Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 821 Old Friend

A faint fog filled the darkness as if it were hiding something.

Shang Jianyao and Genava walked forward silently with their weapons in hand. They had yet to turn on their searchlights; the night-vision capabilities that the military exoskeleton and the smart bot had were still adequate.

After walking for a while, Genava’s headwhich was hidden in the Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor-suddenly turned 360 degrees, and the red glow in his eyes quickly flickered.

“What’s wrong?” Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Genava replied in a slightly synthetic voice, “I keep having the feeling that something is following us.”

The Shang Jianyaos were in an uproar. “Old Ge, you actually said ‘feeling!’”

“In such a situation, shouldn’t you be analyzing the percentage of the various possibilities?”

“As a smart bot, you have to be precise in your words and be pragmatic when it comes to reconnaissance.”

Or

After the Shang Jianyaos finished speaking in a cacophony, Genava calmly replied, “After entering the fog, the electromagnetic interference worsened significantly. My reconnaissance range and abilities have been greatly affected. In such a situation, I sometimes can’t even determine if the information I obtain comes from an illusion.”

“I understand.” Shang Jianyao changed his attitude and expressed his understanding. He then said, “In the café, I secretly tried to use the communications system embedded in the exoskeleton to communicate with Big White, but I didn’t receive any response.”

“However, we were able to do it between us,” Genava stated an objective fact.

“What about now?” Shang Jianyao’s voice entered Genava’s audio processing through the communications system.

Genava quickly replied, “It’s still relatively clear, but it’s also affected to a certain extent.”

He had relied on the communications system to respond.

At the same time, he warned Shang Jianyao, “It’s unsuitable to stay in an environment blanketed by electromagnetic anomalies for extended periods. It will cause indelible harm to your body.”

Carbon-based humans were indeed more fragile than silicon-based humans.

“Give me two more hours,” Shang Jianyao said.

Genava was a little surprised this was an emotion he had simulated because such an answer exceeded what Shang Jianyao’s behavior database ought to contain.

“You actually didn’t say: ‘the night is long; the Arbiter of Fate blesses thee.” Genava expressed his confusion.

Shang Jianyao sincerely said, “It’s not like we have to finish the exploration this time and can’t enter again in the future. I start work early at 8 and knock off work at noon; Little Red is very envious of that. Besides, we don’t have to worry too much about the effects electromagnetic radiation will have on the body. With the protection of certain devices, it won’t be a problem.

“The Arbiter of Fate’s protection has to be used on important matters, such as guarding against the Heartless disease. We can’t waste it on such trivial details.”

“That’s indeed an idea,” Genava suggested sincerely, “but there’s no need for you to add a few words from what you learned from the Old World’s entertainment every now and then. It’s not conducive for communication.”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “This isn’t to help communication but to liven up the mood. Old Ge, you’re too serious, blah, blah, blah.”

“What does it mean?” Genava was no stranger to the Old World’s entertainment, but he still couldn’t understand what this sentence meant.

“To put it simply,” Shang Jianyao replied seriously, “I haven’t thought of what to say next. I’ll replace it with ‘blah, blah.””

Genava temporarily fell silent.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao seemed to recall the main point of the discussion. “Old Ge, did you just say that you felt something following us?”

“Yes, but I’m worried that this is only fake information produced by an environmental influence on me.” Genava spun his head as he spoke, investigating his surroundings.

The Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor’s head was almost twisted into a hemp rope. Fortunately, Genava rotated back again.

Shang Jianyao frankly replied, “Just pretend that there is. I want to see how long he can keep up. According to the current situation, we are getting closer and closer to the source of the problem. The further we go, the more trouble we will encounter.”

He meant that if something was really following them, the environment might not help resolve the problem.

“That’s true.” Genava didn’t harp on the problem.

On their side, one was a smart bot with outstanding resistance to attacks and wasn’t afraid of Heartless disease infection and most Awakened abilities. The other had ‘the night is long; the Arbiter of Fate blesses thee.’ What was there to worry about?

After moving forward in the foggy darkness for about ten minutes, Shang Jianyao and Genava passed through an intersection and entered the next street. The reason they didn’t turn left or right was that they realized that there were clearly more corpses ahead.

In the areas they had previously passed through, perhaps the Heartless needed food, or perhaps the Icefield creatures had been here before-almost all the corpses had been cleared, leaving behind only traces of fighting, shooting, and blood splatters.

Here, the corpses on the street and by the roadside were like sandbags strewn across the ground. They had basically been reduced to bones, and they wore clothes of different colors and had varying degrees of decay.

Genava quickly did a simple reconnaissance. “Some of these corpses died from an attack, and some don’t immediately show any cause of death.”

Shang Jianyao nodded and said seriously, “Is this the core area of the Heartless outbreak? It was too chaotic back then. The Heartless killed each other and couldn’t calm down? As for the ones who escaped, they didn’t dare to approach the source of the problem. They would rather starve to death than enter this area to gather food?”

Genava analyzed the situation and said, “This is a guess, but there are still too many possibilities.”

“Yes.” Shang Jianyao didn’t retort.

He switched on the military exoskeleton’s searchlights and checked the corpses with the help of the yellowish light. His focus was mainly on the clothes, items, and the corpses’ possible heights.

Genava knew what he was looking for and didn’t say a word. He quietly followed behind to prevent any accidents.

As they walked, the two of them simultaneously saw a street lamp lit in the distance like a servant welcoming a guest.

“Another New World projection?” Shang Jianyao muttered excitedly.

“Probably.” Genava believed that this was the most likely possibility.

Shang Jianyao didn’t speed up his pace. He roughly scanned the corpses along the way at his original pace and didn’t discover any humans suspected to be from Pangu Biology.

He and Genava then saw the area illuminated by the street lamp clearly.

Near the road was a tree with dense branches and leaves. Beside the tree was a brown wooden bench.

On the brown bench sat a man in his late twenties. His hair was neatly combed, and he wore a formal gray suit with black stripes and a relatively small pair of round glasses.

At this moment, the man was leisurely reading a newspaper under the street lamps’ light.

“Wu Meng!” Shang Jianyao shouted happily.

The man was Wu Meng, who was sealed in Wasteland Ruin 13.

His projection had actually appeared here.

Shang Jianyao then turned his head and sighed with emotion at Genava. “We really met an old friend in a foreign land.”

“In a way.” Genava didn’t give the exact probability and chose an ambiguous term that was closer to human habits.

Wu Meng clearly couldn’t hear Shang Jianyao’s greeting, but the experienced Shang Jianyao decisively gave up on the Berserker assault rifle in his hand and took out the small jade Buddha.

Green light lit up and silently surged into the surroundings, making the fog seem to subside significantly.

Wu Meng looked up at Shang Jianyao and Genava through his small, round glasses. He slowly smiled. “You guys...

He still spoke in the Red River language.

“It’s us.” Shang Jianyao asked curiously, “Weren’t you sealed in Wasteland Ruin 13? Why do you still appear in the New World?”

He seemed to treat his previous guess as the real situation and naturally believed that Wu Meng’s appearance here was a reflection of the New World.

Wu Meng’s expression turned a little cold. “Without the New World, how can they seal

me?”

“Oh, I see.” Shang Jianyao acted as if he had come to a realization.

Without waiting for him to ask again, Wu Meng folded the newspaper in his hand and smiled. “I know you want to know many things, but I don’t plan on answering you. I can only remind you not to venture deeper. There are dangers there that you can’t deal with at the moment.”

Just as Wu Meng said that, the area illuminated by the street lamps warped.

This scene flickered a few times before completely returning to the darkness that was filled with light fog.

“Why do the New World’s projections get destroyed after just a few words?” Shang Jianyao was extremely aggrieved.

It was the same when he communicated with Flora and Barnard. It was the same when he spoke to Wu Meng.

Genava guessed, “Maybe a certain force is preventing those in the New World from communicating with people in the Ashlands.”

“Just like what the Salvation Army’s earliest batch of New World powerhouses encountered?” Shang Jianyao put away the small jade Buddha and raised his right hand to press the armor on his left chest.

“Probably.” Genava felt that the two matters were essentially the same, but the way it was presented was different.

He suggested to Shang Jianyao, “Do we return now?”

“Why are we returning?” Shang Jianyao was very surprised.

Genava replied, “Didn’t Wu Meng just say not to venture any deeper? Isn’t there danger ahead that we can’t deal with?”

Shang Jianyao smiled. “Wu Meng also said that the more dangerous it is, the more one should take risks. He might be hinting at us to continue forward. Yes, he can’t be clear when there’s a force stopping him!”

Genava was just about to speak when he suddenly spun his head. “I feel like we’re being followed by something again.”

Bang!

Shang Jianyao—who had secretly made preparations—used the exoskeleton’s grenade launcher to fire a flare behind him.

Under the sudden explosion of light, he—who was wearing a helmet-saw a black, cheetah-sized feline creature on the balcony of a distant building.

The creature’s green eyes narrowed from the flare.

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