A Massive Public Humiliation

Qing Chen thought to himself, "So there are people in conglomerates who are indifferent to worldly affairs?"

Although the other party has no reason to lie to their future partner, he still has doubts.

At this moment, the woman behind the bar had stopped everything and was keeping a close eye on this side, in case anything happened to Qing Shi.

Qing Chen then asked, "So, who do you think has the best chance in this Shadow Struggle?"

"Qing Wen and Qing Zhong," the girl with twin ponytails thought for a moment and smiled. "Everyone is optimistic about them now. Qing Yuan was forced to support Qing Zhong in the second round because he didn't get the Forbidden Item. Qing Xing, he didn't get the Forbidden Item either, so he and the youngest Qing Yi chose to support Qing Wen. Currently, only Qing Wu and I haven't made a decision yet. Qing Wu seems to still have ambitions."

Qing Chen suddenly realized that the candidates had already started to choose sides.

Qing Wen is from the First Branch of the Qing family, Qing Zhong is from the Second Branch. These two seem to be the frontrunners.

Moreover, this reveals a very important piece of information: Qing Yuan and Qing Xing did not obtain the Forbidden Item in the first round, so they can only be subordinates to others in the second round!

But Qing Shi continued with a laugh, "However, taking sides now may not be real. For example, Qing Yuan has always been very ambitious. Maybe he's deliberately saying he didn't get the Forbidden Item and wants to use Qing Zhong as a shield. That's what my dad told me."

Yes, in this Shadow Struggle, it's likely that no one will reveal their true colors until the very last moment.

Because none of those who survived to the second round were easy to deal with.

Perhaps Qing Shi is not as simple as the other party claims.

The girl spoke so frankly, revealing so much information, that she probably didn't expect the person sitting opposite her to be another Shadow Candidate.

It's also possible that Qing Shi had long harbored the intention to use him? Qing Chen became wary.

"It must be very tough for a young girl like you to participate in this kind of Shadow Struggle," Qing Chen asked casually.

"It's alright," Qing Shi said with a smile. "Everyone knows I don't want to compete, so they haven't made things difficult for me. Their attention is mainly focused on Qing Wen, Qing Zhong, and Qing Wu. By the way, let me tell you something that the outside media doesn't know: Qing Wen actually has two Forbidden Item, more than any of us."

"Did someone help him cheat?" Qing Chen asked curiously. "I saw in the media that Shadow Candidate aren't allowed to bring Forbidden Item, right? They have to obtain them themselves through missions?"

It turns out that when the Chuang Wang said that one of the candidates possessed two Forbidden Item, he was referring to Qing Wen!

Qing Chen suddenly became interested in Qing Wen.

Very interested.

Qing Shi explained, "It wasn't that someone helped Qing Wen cheat, but rather that the youngest, Qing Yi, felt powerless to compete for the Shadow, so he gave the Forbidden Item he had obtained to Qing Wen in exchange for Qing Wen's protection. The Forbidden Item Qing Yi gave him was ACE-090 'The Immortal Brooch,' which is supposed to prolong life if inserted into the body when one is near death."

Qing Chen thought to himself, "These Shadow Candidate really have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. They even managed to give Forbidden Item to others."

But Qing Yi is no simpleton either. He gave the Forbidden Item to Qing Wen, but let others know the function of the Forbidden Item so that everyone could guard against Qing Wen's trump card.

Regardless of whether today's meeting was successful, Qing Chen at least obtained a lot of useful information from Qing Shi, much more detailed than Chuang Wang provided.

Only at this moment did he feel a sense of involvement in the Shadow Struggle.

Candidates without a background or identity can only obtain information from others.

However, Qing Chen did not want to show any particular interest in the Shadow Struggle during their first conversation.

He laughed and said, "Let's not talk about this kind of thing, it's such a downer. Let's talk about poetry instead! Do you remember the poems I wrote?"

He had previously asked Yi to show him the poem, but Yi refused.

Now, surely we can let Qing Shi recite a couple of lines, right? Qing Chen at least knows what level Yi's poetry is at, so let's see the level of artistic creation by Artificial Intelligence.

Qing Shi looked at Qing Chen with sparkling eyes. "Of course I remember, I can recite every single one of your poems, I'll recite them for you..."

"Beep beep beep beep beep!"

Qing Chen's phone, which was lying face down on the table, suddenly rang. He picked it up in confusion but found nothing wrong.

"What's wrong?" Qing Shi asked curiously.

"It's alright, it's alright," Qing Chen said with a smile. "Maybe the phone is broken. Please continue."

"Yes, I love your song 'Heavy Snow' the most. I'll recite it for you now," Qing Shi said with a smile.

"Beep beep beep beep beep beep!"

Qing Chen's phone rang shrilly again, so much so that the woman behind the bar nearby quickly came out, her right hand on the holster at her waist, her eyes fixed on him like those of a hungry wolf.

If Qing Chen makes any wrong move, the woman will probably shoot him immediately.

Qing Chen's mind raced. He had previously guessed that each Shadow Candidate should be protected by a C-Class expert, and this woman should be Qing Shi's C-Class expert.

"I dropped this phone twice before, so it often rings for no reason." He actually knew very well why the phone was ringing—it was because Yi was stopping Qing Shi from reciting poetry, afraid of being killed by the society!

Qing Chen sneered inwardly. So this is what Yi is afraid of!

The woman disguised as a waitress walked up to him and said softly to Qing Shi, "Miss, time's up. We can't talk anymore. Allowing you to meet with outsiders in private is already against the rules. Please don't make things difficult for us."

"Alright," Qing Shi sighed, looking at Qing Chen. "I'm sorry, I have to go, but I'll be staying in City No. 18 for a while longer, so we should be able to meet again."

"Um."

Suddenly, Qing asked shyly, "What's your impression of me?"

"That's good," Qing Chen replied vaguely.

"Then could you give me a poem? You said before that you write poems very quickly, that you can write one in a minute," Qing Shi looked at Qing Chen expectantly.

Holy crap!

Qing Chen was shocked. So Yi had actually boasted about this?

He pretended to be calm and looked at his phone, only to find two words on the screen. "Holy shit."

It seems that even Yi himself did not expect that the Qing Shi would require poems at the last minute.

To be honest, composing a poem on the spot is indeed very simple for Artificial Intelligence.

But it didn't want Qing Chen to see the poem it wrote!

It's really a club to die for!

After hesitating for a moment, Yi sent a message to Qing Chen: Why don't you just compose a poem for her?

Qing Chen calmly said to Qing Shi, "I'll definitely do it next time."

"Cute and Adorable" didn't send a poem, so what does that have to do with Qing Chen?

Qing Shi with some regret, "Okay, then promise me you'll write one next time."

The female bodyguard left with Qing Shi, and Qing Chen sat exhausted in the booth, his head throbbing.

It wasn't until then that Yi sent a message: "You did a terrible job on this deal. You didn't do anything the employer asked you to do, so the employer is very dissatisfied! Also, why didn't you send her a poem at the end?"

Qing Chen stepped out of the car and boarded the hovercar, his face darkening. "What are you unhappy about? I'm not a wandering poet; I can't write poetry!"

"There are so many poems in the Outer World, and you have such a good memory, just pick one and give it to her!" Yi said.

"No way, I can't expose my Time Walker identity because of a lousy poem," Qing Chen said. "Do you still want me to help you meet up in real life next time? Stop talking nonsense. Qing Shi just needs to confirm that you exist in real life. Wasn't this the deal we were talking about in the beginning? You just added this project at the last minute!"

"Alright, that makes sense," Yi said. "The next meeting in person is scheduled for three days from now. After we meet in person in three days, I will give you Liu Dezhu's criminal clearance information and the Outer World concealment program."

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "Are your poems really that shameful?"

"Where do you want to go now?" Yi asked.

What exactly is the content of the poem "Heavy Snow"?

"How about I take you to the Begonia Boxing Gym to watch some boxing?"

How many poems have you written in total?

"Are you ever going to stop?!"

Meanwhile, inside the Qing family's black hovercar, a middle-aged woman sat opposite Qing Shi and calmly said, "Miss, that young man doesn't seem like a so-called collaborator. I feel you're hiding something."

"They're collaborators," Qing Shi said weakly.

"I need to report today's itinerary to your father and then verify the other party's identity. May I ask how you met him, Miss?" the middle-aged woman asked.

Qing Shi got anxious and grabbed the ends of her long pigtails, saying, "If this is how you're going to do it, I'm withdrawing from the Shadow Struggle right now. It's just a small matter, why are you making such a big deal out of it?"

When the middle-aged woman heard her mention withdrawing from the Shadow Struggle, her tone softened slightly. "Miss, we don't necessarily have to win this Shadow Struggle. Your father is worried that you might get hurt in the Shadow Struggle."

Qing Shi thought for a moment and said, "My father went through so much trouble to help me get the first Forbidden Item, so he's not as indifferent to worldly affairs as he claims. Otherwise, what would he be after? If he really cared about my safety, he would have just made me announce my withdrawal. So please don't interfere with even such a small matter, or I will announce my withdrawal from the Shadow Struggle."

"I'm also worried about your safety," the middle-aged woman sighed. "The other candidates are all ruthless. What if they send someone to deliberately approach you? We have to be careful."

"Don't worry, this person won't hurt me!" Qing Shi said confidently. "Although I have some doubts about his identity, I know he won't harm me."

The middle-aged woman was taken aback; she didn't know why Qing Shi was so certain.

"Where do we go next, and what do we do?" Qing Shi asked.

The middle-aged woman glanced at the schedule. "We've arranged to meet Miss Li Yinuo privately tonight at the Begonia Boxing Gym. As part of the plan, you'll be choosing her as your support partner. Currently, among the third generation of the Li family, she seems to have the most upright character, so cooperating with her would be more reassuring. There's also Li Tongyun's quite good, but Li Tongyun's too young."

Qing Shi asked doubtfully, "Li Yinuo is the eldest daughter of the Li family for three generations, right? Would someone of her status be willing to cooperate with someone as insignificant as me?"

"She contacted us first."

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Thank you to Mu Chengnan and Xiao Niu on the hillside for becoming new patrons of this book. Happy New Year to both of you!

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