Restricted Travel

"Are you alright?" Qing Chen asked the woman standing outside the door.

This was the first time he had really taken a good look at her. Every time they had met before, it had been in a hurry, and the woman, due to domestic violence, had deliberately avoided other men, even Qing Chen, who was just a high school student.

This must have been a scar left by the domestic violence.

At this moment, the woman's palms and arms had been replaced by mechanical limbs. Qing Chen noticed that her mechanical limbs were more aesthetically pleasing than those of most prisoners in Prison No. 18, with smooth, elegant lines that were nevertheless filled with the beauty of strength.

If not for the long sleeves covering them, they would probably have looked even better.

It had to be said that the woman was indeed beautiful. Although there were some fine lines around her eyes, they only added to her charm, and couldn't hide her gentle demeanor.

The woman looked at Qing Chen and said somewhat sheepishly, "I didn't expect to cause you trouble again."

"It's fine," Qing Chen shook his head. "I was just about to cook for Li Tongyun. I like her very much."

The woman nodded and said to Li Tongyun, "Let's go, Xiao Yun, go home with Mom."

Li Tongyun said pitifully, "I'm still hungry. The house has been trashed by the two of you. There's nothing to eat when we get back."

The woman was a little angry when she heard this. "Be good, don't cause trouble for others anymore!"

However, Qing Chen suddenly said, "I just heard Xiao Yun say you haven't eaten yet. Why don't you come home and have a meal with us?"

The woman and Li Tongyun were both stunned. Although Qing Chen had helped them before, he had never actively shown such enthusiasm.

He seemed very afraid of getting into trouble.

"I also want to know something about transmigration," Qing Chen explained. "So I wanted to ask... uh, what should I call you?"

"My name is Jiang Xue," the woman replied.

"Um, I just want to ask Aunt Jiang Xue about the Inner World," Qing Chen said. "Is it okay to talk about it?"

To be honest, Jiang Xue was only twelve years older than Qing Chen, so calling her Aunt made her sound a bit old, but he had known Li Tongyun first, so he could only address her this way now.

"There's nothing inconvenient about it," Jiang Xue said. "You can ask me anytime, and I'll tell you. I won't trouble you now. I'll go home and tidy things up, then I can cook for Xiao Yun."

"Mom, let's just eat at brother's house," Li Tongyun said in a low voice.

Jiang Xue sighed as she looked at Xiao Yun's pleading expression. "Then I'm really sorry to trouble you."

From beginning to end, the woman had a look of embarrassment on her face. Qing Chen could feel her sincere guilt.

With such a personality, could she really survive well in the fierce world of the Inner World?

Qing Chen suppressed his curiosity. It wasn't until he served the soy sauce fried rice that he casually asked, "I saw the police come to handle the case. What did they say?"

Jiang Xue replied, "The neighbors helped me explain the situation. They were going to take me back, but considering I have a daughter and it was self-defense, they let me stay. They said they would notify me if anything came up."

At this point, Qing Chen asked what he wanted to know most: "I saw two more people arrive later. What were they doing?"

"I'm not sure what they were doing," Jiang Xue shook her head. "They spoke with the police officers to understand the situation, then had me fill out a form, and took two photos of my ID card before leaving."

Qing Chen was stunned for a moment. "That's it?"

"Oh, they also said they might look for me in the future and asked me not to leave Luocheng recently, but they didn't say why," Jiang Xue replied.

"The police didn't bother them?" Qing Chen asked curiously.

"They seemed to have shown the police officers some identification," Jiang Xue explained. "I'm not too clear on the specifics, but they didn't bother them."

This gave Qing Chen a preliminary understanding of those people:

First, they didn't arrest every Transmigrator they saw.

Second, they had official documents.

Regardless, at least they weren't as insane as he had imagined, which put Qing Chen's mind at ease.

Suddenly, Qing Chen said to Jiang Xue, "Aunt Jiang Xue, what is your identity in the Inner World?"

The name "Inner World" had gradually spread after He Xiaoxiao made her guide.

It was the generally accepted name for that transmigration world.

Jiang Xue replied, "I run a mechanical clinic in City No. 18. Basically, I help people install mechanical prosthetics. But when I transmigrated, I didn't know anything. When someone came to install mechanical limbs, I could only say I was out of stock."

Qing Chen nodded. Such technical work indeed couldn't be mastered in just a couple of days.

"Then your arms..." he asked.

"I already had mechanical prosthetics when I went over, and they came back with me when I returned," Jiang Xue replied.

Qing Chen asked again, "I saw Prison No. 18 in a Transmigrator's introduction. Where is this place?"

"It's on the outskirts of City No. 18," Jiang Xue said. "This prison is quite famous. It seems to be a place specifically for detaining serious offenders, and it's the highest-security prison in the Federation."

"The Federation system?" Qing Chen hesitated. "Does Aunt Jiang Xue know anything else?"

"I only transmigrated two days ago, so I haven't figured anything out yet," Jiang Xue shook her head.

At this moment, the little girl Li Tongyun asked, "Mom, what's your clinic called?"

"It's called Jiang Xue Mechanical Limb Clinic," Jiang Xue replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Just asking," Li Tongyun said as she dug into the soy sauce fried rice.

Qing Chen noted down the name, but he probably didn't have the ability to help her at the moment.

If I'm going to help, I'll have to go through Lu Guangyi or Li Shutong, but how should I explain how I know Jiang Xue?

He wasn't sure yet how people in the Inner World would treat Transmigrators. If Jiang Xue were exposed, wouldn't he be discovered too?

He'd wait a bit longer. For now, it seemed Jiang Xue wasn't in any immediate danger.

Jiang Xue looked at Qing Chen. "Why are you so curious about the Inner World?"

"I'd really like to transmigrate and see it for myself," Qing Chen said with a smile. "I'm quite envious of you Transmigrators."

Jiang Xue shook her head. "That world is very dangerous. Basically, apart from people from the Li Clan, Chen Clan, Qing Clan, Kannagi, and Kashima Group, everyone else lives in dire straits every day. It's not as good as the Outer World."

Qing Chen thought to himself that he was from the Qing Clan, but he also lived in dire straits.

He asked, "What are your plans now?"

"I want to take Xiao Yun to her maternal grandmother's house in Zhengcheng for a while. We'll leave tomorrow, and then I'll come back and divorce Xiao Yun's father," Jiang Xue said.

Qing Chen suddenly remembered something and reminded her, "Then let's buy tickets first. Many people travel to Zhengcheng every day, so it's hard to get tickets."

Jiang Xue didn't think too much about it and directly used a mobile app to buy a ticket to Zhengcheng. The payment was successful, but when it came time to issue the ticket, it showed a failure!

Just as he expected.

Qing Chen fell into thought. When he heard that they wouldn't let Jiang Xue leave Luocheng but saw no restrictive measures, he guessed there might be other means.

Perhaps the mysterious organization took a photo of Jiang Xue's ID card to restrict her travel.