Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 811 Research Team

Shang Jianyao turned his head and said to Jiang Baimian, “I think you should believe in Truth.”

A smart person wouldn’t believe in a fake god that appeared out of nowhere… Jiang Baimian subconsciously replied inwardly. She then recalled that Old He believed in Truth and was suspected to be an Awakened in the Last Man domain. He might be able to silently flip through her memories, so she quickly suppressed her thoughts.

Shang Jianyao—who didn’t receive a response -cast his gaze at Old He again and praised, “Your teachings are indeed good. It can match our philosophy of valuing life and loving children.”

“Are you from the Life Ritual parish?” Old He came to a realization. “You just realized?” the rash Shang Jianyao blurted out. “So you’ve never flipped through our memories!”

He spoke so quickly that Jiang Baimian couldn’t stop him even if she wanted to.

Things immediately became abnormally awkward.

After a few seconds, Old He coughed and said, “Reading memories is immoral and very dangerous. You will never know what the people you face have experienced. If I were to read a person’s memories every time I encounter one, I will sooner or later go crazy on the spot or die because it involves the content of a high-ranking existence. “Truth taught us that those who stare into the abyss will have the abyss stare back at them. Therefore, we have to know how to restrain ourselves and not abuse our abilities. Under normal circumstances, I just want to determine if the humans facing me have any ill intentions.” Clap! Clap! Clap! Shang Jianyao clapped. “Truth is indeed the truth. Actually, you can use an Ashlandic proverb to explain: Touch pitch, and you shall be defiled.”

This is indeed different from the Anti-intellectualism Church’s style. If you really flip through our memories, the probability of something happening is very high… Jiang Baimian muttered inwardly.

While facing Old He, she instructed her team members to recall Eidolon Nun’s gaze and Master Zhuang’s dream from time to time.

In addition, they had also prepared Genava as insurance.

Old He smiled and said, “I’m used to using Truth’s teachings.”

“You people who believe in Truth get along well with the Arbiter of Fate’s believers,” Jiang Baimian said.

Old He glanced at his subordinates not far away and smiled. “When End Year City was established, our Truth believers put in a significant amount of effort. The Arbiter of Fate was very friendly to us.” Truth existed when End Year City was established? That’s quite early… Long Yuehong extracted the most important information in that sentence.

When they previously conversed with people in End Year City, they had established that the settlement was officially set up in the mid Chaotic Era-it wasn’t much later than Pangu Biology

Shang Jianyao’s focus had always been different. He widened his eyes and said, “Can you sense the Kalendaria’s friendliness?”

As a believer of the Life Ritual parish and an employee of Pangu Biology, he had only sensed Big Boss’s gaze once when he barged into the underground building’s lowest floor. Old He almost couldn’t understand what this fellow was saying; it took him a while to understand. “The Arbiter of Fate’s friendliness is shown through the End Year Church’s Elders.”

“Is that so… How many Elders are there in total?” Shang Jianyao looked like he wanted to get to know them.

Old He sized him up and replied vaguely, “Many.”

Jiang Baimian casually changed the topic. “In End Year City, those who believe in the Arbiter of Fate are mainstream, right?”.

“Yes.” Old He didn’t deny it and even gave a rough estimate. “80%.”

He then pointed at his subordinates beside the surrounding vehicles. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask them one by one.”

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao agreed immediately.

The Old Task Force had the intention of interacting more with people from End Year City and gathering the corresponding information. Now, they had a suitable excuse.

At noon, they returned to Cliff Village after asking around.

The village chief came with the lunch they had ordered in advance. “The scientific research team that previously went to Icefield is returning. They will arrive in the evening. Are you guys going to say hi when the time comes?”

The village chief was mainly here to report this matter.

Long Yuehong blurted out in surprise, “That fast?”

The Old Task Force estimated that there was still about a week. How long had it been?

The village chief smiled and explained, “They sent a telegram saying that they had encountered an unforeseen event, so they had to return early. They want us to prepare the supplies.” “An unforeseen event?” Jiang Baimian didn’t hide the inquiry in her gaze. “I don’t know what’s going on. Ask them yourself in the evening.” The village chief indicated that he didn’t have the right to ask about Pangu Biology’s employees.

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged it. “Alright.”

In order to wait for the scientific team to return, the Old Task Force stayed in Cliff Village in the afternoon and didn’t go to Col Town to chat with the people from End Year City.

In the evening, five to six cars came from a mountain road toward the north. The vehicles were covered in stains as if they had been drenched in rain and hadn’t been washed in time.

When they came close, Bai Chen sharply noticed that a small amount of thick ice formed by snow was still on the cars’ surface.

The temperature in Cliff Village wasn’t too high in the current season, so the thick ice melted rather slowly.

The convoy quickly passed the verification, swiped their cards, and entered Cliff Village. They then stopped at the small square in front of the public office.

Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze and smiled at Long Yuehong and the others. “Let’s go down and greet our colleagues.”

Shang Jianyao immediately nodded. “Meeting an old friend brings tears to my eyes.”

You make it sound like we’re really meeting an old friend… Long Yuehong criticized inwardly. Considering his position, he didn’t say anything

Genava remained in the room as the four Old Task Force members went downstairs to the lobby.

Nearly 20 humans in thick clothes formed groups of three to five, and each occupied an area. They chatted as they waited for the village chief to arrange their accommodation.

About five to six of them clearly had a low status. They stood at the edge or in a corner. They didn’t say anything and were very silent.

“Village Chief, hurry up. Everyone is waiting to take a hot bath. Didn’t I send you a telegram in the morning to get you to prepare in advance?” urged a man in his forties with grizzled hair. He had clearly undergone genetic enhancement to a certain extent, but the effects weren’t too good. His originally good looks were increasingly lost due to the sag in his cheeks, making him look a little harsh.

The village chief smiled obsequiously. “Researcher Xu, I was just about to distribute the keys and bring you guys up. “Ah, Team Leader Jiang, this is the Researcher Xu I mentioned. Researcher Xu, this is Team Leader Jiang, who just came from the company. They are also going to Icefield to comple mission.”

Jiang Baimian smiled and walked over. “Researcher Xu, I’m Jiang Baimian.”

Researcher Xu was stunned for a moment before a smile gradually appeared on his face. “Old Jiang’s daughter?”.

Jiang Wenfeng was much more famous than Jiang Baimian when it came to Pangu Biology’s researchers.

Whenever Jiang Baimian was mentioned, they mostly referred to her as ‘Old Jiang’s beautiful, tall, and outstanding daughter.’ Later, they added the embellishment phrase ‘who has something wrong with her ears.’ Now, there was an additional phrase: ‘almost promoted to management at the age of 26.’

Jiang Baimian went with the flow and nodded with a smile. “That’s right, Uncle Xu. Before I came out, my father said that I might encounter an acquaintance of his on my trip to Icefield.”

“What a coincidence.” Researcher Xu was a little overjoyed by the praise. After all, he wasn’t in management yet, but Jiang Baimian had placed him in the same position as her father.

He then instructed his scientific research team members and volunteers, “Follow the village chief up first.”

After most of the people in the lobby had left, Jiang Baimian curiously asked, “Uncle Xu, I heard that you encountered an accident this time?”

Researcher Xu sighed and said, “That’s right. It’s relatively common in Icefield that you encounter inclement weather; you have to be careful.

“A huge blizzard suddenly stirred up, and the few volunteers outside the cars couldn’t be saved. Considering the loss of supplies and the number of volunteers, we can only return early.”

Jiang Baimian sighed in empathy. “Icefield is really dangerous. Uncle Xu, what experiment are you doing this time? Heh heh, pretend I didn’t ask if it involves confidential matters.”

Researcher Xu didn’t think it was a big deal. “It’s still the same study on how the cold environment affects human bodies and minds.”

“What’s the point of studying this?” Shang Jianyao forcefully interrupted.

Researcher Xu smiled. “How is it meaningless? We might even be able to undergo cryogenic genetic modification in the future. The company has never stopped exploring human evolution.”

“But this has nothing to do with cryogenic genes.” Jiang Baimian expressed her confusion.

It wasn’t like they were screening humans with high resistance to the cold to search for cryogenic genes.

“You’ll have to ask the Board of Directors. I’m only in charge of the specific research.” Researcher Xu shrugged.

He then moved his neck. “I’ll return to my room to get some rest. Talk to you at dinner.”

Jiang Baimian was just about to agree when Shang Jianyao suddenly interrupted. “As a researcher, don’t you have any guesses regarding this experiment?” Upon seeing Researcher Xu look at him with a ‘who are you and why should I answer you,’ Shang Jianyao smiled and added, “I’m also an employee of Pangu Biology and Team Leader Jiang’s subordinate. I’m very interested in scientific research.”

Researcher Xu’s eyes glazed over for a moment. “All this time, I personally feel that the company doesn’t just want to produce new humans with a qualitative change in the body. It also wants a new human with a sufficiently tenacious spirit. This has a certain correlation with the environment and experiences they will have later.”