Embers Ad Infinitum

After pushing open the window, Jiang Baimian propped herself up with her hand and jumped out. Then, like a spider, she quickly moved to Room 214’s window using the protruding areas and water pipes on the outer facade thanks to her amazing balance.

She almost fell during this process because she was still carrying Chaotic Right Hand. Her muscles experienced a certain level of frozen stiffness, making her less agile and natural.

Fortunately, her biological prosthetic limb suffered relatively weak influence. She stabilized her body in time by exerting the needed strength, preventing her from plummeting from the second floor.

Although she wouldn’t be gravely injured even if she really fell to the first floor from that height, it would definitely cause her to miss the best opportunity to deal with Room 214’s guest. That would be a huge problem.

Things happened quickly as Jiang Baimian arrived outside Room 214’s window, struck the glass with her elbow, and shattered it into pieces.

With a crashing sound, Jiang Baimian shielded her face with one hand and gripped the window frame with the other before jumping up.

Just as she landed, she suddenly exclaimed. This was because she sensed that the person in Room 214’s human consciousness and bioelectric signals were rapidly receding or weakening. In other words, the target was on the brink of death and could stop breathing at any moment.

How is that possible? It clearly only deprived him of his consciousness… Jiang Baimian was surprised and confused. She was just about to rely on the weak starlight outside the window to observe the situation in the room when a shadow appeared behind her, darkening her vision.

Shang Jianyao had blocked the window.

Jiang Baimian immediately took out the flashlight she had stuffed into her pocket for her climb and flicked the switch.

Pa!

A yellow beam of light shone ahead, allowing the scene in the room to be reflected in Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao’s eyes.

Two single beds were on the left, and on the right was a long wooden table and cabinet.

At this moment, a figure was lying in the aisle between the bed and the table. His eyes were wide open, and a stench came from his lower body.

He was a male Ashlandic. He wore a slightly old white T-shirt and black pants, and he didn’t seem a year over thirty. His face was relatively long, and his hair was messy.

“Dead…” As Shang Jianyao passed through the window and entered the room, he muttered to himself in confusion, “I clearly used Consciousness Deprivation, not Cardiac Arrest.”

He clearly shared the same thoughts as Jiang Baimian.

It was impossible for such a powerful opponent to die so easily. It was even impossible for him to be subdued so easily. There could be other twists and turns in the process.

But the truth was that the target was really dead. The human consciousness had disappeared from Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s perception.

“Search him,” Jiang Baimian quickly ordered. She quickly took a few steps forward, squatted beside the corpse, stretched out her left hand, and carefully examined it.

The sound of window smashing was relatively obvious in the night. The hotel’s duty personnel sensed the commotion and walked to the back of the building to search for the source. The soldiers in charge of martial law in the distance also cast their gazes over.

After quickly examining the traces, Jiang Baimian made a preliminary judgment. She frowned and said, “This person seemed to have hit his head when his consciousness was deprived. There are obvious signs of blunt trauma on his head, and there are also traces on the nearby table legs. Therefore, this was an unfortunate accident? The unconsciousness caused by Consciousness Deprivation made the target accidentally hit his head when he fell to the ground. Furthermore, he has been suffering from abnormal hypertension for a long time, and the blood vessels in his head are fragile. The impact resulted in major internal bleeding, leaving him no time to be rescued?”

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “The price he paid isn’t actually hypertension but bad luck?”

The target had previously encountered an absurd matter like having his antihypertensive drugs running out and his room burgled. Now, a fall had cost him his life.

Jiang Baimian was momentarily unable to refute Shang Jianyao’s guess. This was the first time in her twenty-plus year life she had seen such an unlucky person.

After a few seconds, she exhaled and said, “The price should still be hypertension. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so serious from missing one dose of antihypertensive drugs. Therefore, although the price of hypertension can be controlled by antihypertensive drugs—akin to a cheat—the truth is that the problem isn’t trivial at all. Some things might not matter to others at all, but to them, it’s a huge matter. Any slight misfortune will result in an uncontrollable outcome.”

“That’s right,” Shang Jianyao said with emotion. “I think we’re in pretty good shape now.”

To be able to say such words means that it’s not good… As Jiang Baimian muttered silently, her gaze landed on the deceased’s chest.

There was a human-shaped brooch there. It lacked detail, making it impossible to tell who it was. There were also some mottled marks on its surface as if it were a relic of the Old World.

Jiang Baimian waved her hand and said to Shang Jianyao, “Take it and confirm the situation. I’m in charge of guarding against any accidents.”

Shang Jianyao couldn’t ask for more. He immediately squatted down and stretched his hand toward the old brooch.

He instantly froze just as he gripped it, unable to move his eyes.

At the same time, Jiang Baimian felt the temperature in the room drop a little, making her—who was still wrapped in the blanket—tremble even more.

That’s not right! Jiang Baimian didn’t hesitate at all. Her body suddenly leaned forward as she stretched out her right hand and grabbed Shang Jianyao’s left palm.

That was where the Six Senses Beads was!

With the Six Senses Beads’ help, Jiang Baimian saw a black figure attempting to burrow out of the void from the badge. It was getting larger and larger until it took human form!

It was connected to Shang Jianyao and had partially invaded his body. At a glance, it was as if a ghost had suddenly appeared in front of Shang Jianyao—a ghost that came from hell and not reality!

Jiang Baimian raised her left palm and released a high-voltage electric current at the badge’s black figure without reservation.

Spark!

Countless silver-white electric arcs jumped out and struck the black figure one after another.

A charred smell spread out, and the suddenly illuminated room finally attracted the hotel duty personnel’s attention.

Finally, in Jiang Baimian’s ‘vision,’ the black figure retreated back into the void. No further anomalies surged out of the badge, and its surface became increasingly mottled.

Shang Jianyao’s eyes returned to normal as he sighed with emotion without any lingering fear. “It feels a lot like Mr. DiMarco, but it feels much stronger.”

“But this strength didn’t reflect such strength… Because it’s separated by the New World’s node?” Jiang Baimian also roughly understood what had happened.

A certain person in the New World tried to use the brooch as a medium to ‘possess’ Shang Jianyao!

From the fact that the deceased with the brooch had never been ‘possessed,’ the person in the New World likely had a strong relationship with him. If the deceased had already been ‘possessed,’ then there was no need for Possession to happen through a New World node after his death. He could just migrate elsewhere.

Shang Jianyao didn’t answer. His attention was focused on the brooch, and he didn’t care about his right hand—which had turned black from the electric shock—or his slightly standing hair.

At such a close distance, it was inevitable that he was affected by Jiang Baimian’s high-voltage electric current. Fortunately, it wasn’t head-on.

Shang Jianyao quickly came to a conclusion. “The ability is Heavenly Ears. The price is the loss of taste.”

He had already tried to use the brooch and heard the hotel staff discussing whether to call the Public Security Council.

Heavenly Ears? No wonder he could monitor our actions and deal with us in time… As Jiang Baimian came to a realization, she stood up and sized up the situation in the room.

The most eye-catching thing was a computer and a few instruments on the table.

He hacked into the radio system? Jiang Baimian looked around and said to Shang Jianyao, who was happily playing with Heavenly Ears, “Put down the brooch and call the Public Security Council to have them take over.”

Being in the Salvation Army’s territory, the Old Task Force had to avoid trouble. For this reason, Jiang Baimian specially made Shang Jianyao emphasize Commissioner Huang and Ding Ling’s existence during the call.

While waiting for the Public Security Council, Genava also rushed to Room 214. Long Yuehong and Bai Chen guarded their items in their suite to prevent any accidents.

At this moment, the corridor was filled with vigilant hotel duty personnel. Several teams of soldiers in charge of martial law—who had been transferred over—stood outside the window, and drones were flying back and forth in midair.

The Salvation Army was rather efficient. Before long, Ding Ling arrived at the Ashlands Hotel with seven to eight people from the Public Security Council.

Ding Ling glanced at the Public Security Council members checking the rooms and corpse and said to October Xue and Zhang Qubing, “Don’t worry. Commissioner Huang is already nearby. Just tell them the truth.”

She then added, “We were actually looking for people who had an accident in the past few days. We didn’t expect you to lock onto the target so quickly. Not bad!”

Jiang Baimian explained how they had obtained clues from Elder Zhang—who wore an aluminum pot—how they had communicated with the hotel manager, Shen Kang, how they had checked the target car, how she had recalled her day in the dead of night, and how they had suddenly sensed conflict in their memories.

Of course, she pushed the main ‘credit’ to Genava to prevent herself from exposing her and Shang Jianyao’s abilities and characteristics.

“It’s nice to have a robot,” Ding Ling said sincerely.

At this moment, a Public Security Council member in charge of checking the room walked over and frowned. “We didn’t find the nuclear warhead. It’s not in the car either.”

Jiang Baimian secretly took a deep breath.

The current situation was that the suspect had been found and captured, but the nuclear warhead had disappeared?