Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 499: Using Negative Status Effects

Amidst the whistling, the horrified pedestrians due to the vehicle’s impact and the gunshots suddenly felt their bladders swell. They subconsciously shrank their bodies, looked around, and searched for a place to pee. They also secretly calculated how long it would take to reach home.

As First City residents, the occasional gunshots and car accidents weren’t enough to scare them into pissing themselves. It only compelled them to leave the scene as soon as possible.

The Red Wolf Zone was relatively fine. Even if shooting incidents didn’t happen every day in the Green Olive Zone, it would definitely happen every few days.

The brown SUV corrected its course and approached the Old Task Force’s sapphire-blue jeep. The surviving passenger in the backseat and the driver couldn’t help but clamp their legs together to resist the sudden urge to pee.

They were all experienced gunmen, and they were long past the point of suffering from incontinence in the face of enemies. Therefore, they didn’t understand why such things would happen now.

Having seen how powerful Awakened were, they could only categorize this as a special ability that they had yet to learn of.

The brief urgency couldn’t crush their relatively good physiques. It wasn’t enough to make them immediately give up on attacking, push open the car doors with guns in hand, and head to a nearby electric pole or tree to relieve themselves.

They held in their pee. One of them slowed down the car and stretched out his pistol from the driver’s seat window, aiming at the jeep’s open passenger window. The other picked up their dead companion’s rocket launcher and leaned over the corpse, attempting to lock onto the Old Task Force’s vehicle.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others were sleeping soundly with their backs against the seats, having endless and meaningless dreams.

“Shh… Shh… Shh…” The whistling became clearer as the small speaker played the nursery rhyme.

The pedestrians around them quickened their pace and headed for their respective destinations. The two attackers clamped their legs together, stabilized their bodies, and aimed.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian suddenly opened her eyes. She raised her left hand and fired a few rounds at the enemy.

She had awakened! She had escaped the forced sleep imposed by the Mind Corridor-level Awakened!

At the same time, Shang Jianyao—who was in the back row—jumped up. His eyes turned dark and deep. He was awake too!

They woke up thanks to their swelling bladders.

Jiang Baimian didn’t get Shang Jianyao to play the music to use Xiaochong’s whistling to affect the nearby assailants and the hidden Mind Corridor-level Awakened. Instead, she wanted them to have the urgency to pee in reality.

When this state became more and more intense, the corresponding physiological stimuli could wake them up from their normal sleep.

Sometimes, the negative effects brought about by abilities might not be a bad thing depending on the situation.

The two enemies—who could’ve completed the attack while Jiang Baimian fired—froze. They realized that their fingers were no longer under their control, preventing them from pulling the triggers.

Hands Immobility!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jiang Baimian’s Ice Moss completed a series of shots, but the accuracy wasn’t high as she had fired in the direction of the enemy she had hastily observed as soon as she woke up. All she did was cause sparks to fly from the brown SUV’s surface, leaving bullet holes.

Unable to counterattack, the two assailants retreated one after another to avoid this wave of attacks.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Baimian lowered her pistol and raised the Death rocket launcher. She only used her left hand to complete the setup and aiming, prepared to pull the trigger.

At this moment, she and Shang Jianyao closed their eyes again—they fell asleep again!

The whistling continued in the nursery rhyme, and the two of them quickly woke up with Long Yuehong, Bai Chen, and Giuseppe.

Boom!

Jiang Baimian reflexively pulled the trigger.

A rocket flew out, passed through the brown SUV, and landed further away, creating a violent explosion. Fortunately, the pedestrians and other drivers on the road had left the area because they had to pee, having sought a place to relieve themselves.

The brown SUV took the opportunity while Jiang Baimian and the others were asleep and drove forward a distance.

Jiang Baimian knew that the number one danger was the hidden Mind Corridor-level Awakened. Thus, she immediately said to Bai Chen, “Accelerate, but don’t go all out.”

The Old Task Force would be in danger if Bai Chen was forced to sleep again if that happened. Even if she only took a slight nap due to her bladder, the speeding vehicle might very well lose control. When the time came, the jeep might not be able to protect the passengers inside even if it was equipped with thick steel plates.

Bai Chen didn’t ask why. She tapped the accelerator, restoring the car to its normal cruising speed.

It was only then that she understood why her team leader had previously asked her to slow down the car. It was because she had used the auxiliary chip to monitor her physical condition, suspecting that she had been in reality and not in a dream. Hence, slowing down the car was useful.

Of course, she might also dream of the auxiliary chip’s feedback, so Jiang Baimian couldn’t be sure.

Long Yuehong returned to his senses when the jeep accelerated. He straightened his back, turned around, and took out a military exoskeleton from the trunk. He then handed it to Shang Jianyao first and quickly picked up the other one.

This series of skilled teamwork stunned Garibaldi. He secretly sighed with emotion at the team’s strength.

While Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao helped each other wear the military exoskeletons, Jiang Baimian didn’t stop her attack.

She put down the Death rocket launcher and picked up the Tyrant grenade launcher. From time to time, she would fire at the brown SUV or attack the deserted roadside.

Boom! Boom!

Amidst the series of explosions, the brown SUV was forced to deviate from its route of pursuit—the distance between it and the jeep increased.

The First City citizens living around the scene reported to the Hand of Order in different ways.

This was Jiang Baimian’s goal—involving First City’s officials.

Their team was naturally afraid of being captured, but their assailants were probably afraid as well!

At the very least, judging from the current situation, the attacker wasn’t a powerhouse from First City. There was a high chance that they came from the secret and dangerous organization responsible for eliminating clues related to the Old World’s destruction.

Compared to them, the Old Task Force was nothing to the First City officials. After all, what needed to be leaked had definitely been leaked.

Jiang Baimian knew when to stop. She stopped her bombardment and said to Bai Chen, “Head to Xiaochong’s.”

This was the second step of the plan to save themselves. When facing a Mind Corridor-level Awakened who had an unknown price, it was very likely that they wouldn’t be spared by relying solely on their strength and ability to create chaos. At this moment, only four people in First City could help them.

The first was Du Heng, but the Old Task Force had no idea where this antiquarian was.

The second was the compassionate Zennaga and the Crystal Consciousness Church he represented. However, the Old Task Force also didn’t know where Zennaga had gone, and the Crystal Consciousness Church’s headquarters—Sikhara Temple—was currently experiencing abnormalities. The other Enlightened’s attitudes were unknown, so Jiang Baimian didn’t dare to take the risk.

The third was General Phocas, who had promised to provide help. But in the current situation, the Old Task Force would most likely face an inspection when heading to the Golden Apple Zone. They might end up ‘killed’ or directly arrested by First City’s other powerhouses before they met General Phocas.

The fourth was naturally Xiaochong, the King of the Heartless. He lived in the Red Wolf Zone. It couldn’t be considered close to Sikhara Temple, but it wasn’t too far either.

Bai Chen undoubtedly thought of this as well. She controlled the jeep and made it turn toward the Golden Apple Zone.

Xiaochong was on a street along the way.

As the car drove, Long Yuehong—who was wearing the military exoskeleton—weakly made a request. “Can you turn off the speaker?”

The urge to pee grew stronger as the whistling continued.

Garibaldi had already considered peeing in his pants. In this regard, he had long lost his dignity and sense of shame. When he was previously tied up and suffering cold turkey, he would occasionally suffer from incontinence when under the effects. Fortunately, Sikhara Temple provided laundry services.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “Turn it off. The current state is enough.”

Their urgency to pee was enough to wake them up from their sleep. If they continued doing so, the consequences would be ‘unimaginable.’

Shang Jianyao didn’t have a regretful expression this time. He switched off the small speaker and portable recording device swiftly.

The jeep sped down the street, completely shaking off the brown SUV. During this process, they didn’t sleep or dream again.

However, Long Yuehong and the others didn’t dare to relax or be careless at all. They had witnessed the horror of Mind Corridor-level Awakened previously.

The person secretly pulling the strings had currently shown two abilities—Forced Sleep and Real Dreamscape. The third was still a secret.

In addition, Jiang Baimian and the others couldn’t be sure that Mind Corridor-level Awakened only had three abilities.

While reeling in anxiety, time passed slowly. After an unknown period of time, the jeep finally drove into the street where Xiaochong lived.

Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this.

Suddenly, a rocket flew out of nowhere and headed straight for the jeep!