Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 440: Evacuation ‘Plan’

Apex Gladiator Arena, in the security inspection area of the nobles’ VIP rooms.

Long Yuehong once again followed Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian in disguise as a servant and bodyguard. Upon seeing that the entrance was still a distance away and that nobody was around, he suddenly thought of a question and quickly suppressed his voice. “Team Leader, I think we missed something.”

“What?” Jiang Baimian stopped and pretended to scold the servant.

Long Yuehong looked around again. “Our operation plan lacks a very important part—how to evacuate if we fail. Don’t tell me you think we will definitely succeed?”

As the saying goes, one should consider defeat before considering victory. Once things didn’t develop as expected, they had to take the corresponding precautions. They couldn’t panic, move blindly, or surrender.

Jiang Baimian smiled. “Facing an Awakened who’s definitely at the Mind Corridor level, skilled in illusions, and surrounded by many nobles and their bodyguards, do you think we can escape if we fail? Even if Old Ge can enter the arena, he should be affected.”

“Ah...” Long Yuehong’s face instantly turned pale.

Shang Jianyao added, “Unlike how we dealt with the Superior Heartless and DiMarco previously, we are in the open this time. The most dangerous enemy is in hiding, and we don’t have any other helpers.”

Long Yuehong’s thoughts raced as he forced a smile at Jiang Baimian. “Team Leader, you must’ve already thought of a solution. Otherwise, you wouldn’t take such a risk.”

This wasn’t the time to risk their lives!

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and said, “The solution is very simple. Once we confirm failure, immediately raise our hands, hug the back of our heads, and squat down.”

“Huh?” Long Yuehong imagined the corresponding scene in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was amiss.

Shang Jianyao then smiled. “You can also shout: I surrender! I surrender!”

“...” Long Yuehong finally understood what Jiang Baimian had described. He asked in disbelief, “Team Leader, are you joking?”

Jiang Baimian shook her head seriously. “No, this is the best plan after weighing the pros and cons. In a situation where there’s a huge strength difference with the enemy, it’s too dangerous to rely on your brain, skills, and experience to escape. The chances of success are extremely low.

“Actually, if it weren’t for the fact that this person is a Mind Corridor-level Awakened who’s good at illusions, it’s not impossible to think of a solution. For example, destroying the building structure below the nobles’ VIP room in advance, grabbing a hostage, etc. These plans can’t be used now because we have no way of distinguishing between what’s real, what’s fake, and whether we did it or not. Compared to the resistance that might result in casualties, surrendering might be the best way to ensure our safety.”

“B-but doesn’t this mean that we’re giving up on survival?” Long Yuehong still couldn’t understand.

“No, no, no.” Shang Jianyao shook his head and said, “Going to prison is the beginning of the story. When the time comes, we’ll say that General Phocas made us do it and make the other factions hesitate.”

“General Phocas sure is unlucky to have met you,” Jiang Baimian scolded jokingly.

Upon seeing that nobles were gradually passing by and entering the stands after passing through security, she didn’t leave him hanging and quickly explained, “Did we do anything in First City that the nobles will want us dead for? Apart from those who secretly favor the Anti-intellectualism Church, there shouldn’t be anyone who wants us dead. When we’re captured, we’ll quickly tell them that we killed the real Father and have a deep grudge with the Anti-intellectualism Church. This way, whoever jumps out to target us will be suspected of being Anti-intellectualism Church supporters.

“That’s one thing. More importantly, we are from Pangu Biology. There’s no need to hide anything when the time comes. We’ll tell them everything we know without holding anything back. After losing our intelligence value, the company will send someone to negotiate with them. I believe they will definitely be happy to exchange us for something else.

“There are many similar matters between large factions. When a spy is typically captured and the other party hasn’t caused any major problems, they will be inclined to use the spy for transactions, such as exchanging them for their captured personnel.”

Long Yuehong was dumbfounded—he never expected such unspoken rules between large factions. However, he found it normal after thinking deeply about it.

As a large faction, they naturally had a relatively equal status when it came to negotiation.

“But won’t we be betraying the company if that happens?” Long Yuehong thought of another question.

Jiang Baimian laughed. “Others might not know, but how can the other large factions not know about the company? In past years, more than one or two company field agents have been arrested. The wilderness nomads and small factions might not know where the company’s entrance is, but how many decades can First City and the White Knights be kept in the dark? As for the internal matters, how many secrets do we know? None, right? And during our investigation of the cause of the Old World’s destruction, we only made contact with Oray’s descendants. We don’t know as much as First City.”

Long Yuehong roughly understood what his team leader meant: the problems they could answer wouldn’t harm the company.

“Therefore, our greatest loss is the items we carry with us—the Destiny Pearl, the Bangle of Blindness, Wu Meng’s recording, and Xiaochong’s whistling. That’s all acceptable,” Jiang Baimian concluded.

“B-but...” Long Yuehong still felt that it wasn’t safe to surrender. “Many nobles in First City secretly believe in Mandara and are Church of Paragon Desire members. I-I’m afraid they would be up to no good.”

“Then, wouldn’t you be lucking out?” Shang Jianyao laughed. He then revealed a solemn expression. “Not necessarily. The other party might not be a woman.”

Long Yuehong inexplicably shivered.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “This is also a situation that requires precautions. On the one hand, if we are captured, we can immediately claim that we have cooperated with General Phocas and helped deal with the Anti-intellectualism Church. In short, we will intimidate others using another’s banner.

“On the other hand, Little White has the letter I left her. I gave her instructions on two matters. The first is to return to the safe house and send a telegram to the company to get them to send a representative to negotiate the ransom. The second is to use the contact information I left her and get help from an Elder in First City. He has a deep relationship with a member of the company. He most likely won’t dare to release the hostages without permission, but he should still be able to ensure our safety during our imprisonment. After all, there are plenty of excuses and reasons.”

Long Yuehong felt a little relieved when he heard that. He exhaled and said, “Team Leader, why didn’t you say so earlier? Why did you have to write a letter?”

Have you watched too many Old World dramas?

Jiang Baimian smiled. “With Little White’s temper, would she be willing to obediently stay outside and be a backup if I don’t do this?”

“That’s true.” Long Yuehong didn’t ask any further. He followed Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao to the security checkpoint and successfully cleared it.

...

Many people had already arrived in the VIP room, but this didn’t include Oray’s grandson, Marcus.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao found their seats and sat down to observe the people around them. During this process, Shang Jianyao took out the portable recording device and pretended to play a song out of boredom.

He played normal Red River songs. They weren’t too loud and were the kind that people around him could hear but wouldn’t find jarring. This was to allow the Virtual World’s owner to get used to the music and become numb to it.

Amidst the music, Shang Jianyao occasionally chatted with Jiang Baimian and nodded at the nearby nobles in greeting.

After a while, five minutes before the gladiator fight began, Marcus—who had light-blue eyes and a slightly horizontal face—entered the room with four bodyguards and walked to his own room. Like last time, he always smiled and nodded at every noble he encountered, including Shang Jianyao.

After watching him sit down, Jiang Baimian estimated the distance and nodded at Shang Jianyao. She meant that it wasn’t a problem using the current volume at this distance.

Shang Jianyao listened to the song for dozens of seconds and pretended that he wasn’t too satisfied with it. He then skipped tracks.

Long Yuehong subconsciously held his breath as his heart raced.

Once the song mixed with Xiaochong’s whistling played, there really was no turning back!

Soon, a cheerful song sounded. “Dog goes ‘woof,’ cat goes ‘meow,’ bird goes ‘tweet,’ and mouse goes ‘squeek[1]’...”

The comedic nursery rhyme-like lyrics echoed. In the background music that nobody noticed, a child’s whistling sounded. “Shh...

“Shh...

“Shh...”

Some nobles found the lyrics amusing and specially glanced at Shang Jianyao and the others as if they wanted to ask about the song title.

Some of them came early and drank a lot of water. They were prepared to go to the bathroom before the official match, but they stood up at this moment.

“But there’s one sound that no one knows.

“What does the fox say...”

Amidst the song, nobles started walking to the bathroom.

[1] From Ylvis brothers’ Norwegian song, What Does the Fox Say