Night’s Nomenclature
chapter-168

Late at night.

Qing Chen returned to his room and took out the communication device.

‘You there?'

This time, even at 3 o'clock in the morning, Liu Dezhu immediately sent a reply, ‘Boss! I'm here! When I go to sleep, I put the communication device right next to my pillow so that I'll wake up the moment it vibrates! I'll be ready anytime you call for me! How is it Boss, am I doing great?'

As Qing Chen sat down on his bed, his expression turned a little strange. Why did Liu Dezhu change his tune all of a sudden?

The sudden show of loyalty was a little hard to adjust to.

Qing Chen went straight to the point, ‘Go call Kun Lun, there's an important matter I need to let them know asap.'

After a few minutes, Liu Dezhu sent him a message, ‘Boss, my call won't connect, Lu Yuan's on another call. But don't worry, I know how to reach Kun Lun.'

At the same time.

In Xinglong complex, Kun Lun member Eagle was energetically surveying the area with a pair of binoculars while Rock Candy sat with a cup of coffee in hand, bored out of his mind.

In other organizations, the members usually had cool-sounding and imposing code names, such as Black Wolf, Scarlet Bird, or the likes.

In contrast, the Kun Lun members' nicknames — Eagle, Hawthorn, Wrench, Rock Candy, and Calabash — all sounded very down-to-earth.

"Tell me, do we really need to protect him?" Rock Candy helplessly sighed, "I don't think there's any value in doing this."

Eagle glanced around and replied, "You've got it wrong, we're not here to protect him. Team Leader Lu stationed us here because he's treating this guy as bait. Liu Dezhu's name value is at an all time high, there's gonna be a lot of people who'll target him. Many time travelers only move in the dark, so we're not able to catch them, but with the flame that's Liu Dezhu here, the moths will flock over by themselves."

"That's true," Rock Candy said after some thought.

Not long after, Eagle noticed something and exclaimed, "Hey, why is Liu Dezhu suddenly coming out… What is he doing?"

Rock Candy looked out the window and saw Liu Dezhu madly waving his hands in the air as he ran around in circles, looking like a mentally-ill patient.

It instantly reminded him of that time he babbled like an idiot in the middle of the street many nights ago.

Currently, Liu Dezhu had stopped waving around and was running to the gate of the complex, where two taxis were parked.

After comparing the two, he decided to take the taxi with the younger driver, since this was more in line with Kun Lun's members' characteristics.

Once inside the taxi, Liu Dezhu firmly stared at the driver.

The atmosphere at midnight made the driver feel a little nervous. Just as he was about to ask Liu Dezhu where he was going, the boy abruptly declared, "I am Liu Dezhu."

Driver, "…huh?"

Unsure of how to react, the driver stared back at Liu Dezhu, and the two were soon deadlocked in a staring competition.

Through the binoculars, Eagle saw Liu Dezhu getting into a taxi, but even after a long time had passed, the taxi didn't drive away…

He gasped and scrambled off to rush downstairs.

Rock Candy called out to him, "Where are you going?"

Eagle hurriedly said, "This guy is looking for us! He thinks the taxi driver is one of us, but my taxi is still in the repair shop, we didn't station any member outside the gate!"

Inside the taxi, Liu Dezhu was still staring at the driver. "Your disguise is pretty good this time, you even have a QR code for payment. But there's still a flaw to it."

The taxi driver was confused, "What flaw?"

"This late at night, taxi drivers will turn on the radio to listen to the story channel, but your radio is switched off," Liu Dezhu said.

The driver was stunned. "My radio is broken…"

Lowering his volume, Liu Dezhu leaned forward and said, "No need to explain, I know your secret."

Shocked by his words, the taxi driver tremblingly asked, "Brother, are you Xiaohua's boyfriend? How did you find me? She and I are just ordinary friends…"

Liu Dezhu whisper-threatened, "Stop pretending, I know who you are, I have something urgent to tell your boss!"

The taxi driver was at a total loss, "Brother, don't be like this, you're starting to scare me now!"

Suddenly, the taxi door was pulled open.

Eagle pulled Liu Dezhu out of the passenger seat and explained to the driver, "I'm sorry, my friend has a few screws loose!"

Liu Dezhu recognized him. "Hey, I know you! You're the one who drove me to Xingshu Road that night!"

He grabbed Eagle's arm, "I need to find your boss, I have something very important to tell him! Hurry up, don't waste any more time, I need to personally tell him now!"

Eagle was taken aback. "Our boss is currently not in Luo City, you can just say it to me!"

…

At this moment, a plane had just landed at Beijing Daxing International Airport.

The airport at night was shrouded in orange lights, making it look warm and cozy.

One after another, the passengers alighted from the plane. As they passed by, everyone gave a curios glance at the huge off-road vehicle parked not far away from the gate.

Next to the off-road vehicle were two men in black suits standing on guard.

They looked solemn and mysterious, like a real life reenactment of a movie scene where some big shot was about to appear.

A few minutes later, clad in a black tunic suit, Zheng Yuandong slowly stepped out of the plane.

As he walked to the black off-road vehicle, He Jinqiu got down from the vehicle and addressed him with a smile, "Old Captain, you've finally come to grace us with your presence, but I didn't expect you to take a commercial flight. What's even more surprising is that you actually sat in economy class. Is Kun Lun about to go bankrupt?"

Zheng Yuandong calmly looked at He Jinqiu, "Resources must be allocated wisely. Kun Lun has no habit of wasting money. Rather than spending it on such extravagant use, it's better to buy extra insurance for the members so that they don't have to worry about the future."

"As always, the Old Captain is ever so caring towards his subordinates," praised He Jinqiu, who was wearing an exquisite customized suit. "I'm very curious, what is it that made you fly to the capital in the middle of the night?"

"A very important matter," Zheng Yuandong said, "Our men noticed that the corporations have started to make their move. They've already captured a lot of time travelers."

"I know. Two Jiu Zhou members have also been captured and are currently detained in an unknown place by the Qing Family." He Jinqiu's smile gradually fell, his expression turning solemn. "But Old Captain, since you've made the effort to rush here at this ungodly hour, please tell me something I don't already know."

Zheng Yuandong continued, "Not long ago, one of my people was captured and put in isolation by the Li Family, and he estimated that hundreds of other people were also being detained along with him. I suspect the Li Family is planning on doing something big. Moreover, the Qing and Chen Families certainly have similar plans in store."

He Jinqiu replied, "I think so as well. Whatever it is they're planning must have something to do with the Outer World. Those behemoths in the Inner World wouldn't just sit still when they're faced with a threat."

"They might figure out the identities of my men at any time. You also know that the corporations would do all they can to prevent us from discovering their plans so that we won't be able to intercept them. Before they begin to execute their plans, they'll definitely eliminate any member of Outer World organizations they can find. My people also know this, and they're ready to die in line of duty," Zheng Yuandong declared.

He Jinqiu paused for a moment and said, "Old Captain, if you're asking me to rescue them together, then I'll refuse. The risk is too high. Both Kun Lun and Jiu Zhou are currently unable to compete with the forces in the Inner World. We need to first strengthen ourselves and patiently bide our time for now."

"I'm not asking you to do that," Zheng Yuandong replied with a grim face. Although it greatly pained him to say, even if he knew what kind of ending his subordinates would meet, he was still unable to do anything in the Inner World.

"Then what does the Old Captain want me to do?" He Jinqiu silently took out the Forbidden Item ACE-099 — the Gold Coin of Truth.

The coin continuously flipped on the back of his hand, animatedly moving like a dancing fairy.

Clad in a well-fitted suit while holding a mysterious gold coin with the night airport and off-road vehicle as his background, He Jinqiu was shrouded in a unique aura.

Zheng Yuandong looked at the gold coin and said, "Using a Forbidden Item to distinguish truths from lies… He Jinqiu, are you no longer able to trust other people?"

He Jinqiu smiled, "Boss Zheng, is there anyone in this world who deserves to be trusted?"

Zheng Yuandong asked back, "Without comrades-in-arms who can trust and support each other, how can we ever reach the greater goal?"

He Jinqiu was noncommittal. "You can tell me what you want me to do now. Remember to speak the truth, Boss Zheng."

Zheng Yuandong expressionlessly began, "When the Inner World counterattacks, the most important thing is to find a way to save all time travelers. There's one thing we mustn't let fall into the corporations' hands, and that is the household registration information database. If they manage to obtain it, they'll be able to sort out who the time travelers are."

The key lied in the fact that this database was stored on the national network. It could be found in any Public Security Bureau computer with access to the intranet, which made it very easy to be breached!

There was no way they could keep watch on all the public security offices spread around the country!

He Jinqiu thought for a while and told him, "If you want me to restrict access to the database, then I can't do it. Boss Zheng, you and I don't have that much authority, and the scale of this thing is just too big. The application, report, and approval may take a few months to process."

Zheng Yuandong said, "I know you've already set up the twelve data fortresses. In the next few days, you plan on launching a group chat platform so that you can bring all time travelers under your watch. But I hope you can postpone that plan for the time being and use the data fortresses to protect the household registration information database!"

He Jinqiu frowned, "Boss Zheng, I have my own plans. You didn't make this trip just to delay my progress, did you?"

"You should be very clear about which is more important. I hope you can prioritize the greater good." With that, Zheng Yuandong finished what he wanted to say and strode to the airport terminal.

He Jinqiu abruptly stopped rolling the gold coin on the back of his hand.

He asked softly, "Is what Boss Zheng said true?"

As if turning into a pool of water, the surface of the gold coin began to ripple. Once it resolidified, a pattern forming a ring of wheat appeared on its face.

Truth.

He took out a gold bar and fed it to the gold coin, speaking in a low voice, "My debt has been paid."

He Jinqiu put away the Gold Coin of Truth, and then looked up at Zheng Yuandong's slightly lonesome back.

That person was walking with no companion, nor did he seemingly need any. He was like a forerunner on a fuel of faith, undaunted by his lone trek.

He Jinqiu shouted, "I promise to use the data fortresses to protect the database first."

Zheng Yuandong waved his hand, indicating that he heard him.

He Jinqiu shouted again, "Old Captain, you don't need to wait for your flight. Jiu Zhou's private jet is ready, I'll have someone fly you back. Time is our most precious resource."

Before he could reply, Zheng Yuandong's phone suddenly rang.

During the call, his expression suddenly turned grim, as if he just heard a very serious matter.

After hanging up the phone, he turned around and told He Jinqiu, "Someone got hold of a more detailed information. The corporations have prepared an eradication plan to counterattack the Outer World, and soon they're going to make their first move! You and I need to join forces this time. One of the corporations has captured hundreds of time travelers, and they plan to turn all these time travelers into superhumans and train them as special forces soldiers."

He Jinqiu was shocked. He didn't expect that someone else would be able to obtain information that Kun Lun and Jiu Zhou could not even get!

Pondering the matter, he asked, "Boss Zheng, aren't you worried that I'll use this chance to meddle in domestic affairs?"

Zheng Yuandong looked at him and said, "We must prioritize the greater good, this is our common mission. If there's any differences, we can put them aside for later."

He Jinqiu agreed with a smile, "Alright. I did think that there'd come a day when you and I would fight side by side again, but I never thought this day would come so soon."

However, He Jinqiu was still unable to shake off his surprise. The intel provided by this person was very specific, far more so than what Jiu Zhou and Kun Lun had gathered.

They were only relying on guesswork, but this person appeared to be directly involved in the matter.

He Jinqiu came to a realization — this time traveler who was hiding behind the scenes might possibly be ahead of everyone else in the current race.

He needed to find this person.

…

Countdown 161:00:00.

7 o'clock in the morning.

Qing Chen didn't get much sleep before he had to wake up and get ready for school. When he checked Weibo, Roaming King's post had already climbed to the top of the trending list.

One-third of the people in the comments section were discussing the Fight for the Shadow. Everyone was attracted by this topic, feeling as though they were watching an imperial family competing for the throne.

Someone even gathered the tidbits and information other time travelers had mentioned about the shadow candidates.

Qing Chen took a look at it and found that there were unexpectedly many things outside of his knowledge written in the collection of information…

Like how Qing Huai was the eldest descendant among the younger generation of the Qing Family's Fourth Branch and was initially lauded as the top candidate of the Fight for the Shadow.

Or how Qing Shi was the only female candidate and that and she rarely showed her face in public.

Or that Qing Wen was an avid fan of animal bloodsport. In the most famous animal bloodsport colosseum in City 12, the most luxurious private room was always reserved for him. He even owned a white tiger that was captured from a Forbidden Land, which was said to be extremely ferocious.

It was also said that Qing Yi, the youngest candidate, was still in middle school.

Of course, each of this information was what the public could find with some digging, and none of them was particularly significant.

However, once everything was listed and sorted out, people began to discover an oddity.

Even after putting it all together, they only managed to gather information on eight of the candidates. No one could find anything about the last candidate.

In the list, a row of tidbits was written under each candidate's name.

The only exception was the ninth candidate, whose name remained unknown even until now, looking very out of place.

At this moment, the communication device beside him vibrated.

Qing Chen picked it up and read Liu Dezhu's message. ‘Boss, I just received another strange letter. It was lying next to my pillow when I woke up this morning. Boss, I'm really scared.'

The owner of the Devil Post Stamp suddenly came to look for him again.

‘Don't need to be scared, you're not his target,' Qing Chen replied, ‘What's written in the letter?'

Liu Dezhu relayed it to him word by word, ‘You actually have more information than I do, I'm getting even more interested in you, hehe.'

Qing Chen frowned the moment he saw the message. This person was clearly referring to the information about the corporations' eradication plan.

The timing of this letter made him sure of it.

Last night, he had specifically explained to Liu Dezhu that this matter must be kept a secret and that he must say it directly to the leader of Kun Lun, because he couldn't rule out the possibility of spies for the Inner World hiding among the Kun Lun and Jiu Zhou members.

The Inner and Outer Worlds were now engaged in the midst of a spy war, each having planted undercover agents on the other's side.

Whoever was exposed first would be the one to lose.

Qing Chen didn't know how the owner of the Devil Post Stamp caught hold of this information, but this was like a warning signal to him.

There were two possibilities — that Kun Lun and Jiu Zhou didn't do a proper job in guarding this secret, or that the owner of the stamp was more skilled than he expected.

Either way, this was a very dangerous situation.

Liu Dezhu sent him another message. ‘Boss, two more letters just appeared next to my pillow out of thin air. These are the contents:

[Are you wondering about how I got the information? Hehe.]

[How about we compete on who could catch more Inner World spies, hehe.]'

Seeing the row of ‘hehe's one after another, Qing Chen felt his head starting to ache.

When he thought about how this person was probably ‘hehe'-ing in glee right at this moment, his head hurt even more.

Fortunately, he found a silver lining; the Devil Stamp Post owner seemed to be moving against the Inner World, so he shouldn't divulge the Outer World's plans to the Inner World.

However, Qing Chen still wasn't sure about where exactly this person stood.

Wait a moment — did he just send two letters?

This proved that there was a limit to the number of words in each letter. Otherwise, he would've included everything he wanted to say in a single letter.

Liu Dezhu texted him again, ‘Boss, another letter arrived: [You can reply to me, tell your slave to drip his blood on the stamp, write your reply on the letter, and then burn it.]'

This surprised Qing Chen; Lin Xiaoxiao never said that this Forbidden Item could be used two-way!

He pondered it for a while and instructed Liu Dezhu, ‘Ask him: why are you looking for me.'

At home, Liu Dezhu took a fruit knife, gritted his teeth, and then cut his finger, squeezing his blood onto the stamp.

The moment his blood touched the stamp, it started wriggling on its own, forming a strange circular postmark with a line of unintelligible characters.

Liu Dezhu wrote on the letter: [Why are you looking for me.]

Then he went to the kitchen to get a stainless steel plate, put the letter in it, and set it on fire.

The answer came without a delay: [Of course it's because I want to make you my slave, hehe.]

Qing Chen texted Liu Dezhu, ‘Reply to him: What if you're the one who's going to end up becoming my slave?'

With a mournful face, Liu Dezhu squeezed out a few more drops of blood to carry out Qing Chen's order.

That person wrote back: [That doesn't sound too bad, hehe.]

Qing Chen was stunned — to actually think that becoming his slave wasn't a bad thing, what kind of lunatic was this?!

After Liu Dezhu relayed the reply to Qing Chen, he suddenly begged, ‘Boss, can you write everything you want to say at once? If we continue like this, I'm afraid I won't be able to take it…'

Qing Chen answered, ‘There's a limit to the number of words that can be conveyed through the Devil Post Stamp. Next time Hu Xiaoniu gives you the gold bars, you can take two and buy yourself some supplements. This is your compensation.'

There was no such thing as free service in this world, and Qing Chen certainly wouldn't let Liu Dezhu work for him without remuneration.

Moreover, the compensation in this case was actually meant for another thing — the genetic medicine. Even though it wasn't actually his intention, Qing Chen had inadvertently caused Liu Dezhu to become infertile, which really made him feel guilty.

After all, Liu Dezhu was still a high school student, he really didn't deserve such a fate…

Would there be a way to restore it in the future?

Liu Dezhu, who didn't know anything about his own predicament, immediately beamed in delight when he heard about the gold bars. ‘Thank you Boss! You're so generous! May you be blessed with endless fortune! If it's for your interest, a little bit of blood from this little ol' me is nothing!'

Qing Chen thought of another question, ‘Ask if he's the one who instigated the Laojun Mountain incident.'

The reply: [It's me, hehe.]

‘Ask him if he could still fall asleep at night after doing such a horrible thing, isn't he afraid of going to hell?'

[Aren't we already in hell?]

Before Qing Chen could write his reply, Liu Dezhu received another letter: [My little brother's about to wake up, let's talk again next time, hehe.]

Qing Chen let out a sigh of relief — it was finally over.

He couldn't feel at ease with such a time traveler around. That person was like an evil spirit haunting him in the dark, keeping his eyes on him, ready to drain him at any time.

Waiting to snatch away his soul.

However, in this war of nerves, at least Qing Chen still had a slight edge over him; he didn't have to cut his own finger and sacrifice his blood…

In Liu Dezhu's home, the smell of burnt paper had his parents checking in on him.

Ever since Liu Dezhu became a time traveler, his parents had been keeping up with the media reports, so they were aware that their son was one of the most outstanding time travelers in the country.

Although it was still difficult for them to get a grasp on all the bizarre things happening in the Inner World, since their son had become such a powerful figure, they always tried their best to show acceptance and understanding, so as not to make him feel alienated.

At this moment, Liu Dezhu's father cautiously opened the door to his bedroom. His gaze wandered from the smoke filling up the room, to the cut on Liu Dezhu's finger, and then to the pile of ashes inside the stainless steel plate.

After holding it back for a long time, he finally blurted out a question, "Uh… are you doing some kind of ritual?"

Liu Dezhu, "???"

His father hurriedly added, "If you're done with the ritual, then quickly come and eat your breakfast…"

…

In the kitchen, Jiang Xue had just finished preparing breakfast, humming a little tune as she moved the food to the table.

She was wearing a brown apron, and her sleeves were casually rolled up on her forearms.

Free from the clutches that had burdened her in the past, the current Jiang Xue appeared to be very relaxed, both her body and mind at peace.

Her aura had also completely changed, like a pearl that had been wiped clean of its dust.

Seeing Qing Chen walking out of the room, Jiang Xue smiled and greeted him, "Xiao Chen, you didn't encounter any danger in the Inner World this time, right?"

"I didn't," Qing Chen smiled back, "You seem to be really happy today, Aunt Jiang Xue."

"Yes," Jiang Xue smilingly said, "I bought two other bottles of special ointment in the black market, the kind that's good for treating injuries. Feel free to use them if you need to. From now on, Auntie will bring them back for you each time I transmigrate back."

Li Tongyun looked up from her seat. "When my mom came back from the Inner World last night, both of her cheeks were bulging, she looked like a hamster."

Jiang Xue chuckled and patted Li Tongyun's head, "Eat your breakfast."

She then turned to Qing Chen. "When I went to buy groceries this morning, I saw that someone had already moved to the unit next door. I didn't expect anyone to come so soon, I thought they'd at least take some time before moving in, maybe redecorate the place a little."

Qing Chen fell into thought. "Why would they be in such a hurry to move in, is that person perhaps also a time traveler? Aunt Jiang Xue, have you seen what the new occupant looks like?"

His house was dilapidated; the paint on walls was peeling off, the corners were moldy, and none of the light bulbs was working properly. Qing Chen had long stopped bothering to fix them.

Despite all this, the new tenant directly moved in without renovating anything.

Furthermore, nobody heard any loud sounds that would indicate furnitures being moved last night. Did the new tenant just simply sleep on Qing Chen's bed?

When he arrived at school, Qing Chen was taken aback to see a row of luxury cars lined up in front of the gate, occupying the parking space of the teachers. Any one of those cars was worth more than a million yuan in price.

Did something happen at school?

Many of the students were discussing this as they passed by him, "There are so many people transferring into our school. We did guess that more transfer students would come, but I didn't expect so many to enroll at once!"

Another one said, "My uncle's part of the school committee, he said that a bunch of students from wealthy and dignitary families suddenly transferred over. There are even billionaires among them. Those luxury cars are all theirs, and most of them even drove to school by themselves."

"I heard that all the executive suites in Aden Peninsula Hotel have been fully booked for a year!"

"Also, my uncle said they're all transferring to year 2 class 4…"

In a small third-tier city like Luo City, a family with a net worth in the range of tens of millions was already considered a top wealthy family.

But when they went to school, the local rich kids didn't look that much different from ordinary students. They wore better quality clothes and brand name shoes, and the cigarettes they smoked were more expensive, but that was pretty much all.

They had never seen a spectacle as ostentatious as this row of luxury cars before.

One of the students asked aloud, "This is outrageous, why are all the transfer students such tycoons?"

Rather than calling it outrageous, Qing Chen thought this was something more akin to survivor bias. These ‘tycoons' were the only ones who could transfer schools anytime and anywhere they wanted simply in order to get closer to the ‘big boss'. For students who came from ordinary families, even after becoming time travelers, they wouldn't be able to do this at will.

Therefore, it made sense that all the new transfer students were such ‘tycoons'.

Endless chatters filled the air as students walked into the school.

Among the crowd, Qing Chen was the only one who behaved as calm as usual, as if all the buzz had nothing to do with him.

He was a time traveler who had seen plenty of things — and yet, when he passed by the homeroom of year 2 class 4 in the corridor, Qing Chen nearly stumbled in place.

The first thing he saw was a bunch of students dressed in strange and ‘fashionable' clothes, some looking outright bizarre.

But the most shocking thing was that more than a hundred students were actually crammed into that small classroom!

Those transfer students had Liu Dezhu tightly surrounded, pouring out their requests to him all at once.

"Boss, I have two enemies in the Inner World, can you ask Li Dongze to help me kill them? I'll give you the address."

"Boss, I want to buy two doses of genetic injections, do you have them?"

"Boss, I need to…"

Amidst all the rabble, Liu Dezhu answered in a powerless voice, "Everyone, please take it easy and talk one by one. Also, I'm really not as omnipotent as you all think…"

Qing Chen thought to himself, would the teachers be able to maintain any order in this class?

Instead of a highschool classroom, this place had clearly been turned into a black market trading area, what with everyone treating Liu Dezhu as some sort of ‘black market boss' NPC.

But after Qing Chen heard one of them asking for Li Dongze's help to assassinate his enemies, he realized why so many of them suddenly transferred into this school.

The reason was none other than Wang Yun's death.

The news about Li Dongze killing off Wang Yun had spread like wildfire. In their eyes, this was a testament to Liu Dezhu's ability and status.

Even though the girl came from such a powerful family, she died just like that in the Inner World.

Ordinary people might think it terrifying, but these rich people instead found it stimulating.

It was a world where they could get true adrenaline rush!

As Qing Chen was thinking, he bumped into Nan Gengchen.

The boy scooted over to his side and whispered triumphantly to him, "Brother Chen, they all came here for Liu Dezhu, but I bet none of them could've guessed that the real big boss is not in that class, but the class next door!"

Nan Gengchen had an excited look on his face, feeling an indescribable high at being the only one who knew the truth.

Qing Chen glanced at him, "Stop showing off, it'll be dangerous if anyone finds out."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely keep it a secret!" Nan Gengchen threw another look at that cramped classroom, proudly thinking that he was the one who had ridden the right coattails.

Upon going into his own classroom, Qing Chen was suddenly greeted by Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen's friendly smiles.

"Hello, classmate. We'll be seeing each other more often from now on."

Qing Chen was a little surprised. "Shouldn't you two be in the next class?"

Hu Xiaoniu smiled, "I think you've already seen what that class looks like now. It's way too chaotic, so both of us applied to transfer into your class last night. You also know that we're time travelers who originally came for Liu Dezhu, but there's just too many people around him now, there's no use jostling around all that mess. Might as well start looking for a proper way to survive in the Inner World instead of relying completely on others."

Hu Xiaoniu calmly spoke out his honest thoughts.

He had concluded the characteristics of the person behind Liu Dezhu. That person was discreet and cautious, wise and level-headed, yet very tenacious and courageous.

That kind of person would not take those obnoxious rich brats seriously.

Hu Xiaoniu had no intention to join that bunch over in the next class because he didn't want to be looked down upon by that person. What they needed to do now was to find a way to get stronger and become useful enough to catch that person's eye.

Zhang Tianzhen added, "Besides, there's really way too many people over there…"

Nan Gengchen's expression turned a little strange. By making this choice, you guys actually just got closer to the real boss… Amazing, he inwardly thought.

The two of them started to set their own tables. Since there were already two vacant spots left behind by Wang Yun and Bai Wan'er, there was no need to arrange for new seats.

In the end, Nan Gengchen, Qing Chen, Zhang Tianzhen, and Hu Xiaoniu sat in this order in the same row.

Not long after, their homeroom teacher walked into the class with a girl in tow. She had a tall stature and an exceptionally calm expression on her face, both of her hands casually stuffed in the pockets of her hoodie.

Initially, the girl had her hood pulled up, but after entering the class, she nonchalantly pulled it back, letting her long and straight jet black hair fall down behind her back.

There was a glimpse of vigor hidden underneath her delicate face.

Tian Hailong, the homeroom teacher, stood in front of the class and said, "Everyone, there'll be a new transfer student in our class. This student…"

While the teacher was introducing her to the class, Qing Chen expressionlessly observed the girl. He didn't listen to a word the teacher said, because he had seen this girl before.

She was the one who helped him deal with those thugs back in Laojun Mountain.

The moment he saw her, Qing Chen felt as though he had returned to the parking lot on that night, her silhouette overlapping with his memories.

He could even picture her making the same calm expression under her hood when she raised her palm and forced that thug to his knees by manipulating the gravity around him.

Just as Qing Chen was looking at her, the girl's eyes similarly swept over Qing Chen.

Her gaze flitted past Qing Chen to land on Zhang Tianzhen before quickly shifting back to Qing Chen.

She was carefully observing him.

No, rather than an observation, it was more accurate to call it a blatant examination.

Tian Hailong prompted her, "Please introduce yourself to the class."

Still with her eyes on Qing Chen, the girl spoke, "You can call me Yangyang. Nice to meet you all."

From the corner of Qing Chen's eyes, he noticed that both Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen were staring at the girl in a daze. He turned towards them and asked, "Do you guys know each other?"

Zhang Tianzhen answered, "We're family friends, we've known each other for a long time. She's also a very famous person in Hai City High School. Have you guys ever seen that viral video of a ten-year-old foreign girl running through the woods shooting practice targets? She could nimbly change her rifles, reload the ammo, and still continuously hit bullseyes while doing all that. Well, when we were kids, our parents brought us to a shooting range outside the country… Yangyang was even more skilled than the girl in that video…"

Qing Chen was stunned. He had seen that video, but he never thought there was actually another young girl who could rival her skills in this country.

Hu Xiaoniu added, "When Yangyang was sixteen, she manned a sailing yacht across the Indian Ocean and ran across a group of pirates who were plundering the fishermen. My dad told me she used an automatic rifle to kill three of those pirates from a distance of more than a hundred meters, and actually managed to drive them away."

Qing Chen and Nan Gengchen looked at each other in blank dismay. For the two of them who grew up in a small town, the deeds they just heard truly sounded like something out of a magical tale.

At this time, Yangyang was making her way down the classroom. She stopped and stood in front of Zhang Tianzhen's desk, silently staring at him.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

Zhang Tianzhen cowered and packed up his books, resignedly vacating his seat for her.

Translator: Zee