Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 264: Intel from the Details

Previously, after she recovered from the sudden urge to hide, Bai Chen had already stood up, opened the window, and prepared to cooperate with Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao to deal with the Superior Heartless. Therefore, she had seen Abbess Zhou Yue’s actions.

Jiang Baimian wasn’t surprised by Bai Chen’s answer and asked, “Why do you say so?”

Bai Chen simply explained her analysis process. “Back then, Abbess Zhou only did three things. The first was to throw away the flashlight; there’s no need to consider that. The second was to smash the container. Yes, it should be the bottle of talisman water. The third was to use the Eight Trigrams Mirror to reflect the Superior Heartless.”

Frankly speaking, Long Yuehong had a nagging feeling that this didn’t make sense when he heard the terms ‘Talisman Water’ and ‘Eight Trigrams Mirror.’

What was even more unscientific was that they had actually been effective!

This was like a plot in a story being reflected in reality. The beginning of the story also specially had the disclaimer: “All matters portrayed in this production are fictitious.”

While in this trance, Long Yuehong heard Bai Chen continue, “If the Superior Heartless is afraid of the talisman water, there’s no need for him to escape after dodging. This is because Abbess Zhou apparently had only one bottle of water with her.”

Furthermore, the talisman water in the plastic bottle had already been splattered all over the ground. There was only a little left inside, so there was nothing to worry about.

After eliminating the first two options—the flashlight and talisman water—Bai Chen’s conclusion was very clear.

Jiang Baimian first tersely acknowledged her words before commenting. “There’s a problem with that. You equate the Superior Heartless’s intelligence with that of humans. We can clearly see that he’s different from the Superior Heartless in Swamp Ruin 1. He’s closer to a beast than a human. When hasty, a beast can’t consider if the enemy still has talisman water. They will only instinctively distance themselves from danger.”

The Superior Heartless in Swamp Ruin 1 had clearly been trained by Xiaochong, or perhaps they had been influenced by him, so they acted more humanlike.

Bai Chen thought for a moment and recalled her years of experience dealing with beasts and ordinary Heartless. She nodded and said, “Indeed; he was too strong, so I subconsciously treated him as a human.”

She didn’t feel embarrassed or angry because she had made a mistake in her analysis, nor was she unwilling to admit it.

On the one hand, mistakes often meant danger in a wilderness nomad’s life. To have someone point out your mistakes was akin to saving you. On the other hand, in a similar review, the Old Task Force advocated an atmosphere of self-criticism. Even Jiang Baimian herself had times when she was reminded due to her lack of consideration.

Jiang Baimian then looked at Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong. “What do you guys think?”

“I still think that’s... too surreal.” Long Yuehong deliberated over his words.

Shang Jianyao nodded and said, “Because he’s a ghost...” He dragged the word ‘ghost’ long and deliberately gave off a creepy feeling.

Jiang Baimian shot him a glance. “Say something human!”

“Those things restrain him.” Shang Jianyao’s expression turned serious as though he had become a professional. “There’s a price to pay for a human’s Awakening, and it should be the same for a Superior Heartless. The Clam Dragon Church worships the Goddess of Illusions. It’s very normal for them to know the price and the weaknesses in this domain.”

Is this the professional and serious Shang Jianyao? Jiang Baimian muttered but didn’t dare ask.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuehong slowly came to a realization and accepted the fact that Zhou Yue had scared away a Superior Heartless with charlatan-like items.

Perhaps it was because he had either not participated in the encounter with the Awakened, had no idea, or had never exploited the price paid by the other party. Therefore, he didn’t have a deep impression of this aspect. He wouldn’t directly think about the corresponding matters.

“Not bad.” Jiang Baimian affirmed Shang Jianyao’s analysis and gradually smiled. She smiled like a fox that had stolen a hen. “From this point, the things that Abbess Zhou prepared reveals very important intel. An Awakened in the illusion domain might have the following weaknesses: Hydrophobia, photophobia, eisoptrophobia, and prosopagnosia. Yes... What does the sack behind her represent?”

Hydrophobia could be identified from the bottled talisman water. Photophobia came from the flashlight. It was needless to point out eisoptrophobia because of the Eight Trigrams Mirror. Prosopagnosia was a result of Zhou Yue’s own performance.

This... Long Yuehong was stunned when he heard that. He inexplicably felt like he had accidentally revealed a secret, but his team leader had just chosen not to expose him.

Without doing anything, Abbess Zhou had been fully analyzed!

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Shang Jianyao suddenly applauded. As for the meaning of the sack, he also sincerely replied, “She’s afraid of getting caught and beaten up.”

“Who isn’t?” Jiang Baimian snapped back before saying, “We can rule out the possibility of photophobia. After Abbess Zhou saw the Superior Heartless standing under the street lamp, she directly threw away the flashlight. This means that she had the same thoughts. Prosopagnosia doesn’t constitute reason to be scared away; it can also be ruled out. So, he’s afraid of water. Yes, you should’ve noticed that the corpse thrown into the bar had obvious bite marks on its neck, and a lot of blood flowed out. That’s also liquid—the Superior Heartless is clearly not afraid of that.”

She paused and added, “Uh, we can’t rule out the possibility that he’s afraid of a specific type of water. Unfortunately, Abbess Zhou and Genava were both present back then, so I couldn’t get some samples for research. However, this possibility is still relatively unlikely.

“The sack wasn’t used, but we can’t rule out the possibility that it has a deterrent effect. In short, the greatest possibility is that the Superior Heartless is afraid of mirrors.”

Bai Chen thoughtfully echoed, “If this hypothesis is valid, it can explain why the Superior Heartless didn’t enter the bar. With the lights switched on, the windows resemble mirrors.”

Jiang Baimian laughed and said to Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao, “Look, look. This is called drawing inferences, making bold assumptions, and carefully verifying them.”

This praise made Bai Chen a little uncomfortable.

After praising Bai Chen, Jiang Baimian said to Long Yuehong, “You have to prepare a mirror that you can carry with you.”

Long Yuehong was the only one who didn’t have one.

As ladies and snipers, Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen had makeup mirrors. Shang Jianyao had more than one mirror in order to make his abilities work on himself.

“I’ll get one at dawn!” Long Yuehong didn’t show any embarrassment when it came to a matter of life and death.

He had previously realized that the stalls in Tarnan had makeup mirrors available for trading. They were clearly from the Old World’s city ruins.

Just as he said that, Shang Jianyao gently and eerily said, “Maybe it was used by a deceased, and her ghost lives inside...”

“Stop scaring Little Red. Let’s get down to business.” Jiang Baimian interrupted Shang Jianyao’s ghost story.

Why would I be afraid of this? Long Yuehong thought for a moment and decided to choose a relatively new makeup mirror.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian did a self-reflection. “I made a mistake this time. As Tarnan has good public security and isn’t small, and there are robot guards protecting the area, I subconsciously believed that the Superior Heartless wouldn’t attack this place and didn’t have enough vigilance.”

It was common in the Ashlands for Heartless to attack relatively small human settlements for food.

“I also made a mistake,” Shang Jianyao said. “When the wind started blowing and someone knocked on the door, I didn’t go out to play hide and seek with them in a bid to see who would be the first to find the other.”

“Such situations are mostly a child’s prank.” Bai Chen gave her opinion. “We really can’t let our guard down, but there’s no need to be overly suspicious. Humans have limits to what they can worry over.”

So, I’m not human? This sentence suddenly flashed across Jiang Baimian’s mind. She thought that Shang Jianyao would respond in such a manner, but Shang Jianyao only nodded.

“Being a child doesn’t affect a game of hide and seek.”

This time, their brainwaves didn’t match.

After they finished their self-reflection and summarized their experiences and lessons, Jiang Baimian said, “The range of the Superior Heartless’s abilities is a little large, and the effects are very strong. I suspect that he has reached the end of the Sea of Origins and found himself. However, he is unable to overcome the Sea of Origins because of his lack of intelligence. Otherwise, he entered the Mind Corridor before he contracted the Heartless disease.

“Fortunately, powerhouses without intelligence are much weaker than normal.”

Jiang Baimian had always believed that a Superior Heartless couldn’t pass the final stage of the Sea of Origins. It was a battle against oneself; it was very difficult to complete it without a clear mind and sufficient intelligence.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuehong subconsciously said, “Superior Heartless might not rely on Awakening. It’s also possible that their brains and other organs have mutated, producing similar abilities...”

This then ruled out the question of whether one had cleared the Sea of Origins.

As he spoke, Long Yuehong fell silent because he realized that the Superior Heartless—at least the one he had just encountered—had similar behaviors to an Awakened.

They all had certain weaknesses or prices to pay.

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian didn’t directly deny it. After all, she lacked sufficient samples and evidence.

She thought for a moment and said, “Let’s assume that this Superior Heartless is an Awakened and that the price is the fear of mirrors. Then, what are his three abilities?”

“Illusion creation!” Long Yuehong rushed to answer.

Jiang Baimian nodded and added, “He doesn’t appear to have any shortcomings in his illusionary abilities at the moment.”

“There’s also the ability that causes us to make a wrong choice all the time.” Shang Jianyao assumed the posture of a famous detective, just short of holding a pipe in his mouth. “I feel like this was targeting our conditioned reflexes.”

Only he and Jiang Baimian had experienced this ability.

“Yes.” Jiang Baimian agreed. “It should be to mislead our reflexes or instinctive reactions so that we can’t respond correctly to external stimuli.”

Back then, she could clearly control her body, but she kept making choices that she shouldn’t have made.

“That sounds a little terrifying.” Long Yuehong couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. “How should we deal with this?”

“Wear a set of clothes covered in shattered mirrors so that he won’t dare look at you.” Shang Jianyao provided an idea. He then sang, “You’re the brightest...”

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian to glare at him, Shang Jianyao restrained his expression and said seriously, “We can change our conditioned reflexes. For example, when you encounter an enemy, your first reaction isn’t to draw your gun but to dance. When you’re affected by the ability, two wrongs will make a right.”

Long Yuehong first felt that it made sense before realizing a problem. What if we don’t encounter this Superior Heartless but another enemy or beast? Are we to dance for them?