Decryption

Li Shutong left with Big Cat. He only said he would personally teach Qing Chen, but didn't specify what he would teach.

However, Lin Xiaoxiao, who knew his boss well, understood that his boss was in a very good mood at the moment.

A very, very good mood.

The Knight lineage was almost broken by the time it reached Li Shutong. Although he never mentioned it, Lin Xiaoxiao had personally watched him select successor after successor, only to fail time and time again.

Lin Xiaoxiao knew his boss was anxious.

That path was too difficult, so difficult that even he and Ye Wan couldn't walk it.

At this moment, Qing Chen's prison uniform was soaked through. Water dripped from his hair, and he couldn't stop panting.

The pain of waterboarding would leave psychological scars.

"I really admire you," Lin Xiaoxiao said. "I don't know how you lasted four days in the dark room. I couldn't even handle 36 hours myself. Ye's mom was a bit stronger, 47 hours."

"A bit stronger?" Ye Wan glanced at him.

"A whole lot stronger, okay?" Lin Xiaoxiao said impatiently.

Qing Chen slowly stopped panting. "You guys were locked in the dark room too?"

"Yeah," Lin Xiaoxiao nodded. "For most people, it's torture. For us, it's just a test, something we have to go through. When the boss told us to lock you in the dark room, I knew he wanted to pick you. But if you couldn't make it, he wouldn't mind watching you die. The boss has seen too much life and death; his heart has hardened."

Lin Xiaoxiao continued with a smile, "But you can't do this job without a hard heart. That's just how this era is, so don't blame him."

Ye Wan handed Qing Chen a soft, thick, dark blue bath towel. "Wipe yourself. Not many people can be as tough as you during waterboarding. It's normal for most people to lose bladder and bowel control."

It seemed Ye Wan wasn't using waterboarding for the first time.

And now, he genuinely acknowledged Qing Chen.

At this moment, Lin Xiaoxiao went outside the interrogation room and brought back a meal tray. The tray held a bowl of rice, a plate of sweet and sour pork ribs that looked and smelled delicious, and a bowl of plain white porridge.

Qing Chen thought for a moment and picked up the bowl of porridge. Ye Wan said to Lin Xiaoxiao, "I won. You owe me a thousand yuan."

Qing Chen was stunned. "You guys were betting?"

"That's right," Lin Xiaoxiao said helplessly. "Your blood sugar is extremely low right now. You should really want to eat something sweet when you see food. That's your body telling your brain the answer, so I bet you'd eat the sweet and sour pork ribs first."

Ye Wan said, "But you haven't eaten anything for four days. A smart person would choose to drink the porridge first, to control their body's instincts and tell themselves what the correct choice is. I bet someone who can endure the dark room and waterboarding wouldn't be foolish enough to eat the ribs first."

Qing Chen slowly drank the plain porridge, feeling his cold body gradually warm up.

Back in the Outer World, no matter how painful things he experienced, they were nothing compared to what he had gone through these past few days.

His peers were still attending classes, dating, and playing games, while he had already embarked on an unknown life.

Even he himself didn't know where he would end up.

Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly said, "So, you actually didn't know you were part of the Qing Clan when you first came here, which is why you asked the boss for a game of chess to get yourself out of trouble?"

"Yeah," Qing Chen nodded. There was nothing to hide anymore.

Lin Xiaoxiao asked again, "So, you don't actually have any connection to the Qing Clan now, right? You haven't lived with the Qing Clan, nor do you have any sense of belonging."

"Yeah," Qing Chen nodded again.

Lin Xiaoxiao's face lit up. "That's great. The boss probably thought of that too, which is why he decided to take you in."

Ye Wan said to Qing Chen, "You can rest assured. Only I, Lin Xiaoxiao, and the boss know about your identity in the Outer World. We won't even tell Li Dongze. We will keep this secret for you."

Qing Chen breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you... Who is Li Dongze?"

"Li Dongze of the Heng Society," Lin Xiaoxiao chuckled. "The Heng Society is an organization under our Knight. The Knight's abilities are probably far greater than you imagine. It seems you know nothing about the outside world. We'll have to catch you up these next few days."

Ye Wan said, "By the way, that Lu Guangyi is quite loyal to you. He suffered a lot for you these past few days and almost made a move against the boss."

"Okay, thanks for the reminder," Qing Chen nodded.

"Do you know Liu Dezhu, Huang Jixian, or that guy Jian Sheng who likes to curse?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked.

"I know Liu Dezhu and Huang Jixian, or rather, I know them from high school," Qing Chen explained.

"Wait, you were just an ordinary high school student in the Outer World?" Lin Xiaoxiao was shocked. Although he knew some things about the Outer World, he thought Qing Chen would have been quite formidable even in that world.

Given the abilities and willpower Qing Chen had shown, he shouldn't have been just an ordinary student.

Qing Chen said, "The Outer World is a relatively peaceful place. There are no Transcendental, no mechanical limbs, and no gang organizations. It's stable and harmonious. In such an era, even ordinary people are fine; there are no life-threatening dangers."

"I'm so envious," Lin Xiaoxiao sighed.

Qing Chen asked, "Where is that person who speaks in dialect being held?"

"Just a few rooms away from this interrogation room. What's up?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked.

"Can I go ask him a few questions?" Qing Chen asked.

"Of course," Lin Xiaoxiao said with a smile. "We're all family now, so what can't you do? You can roam freely in Prison No. 18 from now on."

Qing Chen thought for a moment. He tied the towel from the waterboarding around his face and asked Lin Xiaoxiao to get him a reader. Then, he went to the solitary confinement cell where Jian Sheng was held.

The alloy gate opened, and Ye Wan went in first to subdue Jian Sheng.

This fellow Earthling was about thirty years old.

Jian Sheng started cursing loudly, "You son of a..."

Before he could finish speaking, Qing Chen silently wrote three words on the reader, stopping the other person's curses: "Kuanzhai Alley."

Jian Sheng was stunned. "Are you from Earth, kid?"

"I have a few questions for you," Qing Chen continued to write. "Aren't you a Sichuan native? Why did you transmigrate here? Are you in Luocheng?"

"I used to do some business in Luocheng, and I don't know how I ended up in this place," Jian Sheng replied, seeing that he was a fellow countryman from Earth.

"What's your profession?" Qing Chen wrote on the reader again.

"A scalper," Jian Sheng answered. "Are you from Luocheng?"

However, Qing Chen had no intention of answering his question and turned to leave.

Only then did Ye Wan release the man.

Jian Sheng looked at the slowly closing alloy gate and suddenly realized that his fellow countryman had no intention of saving him, and immediately started cursing again.

But Jian Sheng then thought something was wrong. Since this young man was from Earth, why did he seem to hold such a high status in this world?!

Lin Xiaoxiao, who had interrogated him earlier, and that burly strong man were both cooperating with him.

Were there already such powerful figures among the time travelers?

Outside the door, Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Qing Chen, first at the towel on his face, then at the reader in his hand.

This young man had just gone through the dark room and waterboarding, yet he could still maintain such cautious behavior?!