienced warrior, Jiang Baimian’s first reaction wasn’t fear. Instead, she leaned against the wall and avoided being right in front of it.

At the same time, she raised her arm and aimed the Death rocket launcher at the darkness surging out from behind the door and the bloody palm on the ground.

Jiang Baimian then shrugged her left shoulder gently, dispelling the expected recoil.

A rocket flew out and headed straight for the target.

Boom!

Amidst the explosion, the rich darkness didn’t waver at all as it completely engulfed the blooming fiery-red flower.

The bloody, pale palm retracted and stretched forward at intervals. It alternately propped itself up on the ground with the other hand to help its body crawl.

They were also unaffected by the violent explosion, and there were no signs of damage on their surfaces.

The body they were connected to was hidden in the rich darkness; only its outline could be vaguely seen. Some angles resembled a human’s, and some angles looked strange.

Upon seeing that the bombardment wasn’t effective, Jiang Baimian immediately threw away the Death rocket launcher. But rather than retreating, she advanced and stretched out her left palm at the unknown monster that seemed to possess human consciousness.

With sizzling sounds, silver-white electric arcs leaped out one after another and wrapped around each other before crashing into the rich darkness.

The entire corridor became as bright as day, but it couldn’t illuminate the terrifying darkness that hid the unknown monster.

It was like a black hole mentioned in many of the Old World’s books—even light couldn’t escape its devouring.

While countless electric sparks remained in Jiang Baimian’s vision, she didn’t hesitate to turn around. She dashed, attempting to distance herself from the heavy crawling monster in the darkness.

This was an aisle with no fork on both sides, so Jiang Baimian didn’t have to worry about getting lost. After all, she just needed to run in the opposite direction of the enemy.

As she ran, she locked onto the terrifying creature chasing after her and used Spatial Hallucination on ‘him!’

She wanted the other party to lose his bearings and slam into a room on either side of the aisle to help her escape her predicament.

However, the unknown monster—which had its bloody palms stretched out in the darkness and its elbows constantly alternating—kept crawling along the aisle as it approached.

My abilities are useless against ‘him?’ As Jiang Baimian ran, she took out the doll wearing grayish-green camouflage with a mirror embedded in its face.

With this item, she used Stimulation Disorder on herself and modified her reaction to such a scene to the feeling of being suddenly burned by flames.

Her body suddenly jolted as her body rapidly pumped adrenaline.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Jiang Baimian’s running speed seemed to exceed a human’s limits.

Her target was the intersection at the end of the aisle.

…

Shang Jianyao—who was in the wilderness—was also facing the thick darkness that surged over like a tide.

At the edge of the darkness, two bloody, pale hands were propped up on the ground with their elbows. They constantly alternated, allowing the indistinct figure behind to constantly approach the target.

The Shang Jianyao that sought novelty assumed a posture, raised his right hand, and snapped his fingers. At the same time, he leisurely said, “Limbs Immobility.”

The alternating bloody palms paused before continuing to move forward.

“F*ck!” The timid Shang Jianyao cursed and made the military exoskeleton fire.

A grenade was fired, and a metal bullet wrapped in electric sparks that followed arrived first. A bright red laser almost instantly crossed the distance between Shang Jianyao and the darkness as glistening yellow bullets rained down.

This was the superior firepower theory that Zen Master Redemption advocated.

However, most of them were swallowed by the darkness. Although the rest struck the bloody palms and the figure connected to them, they only produced sound and didn’t cause any real damage.

“A monster!” The honest Shang Jianyao jumped up, turned around in midair, and ran.

Amidst the thumping sounds, he took out a blue and white loudspeaker and raised his voice. “As the saying goes, it’s better to resolve enmity than worsen it. I advise you to know better. Stop immediately, or you will have to bear the consequences!”

This was Thought Guidance.

It was unknown if the monster in the darkness didn’t understand Shang Jianyao’s words or if it could resist such an influence greatly. ‘He’ only paused for a moment before continuing to crawl forward with ‘his’ alternating elbows.

The blood ‘he’ left behind was consumed by the darkness that followed.

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a military exoskeleton—ran faster as the ground trembled slightly.

It was unknown which one of him made the decision, but he stretched out his right palm and suddenly pressed down.

Bang!

The ground in front of the bloody palm suddenly collapsed, forming a large crater.

The monster in the darkness couldn’t stop readily and plunged in.

“I’m actually that strong?” The honest Shang Jianyao observed his right palm in surprise. How could my Matter Interference be strong enough to cause the ground to collapse out of thin air?

His initial plan was to create a slight obstacle to slow down the other party.

While Shang Jianyao reeled in surprise, the darkness continued surging forward, flooding the crater.

The bloody, pale palms stretched out from the edge of the darkness again and propped themselves up on the ground. They then moved their elbows forward alternately.

Shang Jianyao—who had turned around to observe—happened to see this scene. He strode forward again as if his butt was on fire and ran.

“That’s too much!” Shang Jianyao raised the blue and white loudspeaker and threatened his adversary using Thought Guidance. “Let me tell you something: I know many people and have many friends. If you dare to chase after me, I’ll get them to beat you up! It’s not too late to give up now. Isn’t it better for everyone to listen to Buddhist recitals?”

The darkness surging behind him and the monster that alternated its elbows to propel its body forward remained the same. It maintained its previous pursuit speed and vaguely showed signs of acceleration.

The rash Shang Jianyao immediately turned ruthless. “Fine! I’ll see if a gank works!”

As he spoke, a few figures split out of his upper body. One was calm and rational, one was weak and timid, one was compassionate, and the other abhorred evil.

Some of them stretched their hands into the void as if they were summoning their friends. One held the Six Senses Beads as his eyes turned deep. Another held the Life Angel necklace, prepared to lock onto the target.

“Consciousness Deprivation!” Zen Master Redemption spoke solemnly and loudly.

Green light rose from the Six Senses Beads. The monster in the darkness paused its hands that were propped up on the ground.

However, ‘he’ quickly returned to normal. Furthermore, ‘he’ became violent and crawled quickly as if Shang Jianyao had something he yearned for.

Cardiac Arrest!

The Shang Jianyao that abhorred evil used the Life Angel necklace in succession, but the monster with bloody, pale hands didn’t stop.

“Are you done!?” the honest Shang Jianyao shouted guiltily.

The monster was about to catch up to him, and the darkness would drown the world.

At this moment, the timid Shang Jianyao pulled out a figure from the void. It was Xiaochong—who was wearing yellow clothes and carrying a red school bag.

In another direction, the calm and rational Shang Jianyao also found a helper—Du Heng, who was wearing a black robe and had his hair draped over his shoulders.

As soon as the two of them appeared, the darkness that was about to drown Shang Jianyao froze. The monster—which was crawling on the ground with its elbows alternating—stopped.

In the blink of an eye, the two collapsed like a castle made of sand inundated by waves.

The entire wilderness turned illusory as if it were a dream or an illusion.

Shang Jianyao suddenly opened his eyes and sat up on his bed. He calmly spread his arms, raised his body, and sincerely said, “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious?”

Jiang Baimian—who was on the same bed—shook her head and thoughtfully asked, “You had a dream too? I fell asleep unknowingly?”

She still remembered that she was originally studying the island of fear in the Sea of Origins.

The two rented rooms only had one bed each. Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao could only place pistols and other items in the middle of the bed.

For humans who often traveled the wilderness, this wasn’t something worth paying attention to. Such conditions didn’t even exist in the wilderness. Therefore, Jiang Baimian faced it calmly. She was only a little ‘worried’ that Long Yuehong—who was in the other room—wouldn’t be able to sleep.

“Otherwise?” the honest Shang Jianyao asked in response.

Jiang Baimian didn’t mind the honest Shang Jianyao’s attitude and continued asking, “Did you also have a dream of a monster chasing after you in the darkness, just like the Hunter’s Guild’s mission description?”

Smack!

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “I was wondering why it seemed so familiar!”

Jiang Baimian raised her right hand and rubbed her forehead. “But I don’t feel a headache, nausea, or fatigue. I can still fall asleep again at any time. You woke up while running as well?”

“No.” Shang Jianyao shook his head. “I had the intention of making an attempt and summoned Teacher Du Heng and Xiaochong. The monster in the darkness seemed to have been scared away because of this. So it’s a dream. It’s no wonder I could summon them. Besides, Teacher Du Heng and Xiaochong didn’t display any conflict…”

This was the rash Shang Jianyao, who had just figured out the situation.

“That actually worked?” Jiang Baimian began to suspect that the reason she could escape the nightmare and be unaffected was that Shang Jianyao had scared the monster in the darkness away from this area.