Embers Ad Infinitum

Beside the bonfire, Davis sat in the front seat of an Old World military vehicle.

The bearded man in the black trench coat had eyes filled with panic and fear, but he wore an exaggerated smile. From time to time, bubbles spewed out of his mouth as his eyes rapidly blinked a few times as if they were cramping.

His hands constantly moved up and down as his body was enveloped by illusory darkness.

The darkness was like a fog that originated from his left pocket. It sometimes shimmered like water, and it sometimes was as deep and dark as the night.

This is the Ruin Hunter who just returned from Ruin 9 in the Blood Wilderness. He and his team even escaped the pursuit of two Superior Heartless… What impressive thing did he bring out from that ruin? An item that can connect to the New World? Any ruin with a number isn’t simple… As Jiang Baimian’s thoughts raced, Shang Jianyao seemed to be performing the exercise routines from the Old World. As he stood inverted, he spread his legs and pointed one of them at Davis.

Genava ‘understood’ what he meant and strode over to Davis’s side. Although he couldn’t see the source of the darkness and didn’t know what the problem was, as a smart bot, he had a method he was best at: Elimination by exhaustion!

Genava first pointed at the sunglasses clipped to Davis’s trench coat. Upon seeing that Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao were motionless, he switched to the mechanical watch on the other party’s wrist.

After repeated trial and error, he finally reached into the black trench coat’s left pocket.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped with his shoeless feet.

Jiang Baimian was extremely glad that she was inverted and couldn’t see that warped scene. However, just imagining it made her feel like Shang Jianyao was bringing the ‘chaos’ on the terrifying cruise ship into reality.

What left her most ambivalent was that one of the feet Shang Jianyao used to clap had the Six Senses Beads.

Upon receiving positive feedback, the red glow in Genava’s eyes flickered as he stretched his skeletal metal palm into the pocket. He quickly took out an item.

It was a silver necklace with a piece of gray hair that was almost black. The necklace was in the shape of a cross, and its surface was embedded with tiny diamonds.

Suddenly, Genava’s retracted arm stiffened in midair. The red light in his eyes constantly flickered, but his half-squatting silver-black body remained motionless.

In Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao’s ‘eyes,’ darkness was surging out of the old but exquisite necklace.

It was as quiet as a lake on a windless night.

Upon seeing this, Shang Jianyao blew a few bubbles. He wanted to wake Genava up!

Upon seeing that his speech would be replaced by bubbles, Shang Jianyao worked hard at producing more bubbles, attempting to link them up to the action of speaking.

He couldn’t figure out the more complicated corresponding patterns in that short moment. Although he really opened his mouth and made a sound, it was limited to a single syllable. “Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”

This made Jiang Baimian want to laugh, but she was also on edge.

At this moment, Genava didn’t respond to Shang Jianyao’s ‘shout’ at all; it was as if he had been possessed by a malicious spirit or had been frozen by someone. He squatted foolishly beside Davis and became a statue with colorful LED lights ‘hanging’ from it.

Even a smart bot will be affected when they touch the New World node? Jiang Baimian’s thoughts raced as she alternated her hands and quickly approached Davis and Genava in an inverted manner.

Shang Jianyao was unwilling to fall behind. He gave up on the attempt to speak and ran with his hands.

This scene was so comical that it tickled the surrounding Hunters. However, unconcealed panic and fear surfaced on their faces.

After arriving beside Genava, Jiang Baimian made some adjustments before finally using her right hand to support her entire body. She then tried to ‘raise’ her left leg high and let her left palm leave the ground.

Jiang Baimian felt a little hesitant when she aimed her palm at Genava.

What she wanted to do next was mimic Shang Jianyao’s delivery of a large electric current at the New World node in Wasteland Ruin 13’s secret laboratory and temporarily destroy it. She wanted to rely on the high-voltage electric current stored in her electric eel-like biomechanical limb to temporarily suppress the ‘darkness’ that surged out of the cross necklace and buy time to transfer the ‘danger.’

However, there was still a considerable difference between the two matters. At the very least, the New World node in Wasteland Ruin 13’s secret laboratory didn’t plunge the surrounding humans into chaos. It only acted as a passage for Future to control electromagnetism, making it appear relatively harmless.

The current New World node affected the nearby humans on a large scale as if a certain consciousness was hidden within. Therefore, it might not passively suffer the attack like the one in the laboratory when facing a high-voltage electric current. Jiang Baimian’s attempt might bring about a negative outcome.

When the time came, there was a high chance that the entire Old Task Force would die here.

In comparison, driving away from this camp while they could still turn the steering wheel and floor the accelerator with their feet seemed to be a better solution. However, Genava—who had been ‘frozen’—would undoubtedly be abandoned.

In any case, the robot wouldn’t contract the Heartless disease. He could still be saved when the anomaly disappeared.

Of course, there were also certain risks involved in this escape strategy. The Old Task Force members—who had already been affected or corrupted by the darkness—might not be able to escape the subsequent Heartless outbreak even if they ran to the ends of the world.

After thinking for a few seconds, Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth and made a decision. No matter what, I have to try using the high-voltage electric current! Running away can’t really solve the problem! After the high-voltage electric current’s impact worsens the anomaly, there is still a chance to consider leaving the camp.

With this in mind, Jiang Baimian felt the pressure of losing her companions weigh on her. She raised her left hand with difficulty and barely aimed her palm at the cross necklace.

Amidst crackling sounds, silver-white arcs of light jumped out and entangled into the shape of a python before striking at Genava’s palm that was holding the strange item.

Davis—who was leaning against the front of the military vehicle beside him—couldn’t lower his head to the side. He couldn’t see what Jiang Baimian had done and only found his vision instantly filled with silver-white lightning.

The high-voltage electric current struck the cross necklace, and the ‘darkness’ that spread out shook violently.

Jiang Baimian felt a gaze cast over from an infinite distance and land on her. This made her blood freeze and her thoughts slow.

However, this seemed to be an illusion brought about by the dispelling of the corruptive darkness. Everything quickly returned to normal—this included the Hunters’ actions.

Davis—who was blowing bubbles—blurted out, “Quick, throw away that necklace!”

Upon noticing that the darkness had retreated into the cross necklace, Jiang Baimian quickly ordered Genava, “Throw it five kilometers away; it’s better to bury it!”

Genava—who still had tiny electric currents running through his body—seemed to have had a dream. He was reunited with his wife and daughter in Tarnan.

He was feeling a little melancholic when he heard Jiang Baimian’s voice. But without hesitation, Genava jumped from his spot and flew dozens of meters away. He then held the old cross necklace and ran at high speeds reminiscent of a car.

As he ran, he aimed the additional electric shock module at the item in his hand. He would immediately take emergency measures if anything went wrong.

In just over two minutes, Genava ran five kilometers.

Boom!

He fired a grenade, blasting a shallow crater in the heavily polluted wilderness. He then threw the cross necklace in, allowing it to land with a bang.

Once he stopped making contact with the item, Genava no longer felt like he was in a hurry. He seriously found soil and rocks to fill the shallow hole.

At this moment, the Hunters in the camp had long returned to normal. Jiang Baimian also got up, removed the restraints on her right foot and left leg, and threw the Life Angel necklace back into Shang Jianyao’s tactical backpack.

Shang Jianyao reluctantly got out of the inverted state.

Upon seeing everyone look over, Jiang Baimian asked the Ruin Hunter—the black trench coat-wearing Davis—and his team, “Was that something you brought out from Ruin 9?”

Davis nodded in fear. “Yes. I saw that it had special abilities, so I brought it out.”

“Has such an anomaly never happened before?” another Ruin Hunter asked in dissatisfaction not far away.

This almost wiped out everyone in the camp! Fortunately, the beauty and her companion seemed to have similar experiences and knew how to respond.

Davis and his companions looked at each other and frowned. “I think so, but it returned to normal in less than five minutes each time.”

“Then, why didn’t you throw it away?” Jiang Baimian raised her eyebrows.

Davis’s statement made her feel that this was increasingly similar to the anomaly on the terrifying cruise ship. Both situations had such matters repeat many times in a short period of time, but one had an ending, while the other had yet to develop to that stage.

Upon seeing the obvious anger in the gazes directed at them, the originally confident and calm Davis stammered, “We planned on throwing it away, but… but…”

“But what?” Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Davis and his companions replied in unison, “We forgot!”

“Forgot?” Some Hunters didn’t believe him, and some revealed thoughtful expressions.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “The negative effect of that item is forgetfulness?”

Davis revealed a look of enlightenment. “I see…”

Jiang Baimian didn’t plan on escalating the conflict. After some thought, she deliberately changed the topic. “Where did you discover that item in Ruin 9?”

PS: Requesting guaranteed monthly votes for the beginning of the month~