Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian looked down at the map and the fallen wreath laurel. She recalled Han Wanghuo’s description of the merfolk and mountain monsters, and she fell silent for a few seconds before laughing self-deprecatingly. “Why do I feel like I’ve really become a villain?”

Without waiting for Shang Jianyao’s response, she sighed again. “But there’s nothing wrong with Redstone Collection’s townsfolk protecting their homes…”

…

“This f*cked up world!” Long Yuehong fell silent for a long time before softly cursing when he saw the mountain monster in front of him completely lose his breath and become a corpse.

Long Yuehog stood up and walked back to Bai Chen’s side. As he reloaded the grenade launcher with ammunition, he sighed sincerely. “I’m beginning to understand Shang Jianyao’s dream of saving all of humanity.”

Han Wanghuo—who wasn’t too far away from them—had sharp ears and looked over in surprise.

After equating the words ‘Shang Jianyao’ with the strange young man, he felt that everything was only right. It wasn’t surprising for such a person to have such an ideal.

Bai Chen heard the mountain monster’s last words and replied, “There are all kinds of grudges, but it has nothing to do with us. I just need to do my job well.”

She paused and added, “How can the few of us save all of humanity? Even if we have an amiable ability like Harbinger Song’s and are 1,000 times stronger, we can only make the humans in this area trust each other and stop killing each other. After we leave, everything will slowly return to normal.”

She originally wanted to say that Inference Clowning could only create a false peace, but seeing how Han Wanghuo and another town guard were around, she changed her mind and used Harbinger Song He as an example.

Long Yuehong fell silent for a moment before saying, “What we are doing now is not meaningless. Without figuring out the reason for the Old World’s destruction and finding the true origins of the Heartless disease, even if the Salvation Army can realize their ideal and establish a beautiful New World, things will return to their current situation at any moment due to a Heartless disease outbreak. It might even be worse.

“I think Shang Jianyao has the same thoughts. We should figure out the cause of the illness before we can treat it completely.”

As he listened in to their conversation, Han Wanghuo felt increasingly puzzled. Although he had previously determined that this was a Ruin Hunter team from a large faction, he didn’t expect the team to have such ‘far-reaching’ goals or ideals.

Can the four of them accomplish such an ideal? This is something that First City and United Industries can’t do… Han Wanghuo shook his head silently and maintained his surveillance of the merfolk and mountain monster camp.

…

After sighing wistfully, Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao, “Do a quick search. We have to evacuate. The merfolk and mountain monsters’ charge has come to a temporary pause. It won’t be long before they organize people to investigate the situation.”

Shang Jianyao neatly folded the map and placed it back into the pocket of the tall murloc’s tattered cloak.

He then took out a pile of items. There were dried fruits, roots of certain plants, crudely packaged green sweets, and a few thick needles.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian had already walked to the edge of the parking lot. As she picked up her discarded gun, she looked back.

She swept her gaze across the items in Shang Jianyao’s hand and frowned slightly. This was a little beyond her expectations.

Without wasting any time on discussion, she quickly walked to the side of one of the Redstone town guards wearing an exoskeleton.

She was an ordinary person. Unlike Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao who had undergone genetic enhancement or modification, she still showed no signs of waking up. Even if Jiang Baimian squatted down and nudged her body, it was useless.

Fortunately, I prepared some FECA… Jiang Baimian quickly took out the biological agent used for emergency treatment and injected it into the Redstone town guard’s vein.

After Shang Jianyao helped the merfolk wear his wreath laurel again, he walked back, switched off the small speaker, and stored it in his tactical backpack.

At this moment, the exoskeleton-wearing female town guard finally woke up.

After opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was a graceful monk mask.

To the residents of Redstone Collection, this wasn’t something to be afraid of. She quickly asked, “You are? Where’s the enemy?”

Jiang Baimian shouted at Shang Jianyao first. “Give that guy a FECA too.” She was referring to the other exoskeleton-wearing town guard.

After giving the instructions, Jiang Baimian smiled at the woman in front of her. “We are mercenaries hired by Captain Han. The enemy has been dealt with.”

“Dealt with?” The female town guard blurted out in surprise. The monster that looked like a god or devil has been killed by these two humans? Even I was as frail as a baby despite wearing an exoskeleton in front of the monster.

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian watched as Shang Jianyao picked up the clothes he had used as bait and walked to the other town guard’s side. She smiled and replied, “We have to thank you for this. If it weren’t for the fact that you attracted his attention and cleared out most of his guards, we wouldn’t have been able to succeed.”

Without waiting for the female town guard’s response, Jiang Baimian urged, “The enemy forces will be here soon. We have to leave this place as soon as possible.”

Upon seeing her companion awaken under the monkey-masked mercenary’s help, the female town guard sincerely said, “Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. One of the reasons I woke you up was to use you as bait to attract the enemy’s firepower and make our journey back a little easier. In any case, there shouldn’t be any problems with you wearing an exoskeleton.” Jiang Baimian smiled like a fox. Unfortunately, this was blocked by the mask.

The female town guard was momentarily at a loss for words.

About ten seconds later, she and her companion ran out of the parking lot behind the technology building and returned to Aiur Supermarket and Sixth Day Mall.

This undoubtedly attracted the attention of the merfolk and mountain monsters. Some shells and bullets flew at them.

With the help of the military exoskeleton, the two town guards easily dodged the attacks. They jumped onto the collapsed building and disappeared from the enemy’s line of sight.

The existence of the two exoskeletons concealed Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian’s furtive retreat. They circled around and easily climbed to the top from the side of the collapsed building that the enemy couldn’t see.

As they approached the original fortifications, Shang Jianyao shouted, “It’s us! It’s us!”

Not only was he confirming his identity to prevent any friendly fire, but he was also informing his companions to provide cover fire.

Of course, Jiang Baimian was originally prepared to use the walkie-talkie to inform them, but Shang Jianyao had immediately shouted.

She could only sigh helplessly and retract her hand from her belt.

They quickly used the cover fire to get back to the room where Bai Chen and Long Yuehong were.

With a glance, she saw corpses, blood, bullet holes, and traces of explosions everywhere. Jiang Baimian nodded at Long Yuehong and said, “Well done.”

Being able to survive the onslaught of a large number of enemies was something worth praising.

“Indeed,” Bai Chen echoed.

Shang Jianyao gave a thumbs up. If he didn’t wear a mask, Long Yuehong would’ve seen a sunny smile.

“It’s mainly because of everyone’s teamwork,” Long Yuehong said humbly, happy and embarrassed.

At this moment, Han Wanghuo asked, “How’s the situation over there?”

Upon seeing that Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian could return alive from the terrifying Awakened murloc, he raised his evaluation of their strength by several levels.

Before Jiang Baimian could say anything, Shang Jianyao sighed and said, “I couldn’t play him a lullaby. The track isn’t in the speaker.”

“…” Han Wanghuo felt that the other party’s reply was incongruous.

Jiang Baimian then replied, “It’s been resolved. There’s no need to worry about sudden asphyxiation.”

“It’s been resolved?” Han Wanghuo asked in surprise.

Even the inexperienced townsfolk could determine how terrifying the Awakened Subhuman was from their previous encounter, much less a Senior Hunter like Han Wanghuo.

Being able to suffocate hundreds of humans at the same time from 100 meters away was an ability only an oracle or devil incarnate had!

Even if Bishop Renato were still around, he couldn’t do such a thing.

Such an Awakened Subhuman had actually been killed by two normal humans—who were nothing special apart from their height and looks!

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian nodded. “Without your suppressive firepower and those two military exoskeletons, we couldn’t even approach.”

Frankly speaking, if not for the two military exoskeletons attracting attention and finishing off the guards, she would’ve considered finding an opportunity to give Shang Jianyao an ‘electric shock’ and drag him away without ‘disturbing’ the Awakened murloc.

Han Wanghuo fell silent, his gaze moving back and forth between Shang Jianyao and the others.

At this moment, he began to think that this team might really be investigating the reason for the Old World’s destruction and doing things that many large factions couldn’t accomplish.

Where do they come from? This question popped up in Han Wanghuo’s mind.

…

In the parking lot behind the technology building, a mixed reinforcement team consisting of merfolk and mountain monsters arrived.

The first thing they saw were corpses strewn across the ground, complete or incomplete.

Their hearts tightened as they quickly entered the depths of the parking lot and quickly saw the tall murloc.

He lay on the ground with his eyes tightly shut and body covered in blood. He was no longer breathing, but the wreath laurel on his head was still neatly worn.

“Oracle…” the murloc in the lead muttered in horror.

In their eyes, the Oracle was the strongest human in the world. If not for his powerful performance, the mountain monsters wouldn’t have cooperated and been so obedient.

But now, he—who had begun transforming in the direction of a deity—was dead. He had been killed by a small team sent by the enemy.

In the indescribable silence, a murloc shouted as if he had a mental breakdown, “Devils! They sent out devils!”

…

Just as the Redstone town guards were worried about a second wave of attacks that the Subhuman alliance was about to launch, the merfolk and mountain monsters began to retreat.

With three sharp whistles, they disassembled their artillery and other items and retreated from the city ruin like a receding tide.