Embers Ad Infinitum

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Under the light of the street lamps that weren’t too far apart, Long Yuehong slowly walked along the street to observe if there were any older locals.

During this process, he couldn’t help but be attracted by the dazzling assortment of goods in each stall. He was filled with interest in the strange items found in the city ruins.

After walking for a while, Long Yuehong stopped in front of a stall.

There were many pieces of jade, emerald, and diamond jewelry here.

He felt that his mother didn’t have such things and wanted to get one or two for her.

Within Pangu Biology, the accessories of ordinary employees were mainly silk flowers and hair clips. Necklaces, earrings, rings, brooches, and scarves were either the kind that had been passed down for several generations or picked up by Security Department employees from ‘picking up trash.’ They were rare and not easy to obtain.

Long Yuehong squatted down, picked up a dazzling diamond necklace, and examined it for a while. He didn’t have the ability to determine if this was considered good for women; he could only consider it from a different perspective.

Gold and silver accessories were more practical. Even if he exchanged for them, they could be used as items of equivalent worth if his mother didn’t like them.

On the journey, Long Yuehong, Shang Jianyao, and the others had learned some economic concepts from Jiang Baimian.

Long Yuehong swept his gaze around with the diamond necklace in hand and asked in confusion, “Why isn’t there any gold jewelry?”

The stall owner was an Ashlandic with a beard. He replied impatiently, “There are plenty of caravans that buy gold and silver. Why would they need to be put up for sale here?”

That’s true. These are all items with industrial uses and can also be used as currency… Long Yuehong put down the diamond necklace after coming to a realization. He felt that the stall owner’s attitude was deplorable and didn’t want to trade items with him.

Just as he stood up, the stall owner also stood up and shouted, “Foreigner, don’t you know our Tarnan rules? You have to buy what you’ve picked up! You’ve already touched it with your hands; why would others want it?”

Long Yuehong was alarmed and a little terrified. He was just about to explain that he didn’t know about this when he saw a man—who seemed to be a local—play with a set of white porcelain plates in the neighboring stall from the corner of his eye. The latter then put them back and slowly turned around to leave.

During this process, nobody stopped him or insisted that he buy it.

Long Yuehong—who had plenty of experience in the Ashlands—immediately came to a realization. He pulled up the corners of his clothes, revealing the pistol on his belt.

The stall owner smiled disdainfully. “Are you going to commit blatant robbery? I think you don’t know how powerful the robot guards are!”

Long Yuehong naturally remembered the rule that ‘private fights are prohibited in Tarnan.’ He had only done so to express his attitude.

He looked up at the surveillance cameras on the nearby street lamps and asked the stall owner, “Do you want to hit me? This seems to be a private fight.”

The stall owner smiled. “The robot guards don’t care about weaponless private fights.”

As he spoke, the two stall owners beside him stood up to back him up.

“I see.” Long Yuehong obtained the answer he wanted and acted as if he had come to a realization.

Just as he said that, he took a step forward and rushed forward instead of retreating.

Back when he was going about Weed City with Bai Chen, he had received the corresponding guidance.

When facing such a situation, one mustn’t show weakness. Even if the other party’s firepower was overwhelming and capable of killing you, you have to bluff.

Of course, if the enemy didn’t fall for this, there was an old saying: “He who understands the times is a wise man.”

About a minute later, Long Yuehong patted his clothes and looked down at the stall owner and his two companions on the ground. He then said in a questioning tone, “How strange. How can a weaponless fight not be considered a private fight?”

The stall owner and his two companions curled up into a ball. They held their stomachs and groaned in pain, unable to answer.

Frankly speaking, if the three of them had really attacked together, Long Yuehong’s two fists might not be a match for six hands. He couldn’t kill them after all. But since he took the initiative to launch a surprise attack, the temporal advantage allowed him to quickly finish off his main target before the stall owner’s companions could react. He then used the other two’s weaknesses of being hesitant—a result of their consideration of the stall’s goods—to take them down easily.

Upon seeing that the pedestrians and other stall owners didn’t interfere in this matter, Long Yuehong gained a deeper understanding of the Ashlands’ rules of survival.

In this era, where order hadn’t been completely established, people submitted to whoever had the bigger fist.

Long Yuehong felt a little more confident as he walked forward.

As he walked, he saw a familiar figure.

Shang Jianyao stood in the middle of the street and looked around. He seemed very hesitant as if there was something important he couldn’t make up his mind on.

Eh, he also has such moments? Long Yuehong was curious and had the intention of asking.

At this moment, he saw the situation on the street clearly.

On the right, a group of people was gathered there, dancing a strange dance to the drumbeat in the stereo. From time to time, they would shout, “Praise be to thee, the New World’s door.”

On the left, another group of people gathered around a raised wooden platform. They sang sentences like ‘the world is but an illusion, nothing more than a dream’ and ‘Clam Dragon, thou art supreme; eternal be the Shattered Mirror.’ They brought about an ethereal and sacred feeling.

On the right up ahead, there was an iron pot that emitted a rich fragrance. The chicken wings—which were wrapped in powder—were gradually turning pale gold. In front of the iron pot stood a very thin column. A woman stood on one foot above the column as she spread her arms to show her symmetry and balance.

When he retracted his gaze, Long Yuehong already understood what Shang Jianyao was troubled about: there were three different religions here. Between dancing, singing, and chicken wings, he couldn’t make a decision!

This might very well be the most important crossroad in Shang Jianyao’s life… A line from a radio play suddenly flashed across Long Yuehong’s mind.

In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that these religions were so close, he felt that Shang Jianyao would definitely ‘want all of them.’

At the same time, Long Yuehong also roughly confirmed which of the three religions they were.

One of them was the Furnace Church they had recently encountered, and the other was the Glorious Scale that Ferlin—the leader of the Rootless Caravan—had mentioned. The other was probably a parish that believed in the November Kalendaria, Shattered Mirror.

Tarnan sure is lively… Long Yuehong decided to ignore Shang Jianyao and continue his ‘adventure.’

Although he also wanted the fried chicken wings, he wasn’t someone who would betray his faith for Holy Communion.

After passing the serious and hesitant Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong walked dozens of meters forward.

As he scanned the area, he saw an old lady sitting at the alley’s entrance.

This old lady was wrapped in a thick, dark-red cotton coat. She was sitting on a rattan chair. Her hair was already white, and she was clearly not young.

There was no stall in front of her. It seemed like she was purely out to enjoy the bustle.

Upon seeing that the other party was Ashlandic, Long Yuehong mustered his courage, approached, and politely greeted, “Granny, can I ask you something?”

The old lady looked up and opened her mouth. “#%&^*&*.”

Long Yuehong stared blankly. It was only then that he realized that some of the Ashlandic dialects might be more difficult to understand than the Red River language.

What should I do? Just as Long Yuehong was about to leave politely, the old lady calmly took out a black, palm-sized electronic product from her pocket, pressed a button, and repeated her words.

The black object then emitted an electronically synthesized voice. “Lad, you’re very polite. What do you want to ask?”

Long Yuehong temporarily forgot his mission and blurted out a question. “What’s this?”

He had already confirmed that the other party understood his Ashlandic language.

After the old lady repeated herself in some indecipherable language, the black electronic device spoke again. “This is a translating device produced by the Old World. It was repaired by Mechanical Paradise. Last time, a caravan gave us a pile of canned food and this device in exchange for our grains, vegetables, and livestock. It’s pretty useful.”

“Indeed.” Long Yuehong gradually understood what Omnidirectional Commerce’s Miens meant previously.

There was nothing strange about Tarnan except that there were more robots, electronic products, and mechanical products.

While wondering if he should tell his team leader to get one or two backup units, Long Yuehong asked, “Granny, are you a local?”

“That’s right.” The old lady used the translating device to communicate with Long Yuehong. “I’ve been here since the third year of the New Calendar. It’s been more than 40 years, and my children already have children. Sigh, the decision I made to stay back then was really wise. None of my friends in the south lived to my age. Either they were killed by bandits, or they encountered war, plague, famine, or all kinds of diseases when they were slightly older.”

Long Yuehong said some cursory praises and got to the point. “Granny, you’ve been in Tarnan for so many years. Do you know what Mechanical Paradise wants the most?”

The old lady recalled and said, “They want many things, but they haven’t been able to get their hands on them. There are also many things that weren’t successfully made or don’t exist at all. For example, nuclear power miniaturization technology, ultra-high-efficiency battery technology, key information on the Old World’s controllable nuclear fusion research, the construction of an oil pipeline from the Linhai Alliance to Tarnan, and the restoration of more roads and railway tracks between the two areas. Uh, they seem to be lacking in all kinds of minerals.”

“…” Long Yuehong’s expression stiffened.

Ignoring the mineral resources and infrastructure requirements, the Old Task Force could directly begin ‘saving the world’ if they could obtain or produce any of that.

After a few seconds, Long Yuehong didn’t give up as he continued asking, “Don’t they have anything else they especially want?”

The old lady thought for a while before saying, “There’s something else. When I first came to Tarnan, Mechanical Paradise offered a bounty to find a person. His name is Maximian, a Red River native. He seems to be a scientist. This bounty was offered for many years. I don’t know if he was found or if they gave up, but there was nothing else after that.”

Maximian… Long Yuehong memorized this name and asked, “Do you still remember that person’s characteristics?”

The old lady replied without hesitation, “I don’t remember. I didn’t take on this mission at all; I only heard someone mention it.”

Long Yuehong asked, “Then, who took on the mission?”

“That old bastard took it,” said the old lady with a smile. “He’s the current guild president, Old Man Gu Bo.”

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