Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 632: Encouragement

Translator: CKtalon

Jiang Baimian turned around and glanced at Shang Jianyao. She didn’t rebuke him for being out of his league or what he had to do, nor did she ask how he was going about doing it. Instead, she calmly said, “We’ll discuss it when we get back.”

Shang Jianyao nodded and didn’t retort.

At this moment, Long Yuehong reacted. His first thought was: This fellow is acting up again.

However, he always likes to use ‘us’ when he acts up. Why did he only say ‘I’ this time… Long Yuehong was confused, but he vaguely understood why Shang Jianyao only emphasized ‘I.’

He thinks this is a private act. He doesn’t plan on implicating us and wants to deal with it himself? Long Yuehong silently exhaled and maintained his silence like Bai Chen.

Genava looked around and chose to remain silent.

After returning to their rented place in the Red Wolf Zone, Jiang Baimian slowly took out her waterskin and took a sip. She then looked at Shang Jianyao and said, “At a time like this, you mustn’t forget that we have a background and a large faction backing us. What we need to do now is report today’s discovery to the company and raise the idea of taking action against the man in the sunglasses. We want to see how the company replies and if they will send any form of aid.

“I think the board of directors and the big shots in the New World above should know better than us how dangerous such nightmares are and how high the chances of success are if we forcefully interfere. If they agree with us, it means that there’s some hope.”

“Alright,” Long Yuehong replied before Shang Jianyao could.

Shang Jianyao didn’t object.

At the appointed time, Jiang Baimian switched on the radio transceiver, but she didn’t receive any telegrams.

She quickly sent out a telegram she had previously drafted and turned around. “The directors probably won’t work overtime. We’ll see if there’s a reply tomorrow. Uh… I know you’re anxious. In any case, there are still 45 minutes until the scheduled time ends. Let’s wait.”

Jiang Baimian’s last sentence was directed at Shang Jianyao—who was sometimes aloof with the mantra ‘everything is but a dream; why so serious’ and sometimes rashly pacing back and forth.

She kept the receiver on as she took out the information provided by the True Self Church and seriously studied the intelligence regarding the garrisons around Wasteland Ruin 13.

Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and the others found something to do. Shang Jianyao tried to use the small speaker, but Jiang Baimian glared at him.

As time passed, a telegram suddenly came in.

“The company actually replied? That efficient?” Jiang Baimian was a little surprised. Her first reaction was that this might be a reply to her previous telegram—the one reporting her encounter with the ‘nightmare.’

But it was impossible upon careful thought.

If that were the case, a telegram would’ve come in from the beginning! The board of directors would definitely approve a reply during the day and not wait until nighttime.

Shang Jianyao had a gratified expression when he heard that. “The directors do work overtime!”

“It might not be overtime. They have a rotational duty system.” Jiang Baimian was rather familiar with the system.

The rotation system didn’t mean that the directors had to stay up all night like employees. Instead, a board member had to be on call if there was an emergency at night.

As she spoke, Jiang Baimian finished copying the code and began translating them into words: “You can give it a try…”

At this point, Jiang Baimian said in surprise, “The directors actually agreed to let us take action against the man in the sunglasses!”

This meant that the director on duty and the directors he had communicated with today believed that the Old Task Force had a chance of completing this mission and obtaining precious information despite the nightmare’s threat.

At the very least, Jiang Baimian didn’t think that they would be so easily abandoned by the board of directors with Shang Jianyao’s level and the Old Task Force’s strength.

Jiang Baimian kept something to herself: After Eidolon Nun’s second gaze and the anomaly in Iron Mountain City’s Second Food Company’s illusion, she felt that a certain or a few Kalendarium were looking forward to their development. They wouldn’t be abandoned so easily before they were drained of their value.

Upon seeing Shang Jianyao’s joy, Long Yuehong couldn’t help but snub, “Could it be a hasty decision made by some director?”

“Who knows?” Jiang Baimian casually replied.

In fact, with her understanding of the board of directors and the higher-ups, this possibility was rather low. This was because the night duty telegraph operator would make copies of the documents and send an email to all the directors before reporting the ‘urgent matter.’

Unless the director on duty insisted on going their own way and was willing to take on the subsequent blame, he wouldn’t make a decision easily. There would definitely be a collective discussion.

Of course, it was another story if the matter was extremely urgent. However, this was clearly not the case.

Jiang Baimian continued translating the rest of the telegram. “This matter is extremely risky. You need to constantly evaluate your condition and be prepared to cease operations at any moment. If you fall in danger, Life Angel necklace.”

The latter sentence came out of nowhere. Long Yuehong frowned and blurted out, “Huh?”

Jiang Baimian laughed. “The company isn’t providing us any additional resources and only mentioned the Life Angel necklace?”

Isn’t this too stingy?

Bai Chen quietly listened and recalled something. “I remember Hey’s Life Angel necklace was modified by the company.”

“Yes.” The rash Shang Jianyao smiled. “They say that the external aura in my Sea of Origins has worsened. When an accident is triggered, transferring the aura in the necklace into the Sea of Origins can allow him to deal with those outsiders.”

“Pui, that’s clearly just a guess on your part!” retorted the honest Shang Jianyao.

The company didn’t say anything.

Jiang Baimian laughed as well. “From the looks of it, it’s at least an aura of someone who has ventured deep into the Mind Corridor. It might even be a powerhouse from the New World. Otherwise, the company wouldn’t say that we can rely on the Life Angel necklace when we’re in danger.”

Is that so… Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief.

“When are we taking action?” Shang Jianyao couldn’t wait.

The honest Genava replied, “We have to at least wait until dawn.”

“Why can’t we take advantage of the night?” the honest Shang Jianyao asked.

Jiang Baimian made a terse grunt. “We’ll rent a car tomorrow and split into two teams. We’ll disguise ourselves and go to the alley the target entered to investigate his whereabouts and find where he lives. Along the way, we’ll gather all kinds of information and strive to grasp the target’s uniqueness in advance.”

At this point, Jiang Baimian chuckled. “Actually, it’s not that the True Self Church and Dawn’s Morning Star don’t want to carry out further investigations on the nightmare. However, they hope to have sufficient confidence. Let’s try to create such a situation and get them to join in. Don’t be resistant. The more friends you have, the weaker the enemy will be!

“If things don’t work out, we definitely won’t put on a brave front. This is because you aren’t the only one who will die. There’s a high chance that it will include the thousands of innocent people in the Green Olive Zone and us.”

Jiang Baimian’s last sentence was directed at Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao fell silent for a moment. “Alright.”

Another Shang Jianyao then added, “If it doesn’t work this time, I’ll try again when I grow stronger!”

…

The next morning, in the Green Olive Zone.

Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao—who had changed their disguises—drove a common old car into the alley where the man in black sunglasses had disappeared into.

There were many houses on both sides of the street, and the road only allowed one car passage.

Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Genava drove the Old Task Force’s jeep and circled the area, secretly observing if Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao’s tracking would bring about any abnormalities and the origins of the abnormality if any.

After driving for a while, Jiang Baimian stopped the car and got Shang Jianyao to ask the boss of a provision shop by the roadside.

Shang Jianyao walked over with his sunglasses on and seriously said, “Give me a pack of salt.”

In the Green Olive Zone—where supplies were scarce—although it was called a provision shop, it didn’t sell many things. Salt was the most eye-catching one.

After handing over the money and receiving the item, Shang Jianyao smiled. “Look, I just patronized your business. I didn’t bargain. So…”

As a Red Coaster, the boss immediately suppressed his voice suspiciously. “What do you want?”

“Have you seen such a person?” Shang Jianyao described the person before taking out Genava’s portrait of the target.

The boss only took a glance before answering, “I’ve seen him. He’s the only one I’ve seen wearing sunglasses at night! He always walks to the end of the alley and turns right.”

Shang Jianyao—who had gained something—returned to the car and repeated the boss’s words.

Jiang Baimian wasn’t focused on the target’s whereabouts but on something else. She muttered to herself in confusion, “Wearing sunglasses even at night? Then, what’s the point of him wearing sunglasses to hide the disparity in his eyes?”

Different-sized eyes and sunglasses at night were characteristics, but the latter was even more obvious!

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “If it were me, I would choose to wear a pair of brown-tinted glasses. This way, others won’t pay too much attention to my different-sized eyes.”

Nobody would find it problematic to wear glasses at night.

After he said that, the honest Shang Jianyao scoffed. “Can’t others have low intelligence?”