Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 801 Cliff Village

In the Blackmarsh Wilderness, somewhere near Icefield.

The road was muddy due to the melted snow. Long Yuehong felt like he was driving along the edge of a swamp.

Shang Jianyao—who was on the right side of the backseat-leaned forward and asked Long Yuehong and Bai Chen in front of him with interest, “Do you have a sense of déjà vu?”

Long Yuehong thought for a moment before replying, “Back when we encountered the Blackmarsh Iron Snake?”

Back when the swamp expanded, it almost swallowed the corresponding path.

Shang Jianyao nodded in satisfaction. “That’s right. I still remember that you were especially nervous back then. You seemed like you had forgotten how to use a gun and almost peed yourself.”

“There was no such thing!” Long Yuehong immediately retorted. “That was the first time I encountered danger. It left a deep impression on me; it’s definitely not as you said.”

Shang Jianyao tried to persuade him. “Maybe it’s because that memory was too unbearable that you subconsciously chose to forget certain details.”

“As if I’d believe you!” Long Yuehong glanced at Bai Chen in the passenger seat and sighed with emotion. “Back then, mutated creatures at the Blackmarsh Iron Snake level could chase after us everywhere. Now, we can easily finish off another two.”

Be it lasers or electromagnetic rounds, they were enough to penetrate the Blackmarsh Iron Snake’s scales.

“That’s right.” Shang Jianyao agreed. “If we really encounter it, we’ll throw the nuclear bomb over and detonate it, vaporizing it.”

“Hey, consider the problem of friendly fire!” Long Yuehong experienced what Jiang Baimian often said about being exasperated and amused.

Shang Jianyao didn’t answer and clicked his tongue. “What you just said is wrong! Wasn’t it easy for us to finish off the Blackmarsh Iron Snake back then? Big White used Thunder Spear, and Little White used Eyebreaker, putting down the Blackmarsh Iron Snake. Are you saying that they didn’t do a good job?” Long Yuehong hurriedly defended himself. “No, the Blackmarsh Iron Snake chasing after us left the deepest impression on me.”

Jiang Baimian finally couldn’t stand it and stopped Shang Jianyao. “Cut down on the games. What Thunder Spear, what Eyebreaker…

“Anything from Xiaochong’s rift?”

Shang Jianyao revealed a sad expression. “No, I already did such a good job playing.”

With that said, he turned to look at Genava. “Old Ge, what do you think the problem is?” Genava began to analyze the situation. “Maybe Xiaochong has been playing games all this while and is obsessed. He didn’t notice what happened in your Sea of Origins.” “Then, what should we do…” Shang Jianyao fell into deep thought.

As he pondered, the Old Task Force’s jeep followed Panshan Road and entered a forest.

“Left…” Jiang Baimian switched to the passenger seat and pointed the way.

This was also something that couldn’t be helped because only she knew where they were going next.

Shang Jianyao recovered from his deep thoughts and shouted at Bai Chen, who was driving, “Turn right, turn right. Big White has already eliminated the wrong answer.”

Bai Chen calmly replied, “There’s no path to the right. It will lead us crashing straight down the mountain.”

“What about forward?” Shang Jianyao quickly corrected himself.

Bai Chen glanced forward with her outstanding vision. “Dead end.”

Shang Jianyao immediately looked at Jiang Baimian in shock. “You actually didn’t get it wrong this time! This doesn’t make sense…”

Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth and smiled. “I’m not blind!”

Shang Jianyao tersely acknowledged it. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

Jiang Baimian raised her left hand, and the car seemed to brighten a little.

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao finally quieten down, she asked in satisfaction, “Any gains from Room 506’s dream last night?”

Ever since he successfully ‘waited for her, Room 506’s owner seemed to have completely given up on struggling. Her daily routine began to become regular and normal.

Shang Jianyao recalled and said, “Two things have been confirmed: First, it’s true that the Kalendaria has secretly ‘eaten’ people more than once. The room owner knows of four to five instances, but it didn’t cause much of an impact the first few times. It seems like not many people were ‘eaten.’ It’s very likely that they are limited to a particular laboratory.

“Second, the outcome of ‘people eating’ is that the corresponding person dies, but the corpse remains intact. This is very similar to the situation in Tai City and Dajiang City’s Linhe Village.”

These were all guesses that the Old Task Force had previously made and had recently been confirmed.

Jiang Baimian tersely grunted. “We might have to make the best use of our time in the future. The longer this drags on, the more variables there will be. For example, the room owner finds an effective way to resist the nightmare or finally attract the attention of the corresponding Kalendaria due to the excessive leakage of secrets, causing her to die an unnatural death.”

“But she only sleeps at night now. I can’t force her to sleep during the day, nor can she sleep.” Shang Jianyao revealed a vexed expression.

Jiang Baimian couldn’t think of any good suggestions for this and could only continue giving Bai Chen directions.

When the sky was about to darken, the Old Task Force finally arrived at their destination.

Their destination was opposite a mountain stream, a relatively independent mountain peak.

If they wanted to cross the river, they could only use the paved bridge that spanned the mountain stream.

Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief and pointed at the various buildings on the other side of the bridge that were about to be swallowed by the darkness while introducing, “That’s Cliff Village, a human settlement protected by the company. It’s also the closest to Icefield. No matter what team it is, they will choose this place to be the last supply stop when taking this route to Icefield for missions.”

She was really afraid that they wouldn’t arrive before dark, forcing them to set up camp and try again tomorrow morning.

Bai Chen nodded and thoughtfully asked, “Most of the project teams that go to Icefield for experiments will also resupply here?”

“This is why I insisted on coming here.” Jiang Baimian laughed. “I’ve been here twice when I was in another team in the Security Department. Yes, some of the villagers here were volunteers for some experimental projects.”

Long Yuehong came to a realization.

At this moment, the warden opposite the bridge had already discovered the Old Task Force’s jeep. A man holding a Berserker assault rifle picked up the loudspeaker and asked, “Where are you from? What are you doing here?”

“Pangu Biology!” Without receiving Jiang Baimian’s instructions, Shang Jianyao happily took out his loudspeaker.

Jiang Baimian explained the situation to Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava. “There are many explosives installed on this bridge. If a strong enemy really attacks, the villagers will blow up the bridge directly. That mountain didn’t have many roads leading to it back in the Old World. Apart from a few people who are good at special-forces combat and wilderness survival, there’s no way to get up there. They can only rely on helicopters.”

In addition to the explosives, there were several roadblocks along the bridge.

Shang Jianyao—who was using the loudspeaker to communicate with the other party-quickly took the time to interject. “Such a defense system is useless. They still have to ask who we are and where we came from? There’s no way to verify what I say?”

“Do you think there are many people like you?” Jiang Baimian cursed in exasperation and amusement.

At this moment, after knowing that they were from Pangu Biology, the bridge guards signaled for the jeep to drive to the bridge’s entrance to confirm their identities.

An electronic device was placed there. The circuit extended all the way to Cliff Village opposite the mountain stream.

Jiang Baimian pushed open the door and alighted. She swiped her electronic card on the equipment.

With a beep, the railings across the bridge automatically rose.

“You can swipe cards here?” Long Yuehong was shocked. Doesn’t this mean that the entirety of Pangu Biology’s employee data is in Cliff Village, or is it the data of the Security Department’s outfield employees?

After Jiang Baimian got into the car, she casually said, “After all, this is a relatively important settlement for the company. Besides, we gave them a sealed data pack. It can only test the authenticity of an electronic card and whether it corresponds to the employee photo.” “What if the equipment breaks?” As the vehicle slowly crossed the bridge, Shang Jianyao thought of a question.

Jiang Baimian looked ahead and said, “In the beginning, Security Department employees were stationed here. Later, the company trained a few villagers who knew how to repair equipment and carry out programming maintenance.”

The jeep soon arrived opposite the mountain stream. Jiang Baimian rolled down the window and smiled as she greeted the bridge guards. “Thanks. Are we the first batch of people after spring?”

The first batch of people who came here to seek supplies and head to Icefield.

The slightly dark and thin bridge guard who had just asked the question replied without finding anything wrong, “No, a batch of scientific researchers came two weeks ago.” “Oh.” Jiang Baimian restrained herself and didn’t ask further to prevent herself from appearing too anxious. The thin, black bridge warden sized up Jiang Baimian under the street lamps’ light. “Have you been here before?”

He had never seen many beautiful women of this caliber in his life.

“I’ve been here twice,” Jiang Baimian replied frankly. “Where’s the village chief?”

The bridge guard turned around and pointed at a building with lights shining out. “In the office.”

Jiang Baimian—who knew that the village chief lived in the public office from time to time, nodded and signaled for Bai Chen to drive the car into the village.

As Pangu Biology had given them a lot of supplies, Cliff Village had sufficient generators and oil. Apart from the office and the bridge, many houses were also illuminated. In the darkening evening, this gave people a sense of stability and warmth.

“I wonder what the project team that came two weeks ago is up to…” Shang Jianyao muttered to himself.