Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

“Granny, thank you.” Shang Jianyao waved his hand and bade the old lady under the tree farewell.

He skillfully switched identities, greeted people of different ages and conditions, and chatted about all kinds of things to figure out what this place was.

He continued chatting until his mouth was dry and he was mentally exhausted. He roughly confirmed that he was in the Fourth Research Institute’s residential area.

This research institute was located deep in the uninhabited wastelands. Its main building was underground, similar to Pangu Biology.

After the Old World was destroyed, the few farms and ranches under them remained unaffected. They tenaciously survived until Year 21 of the New Calendar.

Yes, in the room owner’s memories, it was Year 21 of the New Calendar.

The people Shang Jianyao encountered in this psychological trauma seemed smart, capable of chatting, and had their own memories. However, they were inferior to the passengers from the cruise ship trauma. This was because once he diverted a topic too far due to his jumpy thoughts, not only would the people here be unable to answer, but they would also spout nonsense. It was incongruous.

According to this, Shang Jianyao determined that the reason they could ask, answer, and chat as if they were normal was that the room owner had spent a long time with them. From time to time, they would have all kinds of conversations that involved many things.

After these memories were subconsciously activated, they allowed the corresponding figures to look rather realistic.

“I still didn’t encounter any danger. I feel at ease as if I’m home.” The honest Shang Jianyao didn’t hide his confusion.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao deliberated for a moment and said, “Maybe the focus of this psychological trauma isn’t the courage to face danger, so there’s naturally no danger that lurks on the surface.”

The current psychological trauma didn’t exist in the strategy guide given by Pangu Biology. After all, in order not to affect Room 506’s owner, this place was used as a place for new Awakened to adapt to the explorations. Everyone followed the ‘rules.’ They would leave after clearing two psychological traumas at most.

Shang Jianyao suspected that he had skipped the second psychological trauma because he had taken an aberrant path in the first psychological trauma.

“Then, what should we do?” the rash Shang Jianyao blurted out. “We’ve already chatted with everyone, but apart from obtaining some information, we don’t have any clues.”

He was referring to the clues to clear this psychological trauma.

Zen Master Redemption was rather calm about this. “It’s fine if we can’t find it. At most, we’ll change to another room in the strategy guide.”

During the discussion, Shang Jianyao didn’t forget to observe his surroundings.

Coupled with the details he had noticed in his previous chats, he gradually discovered something abnormal: Nobody in this residential area approached the exit!

No matter how complicated their trajectories were, they didn’t enter that area.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “Is it because the room owner’s psychological trauma is at the exit that everyone here ‘subconsciously’ avoids it, or was there a rule that forbade people from approaching that area in the Fourth Research Institute’s residential zone back then?”

He didn’t wait for his other peers to join in the discussion and suddenly handed control over the body to the rash one.

The rash Shang Jianyao immediately turned around and walked to the exit.

The other Shang Jianyaos wanted to give it a try to see if they could trigger a beneficial change. They chose to agree tacitly one after another.

Only the ruthless one controlled his mouth and kept nagging. “Don’t be foolhardy just because we’re skilled! Don’t think that we won’t screw up in such a simple room just because we’ve cleared a psychological trauma that involves the Kalendaria. This is related to the Old World’s nine research institutes. It’s better to be careful!”

As he rambled, Shang Jianyao slowly approached the door.

It was calm.

He turned around and looked at the people in the residential area, only to realize that nobody was paying attention to him.

Shang Jianyao maintained his current posture and retreated step by step toward the sentry iron fence.

Suddenly, the people in the residential area—who were either enjoying the shade, busying themselves, or coming and going—cast their gazes over.

The white-haired old lady sitting on a stool under the tree revealed a terrified expression.

Some of the others were flustered, some were nervous, and some were angry as if Shang Jianyao had offended them. Some were filled with hatred and enmity as if they were using their gazes to say, “Why do you dare to do something we don’t dare to do?”

Rumble!

An explosion suddenly happened at the door. A ball of flames rose up with a plume of dust, turning into a gigantic mushroom.

Shang Jianyao pounced forward in advance and ‘conjured’ a military exoskeleton on him. With this object’s help, he jumped dozens of meters.

He wasn’t enveloped by the explosion, but his back still suffered the ravaging of the blast.

Bam!

Even with the military exoskeleton, Shang Jianyao couldn’t maintain his balance. He saw stars from the fall and felt like a few of his bones had fractured.

At the same time, the expressions of the people in the residential area changed again.

Their expressions were cold, and the muscles on their faces were stiff. There was no emotion in their eyes as if they had long died. However, they stared at the intruder that was attempting to disrupt their stable lives.

Upon seeing this, Shang Jianyao immediately shouted, “Don’t move!”

Wherever his voice reached, everyone stopped moving as if they were playing a game of Green Light, Red Light.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a military exoskeleton—ran, his back stinging from the pain. Finally, he ran to the building he first appeared in.

With a single step, he left Room 506 and rushed into the corridor. He then lay on the thick, dark-yellow carpet without any regard for his image.

He spread his limbs and panted heavily.

After a while, the honest Shang Jianyao spat. “What a lack of morals! Why didn’t they warn us first and fire before bombarding us? How can a normal person bury a land mine of that level at the door? There are still people in charge of guarding that place!”

The ruthless Shang Jianyao scoffed. “This is a psychological trauma, and it’s not strictly comparable to reality. As long as the room owner has encountered or even only seen it, the corresponding matters might pile up in the same place. I told you to be careful, but none of you believed me!”

Zen Master Redemption replied calmly, “Namo Annutara-Samyak-Subhuti. We were only injured by the explosion and suffered some mental damage. It won’t be a problem.”

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao thoughtfully said, “I suspect that it’s not only the main entrance area that’s problematic. Anyone who tries to leave the residential area will encounter all kinds of danger. This is a reflection of the room owner’s corresponding fear.”

“Therefore, facing these dangers is considered clearing the psychological trauma?” The rash Shang Jianyao controlled his body and stood up with a look that said, “Let’s return now and get blown up a few more times.”

He was forcefully held down.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “I have a nagging feeling that it won’t be that simple. Every psychological trauma’s corresponding fear is different. Just avoiding danger and escaping elsewhere is something we’ve already experienced. I think it’s safer to make more explorations to figure out this problem.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” The Shang Jianyao that always had no opinion agreed.

The ruthless Shang Jianyao stood on the side of the peer he hated the most.

Due to the fact that everyone had been blown up and was injured, requiring them to recover mentally, Shang Jianyao left the Mind Corridor and fell asleep.

…

349th floor, Zone C, Room 12.

As her parents had gone to a colleague’s house as guests, Jiang Baimian leisurely stayed in the study alone and browsed through some public information using her father’s account.

Having failed to find any interesting content, she took out the pattern on the copied Babymaker talisman. She opened the Old World folklore database she had established and tried to carry out a search and comparison.

For this reason, she also specially used a drawing tablet to outline the corresponding pattern.

There’s nothing that’s completely identical. Jiang Baimian busied herself for a while before looking at the computer screen and muttering to herself silently, I can only say that it looks similar from a cursory glance. In fact, it doesn’t follow the corresponding patterns. Of course, it’s also possible that my database isn’t perfect and has many missing ones.

After pondering for a while, Jiang Baimian deconstructed the pattern.

After deconstructing and restructuring it again and again, she frowned slightly.

From the simplest point of view, the pattern was made up of a woman and a baby. The two had some hieroglyphic meaning, but Jiang Baimian was very sure that they weren’t real hieroglyphic texts.

Jiang Baimian shook her head, planning to get more information from Long Yuehong’s inquiry tomorrow. A woman and a baby do seem to work in terms of meaning, but it doesn’t seem like much thought was put into it. It’s too simple…

…

The next morning, Room 14 on the 647th floor.

Long Yuehong recounted the information he had obtained from his grandmother and the corresponding feedback.

“Is it my turn next?” Although Shang Jianyao’s face was a little pale, he was still very excited.

“I guess so.” Long Yuehong suddenly hesitated.

Will it worsen the problem if we let this fellow probe? He has very special characteristics!

“Yes,” Bai Chen replied very firmly.

Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao. “What’s wrong? Did you not sleep well last night?”

“Something happened when I was clearing Room 506’s psychological trauma. Fortunately, I’ll recover from my headache in two to three days; it won’t affect my usual usage of my abilities.” Shang Jianyao was rather honest.

Jiang Baimian chuckled. “You can even cause trouble in what’s publicly acknowledged as the simplest Room 506?”

“More trouble is conducive to obtaining more information.” The calm and rational Shang Jianyao skillfully changed the topic. “I’ve already confirmed that Room 506’s owner comes from the Fourth Research Institute.”

Jiang Baimian was immediately interested. “Is that so?”

After discussing this question for a while, Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “I suspect that the key to this psychological trauma isn’t to storm out but something else. Its performance doesn’t seem to focus on danger. It might very well represent another kind of fear.”

Shang Jianyao nodded happily. “I think so too!”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

He applauded himself and Jiang Baimian.

The day passed uneventfully.. When it was almost time to knock off, the four Old Task Force members gathered together again and discussed the matter of Shang Jianyao requesting a Babymaker talisman.