Embers Ad Infinitum

"One price, three gifts..."

Shang Jianyao took a look at this human-shaped light and shadow, and walked directly past "him" to the depths of the hall.

The "figure" has not changed in any way, and the voice of "one price, three gifts" is still echoing endlessly.

Several minutes later, Shang Jianyao came to the innermost part of the hall and saw a heavy gray and white stone door.

It is inlaid in the black metal wall, bathed in the light of "stars", highlighting the three grooves existing in the surface.

The three grooves are located two meters high, one up and two down, like the three vertices of an equilateral triangle.

Shang Jian Yao watched quietly for a few seconds, and suddenly the bright "stars" reflected in his eyes.

He then leaned forward and pressed his hands on the gray-white stone door.

Clusters of white light lit up in the grooves on the surface of the stone gate one after another, as if "stars" fell from the sky and crashed into it.

In these three "stars", the illusory text quickly emerged, but it seemed to be tumbling and changing with the beating of Shang Jianyao's thinking, and it could not be fixed at all.

The gray-white stone door that looked unusually heavy made a creaking sound, but it was stingy to let the door crack open.

Shang Jianyao paused, took a breath, and then exerted his strength again to push forward.

The "stars" in the three grooves first dimmed as he stopped, and then burst into bright and pure light during a new round of exertion.

The illusory text scrolling in them slowed down, but it still didn't stop.

Shimen shook lightly, but did not take half a step back.

Shang Jianyao pushed the stone door time and time again. In the end, the blood vessels on his forehead were protruding, and the expression on his face was distorted and ferocious, as if he had exhausted all his strength, but he still didn't get better results.

"Huh." He exhaled, paused, and stood in front of the door, watching the three clusters of "stars" in the groove quickly dim and disappear.

He watched all this quietly, without any movement for a long time.

After a while, Shang Jianyao showed a slight smile, raised his right index finger and middle finger, and put them between his eyebrows.

In the next second, he seemed to be much "deeper".

Then, Shang Jianyao put his left hand in his pocket, stretched his right palm forward, and pressed it on the gray-white stone door with ease.

This time, he obviously didn't exert any strength, but the "stars" reflected in his eyes became clearer and brighter.

Above the gray-white stone gate, in the three grooves, "starlight" suddenly brightened and condensed into white balls. Those illusory words from before also rolled and emerged, but the speed of change gradually slowed down.

Finally, they are fixed.

In order from top to bottom and from left to right, the words in the three groups of white lights are:

"Reasoning clown", "hypocritical person", "lack of hands movement".

The gray-white stone door trembled slightly, and stepped back heavily in the voice of Zazaza.

Behind the widening crack of the door, a faint light flickered, and an upward silver-white metal staircase stood quietly in the darkness.

Shang Jianyao tried to stretch his hand through the crack of the door, but failed.

He tried to push his foot in again, but failed.

He used both hands and feet, and changed various postures, from golden rooster independence to upright handstand, but he failed to obtain good results.

After verification, he was sure that he could only squeeze the tip of his fingers and the tip of his nose through the crack of the door.

And no matter how concentrated he was, the gray stone door did not continue to retreat.

After trying again and again, Shang Jianyao's figure gradually blurred.

He finally stopped moving, watching his body getting weaker and weaker.

In room 196, Area B, 495th floor, Shang Jianyao, who was lying on the bed, opened his eyes.

He saw the four panes of windows reflecting the light of street lamps, the wooden table bathed in dim light, the "living room" where the light gradually turned to darkness, and the end of the bench and the edge of the old bed sunken in the dark depths.

The surrounding is so quiet.

Suddenly, the loudspeakers hanging from the ceiling of the street sounded at the same time, making a sweet voice with a slightly childlike feel:

"Hi everyone, I'm Hou Yi, the hourly newscaster, and it's 8 o'clock in the evening...

"At 5:20 p.m., a small fire broke out in a factory on the 102nd floor, killing one person and injuring three. The open fire has now been extinguished, and material losses are being counted. The director of the company's board of directors and vice president Ji Ze emphasized again: 'The fire is ruthless, Alarm bells ringing '...

"Starting tomorrow, the No. 2 reactor unit of the 'Energy Zone' will be officially shut down for maintenance, and the energy rationing of all employees will be reduced by a quarter, and the recovery time is to be determined...

"Sun Chuci, the chief scientist of the 'Geothermal Research Institute', said that he has been trying to establish a better geothermal utilization model, which can bring more benefits to the 'living area' while maintaining the best environment for some plots in the 'inner ecological zone'." A certain change in temperature at night...

"At 6:40 p.m., a quarrel broke out in the 'staff canteen' on the 577th floor. A certain employee accused the canteen's catering staff of being unfair. For the same meat dish, his order was about one-tenth less. The 'order supervision team' on this floor has intervened. investigation……

"From 7:20 to 30 in the evening, two male employees fought each other in the 'Activity Center' on the 414th floor. The 'Order Supervision Team' on this floor has been involved in the investigation. The results of the unified marriage are related to...

"...

"...At the end of the news, it is still a cappella song, I hope you like it, thank you.

"..."

Shang Jianyao was lying on the bed where the light of the street lamps could not reach him, listening to the radio with a calm expression, without any movement.

Before he knew it, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, the street lights outside had been turned off, and the surroundings were pitch black.

The cold air permeated the room at night, and Shang Jianyao found that he had taken off his clothes at some point, shrunk into the quilt, and covered the quilt with the dark green thick cotton coat beside the bed.

He didn't have a clock, so he didn't know what time it was, but he was sure it wasn't 6:30 in the morning because the street lights weren't on yet.

He estimated and found that he fell asleep before 8:30 last night, more than two hours earlier than normal, so he woke up earlier than normal.

Feeling the swelling of the lower abdomen for a few seconds, Shang Jian Yao picked up a clumsy flashlight with a black plastic shell from the side of the pillow, and pushed the switch forward.

A beam of condensed light shot out, reflecting the sink diagonally opposite.

"I forgot to wash my face, brush my teeth, and soak my feet..." Shang Jianyao muttered, threw off the quilt, and got out of bed.

In the company, except for the higher-level employees and managers who can be assigned to separate bathrooms, everyone else can only go to the big bathhouse attached to the "activity center" to take a bath.

Except for some employees with special positions who need to wash their bodies every day, everyone is limited to twice a week, which expires and cannot be accumulated.

After getting out of bed, Shang Jianyao didn't delay, put on the dark green thick cotton coat, held a flashlight, opened the door in a hurry, and went straight to the public toilet at the end of the street.

The batteries in the flashlight are part of the energy quota, and he dare not waste it—many employees have wooden barrels, spittoons and other things at home, so as not to go out at night, but unfortunately, those things also need to be donated to replace them.

At this time, the public toilet was empty and no one was there, and the sensor lights lit up with the sound of Shang Jianyao's footsteps, which was quite dim.

After solving the physical problems, Shang Jianyao walked out of the public restroom, ready to go home.

Just then, he saw a beam of light obviously coming from a flashlight coming from around the corner of the aisle.

A few seconds later, a man wearing the same dark green cotton coat as Shang Jianyao walked by quickly, turning to the place opposite to the public toilet.

Shang Jian Yao stared at it for two seconds, then suddenly turned off the flashlight, trotted silently in the darkness, and ran towards the small ball of light created by the opponent.

Soon, he approached the man and found that it was a middle-aged employee from a nearby block. He had to call him Uncle Shen Du.

"Hi!" He suddenly jumped out of the "darkness" and patted the other person on the shoulder.

Shen Du shook his hand and almost threw the flashlight to the ground.

He looked at Shang Jianyao with horror on his face, and said with a sigh of relief:

"Xiao Shang, you scared me to death!

"In the middle of the night, don't approach me so suddenly to say hello!"

Shang Jian Yao smiled and said:

"Good evening, Uncle Shen, I want to ask what time is it?"

"It's not yet 6 o'clock." Shen Du responded subconsciously.

Outside his house, there is a "crossroad" with a wall clock.

"Uncle Shen, where are you going?" Shang Jianyao glanced left and right.

"I'll go, go to the toilet..." Shen Du closed his mouth halfway through.

The direction he walked completely deviated from the nearest public restroom.

Under the light of the flashlight, his gentle face was blue and white, and he didn't know whether it was frozen by the cold air at night or for some other reason.

Organized the language, Shen Du forced a smile and said:

"I'm going to the public toilet in District C. Hey, when I was playing in the 'Activity Center' last night, something was dropped there. I just found it when I got up, and I wanted to find it quickly."

Shang Jian Yao nodded, his dark brown eyes seemed to be stained with the pure black around him.

He laughed and said:

"Look, Uncle Shen, you are wearing a green coat, and I am also wearing a green coat. You are a man, and I am also a man."

Shen Du was confused for a while, and then suddenly realized:

"So, we are parishioners!"

He suddenly became enthusiastic:

"You also went to listen to the 'Guide' sermon?"

"Yes." Shang Jianyao replied with a smile.

PS: Ask for a recommendation ticket~