Embers Ad Infinitum

The light is located in an alley. From a distance, it looks like a lonely shop waiting for customers to come.

It was indeed a shop, with a heavy door inlaid with frosted glass and carved glass windows.

Shang Jianyao walked over step by step, and it wasn't until he got close that he sensed the presence of human consciousness inside.

"Ten meters..." He raised his hand and rubbed his chin.

This was his estimated distance.

He believed that the person in the store had also discovered his presence.

Shang Jianyao didn't stop and came to the heavy brown wooden door.

From the inlaid glass above the wooden door, a yellowish and warm light quietly flows out.

Shang Jianyao raised his right hand, but he did not knock on the wooden door or push it directly. Instead, he pulled the wind chime hanging on the door and listened to the light jingling sound it made.

Over and over again, Shang Jianyao seemed to have found new fun.

Finally, the man inside the door spoke:

"This place is open to the public, you can come in if you want."

This was a slightly hoarse male voice, quite weak.

Shang Jianyao was "alert" for a moment and responded loudly:

"Have you not eaten for several days and you are so hungry that you don't have the strength to speak?"

The man inside the door sighed:

"My poor health has nothing to do with hunger."

"Really?" Shang Jianyao had an "I don't believe it" expression on his face.

However, while saying this, he happily opened the heavy brown wooden door.

Just inside the door is a small bar.

The bar counter faces the entrance. There is someone wearing a white shirt and a black vest standing behind the bar counter, skillfully mixing a glass of wine.

Behind the man was a row of wine racks holding various bottles of wine.

They are all decidedly Red River style.

There is a row of high chairs in front of the bar, with a yellowish chandelier above.

Except for the bar area, there are only two sets of sofas in other places, leaving no space.

"One, two..." Shang Jianyao counted the seats in this small bar.

Even including those high chairs, the place can accommodate up to sixteen guests.

"Why not open a big bar?" Shang Jianyao asked as he walked towards the front of the bar.

The bartender replied weakly:

"There are only a few residents in the 'New World', and the amount of wine I can drink is also limited."

At this time, Shang Jianyao finally saw the bartender clearly. He pointed at him with a "horrified" look on his face and said:

"You are a living corpse!"

The bartender was really skinny and skinny, only slightly better than the sleeping Yan Hu.

His blue eyes were deeply sunken, his flaxen hair was dull, and his whole person exuded a temperament that would kill him on the spot if he disagreed with him. As for his age, it was completely invisible.

"I'm not feeling well," the bartender repeated again.

"Oh." Shang Jianyao showed a concerned expression, "Is there any way to treat it?"

The bartender was silent for a moment and said:

"This is the price."

Shang Jianyao was "horrified" again:

"You told me the price!

"Do you want to kill people and silence them?"

The bartender was speechless for a while.

After taking a sip of the emerald green alcoholic drink he prepared, he simply said:

"My price is too obvious, there is no need to hide it."

"Yes, yes." Shang Jianyao agreed and sat on a high chair, "You look like a bamboo pole."

He changed the adjective.

The bartender was quite tall, about the same height as Shang Jianyao. With his skinny condition, he really looked like a bamboo pole stuck behind the bar.

Shang Jianyao immediately asked:

"What do you call it?"

"Jacob," the bartender replied.

"Why do you Honghe people always go back and forth when choosing names?" Shang Jianyao sighed casually.

Without waiting for Jacob to respond, he looked at the other party's glass of emerald green cocktail and said:

"Is this a cocktail?"

"Want to try?" Jacob asked weakly.

"No, the wine doesn't taste good at all." Shang Jianyao expressed his opinion.

Jacob turned his body sideways, pointed at a bottle of wine behind him and said:

“Then I’ll recommend one to you.

"It is sugar wine, fermented with sucrose juice. The brewing method is also unique. The taste is quite sweet. You don't need to add anything else. Just put a piece of ice in it and you will have a great enjoyment."

Shang Jianyao's eyes lit up when he heard the sweet taste.

Then, he shook his head:

"I'm too young to drink."

Jacob glanced at this sturdy guy and gave up persuading him.

Shang Jian Yao asked curiously:

"Many things in the 'New World' seem to be spiritual manifestations. Your wine also comes from your consciousness and is part of your spirit?

"If I drink it, does that mean I've absorbed some of your spirit?"

After Jacob listened calmly, he answered the question and said:

"This is originally a spiritual world."

Before Shang Jianyao could ask further questions, he added feebly:

“The essence of these wines is the consciousness of different humans, but not mine.

“Their flavors come from the wines I used to drink.”

Shang Jianyao suddenly sat upright and asked in a deep voice:

"The human consciousness you extracted from the dust?"

Jacob's eyes suddenly became sharp.

After a few seconds, he sighed and said:

"These are guys sentenced to death. I am responsible for executing them, extracting their consciousness and turning them into the purest spiritual food."

"A death row prisoner of a certain force on earth?" Shang Jianyao asked.

Jacob nodded.

Shang Jianyao's body relaxed and he was no longer so tense.

"Don't you suspect that I'm lying?" Jacob's voice was very low, as if he didn't want to use too much force to speak.

Shang Jianyao replied calmly:

"I have been sensing the fluctuations in your thoughts, and I have no tendency to lie."

This is the effect of the "mind reading" ability.

It is not like "mind reading" or "mind reading", which can directly "hear" the other person's voice. It can only obtain the characteristics of the fluctuations of thinking, so as to determine the other person's thoughts and tendencies.

Jacob didn't ask any more questions, took a sip of the emerald green cocktail and said:

“Actually, I don’t particularly need to absorb other people’s consciousness, because my body is still alive and well taken care of, and my spirit can always be replenished.

"I opened this bar for those awakened people who have lost their bodies, so that they can have a fixed place to get replenished without taking risks, giving up on themselves, or indiscriminately attacking humans on the earth."

"The body is still there, so there is no need to feed on human consciousness?" Shang Jianyao suddenly leaned forward and stared into Jacob's eyes.

"Theoretically, that's the case." Jacob shook the emerald green cocktail, "But our bodies will gradually decline, and my health is getting worse, so I still need a drink occasionally."

Shang Jianyao said "oh" twice:

"In other words, having a body is better than not having one?"

"If you hope to survive in the 'New World' for a long time and hope to be able to return to the dust every now and then, that must be the case." Jacob put down the cup, as if holding such a small thing for too long would make him tired.

Shang Jianyao asked enthusiastically:

"Then why do some awakened people abandon their physical bodies?"

"They were either deceived and deceived, or they didn't want to live in the 'new world' for a long time, nor did they want to return to the dust." Jacob seemed to recall some past events, with a slight sigh in his tone.

Shang Jianyao's mind jumped and he asked instead:

"Then how do you let your body and spirit enter the 'new world' together?"

"This is a purely spiritual world. It is impossible for the body to enter." Jacob was a little surprised. "I don't know where you heard this statement. It should belong to the group of people who have no understanding of the 'New World'." Man’s unfounded fantasies.”

Shang Jian Yao did not go to refute, but curiously inquired:

"The 'New World' is an illusory paradise built by the old people with their own spirit?"

"That's what I heard, but it's not guaranteed to be true." Jacob showed a wry smile, "Some people say that this is actually a mental prison built by the elders for all high-level awakened people."

Shang Jianyao clapped his hands:

"I knew someone would say that."

He looked at Jacob and asked:

"Have you ever been into the tower where the governors live?"

"No." Jacob shook his head slightly, "Only a few people have entered, and most of them have never come out again."

"Who's coming out?" Shang Jianyao asked with envy.

Jacob thought about it and said:

“There is only one person I know for sure, and he is Kass from the First City, who is also the Pope of the ‘anti-intellectual religion’.

"However, he seems to have been missing in the 'New World' for a long time."

Shang Jianyao seemed not to remember who Cass was, and asked in shock:

"There are also criminal cases in the 'New World'?"

"Yes, but there is no police station here." Jacob's sunken eyes showed obvious weakness, "Maybe he disappeared because he was secretly eaten by someone."

As soon as he finished speaking, the tinkling wind chimes sounded at the door.

The door was pushed open, and the street lights outside turned on at some point.