Embers Ad Infinitum
chapter-269

Chapter 269: Here “Again”

Translator: CKtalon

With this thought in mind, Long Yuehong raised his arms and pointed his assault rifle at Bai Xiao, Lin Tong, and the others.

“No rush.” Jiang Baimian interrupted his stressful response.

Shang Jianyao held the loudspeaker and asked, “Which city ruin did we talk about back then? What posture were we in while talking about it? Inverted or lying on our sides?”

The four Ruin Hunters beside the mountain car fell silent. Their figures gradually faded, disappearing without a trace along with the car.

“It’s really an illusion!” Although Long Yuehong already knew this, he still found it unbelievable.

Bai Xiao’s team felt so vivid as an illusion. Be it their actions, words, expressions, or reactions, they were no different from the real ones.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Old Task Force had obtained key information in advance, prepared a plan, and used something that only the two parties knew as a question to verify their identities, it was very likely that they would’ve been deceived.

Jiang Baimian frowned and muttered to herself, “They all have bioelectric signals…”

“Could they be real?” Long Yuehong found it even more unbelievable. At this moment, he understood why his team leader had stopped him.

This was because Bai Xiao, Lin Tong, and the others might be real. However, they had suffered auditory hallucinations and obtained the wrong answer, so they believed that they were fake.

If he had fired back then, ignoring the problem of accidentally killing the innocent, it would only cause conflict and chaos—a very dangerous outcome.

An identity verification could determine if they were real or not, but it couldn’t determine if they were fake. If one answered correctly, they would definitely be real. If they answered wrongly, they might not be fake.

Jiang Baimian shook her head. “Not anymore.”

Upon seeing that Long Yuehong was still a little confused, Shang Jianyao—who was holding the loudspeaker—’ explained.’ “There’s been a leak in knowledge!”

He wore a pained expression.

Long Yuehong came to a realization and asked in surprise, “Team Leader, are you saying that the Superior Heartless has begun to understand how to use illusions to create bioelectric signals to make up for the flaws in the details after what happened last night?”

Wasn’t it said that this Superior Heartless was closer to a beast? H-he can still evolve?

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “That’s a very slight possibility. I didn’t use this ability to pose any threat to him last night. I only used it as a form of vigilance, so he shouldn’t know about it out of thin air.”

At this moment, Bai Chen voiced her guess. “Maybe the Superior Heartless references the original version when creating the illusion. Since the original version has human consciousness, the illusion will also have human consciousness. The original version had bioelectric signals, so the illusion has bioelectric signals.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped.

He showed his agreement with such an action.

Having seldom received such treatment, Bai Chen was a little unaccustomed to it. Now, she fully understood her team leader’s amused and angry reaction every time she encountered such a situation.

“That’s right.” Jiang Baimian nodded slightly. “It’s indeed very likely that he’s just copying it. He knows how it’s done but not how it works. But no matter what, he’s much better than Abbess Zhou in terms of illusions.”

She had previously commented that the illusion created by Zhou Yue was a little crude. It had neither human consciousness nor bioelectric signals.

As she spoke, Jiang Baimian added, “Next, we’ll see if he will deliberately distort the bioelectric signals while hiding his tracks.”

What happened just now reminded her that she couldn’t completely rely on weak electric signals.

As the four of them conversed, another car came out of the mountain.

It was dark blue in color and equipped with bulletproof steel plates. The bottom carriage was elevated, and the tires were very large.

This was the mountain car of Bai Xiao’s team. It was here ‘again.’

Long Yuehong felt a headache coming on. He didn’t know if this was real or fake.

He put on his night-vision goggles and didn’t discover any problems.

It was around dusk, and there was barely some lighting, so there was no need to use the night-vision goggles. Long Yuehong only used some of the equipment’s functions.

The cool mountain car soon stopped in front of the two full-body mirrors.

Shang Jianyao held the loudspeaker and excitedly greeted them. “Hello, Bai Xiao, Lin Tong, Lei, and Zhang Shaopeng.”

“Why do you have to shout every name?” Long Yuehong couldn’t help but mutter.

Shang Jianyao put down the loudspeaker and replied seriously, “That’s politeness.”

“But these names might not be real.” Jiang Baimian dealt Shang Jianyao a blow.

Shang Jianyao quickly smiled. “Everything is but a dream. Why so serious?”

At this moment, Bai Xiao—whose cranium had been modified—alighted from the car and asked in confusion, “How do you know our names?”

He didn’t remember that they had exchanged names when they came into contact.

“As foretold by the wise old man on the mountain.” Shang Jianyao spoke a line he had learned from somewhere.

Jiang Baimian quickly ‘remedied’ the situation. “You guys just came.”

“Are you saying that the Superior Heartless created an illusion of us?” Lin Tong—who had a gentle bearing—alighted from the car.

Behind her, Lei and Zhang Shaopeng held their weapons and stood guard.

Using the loudspeaker, Jiang Baimian replied, “Yes, it’s a good thing we asked questions based on what we previously talked about.”

Bai Xiao nodded slightly when he heard that. “You guys have also grasped a lot of information.”

They actually knew the characteristics of the Superior Heartless’s hallucination abilities and began using the method of identification.

“The target attacked Tarnan last night,” Jiang Baimian explained simply. “Alright, please accept the identity verification as well.”

“No problem.” Lin Tong expressed her understanding.

Shang Jianyao held the loudspeaker and raised the previous question. “What did we talk about when we were getting water at Mount Chilar?”

Bai Xiao shook his head. “We didn’t. I just warned you that there was a Superior Heartless in the southwest mountains.”

“Congratulations, you got it right!” Shang Jianyao replied through the loudspeaker.

If not for the fact that they were too far away, with countless landmines and traps with iron nails between them, he might very well have shaken hands with the opposing team.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and inquired, “When was the last time you did an identification test?”

“An hour ago. We were in the car after that, and we didn’t stop,” replied Bai Xiao patiently with a straight knife on his back and a strange purplish-red right eye.

Jiang Baimian sincerely said, “Please do another identity test on them. Then, take a look in front of the mirror.”

Bai Xiao turned around and chatted with Lin Tong, Lei, and Zhang Shaopeng.

He quickly announced the results loudly. “No problem.”

They then walked to the two full-body mirrors facing each other and reflected their figures.

During this process, Lin Tong and Lei took the opportunity to comb their hair.

This made Long Yuehong’s scalp tingle. The illusions created by the Superior Heartless did something similar! His observation of the targets and grasp on the details really doesn’t resemble a Heartless that lacks intelligence.

“That’s enough.” Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief and asked, “Did your investigations come up with anything?”

Bai Xiao seemed to have his own loudspeaker. Without using much strength, his voice reached Shang Jianyao and the others’ ears. “We were lost for a long time, and no equipment could help us in any way. It’s likely the Superior Heartless’s ability. We were wondering why he didn’t take the opportunity to attack us. From the looks of it, he came to Tarnan after affecting us.

“Later, we found our bearings and realized that the vehicle was parked very close to the edge of the cliff. If we had acted blindly back then and didn’t arrange for manpower to investigate the surroundings in the most careful manner, we would’ve been dead by now.”

He explained the situation clearly.

The mountains are indeed more dangerous than the town. The terrain makes it more suitable for the Superior Heartless to showcase his powers… Jiang Baimian sighed and thoughtfully said, “Don’t tell me those smart bots and their auxiliary robots fell down the cliff?”

She believed that creatures were creatures of habit and that successful solutions would always be used repeatedly.

Bai Xiao was a little surprised before he restrained his expression. “Yes, we found some traces and confirmed that they were left behind when the robots fell down the cliff. Yes, they should’ve used a jetpack to try and save themselves. However, their judgment of the orientation was interfered with, and they slammed into the mountain and exploded.”

“May the divine aura bathe them.” Shang Jianyao performed a twitching dance in pity.

Upon seeing this, Bai Xiao, Lin Tong, and the others looked at each other and nodded indiscernibly. They determined that the other party was a believer of the Scorching Door and a member of the Furnace Church.

There was a certain difference between the Dance of Frenzy and the Furnace Church’s dance. It didn’t feel like one was scalded by boiling water.

After a simple exchange, Bai Xiao asked, “Can we pass through here?”

Jiang Baimian smiled and pointed at the wooden sign beside her. “Look over there.”

Bai Xiao, Lin Tong, and the others traced Jiang Baimian’s hand and looked at the wooden sign.

As the wooden sign’s light bulb hadn’t lit up and the sky was much darker, it took some careful identification before they deciphered the contents.

“This road is blocked. Please take the northeast gate.”

Lin Tong was confused. “Then, why did we chat so much?”

Professional instinct… Jiang Baimian replied silently. She then smiled and said, “I can only tell you something after confirming your identities. Yes, the Superior Heartless is afraid of looking in the mirror.”

“Looking in the mirror?” Lin Tong subconsciously looked at the full-body mirror in front of her and revealed a thoughtful expression.

She, Bai Xiao, Lei, and Zhang Shaopeng didn’t ask why.

Bai Xiao then thanked Jiang Baimian on behalf of the entire team.

They didn’t stay any longer. They got into the car and drove northeast of Tarnan along the fork.

After watching the dark-blue mountain car drive away, Jiang Baimian muttered to herself in confusion, “That’s strange. Their answers weren’t distorted, allowing us to determine the truth so easily…”

Bai Chen deliberated and said, “Maybe the Superior Heartless has switched targets.”

He was no longer in this area.

“He has a strong desire for victory.” Shang Jianyao sighed with emotion when he heard that.

Strong desire for victory? Jiang Baimian found it funny and wanted to reply with, “He’s not Shang Jianyao.”

She also called Zhou Yue and the others to remind them to be careful.

At this moment, she suddenly had an idea and thought of an important question: Why is the Superior Heartless insistent on entering Tarnan? His previous ‘hunt’ should be enough to feed him for days!