Embers Ad Infinitum

The people sitting at the conference table ignored Shang Jianyao's muttering and seriously discussed the pertinent questions. From the looks of it, they wanted to go into the details with Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao obviously knew nothing. Upon seeing that the situation was going south, he immediately ran to the meeting room's brown door.

Without any other changes to the scene, he wanted to see if the door could be opened now.

Shang Jianyao stretched out his palm, clenched it, twisted it, and pulled. The brown meeting room door moved back, no longer holding steadfast.

He immediately clapped and smiled. "As expected—we have to resolve the problem that's plaguing them before we can advance in the dream."

He was in no rush to leave the meeting room. He stood at the door and looked out.

All he saw was darkness—he couldn't see the corridor clearly. Or rather, there was no corridor at all.

Shang Jianyao didn't hesitate to stride out the door with his head held high.

Bright and gentle light quickly lit up in front of him, illuminating his surroundings.

This was the same meeting room. A long, pale-white table with the same chairs occupied most of the space. Right on the heels of that, figures appeared again.

Dumbfounded, Shang Jianyao didn't hide his surprise. "Do we have to explain it to them clearly before it's considered a pass? Only then can we leave this place and enter the next scene?"

Without giving him a chance to speak, a man in the group walked to the projection screen, projected his slides, and began speaking. Unlike before, those people conversed in the Red River language this time, mixed with a large number of long and complicated terms.

Shang Jianyao had a solemn expression as he muttered to himself, "I originally had problems understanding the stringed-up words I knew. Now, I don't understand many words… Horrifying, absolutely horrifying!"

He tried to retreat, but he realized that the brown door was already closed and couldn't be opened again.

Shang Jianyao thought for a few seconds and walked toward the shadow at the bottom of the meeting room. This time, he left as he wished and returned to the Mind Corridor.

He passed through the door with piqued interest and entered Room 205.

As expected, he saw the same meeting room, but all the voices he heard were in the Red River language.

…

"No matter what, at least the dream has changed sufficiently." Jiang Baimian—who was leaning against the jeep door—comforted Shang Jianyao. "This means that there's nothing wrong with our direction."

She pondered for a moment and said, "What you need to do next is the same as before. Memorize the questions those people discuss and tell me bit by bit."

"But I don't understand many words!" Shang Jianyao was abnormally sad.

"Remember the pronunciations," Jiang Baimian replied without hesitation. "As long as I confirm that they are still discussing biomedical problems, I can do some auto-correction and restore the actual meaning based on the context even if you get a few words wrong."

"Alright." Shang Jianyao didn't hide his embarrassment. He then said with a pained expression, "Could it be that the dream is essentially conference room after conference room, each filled with questions that get harder to answer? If there's no end to this, I'll go crazy sooner or later!"

What made you think you aren't crazy? Jiang Baimian found it amusing. She then consoled Shang Jianyao. "No worries. In any case, you're a medically certified patient."

"That's true." Shang Jianyao immediately heaved a sigh of relief.

Du Heng watched from the side and didn't say a word.

…

After Shang Jianyao spent a few days extracting the question in the 'second meeting room' to reality, their jeep had already arrived at the Eighth Research Institute's headquarters.

Of course, they didn't dare to venture deeper for the time being. They only lingered at the edge and confirmed the situation in various ways.

"Why does it feel like nobody is patrolling?" Shang Jianyao sat in the passenger seat and looked outside in disappointment.

In the backseat, Du Heng smiled. "Didn't I say? Maybe the Eighth Research Institute felt that there was no way to hide the fact that their headquarters had been exposed, so instead of putting up a defense, they moved to a backup base."

"But isn't there something important hidden deep in their headquarters?" The honest Shang Jianyao pointed out the problem.

Du Heng laughed. "Maybe that item can be moved."

"That makes sense." Shang Jianyao clapped.

Jiang Baimian—who was in charge of driving—looked at the rearview mirror. "Maybe the Eighth Research Institute relies on satellites in space to monitor its surroundings."

"I can't say for sure." Du Heng indicated that he didn't know much about this.

He turned his head to look out the window as if he were saying, "Let's get closer to that mountain and take a look."

The Eighth Research Institute's headquarters was located in a mountain range that divided north and south Icefield. Half of the mountain had been emptied.

This was somewhat similar to Pangu Biology, but the Eighth Research Institute's buildings didn't extend underground.

"Alright!" Shang Jianyao replied excitedly.

Jiang Baimian shot him a glance. "Have you memorized the solution I gave you?"

"I've memorized it." Shang Jianyao had an expression that said it was a painful memory.

This referred to the solution to the problem discussed in 205's dream.

In Jiang Baimian's words, the problems in Dawn's dream were too old. Some of them had been resolved before the Old World was destroyed. How could it daunt Pangu Biology researchers who specialized in biomedical science?

This seemed to confirm that Dawn's body of descent was an Old World biomedical scholar.

"When you have time, enter the Mind Corridor and try to resolve this problem. Try to see what changes the dream will have after you pass through that meeting room."

"Alright." Shang Jianyao agreed quickly, but he didn't do it immediately.

As the jeep was approaching the mountain where the Eighth Research Institute's headquarters was, he had to focus on sensing his surroundings and observing the area ahead to prevent any accidents.

Perhaps due to the approaching summer, the snow on the mountain had mostly melted. Only the peak and the elevated areas remained white. They reflected the blue sky and were especially pure.

Upon seeing the Eighth Research Institute's entrance approaching, Jiang Baimian couldn't help but mutter, "There's really nobody…"

Du Heng stroked his beard and chuckled. "They have most likely fled. I don't sense anybody inside."

You can sense it from so far away? Jiang Baimian raised her eyebrows.

The jeep was still two to three kilometers away from the Eighth Research Institute's cliff entrance. After entering, nobody knew how far they could go. Yet in such a situation, Du Heng could confirm with certainty that there was nobody inside.

Jiang Baimian wasn't surprised at all. She even felt that this still didn't match Teacher Du Heng's 'identity.'

"Then, let's go in directly," Shang Jianyao said eagerly.

At this point, Jiang Baimian naturally didn't stop him. "Alright."

She drove straight to their destination.

Shang Jianyao still dutifully took on the role of navigator.

Before long, the Eighth Research Institute's hidden entrance appeared in front of them. The heavy, two-paned door painted in camouflage colors was ajar.

"They really ran away!" Shang Jianyao was filled with regret.

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged it. "Maybe they moved to the military base where they fired the missiles."

As they spoke, the jeep passed through the door and entered the mountain.

Similar to Pangu Biology's underground building, they were greeted by a wide parking lot. However, there were only a few damaged cars awaiting repairs.

"Sigh…" Shang Jianyao sighed at the fact that the Eighth Research Institute had already moved.

After passing through the parking lot, tunnels appeared. They led everywhere—some were connected to the rooms on this floor, and some were connected to many elevators and emergency access passageways.

Upon seeing the jeep stop, Du Heng asked, "Where are we going?"

Shang Jianyao asked in surprise, "Didn't you say that you were going deep to search for that important item?"

Du Heng laughed. "I did say that, but the problem is that I don't know how deep it is."

Shang Jianyao came to a realization. "I know that. Take the elevator to the fifth floor; there's a tunnel that leads deep into the mountain. The place where the Eighth Research Institute's Professors' Association holds meetings, the room where a few New World powerhouses are sleeping, and the original president's office are all outside that tunnel's entrance. They seem to be guarding it."

"How do you know so much?" Du Heng found it strange.

Shang Jianyao straightened his back and replied smugly, "Because we were the ones who found the Eighth Research Institute's headquarters and spread the news."

We didn't spread the news and only reported it to the company… Jiang Baimian corrected Shang Jianyao inwardly.

Du Heng nodded and praised with a smile, "Not bad. I didn't guide you guys in vain."

1

"That's right, that's right." Shang Jianyao frankly accepted it.

This left Jiang Baimian, who wanted to be modest, at a loss for words.

She parked the car and put on the military exoskeleton with Shang Jianyao. They then walked to the corridor that connected to the elevator area with Du Heng.