Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 268: ‘Construction Work’

Shang Jianyao’s question wasn’t too strange in itself, but it had nothing to do with the previous conversation.

It left Gu Bo confused. “Why are you asking this?”

“Just asking.” Shang Jianyao’s answer made Gu Bo’s chest tighten.

Upon noticing the change in his expression, Shang Jianyao raised his hands, leaned back, and added, “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious?”

Whoa, putting theory into practice? Have you recently fallen in love with this saying? Jiang Baimian didn’t interrupt Shang Jianyao’s performance. After all, she also wanted to know if Gu Bo knew Du Heng.

Gu Bo hissed. “Are you a believer of Shattered Mirror? Why do I hear that you plan on joining the Furnace Church?” As the president of the local Hunter’s Guild, he was definitely well-informed.

Shang Jianyao replied in all seriousness, “I plan on joining the Furnace Church while admiring the Clam Dragon Church’s philosophy.”

It’s best if you can give him one serving of every Holy Communion... Long Yuehong silently added.

Gu Bo nodded first before he felt that something was amiss. “Then, why do you have to learn the way the Clam Dragon Church salutes?”

“As emphasis,” Shang Jianyao replied in an abnormally sincere manner.

Gu Bo suddenly felt that not only would it waste a lot of time to continue harping on this matter, but he might also end up getting an answer that would make him vomit blood. Therefore, he wisely gave up on the question and said, “I don’t know which Du Heng you’re asking about. It’s not a rare name; I’ve met three to four of them.”

Jiang Baimian simply described Du Heng’s characteristics. “He calls himself an antiquarian. He has long black hair and a beard around his mouth...”

Gu Bo did a recollection. “I’ve really met him. Back when he came to Tarnan to explore the surrounding city ruins, we chatted a little. What’s so strange about him? I find him ordinary. Apart from his looks, he’s relatively cultured and likes to teach others.”

Jiang Baimian didn’t answer Gu Bo’s question and asked, “How long ago was that?”

“It’s been slightly less than 40 years...” Gu Bo said, not too confident. However, there was one thing he was certain of—that this matter happened a long time ago.

“Then, I’ll tell you that Du Heng still looks the same 40 years later.” Jiang Baimian answered Gu Bo’s previous question.

Gu Bo hissed again. “That’s a little impressive...”

He recalled the various details from back then and thought for a moment before saying, “He acted very normal. I just had a faint feeling that he was pursuing some object or some matter.”

Afraid that Long Yuehong and the others wouldn’t understand, he found another example. “Take trash like me... Heh heh, a trash hunter. Our goal is always very general every time we go to a city ruin—it’s to find valuable items. His goal was very clear. Although I don’t know what it was, I had this feeling.”

It turns out that trash hunters are also a universal term used both in the north and south... Long Yuehong held in his laughter. After all, he was now an official trash hunter.

“We think so too,” Jiang Baimian replied.

Gu Bo and Du Heng had only met once, so he couldn’t provide more information. The topic quickly ended.

He looked around and took out a relatively precise map. “You’ll stand guard at the intersection northwest of town. There’s a road that leads straight into the mountains there...”

This path wasn’t the one Shang Jianyao and the others had taken. It was connected to Old Mountain Range, and it was deserted.

...

In the northwest of Tarnan, at the intersection that led to Mount Chilar by the Moville River.

The Old Task Force—who had taken the opportunity to request for many supplies—drove the jeep here.

Jiang Baimian looked at the sky, glanced back at the small city behind her, and smiled. “Set things up according to the plan. Treat it as a training session to build fortifications. Yes, we have to make the corresponding changes based on the destination’s characteristics. We can’t be rigid.”

“Yes, Team Leader!” Shang Jianyao replied loudly.

The next second, he carried a full-body mirror and excitedly ran to the intersection. He inserted it into the soil and fixed it with a rock.

Long Yuehong did something similar.

Before long, the entire intersection was surrounded by multiple full-body mirrors. All of them faced outward, leaving only the passageway leading into Tarnan.

As the commander-in-chief, Jiang Baimian smiled and muttered to herself when she saw the results. “Why does this feel strange...”

Shang Jianyao introduced seriously, “This is the Eight Gates Golden Light Formation. It can subdue demons, subdue devils, and eliminate ghosts.”

“There are such things on radio programs?” Jiang Baimian was greatly surprised. Although she rarely listened to the radio and spent most of her time surfing the Internet, it wasn’t like she had never heard of it. She felt that the company’s radio stories were selective and weren’t that ridiculous.

Shang Jianyao frankly replied, “I stole a glance at the lady boss’s horror films.”

“But that’s not the Eight Gates Golden Light Formation...” Long Yuehong had also stolen a few glances back then.

Shang Jianyao nodded. “I think it will be better if the words ‘Eight Gates,’ ‘Golden Light,’ and ‘Formation’ are combined.”

Long Yuehong—who couldn’t win the argument—turned around and took out a pile of items from the jeep’s trunk. This included but wasn’t limited to land mines, shovels, iron nails, and hemp ropes.

Jiang Baimian then pointed in different directions. “Dig a hole there and make it into a hunting trap. Throw the iron nails in... Then, pull two hemp ropes and seal the area... Bury the land mines there, there, and there...”

After giving the instructions, Jiang Baimian said smugly, “The greatest problem with illusory abilities is that it only affects creatures with thoughts that can respond. However, it can’t make land mines, ropes, iron nails, or traps hallucinate. By setting these up here, no matter what kind of illusion it is, it won’t budge. When you come, there is no denial of their realism...”

In order to prevent the distortion of electromagnetic signals, she chose relatively ‘classical’ objects and didn’t rely on electronic components.

“I’m afraid Little Red will step on them.” Shang Jianyao expressed his worries as he dug a hole.

“Am I that stupid?” Long Yuehong protested.

Shang Jianyao glanced at him. “Sigh, I did genetic enhancement...”

“Stop!” Long Yuehong stopped him in time.

Jiang Baimian also chimed in. “As long as he isn’t affected by an illusion, Little Red is very reliable now.”

This was also the reason why they first set up the full-body mirrors and then planted land mines and dug traps. Otherwise, they might very well ‘remember’ the spots wrongly and step on them.

After some work, the Old Task Force completed the construction. They also erected a wooden sign with light bulbs beside the two full-body mirrors facing the mountainous area.

On the wooden sign were the words: “This road is blocked. Please take the northeast gate.”

The person in charge of the northeast gate was from the Clam Dragon Church. Zhou Yue personally guarded it.

“Phew, it’s done!” Jiang Baimian wasn’t only a commander. She also participated in the labor, but her focus was on monitoring the nearby electric signals of large creatures.

Without waiting for Shang Jianyao to speak, she turned to the jeep and said, “We’ll stay behind the jeep later. No matter what happens, try your best not to care. Didn’t Abbess Zhou say that the more one does, the more mistakes one makes, and true for the converse?”

Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that. He felt like he had a sturdy fortress despite the enemy’s strength.

After everyone entered their designated spots, the four of them chatted from time to time.

There would be some strange questions and answers mixed in.

“When was the last time you peed the bed?”

“Five years old...”

This wasn’t because Shang Jianyao was deliberately making things difficult for Long Yuehong, but because he was regularly conducting identity checks.

With her previous experience and the corresponding intelligence, Jiang Baimian believed that the illusion created by the Superior Heartless came from him and not their own memories and emotions.

Therefore, if one’s companion became a fake one, they definitely wouldn’t be able to answer a relatively private question. Even if the questioner was distorted by the illusion and heard the information, they wouldn’t receive the right answer.

This could be used to prevent any malicious intent from approaching.

For this, Shang Jianyao prepared a hundred questions for Long Yuehong.

...

The sun gradually moved west, and the colors of the sky gradually turned warm.

Just as Jiang Baimian was about to make arrangements for the evening, a car drove out of the mountains and arrived at the intersection.

This was a dark-blue car with steel plates. The undercarriage was elevated, and the tires were large.

Shang Jianyao picked up the loudspeaker and whistled. “Handsome!”

This shout confused the people in the car as if they doubted this fellow’s sexual orientation.

After a few seconds, the door opened, and four people alighted.

One was a man whose right side had a small half of his skull shimmering with silver-white metallic light, and his forehead was embedded with irregular shrapnel. The other was a woman with a gentle and intellectual bearing. Her black hair was long and straight.

The second man wore a black priest robe from the Old World. He was almost Shang Jianyao’s height, and he had a gentle smile on his face. The last wore an earthen-yellow military uniform and a matching beret. His facial features were all standard Ashlandic, but his facial contours appeared relatively stiff.

They were the Ruin Hunter team that Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, and the others had encountered at Mount Chilar’s water source.

“We can’t go through here?” asked the man—who had half of his skull metallic.

Jiang Baimian picked up another speaker. “Stand in front of the full-body mirror.”

Afraid that the other party wouldn’t accept it, she added, “This is to determine your authenticity and verify your identity. You should know what the Superior Heartless is best at.”

The four Ruin Hunters conversed with each other and nodded. They walked to the full-body mirror one after another and had their figures reflected for a few seconds.

The gentle and intellectual woman and the man in the black priest robe took the opportunity to straighten their hair.

“How should I address you?” Shang Jianyao asked through the loudspeaker.

“Bai Xiao,” replied a man with a mole under his left eye loudly as half of his skull shimmered with a metallic glow.

“Lin Tong.” This was the woman’s name. “A person who studies biology.”

Coincidentally, our company is called Pangu Biology... As Jiang Baimian muttered, the man wearing the black priest robe and a gentle smile also replied, “Lei.”

“Zhang Shaopeng,” said the man in military uniform.

Upon seeing that they had all looked into the mirror, Shang Jianyao raised a question before Jiang Baimian could. “What did we talk about at the last water source in the Mount Chilar area?”

The four of them looked at each other, and Bai Xiao replied, “We talked about the city ruins around Tarnan.”

Long Yuehong’s eyes suddenly froze.

Back then, they had never chatted with this Ruin Hunter team. They had only been warned that there was a Superior Heartless in the southwest mountains!