Chapter 269: 212, the only fool in the group

Late at night, when everything had become quiet, Qing Chen finally lay down on his bed, reflecting on his recent experiences.

Although he had suddenly fallen into a debt crisis in the Inner World, and his master had also suddenly faked his death and left.

But compared to other Time Travelers, Qing Chen had gained a lot:

Firstly, there were two properties and a hover car; although bought with only a tenth down payment, as long as he could keep up with the mortgage payments, these items would still be his.

Secondly, there was the dividend ratio of the Land Cruise Grade champion from the Begonia Boxing Gym, which counted as a steady source of income.

Many Time Travelers had no source of income after arriving in the Inner World; some even had to beg for a living.

Others had been forced to sell their organs in exchange for prosthetic ones.

In contrast, if Qing Chen didn’t have such high debt, just the income from the Begonia Boxing Gym would be enough for him to triumph over the circle of Time Travelers.

Next, his strength had reached the Peak of E-Class, which still made him a standout among the Time Travelers, except for those who were naturally gifted.

Lastly, Qing Chen’s greatest gain was probably two Taboo items.

From Lu Ya’s reaction in the chat group just now, one could tell how important Taboo items were.

Next, he had to face the even crueler second round of the Shadow strife.

Qing Chen pondered, if Qing’s family wanted to intervene in Li Family’s power transition, what would the Shadow Candidates do?

You see, Qing’s Shadow Candidates are all third-generation members of the family with no real power in their hands.

Thus, Li’s second-generation members would likely disdain serious collaboration with them, and for the Shadow Candidates, approaching them would at most be akin to a warm face meeting a cold butt.

So, if he were Qing Chen, he would first choose to cooperate with Li’s Third Generation, as communication tends to be easier among peers, which is the choice of the wise.

Speaking of Li’s Third Generation, who is more suitable for collaboration than Li Yinuo?

And among those around Li Yinuo, all are his undercover agents…

“Still not enough,” Qing Chen murmured softly.

Mere preparations like these were not enough for him to face the Shadow strife.

At that moment, Qing Chen took out a communicator and sent Liu Dezhu a message: “Report your recent situation.”

Just past two in the morning, Liu Dezhu replied immediately: “Boss, I was just waiting for you to ask. I was afraid that the vibration from the communicator would disturb you, so I didn’t dare speak!”

Liu Dezhu blurted out: “The day after the last crossing, together with Yu Junyi and all the other Time Travelers, a large group of prisoners and I were transferred to Prison 10 in Kyushu City 10. The conditions here are much better than in my Prison 18, it even has an open-air playground and a garden!”

Prison 18 is specially used to detain felons; it even has the capability to suppress S-Class.

Prison 10, located in the political center of Kyushu City 10, likely holds those fallen big figures.

“I also wanted to specifically thank you today, boss. The method you taught me really worked. After returning to the Inner World, I awakened,” Liu Dezhu said.

“Mm,” Qing Chen replied calmly: “Since I told you the method, it was certainly effective.”

“Boss you are wise, thank you, boss. May your fortune be as boundless as the Eastern Sea and your life as long as the Southern Mountains,” Liu Dezhu was still immersed in the joy of his awakening; he didn’t know that Qing Chen had only tried giving a pointer at the time.

Qing Chen instructed: “Keep it a secret. Don’t let people know about your abilities so casually.”

Liu Dezhu responded: “Don’t worry, boss. It was nighttime when I awakened. Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan helped me keep it under wraps. I didn’t even tell Yu Junyi.”

Qing Chen was somewhat surprised; initially, Liu Dezhu had exposed his identity as a Time Traveler due to his vanity. It seemed he had grown a bit.

Liu Dezhu hesitated, then sent another message to Qing Chen: “Boss, my sentence is rather long. It’s not that I’m in a rush to get out, but it’s hard to be of help to you while I’m stuck in prison.”

“Got it,” Qing Chen replied, then put away the communicator and began seriously analyzing the pros and cons of exonerating Liu Dezhu.

Firstly, getting Liu Dezhu out of prison would be beneficial as he was one of the links to the outside world, staying trapped in prison indefinitely was not ideal.

Secondly, when in the Taboo Land of 002, Cao Wei, who was with Qing Huai, was C-Class, so it was likely that others’ companions among the Shadow Candidates were also C-Class.

This might be some kind of established rule; otherwise, for someone as important as Qing Huai entering the forbidden area, pairing him with a B-Class Expert like Li Yinuo had during his wilderness hunt wasn’t excessive.

So, Qing Huai not having a B-Class was likely a family prohibition.

Currently, Qing Chen was merely E-Class himself; if Liu Dezhu were released, it could add a C-Class to his ranks, which would provide him greater ability to protect himself amidst the turmoil.

Thinking this, Qing Chen planned to put ‘Helping Liu Dezhu Out of Prison’ onto his schedule and would ask Yi once he crossed again to see if there was a way.

After all, if there really was a chance to snatch a Taboo item, having a C-Class to bolster his fighting strength would also increase the probability.

Nobody would complain about having too many Taboo items in their possession.

“Eh,” he suddenly felt a bit puzzled. This time, the owner of the Devil’s Stamp had not sent a letter to Liu Dezhu, possibly because he had been disgusted by his casual attitude last time.

After thinking it over, Qing Chen got up, took the key from the next room, and walked out; Nan Gengchen was sprawled on the sofa, deeply asleep.

Passing through the corridor, Qing Chen opened the door to the home and headed straight for the bedroom.

The room was clean and tidy, everything neatly arranged.

However, as soon as he entered the room, he felt something was off because there was still a ‘lingering’ gravitational field in the room!

Qing Chen didn’t know how the other person had managed this, but it must have been deliberately left behind to aid his own cultivation.

There was also a note on the table: “I will be back before the gravitational field naturally dissipates. Don’t forget to practice!”

The other person seemed to have anticipated that he would eventually walk into this room and even deliberately left everything prepared.

…

…

In the early morning at North Suburbs Airport in Los Angeles City, a private plane landed smoothly.

Once the plane’s doors opened, He Jinqiu, dressed in a neat suit, slowly walked out, leisurely breathing in the fresh air.

However, the next moment, he froze as he looked at the taxi not far from the plane.

He Jinqiu walked down the steps, quietly looking at Xiao Ying in the car, “Is this how you Kunlun treat your guests? A taxi?”

Xiao Ying laughed heartily, “Sorry, Mr. He, it’s just that the taxi had just been fixed, otherwise there wouldn’t even be a taxi.”

He Jinqiu didn’t believe these ghost stories at all; he knew Kunlun was having a tough time, but not to this extent.

Zheng Yuandong had purposely arranged a taxi just to annoy him because he had shown off at Jingcheng Airport.

He Jinqiu laughed it off, “Alright, it’s not bad to experience life at Kunlun once in a while.”

Xiao Ying mumbled to himself, as if talking about rural aid.

The battered green taxi took several turns, heading towards the Lijing Gate in the Old Town District, until it shakily stopped at Kunlun’s residence.

Zheng Yuandong was sitting in the hall drinking tea, “What brings Mr. He here alone this time?”

“Can’t I come to see the old squad leader if there’s no issue?” He Jinqiu replied with a smile, sitting down beside him.

Zheng Yuandong looked at him, not engaging in his jokes, “You came to Los Angeles because you saw in the chat group last night that someone was planning to abduct a Shadow Candidate, right? You want to be the opportunist.”

The 18th city corresponds to Los Angeles, so under the correspondence between the Outer and Inner World, those Time Travelers who have the opportunity to abduct a Shadow Candidate likely mostly live in Los Angeles.

Zheng Yuandong speculated that He Jinqiu’s visit might partly be to participate in this abduction in the Inner World, and on the other hand, if a Time Traveler really succeeded, he could intervene to fight for it upon returning to the Outer World.

He Jinqiu smiled, “So the old squad leader is also in chat group number 1, what’s your ID?”

Zheng Yuandong casually refilled his tea, “You can try guessing, but I doubt you’ll figure it out.”

“It seems Kunlun has established its own data fortress, so confident that I won’t find you,” He Jinqiu undid the first button of his suit, adjusting his posture casually.

Zheng Yuandong, without even lifting his eyes, said, “Building a huge data fortress like Kyushu isn’t easy, but small data fortresses are not that difficult. In the Inner World, people are now selling micro-data fortresses targeted at Outer World Time Travelers in the black market, with USB ports.”

People from the Outer World are ‘mining’ in the Inner World, while some in the Inner World are now exclusively conducting business with Time Travelers.

It must be said, change is an opportunity; as long as one knows the demand, then business can be very lucrative.

Zheng Yuandong calmly said, “Just as King Chuang said, would anyone be foolish enough not to build a data fortress before joining the chat?”

“There really is one in chat group number 1,” He Jinqiu said with a grin, “That one called ‘A Little Duck’.”

Qing Chen had actually guessed correctly out of the whole group of more than twenty people, only Nan Gengchen naively charged in.

This piece of news stupefied Zheng Yuandong for a moment, especially since ‘A Little Duck’ had previously disclosed a lot of useful information, even accurately identifying the holder of the Devil’s Stamp.

At that time, Zheng Yuandong thought this was another hidden expert.

He still didn’t know that ‘A Little Duck’ was actually Nan Gengchen.

He Jinqiu laughed cheerfully, “It could be arrogance, or perhaps just carelessness. Chat group number 1 consists of relatively cautious individuals, potentially important figures, but in other chat groups, there are quite a few fools. There was another Time Traveler in chat group number 9 who openly said he could help introduce rich women from the Inner World, and actually managed to scam several people.”

What He Jinqiu didn’t mention was that Kyushu had summarized all those who had set up data fortresses into chat groups 1, 2, and 3, while a very few, like Nan Gengchen and Liu Dezhu, had been directly invited by Kyushu.

This was a simple method of selection, to be able to acquire a data fortress in the Inner World so quickly in itself proved one’s importance.

He Jinqiu continued smiling, “Bringing up old matters, now that Kyushu owns the chat groups, it can be said that it surpasses Kunlun in all aspects of intelligence. Why not merge the two and undertake some more important matters?”

“No rush,” Zheng Yuandong put his teacup back on the table.

Just then, Lu Yuan walked in through the door, followed by more than ten Kunlun members, along with several young men and women in civilian clothes.

The young men and women, surrounded by Kunlun members in the middle, seemed to have been escorted here unwillingly.

Zheng Yuandong spoke calmly, “Mr. He always cares about his appearance when out, how could he truly come alone to Los Angeles territory? Furthermore, abducting a Shadow Candidate is a big deal; how could it be possible without helpers? These young friends who sneaked into Los Angeles must be from Kyushu, could you please ensure they don’t cause any trouble in Los Angeles territory?”

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