Embers Ad Infinitum
chapter-595

Long Yuehong's words echoed in the library like thunder exploding in Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen's hearts.

The Underground Ark's first owner, Modeus—who was suspected to be DiMarco's true self—had actually been to Iron Mountain City!

To Jiang Baimian's surprise, he hadn't gone there during the Chaotic Era but before the Old World was destroyed.

Jiang Baimian stood up, walked to Long Yuehong's side, and took the autobiography from his hand. After reading it several times, she then looked at Long Yuehong and Bai Chen in surprise. "Let's find out when Modeus returned, where he went in Iron Mountain City, and what he did there."

The three of them lowered their heads and flipped through the autobiographies. They even filtered the punctuation subconsciously.

Jiang Baimian and the others eventually extracted all the information regarding Modeus in the autobiographies.

In the era when the autobiographies were written, he wasn't the family head. He was only the eldest son, who was more forward in the line of succession. Therefore, there wasn't much mention of his various activities. He was only occasionally mentioned in the records of other matters.

The family's autobiographies didn't specify if Modeus's bid in Iron Mountain City regarding the old city rejuvenation project was successful or not. However, Jiang Baimian determined that he had likely made a successful bid and had been situated in Iron Mountain City for a long time through the fact that he had only participated in the family's other matters more than a year later.

Jiang Baimian made a reasonable guess. "After he left Iron Mountain City, he was sent to be in charge of the construction of the city's landmark buildings until the Old World was destroyed… This means that he left Iron Mountain City a few years before the Old World was destroyed… There's something fishy about Iron Mountain City's Second Food Company in the Old World?"

The city corresponding to the ruins where Redstone Collection was situated was considered relatively advanced in the Old World. The autobiographies mentioned that the cost of labor was very high and that the efficiency was low. The construction of various large-scale projects was no longer as rapid, so it was normal for buildings on the surface to take several years to be built.

"The Underground Ark was built many years before he went to Iron Mountain City. It clearly has nothing to do with the Second Food Company's fishiness." Bai Chen felt that there was no way to connect the dots.

After discussing it for a while, Jiang Baimian flipped her wrist and looked at her electronic watch. Following that, she covered her mouth and yawned. "It's getting late. Let's get some sleep; we'll continue tomorrow morning."

She felt that there were many books here and that it was impossible to cover everything in one go. Since they had already made some progress, they might as well get some good rest and energize themselves for tomorrow morning.

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong looked at the sentence written in the Holy Bible by Modeus or someone else. Stumped for the time being, they agreed with Jiang Baimian's suggestion.

Jiang Baimian took a few steps to the side, bent down, and grabbed Shang Jianyao with her left hand. Then, she lifted Shang Jianyao and made him lean against her for support.

This fellow had no intention of waking up.

Long Yuehong—who had wanted to volunteer to help—suddenly had a thought and closed his mouth again.

The quartet returned to basement two and came to the two rooms that Ulrich had gotten people to tidy up.

Jiang Baimian had specially requested for the two rooms to ensure that they could look after each other.

Before parting, Jiang Baimian habitually reminded them, "Go back to your room and get some rest. Try not to wake up at night. If you really need to, wake the other party up. Don't act alone."

The bathroom to the two guest rooms was outside.

"Alright." Bai Chen agreed.

"Yes, Team Leader," Long Yuehong replied, his heart beating rapidly.

Although everyone was already accustomed to this division that had always been the standard operating procedure for the Old Task Force and that there was nothing to be embarrassed about since they knew each other well, Long Yuehong still felt that things were different from before.

His mentality was different.

Ever since he recovered from his injuries, he had never slept in the same room as Little White. On the way back to Pangu Biology from First City and from Pangu Biology to Redstone Collection, the Old Task Force only occasionally found settlements to replenish their supplies. They never stayed in a hotel or rented rooms; they didn't even pitch tents. They formed teams of two and took turns sleeping in the jeep.

Under the watch of 'everyone,' it undoubtedly felt different compared to sleeping in the same room.

Long Yuehong originally imagined that after everyone grew stronger, Jiang Baimian would reorganize their teams and stop partnering males with females to prevent everyone from constantly feeling uncomfortable. After all, the situation of a veteran guiding a newbie no longer existed. He could barely shoulder the responsibility of watching over Shang Jianyao.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Baimian seemed to have forgotten this matter and never mentioned it again.

Long Yuehong didn't take the initiative to help Jiang Baimian carry Shang Jianyao because he was suddenly afraid that she would remember to adjust their team composition.

After entering the room, Long Yuehong turned to look at Bai Chen. "Which bed are you sleeping in?"

"It's all the same." Bai Chen took off her tactical backpack and casually threw it on the bed on the right.

"O-okay." Long Yuehong walked to the left bed and sat down.

He saw Bai Chen take off her coat. Although this was a common sight and Bai Chen also wore a long-sleeved camouflage T-shirt underneath, making it impossible to expose anything, Long Yuehong still felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

He cleared his throat indiscernibly and cast his gaze to the side.

"Aren't you going to shower?" Bai Chen took out her toiletries.

"O-okay." Long Yuehong suddenly stood up and searched frantically.

Can openers, iron combs, and other items would occasionally flick out before being put away.

After they were done, they lay on their beds.

Long Yuehong opened his eyes and stared at the dark ceiling for a long time, unable to sleep.

He didn't know when he had fallen asleep, but it was already midnight when he woke up. Perhaps due to his nervousness, Long Yuehong felt the need to pee.

He heard Bai Chen's dragged-out breathing—a clear sign that she was sleeping soundly. He didn't want to wake her up, so he could only toss and turn in an attempt to hold it in.

He lay on his side for a while and lay on his back for another while before lying on his other side. He constantly adjusted his posture in search of the least uncomfortable state.

He suddenly heard rustling coming from Bai Chen's side.

"Are you awake? I want to go to the bathroom," Bai Chen said.

"Alright." Long Yuehong sat up.

The two of them teamed up and brought their weapons with them as they left the room and went to the room opposite.

"You first." Long Yuehong pointed at the bathroom door gentlemanly.

Bai Chen didn't refuse and quickly walked in.

As her figure disappeared in front of him, Long Yuehong suddenly felt the cold wind in the corridor. Only a few wall lamps were switched on, yellow and dim.

He immediately recalled the situation when he fought DiMarco. In the indescribably gloomy and terrifying atmosphere, he felt like he had been possessed by a ghost, making it difficult for him to control his body.

Could it be that DiMarco still has some aura left and is floating around the Underground Ark in a ghost-like state? The more Long Yuehong thought about it, the more afraid he became. He kept having the feeling that someone was secretly watching him.

His eyes darted around as he slowly turned his body and carefully looked behind.

He saw a pair of eyes the next second—eyes that shone out from behind a monkey mask.

Long Yuehong calmed his beating heart and blurted out a question. "Why didn't you make a sound?"

"It will disturb others," Shang Jianyao explained with a suppressed voice.

"…" Long Yuehong didn't snap back. "Why are you awake?"

"I've slept for too long. I need to use the bathroom," Shang Jianyao said confidently.

"Why are you alone? Where's Team Leader?" Long Yuehong asked with a frown.

"At such a distance, she can rely on her senses. There's no need for her to get up," Shang Jianyao replied casually. He then asked, "Did you discover anything in the library?"

"Yes."

Long Yuehong had just replied when Bai Chen walked out of the bathroom and said, "It's your turn."

"Wait a minute. Tell me about the discoveries first." Shang Jianyao took off his monkey mask and wore a curious expression.

Long Yuehong—whose bladder was bursting—took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and decided to finish the recount quickly.

"I'll do it." Bai Chen walked between him and Shang Jianyao.

"Alright." Long Yuehong was inexplicably happy.

After he finished relieving himself and washed his hands, Bai Chen had already briefed Shang Jianyao about the general situation.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin and muttered to himself, "Back then, Modeus believed that he was possessed by the Devil? He didn't know that it was an Awakening?"

"He probably hadn't come into contact with such concepts back then." Long Yuehong voiced his opinion.

Shang Jianyao didn't answer and instead rushed into the bathroom.

…

The next morning after breakfast, the Old Task Force came to the Underground Ark's library again.

Shang Jianyao didn't flip through Modeus's Holy Bible and the DiMarco family's autobiographies. Instead, he looked at Ulrich and sincerely asked, "Are there any books on mysticism here?"

"There are a few," Ulrich replied. "Although Mr. Modeus was a pious parishioner and didn't like mysticism at all, his parents and ancestors had such hobbies. They had brought copies into the Ark."

"Take me there," Shang Jianyao said bluntly.

After Jiang Baimian heard their conversation, she thoughtfully said, "You suspect that Modeus once tried to find the corresponding source and solution from mysticism after he believed that he was possessed by the Devil?"

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao clapped.

He was refreshed and in good condition in the morning. It was impossible to tell that he had suffered mental damage.

He, Ulrich, and Long Yuehong quickly brought back three stacks of books on mysticism.

After Ulrich left, the Old Task Force quartet divided the work, and each of them was in charge of checking a portion.

As he flipped through the pages, Long Yuehong discovered something: some of the words and sentences in the book were drawn with a blue-black pen at the bottom.

He immediately reported this situation, and Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen expressed that their books were similar.

They realized after comparison that the words and sentences drawn were related to the spirit, soul, and spirituality. This involved different mysticism theories, including etherism and animism.

As the inspection progressed, Bai Chen found new clues at the end of a book.

The blue-black pen wrote a word with very heavy strokes in the margins: "Price?"