Embers Ad Infinitum

In the photo, the young man who was less than twenty years old had dark brown hair, a few scattered freckles on his face, and dark blue to almost black eyes.

His facial features are not outstanding, he is just an ordinary Honghe person.

The middle-aged man next to him has similar facial features to him, and they are related by blood at first glance.

This middle-aged man's hair is messy, his beard is not so cleanly shaved, his smile is quite honest, but his eyes are somewhat clever.

Judging from their clothing and appearance, the family situation of the two men is not good at all. It can only be said that they are not poor, but they are not in the middle class.

Shang Jianyao stretched out his right palm covered with metal bones, pointed at the young man in the photo and said:

"The 'son of the old man'?"

"Probably." Gennava moved his metal neck up and down. "Normal people wouldn't put other people's photos openly in their rooms. One of them must be him, and I prefer the younger one. .”

"Why?" Shang Jianyao always likes to break the casserole and ask the truth.

Gennava stretched out his silver-black finger and clicked on the young man in the photo:

"The 'Son of Zhi Sui' was about twenty-four years old when the old world was destroyed. This couldn't be a photo he took at the end of the chaotic era or the beginning of the new calendar, right?"

"Why not?" Honest Shang Jian Yao asked when asked, "Isn't it allowed that the person next to you is the 'son of Zhi Sui' and he is the 'grandson of Zhi Sui'?"

"From the background of the photo, the style of the clothes, the degree of newness and oldness..." Gnawa explained a lot in detail.

Shang Jianyao patted his chest with his right hand holding the photo frame, as if he suddenly understood:

"So that's it."

Gnawa kindly reminded:

"If you take a few more pictures, the picture of blessings from the gods will be ruined."

It doesn't really matter whether the photo frame breaks or not.

"Don't be like the little red crow's mouth." Shang Jianyao complained, eagerly tore off the transparent tape, carefully folded the picture of blessings from the heavens, and put it back in his pocket.

He looked at the photo again and nodded:

“This was probably taken by ‘Zhi Sui Zi’ a few years before the destruction of the old world.

"So, the person next to him is the 'Twisted Shadow' of April?"

"Should." Gennava answered cautiously.

"That's wrong." Shang Jianyao retorted, "The correct name is the incarnation of the 'Shadow of Distortion'."

As he spoke, he laughed:

"He looks very ordinary. How does he look like Zhi Sui's incarnation?"

"'Zhuang Sheng's' incarnation body Du Shaochong is also relatively ordinary." Gennava reminded.

"He studies well!" Shang Jianyao responded loudly.

He then returned to normal volume:

"Xiao Chong's aesthetic is also very unique. Not everyone can afford the tomato scrambled egg color scheme. Moreover, he also likes games!"

Gnawa's eyes flashed red, and he thought for ten seconds before choosing the person to imitate:

"Yeah yeah."

Shang Jianyao looked at the middle-aged man in the photo again:

"Maybe the real person doesn't show his face."

He opened the frame and examined the photo carefully, but found no other clues.

"Can you take this photo away?" Shang Jianyao turned his head and looked at Gnawa.

"Are you asking me?" Gnawa discovered long ago that in Dabai's absence, this guy always did his own thing.

Shang Jianyao shook his head:

"no.

"I'm asking April's 'Twisted Shadow'."

After saying that, he bent his arms and showed off his biceps.

At the same time, he shouted loudly:

"Muscles first!"

This is the prayer movement and slogan of the Sacred Body Cult that believes in the "Shadow of Distortion".

After shouting, Shang Jianyao looked around hurriedly.

Seeing that the sun was still shining brightly, he handed the photo to Gnawa and asked him to put it away.

And he himself checked the things on the desk.

This is mainly pens and other stationery and a few books.

The latter includes "Analysis of Super Powers", "Switch of Consciousness", "Mystery of the Human Body"...

"It can be seen that the 'old man' is looking for an explanation of the awakened person's ability. Whether it is scientific or unscientific, he is reading." Gnawa picked up the books and counted the money. I flipped through it quickly, recorded it, and analyzed it.

Shang Jianyao was "shocked":

"Isn't it given by his father?"

"This shows that he does not agree with this explanation." Gennava made a judgment.

Shang Jianyao was excited and immediately informed Jiang Baimian of this discovery with the help of the communication system of the military exoskeleton device.

Jiang Baimian said to himself thoughtfully:

"He thinks that the nature of awakening has nothing to do with Zhi Sui, that Zhi Sui can only use this power?

"His executive father told him?"

"It's possible." Shang Jianyao replied happily.

Jiang Baimian immediately ordered:

"Bring these books back.

"Lao Ge, remember to scan them all and do backup and analysis."

"No problem." Gnawa found paper and rope on the spot, tied the books into packages and hung them on his body.

——His and Shang Jianyao’s backpacks are fully packed.

Immediately afterwards, Shang Jianyao eagerly asked Jiang Baimian:

"Do you want to take away the pack of bear biscuits on the table?"

"Little bear biscuit?" Jiang Baimian was slightly surprised.

Shang Jianyao nodded vigorously:

"Yes, there is also a bag of bear biscuits on the table. The production date is the beginning of the 37th year of the New Calendar and they are produced locally."

This bag of biscuits is placed next to the ink bottle. The outer shell is made of brown kraft paper.

"Coningmis still maintains a production line of bear biscuits? Isn't this too extravagant?" Jiang Baimian asked to himself doubtfully.

Although Cornimis did not suffer much damage when the old world was destroyed, and both its factories and farmland were well preserved, the surrounding areas were all swallowed up by the ice sheet and could no longer provide them with food.

In other words, their food output is only enough to sustain their lives, and factory production is mainly to meet basic living needs and imported energy.

Shang Jianyao expressed his understanding:

"Maybe the 'old man' likes bear biscuits very much. As a savior, it is acceptable to have some privileges and waste some resources."

"He is 81 years old in the 37th year of the New Calendar." Jiang Baimian muttered.

"Maybe this is his childhood memory." Shang Jianyao argued with reason.

Thinking of the strange "habits" of the awakened people, Jiang Baimian said nothing more and said directly:

"Check the biscuits. If there's nothing wrong with them, you don't need to take them away."

"Okay." Shang Jianyao was a little disappointed.

After Gnawa's identification, this was an ordinary bag of bear biscuits.

At this time, Shang Jianyao pulled out a document under several books.

The content of the document is a plan to add power stations. One is to purchase coal from Gerstburg and prepare to build a new thermal power plant. The other is to find ways to obtain related technologies and corresponding materials from the old world and build a nuclear power plant by itself.

Next to the latter option, someone wrote the word "agree" and signed his name:

Brooklyn Garland.

"What's the name of 'Zhi Sui's son'?" Shang Jianyao handed the document to Gnawa.

Gennava moved his metal neck:

"It's basically certain."

Shang Jianyao suddenly thought with great interest:

"Will you be blessed if you shout this name at a critical moment?"

"He is already dead," Gennava reminded.

Shang Jianyao then sighed:

“It seems like it will only have the opposite effect and make us die faster.

"It's better to call Du Shaochong."

After a search, they could not find any more clues in the suite on the top floor.

"He didn't write a diary or record his thoughts and feelings!" Shang Jianyao said bitterly.

The words left by the "Son of Zhi Sui" they found here were either signatures or corrections of certain documents, and there was nothing involving the Awakened, the "New World" or Zhi Sui.

Gnawa responded:

“This can explain a lot of problems.

"Even the 'Zhi Sui' son' would not dare or be unwilling to write down things related to the 'New World'."

"Yes, yes." Shang Jianyao agreed, "The water in the 'New World' is very deep!"

They didn't stop any longer, packed up their belongings, and evacuated to the outskirts of Cornimis.

Before that, Shang Jianyao gathered the bones of the former team members except his father and found a place to bury them.

Those with personal belongings, he took one from each body.

——From the bones of the leader of the old team, Gennava and Shang Jianyao knew that they came all the way to Cornynmis because there was no large-scale outbreak of "careless diseases" when the old world was destroyed. This is very rare on gray soil.

…………

Cornynmeath, Western Mountains.

The "Old Tune Group" ate dinner and discussed the discovery in Cornimis.

During the exchange, Long Yuehong suddenly said:

"The two tasks we came out this time have been completed. Are we going to return to the company next?"

Jiang Baimian and others fell silent for a moment.

After a few seconds, Jiang Baimian considered and said:

“There is one more thing that must be confirmed.

"That's the purpose of keeping humans in captivity."

"How should we confirm it?" Long Yuehong had thought about this before, but had no clue.

Jiang Baimian looked around and said slowly:

"Go to the end of the year city that believes in the big boss and the strange existence of 'truth'."

Bang bang bang, Shang Jianyao clapped his hands.