Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 822 Each

Bang! Bang! Bang!

When Shang Jianyao fired the flare backward, Genava quickly turned around and pulled the trigger. However, he—who should’ve hit everything he fired at-failed to hit the target.

The bullets struck the edge of the balcony, stirring up sparks.

The cheetah-like feline creature was alarmed. It escaped from the agitation brought about by the flare and jumped into the window corresponding to the balcony.

Boom!

The grenade fired by Shang Jianyao landed on the balcony, producing a blazing fireball that shattered many of the nearby windows.

After the explosion subsided, Genava explained his ‘mistake.’ “My aiming system has suffered rather significant interference.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t mock him and honestly said, “My vision was also affected to a certain extent. I originally wanted to bombard the room connected to the balcony and force the large cat to jump onto the street. In the end… Sigh…”

He was a little disappointed about this.

Genava searched for a while but didn’t find any traces of the gigantic feline creature. He then said to Shang Jianyao, “This might be the animal Big White warned us to be careful of.”

“What’s there to be careful about? It only knows how to follow us secretly.” Shang Jianyao expressed his indignation. “Be it long-range or close combat, it won’t be a problem for me to give it a one-hand handicap.”

Genava glanced at his paralyzed left hand and didn’t argue with him. He said in a slightly synthetic voice, “I’ve roughly figured out why Big White said that.”

“Why?” Shang Jianyao always asked when puzzled.

Genava answered with the pertinent answer, “I searched through my database and used the term ‘feline creature.’ I realized that the last time it appeared was in the city ruin covered in snow. Back then, Little White saw a large, white feline creature.

“That place doesn’t have much in common with Ceningmis. The most important thing is that it has a certain connection with the Eighth Research Institute. It’s only a suspicion, but there’s no doubt about it.”

“Are you saying that the large cat just now might be reared by the Eighth Research Institute?” Shang Jianyao easily understood Genava’s meaning.

He wasn’t surprised at all and wasn’t afraid at all. He looked like he wanted to get one for himself.

“Yes.” Genava’s chameleon-like head nodded.

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and said, “Then, where should we find the Eighth Research Institute personnel? Sigh, we were too anxious before. Otherwise, we could’ve gotten the big cat to lead the way.”

“It might not be long before that feline creature brings Eighth Research Institute personnel over,” Genava voiced his inference. “It should be one of the Eighth Research Institute’s members in charge of patrolling Ceningmis. Animals aren’t afraid of the Heartless disease, nor are they worried about suffering anything in the core area of electromagnetic disruption.”

Shang Jianyao sighed. “I should’ve spoken to it properly and told it that envoys aren’t killed even when two countries fight.”

Genava had already learned not to answer Shang Jianyao according to his train of thought because of how variable it was. He directly said, “I suggest we evacuate Ceningmis now and rendezvous with Big White and the others to defend against any impending attacks from the Eighth Research Institute.”

“The more dangerous it is, the more one should take risks, Old Ge.” Shang Jianyao replied with Wu Meng’s words again. Following that, he smiled and added, “I really want to see how the people from the Eighth Research Institute can pass through this area that has a certain level of overlap with the New World. I also want to see if they can still find us after you activate the Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor’s stealth function.”

“You also need to do something about your scent…” Genava helped find any existing flaws. He then said, “You can’t turn on the searchlights along the way. This way, you won’t be able to check the corpses on the way. What’s the point of continuing forward?”

Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation, “We at least have to figure out the root cause of the problem during this expedition-uh, eliminate or confirm the possibility of a New World node.”

“Then, let’s go deeper quick.” Once he made a decision, Genava—as a smart bot-definitely wouldn’t be indecisive or hesitant.

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao turned around, bent his back slightly, and assumed a running posture. During this process, he used the biological agent provided by the company to mask his smell.

However, Shang Jianyao didn’t run with large strides; instead, he remained in his spot.

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao motionless for a few seconds, Genava asked kindly, “Do you need me to shout ‘1, 2, 3’ for you to run?”

Shang Jianyao shook his head. “There’s no need. I suddenly thought of a problem.”

“What problem?” Genava asked.

“Weren’t we previously attacked by a Superior Heartless?”

Genava couldn’t keep up with Shang Jianyao’s jumpy train of thought.

“Yes.” Genava moved his metal neck up and down. “What’s wrong with that?”

Shang Jianyao said seriously, “Back then, I was affected and forgot how to use my abilities; it was like my brain had been hit by an ability similar to Limbs Immobility. It took me dozens of seconds to recover completely.

“If the Superior Heartless is only at the Sea of Origins level, I could’ve escaped the corresponding effects in seconds. Furthermore, the influence won’t be that serious. I suspect that he’s a Superior Heartless at the Mind Corridor level, but how can a Heartless defeat the island of fear and psychological traumas? How can he advance?”

This was something that creatures without intelligence couldn’t do.

Countless data entered Genava’s main module as he did rapid calculations.

After a few seconds, Genava said, “This was our original guess. Didn’t we later confirm that early Awakened didn’t enter Star Cluster Hall at all?

“Star Cluster Hall, Sea of Origins, and Mind Corridor are suspected of being built by some existence or are relics of the Old World’s researchers. In other words, even if an Awakened doesn’t rely on Star Cluster Hall, clear the Sea of Origins, or explore the Mind Corridor, it’s still possible to enhance their abilities. The path is unknown, and the difficulty is greater.

“Since there’s no need to clear the Sea of Origins, there’s no need to defeat the islands of fear and psychological trauma.”

Shang Jianyao came to a realization. “Are those Superior Heartless in such a situation?”

“It’s only a guess for the time being.” Genava wasn’t sure.

Shang Jianyao cast his gaze deep into the fog again and shouted softly, “One, two, three, run!”

He ran out like an arrow. With the help of the military exoskeleton, he ran stably and fluidly even though one hand was paralyzed.

Genava followed closely behind.

This time, Shang Jianyao ignored the corpses along the street and headed for the fog’s deepest depths. He forcefully controlled his strength, preventing the metal bones under his feet from making any obvious sounds when colliding with the ground.

After running for a while, Shang Jianyao suddenly turned around, held the Berserker assault rifle, and pulled the trigger at a dark alley.

A figure was shuffling over with clear aggression.

At the same time, Genava also raised his arm and aimed at a window in another building.

There was also a figure there. He seemed to want to break the glass and jump down to attack Shang Jianyao and Genava.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Shang Jianyao and Genava fired at the same time. This time, in order to prevent relatively strong electromagnetic interference, they didn’t insist on precision and directly covered the area with firepower.

Amidst gunshots, the glass windows shattered. Bullet holes appeared in the walls and cemented ground on the side of the alley.

The two figures were also penetrated by the bullets, but ripples ebbed out from the penetration; they didn’t suffer any damage.

“Illusion?” Genava calmly stopped firing and raised a possibility.

The two figures did their own things.

One pounced to a corner of the alley and nibbled at the darkness as if there was delicious prey there.

The other passed through the window and landed on the street. He swayed a few times and ‘died’ on the spot.

Shang Jianyao gave a terse acknowledgment. “Illusions similar to those of Flora and Barnard?”

“But this doesn’t come from the overlapping of the New World. It’s more like some scenes after Ceningmis suffered the disaster.” Genava quickly analyzed the situation. “This was recorded by the chaotic electromagnetic environment?”

Shang Jianyao was delighted when he heard that. “This means that we’re in the right direction! We’re much closer to the root cause of the problem!”

He meant that they hadn’t encountered such a situation prior but did so now because only such situations happened in the disaster’s core area.

“Probably,” Genava replied impartially.

Shang Jianyao waved his right hand that was holding the Berserker assault rifle. “Let’s continue deeper then!”

At the intersection of the western mountains at the edge of Ceningmis.

Jiang Baimian and the others let the jeep park deeper into the forest to prevent it from being discovered by the Eighth Research Institute’s ‘patrollers.’

“We can’t contact Hey and the others anymore.” Jiang Baimian-who was wearing a military exoskeleton-stopped her attempts. “The electromagnetic environment there worsens the deeper they go?”

Bai Chen nodded and said worriedly, “The deeper they go, the higher the chances of them encountering personnel from the Eighth Research Institute. They won’t let anyone investigate what happened in Ceningmiss back then.”

“They can totally do what they did in Tai City and use long-range missiles to bury the city…” Jiang Baimian was perplexed.

“Maybe there’s no way to investigate the problem deep in Ceningmis. The Eighth Research Institute only wants to prevent the problem from spreading, and this can’t be resolved by bombardment,” guessed Long Yuehong

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged it. “I only hope Hey and Old Ge don’t encounter personnel from the Eighth Research Institute. We’ll talk about it when we make preparations in the future.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Long Yuehong quickly echoed.

At this moment, Bai Chen pursed her lips and asked, “Team Leader, don’t you find our surroundings too quiet?”

Upon hearing Bai Chen’s question, Long Yuehong realized that the wind in the forest they were in seemed to have stopped.

It wasn’t like that just now.