Qing Yi

Return countdown: 95:00:00.

Midnight in City No. 18, 1 a. m.

Section 4, the Unending Club.

This place should have been a very lively and bustling place, but now the floor looks like it has just been stained with blood.

Outside the door, a dozen people stood quietly, cloaked in their robes. The girl in the lead had a docile Six-Eyed Crow perched on her shoulder.

The girl frowned as she looked at the blood seeping through the crack in the door. She took a small hawthorn out of her pocket and placed it near the crow's beak.

The crow lowered its head and began pecking at the hawthorns. After only two pecks, it was so sour that it closed three of its eyes.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief and said to her companions behind her, "Only B-Class died today, so it should be easy to contain them. Everyone, let's hurry up and finish as soon as possible. I heard that a new restaurant called Kamishiro Cuisine opened in District 5. Their sukiyaki is delicious. I'll treat everyone to it after we finish! However, it closes at 4 a. m., so I don't know if we'll make it in time."

The men and women behind her exchanged glances, smiles playing on their lips. "It's rare for us to be treating each other in April, so let's all wrap up before closing time!"

As soon as he finished speaking, more than ten people pushed open the door and entered the Unending Club. The moment they opened the door, a stench of blood hit them.

But the group from the Tribunal of Taboos remained calm and chatted as if they were used to this kind of scene.

At the bar, Li Dongze sat on a high bar stool, combed his hair back into a short braid, and then downed the amber-colored liquor in one gulp...

He looked up at the Tribunal of Taboos: "Haven't been here for March?"

April looked around and said, "This is all minor; my sister doesn't need to come. By the way, next time you make a scene, could you please not make it so bloody? My newly bought shoes are all dirty."

Li Dongze thought for a moment and said, "There won't be a next time in City No. 18. As for the shoes... Heng Society can compensate you."

"Get to work," April waved to her companions behind her, then turned to Li Dongze: "Are you bleeding? If you have any blood dripping anywhere, be sure to tell me in advance, I need to treat it carefully."

But then the members of the Tribunal of Taboos, who were wearing cloaks, took off their cloaks and took out small bags from their waists, pouring an unknown powder onto the floor.

Soon, the powder dispersed as if it were alive, seeping into the nearby ground.

"I didn't bleed," Li Dongze shook his head. "By the way, what has your sister been busy with lately?"

"Why are you always concerned about my sister?" April became wary.

"It's nothing," Li Dongze straightened his trench coat and walked out of the Unending Club.

A car was already waiting at the entrance, and he sat in the back seat, quietly contemplating something.

The driver asked in a low voice, "Boss, after the Hesheng Society escaped, they were taken to the nearby Fourth District Public Hospital. Should we go and chop them up?"

"No need," Li Dongze said after thinking for a moment, "Tonight's commotion has already been big enough."

He took out his phone and sent a message to Yi: "Is everything going well with the young boss?"

One reply, "Successfully."

Li Dongze sent another message: "When will he take over Heng Society?"

Two seconds later, he replied, "I guess he doesn't want to take over Heng Society."

Li Dongze frowned in the car. "If he's unwilling to take it on, how am I supposed to leave?"

Yi countered with a question, "If you leave, what will happen to your subordinates? Will they face encroachment from other forces?"

Li Dongze put down his phone, gently rolled down the car window, and lit a cigarette.

The tip of the cigarette was scorched by the flame, and the tobacco curled up, making a hissing sound, looking somewhat lonely.

Li Shutong has already embarked on a long journey with Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan. Many people envy Li Dongze's prominence, but for him, what he wants most is not to possess this empty power, but to wander the world with his boss.

Now, Heng Society has become a shackle on Li Dongze, leaving him nowhere to escape.

When the boss was still in Prison No. 18, he didn't feel it so clearly. But now that he's all alone, the loneliness is like the sky above Prison No. 18 right now, torn apart by towering steel and concrete buildings.

Li Dongze thought for a moment and took out his phone again to send a message to Yi: "Tell the boss that I helped him, so he should help me too."

Li Dongze drank a glass of wine at the Unending Club and smoked a cigarette at the entrance, but in the end, the conglomerate's siege did not come.

It seems that as long as Li Shutong is alive, no one dares to break off relations over such a trivial matter.

At this moment, he took out the old pocket watch that he always wore around his neck and opened the golden cover.

However, beneath the pocket watch cover was not the hands and movement, but a deep darkness like a cosmic black hole. The moment it was opened, it seemed as if even the light around the pocket watch was sucked in.

Gradually, something appeared in the darkness, like stars twinkling or snowflakes dancing in the air.

Li Dongze frowned. "Why is it going to snow again?"

In the cold weather, he would exhale white breath when he spoke. The dazzling holographic neon lights in the Fourth District were not afraid of the cold at all, and huge goldfish in the sky were still dragging their long tails.

In fact, not all Forbidden Item are extremely dangerous; for example, someone's pocket watch can only show the weather 24 hours later.

Sometimes Li Dongze felt he should become a farmer because he could accurately harvest wheat before it rained and then not tell his neighbors the weather forecast.

He could sit under the eaves in the rain and watch his neighbors' disheveled appearance.

"Excuse me, excuse me."

At the ward entrance in the morning, a middle-aged man greeted us with a forced smile, "Excuse me, are there any disabled people in this ward? We offer professional prosthetic limb installation and sell bionic organs. Does anyone need anything?"

Qing Chen stared at the middle-aged man for a moment, then looked at the doctors and nurses coming and going in the corridor. It seemed that no one intended to come out and do anything about it.

Outside the door, Xiao Ying, who had just finished using the restroom, pulled the middle-aged man aside. "Get lost! Nobody needs your inferior mechanical limbs and bionic organs. We're all fine, and our organs are fine too!"

But then the middle-aged man chuckled and asked, "So, are you selling your organs...?"

Qing Chen was shocked. Are all business people in the Inner World so unconventional?

At this moment, Xiao Ying approached Qing Chen and, taking advantage of the fact that no one was in the ward, asked, "Um... can I join your organization?"

Qing Chen was silent for a moment. "Actually, we already belong to the same organization. When I returned last time, I joined Kunlun."

It would have been better if this hadn't been brought up, because once it was, Xiao Ying was both amused and exasperated. "You joined both Kunlun and Jiuzhou at the same time, does that count as joining... Seriously, I want to join you guys and experience the organizational culture."

Qing Chen asked in confusion, "You also want to report your father?"

The Xiao Ying was stunned. "What is all this about?"

The organizational culture that the two people are talking about is completely different!

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Qing Chen looked up and was surprised to see that Li Changqing had already arrived at the door.

The Xiao Ying quickly stepped aside and stood obediently.

Li Changqing sat down by Qing Chen's bedside with a smile, gently lifted the gauze on his forehead, and found that the bleeding had stopped, which put her at ease.

Qing Chen suddenly turned to look at Xiao Ying and saw the envious look in Xiao Ying's eyes. Only then did he understand what Xiao Ying meant by organizational culture.

This is a huge misunderstanding!

However, Qing Chen's attention was drawn to another person at this moment. His peripheral vision passed over Li Changqing's shoulder and he was surprised to see that one of the Shadow Candidate, "Qing Yi," was also standing at the door.

The boy was thin and frail. According to Lin Xiaoxiao's profile, he was only 14 years old. He looked harmless and had a cute watermelon-shaped haircut.

As Li Changqing peeled an apple for Qing Chen, he said with a smile, "You see how much I care about you? Today, my cousin's son came to visit the Banshan Manor, and I came to see you first."

Qing Chen suddenly realized that this Qing Yi actually had intricate connections with the Li family.

Li Shutong had said earlier that conglomerates are deeply intertwined and that marriage alliances are commonplace.

It seems that Qing Yi is half-Li, which may give him an advantage in the Shadow Struggle.

Qing Yi stood at the door and smiled brightly at Qing Chen, saying, "Hello, Uncle."

Qing Chen then realized that, judging from how outsiders perceived the relationships between the candidates, had he already become the elder of all of them?

He was analyzing Qing Yi, but found that all the other person did was laugh, and he couldn't tell what other emotions he had.

Li Changqing stuffed the peeled apple into Qing Chen's hand. Qing Chen took a bite but suddenly remembered that someone had given him apples in the wilderness before.

However, for Li Changqing, the apples were merely a gift to comfort the patient, while for the little girl in the wilderness, that bag of apples was all she had.

The apples Xiaoyi gave me tasted better.

Qing Chen made a judgment in his mind.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for his days in the wilderness, when he was carefree and unrestrained.

Oh, right, Xiao Yiyi said there were delicious persimmons at the place where the Kamishiro Family was encamped, but he hasn't had any yet.

Qing Yi walked to the bedside and said kindly, "Uncle, I wish you a speedy recovery."

Qing Chen looked at Qing Yi and said with a smile, "Nice to meet you... Did you bring any gifts for your uncle?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ying exclaimed that he was an expert; it was the first time he had ever seen someone shamelessly ask a junior for a gift.

For a split second, the smile in Qing Yi's eyes froze. The next moment, he smiled and said to Qing Chen, "I came in a hurry this time, so I was unprepared. Please forgive me, Uncle."

"It's alright," Qing Chen smiled, "Remember to bring it next time."

Qing Yi's expression kept replaying in his mind, and he was certain that beneath that youthful and radiant exterior, there must be a complex soul hidden.

At this moment, Li Changqing looked at Qing Chen and said, "The doctor said you're ready to be discharged. Why don't you come back to the Banshan Manor with me?"

Qing Chen thought for a moment, "I think I need to get checked out again..."

He still had to pick up "Conquer by Virtue" three days later, so he definitely couldn't return to the Banshan Manor at that time.

Let me explain. "After eating" means I'll continue writing, not that I have a draft but won't publish it... I really don't have any drafts left. That video Qidian ruined my chances!

Thank you to Liu Wogua and Lz_ for becoming new patrons of this book! You're both so generous! May you stay young forever!