Embers Ad Infinitum

“This might be called knowledge and action go hand in hand.” Long Yuehong echoed his team leader. He wanted to laugh every time he read those pamphlets.

Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze from the pamphlet and looked at the silent Shang Jianyao. She then casually asked, “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m wondering what their Holy Communion is.” Shang Jianyao’s expression was very serious.

Jiang Baimian was not surprised at all and smiled. “Maybe they aren’t religious at all. Besides, the quality of Holy Communion definitely won’t be high for such a brainless organization.”

“Sigh…” Shang Jianyao sighed regretfully.

Bai Chen watched her team leader throw the pamphlet back on the table and thoughtfully said, “There are similar organizations in First City. Their slogan is ‘brains are useless,’ ‘stupidity is a blessing,’ and ‘giving up on thought saves the world’…”

“How can anyone believe that?” Long Yuehong asked in surprise. Although he had already seen the example, he still found it unbelievable.

Compared to this, the Life Ritual parish—which imparted knowledge on childcare and advocated natural birth—was much better.

Jiang Baimian smiled and sighed. “After experiencing the Old World’s destruction, the long years of war, the constant famine, and the epidemics, the people in the Ashlands are willing to grab at anything that looks like a life-saving straw. This can at least give them some hope for the future.”

Long Yuehong was speechless. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t formulate a suitable sentence.

Bai Chen changed the topic and said, “I wonder which Kalendaria they believe in. Or perhaps, none of them are people of faith?”

“I’ve never come into contact with such an organization.” Jiang Baimian shook her head and smiled at Shang Jianyao. “It’s better for you not to join such an organization. It will be troublesome if you end up ‘infected’ and lose your brain.”

“I can be their collective brain, their only brain,” Shang Jianyao said seriously.

“How ambitious!” Jiang Baimian joked and distributed the information in her hand to her team members. “Read it carefully. It’s time for us to discuss serious matters.”

As for the organization that advocated knowledge being toxic and not reading books, it didn’t conflict with them. There was no need to pay too much attention to them.

After everyone flipped through the information, Jiang Baimian repeated what Chen Xufeng had said. Finally, she asked, “Which line of clues do you think we should start investigating?”

Bai Chen looked at the information in her hand and thought for a moment. “The missions they took on are relatively common. There’s nothing special about them. I can’t tell anything worth further investigation for the time being.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” Long Yuehong only recalled something after agreeing. “Bai Chen is an Intermediate Hunter!”

This was something he discovered when he registered as a Hunter in the afternoon.

Those who joined the Hunter’s Guild were Rookie Hunters. Only when their credit points reached 100 did they become Official Hunters. After that, they would have to accumulate 1,000 points to be an Intermediate Hunter.

This wasn’t something that could be satisfied with one or two large missions like gathering Qiao Chu’s information. Every Intermediate Hunter had definitely completed dozens to over 100 missions. Their experience could not be said to be lacking.

Bai Chen saw her team leader and Shang Jianyao looking over and explained simply, “I registered as a hunter seven to eight years ago.”

“You were 18 or 19 years old back then?” Jiang Baimian asked in response and laughed self-deprecatingly. “I always end up imagining that you are younger than me.”

“Maybe it’s because of the height difference,” Shang Jianyao ‘explained.’

Jiang Baimian shot him a glance. “Don’t say anything if you have nothing better to say.”

She then asked Bai Chen, “Did you use your real name when registering as a Hunter?”

“No.” Bai Chen shook her head. “That would make many things inconvenient and result in easy exposure. It’s not like the employees of the Hunter’s Guild can’t be bribed.”

“That’s good.” Jiang Baimian nodded in relief. “You’ve been smart since you were young! Yes… If we want to take on missions to earn money in the future, it’s up to you. Intermediate Hunters can take on many missions.”

She, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong were Rookie Hunters. Their credit points were zero, so they couldn’t take on missions that required sufficient credit.

“Alright.” Bai Chen nodded slightly.

Jiang Baimian then looked at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong. “Which clue do you think is more valuable?”

This was also considered education through discussion, an attempt to start a brainstorming session.

“The fifth clue. People suspected to be Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei are still in Weed City,” Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation. “As long as we find them, the problem will be solved.”

“How should we find them then?” Jiang Baimian asked with a smile.

Shang Jianyao seemed to have long considered this question. “Find a place to print out the photos and distribute them across the city. Ask if anyone has seen them.”

As a graduate of the electronics department, he knew about photocopying and printing, even though he had not touched a computer much.

“…” Jiang Baimian laughed when she heard that. “It’s a very direct method. It will definitely be effective, but there are two problems. The first is that the cost is too high, and we don’t have that many resources to afford it. The second is that it’s very easy to alert the enemy, causing Lei Yunsong, Lin Feifei, and the others—who might still be alive—to be silenced.

“Besides, such a large commotion might attract the attention of Weed City’s brass and bring about a negative development. Think about it. Chen Xufeng definitely knows Weed City better than us. Since he didn’t use such a wide-range searching method, he must have a lot of concerns.”

She made a terse grunt and continued, “The problems of excessive cost and causing too much of a commotion are easy to resolve. We can issue a search mission at the Hunter’s Guild and use food as payment. This is very common, and no one will find it amiss. At the same time, there’s no need to print or photocopy photos. Just scan them and upload them to the Hunter’s Guild. It’s enough for people who are willing to accept missions to remember their characteristics.

“However, it definitely won’t be that efficient. There’s no way to avoid alerting the enemy either.” At this point, Jiang Baimian sighed and chuckled. “If it weren’t for the caution in taking action, the risk of alerting the enemy wouldn’t be eliminated. It would be easier to discover their traces if we poke around and make them move.”

After hearing this analysis, Long Yuehong felt that he had learned a lot. He then muttered to himself, How does Team Leader’s brain work? Why is she able to carry out so much mental gymnastics?

Upon seeing Jiang Baimian look at him, he quickly voiced his opinion. “Which line of clues do you think we should start investigating?”

Jiang Baimian laughed. “Can’t you think about it yourself?”

“My opinion is about the same as Shang Jianyao’s.” Long Yuehong quickly indicated that he had considered the possibility.

“I don’t believe you,” Jiang Baimian replied with a smile. “Most people can’t keep up with his train of thought.”

Long Yuehong could only add, “Let’s go to Flying Bird Bar and find the person who had a conflict with the Old Task Force.”

“That is a trail.” Jiang Baimian first acknowledged his idea before shaking her head. “However, Chen Xufeng will follow up on this. He knows the ways of the area, so it’s more convenient for him than us. I hope we can gain something from it. Uh… The North Street trail is too broad, and it’s not easy to investigate. Besides, we can’t enter North Street now unless we take on the mission of being short-term mercenaries…”

After eliminating these possibilities, she laughed. “There’s only one more relatively clear clue trail—Lei Yunsong and the others visited a certain high-ranking member of the local Hunter’s Guild.”

“But we don’t know who it is,” said Long Yuehong with a frown.

This still required further investigation from Chen Xufeng.

Jiang Baimian maintained her smile. “We don’t know, but we can analyze it. That Old Task Force came to Weed City to find elderly who had experienced the Old World. Then, why did they suddenly visit the Hunter’s Guild’s higher-ups? Is he such an elderly, or does he have such an elderly at home?

“We’ll go to the Hunter’s Guild tomorrow to take a look and figure out which higher-ups are there. We’ll compare the conditions one by one. If they aren’t satisfied, we’ll get Chen Xufeng to retrieve information on these higher-ups’ families to determine if their elders are still alive.

“After we narrow down on the target…” At this point, Jiang Baimian smiled even more brightly and looked at Shang Jianyao. “It’ll be your turn to make ‘friends’ or acknowledge god-parents or god-grandparents.”

Long Yuehong—who was unaware of the various details regarding Life Ritual—was dumbfounded.

“Alright.” Shang Jianyao’s eyes lit up as he thought of something.

Bai Chen nodded indiscernibly and muttered to herself, “It’s the end of the New Calendar’s 46th year. The Chaotic Era was about 20 years ago… Those under the age of 70 can’t be considered to have truly experienced the Old World’s destruction…”

Even if they experienced the Old World’s destruction, those under the age of 70 wouldn’t remember what they had encountered because they were too young back then.

In the Ashlands’ current environment, very few people could live to 70 years of age.

“That’s about it.” Jiang Baimian clapped her hands and said, “Take a careful look at the photos and remember their looks. What if you encounter them tomorrow?”

“Is this a result of good or bad fate?” Shang Jianyao asked.

“That depends on the situation.” Jiang Baimian understood Shang Jianyao’s meaning and couldn’t help but look at Long Yuehong’s urge.

If one had a good fate, they most likely wouldn’t encounter it. If one had a bad fate, they might very well encounter it directly.

Long Yuehong didn’t want to argue with Shang Jianyao about having a bad fate. He looked down at the photos.

Lei Yunsong was about 28 years old. His eyebrows were like swords, and he looked good. However, his eyes were relatively small, giving off a feeling that he had not fully opened them.

Lin Feifei looked slightly older than Lei Yunsong. She had long hair, an oval face, and a gentle aura. She had a black mole at her eyebrows.

Lu Jiqi was in his early thirties. He was handsome, and he had thin lips and bronze skin.

Yun He seemed to have been through plenty of hardships. His face was rather thin, looking more like a surface resident than an employee of Pangu Biology. There was an old scar on his chin.

Wei Yu had a baby face and was rather likable. According to the information, she was 1.66 meters tall…

As he read the information, Long Yuehong suddenly said, “They should be married, have spouses and children…”

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged his words and sighed. “That’s why we can’t be rash or alert the enemy…”