7:20 in the morning; countdown: 20:40:00.
After running three laps around his neighborhood, Qing Chen returned home. He discovered that Jiang Xue was already hanging clothes on the drying rack on the upstairs balcony. Every shirt that she was hanging belonged to him.
Because he was very busy preparing for transmigration recently, he collected a pile of dirty clothes waiting to be washed. He was planning to wash them today, but Jiang Xue took them away.
When Jiang Xue spotted him, she smiled and greeted him by opening the window "I made the porridge, Qing Chen. You should come up and try it for yourself!"
"No, no, I'm good," said Qing Chen, waving his hand. He then took some compressed biscuits and nibbled on them on his way to school.
He hadn’t seen anyone treat him with kindness for a long time, so he wasn’t very used to it at first.
Stepping into the school gate, Qing Chen saw many people were running toward the high school building. Along the way, he also saw Nan Gengchen running along with a crowd, so he stopped Nan Gengcheng and asked curiously, "What's all this about?"
"Didn't you check the class WeChat? Someone in our class next to ours is a transmigrator! The guy is in the classroom right now!" said Nan Gengchen, panting.
"Wait, how did you find out that he was a transmigrator?" asked Qing Chen, puzzled. He was confident that no one else in the next-door class had any mechanical limbs.
"Of course, he was bragging about it," Nan Gengchen explained. He was able to resist the temptation all day yesterday, But he ended up telling his classmate last night.“
Qing Chen frowned upon hearing this. What's up with so many transmigrators in Luo City?
There were probably no more than two thousand students and personnel at the school, but there were already four known transmigrators in his school so far. How many people would that be in his country then?
It seems that only ten or so cities in the country had transmigrators. Even so, there would still be a significant amount.
This pattern must be recognized by others as well, right?
By the time that this information was publicized, he could already tell that there would be an influx of people rushing into these cities hoping to be transmigrated as the third or fourth group.
Perhaps not right now, but if the third set of transmigrators showed up, it would confirm his suspicions.
In the future, the dozen or so cities, including Luo City, would grow in popularity.
Qing Chen and Nan Gengchen ran to the classroom, but before they were able to reach the classroom, the teaching department head brought a group of teachers over to bring away that student who claimed to be a transmigrator.
"We are late!" muttered Nan Gengchen.
Qing Chen didn't care about the business of others, so he dragged Nan Gengchen into their class.
He was guessing that the mysterious organization would arrive shortly. He would soon visit the other world again tonight, so he didn't want to bring himself unnecessary troubles.
He also wasn’t sure if anyone from the mysterious organization saw his appearance and took notice. If they were able to restrict Jiang Xue to not leave the city, it wouldn't be hard for them to gain access to the surveillance cameras around the area.
Although the area where he lived was relatively old and sparsely monitored, he still was careful not to walk into the heavily monitored area. However, he couldn't be certain that he hadn't inadvertently walked into the lens of a camera.
Throughout the day, Qing Chen stayed in the class trying to avoid encountering the people from the mysterious organization.
Unless he needed to go to the bathroom, he didn't take a single step outside the classroom.
It's worth noting that their English teacher, Du Yihong, was absent again today, giving Qing Chen additional confidence in his initial guess.
"Qing Chen, Qing Chen, look!" said Nan Gengchen, "He Xiaoxiao updated his strategy video for the Inner World!"
Qing Chen's eyes lit up. Among everyone who had returned from the Inner World, the most attractive option would be He Xiaoxiao and his videos.
Everyone else was only talking about a slice of information or giving one-sided opinions.
Xiaoxiao, however, was sharing solid useful information.
For example, the Taboo Tribunal, Li Shutong, and genetic injection. These were nouns that most transmigrators didn't know of before watching.
What happened to He Xiaoxiao during the time he disappeared? What made him reappear?
Qing Chen clicked into the video on his phone.
"Hello everyone, I am He Xiaoxiao. Due to some special circumstances, I wasn't able to upload a strategy video yesterday."
"The strategy that I'm bringing to you today is a current informational overview of the Inner World: The Qing Family's Fight for the Shadow."
"The Qing Family Group is one of the five largest corporations in the Inner World…"
"And the Shadow is the person within the Qing Family who holds tremendous underground power."
"This is said to be the Qing Family thousand-year tradition to hold a rigorous competition to determine the next Shadow. Every Shadow candidate must undergo the cruelest test. At the same time, the process of selection will stir up extreme excitement in the Inner World."
"There are currently eight known Shadow candidates, and each of them has different talents. These eight Shadow candidates' names are Qing Huai, Qing Wen, Qing Shi… and finally, there is one more who is very mysterious. Even now, I don't know his name."
Qing Chen remained still. The so-called informative video was more akin to a tale plot for an already released game, such as Red Alert 3: Yuri's Revenge1]I’ve never played this game before, but you can look it up if you are interested : ).
He had no idea that Li Shutong had suspected him of being a Shadow candidate, and he had no idea that he was one of them. It was never mentioned by Lu Guangyi.
But now he suddenly understood why he appeared in Prison 18.
He had to admit that He Xiaoxiao's strategy video was very helpful to him this time.
Countdown: 6:19:29.
Classes went as usual until the afternoon, yet Qing Chen still didn't see anyone from the mysterious organization arrive at the school. It was just that the classmate who claimed to be a transmigrator never returned to his class. Others said that he was requested to be sent home by his parents to reflect on the chaos he caused.
As the time to transmigrate grew nearer, Qing Chen could clearly feel that Nan Gengchen was getting more and more nervous.
He didn't know what he could say to help calm his deskmate’s nerves, but if Nan Gengcheng happened to appear in Prison 18 as well, Qing Chen would do his best to help him, despite the risks.
"If… I mean only if… you happened to transmigrate tonight, please be extra careful. You saw the news too, the Inner World is a dangerous place," explained Qing Chen calmly to Nan Gengchen.
Nan Gengchen's expression is a bit unnatural, "I… I'm not a transmigrator."
"I just wanted to let you know." With that, Qing Chen said no more. He knew that his deskmate still wanted to keep it a secret, so he could still trust that Nan Gengcheng wouldn't do anything too out of character.
That evening, Qing Chen skipped class and went home. He waited peacefully in his room for the countdown to end.
He closed his eyes to have some rest. After a long time… a knock came from his door. Qing Chen got up to open the door and saw Jiang Xue standing outside, "Hello, do you need anything, Aunt Jiang Xue?"
Jiang Xue hesitated and said: "You know that I am a transmigrator, and the countdown is about to end. That world is not a safe place, and I can’t guarantee that I will make it back in one piece. If for some reason I won't be able to return tomorrow, can you please take care of Xiaoyun?
Qing Chen was taken back, "Why would you say something like this? I'm sure that you will return safely."
Jiang Xue shook her head, "Thank you for being so kind, but you have no idea how hazardous that world is. I do know. If you aren’t part of one of the five corporations, your life is worthless. I don't need you to look after Xiaoyun for too long. Her grandma will arrive from Zheng City soon…"
"Okay, I promise you that I will take care of Xiaoyun, but I still hope that you will be okay," said Qing Chen as he nodded.
"Thank you," Jiang Xue handed Qing Chen a key, "I'll leave a copy of my house to you. If you need anything, you can just open my door."
Then, Jiang Xue turned and left.
Qing Chen was stunned for several seconds. He didn't expect that she would trust him so much to give him the key to her house.
I guess this is what they call mutual trust?
Countdown: 00:9:59.
Qing Chen took advantage of the last minutes to hold a small flash drive in his mouth.
He wanted to try if he could carry items with his body.
Then, he bruised his arm again.
After everything was complete, Qing Chen took a deep breath.
Countdown: 00:00:10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
The world came crashing down around him.
Then it pieced together again.
…