Chapter 1 / 5
‘Boss, boss, boss, boss!'
In the middle of the night, Qing Chen was awakened by the vibration of his communication device.
He fished it out from under the pillow and saw that it was Liu Dezhu who kept texting him, and this guy was suddenly addressing him as ‘boss'.
Qing Chen was a little puzzled, what matter was so pressing that he had to disturb him at this time?
He replied, ‘Speak up.'
Liu Dezhu sent him a message, ‘As per your order, I've gotten those time travelers in Prison 18 under control. Among them, Yu Junyi, a student from the class next to mine, has fully believed in my status in the prison.'
Qing Chen typed out a ‘Hm.'
Liu Dezhu continued, ‘Hu Xiaoniu just contacted me and said he's willing to pay two more gold bars as gratitude for helping him get rid of the traitor. He also promised he would never disclose the details of our transaction to other people. Boss, I swear I won't embezzle a single cent this time, please believe in my loyalty now, I will absolutely never lie to you!'
Qing Chen realized that Hu Xiaoniu took Li Dongze's action as part of their deal.
This was rather strange, as it wasn't something he really needed to pay for. More than remuneration, it felt like Hu Xiaoniu was giving him money.
By vowing not to divulge their transaction to anyone, Hu Xiaoniu was also expressing his attitude: please rest assured about doing a transaction with me.
This guy was much more reliable than Liu Dezhu, Qing Chen thought. Once Hu Xiaoniu recovered from his injuries and arrived in City 18, he could try to get in touch with him more often.
If he could determine that there was no problem with Hu Xiaoniu, it might be a good choice for him to replace Liu Dezhu as his proxy.
And without Liu Dezhu as the middleman, he was sure to get the full amount of remuneration.
Suddenly, Liu Dezhu sent another message, ‘Boss, I'm really sorry to tell you this in the middle of the night, but a little situation just came up on my side…'
‘What situation?'
‘When I woke up to pee, I found a letter lying beside my pillow… There's a stamp with the picture of a devil stuck on the envelope, it's a little scary to look at.'
Qing Chen understood now, this guy insisted on contacting him at this ungodly hour because he was frightened by the letter.
Forbidden Item ACE-017, the Devil Post Stamp.
This thing was previously sent to Wang Yun, and Qing Chen suspected it belonged to the man who called the leader of the thugs on that night.
It seemed like this man was the one who connected Wang Yun to those thugs, the real mastermind behind the kidnapping case in Laojun Mountain.
A person hiding behind the scenes.
A person who disregarded law and morality.
Qing Chen asked, ‘What's written in the letter?'
Liu Dezhu replied, ‘There's only one sentence: Let's play a game, the first one to be found out shall become the other's slave, hehe.'
Qing Chen frowned. What gave him goosebumps wasn't the content of the letter, but the two syllables ‘hehe'.
No normal person would use ‘hehe' as a pet phrase, only those who weren't very mentally sound would do so.
The feeling it gave off was like… someone scratching a blackboard with his nails.
This letter was obviously not meant for Liu Dezhu, because some preconditions were required in order to use the Devil Post Stamp. Its owner had found Liu Dezhu's address, but he knew very well that Liu Dezhu was just a smokescreen puppet, so the one he wanted to contact was Qing Chen!
It was very dangerous to be targeted by such a person.
This moment made Qing Chen feel that in the present, dangerous world, all the things he did to disguise and protect himself were indeed not excessive.
Liu Dezhu asked, ‘Boss, what should we do?'
Qing Chen answered, ‘Wait for him to come, and then kill him."
…
"Take off your shoes."
Early in the morning, at the small courtyard of the guesthouse, Jiang Xue sat on the bamboo chair opposite of Qing Chen and calmly spoke.
"Aunt Jiang Xue, the wounds on my feet have already healed," smiled Qing Chen. "It's really fine now."
"No, I need to see it for myself." Jiang Xue put on a cold face. "You're way too hard on yourself, I won't feel at ease unless I see it with my own eyes. Listen to Auntie and quickly take off your shoes, I've brought you some salve from the Inner World."
After the incident at Laojun Mountain, Jiang Xue immediately rented the whole guesthouse. The landlord and landlady went back to their own home, leaving the guesthouse only for the three of them.
Li Tongyun, who had her hair tied in pigtails, suddenly said from the spot she was squatting at, "Brother Qing Chen, just listen to my mom. She bought the salve especially for you, she said it was really expensive."
Qing Chen had no choice but to take off his socks and shoes.
Jiang Xue was surprised, "They're really much better now, did you use medicine in the Inner World?"
"Yes," nodded Qing Chen.
When he started trekking on the mountain path with Li Shutong, his wounds reopened and worsened.
But later on they kept sitting inside the pickup truck, so his feet had basically healed by now.
Jiang Xue looked a bit regretful. "The medicine I just bought is useless now."
"It's not," Qing Chen smiled, "We can use it if we get hurt in the Outer World. After all, the current world is so dangerous, it's only right to stock some medicine in the Outer World."
"Since your feet have pretty much healed, should we go back to the city this afternoon?" Jiang Xue looked at Qing Chen, "I'll rent a car so we don't have to queue for the bus."
"No," Qing Chen shook his head, "Aunt Jiang Xue, can you wait a few more days? I still have something to do here. Or maybe Auntie can go back with Xiaoyun first, I'll stay here for a few more days."
For time travelers, the concept of time was in disorder.
Seven days had passed in the Inner World, but in the Outer World, it was still the third of October.
School would only start in a few days.
Jiang Xue was puzzled, "You still have something to do in Laojun Mountain? Then Xiaoyun and I will not leave. We all came here together, so we must also go back together. I can't leave you here alone."
A burst of joy filled Li Tongyun's heart. This morning, her mother had still told her to sign up for the cram school tonight, and she would have to attend it for the rest of the holiday.
Now, she certainly no longer had to go to cram school.
The little girl stared at Qing Chen with a gaze of reverence.
Qing Chen looked back at Jiang Xue and said, "Then it's just right, there's something I need Aunt Jiang Xue to help with."
He went to an outdoor equipment store to buy a few nylon ropes, and then spent two hours in the mountain looking for a vertical cliff with a height of more than 20 meters.
Jiang Xue was confused, "Xiaochen, what are you going to do?"
"Climb it." Qing Chen looked up at the cliff. He was well aware that he had no more time or chance to do further practical training in the Inner World…
Li Shutong didn't seem to be worried at all. This teacher always felt that if his student was pushed to the critical point between life and death, he could accomplish any kind of miracle.
It had to be said that this teacher was rather apathetic.
But Qing Chen himself couldn't rest assured. Although he could keep observing and analyzing each movement Li Shutong taught him in his super memory, mistakes would inevitably occur if he didn't put it to practice.
Fortunately, unlike ordinary people, he had double the amount of time.
Translator: Zee
