Embers Ad Infinitum

In the courtyard of the courtyard, there are water tanks and green plants. The air is fresh and slightly humid, making Shang Jianyao feel as if he has gone from a very large settlement such as the First City to a wilderness suburb.

"Hey, at this time, I should be lying on the roof of the jeep, watching the stars, while being scolded by Dabai for crushing the solar charging panel. Xiaohong and Xiaobai didn't help me. They just kept talking to each other there. Lao Ge is responsible for patrolling alone..." Shang Jianyao muttered to himself while examining the situation in the patio.

This is one of the daily routines of the "Old Tune Group".

There seemed to be nothing unusual about the patio of the courtyard. Shang Jianyao even stuck his head into the water tank and found no clues.

"Bah, bah, bah, there is really water!" He straightened up suddenly and pulled his head out of the water tank.

After wiping his face, he walked towards the main door.

The gray wooden door was ajar and not locked.

Boom, boom, boom, Shang Jianyao, who climbed over the wall, knocked politely but did not push the door open immediately.

After knocking three times in a row, he said happily:

"Since you don't respond, I'll take it as your acquiescence!"

He no longer waited, stretched out his right palm, and pushed open the door to the main room.

There seemed to be a living room inside the door, and the decoration was so old that Shang Jianyao couldn't help but sigh:

"Living zombies!"

After saying that, he took two steps back, returned to the door, looked above, and muttered:

"It's not a cultural relic protection unit..."

It's a word he learned from old world entertainment sources.

The situation in the living room is indeed quite old. Opposite the door is a table with a mahogany chair on each side. There are two rows of ancient-style chairs in the lower room with wooden tables.

"Is this part of the film and television base?" Shang Jianyao suddenly became interested.

While praising the "New World" sparrow for its small size and complete internal organs, he walked around the living room to find the source of the slight movements before.

Not the least bit scared!

After a while, Shang Jian Yao sat down on the Taishi chair on the left, looked at the two lanterns at the door that were lit up because of him, and said to himself in disappointment:

"No problem..."

Before he finished speaking, his voice stopped abruptly.

He tilted his head slightly and listened intently.

In the wing room on the left, there was a faint sound of crying.

Woo, woo, woo...

Shang Jianyao stood up silently and tiptoed close to the place where the sound came from.

As soon as he came to the door, the lights inside suddenly came on.

The two lanterns outside were extinguished.

"Hey!" Shang Jianyao sighed sadly.

Inside the door is a light representing his consciousness.

He no longer hid his figure, turned the handle, and opened the door in front of him.

The layout of the wing room is quite normal, with two bookcases, a table by the window, a bed opposite, and a chair and a stool placed randomly on the open space.

The style of these furniture also matches the courtyard, but the shape does not look old-fashioned.

Shang Jianyao glanced around and stopped at the table in front of the window.

There is a picture frame there.

Shang Jianyao walked over and, with the help of the light, could clearly see the details of the photo in the frame.

Above is a rather young woman, not pretty, but with a sweet smile, wearing a braid casually.

Shang Jianyao looked at it for a while, then suddenly clenched his right fist with his left palm and said:

"I remembered, we know this woman!

"That genius scientist Lin Sui!"

Back then, Shang Jianyao had seen Lin Sui's interview in the shadow of the ruins of Tieshan City in room "522".

"She also has a room here..." Shang Jianyao suddenly realized, "But why is there no light, no one, and why she hasn't come back after she went out? Where did the crying and other noises come from?"

After asking themselves a few questions, they fell into silence.

After a few seconds, Shang Jianyao began to rummage through boxes and cabinets, looking for clues.

Gradually, he walked to the bookcase.

Shang Jianyao took a quick look and found that there were books of various subjects inside, most of which were very professional.

He couldn't help raising his right hand and covering it in front of his face, as if he was afraid of being blinded by the light of knowledge.

After browsing the book titles, he silently turned to his bed, not even interested in opening it.

…………

Based on his previous induction, Jiang Baimian sneaked into the night and moved closer to the place where some "unintentional people" lived.

This inevitably took some detours, but the general direction was right and the result was no problem.

Finally, she arrived at her destination, hid in the shadow outside the window, and peeked into the building.

Two "careless people", a man and a woman, were lying on the bed, soundly asleep like normal humans, and nothing could be seen wrong.

Jiang Baimian withdrew his gaze and dived to other places.

After such rounds of reconnaissance, she found that the "unintentional people" she could sense all maintained human habits, sleeping in beds with the windows closed and the doors locked.

In some houses, bags of rice, flour, and boxes of cans, biscuits, and energy bars were piled messily.

This made Jiang Baimian suspect that the Eighth Research Institute installed rails in the tunnel to deliver supplies to the "careless people" in this small city.

She was not in a hurry to eliminate these "unintentional persons" by name, because nine out of ten targets were still missing.

Considering this, Jiang Baimian decided to break away from the real "new world" and inform Shang Jianyao of the various anomalies he discovered.

Perhaps this can promote the other party's exploration in the spiritual "new world", and the harvest there may help Jiang Baimian solve some real mysteries.

Of course, the premise is that the two places are closely connected.

Relying on a military exoskeleton device, Jiang Baimian stayed away from the places where "unintentional people" lived.

Then, as expected, she confirmed that she was lost again.

With rich experience, she climbed up a telephone pole, stood at the top, and looked around.

With the help of starlight and night vision, Jiang Baimian quickly identified the direction to the tunnel entrance and exit.

"You have to go around two streets, pass through several intersections, and make many turns..." The more Jiang Baimian evaluated the route back, the heavier he felt.

She could already foresee that she would get lost many times.

As soon as his thoughts flashed, Jiang Baimian, who had become a good doctor after a long illness, came up with a countermeasure.

She planned to walk in a straight line.

Climb over the wall when you encounter it, go to the house when you encounter it!

This can effectively avoid mistakes in selection. Coupled with the positioning function of the equipment, Jiang Baimian feels that he will get lost at most once.

After deciding on the plan, she took action immediately, slipped quietly from the telephone pole to the ground, and cautiously ran towards the first house.

She suddenly stretched out her right hand and pressed it against the wall, intending to use her strength to jump directly to the roof of the small building.

But to Jiang Baimian's surprise, the wall she pressed with her right palm was weak and empty, as if there was nothing!

This made it impossible for her to pull her body back as her center of gravity had changed. She fell forward involuntarily and hit the wall.

She penetrated directly and turned into a rolling gourd.

Jiang Baimian had undergone genetic modification and was wearing a military exoskeleton device. He quickly stopped his uncontrollable rolling and the carp stood upright.

She turned around and looked at the wall with a look of shock and doubt.

Thinking that this was the real "new world" and the electromagnetic environment was quite chaotic, Jiang Baimian couldn't help but make a guess:

"The towers and houses that Hey and I saw were not actually what this small city actually looked like. Everything here was distorted, forming a large-scale illusion. Real and fake are intertwined?"

To confirm, Jiang Baimian walked back to the wall and gently stretched out his right palm.

Her right palm penetrated the white-dusted stone wall like it penetrated the air.

Jiang Baimian stepped forward step by step, wearing the whole person out, and returned to the place where he fell just now.

"There is a 'broken mirror' that controls the hallucination in Zhi Sui. It is normal for such weirdness to exist in the real 'New World'..." Jiang Baimian muttered silently.

She thought for a moment and stretched her right hand towards the wall again.

She was going to slow down her movements this time and calmly experience the feeling of penetrating the fake wall.

Silently, Jiang Baimian's palm pressed against the surface of the wall, but did not go any further.

It's not that she doesn't want to, it's that she can't do it.

The wall is hard and cold, and there is no false appearance at all!

…………

Jiang Baimian, who was walking in a straight line, returned to the tunnel after a while and closed the heavy iron-black double doors again.

She skillfully sat cross-legged next to Shang Jianyao's body, extending her spirit and touching the other person's consciousness.

After the cutscene without any new ideas, Shang Jianyao waved his hand towards Jiang Baimian:

"I have something to tell you!"

"It just so happens that I have it too." Jiang Baimian's heavy heart relaxed a little.

Then, she warned:

"When it comes to the rules and secrets of the 'New World', try to use code words. If it doesn't work, use another way of saying it and use other things as a metaphor."

"It has nothing to do with the secret of the 'New World'. I entered Lin Sui's home..." Shang Jianyao rambled on about his experience, "But I didn't find anything valuable, nor did I find anything strange. source."

Jiang Baimian thought for a while and said:

"Tell me what books are in Lin Sui's room."

Shang Jianyao showed a troubled expression:

"I can't remember.

"Well, I'll try to embody it, and you can see for yourself."

Because it was a communication on a conscious level, he walked directly back to the room with the bookcase and appeared in front of Jiang Baimian's eyes while watching.

Jiang Baimian scanned it once and said thoughtfully:

"Lin Sui is also very interested in research related to human consciousness..."