Calm Before the Storm

Countdown: 41:20:00.

Early in the morning, Qing Chen, Jiang Xue, and Li Tongyun boarded the earliest bus back to the city.

At this time, Jiang Xue had already resigned from her job as an art teacher, but Qing Chen and Li Tongyun still needed to go to school.

In fact, Jiang Xue herself quite likes her job as an art teacher, but her identity Time Walker is too conspicuous, and the fact that she always wears gloves on both hands easily attracts the attention of others.

This feeling is very unpleasant.

Although her clinic in the Inner World hasn't started operating yet, the money Li invested is enough for her to live a comfortable life, and she can also exchange some gold to bring back to the Outer World.

Jiang Xue still doesn't have the ability to run a clinic independently. Replacing and installing mechanical limbs is a profession with a high barrier to entry, and it's simply impossible to learn it in such a short time.

Fortunately, the female teacher arranged by Mr. Li was very "competent". She not only taught Jiang Xue knowledge and practice, but also helped Jiang Xue take orders and replace mechanical limbs for customers when they came to the clinic.

The female teacher's salary was paid by the Li family. To be honest, even if Jiang Xue completely neglected the clinic, it could still operate very well...

However, Jiang Xue herself was very studious and never slacked off during her time in the Inner World.

She also wanted to learn this skill as soon as possible so that she could become a useful person.

There were only Jiang Xue and her two companions on the early morning bus. Because of the kidnapping case, there were hardly any people on Laojun Mountain to begin with, and even fewer people took the early morning bus.

Qing Chen suddenly remembered something... He still had many Japanese sentences that needed to be translated.

The boy opened the simultaneous interpretation software and recited, word by word, what Kamishiro Kono had said to him, based on his memory.

Then he realized that it was Kamishiro Kono saying goodbye to him and looking forward to meeting him again.

Qingchen then recited what Jindai Jingcheng said based on his memories: いつまでcryくんだ.おさんがているんだぞ.せめてChanshi's のエリートとMarriage してdesire しかった, Kamishiro Kongone's danna はQingshi's のゴミだ, こんな Result でもべ.

The translation software displayed. "Stop crying. I need you to stand up and greet the guests. At least you married one of the best young members of the Chen family, while Kamishiro Kono only married a good-for-nothing from the Qing family. This is already a very good outcome for you."

Qing Chen was speechless for a moment. So his teacher really could understand Japanese. The other party wasn't just trying to fool him.

Come to think of it, Kamishiro Seisho said, "I'm going to silence him," it doesn't seem to be a problem with Li Shutong's translation, "He wants to die here"...

The teacher's translation was quite sincere.

Li Tongyun, leaning against the back of Qing Chen's chair in the back row, asked, "Brother Qing Chen, what are you muttering about?"

"It's nothing," Qing Chen replied with a smile.

Upon arriving in downtown Luocheng, Qing Chen went straight to the school and entered the classroom just in time.

Nan Gengchen's first reaction upon seeing Qing Chen was not to greet him, but to cover his face...

"Alright, alright," Qing Chen said irritably, "It's no big deal. Nobody else knows except me. We're not strangers. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone else about your business."

Nan Gengchen lowered his hand in embarrassment and asked sensitively, "What's wrong with me? Brother Chen, I don't understand what you're saying."

Qing Chen sighed, "I know you're a little ashamed, but you don't need to be so sensitive."

"Huh?" Nan Gengchen raised an eyebrow. "What gigolo? I didn't work as a gigolo!"

Qing Chen: "..."

He ignored the guy and instead opened his phone to browse the latest news.

Something interesting happened: This National Day holiday, unlike previous years, the nineteen cities that had been confirmed to have the "public beta qualification" for Time Walker all saw a surge in visitors.

Another news report said that since the time travel incident, a man has been going to the neighboring "Time Walker City" on weekends. He didn't have much money, so he would sleep in the city's internet cafes and then take the high-speed rail back to his workplace when it was time for him to go to work.

Of course, aside from those who can only come during holidays, there are also those who head straight to settle in all 19 cities.

Someone in Qing Chen's junior high school classmates' group said that almost every class in their school had transfer students.

Just as Qing Chen had predicted, the world will become increasingly lively in the 19 cities that can generate "public beta qualification".

He then looked up other news articles.

After her return, He Xiaoxiao unusually did not release any strategy guides, but only posted a short video stating that the Data Fortress would be completed and the communication platform for Time Walker would be launched soon.

At that time, to gain access to the chat group, some verification will be required. Only those confirmed as "Time Walker" will be allowed to join.

At this moment, Qing Chen suddenly asked, "Hey, where are Wang Yun and Bai Wan'er?"

Nan Gengchen said in a low voice, "Brother Chen, don't you know? It's said that Wang Yun died and Bai Wan'er transferred schools and left."

Qing Chen feigned shock. "Dead?!"

"Yeah, Zhang Tianzhen from the next class said that Wang Yun was killed by a big shot from the Inner World," Nan Gengchen said. "Some people also said that the Wang Family will try to take revenge. Don't worry, Brother Chen, I will never tell anyone that you broke her legs. This secret is more important than my own secrets; I'll take it to my grave!"

"Why did Bai Wan'er transfer schools too?" Qing Chen asked.

"Brother Chen, didn't you see the messages in the group chat? She was saying goodbye to everyone there," Nan Gengchen said. "She was probably really affected by her best friend's death. Later, Bai Wan'er not only left the group chat, but she also deleted all her classmates from her friends list."

Qing Chen thought to himself that ordinary high school students really couldn't pretend nothing had happened when faced with such a big change.

He has been training hard these past few days, so he hasn't paid much attention to what's happening in the class.

What puzzled Qing Chen was that he searched through the news for a long time but couldn't find anything related to Li Shutong's disappearance from Prison No. 18.

Has no one noticed that Li Shutong is missing? Or is it that someone knows but hasn't said anything to avoid revealing their identity?

No one came forward to reveal any news about this return. Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen were still in the hospital, and Bai Wan'er had just transferred schools, so everything seemed rather somber.

During the first break in the afternoon, Jiang Xue suddenly sent Qing Chen a WeChat message: "Qingchen, come back quickly. A real estate agent brought people to your house to view the apartment, and the agent even has a key. I asked them what was going on, and they said the homeowner had posted the apartment for sale. It seems your dad also came back, but he's left now."

Qing Chen paused for a moment, then realized that his father, Qing Guozhong, should be out by now.

He forgot about class and got up to rush home.