Embers Ad Infinitum

Facing the heavy stone door embedded in the black metal wall, Shang Jianyao took a silent breath, leaned forward, and pressed his hands on it.

In the three grooves above the stone door, bright lights lit up one after another, just like stars falling here in the sky.

Within these three "stars", illusory words rolled and emerged, and they were quickly fixed. They are:

"Mystery clown", "hypocritical person", "missing movement of hands".

Shang Jianyao concentrated his attention for a moment, and the white light representing the "reasoning clown" suddenly became brighter and brighter.

Almost at the same time, the gray stone door trembled slightly, and with the sound of rattling, it retreated heavily bit by bit, and kept retreating.

In just a few seconds, the gray-white stone door that had troubled Shang Jianyao for many days was completely opened.

He immediately retracted his hands, inserted them into his trouser pockets, and stood quietly, staring behind the stone door.

There was a silver-white metal staircase standing silently, extending upwards with no end in sight.

On both sides of the stairs were boundless darkness, so deep that it seemed like it could swallow up the entire world.

"Sure enough... Shang Jianyao whispered, took out his hands, took steps, passed the door without any hesitation, and stepped onto the stairs.

One step, two steps, three steps... Although he couldn't see the end of the stairs, he still walked steadily and forcefully, without any hesitation or haste.

During this process, only the sound of his footsteps echoed around him, and other than that, there was no movement.

This, combined with the deep darkness on both sides, brought unspeakable fear.

After walking upward layer by layer for an unknown amount of time, Shang Jianyao finally saw another touch of color in the deep black.

It was a gray-white stone door similar to the one before. It was still embedded in a black metal wall with no upper, lower, left, and right boundaries visible. There were also three grooves on the top.

If the situation under his feet hadn't changed, and if there weren't "stars" around him, Shang Jianyao would have thought he was back in the original hall.

He thought for two seconds, quickened his pace, and ran and jumped to the new stone gate.

Then, he turned his body slightly, put one hand in his pocket, and pressed the other hand on the door.

Just as he expected, white light rose up one after another in the three grooves on the gray-white stone door, converging into illusory stars.

In "Stars", countless words rolled around, and it didn't take long to be fixed. The same is:

"Mystery clown", "hypocritical person", "missing movement of hands".

Among them, the white light representing the "reasoning clown" is much brighter than the other two groups.

Unfortunately, this time, the gray-white stone door only trembled slightly and did not move back.

Shang Jianyao gradually changed from pushing lightly with one hand to exerting force with both palms, and his back also bent, as if he wanted to put his entire weight on the stone door.

The heavy stone door shook unchanged, and the gap did not expand.

Shang Jianyao retracted his hand, straightened his body, looked at the bright "reasoning clown" and the slightly dim "hypocritical person" and "missing hand movements" each, and nodded thoughtfully.

When these three white lights dimmed and disappeared one after another, Shang Jianyao's figure also became blurred.

He truly fell into deep sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Jianyao suddenly felt his body shaking.

He instinctively opened his eyes and saw Jiang Baimian's black and straight eyebrows and his bright and energetic eyes.

"What happened?" Jiang Baimian breathed a sigh of relief without concealing it when he saw Shang Jianyao finally woke up.

Shang Jianyao thought about it seriously and replied:

"Slept so soundly."

Jiang Baimian's eyebrows moved slightly, as if he had used a lot of strength to restrain himself, while Long Yuehong, who was sitting in the left seat in the back row, made a "poof" sound.

Bai Chen, who was in charge of driving, stepped on the accelerator and his foot became heavier. The Jeep sped up and almost left the "road" with no debris.

"Huh..." After a few seconds, Jiang Baimian breathed out slowly, "It seems that he has escaped from the abnormal range. Bai Chen, find a more secluded place to park nearby."

She turned her attention to Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong in the back row:

"We will camp here for the next few days. After lunch, Long Yuehong, you and Bai Chen will catch up on your sleep, while Shang Jianyao and I will be responsible for guarding and patrolling.

"Until the team sent by the company sends a signal, we will train in wilderness survival in this area."

"Yes, team leader." Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong had no objection.

…………

One day later, in the camp of the old tune team.

Long Yuehong, who had just had lunch, took out a longan-sized fruit covered with a gray hard shell from her pocket.

He then bit open the shell with his teeth, revealing the tender, white and plump flesh inside.

Long Yuehong sucked the overflowing juice first, then sucked out the pulp and chewed it in her mouth.

"It's so delicious..." he praised sincerely after swallowing the pulp.

In the past day's training, his biggest gain was getting to know this kind of food called "fresh fruit."

This comes from a widespread, drought-tolerant sclerophyllous shrub that takes a short time to grow and lasts a long time without any toxins. The only problem is that the yield is very small, and a bush can only grow so many bushes that it cannot be used as a staple food, and no one will deliberately collect them.

According to Bai Chen, this is the best childhood memory of many wilderness wanderers.

Shang Jianyao also had fresh fruit in his hand, and he was stuffing the last piece of tender white fruit flesh into his mouth.

The pulp of this wild fruit is not as soft and dense as he first thought. Instead, it is a bit like an apple, with a crisp texture.

Its taste is slightly sour, but the sweetness is not concealed, making people feel more energetic the more they eat it.

After chewing and swallowing a few thin seeds hidden in the pulp, Shang Jianyao clapped his hands and stood up.

Jiang Baimian was about to announce the start of afternoon training when he suddenly saw three fireworks exploding in the northern sky, one yellow, one green, and one blue.

"The company's signal flare..." She frowned slightly and said to herself in a low voice, "Didn't it come too fast?"

"Someone forged it?" Bai Chen thought of a possibility.

Jiang Baimian distinguished carefully and shook his head:

"This is a flare specially made by the company. It cannot be forged by outsiders. Moreover, the colors are in the correct order.

"Perhaps, a team from the Security Department happened to be practicing nearby and came directly? Or, the company had already noticed the anomaly north of Yuelu Station, on the night when we first heard the roar?"

After listening to this, Shang Jianyao suddenly smiled and said:

"How about sending Long Yuehong over first to confirm?"

"Why me?" Long Yuehong asked in shock.

"I can only control you." Shang Jianyao was very calm.

Long Yuehong looked at him sideways, deliberately showing disdain.

At this time, Jiang Baimian smiled and said:

"What Shang Jianyao said makes sense."

Long Yuehong's face suddenly turned slightly pale.

Jiang Baimian continued:

"Let's return to the Black Rat Town area first. Once we're nearby, we'll send someone to put on an exoskeleton device and go there for reconnaissance."

Upon hearing the exoskeleton device, Long Yuehong regained her composure.

He raised his hand and patted his forehead, whispering:

"How could I forget this..."

Jiang Baimian tilted his head. Although he didn't hear clearly, he roughly guessed what Long Yuehong would say.

She smiled and retorted

"Do you think you are up to the task of reconnaissance?

“How many security department employees do you know?

"When we get there, even if we need to conduct reconnaissance, I will definitely do it."

After saying that, Jiang Baimian opened his legs and walked towards the jeep, leaving only a few words:

"You guys clean it up."

…………

Towards evening, the "Old Tune Team" returned to the hilly area where Black Rat Town is located.

After Jiang Baimian wore an exoskeleton device for reconnaissance, they completely determined that the person who released the contact flare was the "Pangu creature".

After placing the exoskeleton device, Bai Chen drove and took Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong to the bottom of the hill.

There are more than a dozen "Pangu Biology" employees wearing gray and black clothing. They are holding standard "Berserker" assault rifles and blocking the roads at different locations.

Bai Chen followed the other person's gesture and stopped the jeep. Jiang Baimian opened the door first and walked over.

On the way, she took out a rectangular nameplate with gold characters on a red background and put it on her chest.

On the nameplate, the four words "Pangu Creature" shine against the setting sun.

Two fully armed employees wearing the same nameplates came forward. One was holding a handheld electronic device with a screen, and the other asked:

"Electronic card number."

"02310162155." Jiang Baimian spit out a string of numbers skillfully.

The Security Department employee holding a handheld device entered this string of numbers and retrieved information related to Jiang Baimian.

He quickly compared the photos and features, raised his hand and saluted:

"Good evening, Team Leader Jiang."

After Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong and Bai Chen verified the employee's electronic card number, the two security department employees on the opposite side moved out of the way at the same time.

"Which brigade are you from? How did you get here so fast?" Jiang Baimian asked casually.

The Security Department employee who just asked for the electronic card number replied:

"After the news of the abnormality north of Yuelu Station came back, we set off, and we only saw the emergency flare you launched on the way."

The employee holding a handheld electronic device added:

"We are from the 23rd Brigade."

Jiang Baimian was not surprised at all by their answers, and said with relief:

"How many groups did you come to?"

"The whole brigade is here, including armored vehicles." The security department employee on the opposite side did not hide anything.

"Not bad." Jiang Baimian showed a slight smile on his face.

Within "Pangu Biology", the "Security Department" is responsible for external operations, and the basic unit is the combat team.

Each combat team ranges from twenty to thirty people, with a team leader (level D7) and a deputy leader (possible from level D4 to D6).

In order to facilitate command, the combat team is divided into more detailed divisions - they often set up three to four squads, each with a squad leader (D4 or D5 level).

Similarly, three combat teams form an action brigade. Including additional personnel, an action brigade has about 100 people, and the leader level is generally D8.

Further up is the action group, with between 400 and 500 people. This is the largest team establishment of the Security Department, and the corresponding supervisor is D9 level.

If a large-scale war breaks out, the action groups will be grouped into groups to temporarily form multiple action clusters, which will be commanded and controlled by different action cluster directors (M1-level management) - the big boss's exclusive guard, operations directly under the management Clusters and important project defense clusters are permanent exceptions and have fewer people than real operational clusters.

In other words, the operations brigade can be regarded as the mainstay of the Security Department.

"Where is your captain?" Jiang Baimian asked instead.

"In Black Rat Town." The employee opposite with the electronic equipment answered honestly.

Jiang Baimian nodded:

"Take us there, we have important information."

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