Qing Chen frowned. Who was this He Xiaoxiao, and what gave him the confidence to make a group chat with all of the time travelers?
He guessed that He Xiaoxiao must have gotten some technology from the Inner World that could erase one's online identity.
Most people have only transmigrated for a very short time. What made He Xiaoxiao able to obtain such technology from the Inner World? Did he bring some devices back from there?
The equipment that can build a data fortress would certainly not be small in size, how could he bring it back?
Perhaps He Xiaoxiao was never a single entity to begin with.
It would be difficult for one person to bring over complex equipment, but if it was a group of people, it would be feasible for everyone to bring just a part back at a time.
Qing Chen didn't know much about information technology, so it seemed that he could only go ask Li Shutong about it.
He still wouldn't join such a group chat even if it was useful… unless he could find a way to remain hidden.
He Xiaoxiao only mentioned that the chat members would be safe from outsiders, but He Xiaoxiao himself could obtain all the user's information quite easily.
This group chat system was like a crab cage, and He Xiaoxiao was the crab hunter.
He just had to sit on his ship in the ocean while throwing the cages down the water, and soon enough, crabs would be swarming in.
That night, Qing Chen skipped class again.
He first went to buy a cake from the bakery for Li Tongyun as a gift, then some fruits and vegetables from the market.
During recent days, he had been a frequent guest at Jiang Xue's place, so he figured that he shouldn’t go empty-handed all the time.
After entering the neighborhood, Qing Chen checked around multiple times to confirm that there weren't any paparazzi following him.
Out of the 30 or more time travelers in Luo City that have been identified, Jiang Xue seemed to be one of the most discreet and hadn’t attracted much attention.
When he knocked on the door, Qing Chen heard Li Tongyun cheering from inside, "Brother Qing Chen is here!"
She opened the door and then asked in a low voice, "Where are your classmates?"
"Don't know. Let's not mind them," smiled Qing Chen, patting her head.
"Come and check out my mom's new mechanical limbs. They’re beautiful." Li Tongyun tugged on Qing Chen's sleeves as they went in.
Jiang Xue was cooking but had to pause after the two of them crowded into the kitchen.
Before, Jiang Xue’s arms were more like a machine made up of alloy steel pipes, but now they were more like human arms.
The finger, wrist, and elbow joints were also tightly sealed.
Qing Chen asked curiously, "Is this the new one you bought? How long does the battery last?"
"It lasts more than ten times compared to the last time," said Jiang Xue smiling, "I'm quite lucky, since apparently I saved a higher-up in the Li Family Corporation, so this is also a gift from her."
Qing Chen casually glanced at Li Tongyun, and the girl quickly pulled her mom back into the kitchen, "Mom, when will the food be ready? I'm hungry!"
"Don't worry, I'm almost done," answered Jiang Xue.
Since she transmigrated, he became much more cheerful and unrestrained. Everything seemed to be getting better.
In the living room, Li Tongyun lowered her voice and said, "Brother Qing Chen, are you asking my mother about this to expose me?"
Qing Chen shook his head, "No, I'm just curious."
Li Tongyun rolled her eyes, "Brother Qing Chen, you still haven’t told me what's your identity in the Inner World."
"What do you think?" Qing Chen didn't want to tell her yet.
"How about let's do a trade. I'll tell you mine, and you tell me yours." Li Tongyun smiled.
Qing Chen shook his head again, "No."
He already knew that Li Tongyun was the only daughter of Li Family Corporation's Second Branch, so that would be a meaningless trade to him.
"Boring." Li Tongyun said as she sat down on the sofa, "You knew my identity, right? Why are you hiding from a kid?"
Qing Chen smiled, "You aren't just any kid."
As she was speaking, there was a knock on the door.
Li Tongyun jumped down from the sofa to open the door, but she only opened the wooden door on the inside and didn't even touch the metal anti-theft door on the outside.
Wang Yun saw that the door opened, he smiled at Li Tongyun through the metal bars and said, "Hello, we are Qing Chen's classmates. He knows us very well."
Li Tongyun turned to the living room, "Brother Qing Chen, do you know these people well?"
Before Qing Chen could even answer, she turned back and said, "He said he doesn't really know you guys."
With a bang, the door separated them once again.
The four of them looked at each other and didn't know what to do.
How come Qing Chen could fit in so well with this family and they couldn't?!
Before they could talk amongst themselves, the kind Jiang Xue opened up the doors for them and said apologetically, "Hello. Sorry about that. Are you the new neighbors that just moved in? Please have a seat inside."
With her white T-shirt and back apron, Jiang Xue stood out from the environment around her.
However, what attracted Hu Xiaoniu and others was Jiang Xue's hand.
In fact, before opening the door, Jiang Xue had deliberately straightened her sleeves to cover up her arms.
But her hand was still exposed.
The four of them were all time travelers and had seen plenty of mechanical limbs in City 7, but Jiang Xue's hand was different from all the ones they saw.
Feeling that they had been looking at her hands for too long, they quickly looked away.
Li Tongyun at this time was sitting on the sofa angrily with no intention to greet the guests.
Wang Yun walked in first and said politely, "Should we change our shoes?"
"No, no, just take a seat. We don't have that many pairs of slippers to go around," said Jiang Xue, "Xiaoyun, go get some tea for our guests."
"Ok." Li Tongyun got up unwillingly.
The four of them put the items in their hands on the dining table. Wang Yun brought a teddy bear for Li Tongyun, Bai Waner brought an action figure, Zhang Tianzhen brought two champagnes, and Hu Xiaoniu brought a bottle of whiskey packed in a wooden box.
Hu Xiaoniu smiled and said to Jiang Xue, "This is our first time here, so we brought some gifts. This bottle of whiskey is from Japan and is not available on the market."
"That's too precious," said Jiang Xue, "You should take it back with you. I never had whiskey before and don't know much about it. Xiao Chen, have you drunk whiskey before?"
After thinking for a while, Qing Chen said honestly, "I have. There used to be a bottle in the living room that my dad used as decoration after finishing it."
Seeing that it was an opportunity to start a conversation, Hu Xiaoniu said enthusiastically, "Many people like to drink it with a little bit of water, or you can just drink it as it is. But nowadays, young people like to do whatever they want with their drinks. I like to add a pinch of salt while drinking, what about you?"
Qing Chen thought about it and said, "Then I might be a little different from you, I like to drink it with salty people."1In the original text, Hu Xiaoniu said he likes to drink whiskey with green tea, but Qing Chen said he likes to drink along with green tea. The green tea that Qing Chen referred to is a slang term meaning someone (usually a woman) who pretends to be innocent and harmless but in fact came for a specific purpose