Embers Ad Infinitum

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian shout with gusto, Bai Chen turned around and ran toward the corridor that led to the laboratory exit. She didn’t stay in her spot and wait for her exoskeleton-wearing companion to give her a ride. This was because at the precipice of such a chaotic situation, she had to lead the way for Jiang Baimian when it was still unknown if Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong would catch up. This was to prevent her team leader from choosing the wrong direction and wasting time.

Different situations needed different handling methods!

Almost at the same time, a series of footsteps sounded from the freezer. The guard robots—which had retreated from the main experimental area—had been ‘woken up’ by some commotion and were attempting to rush back to deal with the intruders. However, the damaged metal door obstructed their advance. The layers of obstacles outside separated that area from the Old Task Force.

Jiang Baimian locked onto Bai Chen’s back. As she guarded against Future’s interference with the military exoskeleton, she pushed her equipment to maximum efficiency to boost her dash.

They only had about 50 seconds or even shorter.

Elsewhere, Shang Jianyao fell from the ceiling. He wore the Six Senses Beads in one hand and held the simple discharge device in the other.

The untouchable black figures that occasionally stretched out or shrank back had completely disappeared, leaving behind only charred marks. However, Shang Jianyao could sense a form of silence from the ceiling as though it wouldn’t be long before the power of darkness invaded again.

An opened crack wouldn’t close so easily.

Shang Jianyao flipped over in midair and balanced himself. The moment he landed, he immediately ran toward the jogging Long Yuehong and tucked him under his armpit.

Boom!

The guard robots in the freezer area began to attack the metal door that had been destroyed by the Old Task Force. Cracks quickly appeared, pushing it to the verge of collapse.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Jiang Baimian reached Bai Chen, but she was in no rush to lift up her teammate. Instead, she aimed at the laboratory exit from dozens of meters away and used the electromagnetic weapon attached to the military exoskeleton.

A round wrapped in silver-white lightning shot out and instantly struck the metal door. With a loud clang, a web-like crack spread out from the point where the bullet made contact.

Long Yuehong—who was held by Shang Jianyao—immediately used his laser weapon.

A highly concentrated beam of red light closed the distance virtually instantly and accurately landed where the metal door had been hit by the electromagnetic weapon.

Silently, the corresponding spot was completely penetrated, and the surrounding area showed signs of melting.

Jiang Baimian—who had slowed down and was running alongside Bai Chen—raised her rocket launcher and used the auxiliary chip’s calculations to outline a trajectory in her mind.

Boom!

The rocket she fired landed at the spot where the laboratory door had been repeatedly attacked.

With a violent explosion, the metal door—which had many cracks—collapsed, sending many metal fragments flying.

Boom! Boom!

The guard robots in the freezer also blasted open the partition and the two innermost layers of obstacles. Their eyes emitted a red glow as they jumped up or stormed into the main experimental area.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian had already sandwiched Bai Chen. Together with Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and the neutered version of Source Brain, they executed two big leaps and arrived at the half-collapsed door.

Without any hesitation, they bent down and slid under the barrier.

Boom! Boom!

The guard robots rushed to the main experimental area’s entrance and launched several grenades.

The Old Task Force members jumped and rolled, avoiding the attack in advance. They then quickly returned to the stairwell that led to the surface.

It had only been ten seconds since the self-destruct signal was issued. However, the worrisome thing was that warning lights that emitted a blinding red glow gradually lit up the laboratory.

Upon seeing this, the neutered Source Brain reminded them as it ran, “The delay in the signal’s response might very well be shorter than expected!”

After all, it didn’t know the firewall well enough. It wasn’t surprising for something unexpected to happen.

Hiss!

Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Jiang Baimian instantly gritted their teeth. Only Shang Jianyao’s expression remained unchanged as though he wasn’t bothered even if the sky collapsed.

Amidst the sound of metal colliding with the walls, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao—who each had a companion with them—used the walls beside the stairs as a springboard. They jumped up, got their footing, and kicked off to the next floor in nimble fashion.

They didn’t relax at all and repeated such actions. They crossed one flight of stairs after another, and below them were the guard robots with red eyes chasing after them.

They soon returned to the ground floor, rushed out of the stairwell, and entered the hall paved with marble tiles.

Rumble!

A dull, thunder-like explosion sounded from the ground, and the entire building shook visibly.

A plume of dust scattered as the bricks weakly slid down.

Rumble!

Shocking cracks appeared on the ground and walls.

Upon sensing the building’s imminent collapse, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao used all their strength to jump to the entrance from the middle of the lobby. In midair, they simultaneously activated their jetpacks as if they were being pushed by an invisible hand.

This accelerated their speed and increased airtime as they headed outside, not only helping them jump out of the building’s main entrance but also ‘fly’ to the area outside the courtyard.

Boom!

Jiang Baimian and the others landed, and with a single roll, the building behind them collapsed. The guard robots—whose eyes were emitting red light—were buried inside.

Without needing to look back, the corresponding scene had already surfaced in Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s minds through the military exoskeletons’ comprehensive warning system.

“Retreat from the ruins immediately!” Jiang Baimian ran without looking back, still holding Bai Chen.

She didn’t know how long it would take for Future’s Electromagnetic Manipulation to recover after the New World node was destroyed, nor did she know if such an unaffected situation was limited to the laboratory. They might quickly suffer an assault after their exit. Therefore, she could only issue the order to evacuate Wasteland Ruin 13 quickly and leave this dangerous place.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and the neutered Source Brain ran along the original path to the park with the artificial lake without any care about the power drainage.

On the way, they didn’t waste time on the Heartless that had gathered. They relied on their agile abilities to circle around them.

The sun had almost completely sunk below the horizon, and the afterglow only illuminated the distance.

When night completely fell, the Old Task Force and the neutered Source Brain finally escaped the pursuit of a few strange creatures and a number of Heartless. They returned to the park, passed through the door, and entered the cave.

They ran forward for a distance until they saw the crates used by the team to store the military exoskeletons and bionic artificial intelligence armor. Only then did they slow down and stop.

“We were just short…” Long Yuehong—who had been put down by Shang Jianyao—wanted to wipe his cold sweat, but his raised left hand could only touch the cold scales of the Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor.

He wanted to say that they were just short of being buried in the laboratory and squashed into bloody meat pancakes.

“That’s right…” Jiang Baimian didn’t know if she should praise them for using all their strength and not holding back at the critical moment, thereby creating a chance of survival or for them to take out Shang Jianyao’s Blessings from all Kalendarium and sincerely show their gratitude.

With regards to using a large electric current to bombard the New World node, she had suggested the plan with the hope of carefully verifying her bold hypothesis. Although there was a certain basis in the plan, she didn’t have much confidence. Just watching by the side made her palms break out into a cold sweat.

The results proved her judgment, and it also made her feel very lucky. She wanted to ‘return the favor’ to the Kalendarium.

Bai Chen glanced at the neutered Source Brain—which was still wearing an electromagnetic shield—and sighed. “We didn’t have sufficient confidence at every step. An accident might’ve happened at any moment, but we ultimately succeeded.”

She rarely had such experiences when she was a Ruin Hunter because too many people with such experiences had basically died. Those who always danced at the edge of the cliff would definitely fall off the cliff.

Long Yuehong composed himself and recalled. His expression suddenly turned a little strange.

“W-we destroyed another building—a building with great secrets,” he said hesitantly.

Previously, there was Long River City’s United Steel Plant’s Residential Zone 2, Building 4 and Iron Mountain City’s Second Food Company. Now, there was the secret laboratory of Holm City in the Fakh region.

“A coincidence, a mere coincidence. Isn’t the Holm Fertility Center still intact?” Jiang Baimian replied guiltily.

Just as she said that, Shang Jianyao suddenly laughed.

“Why are you laughing?” Jiang Baimian asked suspiciously and warily.

Shang Jianyao looked up and laughed. “I’m laughing at Future’s stupidity. It could’ve clearly activated the self-destruct mechanism and blown us up, but it insisted on giving us 14 days to see us starve and go thirsty. Its game backfired, hasn’t it?”

“Maybe it just doesn’t want to give up on the laboratory until it has no other choice,” Jiang Baimian speculated.

“It had plenty of opportunities to destroy or interfere when we attempted to save ourselves.” Shang Jianyao insisted on his opinion.

At this moment, the silent neutered Source Brain turned to them and said, “Perhaps it has some restrictions as well, preventing it from attacking or affecting humans directly. Just like how I couldn’t deal with those researchers myself back then, but a well-timed accident worked.”