Daybreak Sends Its Greetings

Faced with Huan Yu's threat, can Qing Chen leave?

Of course you can.

Using the Forbidden Item ACE-005 to change his face, he arrived at the high-speed rail station. He didn't believe that Huan Yu was bold enough to ambush him in such a crowded place.

But he didn't want to leave.

He didn't want to leave because he had been watching the weather forecast closely. Starting tonight, the temperature in the entire area north of the Yellow River would drop to below zero.

We might even see the Outer World's first heavy snowfall of winter.

This means that the place most suitable for him to complete the "Ultimate Trust" will freeze over starting tonight.

Then it won't start thawing until next spring.

If one were to dive from a height of 70 meters backwards, the slightest mistake could result in a near-fatal outcome.

Once the lake freezes over, this Life and Death Trial becomes a thing of the past.

Qing Chen also tried searching other places to see if there were any suitable options in the south...

The answer is no. The terrain there was completely different from the terrain he had always trained on; the height was either less than 70 meters or as high as 93 meters.

Therefore, if he wants to complete the Life and Death Trial challenge within 7 days and then return to the Inner World at a D-Class- level, then he needs to...

Tonight, he must take the plunge.

Although tonight is dangerous, who says he's the one who's in danger tonight?

For Qing Chen, some things are very simple. Since there is only one path in front of you, all you can do is clear away all the obstacles on that path.

He slowly lay down on the hotel bed, closed his eyes, and calmly fell from a height of 70 meters again and again.

The feeling of weightlessness from falling vertically can be quite dizzying.

But it's exhilarating.

In the evening, the students gathered in Tian Hailong's room for their final preparations.

Qing Chen was the only one not present.

Tian Hailong said with some regret, "Actually, we teachers can't keep up with the pace of many of the competitions you participate in, so there's not much we can do to tutor you this last afternoon."

In fact, what Tian Hailong is saying is a common situation: those teachers who are best at the Olympiad are either in the best super high schools or in private training schools.

It's definitely not enough to rely solely on teachers from ordinary public schools to participate in competitions.

Xu Zimo suddenly said, "Teacher Tian, could Qing Chen explain the problem to us?"

The other students glanced at Xu Zimo with surprise. They hadn't paid much attention to Qing Chen, so they just thought Xu Zimo was being a bit exaggerated.

Although there are legends about Qing Chen in the school, if even the teachers can't tutor him, what's the point of having students tutor each other?

Seeing the skeptical looks around her, Xu Zimo hesitated for a moment before saying, "It will definitely be useful. You don't know Qing Chen very well. He's even better at studying than you think, right, Teacher Tian? Otherwise, the school wouldn't have insisted on having him participate in this competition. I know that the school is really looking forward to him this time."

Tian Hailong smiled and said, "I had the same thought as you, but I asked him at noon and he said he didn't have time. Come on, take the buffet vouchers I'll give you. We'll have dinner on the second floor of the hotel."

When they arrived at the second-floor buffet restaurant, they found Qing Chen sitting there staring at a map of Xiancheng. They wondered where he had bought the map.

Qing Chen looked up at Tian Hailong and the other three.

The students wanted to greet him, but Qing Chen had already lowered his head again, as if he didn't recognize them at all.

This scene made the students a little embarrassed, so much so that Wang Jiale reluctantly lowered his arm, which was about to wave.

"Has Qing Chen always been this aloof?" Wang Jiale wondered. He had heard of Qing Chen, but the rumors said that although he was aloof, he wasn't this aloof.

Xia Xiaoran pouted and went to get a plate to serve herself.

A short while later, Tian Hailong, Wang Jiale, Xia Xiaoran and others sat at one table, while Qing Chen sat at a separate table.

Xia Xiaoran muttered, "It's like we didn't all come together... Xu Zimo, is he deliberately avoiding you? I heard that you went to his classroom a few days ago to ask him a question, and he made things very awkward for you."

Xu Zimo thought for a moment, then looked at Xia Xiaoran and said, "No, it's not that. It's my own problem. Qing Chen is acting a bit strange today. I think it's because he's about to participate in the competition, so he's a little nervous."

Xia Xiaoran picked at the broccoli on her plate. "Still speaking up for him... Never mind, let's not talk about Qing Chen anymore. You've all heard about what happened on Xingshu Road a few days ago, right? Someone tried to kidnap Nan Gengchen, but the boss of the organization Nan Gengchen belongs to crushed them with a sniper rifle."

What Xia Xiaoran didn't know was that although she kept saying she wouldn't talk about Qing Chen anymore, she still ended up talking about Qing Chen.

Xu Zimo also knew about this, or rather, everyone at Luocheng Foreign Language School knew about it, because it happened when the students were leaving school.

Xia Xiaoran: "Why didn't we become Time Walker? Compared to studying, it seems like becoming Time Walker is more interesting."

Tian Hailong laughed and said, "If you're going to say something like that, at least try to avoid mentioning the school teachers. You're in the top ten of your grade; studying hard is the most important thing for you."

As they were talking, Qing Chen walked out of the restaurant as if he had already finished eating, without looking to the side.

Xu Zimo watched his retreating figure, then suddenly said to the other classmates, "I'm full too. You guys continue eating. I'm going back to my room first."

She followed Qing Chen to the elevator, only to find that Qing Chen had already gone up to the fifth floor; they all lived on the fifth floor.

Xu Zimo stepped into the elevator, but the moment she stepped out, someone covered her mouth from the side of the elevator and dragged her little by little into the emergency exit next to the elevator.

The girl was terrified, but no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free from the arms and hands that were locking her up.

"Shhh."

Xu Zimo recognized the voice. When the hand covering her mouth loosened slightly, the girl had a chance to turn around and see Qing Chen's face in the dim light of the emergency exit.

However, Qing Chen did not look at her, but was silently lost in thought.

Xu Zimo noticed that the boy seemed to be always thinking, never stopping.

The next moment, footsteps came from the stairwell below the emergency exit.

Who would have the time to take the stairs instead of using the elevator?

On the other side, the G3171 high-speed train from Los Angeles to Xiancheng Station slowly came to a stop.

Liu Dezhu skipped class without taking any luggage and hurriedly walked out.

The crowd slowly poured out of the station, and Liu Dezhu looked particularly hurried.

Unbeknownst to anyone, within this crowded scene, two young men wearing Bluetooth headsets had their eyes fixed intently on Liu Dezhu's back.

As dusk faded, the sky was shrouded in dark clouds, obscuring the moon.

"Target number 2 has arrived at Xiancheng Station and is exiting the station. Boss, he is very likely going to the hotel to meet up with target number 1," a young man said.

Laughter came through the Bluetooth headset. "They've taken the bait. Keep a close eye on him. Wherever he goes, you go. Today we'll stage a siege and ambush the reinforcements. Not only will Qing Chen die, but Liu Dezhu and their boss will also die."

"Received. But boss, the strength of target number 2 is unknown. Based on the last observation, it seems to have awakened the fire element. The two of us may not be able to handle it," the young man said.

A voice came through the Bluetooth headset. "Don't worry, there are still experts on their way. They're very close to Xiancheng Station, Liu Dezhu can't escape. You two just need to stick close to him. Tonight, I've prepared a big gift for them."

"Received," the young man said, exchanging glances with another companion who had come from Los Angeles. The two of them silently followed behind Liu Dezhu.

Just then, an unfamiliar voice came through the Bluetooth headset. "Boss, what do we do about their organization's snipers? This is proving difficult to handle."

"Don't worry," someone said through the Bluetooth headset, "We chose this time for their rescue so they could arrive by high-speed rail; other modes of transportation wouldn't be fast enough. And since they're taking the high-speed rail, how could an anti-materiel sniper rifle possibly get past security?"

However, at that moment, Liu Dezhu suddenly stopped at the exit of Xiancheng Station and remained motionless.

He didn't move, and neither did the two young men behind him.

The three of them remained locked in this stalemate, like three statues amidst the constant flow of passengers.

Passengers scurried around them as they passed, much like a river encountering a rock in its bed.

There seemed to be a strange force field between the three of them, controlling the surging crowd at the exit.

"Boss, target number 2 has stopped moving. He might be waiting for someone, or he might have spotted us," a young man said softly.

"Observe first," a voice came through the Bluetooth headset. "Pay attention to whether anyone around you makes eye contact or talks to Target Number 2. Regardless of what they look like, they could be his accomplices. To avoid being discovered, his accomplices may not be in the same car."

Time passed slowly, but Liu Dezhu just stood there silently, not looking at his phone, not talking to anyone, and doing nothing.

Gradually, the young man responsible for tracking Liu Dezhu began to feel something was amiss. "Boss, I think something's strange. It seems like Liu Dezhu isn't planning on leaving the station."

"Wait, your support team outside Xiancheng Station has arrived," someone whispered in the Bluetooth headset.

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Dezhu suddenly turned around and walked towards the two young men behind him.

From the moment Liu Dezhu stood still until he turned around, it was exactly 31 minutes into Qing Chen's journey to the Vienna Hotel.

"Boss, it seems Liu Dezhu has spotted us," the young man said, his muscles tensing as if facing a formidable enemy.

However, Liu Dezhu did not make a move when he passed by the two men. He simply brushed past them as if nothing had happened, saying, "Greetings to everyone during the day."

After saying that, Liu Dezhu turned around and re-entered the station without looking back, swiped his ID card and boarded another high-speed train back to Luocheng.

"Boss, Liu Dezhu has returned to Luocheng. He boarded the G2206 high-speed train," the young man said urgently.

"You went back?" The boss on the phone seemed a little surprised. "Why did you go back?"

"It's true," another young man said. "G2206 is now running, and he has indeed gone back."

"Did he do something strange?" the boss asked.

He said... He greeted everyone during the day.

In the Bluetooth headset, the boss was silent for half a minute. "A diversionary tactic. Liu Dezhu came to Xiancheng just to lure our people, whom we had placed near the Vienna Hotel, to the high-speed rail station, helping Qing Chen escape. The timing was also very precise; Liu Dezhu went back as soon as our people arrived."

Standing before a French window, a gaunt figure gave a pale laugh, "Daylight? Is your organization called Daylight? So, is the boss of Daylight also in Xiancheng? You probably haven't gone back, have you? Interesting."

Inside the emergency exit of the Vienna Hotel.

In the dim light, the footsteps downstairs stopped on the third floor.

The footsteps stopped for as long as Qing Chen covered Xu Zimo's mouth again.

Xu Zimo blinked in the darkness, staring intently at Qing Chen in front of her. She didn't know what he was waiting for or what he was going to do.

The girl just felt that everything that happened tonight seemed quite different from her past school life.

It's like tapping a wall with a wand in a bar, causing the wall to crack open, revealing a magical world on the other side—Diagon Alley.

This girl, who had only known how to study for the first seventeen years of her life, was pinned against the wall, her heart pounding, and the white breath she exhaled from her narrow nostrils condensed into dewdrops between Qing Chen's fingers.

Xu Zimo knew that when those footsteps sounded again, she would witness something she had never experienced before in her life.

But for some reason, she wasn't afraid at all.

I don't know how much time had passed, but the footsteps on the third floor sounded again. The sound of leather shoes clattering on the steps was particularly abrupt in the empty emergency passage.

At this moment, Qing Chen also moved.

The boy put his index finger to his lips to signal Xu Zimo to be quiet, then turned and went downstairs to greet her, his footsteps silent.

The next moment, the person going upstairs and the boy going downstairs met on the 4th floor.

The other party had no idea that anyone would appear here!

The assassin tried to pull the gun from under his arm, but he knew it was too late.

The moment Qing Chen appeared, the boy's figure moved with lightning speed, like a ghost.

Qing Chen pounced down the stairs, carrying immense speed and momentum. The person going upstairs had barely seen the boy when they heard the whistling wind rushing towards them.

In an instant, the boy, like a train, slammed the assassin against the wall.

With a loud bang, the assassin felt as if his internal organs had been shattered.

Qing Chen was the first to get up and kneel on the ground. He pulled out a silver-white dinner knife from his palm and viciously stabbed it into the assassin's spleen.

The assassin lay on the ground, facing Qing Chen who was about to stab him with a knife, his hands crossed over his abdomen, desperately trying to block Qing Chen's downward force.

However, he suddenly realized that no matter how hard he tried, the knife was still falling slowly.

Finally, the knife tip pierced his clothes, broke through his skin, and penetrated his spleen, causing blood to gush out like a pump.

"Don't shout," Qing Chen said calmly, releasing his grip on the knife.

He wasn't speaking to the assassin, but to Xu Zimo, who was following behind him.

The girl stood at the top of the stairs, watching this scene in astonishment, and then saw Qing Chen pull a silenced pistol from under the assassin's arm.

At that moment, she understood everything: it was impossible for an ordinary person to carry a silenced pistol.

"You..." Xu Zimo said, "Do you need me to find someone to help you?"

"No need, thank you," Qing Chen said.

Xu Zimo pursed her lips again, and those four words came out once more.

She stared at the bloody scene before her, at the boy standing beside the killer's corpse, and was shocked like never before.

So this is the origin of the sense of alienation, because they really are not from the same world.

They were separated by thirteen steps, as if separated by a vast, insurmountable river.

Qing Chen glanced at the corpse on the ground and said to Xu Zimo, "Go up this staircase to the second floor, then take Teacher Tian and the others to the bar in the lobby. Don't wander around; there will be people secretly protecting you there."

As he spoke, Qing Chen walked up the stairs, brushed past Xu Zimo, and went back upstairs.

"Where... where are you going?" Xu Zimo tugged at Qing Chen's sleeve. "I'm a little scared."

"Fear is a useless emotion. Do as I say," Qing Chen said. "There should still be someone in our room on the fifth floor. They came upstairs because they found out I hadn't returned to my room."

"Are you alright?" Xu Zimo asked worriedly.

Qing Chen glanced at the girl. "No."

It won't happen for at least 30 minutes.

With that, he left the emergency exit and walked down the corridor.

Xu Zimo mustered his courage and went down, but then he heard footsteps running up from below.

Before Xu Zimo could react, a young man had already arrived on the fourth floor. He glanced at the corpse in the stairwell, then at the pale-faced girl, and explained with a smile, "Hello, Kunlun Xiao Ying, I'm here to help Qing Chen clean up the mess."

"Huh? Kunlun?" Xu Zimo wasn't Time Walker, but she had heard of Kunlun. When she heard Xiao Ying say that she would help Qing Chen clean up the mess, her first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief. It turned out that Qing Chen was on the side of the good guys.

However, the girl still confirmed, "Qing Chen is a good person, right?"

Xiao Ying paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I guess so."

"Um, he's in danger right now. Do you want to go help him?" Xu Zimo said.

Xiao Ying thought for a moment, "I don't think so. He's so capable, he doesn't need my help. Besides, Kunlun has other operations tonight, and I'm the only one who can spare the time. I can't be of much help. Could you please go down and call the classmates to go to the bar? I'll come find you after I've taken care of things here. But try not to tell them what happened, especially anything related to Qing Chen."

The Kunlun operation that Xiao Ying mentioned refers to the illegal entry incident involving the Kashima Time Walker.

Huan Yu chose to make her move today, probably because she knew that Kunlun would be too busy to deal with other matters tonight.

"Okay, I'll go and inform the teachers and classmates now," Xu Zimo said as she ran downstairs.

As she ran down the stairs, Qing Chen's figure kept flashing through her mind, along with the warm palm of his when he covered her mouth.

At this moment, Qing Chen stood in his room, looking at the corpse lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest, the muzzle of the gun in his hand still emitting bluish smoke.

This is another assassin lurking in the hotel.

He gently removed the other person's earpiece and pressed the call button, "Your man is dead."

Huan Yu chuckled softly into the earpiece, "Just as I suspected, Liu Dezhu just left and you made your move at the Vienna Hotel. By the way, is your boss already in Xiancheng? Tell him for me that tonight, the game has only just begun."

Qing Chen calmly replied, "I'll accompany you to the end during the day."

A chapter of 5,000 words, two chapters totaling 10,000 words, one chapter for the Tencent boss, and another chapter to repay.

Thank you CangcangTNT for becoming a new ally of this book. Boss is so generous, and your phone is always charged!