Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 585: On the Cruise Ship

Most Shang Jianyaos were delighted and overturned the resistance from the few as they decided to explore the psychological trauma.

Splash!

His first attempt was to transform into a flying fish, stretch his body, and jump into the sea.

The dark sea didn’t ebb at all as if it had frozen—this suited the gloomy and dilapidated cruise ship well.

Shang Jianyao didn’t mind at all. He assumed a posture and began to advance.

Thanks to his experience in the Sea of Origins, he was abnormally skilled at swimming. Be it butterfly-style, frog-style, backstroke, freestyle, doggy paddle, or random flailing, they all looked legit and were in no way slow.

He soon swam to the cruise ship anchored near the coast.

It was only then that Shang Jianyao realized a problem: he couldn’t board the cruise ship!

The cruise ship’s gangway wasn’t lowered, and the cargo door at the bow wasn’t opened!

The rash Shang Jianyao received his peers’ contemptuous stares and had no choice but to retreat to the depths of his consciousness and pass the initiative to the calm and rational one.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “How did the room owner and 522 board this cruise ship back then?”

It was obvious that these two weren’t on the cruise in the beginning.

The honest Shang Jianyao scoffed. “Isn’t that simple? They must’ve taken a small boat somewhere at the dock and was later hoisted up. We should’ve looked around the dock just now instead of jumping into the water and swimming over.”

He treated his rash peer with disdain and even mocked the ones who had been infected by his rashness without putting a stop to him.

“Now isn’t the time to discuss who’s right and who’s wrong. The important thing is to find a solution.” The cyborg monk, Zen Master Redemption, spun the Six Senses Beads.

In the Shang Jianyao Democratic Association, he had always been calm and benevolent, the one in charge of reconciliation.

The calm and rational Shang Jianyao tersely acknowledged his intervention. “It’s too draining on the mind to swim back. Let’s see if there’s any other solution first.”

The cheerful Shang Jianyao laughed. “We can blast a large hole in the ship and burrow in!”

“Sure, sure!” It wasn’t the obedient one but Zen Master Redemption. This cyborg monk had always been an enthusiast of superior firepower.

“What if the ship sinks?” the honest Shang Jianyao asked.

At this moment, the Shang Jianyaos’ states were: their lower bodies overlapped, and their upper bodies were separated, forming a circle to facilitate communication.

The cheerful Shang Jianyao quickly explained, “I’m joking; it’s just a joke. What I really mean is that we can conjure all kinds of tools, such as helicopters or military exoskeletons to help us reach the deck.”

The rash Shang Jianyao ended his repentance and made an attempt without hesitation. After a few seconds, he asked, “In order to make the conjured items useful, do we have to use the Matter Interference ability and inject sufficient psyche?”

“What do you think?” The timid Shang Jianyao despised the rash one the most.

“I think so. Besides, helicopters and military exoskeletons are large objects. The amount of psyche needed to be injected isn’t less than swimming back. It might even be more!” The person who replied on behalf of the rash Shang Jianyao was the honest him.

The Shang Jianyaos fell silent for a moment before considering other plans.

“I have an idea.” The calm and rational Shang Jianyao looked up.

“What is it?” several Shang Jianyaos asked in unison.

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “Let’s build a human ladder! In any case, we have a total of ten people.”

“Alright!” The rash Shang Jianyao immediately replied.

“Is ten people enough?” The Shang Jianyao wearing a caricature version of his childhood clothes estimated the height of the lowest deck.

The calm Shang Jianyao laughed. “That’s simple. We’ll talk about it midway.”

Therefore, the ten Shang Jianyaos separated. The rash Shang Jianyao hugged the ship and gripped the barnacles that clung to the surface.

The Shang Jianyao that liked novelty used him as a step and climbed onto his shoulder.

One after another, the ten Shang Jianyaos stacked up layer by layer.

As this was the consciousness world and Shang Jianyao’s balance was very strong, the human ladder didn’t collapse despite looking shaky.

Glancing at the deck—which was still far away—the calm Shang Jianyao at the top drew a dagger and injected a small amount of psyche into it before inserting it into the steel ship’s welded seam. He then roared, “Merge with me as the center.”

With a whoosh, the other Shang Jianyaos surged into his body.

A Shang Jianyao was immediately separated, and he climbed over the calm Shang Jianyao by stepping onto the latter’s shoulders.

One after another, the Shang Jianyaos completed the human ladder again.

Just like that, they didn’t spend much effort and successfully arrived at the lowest deck’s edge.

The ten Shang Jianyaos combined and jumped up, firmly landing on his heels. At this moment, he suddenly had the feeling that time had begun to pass and that the entire world had come to life.

Sounds of splashing and talking sounded without warning. On the deck, a sea breeze blew, bringing with it a humid and fishy smell. The seawater below turned turbulent, producing small waves.

Shang Jianyao looked up and saw humans in different clothes.

The men and women were mostly young and healthy. They gathered in groups of three to five in different areas on the deck and conversed.

These people’s words and expressions were vivid and abnormally realistic.

Shang Jianyao swept his gaze around and walked to the cabin entrance.

Three men stood there. One of them had a wrinkled cigarette that had been in his mouth for an unknown period of time as though he couldn’t bear to light it.

Beside him were two other people in their thirties. Their clothes were old and had traces of sewing.

Shang Jianyao stopped not far away and listened to their conversation.

The clean, short-haired man with a cigarette in his mouth sighed with emotion. “When we reach the island, we won’t have to be afraid of the Heartless anymore!”

His bulging waist was clearly hiding a weapon.

“How is that possible? Even if there are no Heartless on the island originally, a new Heartless will appear sooner or later after such a large shipful of people heads there.” It wasn’t his two companions who retorted the man but Shang Jianyao—it was as though they were familiar with each other.

The man’s expression changed slightly. He looked at Shang Jianyao’s body and calmed down as he muttered, “At the very least, we don’t have to face swarms of Heartless in the thousands! Besides, people who previously went to the island say that the land there is fertile and has plenty of sunlight and rain. It’s very suitable for farming.”

“There’s little pollution too,” added the man’s companion hopefully. His most obvious characteristic was a black mole at the end of his right eyebrow.

“You can actually answer questions…” Shang Jianyao was ‘shocked.’

“What do you mean?” The man with the cigarette frowned.

Shang Jianyao ‘restrained’ his expression and said seriously, “I thought you wouldn’t answer me.”

Logically speaking, the figures in the psychological trauma were constructed by the room owner and moved according to their corresponding memories. To put it simply, they were equivalent to NPCs that could only answer stipulated questions. Therefore, it was either someone had voiced Shang Jianyao’s doubts back then, or the figures in this psychological trauma could perform ‘real-time calculations.’ It was rather special.

“Why can’t we answer? I love reasoning.” The man with the cigarette took out the cigarette from his mouth and held it between his fingers.

Shang Jianyao opened his mouth and suddenly made a face at them.

Bleah! Bleah! Bleah!

The three men were first stunned for a few seconds, clearly surprised, before they flew into a rage.

Shang Jianyao had turned around and ran into the cabin by then.

His expression instantly returned to normal upon hearing the sound of the pursuit as he muttered to himself, “In the environment where one was seeking refuge back then, the atmosphere was definitely more oppressive and depressing. Nobody would suddenly make a face, yet they actually reacted to this… This psychological trauma is indeed a little strange…”

“That’s not right. What if there was a mentally ill person back then?” Shang Jianyao retorted himself.

Amidst the ‘argument,’ he slowed down, opened the door along one side of the corridor, and hid inside.

In the room, a couple that was tussling with each other was stunned. They looked back at him in confusion.

“Sorry, please continue.” Shang Jianyao quickly left the room and closed the door again.

How rude!

At this moment, the footsteps of the pursuers approached.

Rumbling sounds suddenly came from beyond the heavens. They were deep and drawn out.

Shang Jianyao’s body inexplicably swayed, and the world in front of him gradually turned illusory and transparent.

When he opened his eyes, he realized that Jiang Baimian had woken up at some point in time. Bai Chen and Long Yuehong had surrounded him.

“That’s not right! How can I be kicked out without suffering any damage?” Shang Jianyao muttered to himself.

Normally speaking, one had to return to the starting point and retreat back into the Mind Corridor if they wanted to leave a psychological trauma. If they weren’t afraid of suffering mental damage, the Awakened could choose to be shaken awake. Of course, the premise was that the Awakened had yet to be unconscious or trapped in the Mind Room.

Jiang Baimian turned her head to glance at Shang Jianyao without inquiring.

Long Yuehong pointed outside the building. “There’s an explosion over there—the place where the previous team set up camp.”