The Curious Method of Containing the Steam Train

As he entered the elevator in the bar, he pressed the floor buttons 4, 10, 2, 18, 3, 16, 5, 17, and 8 in sequence, and the white lights on the buttons went out at the same time.

The elevator did not go up, but began to descend.

The order of the buttons on this floor is crucial; you can't get even one wrong. Only by pressing all the buttons correctly can you activate the hidden program.

The elevator doors opened, Old Shen was still sitting behind the small table. He looked up and pushed a small box in front of him forward. "Now you're my boss... This is your Ginkgo Medal, representing the highest honor within the Qing Group. Do you want to take it with you, or leave it with me for safekeeping?"

Qing Chen smiled and said, "You can keep it here for safekeeping. It's probably a bit inconvenient for me to carry it with me... I have a few questions I'd like to ask. Old Shen, you're in charge of the Secret Intelligence Department's database, so you should be most familiar with these things."

Old Shen said with a smile, "When my superior asks me a question, I will answer to the best of my knowledge."

"What exactly is the Forbidden Item ACE-004?" Qing Chen asked. "The external information only describes it as a black stone, without mentioning its specific function."

Old Shen said, "This really is top secret. That black stone is called the True Sight Eye, but there's more than one True Sight Eye; it's a spellcasting tool used by wizards. In the last era of human civilization, it was kept separately by a wizard and Ren Xiaosu, and was eventually given to Hope Media. But now it's not in Hope Media's hands either; it was taken away by the Bystanders organization."

"More than one?" Qing Chen asked in confusion...

"Yes, there were over a hundred True Sight Eye in existence at the time: 3 black, 12 gold, and 72 red. The number of the rest is unknown, but black was the highest rank," Old Shen said. "They were said to be tools for wizards' meditation and spellcasting, used to cast spells... The most famous spells seem to be 'May you be happy' and 'May the Northwest prosper,' but the others are not recorded. Of course, the bystanders didn't have that many True Sight Eye; it's said they only had 12 in total, and their rank is still uncertain."

Qing Chen asked, "I've heard that someone can use it to open a door and travel through a space-time continuum."

Old Shen laughed and said, "Time travel is too exaggerated. At most, it's just going from one place to another. This is the universally acknowledged function of the True Sight Eye. Just rotate clockwise ten times in any place, and you can open a door to the place you most want to go at that moment. However, each person can only choose this door once in their lifetime. If someone is in a hurry to go to the toilet, the door will open in the toilet. If a child likes candy, the door will open in the candy store. Afterwards, it will be too late to regret it."

Qing Chen thought to himself, "This Forbidden Item ACE-004 is quite interesting... I'd like to try and see where I really want to go. To be honest, I don't even know where I want to go."

In terms of its ability to traverse space alone, the Forbidden Item ACE-004 is not as useful as the Forbidden Item ACE-008 Shadow Gate. However, the True Sight Eye seems to have more than just that function, and it doesn't require one to be single forever.

Being single forever is truly terrifying...

Qing Chen then asked, "Is there anything Forbidden Item that could create an island at sea?"

Old Shen was stunned for a moment. "Forbidden Item ACE-013, Whale Island? Isn't that thing in the Forbidden Sea? You've seen it? No one has seen it for hundreds of years."

Qing Chen shook his head. "I've never seen him before, I'm just guessing... By the way, Shadow told me I absolutely had to come here, is there anything specific about it?"

At this moment, a door behind Old Shen opened, leaving Qing Chen stunned for a long time.

Old Shen turned to look at the smiling Qing Zhun and said, "Shadow instructed that he knows you want to venture into the wilderness and Forbidden Zone to relax. Qing Zhun is the person in the Secret Intelligence Department who knows the wilderness best, so he's going with you. You can ask him anything you don't understand."

Drill faintclounder

Qing Zhun smiled and said, "Boss, it's been a long time."

Qing Chen looked at Qing Zhun, his former subordinate in the Intelligence Department One, who was already carrying a hiking backpack, and remained silent for a long time before saying, "... Okay, but there's something I need to make clear: where to go, what to do, and how to do it—you have to listen to me."

Qing Zhun laughed and said, "No problem, you're the boss, you call the shots."

Qing Chen and Qing Zhun bought some supplies and a hiking backpack in the city.

Qing Chen tossed the backpack to Qing Zhun, telling him to carry it.

Qing Zhun paused for a moment and looked at Qing Chen: "Boss, isn't it inappropriate for me to carry two hiking backpacks by myself?"

"What's inappropriate about it?" Qing Chen said matter-of-factly. "How can you go out with your boss and make him carry your own bag? Don't you agree?"

Qing Zhun gritted his teeth. "Yes!"

The two walked out of the city. Surprisingly, after bringing Qing Zhun, they no longer had to struggle to pass through the border control bureau. Qing Zhun one phone call, without even checking their identities.

After walking for a full 12 hours, the two finally met up with Yang Yang and Zhang Mengqian in the wilderness.

"Let me introduce you. This is Yang Yang and Zhang Mengqian, and this is Qing Zhun from the Intelligence Department One. The four of us will be traveling together on this trip," Qing Chen said.

Qing Zhun looked at Zhang Mengqian with great interest, his gaze as if he were looking at a piece of Zhang Mengqian jade.

People who are born with the ability to resonate with the world through their spirit and will are treasures wherever they go.

The little boy took two steps back. "Why are you looking at me?"

Qing Zhun said with a smile, "Mr. Shadow said you have a sixth sense, so I was just curious. By the way, would you be interested in joining my Qing Clan Secret Intelligence Department? Boss Qing Chen is the deputy director of our Secret Intelligence Department."

Zhang Mengqian paused for a moment and looked at Qing Chen.

Qing Chen then looked at Qing Zhun: "Your official rank isn't high, but your tone is quite arrogant. Do you think you can just walk into the Secret Intelligence Department like that?"

Qing Zhun: "... That's true."

"Qing Chen, you made us wait here before, what were we waiting for?" Yang Yang asked curiously.

Qing Chen glanced northward. "No rush. Let's camp in the wilderness for two days, and then you'll know what I'm waiting for."

They camped there for two days, then packed their things again and waited quietly.

Qing Chen glanced at the timer on his arm. "Here it comes."

Suddenly, a jarring whistle rang out across the wilderness.

That long-lost Steam Train travels around the Federation every 27 days. The last time Qing Chen saw it was to use it to take everyone away from the North. This time, Qing Chen saw it again after it had already traveled around the Federation for a week.

Qing Chen smiled at everyone and said, "This time, we'll ride it, and wherever it goes, we'll go. When we reach our desired destination, we'll get off, and if we want to set off again, we'll have to wait 27 days."

Qing Zhun suddenly said, "It requires gold coins to ride, right? Boss, do you have any gold coins on you?"

"No, I've already taken it in. It doesn't need any gold coins," Qing Chen said with a smile.

At that moment, the magnificent Steam Train emerged from nothingness at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, its chimney still billowing thick smoke, and its rear filled with gold coins.

"Wow!" Xiao Mengqian as she watched this amazing scene. So this was the mysterious world outside the city!

Qing Chen said, "Let's go, it'll only stop for 10 minutes, let's get in the car."

As he spoke, he walked toward the Steam Train.

However, something unexpected happened. This time, when the Steam Train arrived at the station and saw him, it didn't stop at all, but continued to move forward!

Qing Chen, terrified, rushed from the side towards the fleeing Steam Train: "Oh no, it's going to run away! Quick, grab the handrail outside the door!"

He carried Zhang Mengqian on his back and ran like a madman toward the Steam Train, grabbing a handrail outside a carriage before the Forbidden Item disappeared back into nothingness.

Qing Zhun Jun sighed softly, "You really are a nightmare for even the most fearsome creatures. Even Forbidden Item are afraid to see you. You must be an incredibly detestable player..."

As he spoke, he carried a hiking backpack in his hand and another on his back, yet he ran even faster than Qing Chen.

To be honest, this was the first time he had ever ridden Steam Train this way.

The Steam Train drove into nothingness, and Qing Chen, Yang Yang, Qing Zhun, and Zhang Mengqian remained hanging on the Steam Train, waiting for the light to return.

There won't be any problems entering nothingness.

People have tried to ride like this before, but Steam Train are quite fast, so unless it's B-Class or higher train, it's impossible to get close enough to hook up.

Therefore, relatively few people do this, and it's not comfortable for them...

No one expected that Qing Chen would single-handedly force the Steam Train to change its timetable.

This brought the train's arrival time forward by ten minutes.

It's better to arrive ten minutes early, since those taking the Steam Train usually arrive early to wait.

But if Qing Chen does this a few more times, causing the Steam Train to arrive at the station an hour or even several hours earlier, then the patterns that many people have already figured out will probably become completely useless.

From a certain perspective, Qing Chen's actions are indeed no different from containment, since in the near future, only he will be able to obtain the accurate train timetable...

Although this method is a bit underhanded, it works quite well.

Please vote for me! I'm wishing everyone a Zhuo Zi Happy New Year!