Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 124: Settled

Following the female voice, the Eyes of Holiness believers present raised their hands and pressed their thumbs under their eyebrows.

At the same time, their other fingers stretched upward and touched their foreheads.

“One, two, three, four…”

Amidst the clear female voices, they followed the rhythm and wore solemn expressions as they kneaded.

“…” Long Yuehong stared with his mouth agape, and his expression gradually turned strange.

If he didn’t remember wrong, this should be the Eye Exercise that Pangu Biology’s primary and secondary school students did every day. At most, there were differences in the actions’ details and the length of the name.

Finally, Long Yuehong reacted and looked at Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao.

Jiang Baimian kept her lips tightly pursed. The muscles on her face and the ponytail behind her head trembled slightly. Shang Jianyao had closed his eyes at some point in time and sat up with an abnormally solemn expression.

Long Yuehong was just about to whisper to them when Jiang Baimian suddenly turned her head to look at him. The Old Task Force’s team leader then raised her right hand and did a zipping action across her mouth.

Long Yuehong got the idea and kept quiet.

Bai Chen looked at them in confusion, not understanding why they had such a reaction.

“Session 2, squeeze your nose bridge…

“Session 3, massage under your eyes…

“Session 4, tap out a circle around your eyes…”

In the solemn atmosphere, the Eyes of Holiness’s Mass slowly came to an end.

Ferlin—who was at the door’s entrance—opened his eyes and spoke in a singing voice. “Eyes, most sacred. Love and protection of thy eyes is showing love and protection of thy life!”

The believers placed their index fingers under their eyes again and replied loudly, “May your eyes be bright!”

Ferlin did the same, but he didn’t say the same words. Instead, he praised the Kalendaria, Double Sun. “God is the Sun and Moon!”

After completing this step, he loudly announced, “Next, it’s time for Holy Communion.”

With that said, he jumped down from the door and made way.

Several believers stepped in and brought out orange plastic trays from the kitchen.

On the trays were plates. Each plate had several pieces of steamed carrots.

Ferlin looked at Shang Jianyao and the others and explained in a preaching tone, “These are the gifts of the Kalendaria. It can brighten your eyes.”

“May your eyes be bright,” Shang Jianyao replied sincerely, but he didn’t do any actions.

Ferlin was rather generous. He gave each guest a serving of Holy Communion, along with chopsticks and spoons.

Long Yuehong thanked him and reached out to take it before eating at a moderate pace.

Although the steamed carrot didn’t have any additional seasoning and tasted rather bland, it was still delicious for Long Yuehong—who was tired of energy bars, compressed biscuits, and military canned food.

After Holy Communion, Mass officially ended. Ferlin walked in front of Shang Jianyao and the others and smiled. “For people like us who often drive long distances, our eyes are very important. This is also the main reason why I accepted the Eyes of Holiness as my lord. Look, I don’t have any far-sightedness yet.”

“Indeed.” Jiang Baimian understood very well why Rootless were more inclined to believe in the Eyes of Holiness.

This was due to their living environment and customs.

Shang Jianyao asked, “Don’t you have glasses?”

“I do.” Ferlin felt that it was his good brother’s show of concern. He smiled and explained, “Many factions still have the equipment and craft needed to polish glasses. However, there are very, very few factions that can make your eyes clear like in the Old World.

“Besides, glasses are ultimately external objects. When we traverse the wilderness and other places, we might not encounter a single human settlement for days. Even if we do encounter one, they might not be able to make you glasses.

“During such a process, wouldn’t it be equivalent to being blind if one’s glasses are damaged? How can you drive? Even if you prepare spare glasses in advance, it won’t prevent your eyesight from deteriorating again. When the time comes, you’ll be useless.”

After laying out the facts and reasoning, Ferlin smiled and asked, “How is it? How do you feel about our Eyes of Holiness? Do you want to join us?”

If my relatives and friends in Pangu Biology learned that I had joined such a church, I would definitely be a joke for the rest of my life… Jiang Baimian muttered silently and didn’t answer directly. Instead, she looked at Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao sincerely said, “I don’t think we are fated with the Eyes of Holiness.”

“What a pity…” Ferlin looked regretful. He pointed in the direction of the Old Task Force’s jeep and said, “Wait for me there. I’ll come after changing. Let’s discuss the paint job.”

“Alright.” Jiang Baimian immediately agreed.

On the way back to the jeep’s area, Long Yuehong looked back and thoughtfully said to Shang Jianyao, “The reason you rejected them is that you don’t think their Holy Communion is delicious?”

“This might be fate,” Shang Jianyao replied frankly.

“Haha, I knew it.” Long Yuehong was rather happy. He also felt that the simple carrot Holy Communion was too bland. It probably couldn’t attract Shang Jianyao.

Bai Chen had also blended in with the team. Upon seeing that the atmosphere was suitable, she asked, “Why did you have such a big reaction to the Eyes of Holiness’s Mass?”

Upon hearing this question, Jiang Baimian finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. She chortled until she almost couldn’t walk.

After a while, she took a deep breath in and said, “I’m too familiar with their Mass. Every student in the company is familiar with it!”

Upon seeing that Bai Chen was still a little confused, she gave an example. “Do you still remember Moat Town’s morning exercise? That’s one of the company’s primary and secondary schools’ morning exercises. Haha, it is indeed a relic of the Old World, but it has nothing to do with the Kalendaria. In the end, they treated it as Mass because it’s related to the eyes. Haha, I can’t take it anymore…”

Jiang Baimian laughed until Long Yuehong couldn’t help but laugh as well.

Bai Chen roughly understood what was happening. She imagined the scene of the Eyes of Holiness using Moat Town’s morning exercise as Mass, and she couldn’t help but wear a faint smile.

Shang Jianyao suddenly asked, “What if the company’s higher-ups were all believers in the Eyes of Holiness and deliberately chose this routine for eye exercise?”

“How is that possible…” Long Yuehong said as his voice gradually softened.

This possibility was terrifying just thinking about it.

Jiang Baimian glared at Shang Jianyao. “Stop telling ghost stories! If that were the case, we would’ve long been believers of the Eyes of Holiness.”

As they spoke, they returned to the jeep.

Jiang Baimian looked at her car and gradually fell into deep thought.

Long Yuehong waited for a while before curiously inquiring, “Team Leader, what are you thinking about?”

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and said, “I’m wondering if I can infer the power traits of the Kalendaria Double Sun’s domain from ‘severe hair loss’ and ‘sexual abnormality.’ Du Heng said that there should be a blurry reflection of the price and ability.”

Shang Jianyao immediately made a guess. “It can make an enemy lose their hair and become a pervert?”

“…Such an ability should be categorized as a mental blow.” Long Yuehong imagined it.

Jiang Baimian glanced at Shang Jianyao. “I’m talking about finding common ground. However, we can’t be sure that the second Awakened that Ferlin mentioned is also a believer of the Eyes of Holiness. If that’s the case, I think their commonality is that it involves hormones.”

Bai Chen had relatively good basic education among wilderness nomads. Thus, she had a rough idea about what hormones represented. She deliberated and said, “That’s a huge scope.”

“Indeed, but there’s too little information at present. We can only speculate to this extent.” Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged her words and said, “Also, since their religion focuses on the eyes, their abilities might also include the field of vision. Heh heh, I wouldn’t be surprised if an Awakened of the Eyes of Holiness can achieve near-invisibility.”

She did not mention how to guard against such Awakened if they encountered one.

As the four Old Task Force members discussed, Ferlin had already changed into the black leather coat from yesterday and walked over. He still had a holster hanging from his waist. Inside was the Python revolver.

After exchanging greetings, he looked at the Old Task Force’s jeep and deliberated before saying, “How about an army-green camouflage? For a jeep, this is relatively common. It won’t draw attention.”

“Sure.” Jiang Baimian fully respected the professional’s opinion.

Ferlin then asked, “How do you plan on sending yourselves to Weed City? We have a special trailer that can accommodate a jeep.”

“There’s no need to go through so much trouble.” Jiang Baimian voiced her thoughts to Shang Jianyao’s sworn brother. “You can send a small convoy and pretend as if you are in Weed City to do business. We can just hide inside. It would be even better if you happen to have such plans.”

Ferlin laughed. “What a coincidence!”

After laughing, he added, “We happen to have a convoy heading to Weed City to see if we can get more food back.”

Jiang Baimian could guess that wasn’t the reason, but she deliberately asked, “You don’t have enough food?”

Ferlin sighed and said, “The weather wasn’t good this year. Food production in many places has been reduced. Having more reserves might save lives, or we can sell them for a good price.”

A smile gradually surfaced on his face when he reached the second half of the sentence.

“We’ll follow your convoy then.” Jiang Baimian didn’t ask any further. “How many cans do we have to pay in total? Or do you prefer compressed biscuits and energy bars?”

“Last night’s wine and dinner… Today’s paint job and tomorrow’s convoy’s protection… A total of ten cans will do. If it’s not enough, we can use compressed biscuits and energy bars as collateral.” Ferlin quickly gave a number.

Jiang Baimian heaved a sigh of relief. “Just barely enough.”

Ferlin’s smile relaxed. “Then, we’ll set off tomorrow morning. We’ll definitely be there before noon.”

“That fast?” Although Jiang Baimian didn’t plan on continuing taking detours, she knew that there was still a day’s journey ahead.

Ferlin smiled and said, “We repaired Weed City’s broken bridge over Turbid River some time ago. There’s no need to take detours.”

Turbid River was the name given to the green river after it entered the Monk Wastelands.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “Alright, it’s settled then.”