Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 647: Outside the Door

Translator: CKtalon

Jiang Baimian looked at the Holm Fertility Center—which had yellowish walls crawling with vegetation—and let the submachine gun hang down before her. She then raised her right hand and straightened her index finger.

This was labeled ‘2’ in the Old Task Force’s operation plans.

Although they didn’t communicate verbally, Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao quickly responded. They first increased the distance between them as if to prevent themselves from being wiped out by the long-range attacks. They then made some adjustments.

Long Yuehong stretched out his T1 mechanical arm from the Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor’s right palm, planning to make it easier for him to use this limb.

The Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor was like its name. It maintained a relatively soft characteristic and could be rolled up to a certain extent, making it easier for Long Yuehong to reveal more of his mechanical arm.

Bai Chen’s body quickly disappeared as if she had fused with the environment. However, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao could sense her location through her human consciousness.

Shang Jianyao stretched his waist as if he wanted to dedicate a dance on the spot. He then took off his tactical backpack and took out the Six Senses Beads, the Life Angel necklace, and the small jade Buddha.

Without any hesitation, Shang Jianyao mimicked the Crystal Consciousness Church monks. He held the string of prayer beads in his left hand and threw the Life Angel necklace to Jiang Baimian.

After Jiang Baimian caught it, she made two adjustments to divert the paralyzed limb to her right arm.

Shang Jianyao looked at the remaining small jade Buddha seriously for two seconds before chanting a Buddhist proclamation. “Namo Annutara-Samyak-Subhuti. Little Red isn’t a Buddhist, so it’s better if it stays with me.”

Can you cut the drama? I didn’t expect you to throw the small jade Buddha to me either. What’s the use of me having it? It didn’t have any effect when guarding against the nightmare! Long Yuehong didn’t dare to voice out his displeasure. He felt that he was resisting the urge to retort in consideration of the overall situation. After all, it wasn’t suitable to argue on such an occasion.

Something might happen at any moment.

After restructuring the team’s combat formation, the Old Task Force approached the Holm Fertility Center.

They didn’t move fast and were even considered a little slow as if they were worried that a monster would suddenly burrow out of the Buddhist Holy Land.

With the target in sight, Jiang Baimian didn’t get lost. It took her seven to eight minutes to finally reach her destination’s door.

The afternoon sun scattered and shone on the automatic glass doors that reflected a golden glow.

Jiang Baimian cast her gaze over and sized up the scene inside through the dirty glass.

At this moment, a female figure quickly outlined itself less than two meters behind her.

This figure looked to be in her mid-twenties and had a rather mature bearing. She had an oval face and willowy eyebrows. She wore a blue cowboy suit and a white shirt, topping it off with a wide felt hat. Every detail of hers was abnormally symmetrical.

Xu Lan!

After the extensive suppression of her emotions, the Eighth Research Institute’s commissioner finally launched a surprise attack.

Being in the Golden Scale domain and having explored the Mind Corridor’s depths, she was one of the most terrifying assassins in the world. As long as some New World powerhouses didn’t return, she was deserving of this title!

This was because one of her abilities was called Invisibility. She could hide her figure and consciousness, interfere with the hearing and vision of many targets, and affect their premonitions. She could walk to the side of her assassination target without them noticing.

This ability didn’t exist in Star Cluster Hall or the Sea of Origins. It could only be obtained through the two abilities—Auditory Interference and Visual Concealment—at the price of symmetry OCD. When entering the Mind Corridor, one would choose to be an Awakened with Dulled Senses. Only then could they combine the three and obtain this assassination ability.

Based on the Eighth Research Institute’s experiments, the three bestowments obtained at the price of symmetry OCD weren’t completely fixed. However, there were definitely two out of the three—Auditory Interference, Visual Concealment, and Dulled Senses. When they took the golden elevator and headed to the Mind Corridor, the Awakened could receive the last one to achieve Invisibility.

Of course, the use of Invisibility also had its own restrictions. There were two main effects: The first was that one couldn’t carry any items with other people’s auras or have anything that exceeded a certain weight on their body.

The second was that once one tried to lock onto a target—be it via consciousness, eyes, or ears—the effect would be lost. In other words, Xu Lan wouldn’t be able to hide herself for an instant before the attack.

As far as Xu Lan knew, these two flaws could be effectively improved if she entered the New World.

At this moment, as soon as she appeared, the two United 202s in her hands were aimed at Jiang Baimian, waiting to be fired.

Xu Lan—who was already familiar with the corresponding process—didn’t hesitate to quickly pull the trigger.

Xu Lan didn’t think that her bullet would miss considering the fact that the warning signs and attacks happened almost at the same time and the close distance.

The scene of the target’s body blooming with blood-red flowers and having her body torn apart by the large-caliber bullets surfaced in her mind.

Furthermore, in order to be safe, she used two guns to ensure that nothing went wrong.

This was also a common choice other similar Awakened would employ. After all, the weight of more powerful weapons exceeded the requirements.

Of course, it was undoubtedly a requirement needed by her symmetry OCD.

As the gunshot sounded, Welf—who had hidden his consciousness and hid outside Jiang Baimian’s bioelectric signal sensing range—jumped down from the roof. He had a glider on his back as he swooped down at the Old Task Force members like a gigantic black bat.

An instant later, he entered the effective range of Memory Modification.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong reacted to the shot. Nobody paid attention to the sky.

Welf’s eyes turned strange; there was more black, less white, and a dim glow. At the same time, two invisible ‘tentacles’ extended out of his body and instantly drilled into Bai Chen and Long Yuehong’s heads.

As he flipped through their memories, he searched for the most suitable spots for modification.

At this moment, he saw a scene.

In the quiet and dark cathedral, a white door was drawn on the wall. It was half-closed, revealing the deep darkness behind the door and an indistinct female figure.

The female figure seemed to be watching the owner of the memories. The dignified and indifferent feeling made his teeth chatter, and he broke out into a cold sweat uncontrollably. His limbs turned cold, and his head drooped.

This was the most primitive and intense horror.

Welf’s mind buzzed.

Eidolon Nun!

“Ah!” Welf let out a scream as his body instinctively curled up, ignoring the fact that he was gliding.

He trembled and slammed into the ground like a heavy sack.

On the other side, just as Xu Lan’s figure appeared, Jiang Baimian had already turned around and raised her left arm as if she wanted to use the single-man combat rocket launcher to block.

Xu Lan was unaffected and calmly pulled the trigger. She didn’t think the other party could complete the action in time.

Bang! Bang!

The United 202s’ recoil made Xu Lan’s arm jerk slightly, but the scene reflected in her eyes was different from what she imagined.

The two bullets didn’t rush to her designated spot at all. Instead, they deviated to a certain extent!

One of them struck the rocket launcher’s surface with a clang. The other hit Jiang Baimian’s left arm, leaving only a small wound.

Drip! Drip!

A colorless liquid landed on the ground.

It wasn’t blood.

It came from the electric eel-like biomechanical limb!

Although Jiang Baimian was injured, a smile appeared on her face.

She had been vigilant of her surroundings. After sensing the simultaneous appearance of human consciousness and bioelectric signals, she immediately used Spatial Hallucination on the target.

She knew that the enemy was a Mind Corridor-level Awakened and that the latter wouldn’t be too affected by the illusion, but she didn’t expect the other party’s attack to miss. She only hoped that the spot her assailant had locked onto deviated from her vital spots, toward her left arm.

This proved to be effective.

With the clear knowledge that my team members and I have had our memories flipped, how can I not be wary that you have already grasped our final destination and are waiting for us here?

Plan 2 was designed for this. As we guard against any possible ‘assassinations,’ we keep recalling Eidolon Nun’s gaze!

Little Red revealed his mechanical arm to create a strong sense of asymmetry to draw you into attacking, and he’s wearing the Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor. Who knew that you could still tolerate it for so long and take the initiative to choose the target…

Thoughts flashed through Jiang Baimian’s mind as she abruptly bent down to avoid any subsequent attacks. As she did this, a large number of electric arcs reflected in her eyes that were abnormally bright.

Almost at the same time, Shang Jianyao’s eyes turned deep.