Embers Ad Infinitum
chapter-648

Dozens of meters away, the glider-riding enemy plummeted and slammed into the ground, stirring up a lot of dust.

Bai Chen and Long Yuehong didn’t miss such a commotion. Upon seeing that their team leader was fine for the time being, they cast their gazes at the trench coat, sunglasses-wearing Welf—who had fallen to the ground.

They then raised their guns and aimed at the target.

But before pulling the triggers, they didn’t hesitate to bite the tip of their tongues, hoping to use the pain to determine if they were sleepwalking or if they would accidentally injure their companions.

Being enveloped by the bionic artificial intelligence armor, they naturally couldn’t hurt themselves by slapping themselves or punching their stomachs.

After biting down, Bai Chen and Long Yuehong realized that nothing in front of them changed. Therefore, they boldly pulled the trigger.

The Orange rifle and the Berserker assault rifle fired at the same time as bullets rained down.

Meanwhile, Xu Lan wasn’t stunned—although she was surprised from failing her assassination attempt.

The experienced her pounced to the side and gradually concealed her figure in midair.

This was a manifestation of the powerful Invisibility ability. It could allow the user to have a high chance of escaping the lock-on and returning to an undetectable state when both parties had already made contact with no way to hide their consciousness.

Xu Lan’s level was clearly higher than Shang Jianyao’s, so it was very easy for her to escape. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared from Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao’s line of sight.

At this moment, the sound of a heavy object crashing to the ground came from a clearly empty area she was charging toward.

Limbs Immobility!

Although Xu Lan had forcefully escaped Shang Jianyao’s lock, the influence she had exerted wouldn’t disappear.

Having been inflicted with Limbs Immobility the moment the assassination failed, she couldn’t land safely. She rolled away from the spot that the enemy could determine based on her previous trajectory and fell in a rather sorry state.

Badump!

Her figure was about to appear.

Jiang Baimian—who had lowered her body—stretched out her left palm.

Silver-white electric arcs shot out, interweaving into a fine net that enveloped the area where Xu Lan had pounced toward.

In a situation where she couldn’t find the enemy via human consciousness, bioelectric signals, or through her eyes, ears, nose, and other organs, Jiang Baimian chose to rely on her mathematical ability at calculating trajectories and attacked indiscriminately with an area-of-effect attack!

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

Xu Lan’s figure appeared from the electrocution. Her wide-brimmed, tall felt hat dropped to the side. Some of her black hair emitted a charred smell, and some stood up.

She knew that things were going south, but her brain and body were in a numb state. She couldn’t do anything to save herself.

Just as Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian locked onto Xu Lan and prepared to use the Six Senses Beads and the Life Angel necklace, they saw a terrifying scene from the corner of their eyes.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen—who were wearing bionic artificial intelligence armor—picked up their firearms, aimed at them, and pulled the triggers!

Their target actually wasn’t the Mind Corridor-level Awakened in the Last Man domain but Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao!

Dreamscape followed by Sleepwalking!

When Welf shouted in horror and his glider fell to the ground, the tablet computer he and Xu Lan had placed on the roof suddenly changed.

A blurry figure that produced static around had appeared. This was the Eighth Research Institute’s Doctor, a powerhouse who had already entered the New World.

He used the tablet as a relay to influence Bai Chen and Long Yuehong.

Considering that the target had already been Sleepwalked once and was definitely prepared, he first used Dreamscape. Therefore, although Bai Chen and Long Yuehong bit the tip of their tongues in the dream, they actually didn’t do it; the pain only made them ‘escape’ the dream’s deepest level.

Being still in the dream, they naturally began Sleepwalking.

The enemies in their dreams were actually Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian—who were only wearing bulletproof vests and didn’t have any other protective measures—instinctively gave up on attacking Xu Lan and dodged. They exerted strength with their legs and either jumped out or propelled themselves, sliding along the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Da! Da! Da!

Where they were originally standing, soil splattered, and rocks cracked—everything was in chaos.

Xu Lan took this opportunity to recover from her numbness and habitually hid her figure.

The next second, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao stopped. The former continued lying prone on the ground, and the latter—who had just jumped to the abandoned car by the roadside—felt his legs go limp. He leaned against the dirty door, sat down, and closed his eyes.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen were also affected. Their bodies swayed as they collapsed to the ground at a moderate speed.

The scales of the Blackmarsh Iron Snake and the Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor emitted a hard sound from the collision, but they didn’t wake their respective owners up.

Sleep!

Doctor used the tablet computer to cast Sleep on the four Old Task Force members!

After entering the New World, he could already use all the abilities in the dream domain. But as he had yet to truly return and his body was still in the distant Eighth Research Institute, his strength had been reduced significantly. The effects of many abilities couldn’t be shown further.

At the same time, he had to be wary of Wu Meng.

Otherwise, he had better choices now, such as Eternal Sleep. This could directly make the Old Task Force members fall asleep forever, making them no different from vegetables. They couldn’t be woken up by normal means.

Of course, for Doctor, Sleep was actually enough in such a situation. As long as he controlled the four targets, Xu Lan—who had caught her breath—could naturally finish them off one by one.

The door to the Holm Fertility Center suddenly became extremely quiet. Only the wind that passed through the city ruins blew gently.

Xu Lan was in no rush to appear and attack because her hands and feet were still trembling. She was still suffering from the aftereffects of the electric shock.

The rage in her accumulated when she saw the asymmetrical scenes. She wished she could immediately recover and destroy all of this.

At this moment, another electric arc appeared from Jiang Baimian’s left palm and landed on herself.

With a sizzling sound, Jiang Baimian suddenly jumped up.

The auxiliary chip in her electric eel-like biomechanical limb monitored if she entered slumber. Therefore, it gave her a jolt and woke her up.

Amidst the remaining numbness from the electric shock, Jiang Baimian skillfully sank her consciousness into the Life Angel necklace around her left wrist as if she had practiced it a hundred times.

She remembered that the company had hinted that she could rely on this item if she encountered danger!

But apart from locking onto the terrified Last Man domain enemy, she couldn’t find the source of the nightmare’s power and couldn’t deal with it in a targeted manner. Likewise, she couldn’t sense the Golden Scale domain assassin and couldn’t stop any subsequent attacks.

Cardiac Arrest is useless at a time like this… Could it be that the company’s hint points to something else? As Jiang Baimian’s thoughts raced, she used the Life Angel necklace to expand her perception range of human consciousness as an attempt, just like how Shang Jianyao had used the Bangle of Blindness to achieve a similar goal back then.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Baimian seemed to have put on glasses that were suitable for the short-sighted or was in control of many surveillance cameras in the area from a distance, allowing her to ‘see’ things that she couldn’t have ‘seen’ or be ‘seen’ clearly.

Illusory darkness enveloped the area, wrapping around Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong before extending to the top of a tall building in the distance.

The Life Angel necklace that the company modified is indeed special! Jiang Baimian was delighted and immediately sent her consciousness through the item to touch the illusory darkness.

As soon as the two parties came into contact, she felt like the other party was extremely far away but also overlapped with the area in a certain way.

The latter seemed to make two worlds intersect.

This made Jiang Baimian feel like she could use Cardiac Arrest on the illusory darkness at this distance.

In an emergency, she did as she thought and immediately activated the silver necklace.

A faint light flashed. At the end of the illusory darkness, a roar seemed to come from an extremely far distance.

Its shock was beyond terror.

The illusory darkness retreated.

Shang Jianyao shook his head and jumped up, having woken up. He immediately saw Welf—who was dozens of meters away. This man in sunglasses and a trench coat had yet to completely calm down from the fear brought about by Eidolon Nun’s gaze.

A green light lit up as Shang Jianyao directly used the Six Senses Beads on him.

Consciousness Deprivation!

Welf closed his eyes and fainted. He didn’t have to be afraid anymore.

As Bai Chen and Long Yuehong woke up, the four Old Task Force members monitored the area.

The Golden Scale domain assassin was currently hiding somewhere.