Embers Ad Infinitum

Shang Jianyao glanced at the helicopter in mid-air, smiled and invited several city defense soldiers at the door:

"Would you like to come in and stay for a while?

"If the people above see you just asking a few questions at the door and then leaving, it will be more troublesome, and it will also be easy to expose the secrets of me and my companions."

The few city defense soldiers felt that Shang Jianyao was right, so they walked into the Green Watch Shop carrying standard assault rifles.

As they looked around out of habit, they saw Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen guarding the area leading to the back.

These two men were also wearing city defense army uniforms, but with the addition of a military exoskeleton device, which made several soldiers' eyelids twitch instinctively.

"Are they too?" The leader of the several city defense soldiers looked sideways at Shang Jianyao. His tone was normal, but his movements were unconsciously defensive.

He is about the same height as Shang Jianyao, has a rugged face, blond hair and blue eyes, and has obvious Yargai ancestry.

"Yes." While Shang Jianyao nodded gently, Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen each took out their IDs.

Several city defense soldiers took a few steps forward and saw clearly the corresponding content and the most important steel seal.

They relaxed and retreated to the door one after another, fearing that they would see any secrets in the area closely guarded by their two colleagues.

This is what they have learned over the years:

Don’t look at things you shouldn’t see, don’t ask about things you shouldn’t ask.

Shang Jianyao completely violated this behavior pattern. After receiving Jiang Baimian's hint, he asked curiously without pretending:

"What are you searching for?"

The city defense soldier of Yargai descent who led it did not hide anything and answered calmly:

"A Taoist priest.

"The Senate passed the order directly from General Phocas."

A Taoist priest? From the "Eternal Years" sect? In this turmoil in the "Primary City", has the year-old "Zhuang Sheng" lost his original influence? This series of thoughts suddenly jumped out of Jiang Baimian's mind.

She had met very few Taoist priests, and for a while she could only think of the "Eternal Years" sect.

"Taoist?" Shang Jianyao asked, "What does he look like? Let me see if I have seen him before."

The leading city defense soldier took out a photo from his breast pocket and showed it to Shang Jianyao.

The photo showed a man in his early fifties, wearing a monk's robe similar to Gallolan's, with his hair tied in a loose bun.

He looks like a pure native, with gray temples, heavy bags under his eyes, five long beards, and obvious wrinkles.

"I haven't seen it." Shang Jianyao was very disappointed.

He seems to have perfectly assumed the role of an elite soldier in the city defense army.

"We have never seen him before today." The leading city defense soldier comforted Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao listened to the sound of helicopter propellers not far away, and then asked:

"Who is in charge of the command?"

"They are not our people." The leading city defense soldier glanced at the ceiling diagonally behind him, "They were sent by the Senate."

"What does he look like?" Shang Jianyao asked without any concealment.

The leading city defense soldier recalled:

"He was wearing a black robe, with messy hair, light blue eyes, a long face, high cheekbones, and many wrinkles..."

"I don't know." Shang Jianyao expressed regret again.

After receiving Jiang Baimian's eyes, he organized a new round of questions:

"Did he show any ability?"

"No." Several city defense soldiers shook their heads at the same time.

When Jiang Baimian was slightly disappointed, the Yargai leader added:

"But we are told from above that with that person here, when we perform the mission today, we can feel more at ease and be bold. We don't have to worry about danger. It will definitely be fine."

This... Jiang Baimian's mind raced with thoughts, and he intuitively believed that this sentence contained a large amount of information.

Soon, she remembered an ability:

"virtual reality"!

Only when this area is covered by the "virtual world" can soldiers performing missions really not have to worry about danger, and they will be fine.

The master of the "virtual world" who protects Marcus? The one whose price is claustrophobia? Jiang Baimian suddenly had such a guess.

She then began to think deeply:

"Broken Mirror", who believes in the "Mirror Cult", used to support the official "Prime City" and has a close relationship with Aureli's group...

Have they now abandoned their original conservatives and supported the new consul Gaius? Gaius is still willing to accept it, which means that "Broken Mirror" and the supporters behind him are not in a life-or-death relationship. They can fight or cooperate, depending on the situation?

There was no big movement in the direction of Xikaluo Temple, indicating that the "Crystal Consciousness" sect has not suffered a devastating blow... The positions of "Bodhi" and "Broken Mirror" are similar?

In such a turmoil, the ones who suffered the most serious losses seemed to be the supporters of Zhuang Sheng...

Are some of them fighting against the God of Sui who represents the whole year?

"Really?" Shang Jianyao looked suspicious of the city defense soldiers' declaration that "there is no need to worry about danger." He seemed to want to pull out his pistol on the spot to verify it.

The Yargai leader answered uncertainly:

"Soldiers like us believe whatever the superiors say, but we still have to be careful when performing specific tasks. Our lives are our own."

After speaking, he looked at the clock in the store, estimated the time and said:

"We should get out."

"Be careful." Shang Jianyao waved his right hand.

His left arm was re-bandaged on the way to Antana Street, and he later asked the doctor from the black clinic to help with a few stitches.

After watching several city defense soldiers leave, Jiang Baimian listened quietly for a while and found that the helicopter in mid-air had not strayed far from the area and was still "hanging" nearby.

She frowned slightly and suddenly said something bad in her heart.

If the "virtual world" indeed covers Antana Street in a broad sense, then the "data" of myself and others must have been uploaded simultaneously.

Three city defense army soldiers were hiding in a black workshop, and two of them actually wore military exoskeleton devices. This was suspicious.

When the owner of the "virtual world" reviews this part of the data, it will be easy to find the problem.

This problem was not originally a big problem. After all, the "old transfer team" had the certificates and documents given by General Phocas, which was enough to fool them.

But they have dealt with the owner of the "virtual world" in the helicopter and are familiar with each other!

When the time comes, there is a high probability that the other party will recognize them!

Thinking of the worst possible outcome, Jiang Baimian immediately asked Bai Chen to take off the military exoskeleton device with him.

In the blink of an eye, she suddenly thought about it and realized that this was an act worth three hundred taels of silver in this place:

The exoskeleton device that is taken off cannot disappear from the "virtual world"!

Moreover, the owner of the "virtual world" who originally didn't pay attention here may turn his attention in advance because of such "data fluctuations".

Neither left nor right was right. Jiang Baimian found it difficult to make a choice.

She saw that Shang Jianyao's expression became serious, and she believed that he also noticed this problem.

…………

Wasteland on the north shore, in the town of early spring.

Bang, bang, bang, Gnawa fired the tranquilizer bomb into the air raid shelter.

To be on the safe side, he even looked for a nearby ventilation facility and fired a few rounds into it.

After waiting for a while, Gnawa, who was closely monitoring the target area, turned to Zeng Duo and said:

"Those people guarding the entrance are no longer in good condition. I'll rush in first and you follow behind."

"Okay." Zeng Duo switched the mask of General Zeng Duo's exoskeleton device to anti-virus mode.

Han Wanghuo opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Kick, kick, kick, clang, clang, clang, Gnawa jumped and ran, ran and jumped, and rushed to the permanent fortification in a repeated cycle.

It was only then that sporadic gunfire rang out and a cannonball flew out.

Boom!

Gnawa dodged the shells, resisted the gunfire, broke into the air-raid shelter, and started shooting with a submachine gun he was holding.

With the crisp sound of clicking, many "First City" soldiers fell down, and the rest were either unconscious or shrank up to avoid the sharp attack.

Zeng Duo jumped over the fortifications and used the grenade launcher to cause damage.

After clearing the area of ​​enemies, she and Gnawa went deep into the air raid shelter.

Han Wanghuo waited for the anesthetic gas to diffuse for a while, and after the effect was reduced to a minimum, he put on a mask and followed in.

Along the way, he frowned slightly as he observed the dead and alive enemies.

The weapons and equipment of the defenders were worse than he expected.

Of course, this "difference" is compared with their usual situation.

"Although most of them have been transferred, it's not like there are only one tank, two armored vehicles, one bionic smart armor and two awakeners left... Not even Taiwan's military exoskeleton device?" Han Wanghuo While praying for such good luck, I increased my vigilance.

The deep and wide air-raid shelter was originally divided into multiple rooms. Zeng Duo glanced at it and suddenly saw a familiar face.

That was Uncle Li Jili who lived next door to her house.

At this time, Li Ji's face, with degraded lips and exposed teeth, was pressed tightly against the glass window of a certain room, so squeezed that it was deformed.