The Cabin
【【Audience Expectation Value】 +3】
【Yang Xiao】 also reached out his hand and clasped it together with Chen Ling's.
"Let's formally introduce ourselves, my name is Chen Ling." Chen Ling initiated the conversation.
"Chen... Ling? Which Ling?" (T/N: 'Ling' can mean mausoleum/tomb or actor among other things.)
"The Ling in actor (lingren)." As if afraid 【Yang Xiao】 wouldn't understand, Chen Ling added another sentence, "The Ling in lonely and destitute (guku lingding)."
【Yang Xiao】 nodded slightly. "【Yang Xiao】, the Xiao in Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao)."
After the two finished their introductions, Chen Ling withdrew his hand, buckled his seatbelt again, and started the car.
"You said you want to explore the secrets, how should we do that?" 【Yang Xiao】 asked doubtfully. "Analyze the 【Red Star】? But it has already left Earth and entered its next orbit..."
"Where?"
Chen Ling didn't speak. He just glanced at 【Yang Xiao】 in the rearview mirror.
"We?" 【Yang Xiao】 reacted very quickly. "Are you saying that the reason we obtained the power of knowledge is because we absorbed the 【Red Star Fragment】s?"
"Exactly. So the primary goal is to gather all of the 【Nine Monarchs】 as much as possible."
"If that's the case, wouldn't it have been better to just gather everyone together back in 【Shennongjia】? Explaining the situation to them would be the most convenient way, wouldn't it?" 【Yang Xiao】 asked, puzzled.
"It's not that simple."
Chen Ling handed a note to 【Yang Xiao】. "Among you, someone has returned from another era, and their allegiance is unclear. There's even someone attempting to stifle and kill the 【Nine Monarchs】... If we were to gather everyone together with great fanfare, not only would you all be in danger, but I would also be targeted and eliminated."
【Yang Xiao】 took the note. It was the character relationship chart that Chen Ling had mapped out himself. Seeing the names of Dr. Lou and 【Dr. Ji】 circled, he suddenly saw the light.
"No wonder you kept pressing them about their research 【Domain】s back then... You suspect them?"
"Yes, and I can't rule out the possibility that someone else among the others is also in disguise." Chen Ling sighed. "So, I could only come find you first, and then secretly contact the other 【Nine Monarchs】."
"So that's how it is."
【Yang Xiao】 looked at the people on the list thoughtfully. "But I'm not very familiar with these people either... Only 【Lu Xun】 can be considered an old friend. I only got familiar with 【Su Zhiwei】 during the exploration as well."
He looked up at Chen Ling. "Do you have the next candidate in mind?"
"En."
"Who?"
"【Su Zhiwei】."
Chen Ling spoke calmly, "During the exploration, I also paid attention to the others. 【Su Zhiwei】 moved together with us the entire time and didn't exhibit any strange behavior. Compared to the others, her level of suspicion is very low and she can be trusted... Moreover, I'm also very interested in her '【String Theory】'."
"Dr. Su, huh... My impression of her is also quite good." 【Yang Xiao】 nodded slightly.
"Do you know where she went?"
"I don't know, but I can ask around. When we were chatting, she mentioned her workplace."
"Alright, I'll leave that to you then."
【Yang Xiao】 took out his phone. After scrolling through his contacts for a while, he locked onto a name and dialed the number.
About five or six minutes later, he jotted down a string of addresses on the back of the note and handed it to Chen Ling.
"I asked. She didn't return to her workplace, but went straight back to her hometown instead... She's probably mentally exhausted from this experience and wants to rest for a bit." 【Yang Xiao】 pointed at the address. "I found out her hometown address from a friend. We can go straight there."
"【Gusu】?" Chen Ling swept a glance at it and nodded. "Alright, let's head to the airport right now."
"Let me check the earliest flight... There happens to be one in two hours. Give me your ID number, and I'll buy a ticket for you too."
"Buy a ticket?" Chen Ling chuckled softly. With a vroom, he floored the accelerator, and the vehicle shot off towards the distance!
"I never buy tickets when I take flights."
...
Airport.
Wearing a brown trench coat, Chen Ling closed his flip phone and walked up to one of the boarding pass printing kiosks. Two plane tickets were automatically spat out.
Chen Ling pocketed one ticket and handed the other to 【Yang Xiao】.
Seeing words like "First Class," "【Yang Xiao】," and "VIP Lane" on the ticket, 【Yang Xiao】's mouth unconsciously hung wide open...
"How did you do that?" he asked in disbelief.
Chen Ling smiled and reached out to pat his shoulder.
"Watch closely, learn well, and you'll be able to do it in the future too."
【【Audience Expectation Value】 +2】
Watching Chen Ling's gradually receding figure, 【Yang Xiao】 stood blankly on the spot for a long time before recovering his wits. He quickly jogged to catch up. "But is it really okay to do this? Taking a flight without paying should be considered fare evasion. I feel like it'd be better to go and pay for the ticket retroactively."
"How do you know I didn't pay?" Chen Ling raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't pay, how could it spit out a ticket for me?"
"You..."
"It's just that the money I spent wasn't my own." Chen Ling said calmly, "In this world, some people's money is ill-gotten to begin with. I simply froze their accounts and conveniently took a little processing fee from them, that's all."
【Yang Xiao】: ...
Compared to fare evasion, 【Yang Xiao】 was clearly much more accepting of this "punishing evil and promoting good" approach. He didn't pursue the matter of paying for the ticket anymore and just walked straight towards security check.
The two smoothly passed the security check and boarded the plane. Chen Ling had booked first-class seats. Not only were the seats spacious, but this particular flight didn't have many passengers to begin with, so it was almost just the two of them sitting together, while the other seats were completely empty.
"So this is what first class is like..."
It seemed this was also 【Yang Xiao】's first time flying first class. He was still fiddling with the seat's reclining angle while Chen Ling closed his eyes and began to rest his mind.
Time ticked by, minute by minute, second by second. The passengers had basically all boarded. Just when Chen Ling thought they had the entire first-class cabin to themselves, a burly figure dragging heavy luggage stepped onto the plane.
"Hello 【Mister】, your seat is right here..." After checking his ticket, the flight attendant enthusiastically led him to another seat in the first-class cabin.
"Let me help you stow your luggage..."
"No need." 【Nie Yu】's icy voice rang out. Following that, the man exerted a slight bit of force and hoisted the black metal suitcase into the overhead bin, emitting a loud clang. Although the suitcase didn't look big, it was clearly not light.
Hearing this sound, Chen Ling subconsciously opened his eyes and turned his head to look in the man's direction...
Seemingly sensing Chen Ling's gaze, the man also turned his head to look back. Their gazes instantly met in the air.
But the next moment, 【Nie Yu】 looked away and sat down in his seat, which was separated from Chen Ling's only by the aisle.
"This guy..." Chen Ling's eyes narrowed slightly.