Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 704: Interaction

Translator: CKtalon

After grabbing Chaotic Right Hand, Jiang Baimian’s first reaction was to pull up the blanket and wrap it around her body. However, this didn’t stop her body from trembling. After all, she wouldn’t enjoy a sharp rise in temperature doing so.

As she gritted her teeth, Jiang Baimian began to think about what to do next.

She only had a flash of inspiration and used the fact that Shang Jianyao had cleared Room 522’s cruise trauma to secretly have the latter hold both powerful items—the Six Senses Beads and the Life Angel necklace—in preparation. She also took the opportunity to take out her Chaotic Right Hand and enhance her strength.

But after completing these matters, Jiang Baimian sadly realized that she and Shang Jianyao still couldn’t attempt a surprise attack without the other party noticing. Once there were signs, things might very well become very troublesome with the target’s strength and unique abilities. It was unknown who would emerge victorious.

Most importantly, there was a high chance that the other party still had the nuclear warhead. Even if the Old Task Force could create an opportunity one step at a time, they had to worry that the other party would choose an internecine outcome when pushed into a corner.

Ignoring the fact that Jiang Baimian and the others weren’t mentally prepared to sacrifice themselves here, most of Ubei’s citizens probably wouldn’t be spared if the nuclear warhead were to be detonated. This was definitely not the outcome Shang Jianyao hoped to see.

Unfortunately, he hid his human consciousness. Otherwise, I could’ve dealt a sudden strike and given him a Chaotic state to create an opportunity for Shang Jianyao to use the Six Senses Beads and the Life Angel necklace…

If I can’t lock onto his consciousness, I can’t use my abilities and items…

Do we have to alert the enemy? The risk is too high, and the consequences are uncontrollable…

Calm down, calm down. Think about the rules governing how Awakened sense each other’s consciousness.

First, every Awakened can hide their consciousness, and they can even prevent Awakened at a higher level than them from discovering them. This has been verified and confirmed, but it’s still unknown if powerhouses who enter the New World can sense hidden consciousness…

Second, once Awakened have interactions—including but not limited to seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and using their abilities—they can sense each other’s consciousness…

Now, Room 214’s person is within the confines of the first rule. To crack this—finding his consciousness and completing a lock-on—we have to establish an interaction with him.

Are we to just knock on his door? That’s too obvious. The other party can easily guess that we’ve sensed his existence and will definitely exert influence on us immediately, causing us to lose the initiative and be in a disadvantaged situation…

Call him? Ignoring the fact that this might expose the secret, he can completely ignore the call…

Sigh, why can I clearly sense him through bioelectric signals but not establish a connection? Once there’s interaction, I can sense his consciousness and attempt to lock onto him… This is simply discrimination!

What’s the essence of interaction…

Now’s not the time to think about this problem. Sigh, it’d be great if Little White were here. I just need to think of a way to hint to her that there’s a problem with Room 214 and get her to release a subsonic wave there. That way, most of the problems can be resolved… No matter what level of Awakened one is, their physiques don’t seem to undergo a qualitative change. Under prolonged exposure to the subsonic wave, there’s a high chance that the target won’t be able to withstand it and will have a relatively bad reaction. In addition, he has hypertension. Perfect!

What excuse should I use to visit Little White now so that we won’t be suspected? How should I hint to her when I’m there?

As the trembling Jiang Baimian found herself in a conundrum, she occasionally recalled the scene and feelings of being stared at by Eidolon Nun. This was to prevent the person in Room 214 from suddenly having an urge and deciding to take a certain risk to flip through her memories.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao also retrieved the Six Senses Beads and the Life Angel necklace. He looked like he was about to fall asleep and go on an adventure in the Mind Corridor.

He glanced at Jiang Baimian and thought for a few seconds seriously. “The cruise’s trauma is relatively special. I need to get myself in optimal condition before facing it.”

He was lying, and Jiang Baimian knew that he was lying. He also knew that Jiang Baimian knew that he was lying. However, this was only limited to the tacit understanding between the two of them.

Jiang Baimian knew that Shang Jianyao had already understood her intentions. She knew that getting him to take out the items was to deal with an unspoken problem, not the so-called trauma of Room 522’s cruise ship. Therefore, he was stalling for time. He didn’t go to the Mind Corridor and waited for the matter to develop.

This can’t be delayed for too long. Any longer, and it’s equivalent to telling the target that the situation isn’t right… Jiang Baimian was vexed.

After the cold was alleviated to a certain extent, she was now very envious of Shang Jianyao’s ability to multitask and carry out multiple operations at once.

She wished she could do the same. One was in charge of thinking about how to interact with the target, another was considering an excuse to visit Bai Chen, and another was figuring out a sufficiently concealed and effective way to give her a hint.

Shang Jianyao then muttered to himself, “Why doesn’t the limb’s range include that? Otherwise, the two items’ negative effects would be offset.”

However, it doesn’t remove the effects on your brain… Jiang Baimian didn’t know how to evaluate Shang Jianyao’s strange ideas. She almost laughed from anger.

As her brain raced, she suddenly thought of a question. That’s right. Interaction involves the use of abilities to have an influence. When the person in Room 214 previously blurred Hey and my memories and implanted new content, it was actually equivalent to establishing a connection with us. As long as we sensed Room 214 back then, we would definitely be able to capture his human consciousness. However, we didn’t have such thoughts back then. When a new memory took shape and the person stopped using his abilities, the connection between both parties was severed again. We completely missed the opportunity.

So, should we let him make another attempt? There’s a certain risk, but it seems within the limits of control because he doesn’t have the habit of flipping through my memories. Besides, he can’t affect the auxiliary chip in my biological prosthetic limb, or he doesn’t realize there’s the need to influence it…

I have to think of a good reason to agitate him. I can’t let him think that I’ve already discovered him… A plan quickly formed in Jiang Baimian’s mind, and she secretly added a reminder into the auxiliary chip: “Pay attention to whether your suspicion and investigation inclinations for Room 214 are muddled or warped.”

After changing the reminder to a corresponding pulse every second, Jiang Baimian—who was wrapped in a blanket—suddenly yelped.

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

Hey, don’t be too exaggerated… Jiang Baimian trembled slightly and said, “I realized that we were overthinking. Why care if there are any clues left in Room 214? Why care if that person is related to the nuclear warhead? Why are we making things difficult? Let’s just call the Ubei Public Security Council and get them to investigate!”

Just as Jiang Baimian said that, she suddenly forgot what she wanted to say. The next second, the auxiliary chip reminded her: “Pay attention to whether your suspicion and investigation inclinations for Room 214 are muddled or warped.”

Jiang Baimian’s heart palpitated as she covered Room 214 with her mind. In the blink of an eye, she gained something.

There was indeed a human consciousness in that room!

Without any hesitation, Jiang Baimian directly used the black glove in her hand—Chaotic Right Hand!

At the same time, she activated one of her abilities: Spatial Hallucination!

She then shouted, “214!”

In Room 214, the person lying in bed and resting felt a little dazed suddenly. He then heard someone shout ‘214’ from afar.

This close proximity made him subconsciously believe that he had been exposed and that the enemy had arrived at the door. In the face of such a situation, there was no need to hide his consciousness. The guest in Room 214 immediately rose up, prepared to use his abilities on the enemy outside.

Dizziness!

On the third floor, in the Old Task Force’s room.

Upon hearing Jiang Baimian shout the number ‘214,’ Shang Jianyao jumped up and spread his mind to the target area. In the blink of an eye, he captured the human consciousness that didn’t exist previously.

In midair, Shang Jianyao’s expression suddenly became compassionate and merciful. He spun the string of prayer beads in his left hand and said solemnly, “Consciousness Deprivation!”

Although the Six Senses Beads only had two uses of Consciousness Deprivation left, Shang Jianyao never worried about such problems. He used it whenever it was needed!

Jiang Baimian completely agreed with Shang Jianyao’s choice. This was because the person in Room 214 might very well be carrying a nuclear warhead or the corresponding detonation device.

Cardiac Arrest didn’t mean that he would die immediately. Corny Person and Literary Hipster might not be able to ease the situation in a good direction. When the time came, everyone would be doomed if anything really happened. Therefore, Consciousness Deprivation—which left no repercussions—was definitely the best solution in the current situation!

After the blurry green light lit up, the person in Room 214 fell to the ground with a thud and lost consciousness before Shang Jianyao’s voice sounded.

Jiang Baimian didn’t relax. Instead, she grabbed the flashlight and went straight to the window, wanting to take a shortcut to Room 214 to restrain the enemy completely.

Shang Jianyao threw down the Life Angel necklace and followed closely behind.

None of them knew how long the target’s consciousness could be deprived.