Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 498: Self-inflicted Damage

In a town ruin in the North Shore Wastelands.

Genava stood by the bonfire and began to ask Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo about their surroundings when they first woke up from their dreams to determine why the attacker had spared them.

As a smart bot, he had stored the various environmental information he had gathered over the past few days. He could do a comparative analysis.

Genava regularly compressed a large amount of seemingly useless data and archived or directly deleted it, leaving behind only the relatively important data. After all, storage space was limited.

As it had been less than 24 hours, the data was very complete.

“When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a very faint fog, but it wasn’t raining. I then smelled a hint of blood…” Zeng Duo recalled and said, “Having some experience in this regard, I guessed that there was likely a battle between mutated creatures or Heartless in the distance. Furthermore, it might very well spread over.”

“Did those mutated creatures scare away the attackers?” Han Wanghuo guessed.

Although they had easily finished off the dangerous creatures that migrated over, they mostly relied on Genava’s uniqueness as a smart bot. It was unknown if Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo could successfully escape by themselves.

If the attacker wasn’t at the Mind Corridor level or lacked robot guards and sufficient firepower, it was completely reasonable for them to be forced to evacuate after failing to deal with the mutated creatures.

Genava moved his metal neck up and down. “We can’t rule out that possibility, but I discovered something from the Awakened database I established: Awakened who can influence dreams are most likely in the Dawn domain, and not all of their influence on dreams can achieve the effects of Real Dreamscape. It might not be able to cause death. Sorry, I made a hasty conclusion just now. You might not have been affected by Real Dreamscape.

“Apart from that, there’s another point. Awakened in the Dawn domain might be allergic or afraid of a certain smell. There is a precedent for this.”

“The smell of blood back then?” Zeng Duo instantly made the connection. She had a relatively deep impression of this.

…

After Shang Jianyao quickly completed a new round of Inference Clowning, Jiang Baimian’s expression became a little strange.

“What’s on your mind?” Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Jiang Baimian quickly replied, “I’m wondering if there’s a way to completely wake up and escape this dream. That way, I can see the New World.”

“I don’t think so. Shang Jianyao previously tried using normal methods to escape the Real Dreamscape, but he could only barely wake up by deepening his understanding and strengthening his affirmation that it was a dream. The current enemy is much stronger than the Nightmare Horse back then. They aren’t on the same level.” Long Yuehong recalled what had happened. He then added, “So what if you wake up from the Real Dreamscape? Aren’t you still in the Ashlands’ gigantic dream?”

Inference Clowning’s effects were slightly different for everyone. Long Yuehong showed hints of abandoning himself to despair while Shang Jianyao felt that there was no need to be serious.

“You can’t say that.” Shang Jianyao smiled. “At least we can still enjoy our dreams. Why so serious?”

Jiang Baimian quietly listened and suddenly raised her left hand.

Electric arcs immediately emitted from her palm, and the silver-white light made Bai Chen—who was driving—subconsciously close her eyes.

The electric arcs intersected and quickly formed a ball of blazing lightning.

“Tea-Team Leader, what are you doing?” Long Yuehong stammered. He was rather afraid that Jiang Baimian would use him as an experimental subject.

Although it was virtually impossible for Jiang Baimian to do so, there was still Shang Jianyao beside her as a counter-example.

“Giving myself an electric shock.” The ponytail behind Jiang Baimian’s head swayed slightly as an indescribable smile appeared on her face. As she spoke, she slapped the ball of lightning at herself!

Team Leader… What is she trying to do? Long Yuehong was surprised and confused.

It wasn’t only him. Bai Chen and Giuseppe had similar expressions, not understanding Jiang Baimian’s intentions.

Who’d wanna hurt themselves for no reason? Besides, Shang Jianyao had long proven that it was impossible to wake up by harming themselves in a dream.

Shang Jianyao looked at Jiang Baimian’s left hand and muttered to himself, “You actually didn’t use me for the experiment…”

Clap!

The bolt of lightning landed on Jiang Baimian, turning into countless electric arcs that darted around.

Jiang Baimian’s clothes and skin were clearly charred black. Her entire body became numb, and she became hard of breathing.

At this moment, only a few similar thoughts echoed in her mind: If I am in the Real Dreamscape now, the damage I suffered and the condition my body showed would be faithfully reflected in the dream outside or even the reality in the New World…

According to prior experience, only with such a change that can threaten one’s life while knowing that it’s a dream will a human’s self-protection mechanism activate and filter out most of the effects, leaving only a relatively weak reaction that makes one’s heart race, be short of breath, and break out into cold sweat…

This way, my current seriously electrocuted condition will be synchronized to the external dream and even in the New World. The auxiliary chip in my left arm has always been monitoring my physical condition…

Once the conditions are met, the auxiliary chip will drive the biological prosthetic limb and release an electric current used for defibrillation and pacing, just like how it dealt with the Murloc Oracle back then.

It’s a stimulation in an external dream or the New World. It’s enough to wake me up, just like how Shang Jianyao woke me up from my Real Dreamscape by shaking me…

If I cannot rely on the chip data in my dream since it’s now an external dream or reality in the New World, the corresponding electric current can also save me from the self-harm and give me a chance to inject FECA… As these thoughts raced through her mind, Jiang Baimian felt an abnormal reaction in her heart.

She jolted awake and opened her eyes, only to discover that her body was still slightly numb.

At the same time, she saw a brown SUV drive over diagonally. A black rocket launcher stuck out of the window.

We’re pretty lucky. If we were any slower, we could only hope that the jeep’s bulletproof armor could help us block the most fatal damage… When facing a Mind Corridor-level Awakened, we sometimes have to rely on luck to a certain extent… Jiang Baimian spread her right elbow and slammed the window-opening button.

She took an Ice Moss pistol from her left hand.

As the window rolled down, Jiang Baimian fired based on her intuition as a sharpshooter.

Bang!

The man—who was holding the rocket launcher and aiming at the sapphire-blue jeep—shrank back and disappeared from the window.

Bright-red blots bloomed from his neck.

After the Real Dreamscape’s owner failed to wipe out the Old Task Force twice with dreams, Jiang Baimian was worried that he would seize the chance in the external dream or the real world. Therefore, she took the risk to electrocute herself in an attempt to wake up.

When she really woke up and saw the rocket launcher, the Inference Clowning effect on Jiang Baimian was naturally removed. She no longer believed in any external dreams or reality based on the New World.

The present was reality—the reality that she had to stay alive in!

Psst!

The brown SUV braked and turned, producing an ear-piercing sound.

Jiang Baimian didn’t fire at the other party again. Instead, she pressed a switch and made the seat fall backward.

Slap!

She took the opportunity to turn her body and slap Shang Jianyao awake with her right hand.

Shang Jianyao had just woken up when he saw the situation in front of him clearly. He then reached for his tactical backpack.

Jiang Baimian anxiously instructed, “Music!”

Shang Jianyao quickly took out the portable recording device and connected it to the small speaker. He then turned on the electronic products and raised the volume to the maximum.

He did it with such skill that the series of actions took less than ten seconds.

Bang!

The sleeping Bai Chen slammed the jeep into a utility pole by the roadside, startling the pedestrians around her.

But as the vehicle kept its speed very slow and the jeep was equipped with bulletproof armor, only the front of the vehicle had a slight depression. It didn’t suffer any more damage.

This impact wasn’t considered serious, but it still made Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Giuseppe feel like they were about to wake up.

At this moment, everyone—including Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian—fell asleep again.

No more influence was exerted in the dream. Instead, their corresponding thoughts fell asleep in a daze.

The Real Dreamscape’s owner gave up on the idea of controlling the dream and began to use his Forced Sleep ability to obtain control. The brown SUV then changed directions as if it wanted to drive over again.

Suddenly, loud music sounded from the sapphire-blue jeep. “Dog goes “woof”

“Cat goes ‘meow’

“Bird goes ‘tweet’

“And mouse goes ‘squeek’…”

This joyous nursery rhyme blared out through the open passenger window. The background music had a child’s whistling. “Shh…

“Shh…

“Shh…”