Countdown 44:30:00; 3:30 AM.
City 2, District 9.
A young man dressed in a gray suit was strolling leisurely in a small alley.
The water on the ground reflected his comfortable demeanor like a mirror.
There weren’t any prosperous views around this place. Garbage was piled up in the streets, which were saturated with stagnant rainwater. Various graffiti and ferocious rebellious curses covered the walls.
It looked more like a ghetto than the imagined high-tech city.
When the young man walked, however, his style made it seem like it was the street of a major city, romantic and soft.
He stopped in front of a clothing store.
The owner of the shop was in her thirties and was looking at the news on her phone with deep interest.
In fact, there were numerous small clothing shops like this in the Outer World, always selling old-fashioned clothes and never having many customers.
One would never know how these shops would earn an income, yet they also wouldn't close.
The owners of these shops always seemed unconcerned whether or not there were customers.
But no one would expect that these shops actually had a different purpose.
Now, they were brought back to the Inner World.
The young man walked into the shop, and the owner continued to look down, as if she didn't know someone entered.
The young man gently knocked on the counter with a smile on his face.
There was a powerful sensation hiding behind that smile.
The owner looked up and promptly rose up. She hurriedly said, "Mr. He, I'm so sorry that I didn't notice you walking in."
He Jinqiu smiled and said, "No need be nervous, I need you to send out two messages for me. One, Dong Suyue and Tian Xiaomiao's identities as time travelers were exposed. Tell He Xiaoxiao to stop contacting them immediately. As for the rest, we'll leave for after we return."
"Understood," the shop owner quickly remembered what He Jinqiu said.
"Second, tell He Xiaoxiao to collect as much information on Li Shutong as possible. I discovered that we have been severely underestimating his abilities. It's unimaginable how he was able to return unscathed after creating such chaos."
"Understood," said the shop owner again.
He Jinqiu muttered to himself, "Looks like we need to get close to Liu Dezhu before Kun Lun does. We need him."
At this time, He Jinqiu smiled and said while turning back, "I hope you understand what mission we have on our hands. You will be punished if I find this lack of attention again, and I will find someone to replace you. Go to Zhang Zongyu to request additional training after we return. Do you have a any objections?"
The shop owner lowered her head and said quietly, "No."
"Well, that's settled then!"
After saying so, He Jinqiu left.
The shop owner then went to the storage room and went to send the messages.
Ghettos like this were one of the few places in this cyber city without security cameras. No one would ever notice a special guest.
He Jinqiu turned to look at the clothing shop again. Such a location was the best to deliver messages without anyone realizing it, but Jiu Zhou was still such a small organization, and the people that he could use were even a smaller group.
It was a race against time.
…
In the morning, a familiar banging noise sounded in the prison.
The prisoners were banging on the metal doors again, as if they were going to synchronize.
These people always had an excessive amount of energy and nowhere to use it.
Qing Chen didn't exit his room. He was still waiting for Lu Guangyi to find the new group of time travelers.
To his surprise, there wasn't a single newcomer to Prison 18 yesterday.
He turned on his bed and continued to sleep, ignoring the chaotic noises outside.
Li Shutong was sitting calmly next to his table, looking at the chess endgames tirelessly.
Lin Xiaoxiao admired how his boss made it seem like it was nothing after almost churning the outside world upside down yesterday.
Even Guo Huchan's shiny bald head came over and asked Lin Xiaoxiao, "What did you and your boss do outside yesterday? Bring me along to these fun places next time. I can fight for you."
"Huh? How do you know about this?" Lin Xiaoxiao looked at him curiously.
Although everyone outside knew about this by now, Guo Huchan didn't have any communication device here, so how did he find out?
He glanced at the bald head and said, "Did Black Spades send spirit-type superhumans here too? How many people have you brought? Aren’t you afraid that the corporations would finish all of you off at once?"
"It’s just me here," said Guo Huchan said, smiling awkwardly, "Seriously though, give me a heads up next time you have something going on."
Lin Xiaoxiao guessed, "Do you think we don’t know what you're planning? You just want to find ACE-005 while the boss is away."
"No, how could that be?" said Guo Huchan smiling, "Look, I think you’re overthinking this. I just want to know what Mr. Li did last night."
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at him and said, "Would you believe me if I told you that he just wanted to have a bite of braised pork?"
"What? With all that commotion? There way." Guo Huchan wore a look on his face that said, "Stop thinking I'm an idiot."
Lin Xiaoxiao let out a sigh. He knew that the rest of the world would never believe that his boss had gone out for no reason.
He simply wanted to bring Qing Chen out to play.
Those people only remembered that his boss was a very dangerous demigod, but forgot that Li Shutong was also a willful and free-spirited person.
Of course, Lin Xiaoxiao also admired how the other main character of yesterday's chaos, Qing Chen, was still sleeping like he had no part of it.
Lin Xiaoxiao could understand how his boss was so calm, but what was going on with this seventeen-year-old?
…
As Qing Chen was sleeping, he was awakened by a prison announcement, "Prisoner 010101, you have a visitor."
He slowly sat up, feeling a little confused.
From the timing in the Inner World, didn't Qing Yan just come yesterday? How come he was back today again?
Guo Huchan asked Lin Xiaoxiao, "Hold up, aren't visitors allowed only once every three months? I remember that kid just had a visitor yesterday."
Lin Xiaoxiao looked like he didn't care and said, "Our boss doesn’t like him, so I recommend you to stay away from him and stop asking around. He's from the Qing Family, and he has privileges."
Qing Chen didn't walk out at once, and he took his time to wash up as if this visitor wasn't at all important.
From what he could tell, since Qing Yan wasn't on his side, he didn't have to care much about that guy.
Half an hour later, Qing Chen opened the visitor room under the escort of the robot guards. But he was shocked when he saw the person in the room. It wasn't Qing Yan.
It was Kamidai Sorane.
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