Return Countdown 95:00:00
City 18, midnight, 1 AM.
District 4, The Never-ending Night Club.
This should have been a lively and bustling place, but at this moment, the floor looked as if it had just been washed with blood.
Outside, more than a dozen people in cloaks stood silently, a well-behaved six-eyed crow perched on the shoulder of the girl in the lead.
The girl frowned at the blood seeping from the crack in the door. She took a small hawthorn from her pocket and put it to the crow's beak.
The crow lowered its head and began to peck at the hawthorn. After only two pecks, it closed three of its eyes from the sourness.
The girl breathed a sigh of relief and said to her companions behind her, “Only B-level casualties today, it should be easy to handle. Everyone, be quick, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can go home. I heard that there's a nice Shendai Cuisine restaurant that opened in District 5, their sukiyaki is delicious. I'll treat everyone after we're done! But, it closes at 4 AM, I wonder if we'll make it in time.”
The men and women behind her exchanged glances, their mouths curving into smiles: “It's rare for Si Yue to treat us, let's finish before closing!”
But this group from the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal remained calm and cheerful, seemingly accustomed to such scenes.
Beside the bar, Li Dongze sat on a tall bar stool, combing his hair back into a short braid, then draining a glass of amber liquor.
He looked up at the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal: “San Yue didn't come?”
Si Yue looked around: “This is a small matter, my sister doesn't need to come. By the way, next time you guys make a move, can you not make it so bloody? My new shoes are dirty.”
Li Dongze thought for a moment and said, “There won't be a next time in City 18. As for the shoes…Eternal Society can compensate you.”
“Let's get to work,” Si Yue waved to her companions behind her, then turned to Li Dongze: “Did you bleed? If any of your blood landed anywhere, you must tell me in advance, I need to deal with it carefully.”
The members of the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal took off their cloaks and took out small pouches from their waists, pouring an unknown powder onto the floor.
Soon, the powder spread like a living thing, seeping into the ground nearby.
“I didn't bleed,” Li Dongze shook his head: “By the way, what's your sister busy with lately?”
“Why do you always care about my sister?” Si Yue became alert.
“Nothing,” Li Dongze adjusted his trench coat and walked toward the exit of The Never-ending Night Club.
A car was already waiting at the entrance. He sat in the back seat, quietly thinking.
The driver asked softly, “Boss, after the Harmony and Victory Society escaped, they were sent to the nearby District 4 public hospital. Do we need to go after them?”
“No,” Li Dongze thought for a moment and said, “Tonight's already been eventful enough.”
He took out his phone and sent a message to Yi: “Everything alright at Little Boss's place?”
Yi replied: “Smooth.”
Li Dongze sent another message: “Then when will he take over Eternal Society?”
Yi replied after two seconds: “I guess he doesn't want to take over Eternal Society.”
Li Dongze frowned in the car: “If he doesn't want to take over, how can I leave?”
Yi asked back: “If you leave, what about your subordinates? Facing the erosion of other forces?”
Li Dongze put down his phone and gently pressed the car window, lighting a cigarette.
The tip of the cigarette was burned by the flame, the tobacco curling up and making a sizzling sound, seeming somewhat lonely.
Li Shutong had already embarked on a long journey with Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan. Many envied Li Dongze's prominence, but for him, what he most wanted to do was not to possess this vain power, but to follow the Boss and roam the world.
Now, Eternal Society has become a shackle on Li Dongze, preventing him from leaving.
When the Boss was still in Prison 18, he hadn't felt this so strongly. Now that he's the only one left, the loneliness is like the sky of City 18, cut apart by countless steel and cement buildings.
Li Dongze thought for a moment and took out his phone again to send a message to Yi: “Tell Little Boss that I helped him, he needs to help me too.”
Li Dongze drank a glass of wine at The Never-ending Night Club and smoked a cigarette at the entrance, but he didn't wait for the Conglomerate's encirclement.
It seems that as long as Li Shutong is still alive, they wouldn't dare to tear up their Face[-] over such a small matter.
At this time, he took out the old pocket watch he always kept in his chest and opened the golden lid.
But under the pocket watch lid was not the hands and movement, but a deep darkness like a cosmic black hole. The moment it was opened, it seemed as if even the light around the pocket watch was sucked in.
Gradually, something more appeared in the darkness, like stars twinkling, or snowflakes dancing.
Li Dongze frowned: “It's going to snow again?”
In the cold weather, his words formed white breath. The bustling holographic neon lights in District 4 were not afraid of the cold, and a huge golden fish was still dragging a long tail in the sky.
In fact, not everything in the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal is extremely dangerous. For example, someone's pocket watch can only check the weather 24 hours later.
Sometimes Li Dongze felt that he should be a farmer, because he could accurately harvest his wheat before it rained, and then not tell his neighbors about the weather he knew.
He could sit under the eaves in the rain and watch his neighbors' embarrassed appearances.
“Hello, excuse me, excuse me.”
A middle-aged man said with a flattering smile at the entrance of the ward in the morning: “Excuse me, are there any injured people in this ward? We offer professional Cybernetic Limbs installation and bionic organ sales. Does anyone need them?”
Qing Chen looked at the middle-aged man and was stunned. He looked at the doctors and nurses coming and going in the corridor, and it seemed that no one intended to stop him.
Outside, Little Eagle, who had just come back from the toilet, pulled the middle-aged man aside: “Get lost, no one needs your inferior Cybernetic Limbs and bionic organs, we're all fine, and our organs are fine too!”
But the middle-aged man smiled: “Then do you sell your organs…?”
Qing Chen was shocked. Are the businessmen in the Inner World so wild?
At this time, Little Eagle leaned close to Qing Chen, taking advantage of the fact that there was no one in the ward, and asked: “That… can I join your organization?”
Qing Chen was silent for a moment: “Actually, we're already part of the same organization. When I returned last time, I joined Kunlun.”
The better it was not mentioned, the more Little Eagle laughed and cried: “You joined Kunlun and Nine Provinces at the same time, does that count as joining… Seriously, I want to join you, to experience the organizational culture.”
Qing Chen asked doubtfully: “Do you also want to report your father?”
Little Eagle was stunned: “What does this have to do with that?”
The organizational culture they were talking about was not the same thing at all!
Just as they were talking, there was a knock on the door.
Qing Chen looked up and saw Li Changqing standing at the door.
Little Eagle quickly stepped aside and stood obediently.
Li Changqing sat down beside Qing Chen's bed with a smile, gently lifted the gauze on his forehead, and found that the bleeding had stopped before he felt relieved.
Qing Chen suddenly turned to Little Eagle, and the envious look on his Face[-], only then did he understand what organizational culture the other party was talking about.
This is a huge misunderstanding!
However, Qing Chen's attention was now drawn to someone else. His peripheral vision went over Li Changqing's shoulder and saw Shadow Candidate “Qing Yi” standing at the door.
This young boy was thin and weak. In Lin Xiaoxiao's information, he was only 14 years old, and he looked harmless, with a neat watermelon head.
Li Changqing peeled an apple for Qing Chen while smiling, “Look how much I care about you, my cousin's son came to Ban Shan Mountain Estate today, and I came to see you first.”
Qing Chen suddenly realized that this Qing Yi had a close relationship with the Li Clan.
Li Shutong had said before that there were intricate relationships between the Conglomerates, and intermarriages were common.
It seems that Qing Yi is half Li Clan, which might give him an advantage in the Shadow Succession.
Qing Yi stood at the door and smiled brightly at Qing Chen: “Hello, Uncle.”
At this time, Qing Chen realized that from the perspective of outsiders, he has already become the elder of all candidates…
He was analyzing Qing Yi, but found that the other party was only smiling, and it was impossible to judge any other emotions.
Li Changqing put the peeled apple into Qing Chen's hand, and Qing Chen took a bite, but suddenly recalled that someone had given him apples in the wilderness.
However, for Li Changqing, the apple was just a gift to comfort the patient, while for the little girl in the wilderness, that bag of apples was her entire property.
Xiao Yiyi's apples were more delicious.
Qing Chen made a judgment in his heart.
For some reason, he suddenly missed his days in the wilderness, carefree.
Right, Xiao Yiyi said there were delicious persimmons at the Shendai Family's campsite, and he hadn't eaten them yet.
Qing Yi walked to the bedside and said kindly, “Uncle, I wish you a speedy recovery.”
Qing Chen looked at Qing Yi and smiled: “Nice to meet you… Did you bring me a gift?”
Little Eagle on the side exclaimed, “Professional!”, This was the first time he had seen someone so shameless ask a junior for a gift.
For a moment, the smile in Qing Yi's eyes froze for a moment, and the next moment he smiled at Qing Chen and said, “I came in a hurry, so I didn't prepare anything, please forgive me, Uncle.”
“It's alright,” Qing Chen smiled, “Remember to bring it next time.”
Qing Yi's expression replayed in his mind, and he was sure that under this youthful and bright appearance, there must be a complex soul hidden.
At this time, Li Changqing looked at Qing Chen: “The doctor said you can be discharged, why don't you come back to Ban Shan Mountain Estate with me?”
Qing Chen thought for a moment: “I think I need another checkup…”
He still had to pick up ‘Conquer with Virtue’ in three days, so he couldn't go back to Ban Shan Mountain Estate now.