Embers Ad Infinitum

There are 417 floors in the underground building.

Long Yuehong glanced at her watch and confirmed the time. Instead of going to her grandparents' house, she went straight to the activity center.

Sure enough, at a glance, he caught sight of his grandfather Long Yixuan holding a thermos cup, sitting around and chatting with a group of middle-aged and elderly employees, while his grandmother Zhong Zining was playing cards with neighbors further back.

When she was in college, Long Yuehong was particularly envious of the life of her grandfather and grandmother:

My grandchildren are almost grown up, and I am about to reach the age to retire. My physical condition is pretty good. Apart from not being able to go to the surface, I can freely arrange my daily life.

Moreover, after so many years, they each have a certain rank. Although it is not very high, the advantage is that they no longer have to take care of the children. It is enough for daily use, and they can improve the food from time to time.

Long Yuehong carried the bag of fruit and sat next to her grandma Zhong Zining, saying with a smile:

"Did you win?"

These retired and semi-retired employees play cards in a very small way and focus on entertainment. They even split one contribution point into ten parts, accounting first and then settling the account.

Zhong Zining complained:

"I haven't won a few games."

Although she was complaining, the old lady with a lot of gray hair still had a smile on her face and muttered:

"Why are you bringing up fruit again? You are getting married soon and have a baby soon, so you have to save some flowers, you know?"

As the saying goes, the youngest son, the eldest grandson, is the lifeblood of the old lady. As the first born of the third generation of the Long family, Long Yuehong has always been favored by her grandparents and has a good relationship with them.

Long Yuehong smiled and explained:

"This is what Xiaobai asked me to honor you two."

He has already told his grandparents that his unregistered wife's name is Bai Chen.

Of course, her parents passed away early, and Bai Chen, who was a wanderer in the wilderness at heart, actually had no awareness of this. Long Yuehong always ate and drank when she went to her grandparents' house, and she also didn't have the habit of bringing gifts. Fortunately, "the old The "Tune Group" includes Jiang Baimian, an old world folklore researcher and a model child of "Pangu Biology", who will give the couple a few words of advice from time to time.

Long Yuehong was deeply inspired and connected this with a certain line of lyrics in the song sung by Shang Jianyao:

People do not blame!

Zhong Zining said "Oh":

"Xiao Bai, this girl is too polite."

As she said this, the smile on her face became even brighter.

At the same time, she took out some fruits and distributed them to her poker friends:

"Try it, taste it, my granddaughter-in-law gave it to me."

There was unconcealable pride in her tone.

What if your grandchildren are assigned partners as soon as they reach age? My eldest grandson’s wife has a high rank, contributes a lot, and knows how to respect the elderly!

Grandma is so generous today... Long Yuehong muttered in her heart.

Inside "Pangu Biology", fruits are not something that ordinary people can often eat. Long Yuehong remembers that every time her grandparents exchanged fruits, they would hide them tightly, let alone outsiders, even her own parents rarely Come on, only those of the younger generation like me will dig it out and say things like "Eat it quickly, or it will go bad if you don't eat it."

Seeing the neighbors around the card table stop and eat fruits, Long Yuehong said in a casual manner:

"I talked to Xiaobai about grandma, your and grandpa's names before getting off work today. She felt that they were completely different from those of my father, mother, brother and sister."

Zhong Zining smiled and said:

“You have to ask your great-grandpa, great-grandma, great-grandpa, and great-grandma.

“They were all old-world educated and probably liked to be named that way.

"Hey, your great-grandpa and great-grandma passed away before your father was born. We can only make do with what we have."

Although she already knew that Grandpa Zeng and Grandma Zeng died early, every time she heard about it, Long Yuehong couldn't help but sigh - even if they moved underground, the "Pangu Creatures" would not have an easy time in the chaotic era and the early New Year.

After chatting about names, Long Yuehong followed the strategy she had discussed with Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Jiang Baimian and started the topic.

In front of everyone at the card table, he took out the Talisman of Many Sons and Grandsons and asked expectantly:

"Is this really useful? I think it's relatively new, and it doesn't look like it was requested by your generation."

Zhong Zining replied nonchalantly:

"I used to wear it back then, but it was already worn out. It was only after your father said you were getting married that I found someone to paint it.

"It's very effective. I only gave birth to five children when I was wearing it, and none of them died. Your mother didn't want one, so there were only three."

Long Yuehong asked immediately:

"Who did you ask to draw it?"

Seeing the doubtful look from his grandma, he followed the plan and said with a smile:

"A colleague of mine said that if it were a spirit, he would want one too."

Zhong Zining suddenly understood and expressed his understanding, even a little proud:

“It’s the Mu family in area B on our floor.

"Their ancestors were Taoist priests who knew how to make all kinds of talismans."

It sounds like there's nothing wrong with it... Long Yuehong breathed a sigh of relief.

He immediately remembered another thing:

The members of the Eternal Years Sect are also Taoist priests!

Zhong Zining continued:

"That colleague of yours really wants it. You can take him to this floor tomorrow and I'll take him to ask for it.

"If you ask for it from your close blood relatives, the effect will be the best."

"Okay, okay!" Long Yuehong tried hard to stay calm.

The conversation just now was actually a routine, designed by Jiang Baimian himself. The purpose was to push Shang Jianyao out and let him, as Long Yuehong's colleague, openly and openly meet the person who painted the talisman of many children and grandchildren. " Communicate.”

If Long Yuehong's grandma is really weird, the talisman of having many children and grandchildren comes directly from her and not from anyone else. With such a foreshadowing, Shang Jianyao can confidently come to visit the old couple, and Yun Danfeng calmly The problem is solved invisible.

The biggest advantage of this handling method is that Long Yuehong's every move is normal enough and there is nothing suspicious. Shang Jianyao will take over in the future to isolate him from trouble.

…………

Floor 495, Area B, No. 196.

Shang Jianyao lay on the bed, pinched his temples, and entered the "soul corridor".

Urged by Jiang Baimian, he planned to break through the second psychological shadow in the "506" room as soon as possible and become an awakened person who explored the depths of the "soul corridor".

"Soul Corridor", inside room "506".

Shang Jianyao appeared at the door of a house.

Surrounded by similar buildings, they form a large community.

People coming and going wear a variety of clothes of different colors, but these are relatively old, and some even have a lot of patches on them.

Different from the white coats in the first psychological shadow, people here will say hello and chat a few words once they meet. They seem to know each other, and the situation on each floor of the "living area" of the underground building of "Pangu Creatures" similar.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao observed for a while and then walked towards a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who was passing by.

"Are you having a day off today?" He greeted him familiarly.

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, shook his head and smiled:

“Just go home and have a meal.

"Who are you?"

Shang Jianyao is not guilty at all:

"I just came back from overseas. It was so windy and rainy that my whole body was almost deformed."

"Oh." The man wearing gold-rimmed glasses felt guilty, feeling that it was his fault that he didn't recognize the other person.

Implanting a good idea, Shang Jianyao started chatting casually:

"I was sent to the Third Research Institute."

"Isn't that very southern?" The man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was extremely surprised.

Obviously, he had heard of the Third Academy.

Shang Jianyao smiled:

"Yes, they are all at the beach.

"If you don't believe it, the Third Research Institute is now called 'Machine Paradise'. Almost all the robots I encounter are intelligent robots."

"It's normal. They are originally studying artificial intelligence." The man with gold-rimmed eyes thought there was no problem.

Shang Jianyao covered up his cold eyes and said slightly:

"I heard from people there that the lower the institute number, the more high-end the research projects and the more valuable they are."

"It's meaningless speculation. We and the Second Research Institute are studying similar things, but there are certain differences in the direction. Who can say that it is definitely higher-end and more valuable than the other party?" A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses responded to this statement. Scoff.

"Yes!" Shang Jianyao responded in a tone of deep approval.

After chatting for a while, he turned to the old lady who was enjoying the shade outside a building.

Although the old lady had a lot of white hair, she was very energetic. She was sitting on a bench under a tree, looking at the passers-by around her.

"Who are you?" The old lady noticed Shang Jianyao's approach.

Shang Jianyao grinned:

"I am a person sent by the Third Research Institute to visit your institute.

"I want to know, are you really the first research institute established in the old world?"

The old lady looked at this guy for a while with eyes that looked like a fool:

"Did you remember it wrong?

"We are at the Fourth Research Institute here!"

"How is it possible? Did the people above give you the wrong information?" Shang Jian Yao Qiqing started to show off.

During this process, he secretly laughed in a sinister and vicious manner:

"It turns out to be the Fourth Research Institute."

He immediately frowned:

“What’s the danger here?

"The second psychological shadow described in the guide does not seem to be like this...

"Could it be that I used unconventional methods in the first psychological shadow and took the initiative to receive an anesthetic injection, so I jumped directly to the third psychological shadow?"

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao looked around solemnly, looking for places where danger might be hidden.