Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 881: Making Obvious of the Hidden

Gitis recalled and said, “I’ve heard of it.”

As Shang Jianyao’s eyes lit up, Gitis continued, “Every summer, they will send a convoy over to exchange food and meat for coal, steel, and other things. They will then cart them away in cars.”

“Then, do you know where End Year City is?” Shang Jianyao asked impatiently.

Gitis shook her head. “Even among their private exchanges, they do not mention such matters.”

She had clearly used Heavenly Ears to monitor the situation in End Year City’s convoy.

“They sure are careful…” Jiang Baimian sighed with emotion.

She wasn’t surprised at all. Small and medium-sized factions like End Year City either relied on organizations like First City and Pangu Biology for protection or could only rely on terrain advantages to prevent themselves from being attacked.

Although End Year City was located in Icefield and was quite a distance away from the various large factions, they would definitely become attractive to many in summer once their exact location was exposed.

Gitis glanced at the Old Task Force members and said, “If you want to find people from End Year City, you can stay in Gesterbourg until summer.”

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian didn’t comment.

If their plan of waiting out failed, Gitis’s suggestion was an option.

After leaving the hotel, Shang Jianyao took a deep breath and sighed sincerely. “The air quality today is 367.55% better than yesterday.”

“How did you determine it?” Genava didn’t expect Shang Jianyao to give such a precise number.

Shang Jianyao smiled smugly. “I’m imitating you, Old Ge! As for the exact number, I made it up on the spot. How about it? Do you want me to make another one up?”

As a smart bot, Genava was momentarily speechless.

Jiang Baimian looked up helplessly at the sky and helped resolve the awkwardness. “The weather today is pretty good.”

A strong wind blew from Icefield, dissipating the dark gases above Gesterbourg.

“The wind makes me feel a little cold.” Long Yuehong tightened his gray camouflage uniform.

Even though summer wasn’t far away, Gesterbourg—which was close to Icefield—was still chilly. To put it simply, it was relatively hot in Gesterbourg where the sun could shine. It was relatively cold standing in the shadows with the wind blowing.

“Yeah.” Bai Chen also tugged at the scarf around her neck.

She no longer had a slave number, and the knot in her heart had been untied. She wore the scarf purely because her neck felt a little cold from the wind.

Jiang Baimian then looked around. “Let’s go and replenish our supplies.”

…

At night, the Old Task Force—who had eaten their fill—gathered and discussed Room 503. Apart from Shang Jianyao, the others had the same opinion: Don’t enter for the time being.

Jiang Baimian said to Shang Jianyao seriously, “You still have no way of resisting the Heartless disease’s infection. Exploring Jiang Xiaoyue’s room is equivalent to throwing a meat bun at a dog—there’s no return.”

In a sense, 503 was more dangerous than Room 205, which represented the dream of the Kalendaria, Dawn. After all, the dream might not be dangerous, or the corresponding dangers might not be unavoidable. As for 503—which could infect an explorer with the Heartless—disease, it seemed unresolvable.

“How long do we have to wait before we can explore?” Shang Jianyao asked aggrievedly. “Jiang Xiaoyue and I have been friends for a long time. We can already be considered friends, so it shouldn’t be that dangerous. Uh, unilateral friends.”

Jiang Baimian rolled her eyes and said, “From the information we have, only a New World powerhouse can resist the Heartless disease’s infection with their individual strength.”

“How can we explore 503 when we’ve already entered the New World?” Shang Jianyao had always been clear-headed in this regard.

Upon hearing this, Bai Chen raised a question. “Can a New World powerhouse enter the Mind Corridor in reverse?”

After a brief silence, Shang Jianyao clapped. “That’s a good question.”

Jiang Baimian fell silent for a moment before saying, “We can now be sure that the Kalendarium have corresponding rooms in the Mind Corridor.”

There were specific examples, such as Dawn’s 205 and Master Zhuang’s 102.

“From the looks of it, a New World powerhouse’s Mind Room is still preserved.” Genava made a guess based on the facts. “What we don’t know now is if their Mind Room can be opened from the inside like before entering the New World.”

It was unlikely to be a problem to go from the outside to the inside because Shang Jianyao had entered Master Zhuang’s 102; he just hadn’t done any substantial exploration.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao’s thoughts raced as he clapped and smiled. “If a New World powerhouse can freely enter the Mind Corridor and my room number is known by the enemy, I might really die at any moment.”

“Don’t worry. There’s still the Kalendaria’s aura in your Sea of Origins.” Long Yuehong felt that this fellow wasn’t worried that such a thing would happen.

The Old Task Force had now preliminarily determined that Xiaochong was equivalent to Du Shaochong’s childhood and that he was a part of Master Zhuang’s body of descent.

“That’s right, that’s right.” Shang Jianyao’s eyes lit up as he said, “I’ll wait for them to visit my room. I—uh, Xiaochong and I want to entertain with games!”

Having his attention diverted, he had already forgotten about exploring Room 503.

…

Late at night, in the Mind Corridor, Shang Jianyao stood opposite his room and sighed. “Why can’t I find the Mind Room of End Year City’s Awakened? It’s fine if I can’t find it, but why isn’t any Mind Corridor-level Awakened in End Year City fated to explore my room?”

After some thought, they decided not to wait and see. They had to take the initiative to do something.

As each room only had a number and the order was also random, the Shang Jianyaos couldn’t distinguish which ones corresponded to End Year City’s people, making it difficult for them to take the initiative to investigate.

He believed that it was better to tamper with his own room than someone else’s.

“Yes, I have to increase the probability of Awakened in End Year City exploring my room…” Shang Jianyao stroked his chin and muttered to himself, “Show them kindness? How?”

“That’s simple.” The Shang Jianyao that sought novelty left the main body and excitedly said, “Watch me!”

He quickly conjured a piece of paper and a pen and wrote.

After writing it down, he pasted the paper under the door number of his Mind Room. On it were words written in Ashlandic and the Red River language: “Home of the Awakened in End Year City.”

Clap! Clap! Clap!?

The honest Shang Jianyao clapped for him as he praised, “It’s akin to making it obvious that something is hidden here.”

“Are you sure this can be kept behind?” questioned the calm and rational Shang Jianyao. “We previously failed to modify the door number.”

The Shang Jianyao that sought novelty had an indifferent expression. “It’s not like you will die if you give it a try. Besides, we previously wanted to modify the original item. Without the Mind Corridor owner’s permission, we definitely wouldn’t have succeeded. Now, we are only putting up an annotation. It doesn’t involve the Mind Corridor’s intrinsic structure.”

Since it was just a try, the other Shang Jianyaos didn’t object.

They merged into one and walked around the other rooms before returning to Room 131.

The piece of paper with the words ‘Home of the Awakened in End Year City’ was still stuck there!

“It seems possible…” Shang Jianyao’s eyes lit up.

He opened the door and entered. After waiting for a few minutes, he came out to make confirmation.

The piece of paper was still there.

…

End Year City’s Elder Lawton entered the Mind Corridor again and walked toward the place he could find even with his eyes closed.

The New World door he had been searching for might very well be in the room labeled 131. However, the problem was that not only had Lawton suffered all kinds of unimaginable and grotesque matters there, but he had also experienced the Kalendaria’s gaze.

This made him believe that Room 131’s owner had once come into contact with certain Kalendarium and obtained a certain level of favor.

If it weren’t favor but malice, the room would’ve long since had its owner replaced.

As a person of faith, Lawton was very respectful of the Kalendarium. Without sufficient confidence, he didn’t dare to explore Room 131 again. All he could do was walk to the door from time to time and look at it to soothe his emotions.

During this period of time, he had prayed to the Kalendaria of his faith and requested a bestowment, but he didn’t receive any response.

As he walked, Lawton saw the familiar vermilion door and the golden number ‘131’ that had a spot in his heart.

The next second, his gaze froze. He realized that there was a piece of paper stuck to 131’s door. On the paper were words written in Ashlandic and Red River language: “Home of the Awakened in End Year City.”

Lawton—who was considered experienced at the Mind Corridor level—was at a loss. He suspected that he was hallucinating because he was eager to explore the room and find the New World’s door.

He even analyzed the possibility of him being ambushed and falling into a fantasy world.

After a few minutes of confirmation, Lawton finally confirmed that there was an additional signboard on 131’s door.

This was unprecedented in the Mind Corridor!

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