Embers Ad Infinitum

“2…”

A red laser shot out of Long Yuehong’s hand.

The Superior Heartless had lost his intelligence and didn’t expect anyone to be able to escape Weak Heart’s influence. Therefore, he failed to react in time. By the time he saw the red light, his head had already been penetrated.

No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t be faster than the speed of light!

A burn mark appeared on his forehead, and milky-white matter gurgled within as blood surged.

The Superior Heartless swayed and fell to the side with a blank expression.

The enemy wearing the Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor switched targets and circled toward Long Yuehong.

“1…”

Bai Chen landed on the ground. Her expression was filled with grief, but her eyes became abnormally firm.

Without the Superior Heartless’s constant influence, the remaining ‘weak-mindedness’ couldn’t completely suppress her will. She turned around, ran two steps, and suddenly stomped her feet, jumping into the air.

Boom!

The entire underground building clearly shook as dust fell from above, accompanied by heavy boulders that came plummeting.

Bai Chen had just jumped through the open door and returned to the emergency access when the area behind her was completely sealed off by the falling boulders and the collapsed structure.

She didn’t show any horror or despair. She rolled on the ground and stabilized herself before a relieved and happy smile appeared on her face. She then saw Long Yuehong dealing with the enemy wearing the Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor.

The Heartless horde rushing up from below was hunting normal people. There weren’t many survivors left.

Bai Chen immediately raised her left arm and stretched out her palm. She couldn’t be bothered to pick up the Ice Moss pistol that had fallen to the ground.

Long Yuehong couldn’t aim at the enemy wearing the Chameleon bionic artificial intelligence armor, and most of the functions of his mechanical arm were useless after his return to the company. He could only rely on his relatively rich combat experience to constantly move and search for an opportunity.

However, more and more Heartless began to approach.

At this moment, he saw the enemy clearly slow down. His head swayed a few times as if he were very dizzy.

Without thinking too much, Long Yuehong seized the opportunity to fire the laser again.

The red beam of light easily penetrated the Chameleon-type bionic artificial intelligence armor and penetrated the target’s head.

Badump!

The enemy fell to the ground.

Long Yuehong subconsciously turned his head and saw Bai Chen—who had just bent down to pick up the Ice Moss pistol. He was shocked, angry, and pained. “Why did you return?”

Bai Chen threw him an Ice Moss and walked over. She stretched out her right palm and held his left hand.

She faced the Heartless running over and whispered, “We’ll be together forever! I won’t run away alone again! If we die, we die together!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She fired accurately with her left hand, killing three Heartless in a row.

Long Yuehong fell silent for a moment before tightly gripping Bai Chen’s palm. He roared softly, “We’ll be together forever!”

Boom!

The collapse of the underground building seemed to have begun as more and more debris and dust fell.

Dozens of Heartless rushed toward Long Yuehong and Bai Chen without any fear.

…

Underground building, sixth floor.

Before the countdown began, Hou Yi tried to escape again and again. However, the Heartless either sent her scurrying back to the radio station, or she failed to get an elevator.

With only two to three minutes left, she gave up in despair. Even if she could take the elevator, she wouldn’t be able to escape to the surface area in time.

Hou Yi returned to the radio station like a zombie.

At this moment, the countdown was counting down to the second.

Hou Yi looked around, and only two images surfaced in her mind: The first was her home, and the second was the recording studio where she had invested the most passion and effort.

The former couldn’t be returned; there was no time. The latter was not far ahead.

Hou Yi subconsciously strode into the recording room.

It’s good to die here… Her tears gushed uncontrollably.

The building began to shake slightly.

She paced around the recording studio, wanting to memorize every detail here and bring it to the netherworld. As she walked, she entered the operations room and saw that the machines here were still operating.

Hou Yi was stunned for a moment before walking over.

…

In the parking lot of the underground building.

Long Dayong and Gu Hong watched helplessly as the boulders fell. Some things collapsed, blocking their son and daughter-in-law from their line of sight.

After a brief moment of confusion, Gu Hong stood up in tears and rushed over.

Long Dayong hugged her. “We can’t do it alone. We have to go out and get help!”

There was a hint of urgency and choking in his voice. He had yet to lose his mind regarding this matter.

This was the first time Gu Hong had encountered such a situation. She had no idea what to do and could only choose to trust her husband. After all, this sounded reasonable.

Even if the building was sealed, only the entrance and exit would collapse—it wouldn’t be completely destroyed. As long as someone had machinery, there was still a chance to cut through the rocks and iron doors to save them!

Gu Hong and Long Dayong turned around and ran to the parking lot.

After running a few steps, they encountered a Security Department field employee who was on leave. He had escaped through another emergency access.

He opened a car door and thought of a way to turn on the engine. His wife sat in the passenger seat with their child.

Upon seeing Long Dayong and Gu Hong, the Security Department employee hesitated. He looked back at the empty backseat and said to Gu Hong and Long Dayong, “Quick, get in the car. We have to get out quickly!”

“Thank you, thank you.” Long Dayong and Gu Hong only knew how to respond at this moment.

They quickly opened the door and sat in the backseat.

The car immediately started, and it didn’t take long for them to rush out of the building and arrive in the Ashlands amidst the quaking ground.

Golden and pure sunlight stabbed at them, making Long Dayong and Gu Hong close their eyes involuntarily. Fortunately, they didn’t permanently live in the dark, so it didn’t take them long to recover.

Just as the two of them pushed open the door and alighted, they heard a surprised shout. “Dad! Mom!”

Gu Hong and Long Dayong turned their heads and saw Long Zhigu and Long Aihong standing among the dense crowd by the side of the road.

Their tears flowed down as their vision turned blurry.

At this moment, the radio at the underground building’s entrance sounded. The familiar, slightly childlike, sweet voice echoed in the survivors’ ears again: “Hello, everyone. I’m Newspoint broadcaster, Hou Yi.

“There’s only one piece of news today: In order to resist the Kalendaria’s rearing and a tomorrow without the Heartless disease, all the company’s employees chose to unite and flee to the surface.

“Many people failed and died, but many people successfully left the underground building.

“Everyone, everyone who is out, it’s a long road ahead. Take care.

“You have to live well on our behalf and establish another Pangu Biology without Kalendarium or shepherds.

“You guys have to live well!

“The building has begun to collapse. This episode of Newspoint shall end here. Thank you for all the love…”

Boom!

A dull sound came from the ground, and the entire mountain seemed to shake.

The employees near the door were in tears.

…

In the vortex-like building, in the core research area.

Jiang Baimian felt increasingly dizzy. She felt like her soul was being extracted and dragged out bit by bit.

If this continues, I won’t be able to last more than a few minutes… Jiang Baimian tried her best to hold in her pain as she stared at the experiment capsule’s indicator lights.

Her instincts told her to distance herself from this area as soon as possible.

She had already experienced an abnormally long wait.

After a while, just as Jiang Baimian couldn’t help but raise her hand and attempt to massage her temples, she touched the military exoskeleton’s helmet. The experiment capsule’s indicator light switched to blue and stopped blinking.

Jiang Baimian quickly looked into the experiment capsule and saw that the warping on Shang Jianyao’s face had eased at some point in time. The pain had vanished.

Success? Jiang Baimian was delighted. She quickly switched off the experiment capsule and opened the transparent cover.

Suddenly, her vision turned pitch-black. Then, countless glimmers appeared, illuminating her vision and Shang Jianyao’s figure in gray camouflage.

Without needing her to take the initiative to make contact with his consciousness, Shang Jianyao established a connection with her.

“You succeeded?” Jiang Baimian blurted out a question.

Shang Jianyao nodded. “Teacher Du Heng is giving me the privileges.”

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian to ask again, he quickly said, “The situation in the New World has changed again. Teacher Du Heng’s intention to end the disaster has been seen through by Big Boss. Shadow of Distortion rebelled on the spot, and Door of Scorching and Last Man chose to retreat. Our forces have become abnormally weak.

“Although Subhuti and Shattered Mirror are spies planted by Teacher Du Heng and have officially returned to join the battle, the overall situation is still in Big Boss and the others’ favor. Even with me, it will probably only delay our defeat.

“We will do our best to give you time to escape the Eighth Research Institute and create an opportunity for you to detonate the nuclear bomb. That opportunity might be fleeting, so you have to seize it.

“Yes, once you are outside, keep issuing the detonation signal until it succeeds.”

Shang Jianyao said a bunch in one breath. He seemed to have thought through his words for a while.

Jiang Baimian fell silent for a moment before saying with a sad expression, “Alright.”

She then opened her mouth again. “You…”

She didn’t continue, and her eyes flickered.

Shang Jianyao looked at her for a second, took two steps forward, spread his arms, leaned forward, and hugged her.

Jiang Baimian was a little stunned.

Shang Jianyao hugged her for a few seconds before letting go and taking two steps back. He looked into Jiang Baimian’s eyes, slowly raised his right hand, pressed it to his left chest, and solemnly said, “For all of humanity!”

With that said, he turned around and disappeared from Jiang Baimian’s line of sight without looking back.