Embers Ad Infinitum

He who is unjust is doomed to destruction? Jiang Baimian’s eyes darted around slightly as she laughed. “It seems like he has done many bad deeds.”

As Old Chen lowered his head to process the ingredients, he said in a deep voice, “He caused the deaths of countless people for his firearms business.”

Old Chen wasn’t angry at Jiang Baimian’s act of watching him cook at the kitchen door because it was completely in line with the Vigilance Church’s teachings.

One had to remain constantly vigilant and not have blind faith. One definitely had to watch the cooking process of things that needed to be eaten; they couldn’t give the cook a chance to play tricks.

As they chatted, Old Chen prepared one dish after another. Every time he finished a dish, he would pick up a piece with his chopsticks and stuff it into his mouth in front of Shang Jianyao and the others.

To this, his explanation was: “If I don’t try the food, will you dare to eat it?”

“I dare,” Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation. He had already taken out a few plastic bottles.

These were all drugs that were separately stored in the first-aid kit, including but not limited to Bio Cleansing Capsules and Neutralizers.

Old Chen was speechless when facing this customer in a monkey mask.

Fortunately, Shang Jianyao’s thought process was always jumpy, so he had already changed the topic. “This isn’t good for the stomach.”

“?” Old Chen was confused.

Jiang Baimian sighed and helped explain. “Every time a customer comes, you have to try all the dishes. You eat so much and in such bits and pieces. It’s always past your meal times; it’s not good for your stomach.”

Old Chen pointed at his face. “How do you think I gained weight?”

In the Ashlands, not many people were qualified to be fat.

Jiang Baimian and the others were rather satisfied with this meal. Although Old Chen’s culinary skills were only considered average, and he had an inclination of abusing spices, food that reached a certain standard was still delicious for the Old Task Force after they ate days of canned food, biscuits, and energy bars.

After putting down her chopsticks, Jiang Baimian smiled and praised, “This stewed mutton with peas is not bad. It also has the characteristics of Ashlands vegetables and Red River vegetables. It’s the best when combined with rice.”

“An exclusive recipe.” Old Chen was a little pleased with himself. The way to make the soup have more gravy and be thick enough while maintaining the same taste was a technique he had slowly figured out.

After leaving Poisonless Restaurant, the Old Task Force took the escalator down to the ground floor and entered the Public Security Department.

Han Wanghuo had already returned from the area where the Ashlanders hid. He was sitting behind a desk in the innermost corner, flipping through some documents under a lamp.

If not for the two relatively deep scars on his face and the messy eyebrows that made him look rather fierce, Long Yuehong would’ve thought that he had returned to Pangu Biology and was meeting his parents’ superior at their workplace.

“Good afternoon.” Jiang Baimian greeted with a smile.

Han Wanghuo looked up at them. “Have a seat.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t stand on ceremony at all and immediately brought over a few chairs from elsewhere.

There was only one chair in front of Han Wanghuo’s desk.

After the Old Task Force sat down, Han Wanghuo tersely grunted and asked, “Are you here to ask me about this morning’s investigation?”

Han Wanghuo was staring at Jiang Baimian. This was because he had seen the Old Task Force without masks. His intuition told him that Jiang Baimian was the team leader. Of course, he had also hesitated about Shang Jianyao’s position, but the other party’s performance had successfully dispelled some of his thoughts.

“Yes, this is one of the requests,” Jiang Baimian replied with a smile.

Han Wanghuo put down the information in his hand and leaned back in his chair. “I basically didn’t gather anything. No one admitted to it, nor did I get any clues. If I weren’t an Ashlander, I definitely would’ve been chased out.”

Han Wanghuo obscurely pointed out Redstone Collection’s internal conflict.

“You lost,” Shang Jianyao suddenly interrupted.

“Oh?” Han Wanghuo frowned slightly in confusion.

Shang Jianyao said seriously, “It’s considered a loss for you to admit that you’re an Ashlander. We’re all humans; we shouldn’t form enclaves.”

Han Wanghuo didn’t know how to respond and could only cast his gaze at Jiang Baimian.

Jiang Baimian skipped the topic and raised her second request. “Can we read some of the information?”

Han Wanghuo’s gaze suddenly turned sharp. “What information?”

Jiang Baimian smiled. “Cases involving deaths from shock in the past few years.”

This was to see if there was an Awakened or a murderer who could induce the corresponding cause of death.

Han Wanghuo’s gaze swept across the masks on the four Old Task Force members’ faces before saying, “You guys are smarter than I imagined. This makes me a little confused. Why do smart people like you take on the mission of retrieving stolen firearms? Can’t you tell that there’s a lot of danger hidden in this case? Or are you very confident in your strength?”

He’s also a smart person… Long Yuehong was a little impressed.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Jiang Baimian replied cleverly.

Shang Jianyao took the opportunity to help her add, “As a great villain, why should we be afraid of such dangers?”

Is this fellow’s brain abnormal? The reason their team took on the mission of retrieving stolen firearms is that their brains are abnormal? I heard that the crazier they are, the smarter they are… Han Wanghuo looked at the four people opposite him vigilantly and didn’t say a word.

After a while, he spoke to Bai Chen—who was wearing the ferocious man mask. “The magical thing is that there’s only one Intermediate Hunter in your team, and it’s you.”

“She was kidnapped by us!” Shang Jianyao explained.

Bai Chen was a little unaccustomed to this joke, but she didn’t say anything given her personality.

Long Yuehong couldn’t help but mock, “You can make up a more reasonable story.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped as if he were praising Long Yuehong for his tacit cooperation.

While Long Yuehong was confused, Shang Jianyao smiled and said, “We kidnapped her with friendship and trust.”

“Pfft…” Jiang Baimian laughed out loud.

Bai Chen pursed her lips.

Han Wanghuo increasingly couldn’t understand the group of people opposite him. He could only sigh and point at the stack of documents in front of him. “This is the information you want. In the past two years, the Public Security Department has never taken on such cases. They haven’t received any news of anyone dying from shock. But if you go back three years…”

At this point, Han Wanghuo said with a serious expression, “There were four cases.”

“What if we go even further back?” Jiang Baimian asked.

Han Wanghuo shook his head. “The Public Security Department’s management was very messy three years ago. There were many cases that weren’t recorded, and a lot of information was lost.”

“You took office three years ago?” Jiang Baimian came to a realization.

“Yes.” Han Wanghuo nodded slightly. “However, I’ve asked some of my colleagues. They all said that there were definitely such cases three years ago, but they aren’t sure about how many there were. The teams that attacked Redstone Collection seem to have people with similar causes of death.”

Jiang Baimian turned to look at Shang Jianyao and the others. “Any other questions?”

Bai Chen didn’t give Shang Jianyao a chance to ‘spout nonsense’ as she asked, “Are the four cases two-plus years ago related to Helvig’s death?”

“This is what surprises me the most.” Han Wanghuo pushed the information in his hand over. “These four cases have something in common. For example, the ones who died were all Ashlanders. For example, they either did some nasty things to the Red River people or occupied a large part of the corresponding business, suppressing the Red River people. These are things Helvig didn’t do.”

Jiang Baimian took the information and casually read it as she flipped through it. “Bao Xuan was 27 years old when he died. He was a radical among the Ashlanders and had once killed three Red River people in several conflicts… He died in a basement after hiding for a long time. It was only a few days later that his wife, Wang Xian, discovered him… Cause of death: excessive shock… Investigation of the situation…

“There’s quite a number of annotations… Are you still investigating these cases?” After reading the information for a while, Jiang Baimian looked up at Han Wanghuo.

Han Wanghuo replied with a serious expression, “Since I’ve agreed to be Redstone Collection’s sheriff, I have the responsibility to capture the murderer. As for his background, abilities, and how dangerous he is, they’re not questions to be considered. I’ve never given up in the past two years.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped again.

“Aren’t you worried that it will affect your family?” Jiang Baimian asked curiously.

Han Wanghuo laughed self-deprecatingly. “As a former wilderness nomad and Ruin Hunter, I no longer have any relatives. My former companions also went elsewhere when I chose to be sheriff.”

“You don’t have a wife?” Long Yuehong acutely sensed a problem.

Han Wanghuo tersely answered in the affirmative. “I’ll consider it after I quit when I have savings and Redstone Collection’s public order is established.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shang Jianyao had already stretched out his hand.

While Han Wanghuo was confused, Jiang Baimian sighed and explained, “You have a goal, and so does he. You are willing to make a certain sacrifice for this, and so is he. Therefore, he feels that he should shake your hand.”

…Team Leader has been infected by Shang Jianyao’s Inference Clowning… Long Yuehong found it funny.

Although Han Wanghuo still couldn’t understand the development, he could sense the other party’s kindness. He didn’t refuse and stretched out his right hand to shake Shang Jianyao’s.

Jiang Baimian didn’t give Shang Jianyao any more freedom to perform and asked, “In other words, you suspect that Helvig’s death is different from the previous cases?”

This wasn’t impossible. The previous murderer had been quiet for more than two years, so similar Awakened might’ve appeared recently. The premise was that ‘shock’ was in the Kalendaria—Eidolon Nun’s domain and within the Vigilance Church’s sphere of influence. Otherwise, the probability was very low.

This remained unconfirmed.

“Yes.” Han Wanghuo pushed another stack of paper over. “This is my list of suspects; They all have conflicts of interest with Helvig.”

Jiang Baimian took it and realized that the first one read: “Carl Stlee, Mr. DiMarco’s butler and the largest arms dealer in Redstone Collection, is vying with Helvig for Lehman…”

She scanned the area and asked with a smile, “Do you have a photocopier? We want to make a copy and take our time reading it.”

Han Wanghuo laughed. “One can.”

As one of United Industries’ smuggling nodes, they didn’t lack frequently seen machines, but they just weren’t that common.

After getting the information and leaving the Public Security Department, Jiang Baimian sighed with emotion. “I previously neglected one thing: Helvig might’ve set up a mission to find outsiders and gain the Vigilance Church’s trust. It might not be to incite conflict and deal with the Ashlanders. It might also be to deal with the Underground Ark or DiMarco… Haha, this is all a guess. We still have to carry out further investigations.”

Long Yuehong then asked Jiang Baimian, “Team Leader, where should we investigate next?”

Jiang Baimian replied in amusement, “Didn’t I say? We’ll just slack off for two days and see who will come looking for us apart from Theresa.”

As she spoke, she stretched again. “Let’s go back and take an afternoon nap. Let Shang Jianyao make more attempts at conquering that island.”