Embers Ad Infinitum

The weak Liu Chuan stopped and asked, "What's wrong?"

As Shang Jianyao looked at the darkness that spewed out air streams, he shouted, "I have a question. How should we join forces to attack later? Should we stack our strength together and strike out? Should we smash it, stir it up, or are there other ideas?"

This was a very realistic technical problem. Barnard, Chen Wen, and the others fell into deep thought as they considered what to do later.

Almost at the same time, the low and ethereal voice echoed in their ears again. "Gather your power and stab it deep into the darkness. It's very simple; there's no need to think too much about it.

"Continue forward. Don't delay any further."

"Oh, oh!" Shang Jianyao had an 'I see' expression.

Liu Chuan, Chen Wen, and the other New World powerhouses continued forward.

"Wait!" Shang Jianyao's voice suddenly sounded again.

"What's wrong now?" Liu Chuan asked with a slightly warped expression.

At this moment, the tower's interior seemed to be cloaked in a shadow.

"I have another question." Shang Jianyao was very calm. "After we stab it, what will happen to the darkness? Will it collapse and spew air streams all over us? If that happens, what should we do?"

The shimmering air streams could melt the consciousness of a New World powerhouse!

At this moment, the New World powerhouses present were highly wary of the air streams and were prepared to dodge at any moment. Nobody dared to underestimate it.

To Barnard, Chen Wen, and the others, this was indeed something they needed to pay attention to. After all, nobody wanted to be an unnecessary sacrifice just before dawn was imminent—their return to the Ashlands.

The next second, the low and ethereal voice sounded in their and Shang Jianyao's minds again. "I'll provide you with protection. Stop wasting time on these trivial matters. Victory is right ahead of us."

For some reason, Barnard vaguely felt that the words sounded like they were said through gritted teeth.

"Alright!" Shang Jianyao agreed readily. He took the lead to take a step forward, walking toward the gigantic darkness that spewed out blasts of air.

Liu Chuan, Chen Wen, and the New World powerhouse carrying Barnard followed closely behind.

Light flickered in their eyes, and the air streams were chaotic. The darkness burgeoned and contracted, and the atmosphere was so tense that it felt like doomsday was imminent.

"Wait!" Shang Jianyao's voice broke the atmosphere.

Liu Chuan slowed down and almost broke down as he roared, "What else do you want to ask?"

Shang Jianyao shook his head. "It has nothing to do with you."

Liu Chuan almost vomited blood when he heard this answer. Fortunately, he was now a spiritual body and a consciousness lifeform without blood.

Shang Jianyao looked at Barnard behind him and asked seriously, "Aren't you worried?"

"About what?" the trembling Barnard asked with a frown.

Shang Jianyao sincerely said, "Our escape from the New World might bring disaster to the Ashlands. As the Linhai Alliance's first president, you chose to push open the door in advance to protect the people there. Entering this place made you their hero. Aren't you worried that your current actions will bring an unstoppable disaster to the Linhai Alliance?"

Barnard fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "I've already made up my mind; I can't care less. If I don't leave this place soon, I'll definitely go crazy and live a life filled with suicidal urges. We'll talk about any subsequent disasters later. When the time comes, I'll definitely contribute my strength without reservation."

After saying that, he didn't wait for Shang Jianyao's response and looked down at the New World powerhouse carrying him. "Let's approach the darkness. We can't wait any longer."

Just as he said that, the darkness instantly expanded. The edge came close to them as if it had reached its limits.

Accompanying this was more violent, shimmering gusts of air. If not for the fact that Shang Jianyao and the others had been paying attention to this problem and were prepared to dodge at any moment, duck quickly, or pounce to the ground, a portion of them definitely wouldn't have been able to escape this calamity.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The air streams slammed into the tower wall as if someone was smashing it with a sledgehammer.

With a crashing sound, glass shattered one after another, and pieces of plaster fell, revealing mottled walls.

This was the first time the tower suffered damage.

The ground near the door also cracked for the first time. This spread out and deepened.

A stream of air flew out the door and collided with a New World powerhouse coming from another direction.

This person didn't even have the time to scream. His face distorted extremely before he was destroyed along with the air stream.

As the earthquake and hurricane brought about by the expansion continued spreading, the darkness contracted like before.

Shang Jianyao, Liu Chuan, and the others stood up one after another. Their ears were filled with a low and ethereal voice. "Go over. Go over…"

…

In the vortex-shaped building.

Jiang Baimian finished searching the three corpses' pockets and only found chocolate and other items of no value.

Their bones indicated that they hadn't suffered heavy injuries, nor did they show any signs of poisoning. The only wound present was on the security guard named Fei Yingwu. His right arm was resting on a submachine gun, and there were signs of bone fractures.

Jiang Baimian imagined the scene back then.

In just an instant, Fei Yingwu died like the people in Tai City. His submachine gun landed on the ground first, and his body followed closely behind. His right arm slammed into a protruding spot on the gun, fracturing his bone.

Everyone here probably died the same way… Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze and stood up.

Her greatest confusion now was: Why were the packet of bear biscuits and the piece of chocolate well-preserved and not moldy from the humidity? Why were these corpses only left with bones and stained clothes?

Jiang Baimian—who was temporarily puzzled—walked to the skeleton sitting on the sofa.

The white skeleton was also wearing a black uniform, but it didn't have a submachine gun beside it. There was a pistol in the holster at its waist.

Jiang Baimian's gaze landed on the skeleton's right chest. On the black name tag there were words written in golden Ashlandic: "Security Supervisor: Brian Stanley."

Under this row of Ashlandic text was a line of relatively small Red River text.

A last name and first name I've never heard of… Jiang Baimian muttered to herself, squatted down, and checked Brian Stanley's pockets.

Apart from some food, there was nothing.

"The management back then was pretty strict." Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and didn't dare to waste any time before moving to the other corpses in the area.

After a quick inspection, she cast her gaze at the passage deep in the reception area.

The sliding metal door was half-open.

Jiang Baimian tried to take a step in, and her head immediately throbbed.

This familiar feeling made her quickly retreat.

Jiang Baimian didn't dare to advance any further. She stared at the far end of the passage and muttered to herself, The core object is inside?

Unable to enter for the time being, she looked around and found the stairs that led to the second floor.

Without hesitation, Jiang Baimian—who was wearing a military exoskeleton—approached and stepped on it.

Everything was calm; no signs of the Heartless disease appeared.

…

"Go over. Go over…" Amidst the low and ethereal voice, Chen Wen, Liu Chuan, Shang Jianyao, and the others fanatically dodged the shimmering air streams and arrived in front of the darkness.

At this moment, the darkness's expansion and contraction weren't as intense as before. It appeared rather weak, or it would've directly enveloped Shang Jianyao and the others.

"Let's begin." Liu Chuan—who was under Truth's orders—stretched out his right palm and pressed it against the darkness's surface.

"Alright!" Shang Jianyao had always been proactive and placed his right palm behind Liu Chuan's hand.

Liu Chuan turned his head to glance at this fellow in surprise, confusion, and helplessness, unsure what he was up to.

"Didn't we agree to combine our powers?" Shang Jianyao had an expression that said: "What's wrong with that?"

Under his guidance, Barnard, Chen Wen, and the New World powerhouse carrying Barnard also stretched out their right palms and stacked them behind Shang Jianyao and Liu Chuan's hands from different angles.

"Begin!" Shang Jianyao ordered excitedly.

Five New World powerhouses used Matter Interference at the same time, raising the effects to the highest level they could achieve.

The air quickly condensed in front of their hands and compressed into an extremely thick spike.

The spike suddenly stabbed into the darkness's depths.

The darkness suddenly stopped. Not only did it not expand, but even its contractions disappeared.

After a brief pause, the gigantic darkness suddenly erupted. It exploded like a punctured balloon with a bang.

Accompanying this change were countless glimmers that gathered into balls and spewed out in all directions.

Liu Chuan, Shang Jianyao, and the others—who were right in front of this—couldn't dodge in time. They were directly hit in the face by the shimmering air streams, as well as their bodies and their consciousness.

In an instant, they felt their auras rapidly dissipate, and their expressions clearly warped.

The protection mentioned by Truth didn't appear.

Shang Jianyao came to his senses and quickly transferred his consciousness into his Mind Room.

His Room 131 was already collapsing inch by inch, but this didn't affect the room's existence.

Shang Jianyao quickly ran two steps before suddenly jumping into the LCD television that the Sea of Origins had become.

In his Sea of Origins, the shimmering sea quickly evaporated, and part of the sky turned to chaos.

Such a trend inevitably affected Shang Jianyao's body. Shang Jianyao repeated his actions and blinked to the rift representing Xiaochong before hiding in the gap.

However, the chaos in the sky didn't stop there. It spread all the way to the rift's surface.

Upon seeing this, the rash Shang Jianyao shouted, "We will definitely die if we head out. We can only take a gamble!"

This time, not a single Shang Jianyao objected.

Shang Jianyao quickly stretched his body and truly drilled into the shimmering rift formed by Xiaochong's black shadow.