Embers Ad Infinitum
chapter-548

495th floor, Zone C, Room 11.

Dinner had just ended when Long Yuehong arrived home. Long Zhigu and Long Aihong—his siblings—were clearing the dining table and washing the dishes under the supervision of their mother, Gu Hong.

Their father, Long Dayong, naturally wasn't idle either. He skillfully cleaned the room.

Long Yuehong saw all of this through the ajar door, and he hesitated for a few seconds before walking in.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back." He subconsciously wanted to scratch his hair with his right hand, but he saw five iron-black metal fingers.

Long Yuehong was stunned for a second. In order to hide the complicated emotions in him, he flicked a stainless steel comb out and seriously combed his thick, messy black hair.

Gu Hong immediately turned around and looked at the door upon hearing his voice.

"You're finally back. It's been months!" the middle-aged woman nagged in surprise, joy, and excitement.

She didn't manage to voice the rest of her sentence because she saw Long Yuehong's abnormal palm and wrist. It no longer felt like a body—it suffused a cold, metallic glow.

"What's this?" Gu Hong asked hesitantly.

Her attitude affected Long Dayong, Long Zhigu, and Long Aihong, making their happy expressions carry some doubt.

Long Yuehong laughed and waved his right arm, twitching his five fingers. "Our mission was relatively dangerous. We happened to obtain such a mechanical arm, so I requested permission from Team Leader to carry out a transplant to enhance my strength. Look, didn't I return safely thanks to it? Haha, such mechanical products are a man's romance and a warrior's dream lover. Very few people can tolerate it. If not for me decisively applying and seizing the opportunity, Shang Jianyao would definitely be the one lucking out!"

He spoke frankly and confidently.

Long Dayong was apathetic to his subsequent words, but Long Yuehong found agreement with Long Zhigu.

"Yeah, it looks cool!"

Heh, you've been watching quite a lot of Old World entertainment recently. You even know the word 'cool'… As the eldest brother, Long Yuehong's first reaction was to educate his brother.

Of course, this definitely wasn't the time. Long Yuehong suppressed his thoughts and added with a smile to enhance his persuasiveness: "Not only does it look cool, but it's even cooler when used!"

Long Zhigu curiously asked, "What are its features?"

Long Yuehong deliberated for a moment and said, "This is confidential. I can't tell you the exact details and can only demonstrate some simple functions. For example, for example…"

Due to his guilt, he couldn't think of something that was suitable for his family. He instinctively changed the shape of his finger and blurted out, "It can open canned food!"

Just as he said that, Long Yuehong's face almost twitched. F*ck, it's all Shang Jianyao's fault for clamoring all day about using the mechanical arm to open canned food. It has almost made it into a conditioned reflex for me!

"It's indeed very cool…" Long Zhigu didn't know the twists and turns that were happening in his brother's mind as he showed his yearning for fingers that could transform.

It gained greater praise from Long Dayong—who was in charge of opening canned food at home.

Gu Hong frowned and sized up Long Yuehong. "How are you going to go on blind dates like this? Other girls will find it terrifying."

It was already late autumn. As the four Old Task Force members had yet to return from their excursion, they had missed the new year's central assignment. Due to this, he still didn't have a partner and would have to rely on blind dates.

"That's right, that's right." Long Aihong mimicked his brother's catchphrase. As a girl, she did find a mechanical arm strange and a little terrifying.

Long Yuehong was relatively open-minded about this and didn't mind as much as before. "In any case, there's no rush. I can wait for next year's central assignment."

He paused and hesitantly added, "By then, I might've already quit the Security Department and transferred to another job. It will be more stable."

After waking up from the near-death experience, Long Yuehong became increasingly certain that he wasn't a person who liked to take risks or seek thrills. He yearned for a stable life and didn't want to risk his life for something illusory; he only hoped to live a down-to-earth life.

He felt that with the Old Task Force's contribution and the fact that he had been seriously injured and lost his arm, he should be able to successfully leave the Old Task Force and stop being a field agent even if the service period wasn't up.

Long Yuehong didn't make it sound so certain because he was worried that this would raise the hopes of his parents. There were always all kinds of accidents in life.

Furthermore, he could tell that his team leader and Shang Jianyao would definitely continue. Little White also seemed to have such plans and actually wanted to take the risk to undergo genetic modification.

As a member of the team, Long Yuehong felt that it would be very embarrassing if he were to quit alone. It would be akin to being a deserter.

After risking their lives together for more than a year, he found it a little difficult to abandon the deep friendship between his companions. This left him ambivalent, and he didn't dare to make any promises to his parents.

"Alright." Gu Hong nodded. "You might even be a D6 by then—you might even be promoted when you leave the Security Department. How can a D7 team leader not make the mark in the dating scene?"

She became prouder as she spoke as if she no longer cared about the mechanical arm.

When the bonuses are distributed in the next few days, I might already be a D6… Long Yuehong muttered inwardly.

Such a promotion speed was akin to skyrocketing in Pangu Biology.

After Long Dayong, Long Zhigu, and Long Aihong were done with their house chores, the few of them sat down and listened to Long Yuehong talk about his experiences on this mission. Although the results of the confidentiality review had yet to be released, and Long Yuehong didn't know if he could tell them or not, the things he could say were enough to make his brother and sister listen attentively as if this was the most attractive piece of Old World entertainment.

After lights out and then returning to their rooms, Gu Hong and Long Dayong lay on the bed and didn't speak for a long time as if the other party had already fallen asleep.

After an unknown period of time, Gu Hong looked at the ceiling in the darkness and said faintly, "He's still the same as before. He likes to over-explain things whenever he lies."

"That's right…" Long Dayong let out a long sigh.

…

In the Mind Room.

Shang Jianyao took a long time silently observing his surroundings, allowing his split selves to be one again. He then stood up, walked to the vermilion door, and gripped the brass handle.

Without any hesitation, Shang Jianyao gently twisted and pulled the door in front of him open.

What appeared in his eyes was a deep corridor covered in thick, dark-yellow carpet. On both sides of the corridor were rooms.

These rooms had vermilion doors, old brass locks, and golden door numbers. At a glance, they were almost identical.

Between them was a wall lamp at regular intervals—a wall lamp with a dim, elegant design. However, they couldn't illuminate the end of the corridor.

Mind Corridor.

This was the Mind Corridor.

With one hand in his pocket, Shang Jianyao turned around and looked at his room. He realized that the three golden numbers were: 1, 3, and 1.

131… Shang Jianyao shook his head, and he directly produced three new numbers in the room: 6, 4, 7

He quickly replaced 131 with 647. But just as he completed this job, he blinked, and the 647 changed back to 131.

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and directly conjured a black cloth to cover the original 131. He then used a golden ballpoint pen to write the number '196.'

After that, he used his fingers to support his eyelids, preventing them from blinking.

The next second, the 196 he wrote and the black cloth he conjured dissipated silently.

It can't be changed… Finally, Shang Jianyao sighed regretfully.

He stopped fussing over it and cast his gaze around. At a glance, he saw rooms like 538, 205, and 912.

There's no 503 or 102… Shang Jianyao stroked his face, expressing his disappointment.

Room 503 was suspected of belonging to Jiang Xiaoyue. It had once infected the Clam Dragon Church's Dream Protector with the Heartless disease. Room 102 was the last Mind Corridor room that Yama Tiger had entered before he entered his slumber.

In his disappointment, Shang Jianyao strolled to one side of the corridor as if he wanted to find its end. After four to five steps, he came to the room with door number 1012.

Shang Jianyao hesitated for a few seconds before raising his arms and crossing them in front of his chest. He then said loudly, "Distance is our friend!"

A room that started with 10 was most likely Eidolon Nun's. They had to be treated with vigilance!

After moving forward for a while, Shang Jianyao suddenly stopped and cast his gaze at a room on the left. On the vermilion door was the golden door number: 1215.

In the Mind Corridor, the rooms that started with 12 were either Master Zhuang's or the Arbiter of Fate's.

Shang Jianyao looked at it seriously for a while before splitting into nine other selves, prepared to vote on whether he was to explore this room.