Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 306: Strength in Numbers

Shang Jianyao looked at the figure in the Old World priest outfit and an old-fashioned bonnet in front of him. There was no fear on his face but an excited expression.

“DiMarco?” he asked in confirmation.

The figure with an obvious aquiline nose retracted his gaze and sized up his surroundings before seriously looking at Shang Jianyao. “Sort of. You don’t seem afraid at all?”

“What’s the use of being afraid in such a situation?” Shang Jianyao smiled. “Is this your Awakened ability? Can you directly invade someone’s mind world without passing through the Mind Corridor?”

DiMarco laughed. “It has a nice name—Destiny Connection.”

As he spoke, his expression vaguely warped as if he couldn’t suppress some hidden emotion in his heart. “You’re actually not afraid! Don’t you know that I love seeing others terrified and helpless? Don’t you know how wonderful it is to end a life filled with hope with your own hands?”

His expression became increasingly grotesque as indescribable brutality and madness appeared.

“Haha.” He then looked up and laughed. “Come, let me give you a good schooling. I’ll let you know what terror, fear, despair, and helplessness are.”

As he spoke, his figure split into countless DiMarcos. These DiMarcos were wearing Old World black priest outfits and matching old-fashioned bonnets. They surrounded Shang Jianyao in the middle.

“Is this the price you paid?” Shang Jianyao still had a smile on his face, full of eagerness.

DiMarco chuckled. “Do you think I’ll answer you?”

Just as he said that, Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a grayish-blue camouflage uniform—split into many figures. Some carried individual rocket launchers, some carried assault rifles, some wore white coats, some carried stretchers, some held small speakers, and some held boom boxes...

Eight of these figures were very clear, but the rest were relatively blurry.

The countless DiMarcos looked at the countless Shang Jianyaos and momentarily forgot what he wanted to do.

On the sunny island with mountains and rivers, the Shang Jianyao troop and the DiMarco troop stood in confrontation.

After two to three seconds, DiMarco muttered in confusion, “You also obtained the Divine Mirror Connection? No, this seems more like a split personality...”

These words came out of the different DiMarcos’ mouths and overlapped as they echoed.

Shang Jianyao shook his head in regret. “That’s quite a poor performance... You can’t actually have each DiMarco say something different.”

One of the Shang Jianyaos said this. The other Shang Jianyaos either laughed out loud, spoke in a sarcastic tone, danced to liven things up, or repeated it with the help of a loudspeaker. Their performances were all different.

All the DiMarcos’ facial muscles twitched at the same time, and the brutal and cruel feeling appeared again.

“It’s just that there’s no need for that...” DiMarco squeezed the words out of his throat.

Before they could finish their sentence, they already had a bad feeling. Why argue about this baffling problem with this fellow?

The next second, all the figures that DiMarco had split out gathered together, leaving only one. This only DiMarco rapidly expanded and soon became like a mountain on the island.

Divine Mirror Connection could go from one to 10,000 and be of various sizes!

...

In DiMarco’s wrecked room.

Genava’s gaze swept across Shang Jianyao, Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen. He instantly analyzed that there was something wrong with their gazes and their conditions.

At the same time, Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen’s expressions changed. They were sometimes warped, sometimes normal, sometimes ferocious, and sometimes confused.

Jiang Baimian abandoned the single-target Death rocket launcher and drew a United 202 pistol. She slowly raised her right hand as if she wanted to point the gun at herself.

With a change in expression, the bending of Jiang Baimian’s arm stopped, and the muzzle slowly moved out.

A gloomy feeling immediately surfaced over her as the gun muzzle turned back to her.

At this moment, she seemed to have two souls. One was in control and wanted to commit suicide with the gun, while the other was in a suppressed state. She relied on her survival instincts to resist with all her might.

This was her situation; the same went for Bai Chen and Long Yuehong. They were in a state where they were aiming their weapons at themselves while also moving the muzzles away from their bodies. They switched back and forth as if they were in a tug-of-war.

Genava didn’t appear confused because Operation Beheading—which had been formulated previously—had the corresponding content: “Once incomprehensible phenomena happened to the Old Task Force’s humans, Genava would knock them out.”

This was a preventive measure for DiMarco’s corresponding Awakening abilities as a suspected Mind Corridor-level powerhouse.

Genava swept his gaze and realized that Long Yuehong was the one who had the most difficulty resisting the anomaly. The various weapons loaded with the military exoskeleton were about to flip over and aim at him.

Without hesitation, Genava exerted strength with the metal joints in his legs and pounced over, landing beside Long Yuehong.

Just as he raised his right hand and was about to knock the other party out, Long Yuehong turned and faced him! At this moment, Long Yuehong’s face—which wasn’t covered by the military exoskeleton helmet—no longer had any changes in expression.

Silently, he aimed the grenade launcher at Genava.

When attacked by a ‘foreign enemy,’ the two ‘souls’ in his body seemed to come to a consensus: one didn’t want to be knocked out, and the other purely relied on their instincts to respond to all attacks.

Upon seeing this, Genava used the rebound from the landing to lunge to the side abruptly. He didn’t want Long Yuehong to use the grenade launcher, so he didn’t take any risks and dodged in advance.

If he was directly hit by the highly-explosive grenade, it could indeed be a threat to Genava’s survival. Even if he wasn’t hit, the resulting blast might very well cause Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen harm, given the size of DiMarco’s room. Therefore, Genava chose to give up.

The silver-black robot fully utilized his speed, reaction, and technique. He circled Long Yuehong, Jiang Baimian, and the others and kept trying. He didn’t advance rashly and patiently waited for an opportunity. He would knock out whoever he could.

His attempt effectively slowed down Jiang Baimian and the others’ ‘suicide’ progress, making the situation less precarious.

...

In the Sea of Origins, on an island with mountains, rivers, and sunlight.

Countless Shang Jianyaos tried to use Corny Person, but it didn’t produce any good effects.

DiMarco—who was as large as a mountain—looked down at them and stretched out his right hand. Accompanying this action was a grand and solemn voice. “Visual Deprivation!”

Darkness silently descended in front of the Shang Jianyaos’ eyes. They could no longer see anything. Even though they existed in the mind world in the form of consciousness and didn’t have any real eyes or corresponding nerves, all of their ‘vision’ was still stripped away.

Right on the heels of that, DiMarco’s voice sounded in the Shang Jianyaos’ ears again. “Auditory Deprivation!”

At this moment, the Shang Jianyaos fell silent, and nothing else happened.

Their sense of smell, taste, and touch also began to fade over time.

In the dead and boundless darkness, even their own existence seemed to melt and assimilate.

Somewhere far away from this island in the Sea of Origins.

Shang Jianyao—who was wearing a grayish-blue camouflage uniform—was floating in the water cross-legged. His head didn’t rise out of the sea.

This was the last him. He had only used eight of himself on the island just now; the rest were created with the mind world’s special effects.

This Shang Jianyao’s expression was very calm as if he was using the underwater environment to think about something.

...

In DiMarco’s room.

Just as Genava searched for an opportunity to knock out his companions and save them from their strange states, Jiang Baimian’s face and body trembled slightly. As if she had used all her strength, she slowly relaxed her fingers and let the United 202 fall to the ground.

When the pistol smashed onto the thick carpet, Jiang Baimian’s left hand clenched slightly.

This process was so difficult and slow that it looked like it would stop at any moment. This resulted in Genava—who had analyzed the general situation—not approaching her to prevent affecting her.

Finally, a silver-white electric bolt erupted from Jiang Baimian’s palm. It rose and bloomed, producing crackling sounds.

The dark room was illuminated a little.

Almost at the same time, the motionless Shang Jianyao relatively relaxed his clenched left fist. There was a yellowish-green night pearl in there.