This Time, We've Landed Somewhere We Don't Recognize
"It seems that Wuchang's timeline Wuchang his transmigration is earlier, or perhaps a different branch of history..." Feng Xue slowly made a judgment Wuchang ignorance of this before speaking:
"We can't stay here any longer, where should we go?"
"I don't know, but there's so much Chinese on the sign... sigh!" Old Li shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh. Qingming didn't react for a moment, and immediately asked:
"Didn't we come here because of the Weird Tale that people from Yan know martial arts? Doesn't the prevalence of Chinese characters prove we're from Yan?"
"Because we're not trying to find the root of this Weird Tale, but rather to piggyback on a branch of Weird Tale, that is, to Weird Tale ourselves as a 'Chinese person who knows martial arts' from Yan. Do you think it's easier to make that impression on a group of Chinese people, or on a group of foreigners?"
Old Li, seemingly very experienced, began to explain, and then added:
"I don't know if you have other intentions, but I'm here to experience this Weird Tale. If you have other plans, leave on your own and don't drag others into this."
"How could that be!" Qingming scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, seemingly having some other thoughts in mind.
No one paid him any attention, as everyone was focused on the situation on the street.
It was completely dark by then, and there were hardly any pedestrians on the street. Only signs written in traditional Chinese characters asserted their presence.
"Wait a minute!" Qingming seemed to feel a little embarrassed earlier, and with a flash, he disappeared from the spot. Feng Xue could guarantee that she did not see any trace of his movement. Without a doubt, this should be a Teleportation Skill.
However, his thoughts didn't last long. Just a few seconds later, Qingming dragged two unremarkable-looking guys out of the corner, and he excitedly said:
"This guy is white! This can't be..."
"Keep your voice down!" Old Li interrupted Qingming abruptly, his eyes suddenly gleaming. After scanning the monitor, he pulled a pistol, two magazines, and a somewhat outdated slider phone from his pocket before saying:
"He doesn't have any eavesdropping or transmitting devices on him, but since he's monitoring us here, he'll still expose our location if we don't contact him for a while. Let's take him with us and get out of here first!"
Faced with this situation, everyone obviously had their own solution. After confirming that there were no cameras or similar devices nearby, they quickly began to move.
With the blessing of Old Li's [Hermit] powers, everyone's demeanor became extremely ordinary. However, it was late at night, and facing the deserted streets, it was difficult to hide.
As they saw car headlights appearing rather unnaturally in the darkness in the distance, the group began to consider whether to use their trump card.
Just then, Lugen made the first decision. He suddenly clapped his hands and said to the wall by the roadside:
"Open Sesame!"
Suddenly, a large door appeared abruptly on the wall that was originally covered in graffiti. Lugen immediately went inside, and the others followed him in.
"Sesame closes the door!"
Following Lugen's command, the door closed again, and everyone finally had a chance to observe the room that had appeared out of nowhere.
The room wasn't very big, only about fifteen square meters, and it was furnished with some ordinary furniture, just like a normal bedroom.
"This is my Weird Tale power, which can open a 'Secret Room,' but no one except myself can stay inside for more than eight hours."
"Fairy Tale Supernatural Tale? Or is it simply borrowing the 'Open Sesame' password and linking actions to 'opening the door'?" Hearing Lugen's words, Feng Xue made a guess about Lugen's Weird Tale, while Wuchang frowned and said:
"Can you see what's happening outside from this room? It's not far from that door; it would be troublesome if someone were lying in wait here."
"Okay." Lugen nodded and opened a window next to the door. The group immediately looked out through the window at the street under the night sky, but surprisingly, they didn't see anyone passing by, as if the car lights earlier had just been an illusion.
"Unofficial personnel?" Old Li looked at the white prisoner who had already been tied up, then glanced at the quiet street, and suddenly realized something—
"Is it possible... that this guy isn't actually staring at the door? But rather... that car?"
"Who knows? Anyway, if they see us coming out of that door, there's nothing wrong with grabbing us." Feng Xue said, reaching for her phone and looking at the full signal strength, somewhat surprised.
"Your room is actually connected to the outside world?"
"I'm not entirely sure, since I've never made a call from the Secret Room, but my employee ID card works." Lugen looked curiously at the Smart Phone Feng Xue pulled out, wondering whether it was Phantom Object or True Thing.
Feng Xue didn't say anything, but silently turned on the IP function of her phone, directly selected local location, and immediately the name of the location appeared.
"Does anyone know what Pradamia is?" Feng Xue raised an eyebrow, her expression extremely strange. She had never even heard of this wretched name.
"Pradamia? The Siam one? No wonder it has that rural-urban fringe vibe..." Qingming muttered with a strange expression. Feng Xue, who was changing the IP address to Yan Country and trying to bypass the Great Firewall to search on Baidu, immediately stopped and looked at Qingming with questioning eyes.
Not only Feng Xue, but the other three were also looking at him with "You know?" eyes. Seeing this, Qingming immediately introduced:
"I don't know if it's the same here. In my original world, Pradamia was a port city in Siam, mainly engaged in tourism. However, it was famous not for its beautiful scenery, but for its chaos. It was supposedly one of the three major sinful cities in the world, along with Juarez and Saint Lotan. If this is really the place, then we should be in Triad territory right now."
"Juarez is on par with Saint Lotan?" Feng Xue grinned. He knew about Juarez in his previous life, and he had personally experienced Saint Lotan. Even if he had never heard of the name in his previous life, Feng Xue could guess what kind of place it was just by comparing it to these two.
Furthermore, considering its location in Siam...
"Is there a problem?" Wuchang seemed to know little about geography and history, felt like a fool, but to avoid unnecessary trouble, he still asked.
"I don't know the specifics, but I've heard that no one who settles in this godforsaken place is a good person. Even beggars, tea dancers, or old ladies selling fruit on the street might pull out a gun and shoot you at any time!"
He had never actually been here before Qingming's time travel, but in his world, this wretched place was frequently mentioned as background in movies about gangsters and gunfights, and it was quite well-known.
"Wouldn't that be even better?" Wuchang laughed immediately Wuchang hearing Qingming's words.
"The more complex the power dynamics, the easier it is for us to make our move, isn't it?"
About Old Li's resume--
He was an early Weird Tale in Infinite City, belonging to the tail end of the friendly faction. He arrived in Yan Country in the 1980s, and then took advantage of the qigong craze to "play" Qigong Master, thus consolidating the Weird Tale. He was not the core of this Weird Tale, but just took advantage of the situation to obtain the Supernatural Tale Entry. Moreover, the Qigong Master is not a Group Supernatural Tale, because masters are only a minority, not everyone knows qigong.
Later, when the fever subsided, Old Li's Weird Tale naturally collapsed. However, a few people still believed that this thing really existed, so Old Li could still use his abilities, but the intensity was very low. It was roughly the same as before when he could turn a building away, but now he could only turn a playing card into something else.
As for why the Yan people didn't Weird Tale official help during the period of friendly relations, I can only say that not everyone has access to official channels. Put yourself in their shoes; if you were without access, how would you make contact? Not to mention the time involved in reporting through multiple levels of government.
As for those who are unfamiliar with the supernatural Weird Tale of Qigong, they can watch Hong Kong films like "God of Gamblers II," "God of Gamblers III," and "God of Gamblers IV," etc. The Special Ability depicted in these films are references to that period. Furthermore, the villainous character with Special Ability surnamed Yan, who frequently appears in Hong Kong films from that era, is also a reference to a con artist from that time.
If you haven't even seen these classic movies, just think of it as a combination of X-ray Vision, Fire Control, hallucination, object Body Enhancement, Instant Movement, Teleportation, precognition, and even Time Travel. If you can imagine it, you can do it.
Don't think this is an exaggeration; back then, scammers were even more daring in their claims than you think. As for more specific details... that's rather sensitive. You can just Google it yourself. Please don't discuss it in this thread; I'll delete it if I see it.