Embers Ad Infinitum

After Hulala finished eating the yogurt with some sugar, Shang Jianyao held the lunch box and turned his attention to Ren Jie and Li Zhen.

The two women responsible for distributing the Holy Communion deliberately ignored him and gave the yogurt in the cylindrical container to different members one by one in counter-clockwise order.

After the Holy Communion, Li Zhen carried the tableware through the middle door and entered the inner room, while Ren Jie casually chatted with the believers and asked them for their opinions on today's Holy Communion.

During this process, she didn't lean in the direction of Shang Jianyao at all, because she thought she could guess what the guy would say.

"He will definitely say 'the taste is good, but the portion is too small'. How could such a person be brought into the cult in the first place? Although the 'Holy Master' has always asked us to develop more young people, especially those who have just reached the age of marriage, but Young people also need to be classified..." Ren Jie glanced at Shang Jianyao and rationally gave up the idea of ​​sharing her field experience with him.

She walked to the aisle leading to the middle door, turned around, and said to everyone:

"That's the end of today's party. You can go back one by one. Be careful on the way."

The members present bowed at the same time and left Li Zhen's house separately, heading to different places at night when there were no street lights.

Shang Jianyao and Shen Du walked along the way, both wearing dark green thick cotton coats, holding bulky flashlights, walking silently along the edge of the surveillance camera.

When they were about to leave, Shen Du raised his head and glanced at the dark ceiling, holding back a question:

“What does the sky really look like?”

Shang Jianyao looked at the flashlight beam and said:

"It's high, it's blue, it's empty."

Shen Du fell silent, separated from him, and walked towards his home.

After Shang Jianyao returned to Room 196 in Area B, he caught up on his sleep. He waited until the rush hour was over and then went to have breakfast before the canteen closed.

After filling his stomach, he came to the elevator hall located in the corner of Area C.

Twelve elevators here lead directly to the "research area."

Shang Jianyao skillfully pressed the 25th floor button, and then while the elevator was going down, he swiped his card and pressed "3".

After arriving on the third floor, Shang Jianyao walked along the corridor outside the metal door and came to the innermost room on the right.

"Dong dong dong." He knocked on the door.

"Who?" A soft female voice came out.

Shang Jianyao reported his name and finally said:

"Dr. Lin, I would like to make an appointment for a review."

Doctor Lin in the room suddenly smiled and said:

"Small businessman...

"I happen to be free now, come in."

After receiving permission, Shang Jianyao turned the handle and pushed open the door.

Dr. Lin still wore gold-rimmed glasses and a white coat. He was sitting behind the wood-colored table, playing with the pen in his hand.

Different from the past, this time, her hair was not tied up and let down casually, making her look several years younger.

"Good morning, Dr. Lin." Shang Jianyao greeted with a smile.

Dr. Lin pointed to the chair opposite:

"Good morning, take a seat."

As she spoke, she glanced at the folder open in front of her.

When Shang Jianyao sat down, she asked casually:

"How many days have you been back from working in the field?"

"I came back yesterday afternoon." Shang Jianyao didn't hide anything.

Dr. Lin tapped the end of the pen on the table and said with a smile:

"Today is too sudden, so I won't do any tests. Let's just chat.

"How's it going? Is this field trip going well?"

"Very exciting." Shang Jianyao answered truthfully.

Doctor Lin became a little curious:

"How exciting?"

"It can make ordinary security department employees die several times." Shang Jianyao found a standard for comparison.

"Then you're lucky to come back alive." Dr. Lin couldn't help but sigh.

She turned to smile and said:

"Then tell me about this experience. Don't tell me anything that needs to be kept secret."

Shang Jianyao showed a recalling expression:

"We drove out of the gate and came to the surface. The sky was very blue, very high, and very empty. It felt like it could suck people up. It was very scary, but you get used to it...

"There are many trees around, some with green leaves, some withered yellow, and there is a fresh smell of shit in the air..."

"Stop!" Dr. Lin raised his hand and pinched his nose. "There is no need to go into details like this."

She then picked up the cup and took a sip of tea:

"Where's the back?"

"There is no more behind." Shang Jianyao replied calmly.

"Ah?" Dr. Lin couldn't react for a moment.

Shang Jianyao explained:

"There are confidentiality clauses involved later."

"..." Dr. Lin was a little stunned, "In other words, you have only been out for a few hours, and you started to encounter things involving confidentiality clauses? What else can you say after this incident?"

Shang Jianyao replied seriously:

"I ate canned braised beef, ate energy bars, ate compressed biscuits, went to the bushes and urinated once, and killed two mosquitoes..."

"It goes without saying." Dr. Lin was quite helpless.

She was silent for a while, then couldn't help but ask again:

"Except for life details, everything else involves confidentiality clauses?"

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"We have to wait until the company reviews it before we can determine what can and cannot be said."

"Well." Dr. Lin sighed, "What happened to you? Well, were there any casualties?"

She was worried that this would irritate Shang Jianyao and make his condition worse.

Shang Jianyao shook his head:

"No."

Dr. Lin breathed a sigh of relief and decided to change the topic:

"Do you feel like you have grown during these experiences on the surface?"

"Yes." Shang Jianyao said with a serious expression, "I found that saving all mankind is a very difficult thing. We often cannot save even one child in a small town or settlement."

Dr. Lin nodded happily:

"As long as you know.

“I’m not saying there’s something wrong with your ideal, but I think you should set some goals that are easier to achieve before this ideal.

"This can help boost your confidence and improve your form."

Shang Jianyao responded immediately:

"Yes.

"So, I have to work harder to train myself and improve myself. Only in this way can we save all mankind."

"..." Doctor Lin rolled his eyes and sighed quietly.

Before she could speak, Shang Jianyao took the initiative and asked:

"Dr. Lin, I came to you today mainly to ask, how to overcome the fear hidden in your heart?"

Dr. Lin's expression changed, and he smiled slightly and said:

"That's a good question."

She did not use any more professional terminology, but said in a very approachable and chatting way:

“Personally, the prerequisite for overcoming the hidden fear in your heart is to recognize it and face it head-on.

“Escape will never solve the problem.

"Sometimes, you might as well look directly at your bloody wounds."

Seeing Shang Jianyao's thoughtful expression, Dr. Lin added:

“However, in actual practice, I do not advocate facing fear immediately, because this is likely to cause secondary damage and complete mental breakdown.

“The correct step should be to adopt appropriate methods to get closer to that fear step by step, from the edge to the center, and in this process, constantly rebuild the inner strength and eat away at the shadow bit by bit.

"When you can fully face those nightmares, you will find that they are not powerful and can be defeated easily."

Speaking of this, Dr. Lin smiled and said:

"You can tell me your general feelings and I will help you design some plans."

Shang Jianyao remained silent and did not answer.

Dr. Lin was not surprised and said "hmm":

“There’s no rush, you can take your time and think about it all week.

“Remember to check again this time next week.

"If you feel that you can't speak out in front of me, then you can find another way, or find someone you can trust to speak out."

Shang Jianyao nodded slightly:

"Thank you, Dr. Lin."

He immediately stood up and said goodbye politely.

After returning to the 495th floor, Shang Jianyao turned directly to the fourth elevator area in the other direction.

This leads to the Security Department.

Shang Jianyao waited for a while, then walked slowly inside and swiped his card to click on floor 647.

Soon, he came to the dressing room next to the "Old Tune Team" and changed into light clothes.

As soon as Shang Jianyao opened the door of the training room, he saw Jiang Baimian with a ponytail sitting on a bench, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel.

"Why are you here?" Jiang Baimian sensed his appearance earlier.

She remembered that she gave three team members two days off.

"Exercise." Shang Jianyao answered truthfully.

Jiang Baimian thought for a while and suddenly realized:

"Yes, your peers are all working at this time, and you can't find anything to do at home except sleeping."

"You can still read." Shang Jianyao replied.

"..." Jiang Baimian was just about to glare at this guy, but suddenly felt something and looked at the door again.

Bai Chen appeared there wearing a dusty scarf.

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao to speak, she took the initiative and said:

"It's okay to be idle."

Jiang Baimian smiled and praised:

"good."

Bai Chen had just walked a few steps through the door when Long Yuehong came over with a towel in hand.

"You, why are you here?" Long Yuehong saw the team leader, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen all looking at her, feeling surprised and a little panicked for no reason.

"Why are you here?" Jiang Baimian asked without answering.

Long Yuehong hesitated and said:

"The girl my mother introduced to me was at work and we couldn't meet her until after dinner. I thought since I have nothing to do, I might as well come over and recover."

Jiang Baimian's smile became more and more obvious:

"very good."

She immediately looked around and said seriously:

"Now that we're all here, let's practice fighting."

"Ah..." Long Yuehong looked embarrassed.

…………

At eight o'clock in the evening, Shang Jianyao was lying on the bed as usual, with his eyes half closed, waiting for the radio program to start.

Ten seconds later, the familiar sweet voice echoed:

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

"The board of directors held its 22nd meeting of the year today to discuss the focus of winter work...

“The cotton harvest in the inner ecological zone has been bumper...

"At 9:35 this morning, Wang Yafei, the manager of the 'Material Supply Market' on the 478th floor, died of cardiac arrest at his job..."

Shang Jianyao's eyes suddenly opened and he sat up directly.

PS: Fourth update, please vote for me~

PS2: Updates will continue tomorrow, the first update will be at midnight, the second and third updates will be at normal update times~

PS3: I wish everyone a happy New Year and a successful new year~