Seeing Yang Yang Again

Countdown: 103:00:00.

Five o'clock in the evening.

After the convoy left the territory of City No. 18, the roads became rugged and bumpy, and a month later, the roads were still unrepaired.

Fortunately, the old man's SUV had excellent suspension and shock absorption, so bumpy roads weren't a big problem at all.

In contrast, the Freemasons' convoy was different; after only forty kilometers, some people started to have flat tires.

These students are quite impressive. Not only are they intelligent, but they also have good hands-on skills. A group of them set up a jack, and with repair tools on the vehicle, they could even fix a tire themselves.

Many people think of top students as bookworms, but in Outer World, most top students have a special skill and strong practical and thinking abilities.

Qing Chen asked the old man with some curiosity, "It's strange, why is the tire technology in the Inner World almost the same as in the Outer World? Haven't they developed better materials, like those that won't burst?"

The old man chuckled, "If we install tires that won't wear out, everyone will buy used tires. Who will buy new ones? If everyone's just doing one-off business, how will the conglomerates make money? The five major federal conglomerates control patents in all consumable industries. Patents for things that affect the foundation of an industry will be bought up and shelved. After all, we've made enough money now. Industry changes might bring new uncertainties. As long as the military can use the latest technology, that's fine."

"I see," Qing Chen thought to himself. "Then some things in the Federation Group Army are probably ahead of their time."

This is one of the drawbacks of conglomerates controlling the world: they will guide human development in the wrong direction for the sake of profit, and the path that humanity takes will be meticulously designed, not the path that humanity should take...

"By the way, have you ever dealt with this Shadow?" Qing Chen asked curiously. "What kind of person is he?"

The old man said, "The Shadow of the Qing Clan is the patriarch's 'henchman.' All the dirty work has to be done by the Shadow. People in this position are usually hated by both gods and men. Many Shadows were like this before. When they got old, they could only hide in the Ginkgo Manor of the Qing Clan in City No. 10 to avoid being assassinated. But doing so is no different from being house-locked in the Ginkgo Manor."

The old man continued, "For example, the previous Shadow pretended to travel, which was very likely to be a change of appearance and name, and he lived out his old age in hiding somewhere. But the current Shadow is quite strange. It seems that even before he became the Shadow, he was trying to avoid this fate. To this day, no one even knows who he really is."

Qing Chen asked, "Isn't it one of the three who survived to the end?"

The old man said softly and meaningfully, "Who says it's always the living who end up as shadows?"

Qing Chen was stunned. Yes, in everyone's eyes, the ninth Shadow Candidate had long died in Prison No. 18, but was he really dead?

No.

The old man continued, "This Shadow hasn't actually done anything truly heinous. It's as if the Qing family is trying to keep a low profile, and many things are done in secret, making them difficult to detect. For example, the Qing family sent supplies to the wilderness, and it took seven years for others to find out, and even then, you don't know what they're up to."

Qing Chen added in his mind that the other party was actually also making a deal with the knight. Now that he thought about it, Li Shutong's friends were probably all rescued by that shadow, but he still couldn't know what the deal between the other party and Li Shutong was.

The old man chuckled and said, "I've always felt that this generation's Shadow has some resemblance to the ancestors of the Qing family. The Divine Era once said that he was the reincarnation of 'Qing Zhen,' but it's said that his life won't last much longer, not even a few years longer than mine."

Qing Zhen was the ancestor who founded the "New Qing Clan" in the New Human Civilization Era.

The old man concluded, "You have to be careful when dealing with this kind of person. This clever person has been lying low for more than ten years. When he returns to the stage, everyone will be shocked."

That night, Guo Huzhan led the convoy to camp. Just as they were setting up the tents, the old man called over several female classmates to tell him stories.

He glanced at Qing Chen's unmoved expression, then pointed at Qing Chen and said with a smile to the female classmates, "What do you think of my grandson? He doesn't have a girlfriend yet. Why don't you consider giving him a try? He's an upright person with excellent character. My family is very wealthy, and a lot of our assets will be left to him after I'm gone. It's not that you're after his money, but finding someone from a well-off family is a good thing, isn't it?"

Several female classmates glanced at Qing Chen cautiously. At this moment, Qing Chen was in Zard's appearance, so he was not exactly good-looking. Moreover, Qing Chen had been rather taciturn along the way, and his personality was not exactly likable.

Also, Jiang Yichen told them last night that this Qing Zhade is very dangerous and has probably killed a lot of people.

In contrast, they thought Li Ke and Hu Xiaoniu were quite good.

Qing Chen sat down next to the old man and asked in a low voice, "What do you want to do?"

The old man chuckled and said, "You're not young anymore. When I was your age, I was already... well, let's not dwell on past glories."

"You don't need to worry about such things. Just mind your own business," Qing Chen said helplessly.

The old man muttered under his breath, "If you get married soon, Changqing won't have any designs on you."

Qing Chen: "What nonsense are you spouting? She and I are friends."

As he spoke, Qing Chen turned to the female classmates and said, "Don't listen to my grandpa's nonsense. I still have tens of millions of yuan in loans. The house in the Microcosm World community was also bought with a loan, with a 10% down payment."

The female students were all dumbfounded. "How did they manage to get tens of millions in loans?"

Qing Chen sighed, "I want to know too."

However, the old man suddenly said in a low voice, "You don't need to worry about the loan."

"Huh?" Qing Chen was taken aback.

"I asked Li Yunjing to pay it off for you," the old man said in a low voice. "Before you leave, I should give you something. What Seventh Brother can give you, I can't. I'm so poor that all I have left is money."

"I think the Heartless Bronze Bell is quite good," Qing Chen said.

"When you're facing Forbidden Item, can you be human for a moment?" the old man said irritably. "Yun Shou isn't a cultivator; the Heartless Bronze Bell needs to be kept to protect him."

"Alright," Qing Chen said.

The old man continued, "In addition, City No. 10 has also prepared two properties and a car for you, in the third district. This way, you'll have a place to stay when you go to City No. 10. As a child of the Li family, you can't let people laugh at you when you're out and about... Don't worry, I bought them all with my own money. I'm not like your master."

Qing Chen fell silent. In truth, the old man had genuinely regarded him as a junior.

But then he suddenly wondered, was it a scheme orchestrated by his master to help him take out a loan to buy things, and by his grandfather to help him pay it off, so that each of them could make him feel touched once in a while?

Qing Chen's mood instantly improved when he thought about how he was now debt-free, could spend his savings at will, and had acquired two more houses.

"But why not buy a house in City No. 18, but instead buy one in City No. 10?" Qing Chen asked, puzzled.

"That's the political center of the Federation; you'll have to go there sooner or later," the old man said confidently.

Just then, Qing Chen turned his head to look around and found a figure silently approaching where everyone had parked their vehicles.

Wait, isn't that Jiang Yichen's figure?

But after the other person got into the car, they quietly closed the door, then suddenly turned on the headlights and the engine roared as they drove off into the distance.

Qing Chen was stunned. He had said he would test Jiang Yichen to see if the other party was guilty.

In the end, this is too far-fetched.

He had only asked Hu Xiaoniu to spread a few rumors, and the other party was scared away.

At this moment, he was absolutely certain that this guy was Lu Ya. Back when he was on the roof of the Kailai Hotel, this guy's caution was exactly the same as that of the masked man.

Everyone in the camp stood up and silently watched the off-road vehicle drive away.

Qi Duo looked at Nangong Yuanyu: "Should we go after them?"

"Let's not chase him anymore," Nangong Yuanyu shook her head. "It seems Hu Xiaoniu was right. This Jiang Yichen does have some issues. We only asked him a few probing questions, and he ran away. Let's try to find him when we get back to the Outer World, at least to get the money back for the SUV. He shouldn't be short of money in the Outer World."

Qi Duo nodded. "So it seems Hu Xiaoniu's words are reliable?"

"Yes, that's how it is for now," Nangong Yuanyu nodded. "Let's find opportunities to deepen our relationship on the way back. After we return to the Outer World, we also need to find a way to bring him and that Qing Chen classmate into the Freemasons."

"Where are Nan Gengchen and Zhang Tianzhen?" Qi Duo asked.

"Zhang Tianzhen should be worth recruiting, but Nan Gengchen... let's leave it at that," Nangong Yuanyu said. "However, if they require all four of them to join, we can make an exception and accept Nan Gengchen."

It's not that the Freemasons are being pretentious, but any organization with even a little ambition will have an entry threshold, and Nan Gengchen's IQ score in their behavioral assessment wasn't particularly high...

This review isn't wrong...

Jiang Yichen's SUV drove further and further north, but soon everyone's attention turned to the south, where a car was getting closer and closer.

Nangong Yuanyu subconsciously looked at Guo Huzhan, only to see him standing by the roadside, rhythmically signaling with a powerful flashlight.

The SUV was parked on the side of the road, and a young man and woman got out of it.

Hu Xiaoniu was stunned when he saw the person getting out of the car, because he recognized him.

However, Hu Xiaoniu looked at Qing Chen the next second, although he didn't know why he was looking at Qing Chen.

At this moment, Guo Huzhan chuckled and said, "Yang Yang, Li Situ, why did you two arrive ahead of time?"

Li Situ said, "With this flu outbreak in the wilderness, medicine is quite important. The boss is worried that something might go wrong with the medicine, so he sent Yang Yang to pick you up ahead of time. I have other things to do and need to rush to City No. 18."

Qing Chen thought to himself, "Your boss is practically saying outright that he doesn't trust Guo Huzhan."

That makes sense. If he were Xu Linsen, he wouldn't trust someone as simple-minded as Guo Huzhan either.

Thank you to Forever Young for becoming a new ally of this book. The boss is so generous! May your packages never get lost!