Li Shutong, Here for the Show

A buzzing sound of electricity filled the air as the light rail started moving.

The light rail was much less crowded in the afternoon, a stark contrast to the morning.

Qing Chen, Yang Yang, and Zheng Yi sat in the empty carriage, and the atmosphere gradually changed.

Yang Yang, who was originally sitting next to Qing Chen, actually sat down next to the silver-haired girl. This move was a bit abrupt, so the silver-haired girl looked a little timid, as if she couldn't guess what Yang Yang wanted to do.

Yang Yang sat down with a smile and asked, "Zheng Yi, we've been classmates for so long, and I still don't know where you live?"

Zheng Yi tightened her grip on the strap of her crossbody bag. "The 132nd floor of the Luoshen Building, but that's an apartment I rent. My home is in the District 9, which is too chaotic and lacks a good learning environment, so my mother had me rent an apartment."

Yang Yang suddenly asked, "Would you mind sharing an apartment with someone else?"

"Huh?" Zheng Yi gripped the straps tighter. "But I rented a one-bedroom apartment."

To be honest, she would definitely prefer to share an apartment, so she wouldn't have to pay the full rent and could save more money for college.

Now she works every afternoon and attends tutoring classes in the evening, but no matter how much money she saves, it seems like she can't afford the tuition; she's still short.

If Yang Yang could share an apartment with her, and the other person was a girl she admired, that would be ideal.

Yang Yang smiled and said, "A one-bedroom apartment is fine. I'll talk to you about this again tonight."

As she spoke, she sat back down next to Qing Chen: "By the way, what's your decision about participating in the parade?"

"It's only been about two months since you transmigrated," Qing Chen slowly analyzed. "I don't believe you can truly understand the suffering of the Inner World in just two months. Even if you could, I don't believe you would dare to launch a protest so quickly."

"So?" Yang Yang asked, tilting her head.

"So you have another purpose behind this march," Qing Chen said. "Or rather, you and the organization behind you have another purpose."

"You guessed right," Yang Yang said with a smile, "But not entirely correct."

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "Although I can't agree with what those students did, when I see those bright smiles, those smiles that grit their teeth and hand out flyers even when they're being ridiculed, I hope your organization won't take advantage of these people."

"I said it wasn't entirely correct because they had already taken action before we helped them organize the march. We just lent a hand," Yang Yang said with a rare serious expression. "Moreover, what we planned would absolutely not affect them, and the organization's goals are the same as theirs."

Yang Yang continued, "Qing Chen, have you ever thought about who sent us here, and why they sent us here? I couldn't figure it out from the beginning, and many people can't either. But I think this journey might be meant to send people like us to help change this world."

Qing Chen pondered, recalling a question that appeared on a certain app: If 10,000 modern people went back to ancient times, could they overthrow feudal rule?

What Yang Yang is saying now is very similar to this question.

Why did these Time Walker travel through time, and why did they come here?

There is no definitive answer to this question; there are as many answers as there are Time Walker. But Yang Yang has already found hers, while Qing Chen has not yet found his.

"Yang Yang, those students have no chance of succeeding," Qing Chen said.

Yang Yang tilted her head and asked, "Qing Chen, do you believe in miracles?"

Qing Chen hesitated for two seconds. "I believe you."

"Those students believe it too," Yang Yang said with a smile. "People who believe in miracles are a miracle in themselves."

The afternoon sun shone through the train windows, but the light rail train soon disappeared into the shadows of the steel forest.

When the light rail train arrived at the 66th floor of the Luoshen Building, Yang Yang stepped off the platform first, even turning back to wave to Qing Chen behind her. "What are you standing there for? Let's go home!"

"You really don't treat yourself like an outsider at all," Qing Chen remarked.

Zheng Yi silently followed behind the two. She suddenly noticed something: the distance between the boy and girl walking ahead was sometimes far and sometimes near.

In fact, there is a safe distance between people when walking side by side. For most people, the safe distance is one meter. If a man and a woman are walking on the road more than one meter apart, they probably have no chance with each other.

Zheng Yi was a little confused. The distance between Qing Chen and Yang Yang was completely unpredictable, making her feel that it was hard to grasp.

They seem like a couple, but not quite.

When they reached the 132nd floor, the silver-haired girl watched helplessly as the two of them entered the same room.

She stood there blankly outside the door, forgetting even to open her own door.

Is it really that kind of relationship?

Zheng Yi silently opened the door, took out a protein bar from the refrigerator, poured out two multivitamin tablets from the medicine bottle, and swallowed them with water.

Because the protein bars she bought were cheap, their nutrition was limited, so she had to take multivitamins to supplement her daily needs.

She silently counted the remaining protein bars in the refrigerator, calculating how many more days she could eat them.

At this moment, Yang Yang was looking around the room. "This Luoshen Building is an old apartment building. The decoration of your room is completely out of place with the outside. I didn't expect you to be so poor in the Outer World, but so rich in the Inner World."

Qing Chen completely ignored the other party's teasing. "Help me build a gravity chamber, I'm going to start cultivating."

With that, he walked straight into the bedroom.

Yang Yang followed behind and said, "Hey, you're not going to hide your cultivation from everyone, are you?"

With a loud bang, Qing Chen locked the bedroom door from the inside.

Yang Yang frowned. She originally wanted to see Qing Chen's cultivation method to determine which organization he belonged to, but she didn't expect Qing Chen to be so cautious. Even though she had come all the way to his house, he wouldn't let her see.

As she created the gravity chamber, she asked from outside, "Is cultivation under the enhancement of the gravity chamber really effective?"

Qing Chen did not answer from inside the bedroom, otherwise he would have interrupted his Breathing Technique.

In fact, even today, the combined effects of gravity chambers and Breathing Technique remain significant.

Yesterday, he even asked Li Shutong what level he would be in after returning to normal life using Reverse Breathing Technique.

As a result, Li Shutong conducted a serious test and gave a rather surprising answer: it was already close to the edge of F-Class.

In the Inner World, reaching the F-Class is considered to be within the realm of extraordinary individuals, yet Qing Chen has approached this rating standard using ordinary training methods.

Of course, Qing Chen's perseverance played a significant role, but the most important factor was the combination of Breathing Technique and the gravity chamber.

Qing Chen's current rating is approaching the E-Class bottleneck, and when he experiences another Life and Death Trial, his advancement will likely be even more astonishing.

Even Li Shutong couldn't be sure what choice the potential within Qing Chen would make if it still couldn't be fully unleashed after several Life and Death Trial experiences.

This touched upon a blind spot in Li Shutong's knowledge...

Yang Yang, who was outside the bedroom door, felt a little bored when Qing Chen ignored her. She sat on the sofa and fiddled with her phone, looking at the news.

However, at that moment, someone entered a password and pushed open the door in the hallway outside.

Yang Yang looked at the unfamiliar middle-aged man in front of her, feeling somewhat at a loss. The middle-aged man was also clearly surprised to see Yang Yang.

Yang Yang realized that her posture was a bit wrong, so she quickly sat up straight, put her knees together, placed her hands obediently on her knees, and said politely, "Hello, Uncle."

Li Shutong smiled and said, "You must be Xiao Chen's classmate. I'm his father."

"Yes, I'm his classmate," Yang Yang said obediently. "Come to his house with me so he can help me with my homework."

At this moment Yang Yang didn't know Li Shutong's identity or whether he knew Qing Chen's identity as Time Walker, so she quickly made up an excuse.

In fact, Yang Yang was very confused at this time. She thought Qing Chen lived alone, but she did not expect that he had a father in the Inner World.

No, Qing Chen just moved here. This middle-aged man is definitely more than just Qing Chen's father.

But at this moment, Yang Yang suddenly felt a strange unease, which prevented her from thinking of any more clues.

Even the gravity chamber, which had been continuously reinforced, suddenly stopped.

Li Shutong said with a smile, "Don't be so formal, just make yourself at home. I'll cook for you both."

Qing Chen came out when he heard the noise and looked at Li Shutong, whose face was somewhat unfamiliar: the voice and feeling were the same, but the appearance was completely different.

I don't know how this master did it.

Yang Yang stood up, greeted Qing Chen, and then said to Li Shutong, "Uncle, no need to trouble yourself. I have something to do here, so I'll be going now."

With that, Yang Yang lowered her head and rushed out of the room.

"Stay for dinner," Li Shutong said with a smile, watching Yang Yang's retreating figure.

Qing Chen said helplessly, "Please stop making a fuss. I've been in the Inner World for so long and I've never seen you cook a single meal. Don't poison everyone."

"Look at what you're saying," Li Shutong retorted, displeased. "Master is a true knight, after all. What knight in this world can't cook or survive in the wild? We are all very capable of self-reliance!"

After he finished speaking, Li Shutong's face suddenly changed, and in the blink of an eye, it returned to its original appearance.

Qing Chen asked with some curiosity, "What kind of ability do you have?"

Li Shutong explained with a smile, "Don't be too curious, you'll find out soon enough."

"With your abilities, you must have known in advance that Yang Yang was coming to your house," Qing Chen thought for a moment and asked, "So you came back specifically to see what was going on, right?"

"Yes," Li Shutong said matter-of-factly, "I was in the middle of running errands when I was told that a girl had come to my house, so I immediately dropped what I was doing and rushed back!"

Qing Chen realized he had completely underestimated Li Shutong's desire to join in the fun. This master truly regarded watching Qing Chen's misfortune as the most important thing in his life.

Moreover, it's one thing for one's own master to gossip, but why is Yi also gossiping along?!

There's someone in this family who's actually tipping people off!

Thank you to already a fluffy ball and I_playful_unconventional for becoming new patrons of this book. You're so generous, may you make a fortune!