Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 588: Chaos

“Sorry for disturbing.” Shang Jianyao apologized again, retreated, and closed the door. He was ever so polite that he even closed his eyes to indicate that he didn’t mean to intrude.

After gently closing the door, Shang Jianyao walked to the cabin exit, prepared to return to the first level’s deck to see if there was anything abnormal with the people there.

Just as he walked down the aisle, he saw three people standing at the cabin entrance thanks to the faint moonlight that scattered down from the sky and the yellow wall lamps on both sides.

These were the three people who had previously been angered by his taunt and tried to chase after him. Among them, the one with the wrinkled unlit cigarette in his mouth had a blank expression. He held the cigarette in his left hand, but his right index and middle fingers were placed together as he stretched them into his mouth and occasionally sucked.

Of the other two—the one with the black mole at the end of his eyebrows ran back and forth as if he were venting his excess energy. The other took off his clothes and stood in place with a silly smile.

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment and ultimately couldn’t think of a gesture. He could only make a face at the half-naked person and sincerely say, “There are no masks in front of Monitor!”

After bowing, he circled around the three people who ignored him and cast his gaze elsewhere on the deck.

There were much fewer people gathered here than before it turned dark, but there were still nearly 100 people. They were now either randomly waving their hands, not clearing up after defecating or urinating, staring at an empty spot with ferocious eyes, or doing all kinds of strange actions in a daze.

None of them were normal.

Such a scene was definitely more terrifying for ordinary people or most Awakened than encountering the same number of Heartless because it was terrifyingly bizarre. Unknown situations were mostly more terrifying than known perilous situations!

Shang Jianyao was in no rush to probe. He looked around as if he were searching for someone.

He was looking for the owner of Room 522!

Normally speaking, after entering a psychological trauma, the Awakened was acting as the room owner to a certain extent. Therefore, it was impossible for them to encounter the actual person.

But this was Room 912, and Shang Jianyao was now replacing its owner. From the two almost identical scenes, one could infer that the owner of Room 522 was very likely on this cruise ship back then and was also a person who experienced this bizarre incident.

As long as he could find him and follow him, Shang Jianyao would be able to clear this psychological trauma relatively smoothly. After all, the owner of Room 522 had definitely survived and later entered the Mind Corridor to have a chance of turning this scene into a psychological trauma.

Of course, Shang Jianyao’s strategy might not be effective because this cruise ship might bring horror to others more than once—the two room owners might not be in the same batch of ‘victims.’ Therefore, he was both searching and seeking confirmation.

After watching for a few minutes, Shang Jianyao suddenly clenched his right fist and punched his left palm.

Bam!

He muttered to himself in frustration, “I don’t even know what Room 522’s owner looks like or what his name is...”

This was the Shang Jianyao that acted faster than he could think.

The timid one immediately scoffed. “Sometimes, I find it hard to admit that you’re one of us. Although we don’t know what the owner of Room 522 looks like or what his name is, we can first search for survivors or the ones that are normal in the current situation. There’s a high chance that he’s among them.”

Bam!

Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm again. He didn’t feel ashamed at all and said, “That’s right!

He saw several passengers that were carrying out odd and chaotic actions turn around and cast their gazes over because of his voice. They either had ruthless expressions or wore looks of mania.

“Yo, wanna fight?” asked the Shang Jianyao who liked to joke.

The Shang Jianyao who sought ty shook his head. “No, I want to experience the feeling of sprinting.”

Shang Jianyao stroked his chin. “Don’t attack for the time being. Do you still remember the first psychological trauma in Room 522? Without figuring out the situation, the rash use of our abilities might bring about an anomaly.”

In the mind world, even firing with a gun was essentially using one’s ability—Matter Interference. Otherwise, the bullets wouldn’t have any effects.

As they spoke, the few cruise passengers had already run over. They either clenched their fists or drew their pistols in an aggressive manner.

“Run!” Shang Jianyao shouted. Following that, he turned around and ran into the cabin.

He ran to the stairwell and prepared to take a look at the floors above. Suddenly, he saw a few figures coming from the other end of the corridor.

The group consisted of men and women, and their expressions were warped or deranged. Some held daggers, some held bayonets, and some held submachine guns. They quickly passed the stairwell and ran toward Shang Jianyao.

Upon seeing that danger was everywhere, Shang Jianyao no longer hesitated. He quickly ran a few steps and slid down.

The men and women in front suddenly lost their mobility, but their bodies maintained strong inertia.

Thud! Thud!

They fell one after another, looking like they had been swept off their feet by Shang Jianyao.

Legs Immobility!

Shang Jianyao slid past them, propped himself up, and leaped. But in the blink of an eye, he paused as if he was dumbfounded.

Right on the heels of that, Shang Jianyao conjured a small speaker and played music. “Mountain top, let’s do it together[1]...”

Shang Jianyao gyrated his body amid the upbeat melody as he danced. However, his actions appeared very clumsy and different from normal.

His expression was one of confusion and derangement.

Before long, Shang Jianyao shook uncontrollably before twitching. Then, his figure gradually faded.

He opened his eyes and saw electric sparks emitting from his body. Jiang Baimian hung her left palm over him with a worried expression.

Shang Jianyao suddenly sat up straight. He rolled down the window with a trembling hand and stuck his head out.

Eurgh! Eurgh!

He vomited all his lunch outside.

After he calmed down, Jiang Baimian asked in concern, “What happened?”

“I suffered relatively heavy psyche damage. My head is spinning,” Shang Jianyao replied calmly. “Fortunately, you reacted in time. Otherwise, I might’ve been trapped in there.”

Just as he said that, he felt another round of vertigo and stuck his head out. Even his bile gushed out this time.

Jiang Baimian had only planned for Shang Jianyao to take a short nap when she instructed him to take a nap and explore the psychological trauma again.

This wasn’t an act of mistreatment but a plan formulated for an accident. If Shang Jianyao didn’t encounter anything in the cruise ship trauma in 15 minutes, forcefully shaking him awake wouldn’t cause any mental damage after he left Room 912. This inference was based on their previous experience and the uniqueness of this psychological trauma.

If Shang Jianyao really encountered an accident and was in danger, making it impossible for him to escape independently, then 15 minutes wasn’t enough to completely traumatize him and turn him into a vegetable in reality. Therefore, forcefully shaking him awake was equivalent to replacing the more serious consequences with a short period of controlled mental damage.

As a result, Jiang Baimian immediately got Long Yuehong—who was in the backseat—to shake Shang Jianyao with his mechanical arm as soon as the 15 minutes were up.

After realizing that the shaking wasn’t effective, she made an executive decision by electrocuting him.

After vomiting, the usually energetic Shang Jianyao leaned back weakly and slowly said, “I was directly on the cruise ship when I entered...”

He took a break from time to time as he slowly described his encounter. Finally, he said, “From the looks of it, using one’s abilities in that chaotic state which envelops the cruise ship will infect oneself and turn one into a ‘patient’ with consciousness obstructions and chaotic behavior.”

At this point, Shang Jianyao sniffed and laughed. “My meat smells pretty good when roasted...”

Before he could finish speaking, he stuck his head out again and vomited.

“You were asking for it...” Jiang Baimian curled her lips and deliberated before saying, “Could it be that you can’t use your abilities the entire time?”

“Or can it only be used when everyone is normal?” Bai Chen—who was driving—interrupted.

“It’s normal during the day and chaotic at night?” Long Yuehong guessed.

Shang Jianyao weakly replied, “I don’t know. I’ll try again in the future. The best point of breakthrough is to find the owner of Room 522.”

“Yes, it’s a good thing that you can forcefully withdraw from this room without suffering serious mental damage. You can treat it as a way out.” Jiang Baimian nodded slightly and sighed with emotion. “On the other hand, I don’t see any hope with my island. Comparisons only lead to frustration!”

“Nothing coming to you yet?” Bai Chen asked.

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged her words. “Not really. I’ve been trying out a new direction recently. I mainly used psychological cues and other methods to prepare the corresponding conditions in advance before facing the coma. Furthermore, when I’m awake, I often force myself to recall the fear I felt during my two unconscious bouts and face the trauma in my heart. However, it’s useless, and this is a little contradictory to the victory over a psychological trauma that I know. I don’t think I’m that afraid anymore.

“I plan on attacking it with my abilities—this is the inspiration Shang Jianyao gave me. Back in the Sea of Origins, he used his abilities and the price he paid to effectively match his courage and defeat his fear.”

“What was the result?” Long Yuehong asked curiously.

Jiang Baimian chuckled. “I’ve only tried twice. It has some effect, but I’m still far from success.”

She further explained, “I’m mainly using Stimulation Disorder to change my reaction to the fainting stimulus. I can now last more than ten seconds before I faint after setting foot onto the island.”

Without waiting for Bai Chen, Long Yuehong, and Shang Jianyao to give suggestions, Jiang Baimian smiled and said, “My next plan is to condense the mental fortifications I previously made in those ten seconds to see if there are any positive changes after I’m unconscious.”

Shang Jianyao suddenly perked up. “Just do it!”

Jiang Baimian rolled her eyes at him. “How is it? How long do you think it will take for you to recover?”

“At least a week.” Shang Jianyao wasn’t too sure.

Jiang Baimian nodded. “I’ll take a nap then.”

With that said, she covered her mouth as if she wanted to yawn.

[1] Huang Ling’s HIGH