Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 219: Experiment

At this moment, Jiang Baimian realized that the deeper one ventured into the Sea of Origins, the greater the price one had to pay. She even suspected that the process of defeating the islands of fear involved magnifying the price one paid.

Jiang Baimian immediately gave up on discussing the ‘nine of me’ with Shang Jianyao to prevent him from deepening his understanding in this regard.

As always, the fantasy in the world of the mind shouldn’t reflect reality.

She deliberated for a moment before asking, “What about the others?”

Shang Jianyao looked at the door. “I’ll have to experiment.”

Jiang Baimian knew what he was getting at and immediately opened the door. She walked into the empty area of the hotel camp and distanced herself from Shang Jianyao.

During this process, she counted the number of steps she took and maintained a straight course.

Before long, Shang Jianyao shouted, “Right there.”

Jiang Baimian stopped, turned around, and raised her hands to gesture.

Was she asking if this was the limit to Hands Immobility?

Her senses just now told her that there was nobody else around and that she didn’t have to worry about leaking any secrets.

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao nod, she made a rough calculation. “Nearly 20 meters!”

This surprised her a little. Compared to before, the range had increased by about 50%. In addition, it could affect nine people at the same time. As an ability, Hands Immobility could play a crucial role in a gunfight.

This was a qualitative change. At the very least, this was the case for Hands Immobility.

Jiang Baimian began walking back until Shang Jianyao shouted for her to stop.

“Corny?” she asked.

At this moment, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen sensed the commotion outside. They left their room and watched the duo’s experiments.

“Yes!” Shang Jianyao replied loudly.

It’s slightly equivalent to ten meters... It’s indeed a 50% increase... Jiang Baimian continued walking until Shang Jianyao shouted a third time.

At this moment, the two of them were about six meters apart.

After ending the experiment, Jiang Baimian suppressed her voice and asked, “Apart from the changes in range, what else is there?”

Long Yuehong had already made some guesses about this. He was surprised, excited, and happy for Shang Jianyao. “You defeated the Island of Diseases?”

“I can’t say that I won, but I survived.” Shang Jianyao spoke the truth. He then said, “Corny Person is still a single-target ability, but it seems like I can add a longer period of corniness to the target. Such corny behavior should be something that often happens in the target’s life; it won’t be too obvious.”

“How long can it last?” Jiang Baimian asked curiously.

Since Shang Jianyao had already revealed most of his abilities to the team, she didn’t have to help him hide them.

“I’ve never tried it.” As Shang Jianyao said this, his gaze swept across Long Yuehong’s face.

Long Yuehong instinctively took two steps back.

“I believe it’s on the order of hours.” Shang Jianyao retracted his gaze and voiced his guess.

Jiang Baimian then inquired, “What about Inference Clowning? Can you use electronic products to expand your range of influence like Tan Jie?”

“I’ll give it a try.” Shang Jianyao seemed to have long considered this problem. He excitedly walked to his bed and picked up the small, black speaker with a blue bottom.

This was a multi-purpose product before the Old World was destroyed; it had recording functions.

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao turn on the speaker and switch to recording mode, Jiang Baimian silently raised her hands and covered her ears.

Bai Chen did the same thing as her. Long Yuehong didn’t limit himself to that; he even retreated to the door as if he would bolt out the room at any moment.

Shang Jianyao quickly signaled for them to put down their hands. He then aimed the small speaker at Jiang Baimian and played the previous recording.

“You are a member of the Old Task Force, and so am I. You are very good at fighting, and so am I. So...”

Jiang Baimian quietly listened and smiled. “Which direction are you trying to mislead me in? Biological siblings with different fathers and mothers? Pui! Biological siblings?”

“It didn’t work.” Shang Jianyao shook his head with a heavy expression. “I fused my thoughts into my voice and recorded them. However, I didn’t have that sensation when playing it back.”

Jiang Baimian made a reasonable guess. “Maybe the thoughts will gradually dissipate after a relatively complicated transformation? It has to be played before the thought completely dissipates.”

After another round of experiments, they confirmed one thing—no matter how quick he was, it would be useless as long as it was recorded, stored, and then played back.

Upon recalling that Tan Jie had used a loudspeaker to complete the long-range Provocation, Jiang Baimian suggested, “Try using a loudspeaker? There’s no need to record or store it; it’s a direct conversion. You might be able to broadcast it before the thought dissipates. If it still doesn’t work out, you can make friends with Tan Jie and draw from his experience.”

Shang Jianyao nodded. “First, we need a loudspeaker.”

“That’s simple.” Jiang Baimian smiled.

Before long, the four people from the Old Task Force entered Redstone Collection and arrived at the Public Security Department.

Han Wanghuo wasn’t out this time. Due to his injury, his left arm had been bandaged. It looked bulging.

“You guys?” Upon seeing Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others enter the Public Security Department, Han Wanghuo stood up and greeted them.

Due to their shared combat experience, Jiang Baimian—who was wearing a monk mask—casually smiled and said, “We’re here to rush the final payment.”

If she had previously felt that Han Wanghuo was deliberately establishing an image of a Knight, it was no longer important whether it was deliberate or not.

As a sheriff, he was undoubtedly a Knight if he could stand at the front lines of the defense line and resist the Subhuman invasion without any regard for his life.

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian’s words, Han Wanghuo said awkwardly, “You’ll have to wait another two days, but it won’t be long. We’ve already cleaned up the battlefield and confirmed that many merfolk and mountain monsters have died. They won’t be able to launch a new round of attacks for the time being.

“After the reconnaissance team reports the final results and both sides exchange POWs, we can hand over the exoskeleton to you.”

Shang Jianyao immediately replied, “There’s no rush. If it really doesn’t work out, we can use Tan Jie as payment.”

“...” Han Wanghuo didn’t know what expression to make or how to respond.

“He means ‘is Tan Jie alright?'” Jiang Baimian coughed and helped ‘explain.’

“He fell ill after the battle, but it wasn’t too serious,” Han Wanghuo replied.

Jiang Baimian deliberately didn’t continue the topic and smiled. “We seem to have made a lot of contributions in this war. Can we get some additional payment?”

Team Leader is smiling like an unscrupulous merchant... Long Yuehong couldn’t help but mutter.

He was referring to her tone.

Bai Chen had seen many such unscrupulous merchants in her past life as a wilderness nomad and Ruin Hunter.

“This... might... might not be...” Han Wanghuo wanted to say that the Redstone Town Guard probably couldn’t accept price raising after the matter was over. However, he sincerely believed that this Ruin Hunter team had made important contributions in the war. What they had obtained in exchange for their efforts was indeed rather disparate.

Jiang Baimian interrupted him and smiled. “Three requests—First, lend us the town guard’s speedboat; second, give us two to three loudspeakers; and third, help us gather information on Mechanical Paradise.”

Uh... Han Wanghuo was rather surprised.

Not only were these three requests not excessive, but they were also very simple. They were conditions that he could agree to without discussing it with the other influential figures of the town guard.

Resisting the urge to ask if this was too little, Han Wanghuo thought for a moment and said, “No problem. When do you want them by?”

“It’s best if you can give us the loudspeakers today. A week for the information. The speedboat will depend on our notice.” Jiang Baimian had already prepared her answer.

Han Wanghuo searched through the Public Security Department for a while and found a slightly old blue and white speaker.

“I’ll give you one first. The rest will be given to you along with the exoskeleton.” He paused and reminded them, “It’s very difficult for humans to compete with merfolk on water.”

When Song He, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong interrogated the merfolk, a Public Security officer beside them had recorded the corresponding information. Therefore, Han Wanghuo knew about Lake Heart Island. He had established many formal procedures for the Public Security Department.

“Is that so?” Shang Jianyao suddenly became interested.

You want to fight the merfolk in the water? Jiang Baimian glanced at him and walked out of the Public Security Department.

After buying some raw food and returning to the hotel camp, Shang Jianyao took the loudspeaker, looked around, and impatiently asked, “Who wants to do the honors?”

Long Yuehong subconsciously took a step back, only to discover Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen looking at him at the same time.

“Uh...” A bitter expression appeared on his face.

I can’t let the two ladies be experimental subjects, right... Shang Jianyao can’t remotely ‘mislead’ himself... Long Yuehong’s thoughts raced as he took a deep breath.

“I’ll do it.”

Soon, there was a distance of more than 30 meters between him and Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao raised the speaker, and his eyes instantly turned deep. “Look, you’ve always been vigilant and don’t like taking risks. Redstone Collection’s folk tradition advocates vigilance and hiding. So...”

His voice echoed in the hotel camp through the loudspeaker.

In order to prevent others from prying into the Old Task Force’s secrets through their words, he used the most ordinary conditions.

Long Yuehong’s expression didn’t change after hearing that.

After he returned, Jiang Baimian anxiously asked, “Do you feel anything? What do you feel?”

“I suddenly feel an affinity with the people from Redstone Collection.” Long Yuehong examined himself.

“My goal was to make him think he’s a resident of Redstone Collection,” Shang Jianyao interrupted.

“Huh?” Long Yuehong came to a realization.

Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully. “The effects are much worse. From the looks of it, using a loudspeaker can indeed enhance your Inference Clowning’s range, but the corresponding effects will decrease. Yes, Tan Jie’s ‘Provocation’ back then didn’t cause the Awakened murloc to rush out directly.”

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and added, “Furthermore, it’s still a single-target ability.”

“Not bad; you can still improve further,” Jiang Baimian said with a smile.

She then looked at Long Yuehong and Bai Chen. “I have to send a telegram and report the matter of the sleeping deity to the company to see what information or suggestions the higher-ups can give.”

“Huh?” Long Yuehong was a little stunned.

Jiang Baimian immediately chuckled. “Do you think I’m really that rash? To do something without any caution!?”

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