Embers Ad Infinitum
chapter-681

The sky had just lit up when Shang Jianyao—who had just finished his rotation and lay down for an hour—jumped up. He pushed open the door, alighted, and stretched his body.

"It's time for breakfast… It's time for breakfast…" he muttered as he turned to the trunk, looking like he would leave the camp the moment he finished his meal.

"Can you let me sleep!?" Jiang Baimian stuck her head out from the passenger seat.

Worried that there would be other anomalies last night, she got Long Yuehong and Bai Chen to rest after she took a quick nap. She did night duty with Shang Jianyao and only woke her teammates up when it was almost morning. She then got back into the car to catch up on sleep.

Shang Jianyao explained sincerely, "We can't stay here for long!"

Jiang Baimian was just about to ask why they couldn't stay longer when Bai Chen led Davis and the others around the front of the car to her.

Jiang Baimian was stunned for a moment before she asked with a smile, "What's the matter?"

Davis nervously stroked his hair and tried his best to be as forthright and natural as usual. "After a night's sleep, I realized that I was too nervous last night. I forgot to thank you. If not for your help, my companions and I might've already become Heartless."

"We were just saving ourselves." Jiang Baimian didn't take credit.

"No matter what, we have to thank you sincerely. I wonder if there's anything we can help with?" Davis's attitude was prim and proper.

He had considered it. The other party might not care about receiving gratitude, but not him and the others. Furthermore, it might be beneficial to build a good relationship with such an experienced and powerful team.

This was his philosophy of living in the wilderness as a Ruin Hunter.

You definitely can't afford what we need… Jiang Baimian completely forgot that she had previously been vexed over the insufficient funds due to Alpha's body.

She smiled and planned on finding a more appropriate reason to reject him.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao interrupted. "If you really want to thank us, you can give us your trench coat."

Davis was nearly 1.8 meters tall, only five centimeters shorter than him.

"Huh?" Davis was clearly stunned. He never imagined that the other party would make such a request.

He subconsciously cast his gaze at Jiang Baimian.

Jiang Baimian could only smile. It's impossible to say to a stranger, "Sorry, my teammate is nuts," right?

Davis snapped to his senses and weighed the pros and cons. He then smiled and took off his black trench coat, handing it over to Shang Jianyao without even taking out the items in his pockets.

"Not bad, not bad." Shang Jianyao didn't stand on ceremony at all, but he took the initiative to take out the items in his trench coat pocket and return them to Davis. This included a few notes, many coins, a lighter, and a magazine filled with bullets.

"We've received your gratitude. There's no need to feel bad. After all, everybody ended up fine." Jiang Baimian helped Shang Jianyao smooth things over.

Davis heaved a sigh of relief and asked with a smile, "How may I address you?"

"You don't have to know that. It might not be a good thing to know." Jiang Baimian smiled.

As wanted criminals that had a huge bounty on their heads in First City, it was best not to have much contact with the Ruin Hunter team based in First City. Otherwise, how would the latter react after discovering the truth?

If the other party tried to capture them, ignoring the trivial matters over conscience, they most likely weren't the Old Task Force's match. If they didn't capture them and this scene was seen by others, how would they explain to First City's Hand of Order upon returning?

How mysterious… Davis muttered silently. He didn't ask any further and tactfully bade farewell.

Jiang Baimian was completely awake after being disturbed by him and his companions. She instructed Shang Jianyao to prepare breakfast in revenge.

Shang Jianyao put on the trench coat smugly, found his sunglasses, and put them on. He then went to the trunk to choose two cans of vegetables, two cans of braised beef, and a few pieces of bread. Following that, he busied himself at the bonfire.

After having their fill, Bai Chen drove the jeep out of the parking lot camp under everyone's gazes—it was unknown if they had recognized the Old Task Force's status as wanted criminals.

They headed northeast and quickly ventured deep into the wastelands. They took the derelict paths that appeared and disappeared from time to time.

After circling around an abandoned mine, Jiang Baimian saw that the vicinity was deserted—even animals rarely appeared. She got Bai Chen to slow down and stop in a concealed area.

Jiang Baimian ordered, "Old Ge, try to repair the phone and extract the data. We'll wear the bionic artificial intelligence armor and the military exoskeleton to prevent any accidents."

After his teammates were prepared, Genava began to work.

After a while, he raised his metal head and said in a slightly synthetic voice, "Only a portion can be recovered."

A portion of it is already a blessing… Long Yuehong muttered inwardly.

Under normal circumstances, it was very likely that nothing could be recovered.

Jiang Baimian—who remained vigilant—nodded. "What's there? Give me a summary."

The red light in Genava's eyes flickered. "The first is that the phone's owner made a call two hours before the Old World was destroyed. The number is labeled 'Delivery Company.'

"The second was another 45 minutes later. He took a long-distance international call. The number didn't have a corresponding label, but I can confirm that it came from New Plains…"

New Plains… Jiang Baimian's heart palpitated.

Children born in Pangu Biology had a certain level of understanding of the continent's situation before the Old World was destroyed. They knew that New Plains was mainly made up of Ashlandics and was located northeast of this land. Its territory was roughly north of the Salvation Army today, including a portion of Icefield.

Jiang Baimian had a nagging feeling because New Plains was one of the few countries in the Ashlands' northernmost area. This naturally reminded her of a hospital in the north, the Northern Company, and even Icefield's Tai City.

Genava continued, "Third, there's an address in the phone's notes: New Plains, Burang Prefecture, Tai City Renhui Hospital…"

"Tai City? Renhui Hospital?" Long Yuehong blurted out. He was all too familiar with these two names!

Tai City was the Old Task Force's next destination. The No. 1 Senior High School there was one of Buddhism's five Great Holy Lands. Fan Wensi and Li Jinlong's vegetable son had been sent to a hospital that participated in experimental treatment. It was very likely that its name was Renhui!

The latter came from some of the data recovered from Fan Wensi and Li Jinlong's phones. This couple had most likely rented a place in Harbour Homeland near Renhui Hospital back then to take care of their son.

"So that Renhui Hospital is in Tai City…" Bai Chen realized that things had connected.

Be it Long River City's United Steel Plant where Fan Wensi and Li Jinlong lived or Icefield's Tai City, they were one of Buddhism's five Great Holy Lands.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. "But why is Tai City's Buddhist Holy Land the No. 1 Senior High School and not Renhui Hospital?"

"There might be some secret in this…" Jiang Baimian replied simply and looked at Genava excitedly. "Is there anything else after the address?"

"Probably, but that portion of data has been completely damaged. At present, I can only determine that the address was written after the transnational journey," Genava said truthfully.

Jiang Baimian analyzed the situation. "After a long transnational journey, they wrote down this address. Less than an hour later, they called a delivery company… That long transnational trip was to get the phone's owner to… hmm… find a certain item and send it to Renhui Hospital in Tai City, Burang Prefecture, New Plains?"

The reason she added 'find' was that the phone's owner took 45 minutes to call the delivery company.

"What item could it be?" Long Yuehong muttered to himself in confusion.

Just as he said that, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian said in unison, "That cross necklace?"

This item was placed in front of the phone owner's corpse!

"Very likely." Bai Chen nodded.

The basis of her judgment was that the item was rather strange and was suspected to be connected to the New World. It was understandable if this item was related to a Buddhist Holy Land.

Shang Jianyao immediately said excitedly, "Shall we recover that cross necklace?"

Bang!

Jiang Baimian slapped his shoulder with her right hand. "Do you have a death wish?"

She paused and said seriously, "Our gains today are mainly to find another direction for our operations in Tai City. All the clues point to the past."

"Yes, yes." Long Yuehong nodded and asked, "Before we go to Icefield, should we visit Ruin 9 and see what else we can find in that room?"

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, "Not for the time being. Ruin 9 is definitely very dangerous. Besides, the items that are of value to us have likely been taken out by Davis and the others."

Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief.

It had been a ruse on his part.

Genava then explained the rest of the restored data one by one, but there was nothing that left them impressed or shivering. As a smart bot, he naturally knew how to prioritize.

After finishing the data recovery, Shang Jianyao eagerly took out the Six Senses Beads and the Life Angel necklace and fell asleep.

He first brought the two items' auras into the Mind Corridor. Then, he replicated what he had done before, moved his limbs, and grew new ones before entering Room 912 in a rather strange manner.

He had returned to the first day he boarded the cruise ship previously, so this entry naturally brought him to nighttime. Most of the passengers and crew had fallen into a chaotic and crazy state.

Shang Jianyao wore the Life Angel necklace, held the Six Senses Beads, and sank his consciousness into the latter.

Darkness—which was different from the night—immediately appeared in front of him. It was almost illusory as it gently swayed as if it were silently contracting and expanding.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao applauded himself.

This cruise ship did have a New World node!

He immediately left the room and began searching in the increasingly dark direction. On the way, he encountered aggressive Chaotic Ones from time to time, but he avoided them in advance thanks to his perception of human consciousness and agility.

After a few failures, Shang Jianyao finally arrived in front of a door. Behind the door was 'darkness' that was as thick as ink.

Shang Jianyao took a closer look and laughed. "The captain's cabin…"

As he spoke, he raised his working left foot and kicked open the door.

Behind the door, the captain was 'as always'—on one knee, looking at the ceiling and begging for love with an aria. There was nothing 'abnormal.'

But in Shang Jianyao's 'eyes,' all the 'darkness' surged out of his body.

In his body!