Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

Jiang Baimian’s gaze was fixed on Xenny’s face, wanting to see if she was joking. After all, if the two parties became trustworthy companions, comrades who had risked their lives together, and members of the same small organization, it was completely possible for them to prank and joke with each other.

Xenny had a solemn expression. Be it the corners of her eyes or her mouth, there was no hint of a smile.

She seemed to sincerely worship the Kalendaria, Arbiter of Fate, from the bottom of her heart.

Little Red and Little White’s dream was real… Although the information that the other faction sent us has certain errors, there’s essentially no problem… Minister Xenny is indeed a believer of the Arbiter of Fate, but she doesn’t belong to the Life Ritual parish… Mei Shou’on should be the same. Jiang Baimian’s thoughts raced as she forced herself to calm down.

Shang Jianyao’s expression didn’t change. Nobody knew if he had switched personalities.

He then curiously asked, “Minister Xenny, which Church are you from?”

“I’m not part of one.” Xenny smiled and shook her head. “Faith in the Arbiter of Fate doesn’t need a Church.”

Shang Jianyao pressed, “Then, who made you start believing in the Kalendaria, Arbiter of Fate?”

Xenny picked up the sky-blue porcelain teacup and took a sip. “Director Su.”

As expected. Although Jiang Baimian had a guess, her heart palpitated when she heard this answer.

The company had a very serious problem! A board member was a secret believer of a Kalendaria!

“Oh, oh.” Shang Jianyao came to a realization. “Apart from Director Su, do the other directors also believe in the Arbiter of Fate?”

“I’m not sure.” Xenny shook her head slightly.

Shang Jianyao then asked, “Then, what do you think of the Life Ritual parish?”

Xenny replied seriously, “They act too wantonly. I can understand their reverence for the Arbiter of Fate, but their actions were too out of line. Just like you said, they likely took a wrong path and misread the scriptures.”

Uh, it’s not that extreme. There’s still room for salvation… Jiang Baimian began to think about what to do next.

Shang Jianyao’s Thought Implantation could exist for extended periods as long as there weren’t any counterexamples or opportunities. However, it was impossible for the two of them to always follow Xenny, pay close attention to the information she received, and correct her in time.

Therefore, after the two of them left Xenny, how long would it take for her to escape the influence and discover the problem? It would be completely uncontrollable. If one was lucky, Xenny would go about her days as usual for the next few days without finding anything abnormal. If they were unlucky, Su Yu could suddenly call Xenny to discuss something—that would jolt her awake.

Due to this reason, Jiang Baimian felt that she and Shang Jianyao had to seize the opportunity to do something.

In a split second, she came up with two plans.

The first was to use Xenny’s computer and account to send this matter to all the directors in the form of an email without knowing who else was problematic on the board of directors.

The second was to think of a way to meet Big Boss at the bottom level and report this matter.

For the sake of caution, Jiang Baimian decided to carry out two plans concurrently

With Xenny temporarily in cahoots with the two of them, they could use the safe passage there to head to the lowest floor after obtaining permission to enter the management floor. At the same time, scheduling the email at a later time prevented the problematic directors from knowing that something had happened in advance and sending people to intercept the two of them at the entrance to the lowest level.

If she seized the opportunity well, sending the mass email would cause chaos. Jiang Baimian felt that it would be much easier for her and Shang Jianyao to enter the lowest levels.

Time waited for no one. Jiang Baimian acted on her thoughts.

She smiled at Xenny. “Minister, can I use your computer?”

“Sure.” Xenny didn’t think there was a problem.

Upon seeing Jiang Baimian walk to Xenny’s desk, Shang Jianyao jumped up. “I’ll help!”

He came to Jiang Baimian’s side and occupied the area, preventing Xenny from coming over to check on the situation.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Jiang Baimian quickly typed and wrote her plan in a document so that Shang Jianyao could see it.

“Yes, yes.” Shang Jianyao nodded repeatedly with an expression of admiration.

Jiang Baimian—who didn’t know who he was acting as—deleted the plan she had just written down. She then began describing how Xenny and Su Yu were believers of Arbiter of Fate, and how Mei Shou’an was suspected of being a believer.

After that, she opened the email program, which logged into Xenny’s account by default. Following this, she created a new email with all the board directors in the send list.

After copying and pasting the content, Jiang Baimian chose to schedule to have this email sent 15 minutes later.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao had already followed the plan and further convinced Xenny not to touch the computer for half an hour and to give them permission to head to the Management Zone—the fifth floor of the underground building-and secretly seek an audience with Director Su.

Although Xenny’s office was on the 646th floor, she often had to go to the fifth floor for meetings. Furthermore, she was of sufficient rank and was Su Yu’s trusted aide. Therefore, she agreed to Shang Jianyao’s request easily. She casually found a reason and made a call to get them the corresponding permission.

After leaving her office, Jiang Baimian exhaled deeply.

She and Shang Jianyao looked at each other. Neither spoke as they walked straight to the elevator that led to the Management Zone.

On the way, Jiang Baimian habitually wanted to ask, “Do you think it’s worth it to make such a decision and take such a risk? Don’t you regret it?” However, she then remembered that Shang Jianyao was beside her. He was more radical, more adventurous, and more reckless than her.

Pangu Biology is our home. No matter what, I have to ensure its stability… Jiang Baimian said inwardly before pressing the number ‘5’ after stepping into the elevator.

As the elevator descended, Jiang Baimian—who had composed herself-laughed and said to Shang Jianyao, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Shang Jianyao looked up at the surveillance cameras in the elevator. “Some words aren’t suitable to be said in such a public place.”

“That’s very ambiguous,” Jiang Baimian scolded jokingly. She appeared very relaxed as if she were really going to the Management Zone to report about something work-specific with great familiarity.

After a while, the elevator arrived at the fifth floor. The elevator’s two doors opened at the same time.

After Shang Jianyao walked out, he flipped his wrist and looked at his watch. “Gosh, we’re early! We can only wait in the corridor.”

At the elevator exit, guards in bionic artificial intelligence armor looked over at the same time.

Although she couldn’t see their expressions, Jiang Baimian could vaguely sense their resistance.

“How rude!” she cooperatively cursed Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao took the opportunity to sigh and said, “Then, let’s wait at the stairs to avoid being an eyesore.”

His string of words used Thought Guidance. Therefore, the guards didn’t have any doubts about him and Jiang Baimian moving to the emergency access. They felt that it was only right.

In the lit stairwell, Jiang Baimian suppressed her voice and said, “There are surveillance cameras. I’ll be in charge of pointing out the location laters. You provide the interference.”

Shang Jianyao nodded and extended his psyche.

When the email was sent on schedule, Jiang Baimian forced herself to wait patiently for three minutes so that the problem could ferment and create chaos.

As time passed, Jiang Baimian exhaled and said, “Move out!”

Without any hesitation, she nimbly walked down the stairs. From time to time, she would raise her right hand and point out the surveillance cameras’ locations to Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao followed closely behind Jiang Baimian and interfered with the surveillance cameras’ images, causing them to fall into a situation as though the lights had gone out.

Such an abnormality would definitely attract the surveillance personnel’s attention, but the first thing they thought of was that there was a malfunction in the circuits. They had to send someone over to check it before they could simultaneously consider increasing the vigilance of the area.

Jiang Baimian was exploiting this time difference!

With their abilities, they had a chance of barging into Big Boss’s door as long as they didn’t encounter any high-level guards.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao had outstanding physiques. They went down five flights of stairs and quickly arrived at the stairwell on the lowest floor.

Suddenly, Jiang Baimian stopped in surprise and blurted out, “There’s nobody guarding the door.”

This didn’t make sense! How could the security at the bottom—Big Boss’s residence—be so relaxed?

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Baimian had some guesses. Could it be that Big Boss has long passed away and no successor has been left behind? Could it be that the directors secretly didn’t hold a funeral and found someone good at mimicking accents to do things in her name?

“I don’t sense it either.” Shang Jianyao confirmed that Jiang Baimian’s discovery was correct.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and firmly said, “We’re already here. We can only advance; retreat is not an option!”

She stretched out her left hand and pushed open the stairwell door.

There was indeed nobody outside. There were no guards.

After leaving the stairwell, the two of them came to a corridor. They saw that the ground was paved with neat brown tiles. On the walls on both sides were murals, sculptures, and all kinds of decorations.

It looked very classical.

“Big Boss has good taste.” In such a tense situation, Shang Jianyao actually commented on the environment here.

Jiang Baimian glanced at him and jogged forward. She used her posture to tell Shang Jianyao: Don’t talk about trivial matters. Quickly find Big Boss’s room!

Shang Jianyao also ran, but the two of them didn’t forget to pay attention to their surroundings to prevent any possible attacks.

Under the illumination of the ceiling lamps, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao quickly ran to the end of the corridor.

What appeared in front of them was a silver-white metal wall. In the middle of the wall was a door that slid open to the side. Beside the door was precision electronic equipment.

At this moment, the door was ajar, revealing a thick, black gap.

“Behind the door is Big Boss’s residence?” Jiang Baimian muttered to herself. She carefully approached and prepared to examine the area.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao stretched out his hand to stop her.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Baimian thought that Shang Jianyao would run faster and more rashly than her.

Shang Jianyao replied seriously, “I find this door a little familiar. It should be the door inside Room 1215.”

1215… Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment before she recalled that this was the first room Shang Jianyao had explored after entering the Mind Corridor.

Back then, he encountered a slightly open metal door in Room 1215. He suspected that the room owner had encountered something extremely terrifying behind the door, leaving behind a serious psychological trauma. Therefore, with a vote of eight to two, they gave up on the exploration and left.

After that, Shang Jianyao didn’t encounter Room 1215 again.

But now, he actually said that the door that was suspected of leading to Big Boss’s residence was very similar to the door in Room 1215!