Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 520: Awakening

Avia was still sleeping in her original spot, so it wasn’t difficult to lock onto her consciousness. Khal only needed to make a slight distinction before completing the preliminary work.

Suddenly, his vision turned black—literally. He couldn’t see anything else.

He had lost his vision!

In the jeep, Shang Jianyao—who was supposed to be sleeping—had opened his eyes at some point in time. He took the Bangle of Blindness off from his left wrist and threw it in the middle of the backseat.

He had a multi-purpose bayonet in his left arm, and blood was seeping out.

Previously, Shang Jianyao had taken out this bayonet not to create the smell of blood but to place it by his side, where he would definitely fall on if he fell asleep.

Therefore, after Khal forced them to fall asleep again and transferred them to Real Dreamscape, Shang Jianyao’s limp body slammed into the vertical bayonet. Furthermore, the spot was exactly as he had expected—it hit his left arm.

Such a stimulus instantly snapped him to his senses.

Without any hesitation or thought, Shang Jianyao acted according to Plan 997.

His plans started from 996 this time. He first used the Bangle of Blindness to blind Khal. He then stripped the item and restrained his consciousness to prevent the other party from sensing it.

Once Awakened came into contact with each other in the real sense of the words ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing,’ or when they exerted their abilities and formed a connection, they could no longer hide their consciousness from the other party’s perception. However, Shang Jianyao was currently using the Bangle of Blindness to affect the enemy’s vision. As long as he could quickly separate it from him, the corresponding connection wouldn’t be ‘traced’ to him.

This greatly reduced the Blind effect’s duration, but it wouldn’t disappear immediately.

On the other hand, although Shang Jianyao had already escaped the Real Dreamscape, the effects of Auditory Deprivation still existed. Furthermore, Khal had always been holding the Six Senses Beads. Therefore, this Mind Corridor-level Awakened couldn’t make his consciousness disappear from Shang Jianyao’s perception even with the addition of Visual Deprivation.

Shang Jianyao then kicked the tactical backpack that Long Yuehong had placed in the middle of the backseat opposite him. He pulled the opposite door and pushed it open before rolling out of the jeep.

During this process, his injured left arm also pressed the small speaker’s switch.

This was reflected in Khal’s senses as a series of actions happened in the Old Task Force’s vehicle. Sounds came from both doors, so he—who had lost his vision—had no way of determining which side the target had alighted from.

While attempting to rely on his hearing and memories to find the other party’s consciousness again, he was momentarily at a loss.

At this moment, blood was still seeping out of Shang Jianyao’s left arm. His light-blue canvas top was dyed red, and he emitted a strong stench of blood. However, Khal had deprived himself of his sense of smell, so he couldn’t smell it.

Even if he could smell it, he would only convulse and vomit as if he were allergic. That would only result in an immediate retreat.

The small speaker connected to the portable recording device began to play the song with Xiaochong’s whistling the very next second.

Of course, Shang Jianyao couldn’t hear it. The reason he turned on the small speaker was mainly to create more sounds to cover his actions.

As for how much the whistling affected the enemy, he didn’t care at all.

With the echoing of the song, Shang Jianyao used his injured left arm as support and used his right hand as the main force to raise the Death rocket launcher.

At the same time, Khal—who couldn’t see, hear, and was being affected by the song—felt vexed. He felt that the Old Task Force was like a tenacious cockroach. They were clearly so weak, but he couldn’t finish them off quickly. Furthermore, they would occasionally appear to disgust him.

He composed himself and decided to ignore the person who had woken up in the car. He seized the opportunity to finish off the targets one by one with Cardiac Arrest.

Khal believed that after seeing his companions die one after another, the person who woke up would definitely attempt to attack or interfere. That way, the two parties would establish a connection, making it impossible to hide their consciousness again.

Furthermore, after a brief period of frustration, Khal realized that he could quickly escape his blind state. There was no need to be so anxious.

Even if the other party would take this opportunity to attack him, he wasn’t too worried. This was because his Matter Interference ability could be used to the extreme when using the Life Angel necklace.

After some adjustments, Khal sought to lock onto Avia—his main target—again. He wasn’t unhinged with anger; he knew his priorities.

At this moment, the single-man combat rocket launcher Shang Jianyao raised quietly moved toward Khal—who was standing on the top of the black car.

Shang Jianyao then continued raising the rocket launcher and aimed at the third floor of Avia’s villa. He aimed at an open window and at the sleeping Kanna and the old woman in the black beanie.

As they chatted and waited in Elder Meyers’s house, the Old Task Force shared the assault they had suffered with Kanna. They also told her that the secret organization might take this opportunity to eliminate Avia.

The two parties discussed how to resist Forced Sleep and Real Dreamscape. Kanna said that she had an item that could passively sense fatal danger and wake her up when she was attacked.

Now, Shang Jianyao wanted to put her in fatal danger.

When the rocket launcher circle locked onto Kanna as Shang Jianyao squeezed his finger, the lady’s necklace—which was clinging to her chest beneath her clothes—suddenly turned red and scorching hot.

Kanna’s eyes opened.

With the help of the item’s indication, Shang Jianyao’s figure surfaced in her mind. She imagined the single-man combat rocket launcher that was locked and ready to fire, as well the finger that was about to squeeze.

“F*ck!” Kanna blurted out an Ashlandic word fluently. She knew that Shang Jianyao was using fatal danger to wake her up, but she didn’t expect the other party to be so tactless as to choose to use a single-man combat rocket launcher instead of an assault rifle. The unconscious Kanna lacked the necessary defenses—it was very dangerous even when facing a pistol.

She could really die from that!

As she cursed, Kanna’s light-blue eyes had already become like gemstones, glistening.

Shang Jianyao—who was really prepared to launch the rocket—immediately felt that the other party was a good friend of his. She was so friendly that he shouldn’t use force on her. Instead, they had to get along well.

No, it’s because she’s a good friend that I’m using a rocket launcher to wake her up… Shang Jianyao quickly figured out the logic and pulled the trigger.

Kanna’s gaze froze, and she almost cursed inwardly.

If Jiang Baimian knew about this, she definitely wouldn’t be surprised by the parrot’s foul mouth any longer.

At this moment, Khal—who had locked onto Avia—also turned around and cast his ‘gaze’ at the room where Kanna and the Virtual World’s owner were. This was an instinctive reaction, a connection based on an Awakened ability. Even if he couldn’t see anything now, he could accurately lock onto the target area.

Khal then reached out and pushed the rocket near the window, causing it to deviate slightly and land on the villa wall.

He felt that they were friends and had to help her.

Rumble!

Flames bloomed.

…

Red Wolf Zone, Senate.

Galoran looked down at the people who had died, were seriously injured, or had entered the Six Realms of Rebirth and Existence. She looked at the citizens and Subhumans who had been affected by different Mind Corridor-level Awakened. As she listened to the cries and laughter coming from the Senate, she suddenly had an urge.

In the blink of an eye, words surfaced in her mind: Although we humans call ourselves advanced creatures, we are like fallen leaves in a gale in the face of the world and fate. We can only dance with the wind, unable to determine where we will land…

I’m so weak that I can’t resist the machinations of fate…

I’m the same now. If it weren’t for the fact that the consul has already become a Heartless and no longer has any intelligence, my abilities definitely wouldn’t be able to affect him, making him temporarily ignore my existence and not use his abilities on me… Normally speaking, I should be laughing and crying as well…

The Mind Corridor-level Awakened that are in a tug of war outside are all stronger than me. If I were to rashly head out and participate in this matter, not only will I not be able to save anyone, but I won’t even be able to protect myself… As these thoughts flashed through her mind, Galoran was stunned for a few seconds.

The corners of her mouth suddenly curled up as she revealed a self-deprecating smile. She closed her eyes and muttered to herself, “Since I’ve already come this far, let’s just go with the flow…”

Galoran stretched out her palm and tried to push open the window. At this moment, she seemed to see the young and innocent girl opposite her extend her palm and press it against her own.

…

Golden Apple Zone, in the chamber where Cass slept.

A white-haired elder was slowly wearing a white shirt and buttoning his cuffs as if he were waiting for an opportunity.

The curtain blocking out the surroundings had opened a sliver at some point in time, and bright light shone in.

On the wall behind, the elder’s black figure was also adjusting his cuffs. However, it was so large that it went from the ceiling to the thick carpet.