Take Me Home

The countdown begins in an abandoned factory in Yanjiao, Jingcheng.

The sound of leather shoes stepping on the concrete floor grew louder as they approached, and more than thirty Time Walker suspended from the beams slowly opened their eyes.

They saw hundreds of solemn figures silently watching them in the dimly lit factory.

Among these people were middle-aged men and women, young people, and teenagers who looked like students.

They were wearing black uniforms with the characters for Jiuzhou embroidered on their cuffs.

These people were covered in blood, which flowed down their bodies, gathered at their toes, and then fell into the dust on the concrete floor, mixing together.

As the footsteps drew near, the crowd silently parted to make way.

He Jinqiu, dressed in a gray suit, approached the Time Walker. He didn't speak, but simply took off his coat and handed it to the middle-aged man beside him, then unbuttoned the cuffs of his white shirt.

"You are also people of the Outer World. Have you considered what the consequences would be if the Household Registration Database were stolen?" He Jinqiu asked calmly, looking at the people in front of her.

One of the Time Walker, hanging from a pillar, struggled and cried out, "Even if we're in the wrong, Jiuzhou shouldn't resort to vigilante justice!"

He Jinqiu said slowly, "Let me tell you what the consequences will be. The powerful computers in the Inner World will compare everyone's household registration information with the federal household registration information. In less than an hour, they will know how many people might become Time Walker."

"Among these people, some have already become Time Walker, while others have not yet triggered the conditions for time travel, but they all have only one fate: to be ruthlessly eliminated by the behemoths of the Inner World."

"How many people will die back then? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Who knows? You've been in this Inner World are. They're truly cold machines, showing no mercy."

One of the Time Walker pleaded, "We know we were wrong, please stop torturing us."

However, He Jinqiu turned a deaf ear to this. "I can somewhat understand other coerced Time Walker doing things out of necessity. But all of you here have voluntarily attached yourselves to the conglomerate, which is why you received your missions so quickly, am I right? I cannot tolerate this kind of voluntary defection."

After saying that, He Jinqiu picked up a pistol and shot a traitor between the eyebrows. Then he handed the pistol to the middle-aged man next to him, who then raised his hand and killed another person.

He Jinqiu said in a calm tone, "There is no such thing as vigilante justice. I hope you all understand that we are experiencing a war. We have been in a time of peace for too long, and you may have forgotten how cruel war is. From the day it was born, Jiuzhou was destined to use extraordinary means."

He looked at everyone behind him and said, "You all know what Kunlun is facing: meager wages, meager benefits, and an insecure life. Even if we work in the special industry, we can only receive a little over ten thousand yuan a month, and with allowances, it might just be a little over thirty thousand. If we die, the compensation is no different from anyone else's. Why is that? Because they are too law-abiding and still living in the old era."

"I want you all to understand that in the face of this battle between two worlds, you Time Walker are the true pillars of strength. I will lead you to establish yourselves in the Inner World and eliminate your worries. Before the real war arrives, we must first learn to protect ourselves. This war must also be led by us. This is the glory you must enjoy while taking the risks."

After he finished speaking, everyone in the crowd behind him silently stepped forward, took out their pistols, and pulled the triggers on the bodies of the dead traitors.

This is Pledge of Allegiance.

He Jinqiu watched quietly as everyone submitted their Pledge of Allegiance, but this was only a small fraction of the people in Jiuzhou. It would take much longer to gain the approval of the entire Jiuzhou for her plan.

He needs to take things one step at a time.

At this moment, a middle-aged man brought over a tablet with information on the battle in Luo City: "Boss, three Time Walker from outside Kunlun appeared tonight. One is the assassin from Laojun Mountain that we were following before, who should be that student named Qing Chen. Another is a girl who, judging from the battle, should be able to control the force field. The third one is rather strange; the opponent kills with playing cards, and his physical abilities are definitely those of an extraordinary person. His level is unknown, but his methods are quite fierce."

On the tablet was a high-definition video, and judging from the angle, the person filming it was hiding in one of the buildings in Xinglong Community.

He Jinqiu, watching the battle footage, asked, "What did our people in Kunlun say? What are their identities, the girl and the one using playing cards?"

"He said the girl openly admitted to Lu Yuan that she was Liu Dezhu's subordinate, so the other person who used playing cards should also belong to the same organization as them," the middle-aged man said. "This organization doesn't have many members, but the individual strength far exceeds that of other Time Walker."

The gunfire in the abandoned factory gradually subsided, and silence returned.

After a long silence, He Jinqiu said, "It seems that Luo City has become quite interesting. That Time Walker surrounding Li Shutong is starting to exert his influence. Send our people there. This time, we'll directly break through Liu Dezhu's defenses and see who's behind this organization."

"Okay, we'll arrange it right away," the middle-aged man replied. "After our people get there, should we focus on the girl and the person using the playing cards? I think that guy named Qing Chen seems to be just an ordinary person, so we don't need to pay too much attention to him."

He Jinqiu pondered, "We can lower the level of attention, but we can't give up on him completely. He has already proven his ferocity on Laojun Mountain. It would be terrifying if such a person suddenly became an extraordinary being one day."

"Okay, I understand," the middle-aged man said.

"Furthermore," He Jinqiu's gaze swept over everyone present, "Keeping tonight's secret is crucial; that Boss Zheng must have planted quite a few people in Jiuzhou as well."

In the dead of night, Qing Chen finished his training, drenched in sweat, as the countdown began. Sweat dripped from his chin and onto the ground.

Now he has crossed the chasm between ordinary people and extraordinary beings, reaching the peak of E-Class. Ordinary training can no longer meet his needs, and he must buy higher weights.

Qing Chen wasn't quite sure how the Inner World judged levels, but he roughly estimated that his current strength was about five times that of a normal adult.

So that night, the assassin tried to pull out his gun, but the other man held his arm down and he couldn't pull it out.

Qing Chen was already quite satisfied with this.

The only drawback is that the recovery of true energy is somewhat slow; the true energy consumed in a battle might take a whole day to recover.

Qing Chen raised his hand to look at the transparent Forbidden Item ACE-019 on his wrist, Puppet Master.

In yesterday's battle, this Forbidden Item played a crucial role; without Forbidden Item, he wouldn't have been able to handle the situation so skillfully.

Just then, Qing Chen suddenly noticed something strange about the Puppet Master.

Its originally smooth end had now split into a small fork, measuring 13 centimeters.

The split ends looked like hair that hadn't been maintained for a long time. Qing Chen wondered to himself, "Could it be that I've ruined the Puppet Master?"

This surprised Qing Chen. After all, this was Forbidden Item, an existence that disregarded the rules. How could it possibly break after just one battle?!

Thinking about this, Qing Chen might be more inclined to another guess: Could it be that he killed someone last night, which caused the Puppet Master to meet other containment conditions, such as controlling more people?

But I didn't sacrifice those people to the Puppet Master. Could it be that the Puppet Master absorbed the souls of those killers on its own?

Qing Chen examined the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master itself was 50 meters long, and this 13-centimeter fork was nothing to look at.

But as the saying goes, little by little, one day the length of this fork will be enough to control a second person.

Controlling just one person might not be so terrifying.

But if you can control 3, 4, or 10, then the individual's strength will also undergo a qualitative change!

According to Qing Chen's calculations, in general, in war, if the individual soldier's ability is equal, and one side's troop strength is three times that of the other side, it can create an overwhelming situation.

This principle also applies perfectly to ordinary combat.

If I could control two more superhumans of the same level, I could crush any enemy of the same level.

If he could control ten more, he wouldn't have so much trouble facing C-Class experts like Cao Wei or Qing Huai.

At least when the opponent is seriously injured, you can swarm them and use precise micro-management to wear down their stamina.

Qing Chen was familiar with micro-management.

Wait, Qing Chen woke up with a start!

When discussing Puppet Master, Li Shutong did not elaborate much, only saying that they were a rather evil Forbidden Item, and that five people had to be sacrificed every month in order to continue using them.

But if that's all there is to it, then the Puppet Master isn't really evil. In the Inner World, where human life was cheap, a superhuman killing five people wouldn't even qualify as evil.

Therefore, there seems to be more to this Forbidden Item than meets the eye.

Now Qing Chen has also explored new containment conditions for Puppet Master. He finds himself subconsciously thinking about what kind of things can be accomplished by controlling as many people as possible.

But they didn't even think about how many people they would have to kill to unlock the next ability of the Puppet Master!

Qing Chen abandoned his idea of rapidly improving the Puppet Master, as he had promised Li Shutong that he would stay true to himself.

Of course, if someone deserves to die, he won't let them go either.

At this moment, Qing Chen thought of another question: If Puppet Master have a second stage of containment ability, then will other Forbidden Item also have it?

If it's Demon Stamp, what will it look like in the second phase?

In the morning, Qing Chen heard a knock on the door before he was fully awake.

He opened his eyes and went to open the door, only to see Yang Yang standing outside. "Is something the matter?"

"It's time to go to school," Yang Yang said calmly.

"No, you should just go to school, why are you calling me?" Qing Chen said, confused. He glanced at the time. "Besides, this is way too early, it's only 6:50!"

"I want to go get breakfast in Los Angeles, but I've gone too far and can't find my way to school, so I'm late," Yang Yang said. "So take me there, it's on me."

Qing Chen hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright, spicy soup, rice noodles, steamed buns, what do you want to eat?"

He went back inside and asked while washing up.

"I want to eat everything," Yang Yang said, swaggering into the house.

"You're not going to come and call me for breakfast every morning from now on, are you?!" Qing Chen asked doubtfully.

"That depends on when I get tired of it," Yang Yang, sitting on the sofa and patiently waiting for Qing Chen.

"Then I'll take you out for breakfast every day. Surely there must be some benefits to it?" Qing Chen asked.

"Isn't it only natural for you to lead the group on team building activities?" Yang Yang asked, puzzled. "Won't well-fed and well-hydrated members fight for you when it really matters?"

"Pfft," Qing Chen spat the mouthwash into the sink. "When did you become a member? I already said I needed to ask the boss first!"

"You said you'd ask yesterday, did you ask?"

"My boss hasn't replied to me yet!"

"Okay, I'll ask you again tomorrow."

Qing Chen: "..."

He didn't know what to do with this clingy person.

However, he knew very well that the girl wanted to join the group simply because she thought it would be fun.

Just before the morning bell rang, Qing Chen and Yang Yang walked into the classroom together.

The three people in the last row, Nan Gengchen, Hu Xiaoniu, and Zhang Tianzhen, who had been listless, suddenly perked up.

Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen, on the other hand, seemed to be watching some kind of spectacle, and exclaimed in admiration in their hearts.

"Is it a coincidence?" Zhang Tianzhen asked hesitantly.

"It must have been a chance encounter when I went out," Hu Xiaoniu thought for a moment. "With Yang Yang's personality, it's usually impossible for three or five boys to get close to her on a normal day."

"Hmm, it might really be a coincidence," Zhang Tianzhen said. "By the way, the news broke last night and it's already in the top three trending topics. Some people are saying it's all because the Wang Family wanted to kill Liu Dezhu."

Hu Xiaoniu frowned. "Should we also warn the Wang Family?"

The news of last night's battle spread faster than expected.

In just over an hour, it started flooding the WeChat Moments of Los Angeles residents, and then it became a trending topic on Weibo.

There were many residents taking refuge at the time, and some even filmed the moment when Yang Yang fell from the sky. This video became the most widely circulated.

The video footage is still somewhat blurry and the lighting is dim. Liu Dezhu is carrying his mother on his back and running wildly when a giant wave crashes in, only to be suppressed by a girl falling from the sky.

Because of the distance, the girl was wearing a hood and her face was not clearly visible, but none of this affected the audience's ability to feel the extraordinary power in the video.

In a sense, this is the first time that real footage of superhuman combat has appeared in domestic news, which is completely different from the video effects made by some internet celebrities in the past to gain popularity.

In the video, Liu Dezhu was identified by his neighbors, who all praised him highly, saying that in that critical moment, the young man disregarded the danger to get his mother to the hospital...

Moreover, rumors began to circulate about the girl, saying that she had come specifically to rescue Liu Dezhu.

At this moment, Yu Junyi, the class monitor who had been holding back from revealing his identity as Time Walker, finally couldn't hold back any longer. "Actually, I'm also Time Walker. I just happened to travel to Prison No. 18. At first, when I saw those mechanical monsters in the prison, I was terrified. Then I met Liu Dezhu. With him protecting me, the other prisoners in the prison didn't dare to do anything to me."

Yu Junyi continued, "You wouldn't believe it, Liu Dezhu has an incredibly high status in Prison No. 18. I think he might be one of the most powerful Time Walker right now..."

Nan Gengchen sat next to Qing Chen and pursed his lips. He wrote a note, "Brother Chen, Liu Dezhu was surrounded by that group of rich kids as soon as he arrived at school this morning. They were crying and shouting that they wanted to go to City No. 18 to stay with him. Some people even said that they were already on their way."

Qing Chen wrote on the note, "Liu Dezhu is in Prison No. 18. What use would it be for them to defect there?"

Nan Gengchen replied, "Brother Chen, you don't know, they've already started studying federal law and are preparing to go to jail en masse. They said that committing minor offenses won't get you into Prison No. 18; you have to evade taxes or participate in a gang's criminal activities involving more than ten people that result in serious injury."

Qing Chen gasped in astonishment. These rich kids are all really talented!

But have these people not considered that after a crime is committed, there is still the investigation stage and the criminal prosecution stage? By the time the verdict from the City No. 18 is delivered, Liu Dezhu will probably have already been released from prison by them.

Will dozens of rich kids end up in Prison No. 18, weeping their eyes out?!

Getting out of prison then would probably be much harder than going in.

Nan Gengchen wrote on the note, "These rich kids are quite peculiar. When they found the countdown on their arms, their first reaction was to carry gold bars through time, which is completely different from other Time Walker. They were afraid that they would run out of money in there."

Qing Chen sighed. He was taking gold bars back to the Outer World, while the other person was taking gold bars in. It was a completely different treatment.

Nan Gengchen wrote again, "By the way, Brother Chen, you were there last night too, right...?"

"Um."

"Next time something like this happens, could you call me? I'll find a tall building, set up my equipment, and film all the battle scenes in HD. I heard a single video like that can sell for hundreds of thousands!"

Qing Chen was stunned. This seemed like a way to make money!

Paparazzi are always chasing news hotspots, and he's right next to one. Could he create a hotspot to make money?

There's no need for anything too drastic; just take Liu Dezhu's preferences and sell them, and you might be able to make a considerable income.

Of course, Liu Dezhu's popularity has faded somewhat now, so he probably won't fetch a high price.

However, the new hot topic, "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky," was asking me to go have breakfast together early in the morning.

Qing Chen slowly turned his gaze to Yang Yang, only to see Yang Yang looking down at her phone and suddenly saying, "I saw in the news that He Xiaoxiao's group chat system has gone online, and all Time Walker can verify their identity to join the group. However, due to equipment shortages, the original plan was to open 12 group chats, but now only 1 can be opened. Therefore, only Time Walker with the most unique identities in the Inner World will be accepted."

"Will you add it?" Qing Chen asked.

"Of course we should add them. This is a great opportunity to connect with other Time Walker and exchange so much useful information," Yang Yang said. "But we definitely can't add them now. Exposing our identities too early would pose too many risks."

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "Actually, you can't join now even if you wanted to."

Nan Gengchen chimed in, "Someone posted on Weibo that the number of people queuing for verification is thirteen million..."

Qing Chen was not surprised.

With such a big event happening online, everyone, regardless of whether they are Time Walker or not, will want to join in the fun.

The number of people in the queue, which is already 13 million, is still jumping up.

Qing Chen guessed that He Xiaoxiao had probably underestimated the enthusiasm of her compatriots to join in the fun.

He wouldn't be surprised if the number of people queuing today exceeded 100 million.

Sure enough, by the time classes were about to end in the evening, the number of people in the queue had reached 93 million, and the number was still increasing.

Originally, some people were unwilling to join in the fun, but as the story spread, many people lined up simply to make the number of people in the queue reach 100 million.

Just as the number of people in the queue was approaching 100 million, the system suddenly launched a new page: an automatic screening and review system.

He Xiaoxiao also announced on Douyin that the system will use 36 questions to screen and filter out ordinary people who are just joining in the fun.

The number of people in the queue began to plummet.

But something even more ridiculous happened: less than half an hour later, someone posted the correct answers to all 36 questions on Weibo.

Once the answer was revealed, the number of people in the queue quickly increased again.

For no other reason than to see how He Xiaoxiao will handle the situation next...

Qing Chen was too lazy to watch anymore, so he got up and prepared to skip class.

Before he could even leave his seat, Yang Yang grabbed his arm, saying, "Don't go."

Hu Xiaoniu, Nan Gengchen, and Zhang Tianzhen, who were standing nearby, immediately perked up their ears.

Qing Chen asked helplessly, "Why?"

Yang Yang said earnestly, "You still have to take me home."

The three bystanders' expressions changed drastically; none of them had expected the plot to unfold like this!

Qing Chen said, "Then come with me now."

"No," Yang Yang shook her head, "I don't like skipping class."

I haven't started reading in so long that I just found out that you can now watch videos and earn Qidian coins for each chapter you read, so I'm splitting it into two chapters starting today.

To update the results, the average number of subscriptions has now reached 67,792.

Thank you to Tangtang's dad next door for becoming a new ally of this book! Thank you, boss! You're so generous, may you make a fortune!