Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 633: Exhaustive

Translator: CKtalon

Jiang Baimian was speechless and could only point ahead. “Carry on.”

She drove the rented car to the end of the alley and found someone for Shang Jianyao to ask.

After asking, they confirmed that the man in sunglasses had appeared in this alley in the past few days. He always turned right at the end of the alley.

Jiang Baimian turned the steering wheel to the right after Shang Jianyao returned to the car.

But after the car entered another street, she was in no rush to continue forward. Instead, she slowed down until she found a place to park.

Jiang Baimian picked up the walkie-talkie after waiting for a while. “Did the two people Hey previously questioned show any abnormalities?”

“No.” Long Yuehong’s voice sounded over the walkie-talkie. “They’re all normal and doing their own things. They didn’t try to send a message.”

“Excellent. Don’t we still have some cameras? Find a place to install them and get them to monitor these two targets in your stead.”

After putting down the walkie-talkie, she started the car again and continued down the street to track their target.

On the way, Shang Jianyao alighted from the car many times to inquire. Although he returned a blank most of the time, they still managed to lock onto the man’s whereabouts by relying on a few useful ‘witnesses.’

Meanwhile, the small team formed by Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Genava secretly observed the people in the area, including but not limited to those who had been questioned by Shang Jianyao. They included those who could hear the conversation and see the scene.

After about an hour, the small car rented by the Old Task Force stopped near an old six-story building.

Jiang Baimian—who was sitting in the driver’s seat—looked over and recalled if she had misjudged the direction along the way. After confirming that there were no errors, she pointed at the old building commonly seen in the Green Olive Zone and said, “From the information gathered, the target lives here. We still have to further investigate which floor and room it is.”

Shang Jianyao fell silent for a moment before asking, “You really didn’t get lost.”

Jiang Baimian wanted to retort, but she couldn’t find the right words.

Shang Jianyao cast his gaze at the side window and suggested, “I’ll ask when someone comes out.”

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer immediately. After a while, she said, “There’s no rush.”

She turned to look at Shang Jianyao. “Don’t you find it too easy?”

Before the operation today, she had always believed that she would only gain something and find some clues. Who knew that the circumstances allowed them to lock onto the target’s residence?

The honest Shang Jianyao smiled. “Maybe he doesn’t know that Oudick will repeat what he saw in the nightmare even after going mad. He doesn’t know that Old Ge can ‘detect’ his different-sized eyes through the sunglasses. Without these two premises, we won’t find anything wrong with him even if he appears in front of us. In such a situation, who would go through all the trouble to cover their tracks?”

I will… Jiang Baimian replied inwardly and then helplessly said, “The basic anti-tracking still needs to be done.”

“You have to tell him that.” Shang Jianyao shrugged.

Jiang Baimian glared at him. “In short, we can’t go up so rashly. Yes… Let’s observe the periphery for a while.”

She picked up the walkie-talkie again. “Old Ge, install the remaining cameras around the target building and monitor the situation here. Little Red, Little White, find another rental beyond 300 meters from here and is within signal range. The surveillance will last for three days.”

After issuing the order, Jiang Baimian looked at Shang Jianyao again. “Why aren’t you objecting?”

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin and smiled. “This is the most reasonable and careful way of handling things. Why should I object? The one who suggested it has already been subdued by the other me.”

The rash one is under control? Jiang Baimian was glad, but she also found the Shang Jianyaos’ interactions astonishing.

After Genava and the others secretly busied themselves, the Old Task Force set up high-tech products to carry out surveillance of the target building. They then retreated into a rented apartment 900 meters away.

Within this range, Genava could act as a temporary base station and wirelessly review the surveillance footage in a timely fashion.

After settling down, Jiang Baimian asked Genava, “Any development?”

Genava replied like a machine, “The signal transmission is normal. There’s no scene worth paying attention to at the moment.”

“It just consumes a little electricity,” the honest Shang Jianyao added.

“Yes.” Genava placed a depleted high-performance battery into the charger.

As Long Yuehong watched him do this, he hesitantly said, “Surveillance will take three days? Isn’t this too… too careful?”

Jiang Baimian shook her head and smiled. “It’s not too much to be careful when facing the nightmare.”

She then looked around and restrained her smile. “Do you remember the two questions I asked Laurice when we went to Oudick’s house?”

“You asked if that’s her and Oudick’s house and if Oudick went crazy there…” Bai Chen suddenly fell silent as if she had realized something.

Jiang Baimian nodded at her and said, “Oudick’s house is in the Red Wolf Zone, and it’s not near the Green Olive Zone. The straight-line distance from there to the rented apartment we previously had the nightmare at is more than five kilometers.

“What does this mean? It means that when the nightmare attacked us and killed Ugo, it affected Oudick from five kilometers away or even further, causing him to go crazy. This means that the nightmare’s range is at least five kilometers!”

What kind of terrifying influence was that!

Long Yuehong had never thought about this question before. After Jiang Baimian pointed it out, he took a deep breath and took more than ten seconds to digest the situation.

He worriedly said, “Does the company really think we can give it a try?”

The strongest in the team, Shang Jianyao, had a range of less than 200 meters!

A smile appeared on Jiang Baimian’s face again. “No, you should think of it this way: Such a terrifying nightmare actually needs to send a person to the place we rented to search for clues instead of using a more concealed method a few kilometers away. This means that it might very well be under considerable restrictions.”

“That’s true…” Long Yuehong came to a realization.

This also meant that the Old Task Force was more likely up against the nightmare’s minions instead of itself.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped.

Bai Chen raised another question. “Since the nightmare can make Oudick in the Red Wolf Zone go crazy, why are the residents of the Green Olive Zone the only ones who experienced the collective dream? It doesn’t include the people near the Red Wolf Zone?”

Jiang Baimian guessed, “Maybe Dawn’s Morning Star’s dream defense line is over there? We can confirm this with them later.”

“Yes, yes.” Long Yuehong felt that this was indeed the most reasonable explanation.

Jiang Baimian flipped her wrist and looked at her electronic watch. She looked around and said, “Let’s make some plans while we have time.”

“Alright,” Bai Chen and Long Yuehong quickly replied.

This was the standard operating procedure for the Old Task Force’s daily operations. As long as there was time and time, they would make plans for various developments. Of course, due to their limited energy, manpower, resources, and the contradictions between the different plans, they could only make preparations for the most likely developments. They couldn’t come up with perfect plans that covered everything.

Shang Jianyao took out the pen he carried with him and sniffed it as a pipe. He looked at Jiang Baimian and said in thought, “Even if we treat the discovered target’s residence as a trap and make a targeted plan, we lack sufficient information to narrow it down.”

That’s right, that’s right… Long Yuehong agreed inwardly.

Jiang Baimian chuckled. “We’ll discuss this later. Let’s first assume that the nightmare’s accomplice—the man in the black sunglasses—is a relatively powerful Awakened. He’s at least at the Mind Corridor level.”

“There’s no need to assume that. I think that’s the case.” Long Yuehong voiced his opinion.

He believed that since the other party could become the nightmare’s minion and had appeared in the dream, his level definitely wasn’t too low.

“The probability is more than 90%.” Genava found a mathematical model and gave the results of the calculation.

Jiang Baimian smiled and asked, “Then, which domain is he from?”

Upon seeing Bai Chen and the others reveal thoughtful expressions, Jiang Baimian shook her head and said, “It’s very difficult to make an effective guess because we have almost zero intelligence. Why don’t we do this? Everyone, work a little harder. Use an exhaustive method to analyze the other party’s actions and choose a plan that suits the current situation or is most likely a threat to us.

“For example, if he were a Mind Corridor-level Awakened in January’s Subhuti domain, how would he handle the mission given by the nightmare? How would he find our whereabouts, and where might he show a price?”

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin with the pen and said, “In such matters, people with the powers Destiny Connection, Heavenly Eyes, Heavenly Ears, and Mind Connection will all make different choices.”

Long Yuehong nodded and echoed, “If that person has Destiny Connection, they are equivalent to an Awakened in the Last Man domain who can read memories. These two situations can be handled together. If I had such abilities, I definitely wouldn’t let go of the surrounding residents when investigating the whereabouts of someone. I would definitely review their memories and search for the corresponding ‘images.’

“Back then, the disguise we did was different from what we have now. However, the jeep didn’t get a new paint job. We can’t rule out the possibility that someone had seen us coming out of the jeep.

“As for memories related to the tracking of this jeep… Yes, we didn’t deliberately circle to an empty street midway. Then, then…” At this point, Long Yuehong paused and suppressed his voice in horror. “He should be able to find the room we rented in the Red Wolf Zone! If he follows the clues and persists, there’s a high chance that he will track us all the way here!”

Here!

Just as Long Yuehong said that, he suddenly felt the silence outside the room terrifying.

Nobody seemed to pass through the streets illuminated by the afternoon sun.