Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 232: Unexpected Reversal

Shang Jianyao didn’t agree with Joseph’s description. “He isn’t considered crazy usually?”

“Apart from being relatively brutal and hot-tempered, Mr. DiMarco is normal in other aspects,” Joseph argued.

Jiang Baimian didn’t let Shang Jianyao continue arguing and took the initiative to ask, “During that period of time, how was Mr. DiMarco’s performance different from usual?”

“Didn’t I just tell you?” Joseph’s expression became gloomy again as if he had recalled something bad. “He became even more brutal and was no longer tolerant of the guards. We were jittery when on duty every day, afraid that we would be executed for something as trivial as Mr. DiMarco hearing us farting accidentally.”

The other guard, Paul, echoed in sympathy, “Previously, a guard very trusted by Mr. DiMarco was beaten to death for such a trivial matter.”

Joseph continued, “Apart from that, Mr. DiMarco seemed to go crazy about wanting a child. When the group of lovers couldn’t get pregnant, he cast his gaze at his servants’ wives—who had experience in giving birth… We—we were very angry, but we didn’t dare to say a thing. Fortunately, Mr. DiMarco didn’t maintain this state for many years. Otherwise, we would’ve considered…”

At this point, he stopped and became vigilant. Clearly, even though he felt that Shang Jianyao was friendly enough, he was unwilling to reveal his dark thoughts.

If DiMarco learned of this, he would be the next person to be hastily buried in the valley here.

Jiang Baimian frowned and asked, “Did DiMarco return to normal because he finally had a new child?”

The more she listened, the more she felt that DiMarco’s obsession with children was abnormal. He was clearly sick.

It had to be known that apart from the one who died young, DiMarco still had two other biological children.

“No.” Joseph denied Jiang Baimian’s guess. “Maybe Mr. DiMarco slowly regained his clarity of mind after venting his anger time and time again. His clarity also rewarded him. Five months ago, a mistress of his finally got pregnant.”

“It might not be his.” Shang Jianyao raised a possibility.

“That, we aren’t sure.” Joseph didn’t help DiMarco deny it.

Jiang Baimian could tell that the Underground Ark’s guards had similar guesses. They might be secretly betting on who was the child’s real father.

She thought for a moment and asked, “Mr. DiMarco’s other two children are girls, and the one who died was a boy?”

This was the best explanation she could think of for DiMarco to go crazy after his young son died.

“The one who died was indeed a boy.” Joseph scratched his large nose. “But the other two are a girl and a boy.”

Jiang Baimian immediately lost her train of thought.

Shang Jianyao eagerly asked, “Can we follow you into the Underground Ark?”

“No.” Joseph and Paul shook their heads at the same time, looking a little terrified.

“Why?” Shang Jianyao expressed his confusion.

Joseph quickly explained, “There are three rounds of inspection at each entrance, and there are many guards. There’s definitely a problem if two of us come out and six of us go back!”

He understood that Zhang Qubing and the others wanted to use him and Paul to infiltrate the Underground Ark.

“I can communicate with them.” Shang Jianyao sincerely suggested a solution.

Joseph still shook his head. “It’s useless. We are all very afraid of Mr. DiMarco. Without his permission, we don’t dare to let any outsiders enter the Ark. Furthermore, cameras are installed at every inspection point. There are specialized guards in charge of the surveillance room. Once they discover a problem, they will immediately cut off power to the elevators and other facilities, completely isolating the Ark from the outside world.”

The other guard, Paul, added, “One of Mr. DiMarco’s hobbies is watching surveillance cameras. No one dares to be perfunctory in this regard.”

Unfortunately, Shang Jianyao’s Inference Clowning still can’t achieve a certain level of effect with the help of complicated conversions… The cameras can’t record sound either… Jiang Baimian felt regretful and smiled.

“Do you have any unnecessary misunderstandings about us? We don’t plan on using you to sneak into the Underground Ark. Instead, we want you to tell Mr. DiMarco that we wish to visit him and chat with him about the Old World. This is our main goal. Apart from that, there are only a few simple questions.”

Joseph and Paul heaved a sigh of relief, their bodies no longer tense.

The former asked happily, “Can you introduce yourself? Mr. DiMarco will probably ask.”

“A Ruin Hunter team. The team leader is Madam Qian Bai.” Jiang Baimian introduced them in Red River language and pointed at Bai Chen.

Joseph and Paul swept their gaze at them as if they were a little confused that their leader was the quietest and shortest.

Jiang Baimian knew that such an introduction was insufficient and boasted, “It’s the Ruin Hunter team that previously finished off the murloc Oracle and saved Redstone Collection.”

“Huh?” Joseph and Paul were a little confused. It was obvious that they were relatively ill-informed by spending all their time in the Underground Ark and didn’t know much about the outside world.

Of course, this was definitely limited to the lower echelons. Whether it was DiMarco or his butlers and guard captains, they should know about the Qian Bai Team, which had recently been in the spotlight in Redstone Collection.

“Just introduce us to Mr. DiMarco like that,” Jiang Baimian added.

“Alright.” Joseph and Paul agreed.

Right on the heels of that, their gazes landed on the burlap sack containing Butler Carl’s corpse. They seemed to be hesitating about whether they should report to the Underground Ark now or bury the corpse first.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian smiled and said, “Don’t worry. We’re all friends now; we’ll do the burying.”

Friends? Team Leader, how did you learn Shang Jianyao’s tricks… Long Yuehong couldn’t help but curse inwardly.

Joseph and Paul felt relieved after receiving the promise. They turned around and walked toward the cave.

After watching them disappear from sight, Jiang Baimian instructed Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong, “Move Butler Carl’s corpse into the jeep’s trunk.”

“Huh?” Long Yuehong was just about to pick up a shovel.

Jiang Baimian casually explained, “Bring it back to Weiler for a detailed autopsy and see if there’s anything strange about the cause of death.”

I see… Long Yuehong really thought that his team leader had decided to play the nice person role to the end.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao looked at the cave and sighed. “What a pity…”

“Are you thinking that with how things went, you won’t be able to use your intelligence and Awakened abilities to sneak into the Underground Ark without anyone noticing?” Jiang Baimian teased with a smile. “Don’t worry. We’re just being polite before resorting to force.”

Shang Jianyao turned his head to glance at her. “I find it a pity that I can’t blast open the Underground Ark’s door with a single rocket launcher.”

“When did you become so fierce?” Jiang Baimian was surprised.

Shang Jianyao replied truthfully, “A few minutes ago. Now, I’m the ferocious and rash me.”

“…” Jiang Baimian sized up Shang Jianyao and rationally gave up on the topic.

After Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong carried Butler Carl’s corpse into the jeep, the Old Task Force waited for a while before seeing Joseph and Paul return.

They were still wearing simple olive-green uniforms and had submachine guns slung across their backs.

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao look at him in anticipation, Joseph said guiltily, “Mr. DiMarco told me to tell you that there’s nothing to talk about. He only interacts with the Vigilance Church’s bishops.”

“Alright.” Jiang Baimian didn’t insist. After all, the person in question wasn’t in front of her.

They began walking toward the spot where the jeep was parked. Shang Jianyao waved goodbye to Joseph and Paul.

After the jeep drove away from the foot of Iron Mountain, Long Yuehong couldn’t help but ask, “What should we do next? Think of a way to sneak into the Underground Ark?”

As Jiang Baimian observed her surroundings, she muttered to herself, “I’m considering a question. Is the contact with DiMarco worth us taking the risk to infiltrate the Underground Ark?

“His ancestors might not know anything; they just have apocalyptic phobia. Whether it’s the problem of the Redstone Collection traitor or Lehman’s commission, it’s not important to us. It’s naturally good that we can figure out something, but it doesn’t matter if we can’t. After all, we didn’t make any promises and didn’t receive any payment.”

Bai Chen agreed with this. “The main reason we can’t carry out a full investigation is that the Vigilance Church isn’t cooperating and doesn’t give us the right to contact DiMarco directly. This is their problem, and it has nothing to do with us.”

“Yes!” Jiang Baimian immediately felt at ease. She then smiled and said, “Although we won’t take the risk to infiltrate, we can discuss the plan. We might encounter such matters in the future, so it won’t be wrong to develop our thinking more now.”

Long Yuehong looked at Shang Jianyao beside him and didn’t mention the plan to ‘make friends’ with the butler and sneaking in through the supply crates. This wasn’t because Butler Carl was dead but because he now knew that DiMarco was very brutal.

If this method was used, the corresponding butler would not be able to escape death.

“From the ventilation ducts?” Long Yuehong deliberated before saying, “Although Viel said that there are guards at every ventilation duct, I’m sure there aren’t as many as the regular entrances. We can control them before striking them unconscious and quickly resolve them without causing any commotion.”

With Shang Jianyao’s Hands Immobility and Corny Person, it was not a problem.

Jiang Baimian nodded slightly. “It’s feasible, but we need to investigate if there are surveillance cameras in the ventilation ducts in advance. If there are, how should we resolve them?”

During the group discussion, Shang Jianyao remained very silent. It was unknown what he was thinking.

Jiang Baimian noticed his abnormality and hesitated before asking, “Hey, any plan of yours that’s different?”

Shang Jianyao immediately leaned forward and said seriously, “I want to confirm two things first: First, our goal is to establish contact with DiMarco and communicate with him, right?”

After receiving an affirmative answer, he continued, “DiMarco also said that he only interacts with the Vigilance Church’s bishop. In that case, we can obtain a very simple solution: As long as we become bishops of the Vigilance Church, the problem will be solved.”

Jiang Baimian slowly exhaled and said, “This is an idea, but the problem is that it’s not that easy to become a bishop of the Vigilance Church.”

She still had a fresh memory of the gaze at the door.

Before night fell, the Old Task Force—which had gone to Redstone Collection—returned to the hotel camp. They no longer worried about what happened during the day.

However, someone came to visit them early the next morning.

This person resembled Butler Carl; he wore a neat black suit and looked to be in his forties. His black hair was neatly combed, but his hairline was a little high. From his appearance, he gave off a serious feeling.

He swept his blue eyes around and respectfully said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Mr. DiMarco’s butler, Ulrich. He wants to invite you to meet in the Underground Ark’s special reception room.”

Ah? Long Yuehong wasn’t the only one surprised. Jiang Baimian and the others were also surprised.

It had only been one night, yet DiMarco had already changed his mind?