Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 675: Unexpected Discovery

Translator: CKtalon

“She’s in my body!”

This sentence made Loannes shiver; it was just like how his young self had accidentally watched a horror film back when the Old World hadn’t been destroyed.

However, he quickly realized that this wasn’t the point. The point was that the captain had actually replied to Shang Jianyao!

Before this, it was impossible to communicate with the deranged humans that Loannes and Shang Jianyao had encountered. Even if not everyone remained silent, they only spoke to themselves and were almost ravings, unlike the captain, who answered a question.

Of course, as he had been hiding most of the time, Loannes couldn’t be sure if the captain’s current state was considered special because he had actually encountered very few Chaotic Ones.

This wasn’t what he wanted to know. He only cared about one thing: Does this mean that we can still communicate with the captain and that the man from the future—Shang—and I can obtain some information from him?

Loannes composed himself and looked at the captain—who looked like he was begging for love—and probed, “Do you know where the nighttime anomaly stems from?”

Woo~

The winter night’s cold wind blew in through the open window, making Loannes shrink back involuntarily.

The captain remained on one knee and repeated his previous ‘aria.’ “Oh, my goddess! Please accept my love!”

This… Loannes frowned.

Shang Jianyao—who was beside him—laughed. “You’re not charming enough.”

“What has this got to do with charm?” Loannes muttered. He preliminarily suspected that only topics related to the Goddess would make the captain respond reflexively in a chaotic, crazy, and subconscious state.

This realization disappointed Loannes. He thought for a moment before saying to Shang Jianyao, “Haven’t you always wanted to figure out the reason behind this matter? Let’s split up and search this room. I hope we can gain something.”

“Alright!” Shang Jianyao couldn’t wait.

Loannes ignored the captain—who was either kneeling, singing, and begging for love in the middle of the room or standing up and pacing back and forth with tears streaming down his face—and walked to the red desk with books and paper documents.

Those books were popular before the Old World was destroyed. Loannes had read a few of them himself and knew that there was nothing wrong with them, but he still carefully picked up the books and shook them to see if there was anything inside.

He managed to shake some items out. They drifted down and scattered on the table—a few slightly yellowing photos.

The main person in these photos was the same person—a rather beautiful woman. She had long brown hair, and her blue eyes were as charming as a lake. She kept a smile that was both sweet and sunny.

The woman’s age was different in the different photos. The youngest was 17 or 18 years old, and she wore a cheerleading uniform with a rather hot figure. The oldest picture was when she was 25 or 26 years old. She wore a cap and a short skirt as she swung a bat.

“Is this the captain’s goddess?” Shang Jianyao’s voice suddenly sounded behind Loannes.

Startled, Loannes turned around and reprimanded, “How do you walk so silently?”

“Because there’s a carpet here,” Shang Jianyao explained sincerely. He cast his gaze at the photos again and curiously and excitedly said, “His crush for many years?”

Shang Jianyao’s tone reminded Loannes of his female cousin. She acted exactly like this when discussing certain celebrities before the Old Era’s destruction.

Loannes looked at the photos carefully and subconsciously looked at the captain. He then cursed softly, “Beast!”

“What’s the reason?” Shang Jianyao asked with glistening eyes.

Loannes pointed at the photos and said, “This lady is so young, but he actually calls her goddess! Doesn’t he know his age?”

He was at least in his forties!

Shang Jianyao seemed a little disappointed with the reason for the captain being labeled a beast. He then asked, “Are you a little jealous?”

“W-what’s there to be jealous about?” Loannes asked stubbornly.

Frankly speaking, he was a little jealous because the woman in the photo was as beautiful as a celebrity. It was unknown if she had any substantial feelings for the captain. This made Loannes—who lacked female friends before the Old World’s destruction because of his introverted personality—feel bitter.

“That’s true.” Shang Jianyao didn’t care if the other party was being jealous or not. He pointed at the photo and said, “From the yellowish color, it should be quite old.”

Loannes came to a realization.

These photos were likely taken before the Old Era was destroyed. Back then, the captain was only in his twenties. Furthermore, the woman’s age in the photos was progressive—the captain might not have even been 20 years old back when the first photo was taken. There was no such thing as an age gap for the relationship.

At this thought, Loannes unconsciously weaved a story in his heart and said, “The captain had a crush on this lady, but the other party already had a boyfriend. He could only secretly gather photos and fantasize in private. When the Old Era was destroyed, the two of them lost all connections. Therefore, the captain fell into a deranged state and hallucinated, displaying the desire he had suppressed?”

“Then, how do you explain the captain saying ‘she’s in my body?’” Shang Jianyao was rather interested in the topic.

Loannes unconsciously got pulled into the discussion. “Maybe this is a scene in his fantasy. In our culture, we like to use phrases like ‘body and mind are one’ to describe love.”

“I don’t think so.” Shang Jianyao shook his head.

When Loannes looked at him, Shang Jianyao continued, “First, the two of them are indeed not a couple. Otherwise, the captain wouldn’t only have photos of her alone and instead have photos of them sharing the same frame.”

“That’s right!” Loannes came to a realization. The man from the future—Shang—is pretty good at deduction.

Shang Jianyao further recalled. “After the Old World was destroyed, the captain—who had a crush on the other party—tried to save her. However, he realized that she was with another man, who she went through thick and thin together. Under his intense jealousy and disappointment, the angry captain did something irrational in an apocalyptic environment where order was lost. He killed his goddess and her boyfriend.”

At this point, Shang Jianyao revealed a creepy smile. “After a period of time, the captain cast his gaze at his goddess’s corpse because he lacked food… That’s why he said that the goddess is in his body.”

Loannes was dumbfounded and inexplicably felt nauseous.

He was relatively lucky; he had been able to find food since the Old World’s destruction. He didn’t go hungry for more than three days, so he didn’t have to do those cruel and terrifying things.

“W-what’s your basis?” Loannes felt that Shang’s description of the situation was too dramatic and dark.

Shang Jianyao said in a lecturing tone, “This is called making bold assumptions!”

“…” Loannes was speechless, but the captain’s words ‘she’s in my body’ gave him a creepy feeling. It was difficult for him to completely deny Shang Jianyao’s ‘guess.’

He paused and said, “Let’s continue searching for clues.”

The two of them separated again and went their separate ways to flip through the various items in the room.

During this process, Loannes felt a little jealous. This was because there was actually a wine cellar in the room. Inside were many famous wines from the Old Era.

“Damn it. He’d rather waste energy on these things than turn on the damn air-conditioning system!” Loannes grumbled.

This allowed passengers and crew to enjoy the ‘charm’ of the evening combination of the winter and sea breeze.

“Maybe his fat is thick, so he isn’t afraid of the cold.” Shang Jianyao had returned at some point in time.

Loannes looked at the captain’s clearly rotund body and accepted this explanation.

After the Old Era was destroyed, food was scarce. For the captain to have such a figure meant that he had never lacked resources.

“Did you find any clues?” Loannes cared about the topic at hand.

Shang Jianyao asked seriously, “Does the fact that he likes to eat sweets and consumes tissue at a rate higher than normal count?”

“No,” Loannes replied without hesitation.

He couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face because he didn’t find any useful clues. The search of the captain’s room was almost done.

Shang Jianyao’s expression turned serious. “I think we should ask him directly.”

‘He’ referred to the captain.

Loannes was infected by the seriousness and slowly nodded. “We can give it a try.”

Just as he said that, Shang Jianyao excitedly turned around and asked loudly, “Why do you think she’s your goddess?”

Weren’t we looking for clues regarding the nighttime anomaly? Loannes couldn’t keep up with Shang Jianyao’s train of thought.

The captain—who had just completed an aria—smiled. “She’s as beautiful as the morning sun and as kind as a pure angel. I was seriously ill once and needed a bone marrow transplant. She—who happened to be a match—came forward.”

So this is the correct explanation for the sentence ‘she’s in my body’… Loannes realized that he and Shang Jianyao had made a mistake. The matter was far from being that terrifying, nor did it involve body and mind being one.

“What an angel!” Shang Jianyao echoed the captain’s words. He had no intention of asking about the origins of the nighttime anomaly.

The captain’s eyes were clearly confused as if he was in some state of unconsciousness. He muttered to himself, “She’s also captain of the cheerleading squad. She’s cheerful, enthusiastic, and good at tennis and dancing…”

“Excellent!” Shang Jianyao praised.

The captain continued, “She’s also very smart. She’s definitely not one of those women who only have boobs and a pretty face. She published a paper when she was in university. She actually chose to be a researcher in a laboratory after graduation…”

Shang Jianyao’s smiling expression changed. He stroked his chin and thoughtfully asked, “Researcher?”

—–

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