Embers Ad Infinitum

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen hid the gray cross-country in the woods beside the road on the only way to the Zhao family's estates.

Seeing the military green jeep driving up, they all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Shang Jianyao pressed down the car window and waved to his two companions:

"Done!"

"Have you caught the 'anti-intellectual cult' person?" Bai Chen asked not too surprised.

Both she and Long Yuehong heard explosions coming from a manor on the Taiwei River, but it was not in the same direction as the Zhao family manor.

Shang Jianyao pretended to sigh:

"We didn't win and they didn't lose."

It turned out to be a tie... Long Yuehong subconsciously flashed such an idea.

But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that what Shang Jianyao really meant was someone else.

"Did the 'anti-intellectual religion' succeed?" Long Yuehong asked as she walked towards the stopped jeep.

Jiang Baimian pushed the door open and got out of the car, nodding slightly:

"In a way it is."

Seeing Bai Chen and Long Yuehong getting closer and closer, she suddenly stretched out her right hand and made a "stop" motion.

Jiang Baimian immediately smiled and said:

"We later met a real 'priest'. If that ability is very rare, it should be him.

"So, Shang Jianyao and I extracted information from Lao Ge on the way, compared the memories, and confirmed that nothing had been quietly tampered with.

"Just to be on the safe side, you should also compare."

——Bai Chen and Long Yuehong also stored their key memories in Gnawa's body in case of emergency.

Bai Chen had no objection and took out a portable computer from his tactical backpack and connected it to Gnawa with a data cable.

Jiang Baimian threw his own to Long Yuehong so that he and Bai Chen could work simultaneously. Anyway, Gnawa still had a lot of interfaces.

After downloading the backup memory, Long Yuehong used the password to decompress it and slowly browsed the content.

"Shang Jianyao is a classmate and friend who I grew up with. Although he always likes to laugh at me and provoke me, making people want to beat him, he still has a good heart. Most of the time, those jokes are in good faith... ..." After Long Yuehong scanned this memory, her expression suddenly became strange.

His face gradually became distorted, taking on a gloomy temperament.

"No, that's not right..." Long Yuehong said with difficulty as if he was fighting someone, "He is obviously a disgusting person, a bastard who never considers other people's moods and faces. I can't wait to kill him..."

Speaking of the latter part, he finally figured out which one should be used as the criterion. He bent down, put his hands on his knees, and gasped:

"I, I have been 'hypnotized', phew, or tampered with some memory details!"

Bai Chen's expression gradually became colder. He looked at Jiang Baimian and said slowly:

"Me, why am I jealous of you, jealous of your height, jealous of your beauty, jealous of your ability, jealous of your ability to take care of different people's emotions, jealous of your ability to get along well with everyone...

"I obviously, obviously it should be..."

"What is it?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Baimian pulled him and signaled not to ask random questions.

Bai Chen did not answer Shang Jianyao. His expression slowly returned to normal, but his speaking speed was still not fast enough:

"Some of the emotions in my memory have been tampered with."

"And you and Xiaohong didn't notice?" Jiang Baimian asked seriously.

Bai Chen recalled:

"We are waiting here to pick you up, and we can see vehicles passing by from time to time...

"Later, a hunter chased a rabbit from the other side of the woods to our neighborhood...

"He didn't talk to us, and he didn't get too close. The distance was about ten meters, or a little further...

"Long Yuehong and I were both on guard against him. I don't remember if we ever looked at each other..."

Jiang Baimian asked bluntly:

"Do you still remember what he looks like?"

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen recalled carefully for more than ten seconds, and both said with varying degrees of fear:

"Can not remember!"

"He looked vague."

Jiang Baimian nodded gently and said:

"It seems that the real 'Priest' took action himself. If he is a little stronger than 'Weed City', he should be able to use 'hypnosis' at that distance, or 'memory tampering' whose range of effects we don't know."

When dealing with Xu Liyan in Yecao City, the real "priest" exposed the problem that "hypnosis" requires close range, and the mechanical monk Jing Nian analyzed it and came to a rough conclusion of four to six meters.

Without waiting for Bai Chen and Long Yuehong to respond, Jiang Baimian showed a thoughtful expression:

“I think it’s more likely to be ‘hypnosis’, and ‘memory tampering’ is obviously stronger, and the restrictions should be greater, and it won’t have such a simple effect.

"Your memory of the distance at that time may have certain errors."

Long Yuehong heard this and said happily:

"Fortunately, we have made corresponding preparations, otherwise we would have been in trouble."

Shang Jianyao looked around and made a shushing gesture:

"Don't tell me, the real 'priest' might still be around."

While Long Yuehong was shocked, Jiang Baimian scolded Shang Jianyao:

"Don't be scared Xiaohong, be careful one day he actually shoots you in the back!

"Look, weren't you used for the things you did in the past?"

Shang Jianyao didn't feel dissatisfied and said with a smile:

"The real 'Father' seems to hate us."

"Maybe just by the way." Long Yuehong retorted subconsciously.

Then he saw Gnawa shake his head.

"No." Jiang Baimian said immediately, "He is indeed targeting us. I suspect that he has been around Iron Medal Street and observed secretly. He knows that we have split up. One team will go to the manor and the other team will respond. Otherwise, It was impossible for him to act in such an orderly manner.

"He first found an opportunity to 'hypnotize' you and tamper with some of your memories. Then, taking advantage of the fact that we had to come over to join you, he laid an ambush on the roadside in advance and tried to use his best tactics to deal with us.

"If this had succeeded, we might have died at that time, or we might have become his 'servants' and helped him do things. Fortunately, we have the guts to do what he does.

"In his plan, there is no guarantee of attacking us, so he 'hypnotized' you in advance so that you can become his back-up man.

"Think about it, if we had survived the attack and thought nothing was wrong and became careless, then on the way back and during our subsequent interactions, Shang Jianyao and I would have inadvertently said one or two words or two actions. It will make you feel murderous.

"The most difficult thing to guard against is not only yourself, but also your companions."

Bai Chen nodded slightly and said:

"When fighting against an enemy like the real 'Father', you are not afraid that he will come in a big way, but you are worried that you will pass him by without knowing it and fall into his trap without knowing it."

"If he dares to come here in a big way, I can beat him down five times!" Shang Jianyao said loudly, as if to stimulate the real "priest" who might still be hiding in the surrounding area - anyway, he was not within his sensing range.

Then, his voice returned to normal:

"Old Ge can beat him to the ground fifty times."

Robots are not interested in "hypnosis" or "memory tampering".

Jiang Baimian smiled and sighed:

"The real 'priest' probably knew that we ruined his good deeds in Weed Grass City, and after finding out that we were involved in the Zhao Family Manor, he took advantage of the situation and laid a trap for us."

"Yes." Long Yuehong was still frightened by this.

After going through all the things in Weed City, Red Stone Collection and Tarnan, and obtaining multiple exoskeleton devices and the intelligent human companion Gnawa, he originally thought that the "Old Tune Team" could walk sideways in most places in the dust. , as long as the regular army is not provoked and the core forces of the major sects are provoked, there will be no big problem. Robbery gangs and gang organizations are not much of a threat at all.

But now, it seems that the real "priest" alone almost caused the "old tune group" to suffer disaster.

"We can't just let it go." Shang Jianyao showed no signs of frustration and expressed his determination.

"Well." Jiang Baimian thought for a moment, looked at Long Yuehong and Bai Chen and said, "Do you still have problems with your emotions now? Don't be afraid, tell the truth. We still have the 'Destiny Pearl' as a back-up. It's time to ask Shang Jianyao to do a 'general cleaning' in your spiritual world."

"Okay, okay." Shang Jianyao looked at Long Yuehong with bright eyes.

Long Yuehong was a little panicked and hurriedly compared the information and looked at herself carefully.

After a few minutes, he breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"No problem."

"After knowing what is true and what is false, the 'hypnotic' effect is completely lifted." Bai Chen also told the results of his review.

Jiang Baimian nodded and smiled:

"Before leaving the original city, we must always compare our memories, lest we accidentally become the knife in the hands of the real 'priest'.

"Haha, we are truly examining ourselves three times a day!"

After speaking, she said to Gnawa:

"Lao Ge, you stay here and watch the car with Xiaobai and the others, while Xie and I go for a walk in the woods."

"What are you doing in the woods?" Long Yuehong asked in confusion.

Jiang Baimian showed a smile and said:

"Look for clues.

"A person like a true 'priest' must be full of a sense of superiority. He relies on making others forget his appearance, so he will probably not pay so much attention to the realm of ordinary people.

"Everyone who walks through the woods will leave traces behind. Since he passed through the woods, he is likely to leave footprints and other clues."

Speaking of this, Jiang Baimian concluded with a serious expression:

"The more awakened people feel that they are beyond ordinary people, the more likely they are to fall into the realm of ordinary people. They are only powerful in one aspect, not in all."

Long Yuehong was stunned for a moment after hearing this. She found this thought-provoking and felt ashamed that she just wanted to leave here as soon as possible.

"Team leader, you are so handsome!" Shang Jianyao praised.

Seeing Jiang Baimian looking over, he showed a sunny smile:

"I said it for Xiaohong."

I didn't... Long Yuehong subconsciously wanted to deny it, but felt that she did have similar thoughts at the time, so she chose to acquiesce.

Jiang Baimian smiled and greeted Shang Jianyao with a little pride:

"Hurry up and leave! We will take turns monitoring the surroundings later to prevent the real 'priest' from coming back."

"He doesn't understand the word." Shang Jianyao explained seriously.

While he was talking, he followed Jiang Baimian into the lush woods.