Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 698: Painstaking Investigation

Translator: CKtalon

After hearing the announcement, Long Yuehong—who was sitting by the bed—stood up immediately.

This development exceeded his expectations.

The person who obtained the nuclear warhead planned to blow up Ubei, sending hundreds of thousands of people to hell! Furthermore, he had also hijacked the radio and widely publicized the matter as if he wanted to savor the ensuing panic and despair the Ubei residents experienced.

This was lunacy!

It was really a disaster to have a miniature hydrogen bomb land in the hands of such a person.

“Team Leader, what should we do now?” Long Yuehong looked at Jiang Baimian. He didn’t become overly nervous or panic, nor did he lose the ability to think. After undergoing so much training, he could still maintain a basic level of composure when facing such situations.

The reason he asked Jiang Baimian was that he remembered his team leader mentioning that Commissioner Huang from the Ubei Supplies Management Committee would allow the Old Task Force to undergo a detailed inspection and leave Ubei after receiving feedback tomorrow or the day after.

At this moment, they had to consider this problem unless they intended to fall out with the Salvation Army and rely on their own abilities to storm their way out of Ubei.

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she frowned and thoughtfully said, “There’s no rush. This matter happened too suddenly, and I find it a little strange…”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Shang Jianyao echoed.

Bai Chen tried to glean some of Jiang Baimian’s thoughts. “The ‘game’ began at a strange time, neither too early nor too late. If he’s waiting for the army to enter the city while Ubei is under martial law, preventing anyone from leaving, he could’ve announced the start of the ‘game’ last night. Isn’t the chance of failure higher the longer this drags on?”

The honest Shang Jianyao gave his answer. “Maybe he only found an opportunity a few minutes ago to temporarily control the entire Ubei radio system. He couldn’t announce it earlier even if he wanted to.”

It was too easy to expose oneself by distributing pamphlets on the streets. Only the Anti-intellectualism Church liked to do so.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “I just feel that what he did was rather unnecessary. If he really wants to blow up Ubei and satisfy a certain desire, he definitely has to enter the city secretly and not resort to force. Only then will there be a higher chance of success.”

“No, no, no.” Shang Jianyao wagged his finger. “Maybe he’s a pure lunatic and wants to appreciate the ugliness of human nature and the way humans break down before the explosion?”

Jiang Baimian wanted to reply, “Such lunatics often can’t control their actions. Very few can complete the corresponding plan.” However, she recalled that Awakened existed in the Ashlands.

Awakened who sacrificed mental health had both the ability and drive. For example, the dark version of Shang Jianyao could definitely do such a thing.

Jiang Baimian paused and looked around. “I mean that with such a broadcast and the announcement of such a ‘game,’ there’s a high chance that the Ubei Supplies Management Committee will mobilize and evacuate the residents and supplies out of Ubei in batches due to the panic. Three days is enough to turn this place into an empty city. When the time comes, will that person be satisfied with just blowing up buildings?”

Upon hearing his team leader’s analysis, Long Yuehong gradually realized that something was amiss.

The honest Shang Jianyao argued, “Maybe the lunatic never thought of blowing up everyone. He just wanted to create chaos and savor everyone’s panic.”

As a mental patient, his words rendered Jiang Baimian, Genava, and the others present unable to retort. He was a professional in this regard.

Soon, another professional—the timid but ruthless Shang Jianyao—scoffed at himself. “If it were me, I would definitely add, “In three days, only entries into Ubei are allowed; no exits. If anyone escapes without permission, I’ll detonate the nuclear warhead in advance. This way, be it the goal of destroying Ubei, killing most of the people here, or savoring humanity’s exaggerated performance in the face of danger, the effects will be maximized!”

Good heavens. Long Yuehong cursed inwardly.

The ruthless Shang Jianyao perfectly explained what an extremely dangerous and intelligent lunatic was.

With such an ‘expert’ around, the latent problems with the radio broadcast immediately became obvious.

Jiang Baimian connected various scattered thoughts. She smiled and said, “From our observations and the broadcast, we can deduce two possibilities: First, although the terrorist is crazy, he’s not that intelligent. He forgot to add the last sentence during the broadcast: ‘Only entries, not exits into Ubei are permitted during the game.’ The possibility of such a situation isn’t too high. A stupid fellow would’ve long exposed his tracks, and even if there are various reasons that prevented him from being exposed, he won’t be able to be out and about for long after the radio broadcast. There’s a high chance that he won’t be able to detonate the nuclear warhead.

“Second, he deliberately didn’t add ‘only entries—not exits—into Ubei during the game’ to create flaws in the rules…” At this point, Jiang Baimian looked around again. “His real goal might be to force the Ubei Supplies Management Committee to evacuate everyone in the city. Only during such an emergency evacuation can he have a chance to fish in troubled waters!”

This… Long Yuehong’s heart palpitated.

Bai Chen also came to a realization.

Genava spoke before anyone could. He moved his metal neck up and down and said, “That person wants to use a large-scale evacuation to deliver the nuclear warhead out of the city? Otherwise, with the Salvation Army’s mobilization and organizational abilities, it won’t take long for them to find that person under martial law and retrieve the nuclear warhead with the large number of Awakened they have.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao’s applause was never absent.

At this moment, a commotion came from the hotel’s first floor. It seemed to have become relatively chaotic.

After looking at each other, Jiang Baimian pointed at the floor. “Let’s go down and take a look as well.”

As they discussed, they heard many residents leave their rooms and head down the corridor to the ground floor.

After the Old Task Force arrived at the first floor, they realized that the cross-border merchants and foreign Ruin Hunters had surrounded the hotel manager named Shen Kang and some of the employees. They shouted at the same time, “Let us leave!”

“It’s too dangerous here.”

“I’m here to do business; I’m not a dangerous criminal. Quick, give me the papers so that I can leave the city!”

“Someone has already planted a nuclear bomb in Ubei. Why aren’t you evacuating everyone?”

…

As the residents expressed their thoughts one after another, the phone at the hotel’s front desk rang.

“I-I’ll take the call. It might be the latest instructions.” The hotel manager, Shen Kang, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and took the opportunity to squeeze out of the crowd and answer the call.

After a series of terse replies, Shen Kang’s expression relaxed significantly. He turned around and said to the hotel guests, “Everyone, don’t panic. Our Ubei Supplies Management Committee is considering an emergency evacuation plan. Don’t worry. We can evacuate from Ubei as early as this afternoon or tomorrow morning at the latest. There’s still a long time before the nuclear bomb detonates!”

Upon hearing this, Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and the others cast their gazes at Jiang Baimian. Their team leader’s guess was very likely right.

Jiang Baimian wasn’t pleased with herself. She felt that only a fool would believe that the Ubei Supplies Management Committee didn’t have someone smart enough to realize this problem.

This was an open plot. With the nuclear threat exposed, it was impossible for the Salvation Army—which still followed their original creed—not to evacuate the citizens!

Jiang Baimian then gestured for her team members to leave with her.

After returning to the third-floor room, she looked at Genava—who was closing the wooden door—and said to Shang Jianyao, “With your current strength, can you hijack the Ubei radio system and make that kind of proclamation? Yes, the premise is that it’s within your abilities.”

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and shook his head regretfully. “Not yet. I can only make the radio host’s voice distort in a way that can’t be heard clearly—unless I can implant the corresponding thoughts into the radio host in advance.”

“The voice isn’t right.” Long Yuehong had listened to Ubei’s radio yesterday and knew that the voice didn’t belong to any broadcaster.

Jiang Baimian made a terse grunt. “From the looks of it, that terrorist’s strength exceeds Hey’s. Even if he hasn’t entered the New World yet, he’s probably about to find the door.”

“Not necessarily. I can’t hijack it, but Old Ge can.” Shang Jianyao laughed and pointed at Genava. “There’s not only one way to hijack a radio broadcast. Powerful Awakened can do it, and so can smart bots.”

“That’s true.” Jiang Baimian accepted this explanation and put it into consideration. She then revealed a thoughtful expression again. “There’s another problem—a timeline problem.”

“What is it?” Long Yuehong asked nervously.

Jiang Baimian continued, “We heard that military supplies were stolen on the 15th. In the afternoon, the two traitors were discovered and killed. At the same time, according to the items they left behind, they had been to Ubei and handed over the missing military supplies to someone. It takes at least eight hours to go from that settlement to Ubei. In other words, the two traitors left Ubei on the morning of the 15th at the latest. Of course, they might also have taken a plane, but that would be too arrogant and ostentatious.

“We arrived in Ubei on the afternoon of the 16th. We obtained a pass at the Entry Office just before martial law was enacted.” Jiang Baimian paused and concluded, “From the morning of the 15th to the evening of the 16th, the person who obtained the nuclear warhead had sufficient time and plenty of opportunities to send it out of the city. There was no need to worry about the subsequent martial law. But from the looks of it, the nuclear warhead is still in Ubei City. Why is that?”

“He has a procrastination problem!” Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation.

He then retorted himself, “Maybe the terrorist’s goal is to blow up Ubei and kill most of the people here. However, he wants to give everyone hope. During the evacuation, he would suddenly say, ‘I lied.’ Then, he would detonate the nuclear bomb.”

Jiang Baimian carried on from that.. “There’s another possibility: The person who obtained the nuclear bomb encountered an accident back then, causing him to suffer a two-day delay. He ended up trapped in the city because of martial law!”