Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 641: Patience

Translator: CKtalon

The Old Task Force members prepared themselves and patiently waited for the Golden Scale domain Awakened to be forced out by their asymmetry before delivering a fatal blow.

Be it the Six Senses Beads in Shang Jianyao’s hand, Jiang Baimian’s Life Angel necklace, Long Yuehong’s T1 mechanical arm, Genava’s laser, or the Merfolk biological prosthetic limb’s flamethrower, they could directly or indirectly achieve this goal.

At the very least, the Old Task Force had never encountered Awakened that were immune to physical damage. At most, they could rely on Matter Interference to put up a certain level of resistance.

Yama Tiger—who was suspected of having entered the New World—and the desiccated corpse left on Lake Heart Island didn’t give off an indestructible feeling.

As they waited, time seemed to slow down.

Long Yuehong looked out the window at the setting sun sinking bit by bit. His palms were covered in a cold sweat at some point in time; they were wet and slightly sticky.

“Why is nothing happening?” he suppressed his voice and asked.

Compared to resisting danger, the wait for danger to descend was more torturous. The unknown always fueled fear.

Shang Jianyao smiled and replied, “An assassin is always very patient.”

“But he should have very serious symmetry OCD,” Bai Chen retorted.

She meant that the enemy’s patience would definitely run out quickly in the face of so many asymmetrical objects. He wouldn’t be able to last long.

In the Awakened domain, figuring out the price paid by the enemy often meant a huge advantage.

Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and replied, “There’s a high chance that he has a way to reduce the negative effects of the price for a certain period of time. But as long as we don’t relax, he will eventually lose his patience.”

When the time comes, the person chosen by the assassin might very well be seriously injured or even die on the spot… Long Yuehong added inwardly. However, he didn’t say this because it was an inevitable problem.

Unless the Old Task Force could capture the assassin’s traces in advance and lock onto him before he attacked, someone on their side would definitely be harmed if such a figure—who came and went without a trace—was willing to exchange his life for one to quench the monstrous anger brought about by his symmetry OCD.

Long Yuehong only hoped that with their full attention, the person being attacked would react in time and avoid being hit in any vital spots.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian looked around and said, “There’s another possibility: The assassin hasn’t infiltrated our vicinity yet. He’s waiting for the nightmare’s power to condense again and for his companion to secretly modify our memories. He will only approach and take our lives when the situation changes.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao—who was holding the Six Senses Beads—clapped.

Jiang Baimian quickly issued a new order. “I will begin flipping through the key memories I wrote down and compare them to what I have in my mind. After I’m done, it’s Hey. After Hey, it’s Little White. After Little White, it’s Little Red. After Little Red, it’s me again. We shall keep repeating. Old Ge, pay attention to the reader’s condition and the surrounding situation. Be wary of the assassin seizing the opportunity to attack.”

As a smart bot, Genava wasn’t afraid of having his memories modified or being attacked. After all, it was impossible for an assassin to kill him in one blow.

At this point, Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao’s swollen cheek and sighed with mixed emotions. “You sure are ruthless to yourself… How did you discover that something was amiss and guess that we were sleepwalking?”

Shang Jianyao pointed at the Six Senses Beads. “It seems to give me a certain premonitory sense of danger. I wonder if this is a result of the combination with a dream. In short, I didn’t discover it before.”

“Perhaps it’s because of the nightmare that the fused abnormal aura from the Buddhist Holy Land was activated.” Genava raised many possibilities and voiced the situation he believed was closest to reality after analysis.

Jiang Baimian made a terse grunt. “Dawn’s Morning Star has always advocated for them to resist the nightmare in a dream and guard humanity. Oray also mentioned that the people who survived the Old World’s destruction at the Eighth Research Institute had become traitors in the darkness. I suspect that there might be a certain connection between these two matters.”

Therefore, the nightmare’s invasion could trigger the abnormal aura of the Buddhist Holy Land hidden in the Six Senses Beads.

This might very well represent some intrinsic factors in the Old World’s destruction. They were the targets that the Old Task Force had been searching for.

Jiang Baimian didn’t say anything else. She took out the key memories she had written down and quickly flipped through them.

Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava didn’t let down their guard. They remained highly vigilant as they paid attention to their companions and their surroundings.

They took turns. When Long Yuehong flipped through the records, Jiang Baimian raised her left hand.

She glanced at it and silently switched to her right hand. She then aimed at her stomach and punched.

Jiang Baimian winced, but her face quickly relaxed. Then, she looked around and exhaled in relief.

Bai Chen was a little surprised and subconsciously wanted to ask. But on second thought, she understood. Team Leader is preventing herself from entering a sleepwalking state.

During sleepwalking, the actions one did in their dreams would reflect reality. Therefore, they could wake themselves up with similar attempts!

As for Real Dreamscape and other situations, Jiang Baimian had the auxiliary chip to monitor her physical condition. She would immediately give the corresponding stimulus the moment she discovered anything.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao spun the prayer beads. “Namo Annutara-Samyak-Subhuti. Patron, there’s no need for that.”

Jiang Baimian understood that he meant that she didn’t need to be wary of sleepwalking due to the Six Senses Beads’ warning capabilities.

“Double insurance,” Jiang Baimian emphasized.

Shang Jianyao didn’t say anything else. The Old Task Force members followed their previous plan and took turns monitoring their memories and checking whether they were sleepwalking while being highly vigilant.

Time passed minute by minute until night ruled the land.

150 meters away from the True Self Church’s stronghold—the Old Task Force’s rented apartment—the small truck that Welf drove was quietly parked beside a warehouse.

Welf looked at the lit windows in the distance and asked the person beside him, “Lan, how long do you plan on waiting?”

In the originally empty passenger seat, Xu Lan—who was wearing a cowboy coat and a wide felt hat—had already appeared there, sitting, at some point in time.

She leaned back in her chair and wore an ancient golden ring on her left hand’s middle finger. Her open eyes were empty and unfocused.

At this moment, she was blind.

Since she couldn’t see anything, she wouldn’t be plagued by symmetry OCD.

However, this was not absolute. If she touched something asymmetrical, it would also be unbearable.

For this reason, Xu Lan even wore a golden ring on her right hand that was identical but didn’t have any special abilities.

Xu Lan was in a rather good mood. She smiled and said, “The longer we wait, the better the effects will be. We are in the dark, and they are in the open. We can conserve our energy while they have to be sufficiently vigilant and can’t relax at all. In such a state, their mind and stamina will quickly be exhausted. In a few hours, they will be close to a spent force by midnight or dawn.”

Welf muttered, “I hope it’s like you said. Won’t they choose to take turns resting?”

“That depends on whether they have the courage and decisiveness. After all, we might launch an attack at any moment,” Xu Lan replied casually. “At the very least, they don’t know that they won’t be dreaming any time soon because they are in the True Self Church’s stronghold. Besides, it’s not like we have to succeed in 24 hours. We can follow them and search for a better opportunity.”

Welf chose to obey and didn’t dare retort.

Xu Lan thought for a moment and asked, “What gave you such a fright that you made a mistake and allowed them to sense that you were flipping through their memories?”

Welf’s face turned pale as if he were traversing Icefield in winter. He fell silent for a while before saying, “That person’s aura.”

Xu Lan sat up straight. “That person?”

“That person.” Welf nodded solemnly.

…

On the top floor of the True Self Church’s apartment, in the room where the Old Task Force was.

Long Yuehong looked at the moon hanging outside the window and gently shook his head. After hours of intense concentration, he felt like his brain had gone blank and that he was becoming slow-witted.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian pondered for a moment and said, “Little Red, you and Hey are to get some rest now. It’ll be Little White’s and my turn in three hours.”

“Isn’t this too dangerous?” Long Yuehong subconsciously asked.

Jiang Baimian smiled. “We’re just being vigilant. We haven’t seen the enemy yet, so there’s no need to be too nervous. The Security Department’s senior employees know that the better one sleeps before the battle, the higher the chances of them winning the battle. Therefore, even if they are surrounded and enemies might rush over from all directions at any moment, they will find an opportunity to take forty winks in batches. Don’t worry. With Old Ge around, he doesn’t need to rest 24/7.”

“As long as there’s enough electricity,” Shang Jianyao added for Genava.

Jiang Baimian smiled again. “We can still set up an electric net at the door and windows. I don’t believe that the assassin can penetrate walls!”

Bai Chen’s subsonic reconnaissance had long stopped; it was too energy-consuming.

The honest Shang Jianyao quickly found a flaw in Jiang Baimian’s words. “Although he can’t penetrate walls, he can bombard this place with heavy firepower from the opposite side or somewhere far away to blow us up.”

Jiang Baimian chuckled. “Then, we can only pray that Dawn’s statue won’t be affected.”

From her point of view, although the True Self Church’s powerhouses were unwilling to fight the nightmare without absolute confidence, they definitely wouldn’t allow the enemy to attack their stronghold and damage the Kalendaria’s statue.

Smack!

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “I have to add Dawn to my Blessings from all Kalendarium!”