Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 553: Coincidence?

Mei Shou’an didn’t say too much. For relatively important knowledge such as determining if there was a door that led to the New World in a room, he could only tell Shang Jianyao after he cleared all the inspections. He mainly told Shang Jianyao what to take note of. This was to prevent Shang Jianyao—a mentally challenged Awakened—from rashly exploring the Mind Corridor during the review process and encountering problems that could’ve been avoided.

After nearly an hour-long conversation, Mei Shou’an got his subordinate—a researcher—to give Shang Jianyao a detailed physical examination.

...

495th floor, Zone C, Rec Center.

Long Yuehong—who had eaten dinner—mustered his courage and came here. He realized that most of his neighbors didn’t treat him as a monster. They were only very curious about the mechanical arm and were rather interested in his current state.

After Long Yuehong gave his prepared excuse, their attention quickly focused on the mechanical arm’s functions. Someone would come over to touch, knock, or request a demonstration from time to time. This included some young girls; it left Long Yuehong rather embarrassed.

After getting over the psychological barrier, he finally found an opportunity to squeeze out of the crowd and come to a corner.

“Hey, Meng Xia. Long time no see.” Long Yuehong smiled and greeted a lady. He had given the excuse of ‘he had seen a classmate’ to escape the ‘harassment.’

Meng Xia was just about to stand up and greet her old classmate when her husband, Zhang Lei, came over and helped her up.

“This is?” Long Yuehong had experience out in the field and immediately sensed the ‘situation.’

Zhang Lei—who looked very quiet and reserved other than his relatively sharp eyes—revealed a rare smile. “Xiaxia is pregnant.”

Long Yuehong wasn’t surprised at all. Meng Xia and Zhang Lei had been married for more than a year. With Pangu Biology’s pro-fertility policies, it was actually considered late for them to only be expecting now.

“Congratulations!” Long Yuehong smiled. He then took the initiative to pull a chair over and sit down instead of requiring his former classmate to get up out of politeness.

“Thank you,” Meng Xia replied before asking curiously, “Is your mechanical arm really that strong?”

She wanted to ask, “Did you really take the initiative to request a transplant?” However, she felt that their relationship wasn’t that good to delve into the topic, so she changed the topic.

Her husband—Zhang Lei, who came from outside the company—asked, “What model is it?”

“T1.” Long Yuehong didn’t hide the truth.

Zhang Lei was a little surprised. “You’ve been to United Industries? This is considered a relatively new model. It’s rare even in First City.”

“We know an arms dealer from United Industries,” Long Yuehong explained simply.

Meng Xia became even more curious and turned to ask her husband, “Is this really that impressive?”

“Yes.” Zhang Lei looked around and gave an example. “If used well, he can kill everyone here alone.”

He was referring to the Rec Center.

Long Yuehong subconsciously said humbly, “The premise is that there are no Awakened here, and none have undergone genetic modification or have transplanted a biological prosthetic limb.”

Meng Xia was dumbfounded. She didn’t care about the mechanical arm’s strength, although it was indeed a little impressive. She was angry and amused because of the example her husband had given her. What a crappy example!

Long Yuehong actually replied to this example!

This was like someone asking if a vegetable knife’s edge was sharp, but the other party’s answer was that it was enough to kill their entire family.

Although the tone and nature weren’t that serious, the underlying logic was similar.

Meng Xia couldn’t help but retort, “Can you guys chat properly?”

Is this the way people who have lived on the surface think?

Long Yuehong also sensed this problem. He raised his mechanical arm, scratched the back of his head, and abruptly changed the topic. “Meng Xia, have you just gotten pregnant? I couldn’t tell. Shouldn’t you be out less at a time like this? Why are you back here?”

Under the influence of the Life Ritual parish’s qualified parishioner—Shang Jianyao—Long Yuehong had some general knowledge that he shouldn’t have.

Meng Xia pursed her lips and said, “Our floor is too depressing. There’s nobody at the Rec Center, so it’s uncomfortable staying there. The atmosphere here is better.”

Long Yuehong recalled that Meng Xia and Zhang Lei lived on the floor that was mainly filled with foreign employees. He was just about to say something when he saw Shang Jianyao walk into the Rec Center.

“Over here.” Long Yuehong waved his hand.

Shang Jianyao had just approached when he rubbed his stomach and asked Long Yuehong, “Do you still have noodles at home?”

“Yes. Why? Did you not get to eat?” Long Yuehong asked.

Shang Jianyao sat opposite Meng Xia and sighed. “The research institute doesn’t provide food but kept me there until now. There’s nothing to eat anywhere, so I can only cook.”

“Why were you at the research institute?” Meng Xia asked curiously.

Shang Jianyao frankly replied, “To be researched.”

“Haha.” Meng Xia laughed.

After not seeing him for a long time, Shang Jianyao still liked to joke like before. However, his personality had changed quite a bit compared to when he was in school.

In the lively Rec Center, the four of them chatted. The atmosphere was very relaxed.

During this process, Zhang Lei glanced at Shang Jianyao. “I thought you would have a mechanical arm transplanted as well.”

This was based on his intuition.

“He stole it. There was only one.” Shang Jianyao pointed at Long Yuehong indignantly. He showed unconcealed envy, jealousy, and hate.

Meng Xia completely believed that Long Yuehong had volunteered for the transplant.

After chatting for a while, Shang Jianyao looked around and didn’t see a familiar figure. Therefore, he asked, “Where’s Old Chen?”

In private, they mostly called this floor’s Rec Center PIC—Chen Xianyu—Old Chen. In front of him, they called him Grandpa Chen.

Meng Xia’s expression changed a few times before she replied solemnly, “There was an outbreak of the Heartless disease in the company in early August. Grandpa Chen was unfortunately infected.”

“Ah...” Long Yuehong found it a little surreal. It has only been a few months, but everything has changed?

Shang Jianyao also fell silent. The people in the Rec Center either played cards, chatted, or discussed whether they should organize a dance party this weekend. It was very lively.

Long Yuehong—who originally found this relaxing feeling very pleasant—suddenly couldn’t sit still. He said to Meng Xia, “Shang Jianyao and I will be leaving first. He’s still hungry.”

“Bye.” Meng Xia waved her hand.

...

After using some stockpiled canned food and Long Yuehong’s noodles to make a large bowl of braised beef noodles and finishing it, Shang Jianyao washed up and rinsed his mouth before getting into bed.

He entered the Mind Corridor again, split into ten, and sized up his surroundings. As he did so, he realized that the door numbers were the same as before.

There were no changes.

Following their original route, the Shang Jianyaos walked in one direction of the corridor.

Before long, he arrived near Room 1215. He planned on going deeper and finding more abnormalities so that it would be easier for him to make preparations in the future.

When the ten pairs of eyes looked over, the Shang Jianyaos’ gazes froze at the same time. In their memories, the golden door number was: ‘1235.’

“It changed?” The Shang Jianyao wearing a deer-hunting hat fell silent for a moment.

“The other door numbers haven’t changed,” the timid Shang Jianyao reminded his associates—associates of the Shang Jianyao Democratic Association.

The honest Shang Jianyao frowned. “That’s strange. Could it be that Room 1215 is also a little strange? It’s the mobile type, making it difficult to enter it again?”

“It’s hard to say.” The Shang Jianyao wearing a red kasaya shook his head.

The ten Shang Jianyaos discussed for a while, but they couldn’t come up with an effective explanation. They could only wait for the review to end before asking Mei Shou’an if he had seen room numbers change.

...

In an elevator that led to the 647th floor the next morning.

Long Yuehong looked at the constantly changing numbers on the LCD screen and fell silent for a while. “Will there be at least one Heartless outbreak every year?”

He was referring to Pangu Biology’s interior.

“Yes, based on memory.” Shang Jianyao stroked his chin.

Although there hadn’t been many Heartless disease outbreaks on the 495th floor where they lived, the adults who heard the corresponding broadcast would always feel a little terrified and subconsciously reduce the number of times they gathered at the Rec Center. Therefore, they—who were young back then—also felt it. It left an indelible impression.

“Last year was late autumn, and the Life Ritual parish was involved... This year it happened in early August...” Long Yuehong tried to find the connection between the two epidemics.

Without a doubt, he failed.

If the rules behind the Heartless disease epidemic were that easy to discover, the researchers would’ve long figured it out!

At this moment, Shang Jianyao—who had his hand under his chin—exclaimed, “Wasn’t early August when you had your surgery?”

First City’s unrest happened in early August.

“What connection can there be?” Long Yuehong felt that it was purely a coincidence. He believed that Shang Jianyao was mostly joking with him, saying that his serious injuries had triggered the company’s Heartless outbreak.

After arriving on the 647th floor and entering Room 14, Shang Jianyao shouted at Jiang Baimian—who had already arrived, “Big White, check when the company’s August outbreak started and when it ended.”

Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth. “Is there a problem?”

Although Big White was a nickname she had given herself and required her team members to use it, she felt like she needed to give Shang Jianyao a beating every time he called her that.

“Guess?” Shang Jianyao replied with interest.

Jiang Baimian glared at him and couldn’t be bothered with him. She used the computer and entered the intranet to flip through the corresponding news that she was privy to.

As she read, she said, “The first case was in the morning of 7th August, between 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. As it was discovered relatively late, the precise timing couldn’t be obtained... It ended on August 13...”

At this point, Jiang Baimian paused and frowned. Then, she suddenly looked up at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Baimian said in a deep voice, “7th August was the day of First City’s chaos.”