Embers Ad Infinitum

Underground building, 417th floor.

Long Yuehong looked at his watch and confirmed the time. He didn’t go to his grandparents’ house but went straight to the Rec Center.

As expected, he immediately saw his grandfather—Long Yixuan—holding a thermos and chatting with a group of middle-aged and elderly employees. His grandmother, Zhong Zining, was further inside, playing cards with her neighbors.

Back when he was in university, Long Yuehong was especially envious of his grandfather and grandmother’s lives.

Their grandchildren were mostly grown up, and they were almost retirement age. They were still in relatively good physical condition, so apart from not being able to go to the surface, they could live their daily lives rather freely.

Furthermore, after working so hard for so many years, they each had a certain rank of employment. Although they weren’t considered high, they had the advantage of not needing to help their children. They were completely self-sufficient for their daily necessities, and they could also have a feast from time to time.

Long Yuehong carried the bag of fruits and sat beside his grandmother, Zhong Zining. He smiled and asked, “Did you win?”

These retired and semi-retired old employees betted small and mainly played for entertainment. They would even split one contribution point into ten portions and leave it on a tab before settling the accounts.

Zhong Zining grumbled, “I didn’t win a few rounds.”

Although she was grumbling, the old lady with much white hair still smiled and muttered, “Why are you bringing up fruits again? You’re about to get married and are about to have children. You have to save up, understand?”

As the saying goes, the youngest son and eldest grandson were most cherished by an old lady. As the firstborn of the Long family’s third generation, Long Yuehong had always been doted on by his grandparents and had a good relationship with them.

Long Yuehong smiled and explained, “Little White told me to bring these to you guys as a form of respect.”

He had already told his grandparents that his fiancee’s name was Bai Chen.

Of course, Bai Chen—whose parents had passed away relatively early—was a wilderness nomad to her bones; she actually didn’t have such self-awareness. Long Yuehong had always freeloaded from his grandparents’ house for food and drink, and he also didn’t have the habit of bringing gifts. Fortunately, the Old Task Force had an Old World folklore researcher and Pangu Biology’s model child, Jiang Baimian. From time to time, she would give the young couple some advice.

Long Yuehong was deeply inspired and connected this to a sentence in the song Shang Jianyao sang: Nobody would blame you for being polite!

Zhong Zining exclaimed, “Little White is too polite.”

Although she said that, the smile on her face became brighter. At the same time, she took out a few fruits and distributed them to her mahjong friends. “Try it. Try it. A gift from my granddaughter-in-law.”

She couldn’t hide the smugness in her tone.

So what if your grandchildren were assigned a partner as soon as they became of age? My eldest grandson’s wife has a high rank, has many contribution points, and knows how to respect her elders!

Grandma is so generous today… Long Yuehong muttered inwardly.

Fruits within Pangu Biology weren’t something ordinary families could eat often. Long Yuehong remembered that his grandparents would hide them well every time they exchanged for fruits. Not to mention outsiders, even his parents rarely gave them fruit. Only people of the younger generation like him would rummage through them and say, “Hurry up and eat. It will spoil if you don’t eat it.”

Upon seeing the neighbors around the card table stop and eat the fruits, Long Yuehong casually said, “I chatted with Little White about your and Grandpa’s names before getting off work today. She felt that they are completely different from my parents, siblings, and sister.”

Zhong Zining smiled. “You have to ask your great-grandparents. They were all educated by the Old World, so they might like to come up with such names. Sigh, your great-grandfather and great-grandmother passed away before your father was born. We could only make do by coming up with one.”

Although he already knew that his great-grandparents had passed away early, Long Yuehong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion every time he heard that. Even if they moved underground, Pangu Biology didn’t have a good time in the Chaotic Era or the early years of the New Calendar.

After chatting about the names, Long Yuehong followed the strategy he had discussed with Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Jiang Baimian and took the opportunity to start the topic.

He took out the Babymaker talisman in front of everyone at the card table and asked in anticipation, “Is this really useful? It looks relatively new to me, and it doesn’t look like it was obtained from your generation.”

Zhong Zining casually replied, “The one I used to wear was already tattered. I specially got someone to draw this after your father said that you were getting married. It was very effective; I wore it back then, and I had five children. None of them died early. Your mother didn’t want it, so she only had three.”

Long Yuehong immediately asked, “Who drew it?”

Upon seeing his grandmother cast a confused gaze at him, he followed the plan and smiled. “A colleague of mine said that he also wants one if it’s effective.”

Zhong Zining came to a realization and expressed her understanding. She even felt a little pleased with herself. “It’s the Mu family in Zone B. Their ancestor was some Daoist priest; he knew how to make all kinds of talismans.”

Sounds fine… Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief. He then recalled something: The Eternal Time Church also had Daoists!

Zhong Zining continued, “If that colleague of yours really wants one, lead him to this floor tomorrow. I’ll bring him to request one. It’s best to request for one using a relative close to you by blood.”

“Sure, sure!” Long Yuehong tried his best to remain calm.

The conversation just now was actually a routine that Jiang Baimian had personally designed. Her goal was to push Shang Jianyao out and get him to meet the person who drew the Babymaker talisman openly as Long Yuehong’s colleague and have a nice ‘communication.’

If Long Yuehong’s grandmother was really strange, and the Babymaker talisman directly originated from her… With such a foundation, Shang Jianyao could also visit the old couple without any problems and resolve the problem easily.

The greatest benefit of this solution was that Long Yuehong’s every move was sufficiently normal and that there was nothing worth suspecting. Shang Jianyao would subsequently take over and absolve him from the trouble.

…

495th floor, Zone B, Room 196.

Shang Jianyao lay on the bed, massaged his temples, and entered the Mind Corridor.

Being urged by Jiang Baimian, he planned on clearing Room 506’s second psychological trauma as soon as possible and becoming an Awakened who had explored the Mind Corridor’s depths.

Mind Corridor, Room 506.

Shang Jianyao appeared at the door of a house. He was surrounded by similar buildings that formed a sizable community.

The people coming and going wore clothes of different colors, but these were relatively old. Some even had many patches.

Unlike the white coats in the first psychological trauma, the people here would greet and chat whenever they encountered each other. They seemed to know each other, and it was similar to the situation on each floor of Pangu Biology’s underground building’s Residential Zone.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao observed for a while before walking to a middle-aged man in gold-rimmed glasses who passed by.

“Are you on break today?” he greeted as if they were familiar with each other.

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment before shaking his head and smiling. “I’m just heading home for a meal. You are?”

Shang Jianyao didn’t choke at all. “I just came back from outside. The elements really took a toll on me. I no longer look the same.”

“Oh.” The man in the gold-rimmed glasses felt a sense of guilt, feeling that it was his problem not to recognize the other party.

After implanting a thought, Shang Jianyao casually chatted. “I was sent to the Third Research Institute.”

“Isn’t that far in the south?” The man in gold-rimmed glasses was abnormally stunned. He had clearly heard of the Third Research Institute.

Shang Jianyao smiled. “That’s right. It’s almost at the beach. You might not believe it, but the Third Research Institute has now changed its name to Mechanical Paradise. Most of the people I encountered are smart bots.”

“It’s normal. They study artificial intelligence there to begin with.” The man in the gold-rimmed glasses felt that there was nothing wrong.

Shang Jianyao concealed his cold eyes and curled the corners of his mouth. “I heard from their people that the higher the research institute’s serial number is, the more advanced and valuable the research project is.”

“A meaningless guess. Our research isn’t much different from what the Second Research Institute studies; the only difference is in direction. Who can tell who’s more advanced and valuable?” The middle-aged man in gold-rimmed glasses scoffed at this comment.

“That’s right!” Shang Jianyao replied in a tone of deep agreement.

After chatting for a while, he turned to walk to the old lady, who was taking in the cold air outside a building.

Although the old lady had a lot of white hair, she was very hale and hearty. At this moment, she was sitting on a stool under a tree, sizing up the pedestrians around her.

“You are?” The old lady noticed Shang Jianyao’s approach.

Shang Jianyao smiled. “I’m someone sent by the Third Research Institute to visit your research institute. I want to know if you guys are really the First Research Institute established by the Old World?”

The old lady examined the fellow as if she were looking at a fool. “Did you remember wrong? This is the Fourth Research Institute!”

“How is that possible? Could it be that the higher-ups gave the wrong information?” Shang Jianyao began to put on an act.

During this process, the ruthless him laughed inwardly. So it’s the Fourth Research Institute.

He then frowned. What’s the danger here? This doesn’t seem like the second psychological trauma described in the strategy guide… Could it be that I used an unconventional method in the first psychological trauma and took the initiative to receive the anesthetic injection, so I directly jumped to the third psychological trauma?

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao looked around solemnly, searching for a place that might be dangerous.