Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 682: Argument

Shang Jianyao let out a long exclamation, walked into the room, and circled the captain twice. Finally, he stopped and sighed in his mother tongue. “So it’s you!”

The source of the darkness was actually in the captain’s body!

Shang Jianyao then stroked his chin and ignored the captain’s aria as he muttered to himself, “It comes from within the body…”

“Did he eat something he shouldn’t have?” The honest Shang Jianyao stuck his head out from the right shoulder and joined the discussion.

The cheerful Shang Jianyao, who liked to joke, appeared on the left shoulder. “No matter what it is, it will eventually be expelled as long as it’s not stuck in his body. However, its form might not change.”

“It’s stuck in his body…” The calm and rational Shang Jianyao thoughtfully said, “Don’t you get it? A transplanted bone marrow. The goddess, Dufftiel Osira, who’s a researcher…”

The honest Shang Jianyao jumped up and stretched his neck high. “The source of darkness, and the New World node originates from Dufftiel’s bone marrow?”

“She entered the New World, and her body that remains in reality mutated, including the bone marrow she donated?” The cheerful Shang Jianyao didn’t show his sense of humor this time by spouting any nonsense.

The Shang Jianyao in the middle tacitly agreed with this guess and smiled. “Don’t forget—that person is still a researcher.”

Regarding the Heartless disease’s source, many clues pointed at a scientific experiment in the Old World that involved the ‘darkness’ and the New World.

The most mysterious and dangerous organization in the Ashlands was the Eighth Research Institute.

Just as the calm and rational Shang Jianyao said that, his expression turned cold. He looked at the captain—who had stood up and was unconsciously pacing around with tears streaming down his face—and said in a deep voice, “Regardless of the reason, the source of the darkness is confirmed to be in his body. If we electrocute him, we should be able to resolve this cruise ship’s anomaly and allow us to clear this psychological trauma in a novel way.”

The other Shang Jianyaos fell silent at the same time.

After a few seconds, the benevolent Zen Master Redemption hesitantly asked, “Will electrocuting him kill him?”

“Isn’t it a good thing that he’s dead? If we throw the corpse into the sea, we can bury this New World node.” The gloomy Shang Jianyao scoffed at the cyborg monk’s words.

The Shang Jianyao that abhorred evil and made it his responsibility to save all of humanity appeared from the body. “But he didn’t do anything bad. We can’t euthanize him just because a person suffers an infectious disease post-surgery that might very well affect others, right?”

“Come to your senses!” The gloomy Shang Jianyao cursed. “This is a psychological trauma. The people here are all fake!”

The righteous Shang Jianyao didn’t back down at all. “A gentleman needs to be careful. We can’t indulge ourselves just because we are in a virtual world. We can’t do things that violate our worldview, outlook on life, and values.”

The gloomy Shang Jianyao scoffed. “Hypocrite! If we don’t deal with the captain, most of the passengers here will contract the Heartless disease on the last day! In order to show your kindness, would you rather have thousands of people die? Is this kindness? Pui, this is just a hypocritical fantasy on your part!”

“No, you can’t think that way.” The Shang Jianyao that valued relationships helped the one who abhorred evil. “If you were the captain, what would you think or do when you are hunted by others to be euthanized when you were infected for no reason on your part?”

“Kill them, of course!” the gloomy Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation. “I won’t hesitate even if I have to become enemies with all of humanity! What value does this world have to me if I’m dead?”

Without waiting for the other Shang Jianyaos’ response, he fully explained his philosophy. “Doesn’t the final choice of such matters depend on which side you are on? If I were the majority, I definitely wouldn’t allow anyone to harm us in the name of respecting the rights of a few people and not harming any individuals. It’s the lesser of two evils! If I were a minority—the individual that might be harmed—I would naturally have to tell everyone that ‘I won’t be the last perpetrator!’ Even if I have to fight all of humanity and cause the deaths of the majority, I have to ensure my survival! Anyone who can make the opposite decision in both situations is either some selfless fool or a hero.”

Upon seeing how open he was about his selfishness, the other Shang Jianyaos couldn’t find a reason to retort.

As time passed, the calm and rational Shang Jianyao laughed. “Actually, there’s no need to be so extreme. In the current situation, is electrocuting the captain the best choice? We previously dealt with items and a ceiling, but it’s the human body this time. Nobody knows if there will be any additional changes.”

He looked around and glanced at the heads that had popped out of his body. He smiled and said, “Although this is a psychological trauma, we might very well be harmed in reality if anything happens. We might become vegetables or even die on the spot. Therefore, it’s not a bad thing to be careful.”

“That’s true.” The ruthless but timid Shang Jianyao thought for a few seconds and agreed.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao voiced his plan. “Let’s first try to bring the captain five kilometers away from the cruise ship to observe the changes.”

This was the team’s previous solution when dealing with the cross necklace.

“Sure, sure!” The Shang Jianyao—who had been afraid to speak because of his companions’ argument—quickly raised his hand in agreement.

Shang Jianyao’s ten heads turned to the captain—who had kneeled down again and was belting out his aria for love.

They smiled.

In less than a minute, the captain was tightly bound in bedsheets.

During this process, Shang Jianyao didn’t dare to use his abilities, afraid that he would be corrupted by the darkness. But with his physique, he easily completed the mission of ‘abduction.’

He then carried the whimpering captain and dragged his paralyzed right leg—which had been moved to his tailbone—out of the room and went straight to the deck. His target was the lifeboat attached to the cruise ship!

With his perception of human consciousness and agility, Shang Jianyao circled around the deranged humans and arrived at the railing. He then lowered the lifeboat into the sea.

After picking up the captain and getting into the lifeboat, Shang Jianyao waved his right hand at the cruise ship. “Bye!”

He was excited as if he were playing a game.

The sea breeze at night was strong, and the water was cold. Shang Jianyao tightened his clothes and said to the unconscious captain, “You are very lucky that it’s the benevolent me now. After all, a cyborg monk isn’t that afraid of the cold. Otherwise, you definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep those bedsheets!”

As he rambled, Zen Master Redemption drove the lifeboat a long distance.

He couldn’t estimate how far he went, but it was definitely more than five kilometers. He then conjured a pair of high-magnification binoculars and observed the cruise ship’s situation under the moonlight and starlight that scattered down from the sky.

Darkness still filled the area, but it was a little thinner than before. People were undoubtedly still in a chaotic and crazy state.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin and muttered to himself, “The range of this influence is a little terrifying… Or could it be that it’s essentially impossible to widen the distance without finding the right solution because we are in a psychological trauma? Must we really electrocute him?”

He considered for a moment and sent the captain back to the cruise ship before leaving the psychological trauma.

…

In the real world, Shang Jianyao opened his eyes and saw Jiang Baimian and the others—who looked like they were facing a great enemy.

Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief and asked in concern, “How was it?”

Shang Jianyao seriously explained the situation he had observed and what he had done.

Long Yuehong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. “I have headaches whenever I hear about research institutes and researchers.”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “Big White used to be a researcher.”

“Assistant, an assistant,” Jiang Baimian said humbly. She thought for a moment and said, “We might have to find a way to suppress the New World node that matches the psychological trauma or, in other words, something the room owner understands.”

“Any ideas?” Shang Jianyao had never cared about his reputation. He would raise any question.

Bai Chen pursed her lips and probed, “High-voltage electrocution?”

“We’ll leave that as a last resort.” Shang Jianyao looked around. “Is there any other solution?”

Genava, Long Yuehong, and the others fell into deep thought.

After quite some thought, Jiang Baimian said, “Let’s comb through the patterns of the entire psychological trauma.”

“First, under normal circumstances, I’ll end up in the nearest room from where I left…” Shang Jianyao quickly began to recall.

These were all his previous conclusions.

He repeated these conclusions until he reached: “Six—the period before we boarded the cruise ship was rather special. It didn’t appear again after that.”

Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully. “The sixth rule didn’t involve anything previously. Yes… Ask Loannes, Sully, and the others about the differences before and after they boarded the cruise ship on your next entry.”

Smack!

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “Alright!”

…

When Shang Jianyao entered again, the psychological trauma was in the day. Everyone had returned to normal.

He found Loannes and successfully deceived him again, becoming brothers with zero blood relation with him.

“What do you think the greatest difference before and after you boarded this cruise ship is?” Shang Jianyao asked with bright eyes.

Loannes frowned and recalled. “I felt that I’ve finally invited some peace. It was like this before I discovered anything abnormal at night. Also, I didn’t have to worry about the pursuit of a large group of Heartless…”

Shang Jianyao listened attentively and didn’t interrupt.

Toward the end, Loannes smiled. “There’s something else, but I don’t know if it counts. The weather was pretty warm previously, so it was enough for me to wear such long-sleeved T-shirts. On the day I boarded the cruise ship, the temperature dropped in the evening, and it became very cold that night. I had to wear thick clothes or wrap myself in a blanket. That damn captain didn’t allow us to turn on the air conditioner because he wanted to conserve energy!”

“It became very cold?” Shang Jianyao repeated the other party’s words, and his eyes gradually lit up.

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