Embers Ad Infinitum

In a gloomy environment filled with the smell of embalming fluid, such a painting, such a symbol, and such a line instantly outline a strange and terrifying feeling, making everyone who sees it tremble in their hearts and unconsciously want to avoid it. .

At this moment, Shang Jianyao suddenly turned around and said in a deliberately deep voice:

"If the door is closed now, the effect will be better."

Jiang Baimian followed his gaze and said thoughtfully:

"This is an electric roller shutter door. Be prepared. It should be controlled remotely."

Odik, who was a little affected by the atmosphere, suddenly felt like something was wrong when he heard this inexplicable conversation.

They were actually discussing how to enhance the current atmosphere.

Before Odik had time to turn away other thoughts, he heard the sound of ZaZZZA.

The aluminum white rolling shutter door at the entrance literally lowers itself, quickly isolating the inside and outside.

The light in the hall, which was already scarce, was reduced by most, making the place darker and more depressing.

At the same time, in the darkest corners before, fluorescent lamps lit up one after another, casting a pale glow.

On the corresponding wall they illuminate, there is a figure with different postures, like a child's graffiti.

What these people with lines have in common is that their faces are blank, with no facial features.

Under the "gazing" of such faces, snowflake-like noise appeared on the LCD screen hanging in the center of the hall. After a few flashes, a person appeared.

This man was wearing a black trench coat and a pale mask with no facial features. Two holes were dug out for his eyes, revealing a pair of eyes.

The eyes were as deep as an ancient pool in the forest, and there seemed to be circles of whirlpools swirling at the bottom.

As soon as they saw the person on the screen and caught his gaze, Odik, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao couldn't take their eyes away.

The man wearing a pale mask opened his mouth, and his voice sounded through loudspeakers located in different places:

"There is no truth in the world, please believe in God with all your heart..."

This voice seemed to have some strange rhythm, echoing in the minds of Odik and others.

Suddenly, Shang Jianyao intervened forcefully and asked seriously:

"Would you feel sad and suffocated wearing a mask like this?"

There are no holes in the mouth or nose!

On the screen, the man in a black trench coat wearing a pale mask was suddenly stuck, as if he had forgotten what to say next.

Odik and Jiang Baimian immediately got rid of the indescribable atmosphere just now, and felt as if they had returned to reality and had their feet on the ground.

Jiang Baimian had no fear. He quietly looked at his left arm and nodded slightly.

Odik suddenly realized it and said in a deep voice:

"Did you lure us here on purpose?

"The abnormal behavior along the way combined with the layout here is equivalent to a large-scale hypnosis ceremony!"

He knew that the ability of "hypnosis" could be improved through external arrangements and increase the distance to a certain extent.

The figure of the "priest" wearing a pale mask and a black trench coat on the screen suddenly distorted, decomposing a large amount of snowflake noise.

And his voice still came out through loudspeakers located everywhere, making it difficult to grasp his exact location:

"If I can't hypnotize you, who will play the key role of getting close to Xu Liyan and completing the fatal blow?

"It's a pity that I met a person who doesn't play by common sense...

"But it doesn't matter, it just takes a little more work..."

Before he finished speaking, Odik had already taken out a very textured light blue object the size of a walkie-talkie.

When he clicks on this item, he will talk to the preset person.

However, all that came from the other end of the receiver was the intertwined sounds of rustling and zizzing.

"Father"'s words echoed in the hall again, with a somewhat sarcastic smile:

"Knowing that Xu Liyan has a close relationship with 'Machine Paradise', how could I not prepare instruments and do electromagnetic shielding?"

After hearing these words, Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and slapped his left palm with regret:

"pity."

Jiang Baimian completely understood what this guy was regretting:

Unfortunately, he exceeded the range and could not use "Mystery Clown" through conversations through electronic items.

Otherwise, with "Father"'s talkative performance, Shang Jianyao could make him kneel down and call daddy willingly.

Facing the "Father"'s ridicule, Odik's expression did not change at all. He just stuffed the electronic item back into his pocket and took out another item.

It was a black grenade.

Odik quickly pulled out the ring of the grenade, stretched his back, flicked his arm, and threw it towards the glass window next to the door.

After a crisp crackling sound, a booming explosion sounded outside, and a ball of fire expanded rapidly.

In mid-air, a drone from "Mechanical Paradise" that was always following Odik silently photographed this scene and transmitted it back to the operator, letting the corresponding person know that something was wrong here.

In the hall, when Odik took out the grenade, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian were already running and found a pillar as a shield.

When the explosion subsided, Odik leaned against a wall and shouted loudly:

"Two people are approaching!

“From both sides of the corridor!

“Not sure if there’s a ‘priest’ in there!”

He relied on the ability of the awakened person to sense two streams of human consciousness, but because the awakened person could make some disguises about himself and deceive this sense, he could not be sure whether there was a "priest" among those two people? The "Priest" may have hidden himself and approached quietly, or he may have done the opposite, deliberately blending in with his companions, pretending to be an ordinary person... Odik did not directly force the target to sleep, but dealt with them one by one, which means that the distance now exceeds "Forced sleep" is the limit of the ability, but within the scope of "dream influence" or another ability... Many thoughts flashed through Jiang Baimian's mind.

She then looked at Shang Jianyao.

Shang Jianyao nodded vigorously, indicating that what Odike said was correct.

Jiang Baimian wasted no time, holding the "Ice Moss" pistol and adjusting his posture.

At the same time, she took off the dark green grenade hanging on her armed belt with her other hand.

boom! boom!

A gunshot rang out on both sides of the corridor, causing sparks to fly from the walls.

The enemy seemed to be very concerned about Odik's abilities and did not dare to get too close and only used long-range attacks.

Odik was forced to change his position and fired back with a pistol.

Suddenly, he slapped his face with his free left hand.

A slightly crisp and quiet sound followed.

However, to Shang Jianyao's ears, it was like a muffled thunder exploding beside him.

This made his ears buzz, his head felt dizzy, and his body seemed to be a little off balance.

Likewise, the gunfire on both sides of the corridor stopped. They were obviously affected, as if they were stepping on violently shaking ground.

Jiang Baimian, on the other hand, only tilted his head slightly, feeling that the sound was a bit loud, like thunder exploding in mid-air.

Other than that, there was nothing unusual about her.

Because she is hearing impaired.

This is one of the awakened abilities of "Odik", called "Audio Mastery".

He is free to cause the hearing of all humans within a certain range to be extremely acute, or to be attenuated to the point of severe deafness.

Just now, he was using techniques to improve hearing acuity.

The only problem with this ability is that it cannot distinguish between friend and foe, but it does not affect oneself.

Seizing this opportunity, Odik rolled, closing the distance between himself and one of the enemies.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian suddenly raised his hand and fired a shot into the stairs not far from Odik.

Amidst the banging sound, a figure sneaking down from above suddenly rushed to the side, looking very hasty.

However, he reacted the moment Jiang Baimian raised his hand, so he still avoided the sudden shot.

The stairs were quite narrow, so the figure threw himself against the wall, bounced back, rolled and changed direction.

It wasn't until this moment that Jiang Baimian could clearly see what this person looked like.

He was leaning on the ground with one hand, half lying on the ground and half squatting. He was wearing a black windbreaker, with slightly messy short hair, and his face was pale, as if he was recovering from a serious illness.

"Fr."

The dangerous figure "anti-intellectual religion" "Priest".

"Father" looked at Jiang Baimian with a bit of surprise in his eyes. He didn't know how she discovered him.

He has always believed that the main opponent this time and the only one he can regard as an opponent is Odik.

Who would have known that in that ordinary hunter group, the man had weird ideas and could always ruin the atmosphere, while the woman seemed to have special sensing abilities and actually sensed her approach in advance.

Only now did Odik realize that there was an enemy hidden inside the stairs.

At this time, he had not yet had time to "sleep" the target not far away.

After "Father" dodged the shot, Jiang Baimian didn't waste any time and quickly threw the grenade he had prepared in advance.

This time, she didn't have time to pull out the tab.

But on the other side, Shang Jianyao had already raised his hand to take aim, preparing to pull the trigger on the grenade.

Due to the semi-enclosed state of the stairway, once a grenade explodes inside, it is almost impossible for "Priest" to escape the shock wave, and he will be seriously injured even if he does not die, unless he can jump to the stairs below in time and crawl to the ground.

However, before Jiang Baimian actually threw the grenade, her left arm suddenly became uncontrollable and she raised it up, as if she wanted to slap herself.

This is just like An Ruxiang stabbed herself.

"Body automatic"!

boom!

The arc of the grenade was higher and more skewed than expected, and it fell somewhere else. Shang Jianyao's shot undoubtedly landed in the air.

But Shang Jianyao was not lost or depressed at all. Before the grenade landed, he rushed out of the pillar and ran wildly.

Then, he jumped forward and rolled, quickly closing the distance between himself and "Priest".

As soon as he raised his head, he saw those eyes as deep as an ancient pool in the forest.

Then he laughed and made a face at "Father."

grimace.

But this did not affect him at all from raising his hand, aiming, and shooting.