Embers Ad Infinitum

As expected by the "Old Tune Team", there was a knock on the door soon, and the young monk named Dan Luo brought oatmeal and toast.

"Today's breakfast." The monk's expression was no different from before.

Didn't he see the body of the gray monk on the stairs? Long Yuehong muttered in her heart.

Of course, he would definitely not ask this directly. Doesn't that mean there is no silver in this place?

"Do you have any plans for today?" Jiang Baimian asked with a smile.

Dan Luo gave her a strange look:

"Except that you cannot leave this level, you are all free. You have to ask yourself what arrangements you have."

Shang Jianyao said "oh" twice:

"Has the new first seat been elected?"

"Not yet." Dan Luo answered truthfully, "The important matters now will be discussed and decided by all the 'Enlightened Ones' in the temple."

"That's it..." Jiang Baimian nodded gently and greeted Bai Chen and Long Yuehong to enjoy breakfast.

Dan Luo returned to the stairs and walked to the lower floors.

He still didn't seem to see the body of the gray-robed monk - he died of suffocation on the stairs leading to the seventh floor.

After breakfast, while waiting for Dan Luo to come and collect the tableware, Jiang Baimian and others left the room and approached the stairs as if taking a walk after dinner.

At a glance, they found that the place where the gray-robed monk's body originally lay was clean, even the slight filth caused by death was gone.

Who dragged the body away and cleaned the stairs...Moreover, this acted as if it was an ordinary thing, and it was not worthy of informing the "Enlightened One" who was on duty today...Long Yuehong withdrew his gaze.

If it weren't for the discomfort in his neck, he would have suspected that what he experienced in the early morning was a hallucination.

While walking back, Jiang Baimian and others heard the sounds of "hum hum ha ha" and "bang bang bang bang" coming from the rear of Xikaluo Temple.

A few days ago, they had actually vaguely heard such noises, but at that time they had not yet received permission to walk on the sixth floor, so they could not observe the specific situation.

With a quick glance, Shang Jianyao took the lead in entering an open and unoccupied Zen room opposite.

They came to the window and looked outside.

Through the untinted glass windows, the four members of the "Old Tune Team" saw that in the enclosed square where the incineration tower stood, monks in gray robes were scattered in different places, doing various things:

Some of them were holding black semi-automatic rifles and shooting at distant targets. Some were holding double guns and practicing their accuracy. Some put down the barbell and raised it again, repeating it. Some were walking around the edge of the square. Running circles, chasing each other, some wearing boxing gloves, and practicing endlessly with their classmates...

This made Long Yuehong stunned for a moment, always feeling that the style of painting was not quite right.

There is nothing wrong with these things in themselves, but when combined with monks wearing gray robes, they seem quite strange.

In Buddhist temples, shouldn't morning classes be about Zen meditation and worshiping Buddha? Why did they become shooting and fighting training?

At this moment, Long Yuehong suspected that a great monk with a bullet belt, a machine gun in his hand, and shiny muscles would jump out of the temple at any time.

Moreover, what is chanted is still "Namo Gatling Bodhisattva".

"Isn't the 'Crystal Consciousness Sect' more focused on spiritual practice and believes that the body is just a skin?" Jiang Baimian whispered to himself.

As soon as she finished speaking, Zen Naga's voice sounded in the minds of the four members of the "Old Tune Group":

“Before spiritual achievement, the physical body is still very important.

"Just like before you learn to swim, a lifebuoy is equally important. Blindly giving up the body and letting it weaken will only cause you to sink into the water."

"Then why do you still need to practice shooting?" Shang Jianyao asked further.

He was just curious.

Zenaga answered in a calm voice:

"Spiritual practice cannot be accomplished by pure meditation. When the monks of our sect reach a certain stage, they have to leave the temple and travel to different places in the world.

“In this process, if the body is not strong enough and the weapons are not proficient enough, it is easy to lose life and there is no chance to temper the spirit.

"Only when you reach the age of a poor monk and have gained a little bit in Buddhism, will you relax your requirements for the physical body."

Quite a pragmatist... Jiang Baimian muttered.

At this moment, Long Yuehong couldn't help but think about another question:

Could it be that Master Chan Naga, who is now so thin that he is almost out of shape, was a bald man with a lot of muscle when he was young and could kill someone with one punch?

Or maybe the monk wearing a bullet belt, holding a machine gun, and his muscles gleaming just happens to have the face of Zen Naga?

Similar pictures were so beautiful that Long Yuehong didn't dare to imagine them anymore.

However, judging from Zenaga's love for riding dark black motorcycles, those scenes are indeed possible!

After watching the morning exercises of the monks of the "Crystal Consciousness Sect" for a while, the four members of the "Old Tune Group" returned to the room.

On this day, they still failed to find a chance to escape.

In the evening, the "old tune team" drafted a telegram of the two days' encounters on time and sent it back to the company.

They mentioned being "lured" upstairs and hearing the word "Hom", but they did not mention their speculations.

…………

In the wasteland of the north shore, there is a city ruins with lush vegetation.

The vines wrapped around the ruins of the building were unusually thick, green, with red fruits, like poisonous snakes entangled with each other, smooth and ferocious.

Similar mutated plants abound in this heavily polluted area, and dangerous aberrant animals and hidden "careless people" walk among them, shadowy and shadowy.

Gnawa has turned off the sound of the pollution detector, otherwise the dripping sound will not stop until the battery is exhausted.

"You guys have to take a rest and leave this place tomorrow morning." Gnawa said in a professional tone, "Otherwise, there will be a high probability of sequelae. Although your physical condition is not very good now, you don't care too much about it. It will be a little worse, but you have to think about the future. If the fatal problem is solved and life is extended, but there are still a lot of diseases that are difficult to cure and will not make you die quickly, that will not be good."

Although Gnawa's words sounded a bit harsh, Han Wanghuo had to admit that what he said made sense.

Han Wanghuo looked at Zeng Duo:

"Go to the car and rest. If there is any accident, we can immediately evacuate it."

The level of danger in this area is not low, and "hunters" abound.

Because the battery reserve was still sufficient, Han Wanghuo and Zeng Duo had been on the road again and their physical condition was not very good, so Gnawa let them both rest at the same time.

Han Wanghui took stock of his situation and didn't insist.

…………

After a period of running around, Han Wanghuo, Zeng Duo and Gnawa received telegrams from Jiang Baimian and others.

It said that after careful tests, the condition of the two people became clearer, and they could hope to be treated according to the conventional plan, but the premise was that they must return to the original city immediately and undergo a comprehensive and detailed examination.

Zeng Duo and Han Wanghuo were both surprised and happy. With the mentality that there was no other way, they might as well give it a try. Together with Gnawa, they used the heavily polluted area to get rid of the pursuers and circled back to the First City.

They all remembered that Jiang Baimian and others were "invited" to the Xikaluo Temple of the "Crystal Consciousness Sect" as guests, but they did not go there blindly for fear of encountering an accident.

"Let's go to Xiao Chong." Gnawa's flashing red eyes glanced left and right, "Dabai said that if there is a problem over there and they need help, and we are back in the original city, we should go find it first. Xiao Chong.”

"Really?" Han Wanghuo asked in confusion.

Although he thought this was very reasonable and a countermeasure he could imagine, he seemed to have never heard Jiang Baimian mention it himself.

Gennava moved his metal neck:

"When I was on night watch before."

Han Wanghuo no longer had any doubts.

Although they don't know the specific identity of Xiao Chong, they can tell that this child is not simple just because he can "communicate" with aberrant creatures and is so valued by Jiang Baimian and others.

Zeng Duo followed Han Wanghuo and Gnawa all the way to the place where Xiao Chong rented, and led the child to Xikaluo Temple.

As a relic hunter who has been around the original city for a long time, Zeng Duo still knows where the temple is.

When the seven-story building with an earthy yellow background and green and black colors appeared in front of them, the sky suddenly darkened.

It's like a rainstorm is coming.

…………

Zeng Duo woke up suddenly and looked out the open car door.

A thin mist filled the surroundings, and a faint smell of blood came over.

Based on her own experience, she judged that there should be a hunting and counter-hunting between aberrant creatures not far away, or a confrontation between aberrant creatures and the "Heartless".

This requires vigilance.

Because those dangerous creatures definitely wouldn't think there's anything wrong with hunting two more humans.

Han Wanghuo also woke up, and Zeng Duo took their guns and moved closer to Gnawa.

I actually had a dream that my disease could still be cured... In the dim light of the night, Zeng Duo sighed in his heart as he moved forward.

…………

Another morning, after breakfast, the "Old Tune Team" wandered through the corridors on the sixth floor, looking for opportunities to take advantage of.

After walking back and forth a few times, they suddenly heard footsteps.

That's from the seventh floor, going down.

This... While Long Yuehong's eyes were frozen, Jiang Baimian said:

"Two people."

"It doesn't include ghosts." Shang Jianyao confirmed in a strange way.

Bai Chen stopped and looked at the stairs with a wary expression.

Shang Jianyao cleared his throat and took a posture.

Seeing Jiang Baimian looking sideways, he smiled and said:

"Shout for help at any time."

Just ten seconds later, two figures walked out of the stairs.

One is Chan Naga who is so thin that he is almost out of shape, and the other is actually an acquaintance of the "Old Tune Group".

Wearing a black robe and wearing long hair, the "beautiful middle-aged" Du Heng!

This man who claims to be an antiquities scholar and has a mysterious origin unexpectedly appeared in Xikaluo Temple and climbed to the seventh floor.

"Teacher Du Heng!" Shang Jianyao shouted.

Du Heng turned his head when he heard the sound and said with a slight smile:

"Why are you here?"

"Master Zen Naga said that we would bring chaos to the First City, so he captured us and said we would be detained for ten days." Shang Jianyao said one thing, and he didn't hide anything just because Zen Naga was around.

Du Heng looked around funnyly:

"Then do you have anything urgent that needs to be done within ten days?"

Shang Jianyao thought for a while and replied very honestly:

"No."

"Then it might be a good thing to stay here for ten days, and you can save money on food and accommodation, right?" Du Heng said in a joking tone.

Jiang Baimian heard the implication of his words and asked instead:

"Teacher Du Heng, what are you doing here?"

Du Heng looked back at the stairs leading to the seventh floor, sighed and said:

"Coming to visit an old friend."