Embers Ad Infinitum

Qiao Chu’s gaze subconsciously moved past Long Yuehong and landed on Shang Jianyao, who was a little further behind.

Shang Jianyao had slightly bent over as if he was breathing heavily.
His eyes darkened as he returned Qiao Chu’s gaze.
With some difficulty, he said very seriously, “My mother said that one shouldn’t condone someone’s bad habits, no matter how much one likes them.”

…

When Jiang Baimian fired the grenade at the Slumber Cat, she caused quite a loud explosion.

In the city ruin’s square with many sculptures.

Jingfa—who was wearing a yellow monk robe and a red kasaya—stopped what he was doing and looked back in the direction of the sound.

In front of him were several female Heartless corpses—in pieces.

Before long, a roar—which sent reverberations through the clouds—sounded from the direction of the explosion.

As the red light in his electronic eye flickered a few times, Jingfa abandoned the corpses around him and ran in the direction of the sound.

…

In the dark city ruin, on a certain street’s certain building.

Du Heng—the middle-aged man in a black robe, with long hair of the same color and a beard around his mouth—muttered to himself in confusion, “Not here?”

Just as he said that, an explosion sounded from not far away.

Du Heng didn’t react much to this, but a desolate, hoarse roar soon sounded from that direction.

Could it be over there? Du Heng thought for a moment and walked towards the stairs.

…

A shop by the street in the city ruin.

The blond Daoist priest, Galoran, was lying in a very soft, black leather chair.
She looked sleepy, but unfortunately, she couldn’t fall asleep.
She was woken up by successive explosions and roars.

“Sigh, my cultivation level is still not high enough.
Master can even peacefully sleep beside a factory… Forget it, forget it.
Since I’m awake, I’ll just go over.
I wonder if I’ll be able to hitch a ride on the way…” Galoran elaborately blamed herself.

She was even muttering to herself in the Ashlands language.

Then, Galoran slowly got up and walked toward the roar’s source.

…

On the other side of the city ruin, in a square with many pieces of equipment.

A convoy of five cars was parked here.
One of the five cars was a grayish-green armored car.

Next to the armored vehicle, a muscular man wearing a grayish-green beret looked at his harvest and nodded in satisfaction.

A man with a shaved head came over and said happily, “Brother Li, it hasn’t been long since we filled up all the cars.
Why don’t we search for vehicles that can still be driven and repaired? Each of us can get one.”

‘Hyena’ Lin Li—who was called Brother Li—looked around and slowly swept his gaze across the 13 core members’ faces.
He saw that everyone was equally happy and excited.

Lin Li had a high nose, and his forehead was a little protruded.
His looks were rather unique.

“Sure.” Lin Li nodded in agreement with the bald man’s suggestion.
“The main reason is that we haven’t found a weapon that can effectively enhance our strength or technological information that can be exchanged for good items from large factions.
We have to prepare for the future.
There must be a large faction backing Blackrat Town.
We have to deal with them before they figure out what happened.”

He was just about to continue when explosions and roars sounded in the same direction.

After quietly listening for a while, ‘Hyena’ Lin Li smiled and said, “Looks like there’s something good over there.
Let’s go take a look.
We’ll take action if there’s a chance.
If not, we’ll find something else.”

This had always been the style of bandits like them.
They were like hyenas that rushed over after smelling rotten meat but did not take the risk to approach.
They only waited for an opportunity from afar.

“Yes, Brother Li!” His gang’s core members were just about to take turns sleeping when they stood up energetically.

…

Upon hearing Shang Jianyao’s words, the corners of Qiao Chu’s mouth twitched indiscernibly.

It was only then that Long Yuehong realized that Qiao Chu wanted to kill him.
All the beautiful fantasies Long Yuehong had imagined collapsed suddenly, allowing him to truly return to reality.

“H-he…” Long Yuehong realized in horror that Qiao Chu was not his companion at all.
He was not a charming person worth following.

Along the way, Long Yuehong felt as if his heart had been clouded by fat. This is too strange!

Before Long Yuehong could finish speaking, ripples appeared in Qiao Chu’s golden eyes.

Jiang Baimian—who had already decided to stop Qiao Chu—suddenly felt a strong sense of depression.
She clearly wanted to lead Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong away from the dangerous area, but she ended up leading them to the dangerous ruins.

It was the team leader’s mistake for an ordinary field training session to have developed to this stage.
Her former dream had to be abandoned because of a mistake, and her body had almost collapsed…

She should just die…

At this moment, Jiang Baimian was completely disheartened.
She gave up on struggling and only wanted to await death.

Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao had the same reaction.
They were too depressed to do anything or say a word.

Qiao Chu did not attack.
Instead, he put away the silver rifle and spoke with a cold and gentle voice.
“Don’t worry; it’s all in the past.”

Long Yuehong and the others—who were deep in a gloomy and depressing world—seemed to hear the comfort of an angel.