Embers Ad Infinitum
chapter-919-30041322

Upon seeing that they didn't take down Vice President at once, the watching New World powerhouses immediately went to other streets through the nearby alleys and collapsed houses and took a detour to the tower.

Vice President didn't focus on them. He continued staring at Chen Wen, Liu Chuan, and the others—who were approaching him.

Suddenly, he clenched his fists that lay on the armrests. His light-blue eyes instantly turned deep as if they had been tainted by black ink.

In the darkness, buildings appeared one after another. They were lit up with different numbers of lights like projections of the New World.

The projections gradually enlarged and froze on a brightly lit high-rise building.

Not far behind Vice President, the same building quietly stood. Yellow or pure white light was reflected from every floor and window.

Right on the heels of that, two lights in Vice President's eyes grew larger and larger, occupying every space in his eyes.

Whoosh!

Amidst the squall, a gigantic vortex of air appeared in front of Vice President.

It was dyed with the light's luster and emitted a terrifying suction force. It made Chen Wen, Liu Chuan, Shang Jianyao, and the two New World powerhouses carrying Flora and Barnard float up like weightless pieces of paper, toward the vortex's center.

"He's borrowing the Kalendaria's power!" Shang Jianyao was very familiar with this feeling and shouted. However, the terrifying suction force drowned his voice and scattered it into the wind.

At this moment, a black figure separated from Liu Chuan—who was struggling in midair. It swayed and grew larger, instantly resembling a building.

This gigantic black figure rushed to the vortex before Chen Wen, Shang Jianyao, and the others could reach it. It then spread its arms and hugged it tightly.

With a whoosh, a gigantic black figure filled the center of the vortex.

The two of them seemed to collide like matter and antimatter as they were instantly annihilated.

Along with the annihilation, a violent 'wave' surged in all directions, slapping Shang Jianyao and the others—who were in midair—to the ground.

Vice President wasn't spared either. He was thrown into the air before smashing a large hole in the surface of a building behind him.

The huge wave calmed down a little, and Chen Wen, Liu Chuan, and the others quickly got up.

In the New World, they were only lifeforms of pure consciousness. Such damage wouldn't cause them to suffer internal bleeding, shattered bones, or concussions. It wouldn't leave any repercussions or affect their subsequent actions.

Of course, they weren't completely uninjured—this expended a large portion of their mental energy. But apart from Shang Jianyao, the other New World powerhouses had made preparations in advance.

They had prepared several humans around their bodies. Once their minds reached a critical point, they would immediately extract their consciousnesses and replenish themselves.

Bam!

Shang Jianyao felt that he would be letting down the scene if he didn't vomit a mouthful of blood. He deliberately conjured the corresponding matter.

Liu Chuan glanced at the large hole in the building in front of him and shouted at his companions, "Let's pass through here as soon as possible. Don't waste time with Vice President!"

"Alright!" Shang Jianyao was always one to reply enthusiastically.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The other two New World powerhouses carried Flora and Barnard and followed behind Liu Chuan, Chen Wen, and Shang Jianyao as they ran past the building that Vice President had slammed into.

They had just run more than ten meters when Vice President's wheelchair suddenly flew out of the hole. It landed firmly on the ground and spun around, allowing Vice President to see Shang Jianyao and the others' backs directly.

Without needing to run, Flora had been paying attention to the situation. Upon seeing this, she immediately shouted, "Air wall!"

Apart from Shang Jianyao's lack of tacit understanding and not immediately knowing what to do, Barnard, Liu Chuan, Chen Wen, and the others half-turned their bodies at the same time and used Matter Interference ten meters behind them.

The hurricane that passed through the street froze in place, compressed into a visible wall of air. This wall blocked Vice President's path, making the enemy's figures in his light-blue eyes a little blurry.

Before the air wall took shape, he had already slapped the armrests and made the electric wheelchair roll on its own. He was faster than the running Shang Jianyao and company.

Upon seeing that he was about to slam into the air wall, Vice President quickly pressed a spot on the armrest and braked.

With a screeching sound, the electric wheelchair stopped in time.

Meanwhile, Liu Chuan and the others didn't stop in their tracks after jointly creating the air wall. Instead, they turned around and continued running.

As the power was extracted, the compressed air wall couldn't be maintained any longer and suddenly expanded.

The more compressed it was, the more exaggerated its expansion became. This resulted in an explosion.

Boom!

The air wall collapsed into a terrifying shockwave that wrecked the surroundings.

Vice President—who was opposite this—was naturally not spared. He was sent flying, slamming into the ruins formed by the collapsed buildings by the roadside.

Whoosh!

The ruins collapsed further under the shockwave, burying Vice President inside.

Shang Jianyao twisted his body and saw this scene as he ran. He couldn't help but raise his palm and clap for the tacit teamwork between Flora, Barnard, and the others.

At the same time, as the earthquake intensified, some of the brightly lit houses around the tower couldn't support themselves any longer and collapsed.

The light inside turned into countless fragments that either flew back to the tower, landed on the ground, or drifted elsewhere.

"Aren't they all Master Zhuang's lamps?" Shang Jianyao—who could firmly keep up with the rest of the team even after clapping—said in shock.

The squall filled his mouth with a gust of air, suppressing his voice.

"They are just shards." Although Chen Wen ran fast, he maintained a constant speed.

At this moment, Liu Chuan suddenly shouted, "Incoming!"

A few light shards flew over.

Shang Jianyao appeared to be playing a game. He jumped, rolled, and pounced forward at times, perfectly dodging them.

The next second, he looked through the gap between the collapsed buildings and saw a New World powerhouse—who had previously taken a detour to the tower—not being able to dodge in time. He was hit by a light shard.

With a whoosh, the New World powerhouse went up in flames.

He let out a shrill scream and rolled twice in the shape of a human torch. The fire then extinguished itself before he disappeared without a trace.

Liu Chuan—who only knew that the light shards were dangerous but didn't know what the danger was—slowed down as the glint in his eyes froze.

The weak him began to be afraid of advancing. If not for the fact that he knew his flaws and had long gotten Truth to modify a certain portion of his memories and undergo deep hypnosis, he definitely wouldn't have been able to persist.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Shang Jianyao applauded his dodge.

For some reason, they didn't encounter any obstruction from Charlie, Professor Li, or the others during their subsequent run. Vice President also failed to catch up.

Just like that, they arrived outside the tower amidst the falling rocks, scattered light shards, violent hurricanes, and constant cracks in the ground.

This tower reached deep into the clouds. The lights on each floor were abnormally bright, forming a sharp contrast with the dark sky around them.

Its reddish-brown wooden door was very ordinary; it was about the height of two people. It had two panes that opened outwards.

Shang Jianyao jumped up the steps, stretched out his hands, and pushed at the door. But no matter how hard he tried, the door didn't budge.

"Wait," Barnard said shakily.

Shang Jianyao retracted his hand and looked at the elder on his companion's back.

Barnard explained, "Truth said that 'He' will help us open it."

Just as Barnard said that, the two-person-tall, reddish-brown wooden door creaked and slowly opened.

…

Eighth Research Institute, in the small city.

Jiang Baimian—who knew that the chaos had begun—sneaked in here again and hid at the edge of the nuclear power plant and the vortex-shaped building.

She waited for a while and realized that many Heartless had become very anxious.

Gradually, they went berserk and stopped defending their posts. They either killed each other or fled to the periphery of the city.

"Is this one of the effects of the New World's chaps on reality?" Jiang Baimian was in no rush to leave. She only used Mirror Dimension and approached the vortex-like building when only a small number of Heartless remained in the area.

With the ability to see the target directly, she didn't get lost. It didn't take long for her to reach the place where the Heartless disease's symptoms would originally appear.

Her head throbbed again, and she had no choice but to take a few steps back.

The chaos hasn't reached its climax? Jiang Baimian muttered to herself. She stood there, stared at the vortex-like building, and patiently waited.

A few minutes later, she saw an invisible object suddenly collapse around the target building, turning into balls of air that blew into the distance.

Jiang Baimian's heart stirred as she immediately walked forward. This time, she no longer felt a headache or dizziness when she crossed the critical line.

Jiang Baimian—who was wearing a military exoskeleton—quickly arrived at the vortex-like building's door. She then stretched out her hands and pressed them against the metal door.