Embers Ad Infinitum

Most Shang Jianyao is very motivated and does what he says. He quickly pulls out the picture of blessings from the heavens and adds a statue with a mirror face next to the eight pictures on it.

Jiang Baimian looked helplessly and only advised:

"You only have three hours to rest, so don't delay Xiaohong's recuperation."

Shang Jianyao didn't even raise his head. He held the pen in his right hand and drew, while raising his left palm and making a "good" gesture.

Without any requirements on accuracy or restoration, he completed the masterpiece in less than twenty seconds.

After Jiang Baimian took a sneak look, he secretly prayed that the "dawn" of February would not bring down divine punishment for this.

In the following time, according to the arrangement of one awakened person and one transformed person, the four members of the "Old Tune Team" took turns to rest on the sofa in the living room. Only Gnawa always insisted.

Of course, he will also take the time to replace the high-performance battery and put the half-used one into the charger.

——In this case, he hopes that every high-performance battery in his body will maintain at least 50% of its power to prevent various accidents that may occur in the future. By then, even if he needs to continuously emit lasers, he can guarantee Energy is abundant enough.

The quiet night flows slowly towards dawn in an unspeakable torment. For Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao, in such an environment, as awakeners, they are not worried about not being able to sleep, but Bai Chen and Long Yuehong was tossing and turning, unable to relax.

Among them, Bai Chen was relatively good and experienced enough. It didn't take long for him to adjust to his condition and enter a deep sleep. Long Yuehong forced Shang Jianyao to propose something like "How about I knock you out?" suggestion.

In the end, he was temporarily implanted with the idea of ​​"Taishan collapses but his color remains unchanged" and successfully fell asleep.

After several rotations, the solid night was finally pierced by the distant light.

"It's dawn..." Jiang Baimian stared out the window and said to himself.

Long Yuehong woke up from her sleep and frowned slightly:

"The 'assassin' didn't come, and our memory hasn't been changed."

He had just looked through the key memories recorded previously and found nothing unusual.

"No one sleepwalks, no one falls into a 'real dream'." Bai Chen added.

This means that the "Old Tune Team" has not been attacked again.

After Shang Jianyao listened carefully, he clenched his right fist and slapped his left palm:

"I understand!"

"What do you know?" Jiang Baimian asked half feebly and half with wonderful expectations.

Shang Jianyao replied proudly:

"They were scared away by us!"

Jiang Baimian shook his head:

"Not really.

"Perhaps the 'Assassin' has already arrived, but saw that we were heavily guarded and no one showed any signs of fatigue, so he chose to retreat quietly."

"He didn't attack the most asymmetrical Xiaohong." Shang Jianyao was surprised, looking like his enemy's symmetry obsessive-compulsive disorder failed him.

Long Yuehong has a robotic arm on one side and an original human arm on the other. Her appearance is the most asymmetrical among all the people present.

The most symmetrical one is the intelligent robot Gnawa.

Of course, he is not completely symmetrical. There are certain differences in the weapon modules loaded on his left and right arms. Even when not in use, the appearance of both sides looks almost identical, and there is a big difference in weight.

Long Yuehong, who said "Mount Tai collapsed in front of me but remained unchanged", was not frightened and said calmly to himself:

"The enemy is still waiting for a better opportunity?"

It's not okay to go on like this.

As soon as Long Yuehong finished speaking, Jiang Baimian nodded solemnly:

"There is no way to continue like this. You can only be a thief for a thousand days. How can you prevent a thief for a thousand days?"

The "Old Tune Team" initially hoped to follow the clues to find the enemy and target them. They were in the dark and others were in the light. But yesterday, it was reversed.

In the process of going to the "True Self Sect" stronghold, Jiang Baimian designed a corresponding plan and planned to trick the enemy, but who knew that they were too cautious and took advantage of the power of "nightmare" from the beginning.

This not only almost wiped out everyone in the "Old Tune Team" except Gnawa, but also made it impossible for them to lock their target and carry out follow-up actions, leaving them in a rather passive situation.

"Yes." Long Yuehong agreed with the team leader.

Shang Jianyao looked him up and down in surprise:

"This doesn't look like you."

"Why is it different?" Long Yuehong asked instinctively.

Shang Jianyao laughed:

"You are always worried, afraid of danger, and like stability."

Long Yuehong was stunned for a moment, recalling all the past events.

He shook violently and hissed:

"What should we do now?

"Have you been spending time here with them? There are always times when you can't concentrate enough. After all, we are, uh, carbon-based humans, not intelligent humans."

"Find a way to get rid of the enemy?" Bai Chen suggested.

Jiang Baimian nodded, glanced at Shang Jianyao and said:

"This operation can probably only end here. We strive to get rid of the minions of the 'Nightmare' as soon as possible and head to the ruins of Wasteland No. 13."

In order to convince Shang Jianyao, she added:

“Since we have discovered anomalies in the two previous Buddhist holy places and made certain gains, there is a high probability that we will not return empty-handed at the Holm Reproductive Treatment Center.

"By then, if the harvest is not small, our strength will definitely be enhanced. For example, the precognitive ability of the 'Six Senses Pearl' has been significantly improved, then we can kill a counterattack and deal with the 'Nightmare' and its minions."

Shang Jianyao was silent for a moment and said:

"Without this opportunity, it will be very difficult to find the Nightmare and its minions."

Jiang Baimian had already prepared a draft and said seriously:

“We are investigating the cause of the destruction of the old world and the origin of ‘Wuxin Disease’, and ‘nightmare’ is likely to be related to these two things.

"As long as we keep going like this, sooner or later we will encounter them again."

Shang Jianyao was silent again. After a minute or two, he looked at the ground and sighed:

"It's a pity that Odik..."

Jiang Baimian understood that what he meant was that if he could unite with the "True Self Cult" as soon as possible and defeat the "Nightmare", there might be a chance to regain Odik's "snatched" intelligence. If he missed this time, he would have to wait until the future. , everything is too late.

After running through his mind one sentence after another, Jiang Baimian only replied to Shang Jianyao:

"This is dust."

"This fucking world!" The one who cursed was Shang Jianyao, and the one who silently muttered in his heart was Long Yuehong.

Gnawa is more concerned about another issue:

“How do we get rid of the enemy lurking in the dark?

"Would you like to use yourself as bait and dig a trap?"

"The enemy is too cautious. I'm afraid they will wait until we reach our limit before taking action. By then, no matter how countermeasures we have, it won't work." Jiang Baimian shook his head, "As for the way to escape, this is simple."

She pointed to the floor:

"Ask the True Self Teachers for help. They will still help with this small task."

Jiang Baimian led the members of the "Old Tune Group" with different expressions all the way down to the bottom.

She didn't walk too fast, and successfully reached her destination, where she met the "dream-breaker" Cliff.

Jiang Baimian briefly explained the plight of the "Old Tune Group" and finally said:

"Please help me cover up our whereabouts."

Cliff nodded:

"Your spirit of pursuing the 'Nightmare' is consistent with our tradition of fighting the 'Nightmare'. In such a small matter, we will not be stingy in helping."

He ordered the "True Self Cult" believers next to him:

"Get twenty people here."

While waiting, Cliff explained to Jiang Baimian and others:

“I would have them go to different places in groups of four.

"In this way, the awakened ones who sense human consciousness from a distance will not be able to tell which group is you."

What a good idea... Long Yuehong praised it sincerely.

He heard Shang Jianyao mention that the awakened person cannot tell which consciousness corresponds to which human being without seeing it, unless there are particularly obvious characteristics. For example, the consciousness of a person who is about to die will be very weak.

After the praise, Long Yuehong said hesitantly:

"What if that 'assassin' is lurking nearby and following us?"

"Impossible, his symmetry obsessive-compulsive disorder can't be suppressed for so long." Jiang Baimian said with great confidence.

"True Self Teaching" Cliff looked a little surprised when he heard about symmetry obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The next second, Bai Chen proposed another loophole:

"Someone on the other side can also look through the memory, which can confirm our identity."

Jiang Baimian smiled "haha":

"The mountain man has his own clever plan to ensure that he can come and not go back."

Another empty city strategy? Long Yuehong thought reflexively.

At this time, Cliff, the "Dream Breaker" couldn't help but sigh:

"You managed to find out so much information in such a short period of time. Your ability is really admirable."

"Thank you, thank you." Shang Jianyao became humble.

Before the twenty people from the "True Self Cult" arrived, Jiang Baimian pulled several members of the group aside and told them his own method of resisting looking at memories.

She lowered her voice and said:

“From now on, I will keep thinking back to the scene and feeling of being watched by the ‘ghost girl’ in the Vigilant Church.

"To put it simply, let the memory in this area be in the most active and easily browsed state. When the time comes, that person can also experience it."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian showed a smile:

"'Yougu' is in charge of fear, and that person is timid and weak. The combination of the two may have a surprising result for us."

Her inspiration came from Shang Jianyao's memory of Xiao Chong's aura (the crack), which scared the "soul corridor" level awakener in the "last man" realm to reveal traces.

Although the members of the "Old Tune Group" only have scene memories and do not involve the aura of "Yugu", this is a genuine Zhi Sui who can restrain the opponent, so the effect will not be much different.

After listening to the team leader's words and looking at her smile, a thought came to Long Yuehong's mind:

So cruel...

…………

Next block, on a pickup truck.

Welf opened his half-closed eyes and looked at Xu Lan next to him:

"They found a bunch of 'stand-ins', and I don't dare to rashly look through their memories anymore.

"Just let them run away?"

Xu Lan, who was blind, nodded and said with a relaxed smile:

"It doesn't matter, let them be."