35. Finding Qing Chen

"Do you know who did it?" Lu Yuan asked.

As soon as he said that, the living room fell silent. The air in the room became still, as if water, slowing everyone's movements.

Qing Chen, in the kitchen, instinctively held his breath.

Jiang Xue adjusted her posture and slowly said, "I don't know who did it. Maybe someone acted heroically. What's wrong? Why are you investigating this?"

Jiang Xue actually knew very well that they were here to investigate Qing Chen. But no matter what, she didn't want anyone to find out about Qing Chen, because the young man had avenged her daughter. The image of the young man carrying an entrenching tool in the night, and his cracked tiger's mouth, seemed to be right before her eyes, giving her a sense of security from an outsider for the first time.

Lu Yuan smiled and explained, "Please don't misunderstand. We're not law enforcement, so we're not going to do anything to this person who acted heroically."

A Kunlun member beside him said, "That's right. It's just that according to the description from the thugs, the timing of this person's attack was extremely tricky, and their ambush timing was beyond that of an ordinary person. So, we wanted to find him to see if he's a Transmigrator."

Lu Yuan added, "We're not sure if he's a Transmigrator, but we pay attention to all recent unusual events." The two spoke as if they had rehearsed it, one following the other.

At this moment, Li Tongyun, who was sitting nearby, said obediently, "After the incident yesterday, my mom and I stayed home the whole time and didn't go out, so we don't know who did it."

Qing Chen in the kitchen was stunned for a moment. Most people in this world have a subconscious belief: children don't lie. Li Tongyun suddenly speaking up now undoubtedly increased her credibility.

At one point, Qing Chen wondered if this little girl might not be simple. Back then, she had sought refuge at his doorstep, appearing timid but irresistible. Now, after becoming a Transmigrator, she had even kept it from her own mother. None of this was accidental.

Jiang Xue and her husband had argued and engaged in domestic violence for years. Children who grow up in such families are highly likely to be different from ordinary people – either solitary, precocious, or with other psychological traits. He himself had grown up in such a family environment, and so had Li Tongyun. For some reason, Qing Chen suddenly felt like he had encountered a kindred spirit. A kindred spirit who, despite a calm exterior, had a tempestuous and fierce inner world. This was his intuition.

Li Tongyun suddenly asked, "Uncle, didn't that heroic uncle or aunt help us? Why are you looking for them? Are you going to arrest them? Are you bad guys?"

"No," Lu Yuan's companion said awkwardly, "Don't misunderstand, child."

Lu Yuan explained, "Then it might really be some heroic person. Let me reiterate, we mean no harm. The Kunlun organization has just been established, so we need to find and recruit like-minded individuals."

"Mm, I understand," Jiang Xue said.

"Also, there are a few organizations in the Inner World and certain consortiums that have discovered the existence of the Outer World. According to our statistics, 21 Transmigrators have died under mysterious circumstances, and were subjected to torture before death. More than ten other Transmigrators have explicitly stated that they have been imprisoned by Inner World organizations. We hope Ms. Jiang Xue can remain vigilant and not be discovered by them," Lu Yuan instructed. "Although these are secret operations, they are enough to warn us that exposure is extremely dangerous."

"Okay, I understand," Jiang Xue nodded. Hearing Lu Yuan's statistics, she felt a sense of dread. It turned out that revealing one's identity in the Inner World was so terrifying.

Just then, Lu Yuan's companion's phone rang. He opened it and said, "He Xiaoxiao has appeared again."

Jiang Xue asked curiously, "Is He Xiaoxiao the one posting guides on Douyin?"

"Yes," Lu Yuan nodded.

Li Tongyun asked obediently, "Uncle, who is that He Xiaoxiao brother? I see he knows so much."

Lu Yuan became interested. "You know He Xiaoxiao too, child? We're looking for him too, but he's very good at hiding himself. We haven't found out who he is yet. He should have left some clues, but all traces related to him have been erased now... I've said too much. We won't disturb you any further. Goodbye."

Jiang Xue stood up and said, "I'm inconvenient to move, so I won't see you out."

"No need," Lu Yuan said with a smile as he walked to the door. He suddenly looked at the doorway and asked, "Huh? Whose sneakers are these by the door?"

Jiang Xue replied calmly, "My husband's."

Li Tongyun also said, "Yes, my dad's."

"Oh, oh, sorry," Lu Yuan said, then opened the door and left.

With the click of the door closing, Jiang Xue and Li Tongyun, mother and daughter, both breathed a sigh of relief.

Qing Chen came out of the kitchen. "Sorry to have caused you trouble."

"Don't say that. We're the ones who caused you trouble," Jiang Xue said. "If we hadn't gotten into trouble, you wouldn't have been dragged into this."

"Well, what do you want to eat? I opened the refrigerator just now and found there are no vegetables left," Qing Chen said.

Jiang Xue had Li Tongyun take two hundred yuan from her wallet. "We need to buy some more vegetables. How about some pork ribs? You and Xiao Yun are growing, you need to eat some meat."

Qing Chen thought for a moment, took the money, and went out.

In the old stairwell, there were small advertisements plastered everywhere, and peeling paint on the walls, worn away by time. He stood in the shadow of the stairs, tapping his fingers on the metal railing, making a "da da da" sound.

The sound had a strange rhythm, as if the fingers themselves were thinking.

The next moment, Qing Chen went home to change his shoes before heading out to the market.

However, before he could even leave the residential complex, he saw a black SUV parked by the roadside. Inside, a pair of eyes were quietly scrutinizing him, waiting for him to walk past.

Lu Yuan's gaze swept up and down Qing Chen, lingering particularly on his shoes.

The two men in the car watched silently. Only after Qing Chen had walked away did Lu Yuan suddenly say, "It's not him."

"You knew there was someone else in the house just now, and they seemed to be hiding from us. Why didn't you just rush in and take a look? This is too much trouble," the other person asked, puzzled.

Lu Yuan said helplessly, "Boss Zheng just instructed that from the very beginning of Kunlun's establishment, we need to maintain good relations with Transmigrators, not use any forceful methods."

"I think it's better to recruit all Transmigrators into the organization first."

Lu Yuan shook his head and rolled down the car window to light a cigarette. Orange-red embers and wisps of smoke swirled inside the car.

He exhaled the smoke from his lungs and said, "Kunlun doesn't accept just anyone. The boss also said what we're going to do in the future; if we're not on the same path, it won't work."

"So what do we do now?" his companion asked.

"We'll wait here a bit longer. If they don't show up, then so be it," Lu Yuan said, stubbing out his cigarette. "The new era has begun. Some people are destined not to be ordinary. Perhaps we don't need to find them; they'll appear on their own."

Qing Chen walked to the Jiandong Road Farmers' Market and slowly took out his phone to search for He Xiaoxiao on Douyin.

The conversation Lu Yuan had at Jiang Xue's place had revealed a lot of information: even Kunlun didn't know He Xiaoxiao's identity, and she hadn't been recruited by Kunlun.

Furthermore, she now possessed the means to erase her own traces.

In this day and age of the internet, how difficult was it to erase one's traces?

Your registered phone information, your identity documents – almost everything was connected to the network and could be found anywhere.

With Kunlun's ability to restrict movement, how could they not find the identity information of a game streamer through technical means?

Unless, that person possessed technology or abilities that surpassed this era, which the people of the Outer World could not yet comprehend...

Hey, the double monthly ticket event has started! I'm releasing two chapters now, and there will be more tonight!

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