Shang Jianyao and Genava stood not far from the apartment and looked up.
The building in front of them was well-designed. From the side, it looked like a knife slicing vertically into the dark sky.
Its outer walls were dark, and light seeped out of every window. It looked as luxurious as yesteryear.
“Do you feel the vortex?” Genava asked Shang Jianyao.
After they triggered the ‘ripples’ in Ceningmis last time, they felt a large vortex seemingly existing deep in the central area that was slowly accelerating and expanding.
Shang Jianyao shook his head. “No.”
He gradually sounded pleased with himself. “Didn’t the vortex calm down when we left? Our strategy was indeed very successful this time. We’ve reached the source of the problem without triggering the vortex.”
“But we still have to be careful next.” Genava looked at the luxurious apartment in front of him and said, “Apart from a few places, the rest are covered in lights. Are there so many New World powerhouses?”
According to the Old Task Force’s previous experience, every light corresponded to one to two New World powerhouses. This luxurious apartment had more than 30 floors, with two units on each floor.
“That’s right, that’s right.” Shang Jianyao agreed with Genava’s first sentence. “I have to make some preparations.”
He slung the Berserker assault rifle over his body and took out the Six Senses Beads and the small jade Buddha from his tactical backpack with his mobile right hand. He then wore the former on his left wrist, side by side with the Life Angel necklace.
As for the latter, Shang Jianyao chose to stuff it into the pocket of the gray camouflage uniform near his waist, which wasn’t covered in armor or supported by the exoskeleton.
Genava imagined that this was all to his preparations, but Shang Jianyao took out something else—it was neatly folded paper.
Shang Jianyao piously unfolded it, revealing a simple drawing that resembled a child’s scrawl.
Blessings from all Kalendarium! Of course, it wasn’t complete; there were still a few missing.
Shang Jianyao then took out a transparent film and pasted the Blessings from all Kalendarium on the military exoskeleton’s chest armor, having it face outward.
“Done.” He heaved a sigh of relief in satisfaction.
Without waiting for Genava’s response, he stretched his body and muttered to himself, “No, there’s something missing…”
A few seconds later, Shang Jianyao came to a realization. “I know what’s missing!”
He quickly stood up and shouted at the luxurious apartment where the former Kalendaria’s Son lived, “Who dares to kill me!?”
Shang Jianyao then lowered his voice. “Uh… That just sounds strong on the outside but cowardly at heart…”
He adjusted himself and shouted at the building again, “Who dares to stop me!?
“Who dares to stop me!?
“Who dares to stop me!?”
After shouting thrice, Shang Jianyao stood akimbo with one hand and smiled in satisfaction. “That will do.”
Genava glanced at the Blessings from all Kalendarium stuck to his chest and analyzed. “The words you shouted just now had the effects of Thought Implantation?”
He felt that although Shang Jianyao was crazy, he rarely did meaningless things. Even if he liked to make the steps overly complicated, they always had a goal.
Shang Jianyao scoffed. “Old Ge, are you silly? I can’t even sense any human consciousness in the building, so how can I use Thought Implantation?”
“You can sense human consciousness in the target area when you use a loudspeaker to enhance your range? This should exceed your perception limit.” Genava had never discussed this problem with Shang Jianyao before.
Shang Jianyao explained seriously, “After my power fuses with the sound through electric waves, I can sense human consciousness within a certain distance as it propagates.”
“Got it.” Genava moved his metal neck up and down. He then asked, “Why did you shout?”
“To embolden myself,” the honest Shang Jianyao replied without hesitation.
Genava chose to remain silent.
Shang Jianyao raised the Berserker assault rifle again and strode forward. After that, he said, “Let’s go. The Kalendarium are protecting us now!”
In a sense, this might be true. However, it’s impossible for so many Kalendarium to bless you… The red glow in Genava’s eyes flickered a few times.
He followed and walked to the apartment’s open door with Shang Jianyao. On the way, he glanced at the latter and asked in confusion, “Why are you still holding the assault rifle? Even if you think that the enemy’s body here is weak to bullets, the military exoskeleton also has a weapon module and a grenade launcher. You might as well hang up the assault rifle and free your right hand.”
Shang Jianyao asked in surprise, “Don’t you think it’s cooler to walk forward with a weapon in such an environment?”
“No,” the honest Genava replied.
“Old Ge.” Shang Jianyao spoke sincerely. “This is something you’re still lacking when it comes to real humans. You already could respond to memes previously, so why have you degenerated today?”
“That’s not a meme.” Genava had long searched the database.
Shang Jianyao shook his head in exasperation.
At this moment, the two of them had already arrived at the entrance to the luxurious apartment. They didn’t speak any further and observed the interior through various means.
What they saw was an extremely spacious and modern lobby that was mainly light-gray in color. An artistic crystal chandelier hung over it, and its pure white light quietly illuminated the empty ground floor.
At the edge and corner before the light reached them, fog billowed amid thick darkness.
Unlike Shang Jianyao and Genava’s previous experience, there was nobody here despite the lights.
“Haha, they were scared away by my Blessings from all Kalendarium!” Shang Jianyao laughed.
“I can’t tell if this chandelier belongs to the New World or Ceningmis, nor do I know where its light comes from.” Genava very rationally steered the topic back on track.
This was completely different from the New World projections they had previously encountered and how Ceningmis worked. It didn’t feel like it could be determined at a glance by considering the overlaps. It was as if there really was such an artistic chandelier in this luxurious apartment. The area it illuminated was really the same spot in Ceningmis.
Here, it was difficult to distinguish between ‘new’ and ‘old.’
Shang Jianyao was satisfied. “That’s more like it. The source of the problem doesn’t disappoint!”
The red light in Genava’s eyes flickered a few times. “Let’s go to the elevator and take a look first. It’s best if we can go straight to the top floor from there.”
“The premise is that there’s no projection of any New World powerhouse inside,” said the calm and rational Shang Jianyao.
He didn’t mention if he wanted to confirm if they would be friendly or not because there was no way to take the gamble. If the gamble failed, he and Genava would definitely be trapped here—basically spelling their doom.
Therefore, his plan was to observe the situation in the elevator in various ways from a certain distance. If there was anyone, he would consider climbing the stairs.
Without waiting for Genava’s response, Shang Jianyao looked around and said, “Before going up, let’s check the bottom—mainly the places that the light can’t reach and the places that are covered by the New World projection.”
“Alright.” Genava analyzed Shang Jianyao’s goal.
The two of them carried flashlights, slowly stepped through the door, and entered the lobby, walking toward the edge of the billowing fog.
On the way, Shang Jianyao occasionally took a side step and stomped the ground as if he wanted to confirm if there was anything buried under the marble ‘bottom.’
Genava did the same. The electromagnetic environment here was abnormally chaotic and complicated. He couldn’t use many of his means and could only do what Shang Jianyao did.
After more than ten steps, the two of them arrived at a dark corner where the chandelier’s light was blocked.
As the yellow beam of light shone in, they saw a slightly curled-up corpse.
The corpse had already been reduced to bones. The gray camouflage clothes on its body were very similar to Shang Jianyao’s.
With a clang, Shang Jianyao fell to his knees, put down the Berserker assault rifle, and reached out to touch the corpse’s pocket.
He didn’t find anything.
“This should be a member of that Old Task Force, but he’s not your father,” Genava said.
As they were here in Ceningmis to search for traces of the previous team, Shang Jianyao boldly applied for all kinds of information regarding his father through Jiang Baimian before setting off.
Genava used this opportunity to record the relevant data. Coupled with Shang Jianyao’s memories and photos, it basically established a three-dimensional image of Shang Jianyao’s father.
“Why?” Shang Jianyao asked.
Genava patiently explained, “First, his height is wrong. Second, he didn’t leave anything behind except his clothes. The commissioner from the Eighth Research Institute previously said that they found many corpses of your father’s teammates—this should be one of them. All the items have been taken away by them.”
Shang Jianyao stood up with the help of the military exoskeleton and asked, “The cause of death is?”
“Unknown.” Genava did a check, but he didn’t find the reason.
The two of them found seven to eight more corpses on the first floor of this luxurious apartment, but they didn’t belong to Shang Jianyao’s father. They weren’t even all members of the Old Task Force—this was determined by whether they had Ashlandic skeletal characteristics. The items on them had also been taken away by the Eighth Research Institute.
Failing to find anything, the duo carefully approached the elevator.
After observation, there was nobody there either.
Shang Jianyao rushed over and went straight to an open elevator. Suddenly, he stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Genava also braked.
Shang Jianyao pointed at the elevator’s LCD and said in disappointment, “It’s out of power…”