Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

A skull… The Old Task Force members had already seen many deaths and corpses. They wouldn’t panic, tremble in fear, or be shocked just because a human skull was dug out.

A thought simultaneously flashed through their minds as they cast their gazes to the other side of the tree root. Sitting there was an incomplete skeleton and a name tag labeled ‘Du Shaochong.’

“Could this be his head?” Long Yuehong muttered.

In the dark environment, such a guess made him feel that the wind had become rather cold.

The Old Task Force found the incomplete remains buried by Ruin Hunters in Swamp Ruin 1’s laboratory ruins. The rest was under the old pagoda tree in Linhe Village?

This was unexpected but also reasonable for Jiang Baimian.

She fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “This is a Buddhist Holy Land corresponding to Master Zhuang. It’s actually quite reasonable to dig out ‘His’ corpse used for the descent. The unreasonable thing is that we happened to obtain the other half of ‘His’ descent’s body not long ago elsewhere.”

“Maybe this is why the man behind the curtains hired those Ruin Hunters to bury the remains in Swamp Ruin 1’s laboratory ruins,” Bai Chen said in a guessing tone.

Shang Jianyao smiled. “He wants us to return everything intact—no, piece together Du Shaochong’s remains?”

Without waiting for the others to respond, he looked at his three teammates and said creepily, “When the time comes, something very terrifying might happen.”

Long Yuehong couldn’t help but shiver when he heard that.

“Let’s first dig this area up and find all the bones to sce if we can piece together a complete corpse,” Jiang Baimian replied calmly, unaffected by the ‘ghost story.

“That’s what I’m afraid of…” Shang Jianyao dragged out his words.

Long Yuehong instinctively asked, “What are you afraid of”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “It will be interesting if we can’t piece together a complete corpse.”

“This means that what we previously obtained was fake.” Long Yuehong scoffed.

Shang Jianyao’s tone suddenly changed. “What if there’s one or two more additional bones?”

…” Long Yuehong was momentarily at a loss for an answer. The more he thought about it, the more he found the hidden possibility abnormally terrifying.

Shang Jianyao immediately gloated. “The correct answer is that some of the missing bones might’ve been taken away by a feral dog. Having extra bones might mean this was a grave in the first place. If you continue digging, you can dig out more bones.”

Jiang Baimian—who had planned on hearing what creative ideas this fellow had in mind to obtain inspiration—couldn’t maintain her expression any longer and urged, “Get digging! It’s getting dark!”

Shang Jianyao bent down and dug up the soil under the old pagoda tree with Long Yuehong.

Jiang Baimian guarded their surroundings.

In the next ten minutes, Shang Jianyao found the bones around the area where he had dug out the skull.

They were buried together to begin with.

“That’s all.” After a while, Shang Jianyao straightened his body and said to Jiang Baimian, “See if the number and location of the bones are right.”

Jiang Baimian—who was a researcher—had a sufficient understanding of the human body structure. As she sensed her surroundings, she used the flashlights light to count and identify the human bones that had been dug out. At this moment, she used a few minutes to make confirmation. “The numbers

and locations are right.”

“It’s indeed the same body.” Bai Chen sighed softly.

Long Yuehong said, “It seems like these are really Du Shaochong’s remains.”

A complete skeleton.

Shang Jianyao smiled again. “Maybe these were also buried here a few days ago.”

“There are no traces that they were recently buried.” Jiang Baimian denied his ‘guess.

Shang Jianyao immediately said, “A few years ago.”

Jiang Baimian ignored him and looked around the dark entrance of Linhe Village. She frowned and said, “We gathered the remains but didn’t trigger anything abnormal…”

Team Leader, you really want to trigger an anomaly? Long Yuehong was shocked.

Shang Jianyao was immediately excited. He glanced at the pale and dim moon in the sky and said, “We might have to combine this skeleton and piece it back into human form.”

Ever since Jiang Baimian pointed out that this was an adult’s skeleton and not a child’s, Shang Jianyao had stopped associating it with Xiaochong or giving the dead the necessary respect.

Long Yuehong subconsciously wanted to say, “don’t be rash,” but he felt that they might miss something if they didn’t try.

Didn’t some people painstakingly ‘send’ the remaining corpse to their team with the hope of causing something?

“Shall we try again at dawn?” Bai Chen suggested solemnly.

Although with their experience, abnormalities had nothing to do with the day or night, the environment and visibility directly affected their performance.

Shang Jianyao wore a heavy expression. “I’m afraid delays will lead to unexpected developments!”

He tried his best to advertise a plan that could be used at that very moment.

Jiang Baimian deliberated for a moment before saying, “Little White, Little Red, put on the exoskeleton and bionic artificial intelligence armor. Drive the jeep a kilometer away and find a place where you can monitor this area.”

Upon seeing their team leader make a decision, Bai Chen and Long Yuchong didn’t waste their breaths. After replying with a terse acknowledgment, they got busy.

After they retreated a kilometer and found a tree to give them a vantage point, they relied on their military exoskeletons and night-vision binoculars to monitor the space under the old pagoda tree.

Jiang Baimian also walked about 300 meters out. She held the night-vision binoculars in one hand and the walkie-talkie in the other. “Hey, you can start piecing together corpses.”

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao agreed happily.

He didn’t act rashly. He first took out the Six Senses Beads, the small jade Buddha, and the Life Angel necklace and placed them to the side so that he could use them at any time. He then seriously pieced together the bones and used the walkie-talkie to consult Jiang Baimian about things he didn’t

understand.

Before long, a complete human skeleton appeared under the old pagoda tree.

It was clearly an adult, standing between 1.75 to 1.8 meters tall.

Shang Jianyao squatted beside the corpse. As he hung his hand above the three items, he sized up his surroundings.

“Nothing has changed.” He was rather disappointed.

Jiang Baimian was also observing and didn’t immediately respond.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao came to a realization. “I get it. You still have to chant Buddhist scriptures for the sending.”

He immediately sat down cross-legged and made Zen Master Redemption chant a Buddhist proclamation. “Namo Annutara-Samyak-Subhuti…”

‘The night was quiet, and there was no other sound.

“Sigh…” Shang Jianyao let out a long sigh.

Jiang Baimian thought for a few seconds and spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Enter the Sea of Origins and see if there are any changes to Xiaochong’s rift. Oh, also go to the Mind Corridor and open the door to Master Zhuang’s room to confirm the situation with ‘His’ dream.”

“alright!” Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm with an inspired look.

He maintained his sitting posture and ritualistically massaged his temples before entering his Mind Room.

Above the Sea of Origins, Xiaochong’s rift remained deep and silent as if it had frozen in time.

In the Mind Corridor, in Room 102, the giant bird flew over the sea endlessly.

Shang Jianyao left the Mind Corridor in disappointment, picked up the walkie-talkie, and reported to Jiang Baimian, “Everything is normal.”

Jiang Baimian frowned. After repeatedly confirming that everything was normal, she walked to the old pagoda tree and got Long Yuehong and Bai Chen to return.

‘The four Old Task Force members soon surrounded the complete corpse. Bai Chen and Long Yuehong remained armed out of caution.

After a moment of silence, Long Yuehong asked, “What should we do next?”

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “Although we didn’t discover anything abnormal about the last Buddhist Holy Land, the corpse itself can ‘speak.’ Let’s get some equipment later and bring Old Ge over. We’ll get the corpse’s age at death and how many years ago it died. We’ll see if it died before

the Old World was destroyed, when the Old World was destroyed, or a long time after the Old World was destroyed.

“He’s suspected to be Master Zhuang’s body of descent. Figuring out these questions will help us investigate the truth behind the Old World’s destruction.”

Jiang Baimian was rather careful. She didn’t completely label the corpse as being equivalent to Du Shaochong or Master Zhuang’s body of descent.

“Why don’t we just put it in the trunk and bring it to Weed City to find Old Ge?” Long Yuchong asked in confusion.

Jiang Baimian looked at the skeleton and said, “The cruise trauma Hey experienced tells us that things left behind by New World powerhouses that are closely related to them in the Ashlands might form a node which connects to the New World and bring about all kinds of danger. If they can, so is it highly

likely for the Kalendarium. If these are really the remains of Master Zhuang’s body of descent, we might end up contracting the Heartless disease if we keep them by our side for too long.”

Clap! Clap! Clap! Shang Jianyao clapped—

That’s right… Long Yuehong was shocked and felt a little scared about how he had carried the incomplete corpse everywhere.

Fortunately, this only lasted for a day and a night.

The Old Task Force had previously been more inclined to believe that the incomplete remains and the name tag brought by the three Ruin Hunters were fake.

“Yes.” Bai Chen agreed with her team leader’s decision. “Leave the name tag here as well. We’ll get Old Ge to determine if it’s fake.”

Jiang Baimian looked at the dark Linhe Village and nodded. “Then, bury this skeleton with the name tag. We Ashlandics believe that the dead need to be ‘buried to rest in peace.”

“But we still have to dig it out for Old Ge to test later.” Shang Jianyao spoke the truth.

Jiang Baimian shot him a glance. “Even a day counts.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t dare to say anything else. He obediently placed the corpse and the name tag into the hole he had previously dug. He then got Long Yuehong’s help to scoop up the soil to fill the hole.

Before long, they buried the complete corpse suspected to be Du Shaochong.

Shang Jianyao picked up the Six Senses Beads and stood beside the land under the old pagoda tree. With a benevolent expression, he chanted another Buddhist proclamation. “Namo…”

Just as he spat out the word, Jiang Baimian suddenly saw yellow or pure white lights light up not far away from her from the corner of her eye.

They all came from Linhe Village, which was sleeping in the darkness.