Internal Test Players

Qing Chen stood silently in the dark room.

The silence lasted for an unknown period of time, until the sunlight outside became intense.

The shadow drew the curtains in the room.

"You mean I'm from the Inner World?" Qing Chen said calmly. "Therefore, I possess the bloodline of Qing Zhen's branch of the Qing clan, and I can display abilities beyond ordinary people."

There are no extraordinary beings in the Outer World; Time Walker must also come to the Inner World to be qualified for awakening and cultivation.

Just like the hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake, crabs that cost a dozen yuan can be sold for a very high price after being washed in Yangcheng Lake.

Qing Chen's hyperthymesia is not actually hyperthymesia, but rather his ability.

In fact, after realizing that he had a photographic memory, Qing Chen also thought that he had hyperthymesia.

However, true hyperthymesia only possesses the ability to remember, but lacks the ability to organize and analyze information.

Those memories are stored in the brain like a diary, and trying to retrieve them doesn't necessarily mean you'll find the information you're looking for...

Qing Chen is different.

Shadow smiled and looked at him, "You're very shocked, aren't you? I was very shocked too. The Outer World often uses the term 'open beta player' to describe Time Walker, which is actually quite accurate, because if there's an open beta, there's also a closed beta."

It truly shocked Qing Chen.

This proves that the time travel incident was indeed man-made!

A mysterious entity, for reasons unknown, started its own testing more than ten years ago, first with closed beta testing, and then with public beta testing.

What kind of person possesses such great power?

"Who exactly orchestrated this time-travel incident?" Qing Chen asked, frowning. "Do gods truly exist in this world?"

"All I know is that he's a very old person," the shadow said. "I've made some guesses about his identity, but the results are too astonishing. I'm not sure if my guesses are true, so I won't mislead you."

Qing Chen said, "So, He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong are beta testers from the Outer World, and I'm a beta tester from the Inner World? Who else is a beta tester?"

He thought that only the Outer World could pass through the Inner World, but he didn't expect that the Inner World could also pass through the Outer World, only in very small numbers.

If there are two beta testers in the Outer World, then there must also be two, or even more, beta testers in the Inner World.

However, Qing Chen had never discovered such a person in the Outer World, or perhaps the other party was so mysterious that no one noticed them.

"Oh, I don't know whether He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong are beta testers or not," Shadow said with a smile. "However, their behavior was exactly the same before and after the start of your so-called time travel event. Moreover, they disappeared in the Outer World for 12 years, only reappearing half a year before the actual group time travel. Interesting, isn't it? I spent a lot of effort to find out about these two people. This information would be worth a fortune if sold."

Qing Chen thought that if he really was a beta tester, then it meant that the rules for the beta test and the open beta test were completely different.

During the public beta, when the Time Walker entered the Inner World, time in the Outer World stood still.

During the closed beta, players like Qing Chen, He Jinqiu, and Zheng Yuandong were in two different worlds, but time moved forward in parallel, and the worlds never stopped for anyone.

Otherwise, if I came to the Outer World as an infant, I should still be an infant when I return to the Inner World.

When he transmigrated, there was clearly another Qing Chen who had just entered Prison No. 18 and was the same age as him.

What about Qing Chen?

Where did Qing Chen come from?

Is it possible that someone replaced Qing Chen from the Outer World with someone from the past, and then waited for the public beta to start before traveling back in?

No, according to the time travel mechanism, when I traveled to the Outer World to become a beta tester, Qing Chen in the Outer World should have already been annihilated.

Qing Chen asked, "Since you say I am from the Inner World, then who is Qing Chen who lives in the Inner World?"

"There is no such person as Qing Chen," the Shadow said calmly. "That was just me pretending to be you and appearing occasionally. That's why everyone thinks you are mysterious and live a secluded life. Even within the Qing family, very few people knew of your existence before you became Shadow Candidate."

"Why do you sometimes impersonate me?" Qing Chen asked, puzzled.

Shadow laughed and said, "Because someone told me to do this. When you first entered Prison No. 18, that cell was empty. Didn't you notice? Prison No. 18 always sends in new prisoners at midnight, so no one will know how many new people have gone in."

Qing Chen shook his head.

Someone knows that a few new people have joined.

One.

Yi must know that the number of prisoners is incorrect, and he must also know that there is something wrong with his sudden appearance.

This task could not have been accomplished without the cooperation of Yi.

That's why the cameras in Prison No. 18 were always pointed at him; Yi started observing him from that time on.

The person who orchestrated the time-travel incident is most likely Yi's older brother.

That being who has lived for a very long time, almost like a god.

As Yi just mentioned, her brother had known about the existence of the Time Walker for a long time, and recently she even went with her brother to an unknown place and did some mysterious things.

This mysterious event may also be related to the Time Walker.

But what was their motive? Was it just for fun?

Yi once said that her brother believed that if humans live too long, they will become tired of the world and develop self-destructive tendencies.

Or perhaps they want to change the world.

Could it be that Yi's older brother has lived too long and wants to find some fun for himself?

Qing Chen could not confirm.

The shadowy figure smiled and said, "Actually, I almost became a beta tester myself. When that person contacted me, I refused. If I had become a beta tester, I would definitely have found other people. So, in your memory, is there anyone like that?"

Qing Chen searched through all his memories... Huan Yu?

Uncertain.

He had always suspected that Huan Yu was schizophrenic because the brother she mentioned was rather strange.

So, could Huan Yu really be a beta tester who encountered a small mishap during his time travel, resulting in the simultaneous existence of two Huan Yu consciousnesses?

Qing Chen shook his head. "I can't think of how many beta testers there might be at the moment?"

"I don't know," Shadow laughed. "However, these beta testers have probably already grown up quietly."

The shadow said, "All you need to know is why I didn't kill you."

"Then why don't you kill Qing Yuan? He's Time Walker," Qing Chen said.

"Don't always be fighting and killing," Shadow said.

"You, someone who possesses the extraordinary Jingshan Tea, are telling me not to fight and kill?!" Qing Chen raised his eyebrows.

The Shadow calmly replied, "You're now impersonating me to lure all the Shadow Candidate to kill the Gods. Aren't you afraid that the Federation's civil war will reignite because of you?"

Qing Chen thought for a moment and asked in return, "Would the war have stopped if I weren't here? Mr. Shadow, I act according to my conscience, not my morality. I'm not a good person, just like you."

"Alright, I'm warning you again, don't impersonate me. Firstly, you might get exposed and die, and secondly, you're really lowering my standards."

Qing Chen: "..."

"You sent the Shadow Candidate to the town outside the Forbidden Zone 065 just to help you kill Kamishiro?" the Shadow asked. "Is it that simple?"

Qing Chen fell silent.

Actually, that's not the case.

Whether or not to kill Kamishiro is secondary; Qing Chen's main idea is to take Qing Xing and Qing Yuan to a remote, sparsely populated place.

First of all, I feel Qing Xing.

Qing Chen needs to lure him to another place to observe whether he is carrying that mysterious Forbidden Item.

In the city, it's too easy for someone to hide something.

However, moving from City No. 10 to the wilderness would significantly narrow down the target of this Forbidden Item.

Qing Chen believed that when facing the dangerous wilderness, the other party would definitely bring the Forbidden Item with them, and no matter how they brought it, there would always be clues.

Secondly, there's Qing Yuan.

Qing Chen suspected that Qing Yuan's ability to control puppets had a distance limit.

For example, Puppet Master can be 50 meters long.

Qing Yuan may be able to control the puppet from a greater distance, but the puppet can't possibly be completely independent, right?

Of course, it's also possible that it truly is independent.

So, Qing Chen's plan to lure the other party to the wilderness this time was a good opportunity to observe some clues.

In any case, it would be advantageous for Qing Chen to move the Shadow Candidate to a strange and desolate place.

This is the real reason why Qing Chen tricked the Shadow Candidate into going to Forbidden Zone 065.

"Let's go," the shadow said. "Hurry up and clean this place up. I came here to drink tea, not to eat dust."

Qing Chen raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you being a little too familiar? You come here for tea, fine, but do you expect me to clean this place?"

"Are you as familiar as you, pretending to be someone I know so well? Before I settle accounts with you, get the hell out of here and clean up," Shadow said before opening the Shadow Gate and leaving.

Qing Chen glanced at the surroundings and saw that the dust was indeed quite severe. He rolled up his sleeves, found a rag, and spent a full three hours cleaning up the place.

He sat on the sofa, calmly thinking about and processing everything the shadow had just said.

Is it really true?

Shadow rarely speaks the truth, so you have to think carefully after hearing what he says.

For so many years, he never imagined that he might come from another world.

Qing Chen was having some difficulty processing this information.

Did I time travel when I was an infant? Or did it begin after I gained the ability to remember everything I saw at the age of six?

Before this, Qing Chen's memories were hazy; after this, he remembered every single detail very clearly.

If Zhang Wanfang and Qing Guozhong are not my biological parents, then who are my biological parents?

This is probably the key to how the shadow helped him.

In addition, how many beta testers were there, and what were He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong doing during that time?

Qing Chen felt that perhaps something amazing would happen when other beta testers who had crossed over from the Inner World to the Outer World surfaced.

Could it be that... another beta tester is also completely unaware of this, just like me?