Methods to Verify the Truth

Guests are indeed valuable assets, but only if they can continuously provide abilities for trade, like Liu Shuyue.

And some guests have limited abilities for now, but possess considerable potential for growth, acquiring new abilities as they develop. Maintaining a good relationship with them is also important, such as with Joan of Arc.

The new guest before him, however, fits neither category.

She came from a highly advanced future, yet only possessed three abilities. One was even temporarily traded away, which was truly disappointing. Chen Xuan had already confirmed with his scanning gun that she now only had the abilities "Mind Fortress" and "Free Will" left.

Liu Shuyue had assessed that her body had been too heavily damaged, leaving no possibility for further cultivation. Lin Qing herself admitted that prosthetic technology would replace abilities, indicating a conflict between the two. When attacked by armed mechs previously, she had taken a direct hit from a 30mm round with her body. An ability user with a high-level "Indestructible" ability would typically achieve this, yet the scanning gun detected no related information, suggesting the store does not count advantages gained from prosthetics as abilities.

Chen Xuan certainly didn't see himself as a cold-blooded merchant who only cared about profit. Even if a deal didn't go through, friendship could still remain. If Lin Qing had nowhere else to go, letting her stay at the store for a month or two for free wouldn't be an issue. However, she insisted on shouldering the heavy responsibility of saving the world and wanted him to oppose a mysterious organization he'd never even heard of. That made things considerably more difficult.

If... and this was purely hypothetical... Mad Judy really belonged to the Dimensional Limit Organization, and this organization could completely seal off information about all ability users, then its hidden power beneath the surface was absolutely not to be underestimated.

Faced with such a force, Chen Xuan would flee as far as possible, not seek to provoke them.

Even if the world was truly going to end, it would be a century from now. He might not even exist then.

After being rejected, Lin Qing didn't throw a tantrum, nor did her expression turn cold or show great disappointment. A faint light flickered in her eyes, as if she were thinking rapidly. She pulled her hand back, which Chen Xuan had pushed away, and clasped his wrist, as if afraid he would run.

A few seconds later, her eyes flashed. "Found it."

"Found what?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Since you run an Ability Store, you must need a lot of abilities, just like a supermarket needs to restock frequently, right?"

"Uh-huh." He had no reason to deny this.

"I can help you solve part of your restocking problem," Lin Qing declared confidently.

Chen Xuan looked at her skeptically, but the feedback from the Voice of Trust remained positive. "Oh? How?"

She pointed to her head. "My memory stores a lot of decryption data from the Dimensional Limit Organization, including records of intrusion incidents and related ability users. You can obtain abilities from them."

"...Obtain from whom?" He thought he misheard for a moment.

"From those connected to intrusion incidents," Lin Qing repeated. "Whether through threats or coercion, you can use any means necessary to take abilities from them. Most of these people are undocumented and have committed serious crimes. Even if you kill them all, no one will care. I don't know how you usually acquire abilities, but I'm sure you have a way to 'persuade' them."

This young girl had quite ruthless methods.

Chen Xuan suddenly felt curious. "Have you killed anyone?"

"Of course," Lin Qing replied crisply. "In my era, cities were full of lunatics, criminals, and psychopaths. Public order had long ceased to exist. To survive, I had to defend myself with force. I just tried my best not to harm innocent bystanders during fights."

It seemed his guests were no simple folk.

He mused, "So you were looking for intrusion records just now?"

"That's right. The most recent intrusion occurred two days from now, right here in this city. There's only one related individual, and the location is quite hidden. It's perfect for a test run." The girl raised her hand and pointed twice. "I've already sent the information to your phone."

Immediately, his phone rang.

Chen Xuan took out his phone in surprise and saw the sender displayed as "10089." "Did you hack the telecom provider?"

"Not at all. I just used a coverage broadcast technique to simulate this frequency and send you the message," Lin Qing explained with a hint of pride. "Electronic data protection for individuals in this era is still quite weak. There's no need to hack the provider. Oh, and if you want to call me, just dial this number and add a pound sign."

"Was the bullet you blocked also from a prosthetic?"

"Yes, military-grade subdermal armor. It's quite expensive equipment. Most people can only get a flexible carbon fiber layer, which can at best stop a handgun round."

Prosthetics are truly convenient... just need to pay to implant them.

Chen Xuan stared at Lin Qing for a long time.

She shifted uncomfortably. "Implanting these things requires a specialized operating room, and there are issues with immune compatibility. Even if you removed mine, others couldn't use them."

"If I really wanted them, I would have removed them while you were unconscious," Chen Xuan waved his hand and opened the information she provided. A headshot of a voluptuous woman appeared, along with her name: Fei Wuniang, SC-104-C1, deceased.

Chen Xuan did recall the location where this person had appeared.

It was an abandoned building outside the Third Ring Road. It used to be a very popular club.

"If you can catch her, it will also prove I'm not lying," Lin Qing pressed on, seeing that he wasn't outright refusing anymore. "Shopkeeper, everything you've experienced is the past of a world that was destroyed. Nanomachine technology has only existed for about thirty years. By the time it gets out of control, it will be too late to change anything, and billions will die! To prevent humanity from repeating its mistakes, I implore you to help me again. The reward will be the abilities of those intruders!"

Two days later, Chen Xuan took a taxi to the abandoned building, based on the photo Lin Qing had provided.

"Are you here for an adventure too?" the taxi driver asked, turning around. "That'll be 85 yuan."

So expensive. It costs a lot to drive from the First Ring to outside the Third. Chen Xuan said while scanning the QR code, "Yeah, do a lot of people come here to explore?"

"A couple of years ago, yes. Most people who exited the highway here were heading for this place. They say it's haunted, and some even stayed overnight in groups," the driver chuckled. "It's quite rare to see someone coming alone like you."

That made sense. After all, one could find exploration videos of it online.

After the taxi left, Chen Xuan turned his gaze towards the abandoned building not far away.

It had four floors and was situated beside a field of farmland. Its square shape gave it a rather solemn appearance, if one didn't know it was once called the Lushui Club.

Anyone could tell what a club built in such a desolate location was used for. When it was popular, Chen Xuan was still a university student. Unfortunately, by the time he graduated and had money, the club had already closed down.

Lin Qing had not come along.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she couldn't.

Her body's damage was more severe than she had anticipated. After resting for so many days, she could manage a walk around the neighborhood, but fighting like before was out of the question. Therefore, she wisely heeded the advice and didn't insist on coming along, opting instead to provide intel support via her earpiece.

"It's really exactly the same..."

Chen Xuan compared the photo with the current scene... and found that the degree of damage was almost identical. Even the angle of the Lushui Club sign, which was about to fall off at the main entrance, was basically the same.

This proved that the photo was taken recently.

Could everything Lin Qing said be true? That world where the Crystal Palace fell... was this world's future?

He walked across the parking lot to the entrance. The doorknob was secured with a chain, and a sign hung from it reading, "Closed Area, Do Not Enter." But this wouldn't deter anyone determined to explore the place. Chen Xuan saw that the glass of the floor