Embers Ad Infinitum

Jiang Baimian did not immediately pick up the dark green canvas backpack on the corpse, and cautiously said to Shang Jianyao:

"Check your surroundings to see if there are any dangers that need to be ruled out."

The two worked together and quickly confirmed that the bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathroom and other places were normal enough and that there was no other body.

Moreover, they deduced from the remains of some carrion on the body that he was not an aborigines in Taicheng, but a member of Ding Ling's husband Ji Qiang's scientific expedition team.

After doing these things, Jiang Baimian put on gloves and raised the dark green canvas backpack from the chest, abdomen and thighs of the corpse.

After unzipping, she saw many documents and materials.

Among them, several sheets of paper were neatly folded and placed on top.

Jiang Baimian put the backpack on the computer table, picked up the sheets of paper, and unfolded them.

It was written in grey clay, one stroke at a time, neat and clear, and seemed to be worried that those who came later might not understand it.

Jiang Baimian gestured for Shang Jianyao to be on guard, and then quickly browsed:

"I don't know who you will be who read this letter, where you come from, which faction you belong to, these are not important, the important thing is that someone finally entered this mysterious city again and found us.

"My name is Lu Fuxing, a researcher at The Salvation Army, when you read this letter, I should be dead.

"I'm here to simply tell you what happened and why I'm writing this letter, believe me, it's very important, and it may be related to how you and your companions escape this mysterious city.

"More than two years ago, a large earthquake occurred in the northeast of the ice sheet. After the earthquake, a weather station of our 'Salvation Army' observing the weather conditions of the ice sheet found that some creations belonging to the old world civilization floated in the river, and we The 'Salvation Army' has already surveyed, and there are no urban ruins or abandoned towns in the upper section of the river, or even further.

"As a scientific research institute responsible for investigating the geological conditions, relics, and resource distribution of the ice sheet, my colleagues and I, under the protection of a team of soldiers, came to the ice sheet and planned to re-investigate that area.

"The captain of our scientific expedition team is called Chen Mingqiang, he not only has high academic attainments, but is also an awakener.

"On the third day of entering the ice field, I was not feeling very well, and my stomach hurt at night. I wanted to ask the doctor who was accompanying the team to get some medicine. When I walked out of the tent, I found the edge of the bonfire shining in the shadow between the two tents. Chen Mingqiang wandered silently.

"I was startled, but luckily I recognized him in time, otherwise I would have warned the soldiers on patrol.

"Chen Mingqiang also found me, and he explained that he had some insomnia, so he came out to blow air and thought about some problems.

"I have no doubt that for those of us who do science, something like this happens all the time.

"After that day, Chen Mingqiang became more and more strange. He was originally a cheerful person who liked to chat with the team members, but he became more and more silent. He often walked behind the team, as if he had become our shadow.

"Passing by the Bei'an Lake rest spot, he actually ordered us to camp in the wild instead of going in and enjoying a clean bed and a warm shower.

"Although our mission does have confidentiality requirements, it is not so strict that we can't even enter the rest point of our own forces, and we can't have contact with anyone. At that time, many of my colleagues were puzzled and were suppressed by Chen Mingqiang by obeying orders.

"In the end, the result we strive for is to send three people to the rest point in exchange for supplies to make up for the ones that were consumed before.

"After leaving Bei'an Lake, we continued to head to the predetermined location.

"I don't know why, I feel that many people in the team are getting more and more wrong. Like Chen Mingqiang, they have become less talkative and like to walk at the back of the team.

"I've tried asking them, and I think it's my duty to do so, and the answer is that being out in the field for too long, the mood gets down.

"This is indeed a problem that is often encountered by similar scientific expedition teams, but this time it appeared very early.

"We went upstream of the river and surveyed it for two days, and we found, no, we saw a city, which is the ruins where you and your companions are currently.

"In our original records, this area was hit the hardest when the old world was destroyed, so that the entire terrain was distorted, and the corresponding city should have sunk into the ground long ago, buried by mud and boulders.

"But now, a remarkably well-preserved ruin of a city has eerily appeared before us.

"In order to confirm that this is not a mirage, we bypassed the fault zone and arrived at the edge of Taicheng. Yes, it was called Taicheng before the destruction of the old world.

"That night, we sent a telegram to Wubei, informing us of the situation, and waiting for follow-up instructions.

"In the early morning of the next day, everyone was suddenly woken up, and Chen Mingqiang, who was in control of the radio station, told us that our superiors asked us to enter Taicheng and explore a place.

"Many colleagues and I are very puzzled, our specialty is not exploring ruins, this should be done by a special team.

"However, as a qualified member of the 'Salvation Army', obedience to orders has been integrated into my blood. After Chen Mingqiang showed the telegram sent by his superiors, and two colleagues and a soldier jointly certified, I no longer have any objection.

"In hindsight, I suspect that the telegram was a forgery, because the three men who proved the whole thing had previously become eccentric, silent and marginalized to the point of non-existence.

"He dared to forge orders from his superiors.

"Entering Taicheng, we came to a hospital, and Chen Mingqiang seemed to be familiar with it, and took us directly into the nine-story building on the right.

"It's called the 'Renhui Hospital Vegetative Rehabilitation Center'.

"It was a very scary place, and Chen Mingqiang seemed to be using our tools to detect landmines to let me and many of my colleagues enter different rooms.

"Some people went crazy, some became vegetative, some got 'innocence' and were shot to death on the spot, some became as strange as Chen Mingqiang and others, some suddenly rushed to the window, jumped go down, fall to your death...

"I don't want to recall it anymore, this is a very cruel thing to me, in short, if you enter the vegetative rehabilitation center of Renhui Hospital, don't open the door casually and enter the room.

"As well as the loss, we also gained, we found some very important documents that were beyond my imagination.

"The rest of the people were unwilling to enter those rooms, and had conflicts with Chen Mingqiang, including some fighters, and among these fighters there were also awakened ones.

"Those who had become silent and eccentric stood on Chen Mingqiang's side, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

"We were at a disadvantage, a lot of people died, and finally, we found the opportunity and hurriedly escaped the building.

"And Chen Mingqiang didn't catch up and chose to stay in the vegetative rehabilitation center.

"Two of us were separated during the escape, but the rest gathered together, retrieved the original vehicle, and planned to leave Taicheng, return to the camp, and ask for help from the superior.

"But after returning to the edge of the city, we were surprised to find that the road out of the city was destroyed, and the whole city was completely cut off from the outside world.

"We wanted to try elsewhere, but gradually we found that our spirits were declining a little bit, and the whole person became more and more tired, and it didn't take long for the first "unintentional" among us to be born.

"Then the second, the third.

"We began to suspect that everyone was infected with the 'innocence' virus, which would happen sooner or later, and everyone fell into despair, as if seeing death walking towards them step by step.

"I'm not too young anymore, and I'm mentally prepared for this. I told them to write a suicide note before I get sick, and I might have a chance to show it to my family in the future.

"I also took the opportunity to write this letter and organize the documents we obtained at the vegetative rehabilitation center of Renhui Hospital.

"In the next time, the still awake person will be responsible for solving the colleagues and teammates who have become 'innocuous', and the last awake person will cut himself off.

"Unexpectedly, it was me who lived to the end, and I thought that the rest of the content would be written by my other colleagues.

"Before this, we had already found paint and made this window and the surrounding walls red, so that people who enter Taicheng can see at a glance and find that there is a problem here.

"If you are colleagues, you can go to other rooms on this floor to find the bones of my colleagues and teammates, if not, look directly at the following:

"The documents in the backpack are very important, I don't care if they were obtained by our 'Salvation Army' or some other force, they belong to all mankind.

"Friends who read this letter, if you have a choice, please spread the contents of those documents, no matter to which faction.

"The behind-the-scenes host of Renhui Hospital's Vegetative Rehabilitation Center is the Eighth Research Institute of the Old World, and they are conducting a very dangerous and terrifying experiment involving the forbidden area of ​​gods and the new world!

"I know that those documents lack more detailed and important content, but they can unite all the forces on the dust to seek the secrets buried by the Eighth Research Institute.

"Finally, there are suicide notes left by some of my colleagues and teammates in the backpack. If you don't want to trouble you, leave them. If you want, please give them to a member of the 'Salvation Army'. The letter is sent to the appropriate person.

"I'm very grateful that you and your companions saw this. If you are also trapped in Taicheng, you can go to Renhui Hospital to find Chen Mingqiang's corpse. I suspect that he hides the secret that we can enter this Taicheng. This is also the case. The key to getting out.

"I have mentioned in the letter before that the vegetative rehabilitation center of Renhui Hospital is very dangerous, and you probably have to pick two or three people who are willing to sacrifice and dare to sacrifice.

"Okay, I feel that my spirit is getting more and more slack, and my reason is becoming more and more unable to control my impulses. I plan to use a pistol to end my life.

"Please be sure to spread the content of those documents so that a better future for mankind can be realized.

"For all mankind!"

Jiang Baimian read it silently, and handed the letter in his hand to Shang Jianyao.