Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

In the Blackmarsh Wilderness, in a mountain to the east.

The leader of the Wildfire bandits, Gao Yuan, was huddled in a room with a stove, tightly wrapped in a fur coat. As he stoked the fire, he flipped the sweet potatoes on the coal.

“This f*cking winter!” He shook his legs and expressed his strong displeasure with the weather.

With the resources he had, he could actually enjoy the treatment of having the air conditioner blow warm air at him. However, he felt that it wouldn’t be as comfortable as a coal stove while on the mountain.

The cold wind that seeped into the room jolted Gao Yuan into an abnormally energized state. He couldn’t help but recall his experience at a large faction city a few years ago. The upper-class people lived in places where their winter was as warm as early summer. They only needed to wear thin clothing.

Gao Yuan had asked around back then and was confused by a series of terms. He only knew that the heat came from the hot water that was heated by a large boiler. It flowed through the pipes and into different areas in the room, producing fairyland-like warmth.

After he returned to this place—which he called Copper Mountain—he tried to modify his residence. Unfortunately, he failed miserably. He planned on kidnapping a few people who had the knowhow to install one.

At the same time, he also wanted to bring his vault of resources, children, and beautiful female slaves to settle down in a large faction when he was older and no longer suitable to be a bandit.

It would be comfortable and stable.

While Gao Yuan was flipping the roasted sweet potato, his deputy, Chi Qingliu, slammed his door.

“Boss, Boss!” Chi Qingliu shouted as he slammed.

Gao Yuan stood up, adjusted his posture, and asked authoritatively, “What is it now?”

He was becoming less and less like a bandit leader. Instead, he was closer to a castellan or governor.

As for the Wildfire bandits, they only went out to plunder a few times a year. They mainly carried out abductions and did ore enrichment. Their focus was completely on Copper Mountain.

‘There was a rich copper mine here!

If not for the fact that this place was so remote that the environment was harsh to a certain extent and that it was sufficiently far from the various large factions, Gao Yuan didn’t think that a bandit group like him could occupy a mountain and almost develop into a small faction.

Of course, he was an Awakened himself, and the bandits later recruited a few Awakened. This was also a very important reason. Otherwise, they would’ve been attacked by other bandits even if they weren’t worried about the expansions by large factions.

Every year, when the Rootless drove over to move the copper ores, Gao Yuan would be happy and afraid.

He was happy that the copper ores could be exchanged for a large number of resources, but he was afraid that some powerhouse or faction of a sizable scale would suddenly become greedy or have ideas on Copper Mountain after learning about its situation.

Chi Qingliu—who considered himself a military advisor—replied to Gao Yuan’s question loudly. “The guys have discovered something good!”

“Come in.” Gao Yuan looked at Chi Qingliu—who had opened the door and entered—and asked in a deep voice, “What is it?”

Chi Qingliu was a man in his thirties; he was an Awakened that the Wildfire bandits had recruited after discovering the copper mine. He looked ordinary and had kept a beard.

Upon hearing his boss’s question, Chi Qingliu waved at the door. “Bring it in.”

A few bandits held a hunting net and brought in an item—it was a small black speaker with a blue bottom.

“That’s it?” Gao Yuan raised his eyebrows.

Chi Qingliu hurriedly explained, “This should be an item that involves a Mind Corridor Awakened. After a few of them touched it, they cried, laughed, sang, and danced as if they had gone crazy. Fortunately, they were woken up by the people beside them in time, so they didn’t freeze to death in the snow.”

An item that involves an Awakened in the Mind Corridor… Gao Yuan immediately became serious. This is good stuff!

If not for the fact that he had previously been to a large faction’s city and had come into contact with some nobles and merchants, he wouldn’t even know what the Mind Corridor and the respective items were.

“Where did you find it?” Gao Yuan asked.

One of the bandits smiled. “Boss, there’s nothing to do in the winter. Apart from eating, sex, and gambling, there’s nothing to do. We left the mine today and planned on going to the nearby river to do some ice fishing. On the way, someone slid down the hill and found this in a village ruin.

“We lost control the moment we touched it. When we thought of what you said, we felt that it should be something good.”

Gao Yuan nodded. “Put down the thing. You guys can leave first.”

He thought for a moment and added, “Don’t worry. If it’s really useful, you will be rewarded.”

The bandits happily left Gao Yuan’s room, leaving behind the small speaker wrapped in a net.

After they left, Chi Qingliu stared at the item on the ground and curiously muttered to himself, “What abilities does this thing have…”

“You won’t know until you try.” Gao Yuan recalled the knowledge he had learned. “The price of it should be to make the people it touches go crazy. With me watching, you’ll be fine.”

What do you mean by I’ll be fine? Chi Qingliu was stunned for a moment before he understood that his boss wanted him to test the item’s abilities. After all, ordinary people couldn’t use items.

He secretly took a deep breath and cursed inwardly as he forced a smile. “Alright.”

Upon seeing him walk to the small black speaker with a blue bottom, Gao Yuan’s heart stirred. “Wait.”

“Huh?” Chi Qingliu cast his gaze at his boss.

Gao Yuan walked toward him, passed him, and distanced himself from him.

Upon seeing his boss leave the room and distance himself from him by 20 to 30 meters while trembling in the cold wind, Chi Qingliu asked in confusion, “That far?”

“It’s not wrong to be careful!” Gao Yuan replied loudly. “Don’t worry. You won’t die after entering the crazy state. I can wake you up in time!”

Chi Qingliu gritted his teeth and mentally prepared himself before slowly squatting down.

He stretched his hand toward the small black speaker with the blue bottom. Following his understanding of Old World electronic products and the method of using items his boss had mentioned, he spread his aura over and pressed the switch.

The sound, which was at maximum, suddenly boomed: “Just come and have fun! We have lots of time to waste anyway.

“Just come and fall in love! We have lots of desire anyway…”

This song spread across half of the mine. Every bandit who heard it smiled and gyrated their bodies unconsciously, becoming happy.

They cast their gazes at their women or companions, their eyes filled with yearning for love and burning desire.

“Just come and wander around! We have lots of directions to go anyway.”

“Just come and mess around! We have lots of sexy things to explore anyway’…”

Gao Yuan suddenly had the urge to turn around and run out of the mine.

He wanted to wander.

He wanted to mess around.

A large number of bandits followed their boss and left the mine, prepared to wander.

The place immediately became empty, leaving Chi Qingliu dancing to the music alone.

Bang!

With a gunshot, Chi Qingliu collapsed.

Bai Chen—who was wearing a military exoskeleton—put away the Orange rifle and followed Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong into the copper mountain mine.

The four of them wore earplugs that blocked out the singing.

After switching off the small speaker and cleaning up the scene, Jiang Baimian took off her earplugs and looked at Shang Jianyao. “Why make things so troublesome and go to such lengths? With our strength, we can ‘visit’ them openly.”

Shang Jianyao smiled and pointed at the small speaker. “As a member of our team, it’s time for it to contribute!”

After exploring the Mind Corridor’s depths, he used his aura to modify his beloved small speaker and made it an item.

Jiang Baimian was speechless.

Long Yuehong looked around and asked his team leader, “Why must we deal with these bandits?”

“To save the miners here!” Shang Jianyao replied first.

Jiang Baimian exhaled and said, “To get some supplies.”

“We have enough supplies to return to the company, but we have to ration the use of high-performance batteries,” replied Bai Chen.

Jiang Baimian smiled. “It’s not enough. We aren’t in a rush to return to the company next.”

“Huh?” Long Yuehong’s first reaction was that his team leader was defecting.

However, there was no evidence for what Shang Jianyao said. He believed that Jiang Baimian wouldn’t be that rash.

Jiang Baimian pointed south and said, “I plan on making a trip to Swamp Ruin 1 and confirm if that’s Dajiang City—the last Buddhist Holy Land—before returning to the company. The textual information Wang Beicheng and the others gathered didn’t specify what the ruin’s name was in the Old World. We

can only find it ourselves.”

Furthermore, she suspected that the company had concealed such information. Therefore, after hearing Shang Jianyao mention those matters, she made a prompt decision and planned on taking the opportunity to explore Swamp Ruin 1 again during this training session.

“But we didn’t bring much equipment this time,” Long Yuehong said hesitantly.

As it was only training and the focus was on wilderness survival, the Old Task Force only applied for a single military exoskeleton and a set of Blackmarsh Iron Snake bionic artificial intelligence armor this time. Long Yuehong had to admit that he had an equipment shortage phobia.

Jiang Baimian smiled. “It’s enough; each of you will get one. Hey and I don’t need one for the time being.”

“Yes.” Bai Chen nodded.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao leisurely fantasized. “Maybe Xiaochong returned to hide there.”