"Are you okay?" Qing Chen asked the woman standing outside the door.
This was the first time he had really looked at her closely. Their previous meetings had always been rushed, and because of the domestic violence, she had deliberately avoided other men—even Qing Chen, who was only a high school student.
The abuse had clearly left a shadow over her.
At that moment, the woman's hands and arms had already become mechanical limbs. Qing Chen noticed that they looked more refined than those of most prisoners in Prison No. 18, their sleek, elegant lines brimming with a sense of strength.
They would probably have looked even better without her long sleeves covering them.
The woman truly was beautiful. Though there were faint lines at the corners of her eyes, they only added to her charm and could not conceal her gentle temperament.
The woman looked at Qing Chen somewhat embarrassedly. "I didn't expect to trouble you again."
"It's fine." Qing Chen shook his head. "I was just planning to cook for Li Tongyun. I like her a lot."
The woman nodded and said to Li Tongyun, "Come on, Xiaoyun. Go home with Mom."
Li Tongyun said pitifully, "I'm still hungry. You two smashed up the whole house, so there won't be anything to eat even if we go back."
The woman grew a little angry at that. "Be good. Don't cause any more trouble for him!"
But Qing Chen suddenly said, "I heard Xiaoyun say that neither of you has eaten yet. Why not come to my place and have something?"
Both the woman and Li Tongyun froze for a moment. Qing Chen had helped before, but he had never shown such initiative or warmth.
He had always seemed afraid of getting dragged into trouble.
"I also want to know more about the transmigration," Qing Chen explained. "So I wanted to ask... uh, what should I call you?"
"My name is Jiang Xue," the woman answered.
"Right, I wanted to ask you about the Inner World, Auntie Jiang Xue," Qing Chen said. "Would that be convenient?"
To be honest, Jiang Xue was only twelve years older than Qing Chen. Calling her Auntie did make her sound rather old, but he had known Li Tongyun first, so there was no other way to address her now.
"It's not inconvenient," Jiang Xue said. "You can ask me anytime, and I'll tell you what I know. There's no need to trouble you now. I can just go home, tidy up, and cook for Xiaoyun."
"Mom, let's eat at Big Brother's place," Li Tongyun said softly.
Jiang Xue looked at Xiaoyun's pleading expression and sighed. "Then we'll have to trouble you."
From beginning to end, the woman had looked embarrassed. Qing Chen could sense her heartfelt guilt.
With a personality like that, could she really survive well in the savage world of the Inner World?
Qing Chen suppressed his curiosity until he set the soy sauce fried rice on the table. Then, as though casually, he said, "I saw the police come handle the case. What did they say?"
Jiang Xue answered, "The neighbors helped explain what happened. They originally wanted to take me back with them, but since I have a daughter and it was self-defense, they let me stay and said they'd notify me if they needed me."
Only then did Qing Chen ask what he had most wanted to know. "I saw two more people arrive later. What were they there for?"
"I don't know what they were there for either." Jiang Xue shook her head. "They asked the police officers about the situation, had me fill out a form, took two photos of my ID card, and then left."
Qing Chen paused. "That was it?"
"Oh, they also said they might contact me later and told me not to leave Luo City anytime soon, but they didn't say what they wanted," Jiang Xue replied.
"The police didn't stop them?" Qing Chen asked curiously.
"They seemed to show the police officers some kind of identification," Jiang Xue explained. "I don't know the details, but the police didn't interfere."
Now Qing Chen had gained a preliminary understanding of those people:
First, they did not arrest every transmigrator they encountered.
Second, they had official credentials.
No matter what, they were at least not as utterly deranged as he had imagined. That put Qing Chen much more at ease.
Suddenly, Qing Chen asked Jiang Xue, "Auntie Jiang Xue, what was your identity in the Inner World?"
The name Inner World had gradually spread after He Xiaoxiao's guide.
It had become the commonly accepted name for that world people transmigrated to.
Jiang Xue answered, "I ran a mechanical clinic in City No. 18. I basically helped people install mechanical prosthetic limbs. But after I transmigrated there, I didn't understand anything. When people came in to have mechanical limbs installed, all I could tell them was that I was out of stock."
Qing Chen nodded. This kind of technical skill really could not be learned in just two days.
"Then your arms..." he asked.
"I already had mechanical prosthetic limbs when I arrived there, so they came back with me when I returned," Jiang Xue answered.
Qing Chen asked again, "I saw Prison No. 18 mentioned in a transmigrator's introduction. Where is it?"
"On the outskirts of City No. 18," Jiang Xue said. "That prison is pretty famous. It seems to be specifically for serious criminals and is the highest-security prison in the Federation."
"A federal system?" Qing Chen hesitated. "What else do you know, Auntie Jiang Xue?"
"I've only been there for two days myself. I haven't figured anything out yet." Jiang Xue shook her head.
At that moment, Li Tongyun, the little girl beside them, asked, "Mom, what is your clinic called?"
"It's called Jiang Xue Mechanical Limb Clinic," Jiang Xue replied. "Why are you asking?"
"Just asking," Li Tongyun said as she shoveled soy sauce fried rice into her mouth.
Qing Chen remembered the name, though he probably had no ability to help her right now.
To help, he would need to go through Lu Guangyi or Li Shutong. But how could he explain how he knew Jiang Xue?
He still did not know how people in the Inner World treated transmigrators. If Jiang Xue were exposed, wouldn't he be discovered too?
He should wait a little longer. For now, Jiang Xue did not seem to be in any immediate danger.
Jiang Xue looked at Qing Chen. "Why are you so curious about the Inner World?"
"I want to transmigrate there and take a look too." Qing Chen smiled. "I'm quite envious of you transmigrators."
Jiang Xue shook her head. "That world is dangerous. Basically, aside from people from the Li family, Chen family, Qing family, Kannagi, and Kashima Group, everyone else lives in terrible conditions every day. It's not as good as the Outer World."
Qing Chen thought, I'm from the Qing family, but I'm living in terrible conditions too.
He asked, "What are you planning to do next?"
"I want to take Xiaoyun to stay with her grandmother in Zheng City for a while. We'll leave tomorrow, and then I'll come back and divorce Xiaoyun's father," Jiang Xue said.
Qing Chen suddenly thought of something and reminded her, "Then buy the tickets first. Lots of people travel to Zheng City every day, so tickets are hard to get."
Jiang Xue did not think much of it and directly used an app on her phone to buy a ticket to Zheng City. The payment went through, but when the ticket was being issued, it showed that issuance had failed!
Just as expected.
Qing Chen fell into thought. When he heard that they had told Jiang Xue not to leave Luo City without imposing any visible restrictions, he had guessed they might have other methods.
The mysterious organization had photographed Jiang Xue's ID card, perhaps precisely to restrict her travel.
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