One Tael of Gold, and a Secret

Qing Chen was busy all night.

I didn't change my clothes until early morning before arriving at the third district.

He was wearing Bluetooth earphones, and he said into the earphones, "For this project, charging you 100,000 yuan from the Outer World isn't unreasonable, is it?"

I don't know when it started, but I've become so humble when it comes to asking for money.

In fact, the value demonstrated by One tonight is such that even asking for ten million wouldn't be excessive.

Making it impossible for even conglomerates to trace the source of a phone call is something that not everyone can do.

Qing Chen thought for a moment and asked, "What have you been busy with lately? I haven't heard from you in the Inner World."

Yi said, "Didn't I tell you before? My brother woke up, and I'm going with him... I can't tell you."

Qing Chen was taken aback; there seemed to be some secret involved.

Moreover, it may be a very important secret.

Although he still doesn't know who Yi's brother is, the other party is a person who has lived for over a thousand years, witnessing more than a thousand years of history in the Federation in a completely virtual form...

The things that such people do are extremely crucial.

For example, in the Internet, hunting down all humans who attempt immortality using neural network technology has almost single-handedly changed the way humans live.

If he hadn't hunted down those consciousnesses, the Inner World might have been even more bizarre and fantastical, and everyone might have continued to live on in another way after death.

This behavior also influenced the Mechanical God Cult.

In other people's science fiction and games, the Mechanical God Cult all upload consciousness.

But the Mechanical God Cult of the Inner World is just a pipe dream...

Qing Chen asked curiously, "By the way, did you ask your brother why we hunt down those uploaded consciousnesses?"

Yi said, "Because he felt that no one could endure the boredom that comes with immortality. A few people might be able to, but when it happens on a large scale, on the one hand, it will affect my safety. If the consciousness of hundreds of thousands of people is deliberately aggregated, there will be a lot of trouble. On the other hand, many people will develop self-destructive tendencies in the network."

Qing Chen understood: on one hand, he had to protect his sister, and on the other hand, he had to protect the world.

That older brother is quite competent...

What would an older brother do if he suddenly woke up?

"So what is your brother doing now?" Qing Chen asked.

"Oh, he went to perform magic on the street," Yi said. "It's his hobby."

"Wait?! Performing magic?" Qing Chen was taken aback. "He has his own body?"

Yi did not answer, seemingly unwilling to say more.

Qing Chen thought for a moment, "I'll transfer the money from the Outer World to you when we get back. By the way, you also charged me for helping Nan Gengchen, right?"

"Don't worry about this," Yi said. "It wasn't easy for me to save up some money in the Outer World!"

"Fine," Qing Chen sighed. Others were taking advantage of Yi, and Yi was taking advantage of Nan Gengchen. Where could anyone find justice in this?

"Does your brother know about the Time Walker?" Qing Chen asked. "What's his opinion on it?"

He wanted to try to understand the hidden story behind the time travel incident through the perspective of this mysterious existence.

However, Yi said, "He already knew, so he has no opinion."

"Huh?" Qing Chen was taken aback. "You already knew?"

Qing Chen suddenly realized that "I knew it all along" might not mean just the last few months, but rather that he had known it for a very, very long time.

Even before the time travel event occurred?

"How early?" Qing Chen pressed.

But Yi stopped answering questions.

Qing Chen arrived at the Third District Building, the place where the old master Li left him a house.

122 floors.

While riding the elevator, Qing Chen was worried that he might run into Song Niaoniao again.

He knew that Song Niaoniao had moved out of the Utopia Tower because PCA agents had leaked case information during their investigation, which led the media to know the address of this top female star.

So, from that time on, Qing Chen began to worry that this female celebrity might also have moved to the Third District...

Thankfully, no.

Qing Chen entered the password and opened the door.

The room wasn't very big, and there wasn't any armory or anything like that. It was like an ordinary inheritance from an elder to a younger generation, nothing special.

The room was covered in dust, but three things caught Qing Chen's eye.

There was a map spread out on the table, a gold coin of moderate size, and a letter.

Qing Chen picked up the map with some curiosity, blew on it, and dust began to rise.

This is a federal map with routes drawn in red, nodes between them, and precise dates and times marked on it.

Qing Chen knew that this was something the old man had deliberately left for him, but he still didn't understand what it was.

He picked up the gold coin again, and holding it in his hand, he knew that it weighed about fifty grams, or one tael.

Qing Chen initially thought it was Forbidden Item, but he soon discovered that it wasn't.

Finally, Qing Chen opened the letter.

"They've already left, why bother leaving a letter?" Qing Chen was somewhat reluctant to open the letter, because it would remind him of their parting under the morning sun.

The letter contained a farewell written by the old man himself.

"Young man, by the time you read this letter, I will have already parted ways with you on the Green Mountain Cliff. From now on, we will never meet again. You will run towards the rising sun, while I will turn into dust."

"This map shows the route and timetable of the Forbidden Item ACE-012 Steam Train."

"That gold coin is something I've carried with me since I was young."

"The Steam Train travels around the Federation every 27 days. Its journey is independent of its passengers. No matter who is on board, it will follow its own destination, chasing the winds of the wilderness, crossing the Raichu Plain, and traversing the Cloud Mist Marsh. It will go to the farthest snow-capped mountains, to the northern grasslands, and to see the southern sea."

"When I was young, I envied it. I thought it was so free, able to go wherever it wanted."

"So back then, I prepared a gold coin to carry with me, thinking that if I happened to find it in the wilderness one day, I would spend 27 days traveling around the Federation with it, becoming a romantic person like a knight. Let those people chasing after me, making me handle official business, get anxious and frustrated. Haha."

"Pack your bags, prepare 27 days' worth of food and water, and a change of clothes, and embark on a spontaneous trip using Forbidden Item."

"Perhaps others will get on and off the train along the way. They might be prisoners fleeing for their lives, wealthy young ladies running away from their arranged marriages, or travelers like myself."

"Perhaps a gentle breeze blows in through the car window as I watch the scenery rush past behind me. If someone from my family calls me via satellite phone, I'll solemnly tell them that I'm communicating with the world and not to disturb me."

"However, I do not have the right to be so willful."

"So I never had the chance to use this gold coin."

"It's yours now."

The letter ends abruptly here.

At this moment, Qing Chen finally understood the true meaning of "If I could be young again, I would give you an ounce of gold and an ounce of wind."

It turns out that the old man's biggest wish during his childhood was to ride Steam Train and travel around the Federation.

And this one or two taels of gold was the ticket for young Li Xiurui to freedom.

Qing Chen silently wiped the corner of his eye, memorized all the contents of the map, and then burned it.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Qing Chen frowned, wondering who would come looking for him at this time.

He glanced at the security camera outside the door, and there it was—a shadow...

He impersonated the other party several times in one night, and even after being warned by the other party, he impersonated them several more times.

Shadow has come to demand an explanation.

Qing Chen held his breath and pretended he wasn't home...

However, he was certain of one thing: the condition for using the Shadow Gate was indeed that the host had been to a certain place.

But then a shadowy voice sneered from outside the door, "Open the door. If you have the guts, continue impersonating me despite my warning. If you don't, open the door yourself. You're just waiting to die."

Qing Chen silently walked over and opened the door, greeting him with a smile, "Mr. Shadow, didn't we just meet a few hours ago? Why are you here again?"

The shadow brushed past him, glancing at the dust in the room. "Hurry up and clean it up, it's annoying to look at."

These words also seem to be referring to Qing Chen; he gets annoyed whenever he sees Qing Chen now.

The shadow stood by the window and said, "Do you know that besides you and Qing Wu, I've only met other Time Walker once? I always send Qing Ye to issue missions, and he even brings my electronic beacon with him. That's what it means to truly 'issue orders from the shadow'?"

The shadow continued, "After you impersonated me, all the candidates found it strange, but they didn't dare to ask directly. It was the middle of the night when I was about to go to sleep, but I ended up receiving several calls from their parents, all of them trying to find out what was going on indirectly."

The Shadow Candidate weren't stupid either; if they had doubts, they would naturally try every means to confirm the authenticity of the shadow.

However, in this clumsy deception, Qing Chen's only reliable asset was not his acting skills, nor his understanding of Shadow's way of speaking, but Shadow himself.

When the candidates have doubts, they will go to Shadow to confirm, and Shadow will help Qing Chen apply the patch.

Qing Chen asked with a chuckle, "What did you tell them?"

"What else can I say?" Shadow said irritably. "I'll ask you in return, what, is my word no longer valid?"

The shadow said, "Isn't Qing Yi of yours? You even lied to him, are you even human?"

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "So, why are you so good to me? I've always had a question about this. I'm clearly a Time Walker, a person from the Outer World, yet you've helped me so much. Why is that?"

The shadow, standing by the window, turned around and asked, "How do you know you must be from the Outer World?"

Qing Chen stood there, stunned.

The hidden meaning behind this statement is truly astonishing.

There will be another chapter at 11 PM.