Embers Ad Infinitum

After listening to Shang Jianyao's words, Jiang Baimian grasped the key point:

Yes, I also think Qiao Chu’s charm is not that great anymore.

Although he is indeed handsome and tall, he is not to the point where people will be fascinated by him at first glance. He is also cold and has a very bad personality. After getting along with him for a long time, not only will he not be favored, but he will become disliked day by day.

All these feelings were only vaguely hidden in the secrets of Jiang Baimian's heart before, and could occasionally be discovered. Now they were directly exposed to her mind like sand and gravel exposed when the tide recedes.

She said to herself:

"No wonder I always felt something was wrong based on the chip. I instinctively tried to arm myself and distance myself from Qiao Chu..."

Bai Chen, who was next to him, also heard what Shang Jianyao was saying. His expression changed several times and then he said:

"The more I think about it, the weirder it becomes... How could we want to please Qiao Chu so much and follow him to this extremely weird and dangerous city ruins?"

There are "advanced careless people" here, there are deformed and terrifying creatures, there are incomprehensible regular "maintenance" mechanisms, there are extremely mysterious laboratories, there are unknown things that make loud roars, and it is more ruined than any city Bai Chen has ever visited. All terrible.

"Yes, yes." Long Yuehong nodded frequently, "I am such a normal sexual orientation person, but I occasionally feel that if it is Qiao Chu, it seems not bad, ugh..."

As he spoke, he felt nauseated.

"Are you pregnant?" Shang Jianyao glanced at Long Yuehong, either seriously or pretending.

Without waiting for the other party to respond, he continued:

"Maybe it's some kind of ability?"

Jiang Baimian spat:

"Do you want to say that Long Yuehong has the ability to get pregnant, or that Qiao Chu has the ability to enchant?

"Charm, yes, that should be it.

"And all abilities must have boundaries. As long as they don't become superstitious, there are upper limits on the scope, number of targets, and corresponding degree.

"Ah, yes, I remember that when I wanted to go downstairs for convenience, Qiao Chu refused to let us go, and only allowed us to solve it on the other side of the same unit on the same floor. Also, he just said, don't turn around in a hurry when we reach the end of the corridor. Return first.

“This shows that the range of his ability does not exceed thirty meters.

"As for the number of targets, obviously it can't only target one person, no, a creature will be automatically charmed when it enters the corresponding range?"

After listening to Jiang Baimian's analysis, Long Yuehong, Bai Chen and others felt more and more horrified, and deeply realized the abnormality of their previous behaviors. At that time, they actually took it for granted, as if they were possessed by a ghost.

"It's scary, it's really scary." Long Yuehong just sighed, and suddenly noticed another problem, "Hey, didn't we feel so scared just now that we couldn't even stand straight?"

Why are discussions being held now?

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

“Because everything I saw and felt before was just an illusion.

"Once you don't take them to heart and ignore the past, you won't be affected."

"Hallucination..." Long Yuehong then recalled that Shang Jianyao had mentioned this matter before.

He was a little panicked and asked quickly:

"Should we get rid of the illusion first? What if those 'unintentional ones' take the opportunity to attack?"

"That's right." Jiang Baimian raised his left hand holding the flashlight, wanting to slap himself in the face to "wake up" himself.

She thought carefully for a second, thinking that it might be a bit painful, and decided to fire a shot above the squirming flesh, making it difficult for the "Heartless" who created the illusion to maintain the effect of his ability.

At this moment, the pool of flesh and blood they saw suddenly collapsed and turned into a male "Heartless" struggling to stand up.

At the same time, they heard a soft sound.

The female "unintentional person" tried to get up and attacked everyone in the "Old Tuning Group" with a sharp dagger she took out from nowhere. However, before she could leave the simple "wooden bed", she fell back due to the pain in her lower body. The dagger fell to the ground.

Her expression became extremely distorted, she forced her upper body to stand up, and put her hands into the tattered quilt.

Soon, she took out a wet and dirty baby from between her legs.

The baby's belly button is also connected to a whitish flesh-colored umbilical cord.

"Wow!"

A clear cry followed, echoing inside the room.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and others were supposed to shoot directly, but none of them pulled the trigger.

The female "careless person" quickly cut the umbilical cord and held the baby in her arms.

Then, she turned half sideways to keep the "baby" away from the intruders.

Her expression was ferocious and vigilant, and her cloudy eyes had become moist without knowing when, with a hint of pleading.

"Wow! Wow! Wow!"

The baby kept crying, and this female "unintentional person" bent down and bowed repeatedly, making whining sounds from her mouth, as if she was begging for something.

The four members of the "Old Tune Team" fell silent and did not respond, but they did not fire either.

After a few seconds, Shang Jianyao turned his head and looked at Jiang Baimian:

"Team leader..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Baimian let out a long sigh and said to the female "unintentional person":

"Let's go."

Then, as soon as she had an idea, she pointed at the air in front of her and said, regardless of whether the other party could understand it:

"Can you create another illusion for us?"

As she spoke, she turned the muzzle of the gun to the ground, took a few steps forward, and kicked the dagger away.

Shang Jianyao and others followed into the room, but did not show any intention to attack.

The female "unintentional person" was stunned for a while. She didn't know whether she understood Jiang Baimian's words or was creating better conditions for leaving, but she really let out a low roar again.

Green trees and abandoned cars appeared in front of Shang Jianyao and others.

It was as if they were transported out of thin air to the street outside.

"Sure enough, once you return to reality, you will automatically feel that Qiao Chu is too charming and want to follow him." Jiang Baimian felt the change in his heart and said with a solemn expression.

"If it was an automatic charm, why were the two 'unintentional ones' not affected?" Bai Chen raised his doubts, "Didn't Qiao Chu say that even non-human creatures like Nightmare Horse want to have sex with him?"

Shang Jianyao immediately emphasized:

"That's what I said."

Only then did Bai Chen realize that he had been "brainwashed" by Shang Jianyao, and he quickly changed his rhetoric:

"I mean, even non-human creatures like nightmare horses are charmed, not to mention the 'heartless' humans have become?"

"Maybe she is giving birth to a child, all the emotions are in this aspect." Long Yuehong guessed.

Jiang Baimian nodded:

"It seems that Qiao Chu's charm has a strength limit. Therefore, he did not dare to act too vicious or hostile along the way. This was because he was afraid that the charm would fail."

Before anyone else could speak, Jiang Baimian turned and said:

"We can't waste any more time. The main thing now is to figure out a way to not be affected by the charm after returning to reality.

"We haven't left the corresponding range yet."

Shang Jianyao responded immediately:

"I'll try."

"Okay." Jiang Baimian is most looking forward to what tricks this "awakened one" can play.

Shang Jianyao immediately turned his head and looked at Bai Chen:

"Lend me the mirror."

Although Bai Chen was confused, he still took out the large mirror case he carried with him and handed it to Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao opened the mirror box and looked at himself in the mirror, his eyes gradually darkened:

“You like Qiao Chu;

“Many people like Qiao Chu;

“You can’t get him;

"so?"

Shang Jianyao's expression instantly twisted and became extremely gloomy.

He quickly answered his own question:

“So, we can only kill him.

"I can't get it, and no one else can get it either."

Shang Jianyao said these two sentences with murderous intent and extremely firmness.

"..." Jiang Baimian's mouth opened slightly, speechless.

"Can it still be like this?" Long Yuehong asked blurtly.

He was inexplicably more afraid of Shang Jianyao, afraid that one day the other party would deceive him like this and make him do something disgusting.

Bai Chen was also a little stunned. It wasn't until Shang Jianyao returned the mirror to her that she subconsciously asked:

"Why don't you use your powers on us?"

"You can only affect yourself in the hallucination." Shang Jianyao replied with a clear smile, "When I get rid of the hallucination, I will use my abilities on you one by one, and I can't let you stop me."

"Oh, even the starting point of thinking has changed." Jiang Baimian said no more, fearing that some words would wake up Shang Jianyao and stop him from being affected by the "reasoning clown" ability.

She raised her right hand and fired at the wooden chair in her memory.

Amid the banging sound and the resulting changes, the four members of the "Old Tune Group" escaped from the hallucination at the same time.

By this time, the male "Careless Man" and the baby had disappeared, leaving only a line of bloodstains leading to another exit of the room.

The female "careless person" stood at the exit, not far away.

When Jian Shang Jian Yao, Jiang Bai Mian and others woke up, her eyes were cloudy and she bent her back again, as if bowing to them.

Then, she turned around, ran out of the room, and disappeared into the opposite corridor.

"The recovery ability is very strong..." Jiang Baimian's focus would occasionally be wrong like Shang Jianyao's.

At this time, Shang Jianyao walked next to her and said:

"Team leader, look:

“You like Qiao Chu;

“Many people like Qiao Chu;

“You can’t get him;

"so?"

Jiang Baimian's expression changed several times, and finally replied viciously:

"So, I have to knock him out and drag him back!"

Shang Jianyao neither agreed nor objected. He used the same method to make Bai Chen and Long Yuehong want to attack Qiao Chu.

Of course, the sources of their desire to attack are different. One is wanting to forcefully attack, and the other is psychologically distorted due to low self-esteem.

After completing the preliminary preparations, Shang Jianyao took a picture of the side of the assault rifle and said with a smile:

"Our current combination can be called the 'Lost Love Front Alliance'."

Jiang Baimian rolled his eyes at him and emphasized:

"Don't let Qiao Chu get too close later. He is also an 'awakened one' and must have other abilities.

"As soon as he appeared at the entrance of the corridor, we opened fire immediately. Well, each person targeted different parts, forming a cross-fire network."

"Okay." Shang Jianyao and others responded quietly.

After checking again, Jiang Baimian picked up the walkie-talkie hanging on his armed belt, pressed the button and said:

"We have reached the end of the corridor and met a 'Higher Heartless' and two ordinary 'Heartless'.

"The 'Higher Heartless One' was giving birth to a child. He didn't attack us too much and just escaped from here."

After a few seconds, Qiao Chu's cold voice came from the intercom:

"You guys wait for me to come."

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