Embers Ad Infinitum

Shang Jianyao looked into Zhao Shouren's eyes and raised his hand to touch his chin.

He further asked:

"Not necessarily strangers, but who are the outsiders in recent months?"

"No, except for a few merchants selling daily items who come here regularly, there are no other outsiders." Zhao Shouren shook his head again.

He paused and asked slightly doubtfully:

"Why do you ask?"

"Gossip is human nature." Shang Jianyao replied sincerely.

"What? Gossip?" Zhao Shouren obviously didn't know what this word meant.

Because Shang Jianyao looks like a Gray Earth native, they naturally used the Gray Earth language during the conversation.

Just as Shang Jianyao was about to explain the true meaning and extended meaning of Bagua, Zhao Shouren raised his hand and waved:

"No more chatting. Let's go out and chat later. This is not the right place for chatting."

In such a small room, the steaming water vapor makes it difficult to breathe. The higher temperature compresses every part of the body, making people feel a little dizzy and the chest feels tight. It is really not suitable for talking and chatting.

Shang Jianyao politely closed his mouth, and occasionally took a spoonful of water and poured it on the red-hot stone.

The two of them just listened to the sizzling sound quietly, as if they were competing to see who could last longer in such an environment.

After a while, Zhao Shouren raised his hand to wipe his forehead and stood up unsteadily:

"It won't work anymore. If I steam it any longer, I'll faint."

Shang Jianyao smiled:

"Then let's go out."

Zhao Shouren immediately opened the door of the steam room and walked to a hot water pool not far away.

Shang Jianyao followed him closely, imitating his example, tearing off the bath towel from his waist, sliding into the water, and washing away all the feelings that had just been "steamed".

In just a minute or two, Zhao Shouren stood up and walked into the cold pool nearby.

He made a hissing sound and his expression became very distorted.

But as he adapted to the water temperature, his facial muscles gradually relaxed, and his whole person seemed to become more energetic.

"Brother, there is no tomorrow for this dust, so you have to enjoy it." Zhao Shouren took a towel, wiped his forehead, and said with sincerity.

Shang Jianyao also soaked in the cold pool, looking around, seeming to find everything very strange.

"You have to go back to the manor this afternoon?" he asked.

Zhao Shouren nodded:

"There's still enough time. Take a nap, wake up and find someone to serve you, then take a shower, have lunch, and go out to do some shopping."

Bang bang bang, Shang Jianyao applauded his arrangement.

At the same time, he glanced below the water.

Zhao Shouren coughed twice and returned to the hot pool.

This time, he only soaked for a few minutes before hurriedly getting up and wrapping himself in his big bath towel.

After rushing through his body and putting on his bathrobe, Shang Jianyao could clearly see the appearance of the Zhao family steward:

He must be about forty years old, with a thin body, quite sparse hair, and obvious swelling around his eyes.

After leaving the men's bathroom, the two entered the rest area, each occupied a recliner and covered themselves with a thin quilt.

While chatting, Zhao Shouren closed his eyes and snored from his nose.

Shang Jianyao glanced sideways at him, smiled and took out an item from his bathrobe pocket:

It was a night pearl that was quietly blooming with green light.

Shang Jianyao held this luminous pearl, his eyes gradually darkened.

"Destiny"!

"Destiny Pass" from Di Marco!

In Zhao Shouren's "Sea of ​​Origins", Shang Jianyao's figure wearing a white bathrobe emerged.

On the shimmering sea, a faint mist filled the air, and islands were vaguely hidden, but Zhao Shouren's own consciousness was not reflected.

This is what the spiritual world of ordinary people looks like before entering the "Hall of Stars" and opening the corresponding door.

Shang Jianyao immediately divided into nine parts, and they all sat cross-legged in the air.

Immediately afterwards, in the "Sea of ​​Origin" affected by "Destiny", countless waves surged high, and various pictures became larger one after another.

The nine businessmen began to review all the memories of Zhao Shouren in the past few months, each responsible for a share.

A few minutes later, Shang Jianyao, who was holding the small speaker, said in surprise:

"It's rewarding!"

He quickly enlarged the scene to the maximum:

In a room with bookshelves and tables, Zhao Shouren was reporting to a young man who looked a bit like Zhao Yide but was not fat at all.

Sitting on the chair behind the young man was a man wearing a black trench coat and with ordinary facial features.

With the rest of the bodyguards standing, he looked quite special.

"Why do you think there's something wrong with him?"

"How do you know there's a clue here?"

"Aren't we allowed to hire high-paying awakened people?"

Three or four of the other businessmen raised their own questions.

Shang Jianyao, who was holding a small speaker, smiled and said:

“This is part of Jiang Baimian’s way of thinking:

“Assume boldly and verify carefully.

"Since this person seems special, let's focus on checking all the fragments of him in Zhao Shouren's memory."

Eight other merchants agreed.

Soon, with their concerted efforts, all the memory fragments of the man in the black windbreaker were found:

He was a second-generation servant born and raised in the manor. He was favored by Zhao Zhengqi's second son, Zhao Yixue, and became his personal attendant.

However, one of them, Shang Jianyao, keenly discovered that the man in black trench coat looked nothing like his parents, and this could not explain why he received special treatment at all.

The businessmen carefully observed the man in the black trench coat for a while and found that his face was not very good and he looked quite haggard.

This reminded them of someone at the same time:

Fake “priest”.

…………

It's actually not too difficult to get a car in the original city. As long as you don't care about whether it was produced in recent years or how long it will last, there are various models of vehicles for you to choose from.

But if you add the conditions of not having much money, being unable to commit crimes, and having a time limit, it will be more troublesome. At least Long Yuehong and Gnawa can't think of where to start.

Fortunately, they have Bai Chen in their team, who knows the First City quite well.

It was only after ten o'clock that Bai Chen led them to leave the Ugo Hotel and arrived at a place on the bank of the Red River in the Green Olive District.

It's not too far from the hotel, only about ten or twenty minutes' walk, but the houses are getting more dilapidated and the roads are narrower.

Sometimes, when Long Yuehong and the others were walking in the streets, they could touch the exterior walls of the houses on both sides with their arms fully extended, while the dense wires above divided the sky in a chaotic manner.

Along the way, the team encountered the most dirty children. The adults either went to the factory area or were busy with other things in their lives. Only a few stayed in this area.

Long Yuehong glanced at the suddenly open area in front of her and the large number of broken cars parked inside, and asked curiously:

“Is this a place that sells cars?”

After the ruin hunters drag some of the vehicles found in the city ruins to the First City, they often don't have that much time to find the final buyers, so they always deal directly with used car dealers.

Although this will definitely suffer a big loss in terms of price, it at least saves time costs, and many relic hunters will be hungry the next day if they cannot sell their harvest today.

"Yes." Bai Chen nodded and replied.

"But we don't have much money left..." Long Yuehong reminded carefully.

Bai Chen glanced at Gennava who was carrying a sack and said calmly:

“You can also rent a car here.”

"Rent?" Long Yuehong was a little surprised.

This is not a house and cannot be moved. The average businessman lacks all the technical means of the old world. If he rents it out, aren't he afraid that he will not be able to get it back?

While they were talking, the three of them entered the row of dilapidated bungalows next to the parking lot, and saw several Hong'an people with dark brown skin and slightly curly hair chatting behind a wooden platform.

"Rent a car." Bai Chen said directly before those people could ask why they were here.

"You can determine the price only after you have chosen the vehicle." The Hong'an man, who was the tallest but still not as tall as Long Yuehong, responded.

Then, he emphasized:

"We also need collateral, otherwise we will lose money if you drive out of town and never come back."

Bai Chen said nothing and pointed at Gnawa.

Ah, do you want to mortgage Laoge here? Long Yuehong had such an idea in an instant.

The next second, Gnawa put the sack on his back in front of him and took out the "Reaper" individual combat rocket launcher.

"Is this okay?" Bai Chen asked.

After looking at each other with his companions, the man from Hong'an who was in charge of receiving the team nodded and said:

"Can."

It is enough to replace this kind of heavy weapon with a broken car from the old world.

"Don't lose it, we have similar weapons." Bai Chen warned calmly, "And they will be replaced with other collateral soon."

"Okay." The Hong'an man nodded hastily.

The team quickly picked out the vehicle they needed, which was a square gray off-road vehicle with traces of later repairs in some places.

After signing the contract at the price of 2 Ore per day, Bai Chen drove back to Ugo Hotel.

Because some roads on the way here were very narrow and vehicles could not pass directly, she had to take a detour.

This took them past Westport, the original city.

Ships coming up and down the Red River were parked there, loading and unloading supplies.

At this time, Long Yuehong heard several long wolf howls coming from the streets near the port:

"Ouch!"

These cries are neither shrill nor ferocious, nor do they sound like real wolves. Instead, they carry a sense of sadness and some indescribable feeling.

"This is it?" Long Yuehong turned her head and looked at Bai Chen.

He felt sick all over.

Bai Chen looked forward and said:

"Greyborn whore."

"Ah?" Neither Long Yuehong nor Gnawa could understand the connection between this and wolf howling.

Bai Chen's eyes were still at the end of the road, and he said with the same tone:

“They were taken as slaves and picked up by brothels, and no one taught them the Red River language. They could only rely on imitating the cry of she-wolves to attract passing customers and sailors at the port.

"In the original city, they were called 'she-wolves'."

After Long Yuehong listened, she opened her mouth, but nothing came out.