Embers Ad Infinitum

Han Wanghuo carried the paper bag and returned to the rental house in Qinglili District with Zeng Duo.

"We're almost ready." He nodded to Zeng Duo, who was short, thin and sickly. "Only the last two things are left."

"I know, thank you for your hard work." Zeng Duo, who had short hair and wheat-colored skin, took the paper bag from Han Wanghuo's hand, "I'm going to cook."

Han Wanghuo was silent for a moment and said:

"You don't need to be like this, you are not my servant."

Zeng Duo looked down at the brown big-toe shoes on his feet and said calmly:

"My demands are indeed more excessive than what you gain. I want to make up for you as much as possible while I am alive."

Her request to trade the heart was to "save a town."

That small town is called "Early Spring Town" and is a settlement of Gray Earth people.

Compared with most places, the products around Chuchun Town are relatively rich, enough to support the residents. The only misfortune is that the surrounding water resources are polluted to a certain extent.

Because there was enough food there, people in Chuchun Town did not dare and were reluctant to leave. After a long time, they became prone to diseases and their newborns often had deformities.

Zeng Duo was one of the few healthy children in their group and had witnessed too many similar tragedies.

When she was about to reach adulthood, she learned about the profession of ruin hunter from a passing caravan and chose to leave with them, hoping to find a better settlement so that everyone who was suffering could have a place to move.

Her efforts suffered a setback at the beginning. The caravan suddenly turned against her after leaving Chuchun Town and sold her to a slave owner.

Fortunately, before she suffered much, she encountered a slave riot and took the opportunity to escape and entered a large town.

What she saw and heard afterwards made her more determined in her ideals, and she gradually became a true relic hunter.

During this process, she was infected in the North Shore Wasteland, and her heart and several other places suffered certain distortions.

Unlike the people in her hometown, she found that this aberration brought more benefits, making herself more endurance and explosive, and quickly became an outstanding warrior.

During her search, she returned to Chuchun Town several times. Years ago, when she felt that her goal was about to be achieved, she suddenly discovered that the town seemed to be controlled by a group of soldiers from the "Primary City". Genetic aberrations, doing bad experiments there.

Zeng Duo, who had already found a new settlement, got busy trying to save Chuchun Town, but unfortunately, something went wrong with her body and the situation quickly deteriorated.

After being diagnosed by a black clinic, Zeng Duo realized that the previous aberration was not without its disadvantages. It had been hidden and fermented slowly until it could no longer be undone.

In desperation, Zeng Duo came up with the idea of ​​selling his organs to find helpers.

In fact, she no longer expected to save the entire Chuchun Town, but only thought about saving a few townspeople.

Han Wanghuo has been preparing for this for a while. Weapons, ammunition, various supplies, and reliable helpers are not so easy to obtain.

"Since I have agreed, it means it is fair." Han Wanghuo thought for a moment and said with a deliberately cold face, "To me, my life is more important than your entire town combined."

Zeng Duo did not repeat his previous words and nodded slightly:

"Anyway, you have nothing to do, and someone has to cook.

"I need to eat too."

Han Wanghuo didn't stop him anymore and watched Zeng Duo walk towards the kitchen with the paper bag containing the ingredients in his hand.

Before entering, Zeng Duo turned around, hesitated and said:

"You should rest more and don't work too hard, as this will accelerate the condition's progression.

"Well, I don't want you to be unable to support me before you've completed your mission."

Then I will try in advance to see if I can knock you out and drag you to the clinic... Han Wanghuo wanted to threaten you like this, but in the end he did not speak and just nodded invisibly.

Zeng Duo processed the ingredients first, and waited until evening before cooking three dishes in an orderly manner.

Han Wanghuo took a piece of burning plum meat, looked at Zeng Duo who was sitting next to him, eating yesterday's leftovers, frowned and said:

"You don't have to do this, right?"

Zeng Duo swallowed the rice and said quickly:

"Can't waste it."

When Han Wanghuo opened his mouth to speak, similar scenes from the previous days suddenly flashed through his mind.

And every time, he couldn't convince Zeng Duo.

Although this woman is not tall, she is stubborn beyond imagination.

Therefore, Han Wanghuo chose to concentrate on eating.

…………

Hearing Long Yuehong's words, Jiang Baimian felt happy at first, then hesitated for a few seconds, and said as if it was nothing:

"I didn't see it.

"Maybe he has turned to another street. Well, let's go find him after we finish our work here."

She was worried that she and others were still in the "virtual world", which would drag Han Wanghuo down.

Now that we already know that the other party has been around, it's not too late to ask again after getting rid of the current situation and returning to his original appearance.

Long Yuehong also wanted to understand this question, and as a bodyguard and driver, he only had to answer in one word:

"good."

Shang Jianyao looked at Jiang Baimian's car window with regret, and took the opportunity to tell Long Yuehong:

"Drive faster."

Long Yuehong followed the plan and drove the vehicle to a building not far away, as if she wanted to enter the underground parking lot there.

At this time, there was still a power outage in this area, and the cause of the accident was not yet clear. The underground parking lot was dark except for emergency lights in some places.

When there was no light around, Long Yuehong pretended to be casual and turned off the car lights.

An instant later, a dark, closed space formed inside the car.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong did not feel any other abnormalities.

This shows that they have not been covered by the "virtual world" for some time.

——This plan also uses the fact that the owner of the "virtual world" has claustrophobia to test whether he is still in an illusion.

Before taking action, they could not determine the specific price of the other party. They just came up with different methods based on various guesses. Of course, if the guesses were not accurate, Jiang Baimian and others would not be able to "get close" to Marcus and could not go back. His memory can directly transfer to the surrender stage.

Long Yuehong turned on the car lights again and took the opportunity to let the vehicle leave from another exit.

Next, they got rid of the imaginary tracking, changed the vehicle as planned, and removed the disguise.

…………

In the noble box, the power outage did not affect the enthusiasm of Marcus and others to watch the gladiatorial match.

The former gladiator named Joey faced an Iceman slave today and finally killed him at the cost of injury.

After the slaps and shouts subsided, a noble's cell phone rang.

His friend told him:

"There are 'rats' causing damage again, and a large area of ​​the city is without power..."

Before the noble had time to ask for details, he suddenly heard the sound of electricity coming from the phone.

There seems to be something wrong with the signal here!

Vaguely, he seemed to feel some kind of anger.

On the other side, Marcus, who also learned the news, suddenly turned pale.

…………

Back in the safe house, the four members of the "old tune team" who reunited set their sights on Shang Jianyao.

"Is the remaining power of the 'Blind Ring' okay?" Jiang Baimian did not rush to ask about the harvest, but expressed concern first.

——Shang Jianyao transferred the remaining breath in the "Blind Ring" into his own "spiritual world".

This is a taboo in the realm of awakened people, because it is likely that the owner of the corresponding breath will locate your "spiritual world" and come directly.

Those awakened people at the "soul corridor" level all do similar things in the "soul corridor".

Because of this, Shang Jianyao was able to hide from the owner of the "virtual world".

Shang Jianyao smiled nonchalantly and said:

"It's okay. I locked it up with the remaining power of the 'Destiny Pearl'. Maybe they will fight first."

Oh, driving the tiger to swallow the wolf... Jiang Baimian cursed, then asked:

"What's the catch?"

Shang Jianyao spoke seriously about the few words left by Marcus' mother. The key points were:

1. Be wary of the “mechanical paradise” and don’t trust the “source brain”;

2. Be careful of the Eighth Research Institute;

Third, keep a distance from Aviya, there are very dangerous and extraordinary things in her;

Fourth, there is an old world laboratory in the ruins of Wasteland 13, and the password is "Messiah".

After listening to Shang Jianyao's retelling, Gennava fell silent. He didn't know what it was about "Yuan Nao" that he couldn't believe.

Jiang Baimian glanced at the intelligent robot and said after consideration:

“In a roundabout way, we’re back to the Eighth Research Institute.

"Also, it seems that Ole does hold some secrets. I don't know if he hid these secrets with Aviya or in the laboratory at the ruins of Wasteland 13...

"Well, some of his research results are probably handled in this way."

And Ole is an expert in artificial intelligence and robotics.