Embers Ad Infinitum

As if Shang Jianyao couldn't understand other people's faces, he asked Jacob and Hendrick:

"He seems to be very powerful, but you seem to be afraid of him?"

After a few seconds, Jacob, who had a relatively better personality, said feebly:

"Truth is in that tower, too, but He comes out from time to time."

He used the word “him” that represents the gods in Honghe language.

"He is equivalent to Zhi Sui but not Zhi Sui?" Shang Jianyao asked.

Hendrick said without hesitation:

"Every time He comes out, it will be accompanied by the death of one or two awakened people."

"But to what extent His strength reaches, we have not personally experienced it and cannot give you an accurate answer." Jacob added.

Shang Jianyao said "oh" twice:

"Executives generally don't leave the tower?"

"They don't need to leave the tower to extract the consciousness of every resident here and respond to different prayers." Jacob's face showed awe, and his voice became deeper, "Of course, I have neither seen nor heard it. Said the executors would leave the tower."

"That's it." Shang Jianyao sighed, "They are not close enough to the people and don't know how to enjoy themselves with the people."

Hendrick squinted his eyes and looked at this guy for a few seconds:

"Sheep don't want to live with lions either."

Shang Jianyao didn't answer this sentence, his mind had already jumped to another place:

"If no one provides liquid food, nutrition injections, and nutrient solutions to our bodies on the dust, will they slowly starve to death? Or can the extracted human consciousness feed back to the body and maintain the most basic biological activities?"

This is common sense among the strong in the "New World". Hendrick glanced at the weak Jacob and said in a deep voice:

“The body without replenishment will accelerate its decline, and it will no longer be able to restore your spirit normally, and your consciousness will also be weakened.

"Under such circumstances, you can only rely on absorbing the consciousness of the people around you to maintain your mental stability. This will indeed give your body a certain amount of feedback, allowing it to maintain the weakest biological activity, just like every cell has entered hibernation. .”

"But what if there are no humans in the surrounding area?" Shang Jianyao asked further.

"Then you can only try to gain human consciousness here." Hendrick said coldly, "If this doesn't work, your body will die first, and your consciousness will be close to dissipating soon."

"Just close?" Shang Jianyao was confused.

Jacob sighed and smiled:

"Executives will not waste this consciousness and let it die on its own."

"I understand." Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and left palm and said, "Just like when we find that some food is about to expire, we eat it quickly."

Without waiting for Jacob and Hendrick to respond, he offered a counterexample:

"But I have a friend. There have been no humans in the surrounding area for thirty or forty years. He is someone's battery. His body is still alive, but it's close to a mummy state."

This friend refers to Yan Hu.

"Impossible." Jacob and Hendrick denied it in unison, but one said it softly, without any strength, and the other pronounced it with an accent.

"This is the fact." Shang Jianyao spread his hands.

Hendrick said coldly:

"This only shows that he is not someone's battery. Someone is providing him with human consciousness on a regular basis. Although the frequency may be very low and the quantity is not large, it is enough to maintain his most basic state of survival."

"Why did that person do that?" Shang Jianyao expressed confusion.

Hendrick did not answer, but said directly:

"It's him you need to ask, not us."

"Oh." Shang Jianyao looked like "Why didn't I think of that?"

He asked again:

"At that time, I entered the place where my friend's body was sleeping, but he didn't eagerly absorb my consciousness immediately. He had to wait a quarter of an hour before trying again. Why?

"Well, we weren't friends at that time."

Jacob and Hendrick looked at this guy again with strange expressions, as if they were looking at a fool.

Finally, Jacob responded:

"Because we are in the 'New World', there is a barrier between us and the dust. Whether it is sensing the approach of human consciousness, searching for position, locking and extracting, it will take a certain amount of time."

"That's it." Shang Jianyao suddenly understood at first, and then came up with a counterexample, "But when I entered here before and provided protection for my companions, there was no delay."

"Provide protection..." Jacob chewed the phrase twice and asked with understanding, "At that time, someone was extracting the consciousness of your companion?"

"Yes, yes." Shang Jianyao nodded frequently.

James gave the answer to the question just now:

"The reason you don't experience the delay is because someone has established the channel."

"Professional." Shang Jianyao praised.

Then, he continued to ask in the spirit of breaking the casserole and asking the end:

"The other thing I don't understand is, how come we were locked and started to extract consciousness as soon as we entered that area?"

Jacob, who had been standing for too long, pulled up a high stool and sat behind the bar. Hendrick helped make speculations:

"The lack of delay is either because the process of sensing human consciousness, searching and locating has been completed before, or the awakened ones in that area just returned to the dust from the 'New World'."

Shang Jianyao had a lot of experience in group discussions and immediately shook his head:

“I don’t think the first one was such a coincidence, we just opened the door.

"Why do we have to complete that action, no sooner or later, before we can lock our consciousness and start extracting?

"The second possibility is too coincidental. I feel that no matter whether it is a few days or months in advance or a few days or months late, as long as you enter that area, you will become an 'unintentional person'. Well, This can be confirmed later.”

Seeing that he was very opinionated, Jacob did not try to persuade him, but joked:

"There is another situation where there is no delay, and that is that it was Zhi Sui who extracted your consciousness at that time."

"That's not right either." Shang Jianyao denied it again, "If it really happened, the protection I provided would be easily broken down and would have no effect."

Jacob did not answer his question, changed the subject, and asked slightly curiously:

"Have you discovered the door to the 'new world' long ago and waited until you encountered danger before pushing the door open?"

"Yes." Shang Jianyao did not deny it.

"How calm you are." Jacob sighed, "I just can't do it."

After chatting for a while, Hendrick, who looked very energetic after drinking the lemon margarita, walked to a set of sofas, took out a saxophone from the corner, and started playing by himself.

Deep, calm and soothing music with a touch of sadness slowly echoed in this small bar.

Shang Jianyao listened quietly for a while, seeming to be immersed in such an atmosphere. At least he did not suggest that Hendrik choose the erhu as the main instrument because he always squinted his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Jianyao stood up, said goodbye to Jacob, and walked outside.

The street lights came on again as he went out.

…………

"It turns out that locking and extraction still take a certain amount of time... No wonder you had time to push open the door to the 'New World', and I was able to hold on until you provided protection." In the evening, outside the Eighth Research Institute, in the jeep, after listening to the discussion After seeing Yao's feedback, Jiang Baimian suddenly realized.

For some sensitive words, Shang Jianyao used code words agreed in advance to refer to them.

Shang Jianyao echoed:

"Yeah yeah."

"It seems that it was indeed not Zhi Sui at that time." Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully.

There will be no delay in executing the new year.

Jiang Baimian still had some action in the evening, and didn't want to consume too much energy now. He exchanged a few words with Shang Jianyao and said:

"I will give you a nutritional injection later. Don't rush to the tower, and don't rush to deal with people like the 'Vice Dean'. Contact more friendly people like Jacob and Flora, and master more information." If there are many situations, seek more help. Well, don't be brave when you encounter those unfriendly people, avoid them if you can."

"I understand, we need to unite some people who deserve to be united and gather the strength of the crowd." Shang Jianyao has always regarded the "Salvation Army" as the benchmark for his behavior model.

Jiang Baimian ended the topic and finally concluded:

“We communicate once a day in the morning, noon and evening, and each time it’s a little brief.

"Well, if there is an emergency, I will contact your consciousness immediately with my spirit."

"What if there is an emergency here?" Shang Jianyao asked.

Jiang Baimian smiled:

"Although you can't control the movements of your body, you seem to be able to maintain a certain instinct. At least you haven't been incontinent so far.

"If there is an emergency after that, just let yourself pee your pants. I will understand what is going on as soon as I see it.

"If there happens to be no urine, you can only use the method of locking consciousness and trying to stimulate me, but this will cause a considerable delay."

"No problem." Shang Jianyao agreed without hesitation.

Then he smiled and said:

"I want to go to the toilet now, big and small."

The smile on Jiang Baimian's face froze for a second:

"Wait a minute, let me help you move outside, get into a good position, and take off your pants."

After finishing this matter, Jiang Baimian was not in a hurry to explore the real "new world" at night, and planned to wait for a few more hours until it gets darker.

…………

"Pangae Creatures", inside the underground building.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen returned to their homes after chatting with their parents for a while.

They had just sat down and before they had time to speak, the familiar, slightly childish voice sounded from the radio outside:

"Hello everyone, I am Hou Yi, the news announcer on the hour, it is 8 o'clock in the evening...

“This morning, the board of directors reviewed the work report of last quarter and commended the trend of steady growth in the birth population and increasingly diverse material production...

"The results of the unified marriage in the new year will be announced soon..."

"A new round of border conflict broke out between the 'Prime City' and the 'Salvation Army'...

“The ‘Department of Order Supervision’ declared the previous month as ‘No Violent Incident Month’…

"The 'Entertainment Department' is preparing to hold table tennis competitions in the activity centers on each floor..."