The time travelers in the dormitory were stunned. The disaster had just passed, and everyone hadn't recovered yet, and now they were burdened with heavy loans.
To get 800 points, he would have to work hard for at least a month, without being able to eat a simple stir-fry or drink a beer.
What happened to the shared hatred and camaraderie we felt when we were defending the Lower Three Districts?
Where did that mistress who encouraged everyone to live go? How did she suddenly turn into this landlord-like debt collector?
Things have changed, and people are no longer the same!
The Time Traveler said with great distress, "Your attitude changes faster than the Dean flipping through a book!"
The mistress checked the accounts and said with a smile, "It's not that fast."
Time Traveler: "..."
Chapter 705, The Key Gate!
Countdown 68:00:00.
At 4 a.m., Huan Yu woke up from her sleep.
He felt as if he had the longest dream of his life, a dream of spring flowers and summer trees, of the ends of the earth, of Zard playing in the mud with him...
If it weren't for the content of the last dream, this hibernation experience would have been great.
He silently got up and saw Zard fast asleep in bed.
I finally saw this thing when I woke up.
Da Yu touched under his pillow, but his heart, which had been full of anticipation, sank. There was no letter from Xiao Yu there.
That's strange, why isn't Xiaoyu writing to herself anymore?
Da Yu got up, picked up his pillow, and looked at the empty bed in disbelief, feeling a little disappointed.
Could it be that Xiaoyu has made new friends and has forgotten about her?
“Well, that’s understandable,” Da Yu explained to Xiao Yu, “Kids love to play, and it’s normal for them to get carried away with playing with new friends for a while.”
As he was talking to himself, he was suddenly struck by the sight of a carefully wrapped gift box on the table in his dormitory. When he opened it, he found eight letters inside!
Huan Yu's lips curled up slightly: "I knew Xiao Yu couldn't have forgotten to write me a letter."
He opened the first package:
“Brother, Zard said you fainted on the battlefield. You stayed awake because you didn’t want me to participate in the battle, which damaged your energy. I don’t know how you are. I want to learn how to fight from Zard so you won’t have to do this in the future, but he doesn’t want to teach me. He said you wouldn’t agree. And on the battlefield, he even covered my eyes… Actually, I know what happened, but he didn’t want me to see the cruel scene.”
Huan Yu sneered and looked at Zard, who was still fast asleep: "You've finally done something decent!"
He opened the second letter:
"Brother, we were guests in Forbidden Land 002. It was so much fun! There's a World Tree there, and lots of little animals live under it. A little monkey even brought me food. There's a giant there named Dingdong. I can't understand what he's saying, and neither can Brother Zard, but he insists on pretending he can..."
Third letter:
"Brother, we've arrived at the Wasteland settlement south of Forbidden Land 002. Tens of thousands of Wastelanders and Time Travelers live there, and their lives are so hard. The houses there are all makeshift thatched huts that leak as soon as it rains. Brother Zard took me to build houses for them..."
Huan Yu raised an eyebrow. So Zard really did take her to play in the mud!
Fourth letter:
“Brother, the people there are really nice. Brother Nangong Yuanyu and the others are very kind to me. I've seen them in the real world too. My older brother and sister gave me all the things they wouldn't even eat themselves. There are also some very kind wilderness people there. They go hunting in the wilderness and then bring us roasted meat. They also teach me how to identify animal tracks and droppings, and how to imitate bird calls to attract colorful little birds to land on my hand. It's so much fun. The wilderness people said they thanked Brother Zard and me for helping them.”
As Huan Yu looked at these trivial matters, her expression gradually softened, as if she had been warmed as well.
Fifth letter:
“Brother, there are some bad people in the wilderness. They are not from this settlement. According to Sister Yangyang, they are from various families in the wilderness. They are used to robbing other families but do not engage in farming or labor themselves. Yesterday they attacked and killed several villagers. Fortunately, Brother Zard and Sister Yangyang stepped in and led the wilderness people to drive them away.”
Da Yu naturally knew the truth about the wilderness; it was the cruelest place in the Federation.
Due to issues of trust and survival, the powerful wilderness people mostly live in family units. Every year at the turn of spring and summer, each wilderness family will exchange the women in their family for women from other families, who will then be exchanged for women from other families for marriage and childbirth.
Among the wilderness dwellers, there are strong and weak. They have no cultivation traditions, but due to the harsh living environment, a few relatively powerful awakened individuals occasionally emerge.
Whenever such an awakened being appears, the families in the wilderness will merge, just as the nomadic steppe peoples once did.
This is the natural selection.
The fact that the Wilderness Clan dared to attack a settlement of tens of thousands of people indicates that a powerful Awakened One must have emerged within this clan, bringing several Wilderness Clans together.
Those wilderness people will stop at nothing for profit, and Xiaoyu wants to live in a place like that? Huanyu shook his head. No, next time he returns, he has to make Zard leave there with him.
For Huan Yu, arriving in the Otherworld is what it means to return.
Sixth letter:
"Brother, many sisters in the wilderness say they like me. They say I'm fair-skinned and good-looking, much better than the men in the wilderness."
The people of the wilderness toil in the fields, their faces to the earth and backs to the sky, so their appearance is naturally not as appealing as those of city dwellers! The people in the wilderness are very open-minded, and he even worries that one day Xiaoyu might be suddenly dragged into a thatched hut by some woman!
Doesn't Zard keep an eye on things?
Seventh letter:
“Brother, the brother from the wilderness once said that further south of the settlement there is a forest filled with miasma, called Xiuzhuzhou, where a group of powerful sisters and aunts live. Outsiders can't get in, and the people inside rarely come out. But a few days ago, an aunt brought an old man with golden hair to the settlement and traded a lot of meat, plants, and medicinal herbs for several lighters from us.”
Da Yu was stunned when he saw this: Xiu Zhuzhou! The Lian Clan Corpse Drivers!
That so-called 'golden old man' is none other than the golden corpse of the Lian clan, isn't he?
Xiuzhuzhou is a place that even federal satellites have never been able to capture, and it has always existed in legends. I never expected that Xiaoyu would actually encounter it.
No, he'd heard that the Lian people were very strange, so he had to get Xiaoyu away from that place!
He read for a long time, until the last letter:
"Brother, you should be awake by the time you see this letter. I hope you can stay awake for a few more days this time! Also, I folded so many swiftlets for you this time, I used up all the origami that Brother Zard brought!"
The crooked handwriting on those letters reveals the innocence of children.
Somewhat strangely, if other people have multiple consciousnesses coexisting in one body, then there will definitely be a struggle for control of the body.
However, Da Yu, Zhong Yu, and Xiao Yu did not have this problem. Xiao Yu even wished that Da Yu could wake up for a longer period of time.
Da Yu smiled and folded the letter back into the gift box. At the bottom of the box was a small wooden horse, which Xiao Yu had mentioned in the letter was a gift from the villagers.
He picked it up and examined it carefully, checking if any savages had smeared poison on the wood carving, and also checking for any traps or mechanisms that could be used to harm someone...
He only put the wooden pony back into the gift box after he was sure there was nothing wrong with it.
Da Yu looked at Zard, whose snoring had stopped at some point. He was clearly awake, but dared not open his eyes, probably worried that Da Yu would give him a good scolding.
He said calmly, "The place you are in should be a hot and humid place in the south, where poisonous insects and snakes are everywhere. How dare you take Xiaoyu to such a place? Next time we go to the Inner World, you must leave there with me immediately."
Seeing that he couldn't keep up the act any longer, Zard said, "Oh, okay then..."
Zard was much more obedient in front of Da Yu...
...
...
Countdown 2:00:00.
This week, a new batch of "Scroll Kings" emerged in the Time Traveler Academy—special scrolls indeed.
However, it wasn't that they wanted to take on the loan; rather, their debts forced them to. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to afford even a small stir-fry or go to a private cinema. They would have to pay off their loans before they could do anything.
Just a few days ago, everyone admired Qing Chen, but now they've started gossiping about him behind his back...
After dealing with the minor matters, Qingchen began to discuss the major issues with Zheng Yuandong.
The first major event is that the president and members of Congress have identified 28 prominent scientists who intend to immigrate, along with their research teams.
These 28 leading researchers are mainly concentrated in cities 20 and 23, and are under the close control of Kamishiro and Kashima.
Qing Chen needs the Key Gate to transfer these people; without the Key Gate, it's impossible to guide them.
At this moment, Zheng Yuandong said, "You don't need to worry about city number 23. Just give me the list and address, and I will personally take the parents' association members there."
"Hmm?" Qing Chen asked knowingly, "What did Boss Zheng do in City 23?"
Zheng Yuandong glanced at him: "Go have some fun."
He can't exactly say that he changed his name and joined the Golden Family, can he?
Upon his return, Qingchen finally had a chance to rest, and all his previous fatigue vanished.
The countdown has reached zero.
Time travel.
...
...
In the night of City 23, Zheng Yuandong sat in front of a ramen stall, watching countless residents walk onto the street.
As public opinion has grown, hundreds of thousands of people have begun to strike and march in protest against everything that Kamishiro and Kashima have done to City 10.
Zheng Yuandong got up and mingled with the crowd, quickly walking towards the third section. During this time, he met up with two family members in the fourth section.
The third district is an affluent area, mostly consisting of villas and townhouses. He found the target villa according to the address given by Qingchen.
The owner of this villa is a renowned expert in computer science, materials science, medicine, philosophy, and painting in the Federation, and is currently specializing in the research and development of nanorobots.
The federal research experts are more capable than I imagined; each of them is a cross-disciplinary master.
In the darkness, on the third floor of the villa opposite the mansion, someone was silently observing with binoculars. They were sent by Kashima to keep an eye on these researchers and prevent them from secretly going to City 10.
At this moment, Zheng Yuandong arrived at the villa and casually pressed the doorbell.
The surveillance personnel on the third floor of the villa said over the communication channel, "Something's up, strangers are visiting."
As soon as he finished speaking, a few blocks away, the garrison troops quietly infiltrated the area.
After entering the room, Zheng Yuandong looked at the elderly man with gray hair sitting in a wheelchair and said, "I'm here to take you to City 10. Please take your patent documents and research materials with you and leave with me."
The old man paused for a moment: "Now? There are people watching us from the other side. We definitely can't leave now."
Zheng Yuandong smiled and said, "Don't worry, the talent introduction strategy for City 10 has taken everything into consideration."
As he spoke, he handed a golden Eye of True Sight to his family members beside him: "I've already opened my own Key Gate, and I can't open it a second time, so you'll have to do it. I explained everything to you on the way here. Just do as I said, and once you get to the conference room at the garrison barracks in City 10, you'll be assigned a house."