Embers Ad Infinitum

When Shang Jianyao identified the unconscious people, the soldiers were not idle. They either wore gas masks and stood around to prevent accidents, or they carefully searched every corner of the basement.

At this time, a soldier shouted:

"There's a door here."

In the front right corner of the basement, there is a marble human statue, and behind it is a door that is almost integrated with the wall.

The soldiers tried to push the statue and found that it was very easy because there were wheels and hidden rails at the bottom of the statue.

As the door opened, a deep and dark passage appeared in front of everyone.

There were electric lights inside, but they seemed to be so far apart that they looked dim.

"Flash bombs, sleeping bombs." Muscular Major Ducas gave the order again.

After a round of cleaning, he and Cassirer led some soldiers wearing gas masks and chased into the passage.

Jiang Baimian followed him curiously, but Shang Jianyao was faster than her.

The tunnel was a bit long, and it took a few minutes for the pursuers to see the exit and return to the surface.

This place is already outside the Zhao family manor, close to the Taiwei River, and located in a hidden part of a hill.

"There are wheel marks and it's still very fresh." Cassirer, who has dark yellow ear-length hair, squatted down and inspected it carefully.

Ducas nodded:

"No need to rush."

He picked up the walkie-talkie, reported what happened here to Phocas, and asked him to send soldiers to bring the transportation over.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Gnawa "huddled" far away, watching everything quietly.

Pursing his mouth inwards, Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully:

"I felt like something was stringing together."

"Fishing line?" Shang Jianyao asked with a smile.

"Maybe." Jiang Baimian nodded gently.

Gnawa joined their discussion:

"Are Meng Gang and Zhao Yixue the bait? Which fish do the 'anti-intellectual religion' want to catch?"

"It depends on the next development." Jiang Baimian smiled slightly, "Maybe it's not a fishing line, but a manipulation line in an old-world puppet show."

While they were talking, the soldiers responsible for surrounding the Zhao family manor drove up one after another military vehicles.

Obviously, there is no military green Jeep of the "old tune team" here.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Gnawa could only squeeze into the trailer of a military vehicle, holding the baffle with both hands and letting the wind blow through their hair.

"The rural scenery here is quite beautiful, and the architecture is also very unique." Jiang Baimian followed the locals and enjoyed the surrounding scenery.

In such a beautiful scenery, a large number of slaves are scattered in the fields, doing various things.

Because there were not many vehicles coming and going at this time, and the roads outside the city were full of dirt, it was easier for Ducasse and Cassirer to follow the car tracks, stopping and going.

About ten minutes later, these military vehicles parked outside another manor.

Not only wheat, oats, and rye are grown here, but there are also vineyards.

Cassirer got out of the car, squatted and checked, and said in a deep voice:

"It belonged to the car from before. It entered the manor."

Ducasse, Jiang Baimian and others came closer one after another and started to confirm in their own way.

After confirming that the car driven by Zhao Yixue and Meng Gang disappeared at the gate of the manor, Ducas raised his head and looked ahead, and said with a solemn face:

"This is the manor that Senator Varro loves most. He often comes to stay."

Elder Varro... Jiang Baimian repeated the name silently, turning his head and looking at each other with Shang Jianyao.

She mouthed:

"The threads are strung together."

This senator named Varro is one of the powerful people in the "Primary City" and is the deputy of the consul and commander-in-chief Beuris.

They have a large number of supporters in the Senate, and their philosophy is to maintain the status quo as much as possible without a catastrophe. They are called conservatives by the intelligence system of "Pangaea Creatures".

The new members of the Senate were eager for change, and under the banner of "reshaping the 'Primary City' and returning citizens' land", they gathered around Gaius - who was also a general and the "Prime City" The commander of the Eastern Legion. The intelligence system of "Pangu Creatures" calls them reformists.

In addition, there are many generals and veterans of the supervisory system who choose to remain neutral and not participate in the dispute between the two major factions. They are called centrists. Among them is Phocas, an old guy who is semi-retired.

This is not a secret. Other major forces have it. Jiang Baimian learned about it from the information provided by the company.

After reading Jiang Baimian's mouth movements, Shang Jianyao nodded seriously.

As for whether he really understood what he meant, Jiang Baimian didn't know.

"When it comes to Elder Varro, we can't make decisions on our own. We must ask the general for instructions." Cassirer reminded his colleagues.

Although Ducasse is a muscular man, he still has brains. He did not act impulsively and used the walkie-talkie to inform Phocas of the tracking results.

After listening to his report, Phocas calmly said:

"Stop all actions and wait for me to come."

Seeing this, Jiang Baimian took a few steps back and distanced himself from Ducasse's group.

When Shang Jianyao and Gnawa came over, she lowered her voice and said:

"I don't know what kind of drama will be staged later. Let's just take a look and don't get involved."

"Hey, I really want to join this play and perform." Shang Jianyao looked regretful.

Jiang Baimian said "ha":

"Prioritise."

After a while, the soldiers and combat robots that originally surrounded the Zhao family manor rushed over surrounded by Phocas' armored command vehicle.

Phocas summoned two majors to communicate for a few minutes and asked about the situation.

Then, he sat in the armored vehicle and stayed quietly for a while.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally opened the door of the armored vehicle, stood on the edge of the vehicle, looked around, and said loudly:

"Soldiers, I have an order to give now."

His expression was extremely serious, and his sparse khaki hair was no longer so abrupt.

When all the soldiers looked over, Phocas said loudly:

"You should know very well that we are tracking down the members of the anti-intellectual cult, who once assassinated Elder Sowers and brought us chaos.

“They are dangerous, they want to subvert us, they want to make all citizens their puppets, no longer thinking, only listening.

"For the safety of all citizens and the future of 'Prime City', we must seize those key members as soon as possible and eliminate this organization. In this process, no matter who is involved or what obstacles are encountered, we cannot retreat. All I will bear the consequences.

"Moreover, we have the Archon's warrant, and everything is in compliance with the laws of the First City."

After listening to Phocas's speech, many soldiers raised their weapons and shouted loudly:

"General! General!"

The other soldiers were inspired by this atmosphere and started chanting.

After the shouts subsided, Phocas pointed to Varro's manor:

"Soldiers, I order you to take over this place and allow shooting!"

At this moment, he was like an old lion regaining its original might.

"Yes, general!" the soldiers responded in unison.

Phocas nodded with satisfaction and assigned tasks in an orderly manner.

As before, some soldiers and some combat robots spread out and surrounded the entire manor. The remaining soldiers and remaining combat robots followed the two majors Ducas and Cassirer and rushed to the gate of Varro Manor.

When passing Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Gnawa, Ducas paused and asked:

"Do you want to come together?"

Jiang Baimian shook his head without hesitation:

"We will recognize people after you take over."

Without persuasion, Ducasse left the hiding place.

After watching them approach the manor, disarm the guards at the door, and drive straight in, Jiang Baimian withdrew his gaze and glanced at Phocas, who was protected by many soldiers.

The general sat in the passenger seat of the armored command vehicle and looked at Varo's manor intently, calmly and majesticly.

Suddenly, a roar echoed through the sky.

An explosion occurred in the manor of Senator Varro.

Immediately afterwards, dense gunshots were heard, mixed with "booms" of different levels.

When Jiang Baimian saw this, she couldn't help but chuckle, because this was pretty much what she expected.

"Something will really happen..." she sighed to Shang Jianyao and Gnawa.

"Not creative." Shang Jianyao criticized.

The sound of fierce fighting only lasted for a short period of time, and Varo's manor quickly returned to calm.

After a while, a military vehicle entered the manor and drove out.

Ducas and Cassirer jumped out of the car one after another and saluted Phocas from a distance:

"General, mission accomplished, all targets captured!"

Phocas, who was sitting in the armored command vehicle, nodded and asked loudly:

"Why don't you report directly over the intercom?"

Ducasse and Cassirer looked at each other, hesitated for two seconds, and shouted with the same loud voice:

"Report to the General, in addition to members of the Anti-Intellectual Cult, there are also close associates of Senator Varro, as well as people from the Salvation Army!"

His voice spread throughout the audience and was heard clearly by many soldiers.

"The Salvation Army"... Jiang Baimian raised his eyebrows.

For the "First City", the "Salvation Army" is always the number one enemy.