Qing Chen smiled and said, "I am Qing Zhun's younger brother."
“Oh, so it’s their younger brother. Where are they now?” the aunt asked.
“He went to other cities to do business,” Qingchen said.
"Oh, I see," the aunt said with a smile. "My name is Qingzhen. Your brother helped me fix appliances many times back then, and your sister-in-law often gave the neighbors the snacks she made. We're all old acquaintances. If you have any difficulties, just tell me, and I'll definitely help if I can."
Qing is a common surname in the southwest, much like the Wang surname is in the outside world. So it's not surprising to run into someone with the surname Qing. If you trace your ancestry back ten generations, you might even know someone named Qing Zhen.
At this moment, Qingchen thought of how kind his brother and sister-in-law were to everyone here, and his nose suddenly felt sore. He quickly smiled and said, "Thank you, Auntie. I'll let you know if I need anything."
The older woman looked Qingchen up and down: "You look a bit thin, but you're quite upright. By the way, what do you do for a living?"
“Oh, this,” Qingchen replied, “I’m a repairman.”
"What kind of repairs?" The auntie became interested. A skilled worker in the slums was quite sought after; with a skill, one would definitely not starve.
Qing Chen smiled and replied, "I repair mobile phones."
Actually, it's not wrong for him to call himself a repairman. He'll fix whoever he doesn't like. If a conglomerate has problems, he'll fix the financial conglomerate. If the federation has problems, he'll fix the federation.
Although the scope of repairs is somewhat broad, Qingchen is now at least a skilled worker.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" The auntie became interested: "How about I introduce you to someone?"
"No, no, no," Qing Chen said, fleeing in panic.
Just then, a girl's voice came from inside the door and asked, "Mom, who are you talking to?"
The older woman said, "Our new neighbor."
"Huh? What does he do?"
“He’s a phone repairman,” the woman said. “He’s a year younger than you, but he seems quite clean. I was thinking of introducing you to him.”
The girl inside muttered, "What's there for me to talk about with a phone repairman? I have tons of guys chasing after me."
...
...
Qingchen walked along the bustling streets. He had never really explored the streets properly in other cities before, but now that he was in the city his brother had created for him, he felt like he couldn't get enough of the scenery.
It's like watching a wonderful movie with hidden Easter eggs, full of surprises.
Not only hot pot restaurants and foot massage parlors, but Qingchen also saw a Sichuan restaurant in the other world.
The Otherworld has no concept of provinces or regions, so it shouldn't have regional specialties like Sichuan cuisine.
He walked into the restaurant and took a look. The dishes inside were completely different from those in the outside world. Upon further inquiry, he discovered that it was actually a catering enterprise directly under the Qing family.
So, it's likely that Yan Liuyuan mentioned "Sichuan restaurant" to Qingzhun, and Qingzhun thought it was a brand, so he had the Qing family open such a restaurant. Whether the business is good or not doesn't matter, as long as it exists...
Whenever Qingchen sees these familiar elements from the surface world, he finds it funny, like seeing his older brother scratching his head, trying to figure out what a "Sichuan restaurant" really is.
He walked north until a magnificent building came into view.
The black exterior reflects the sunlight, and the whole structure is as solid as if it were cast in metal.
Prison No. 5.
Qing Chen wasn't there to visit someone in prison; he was there to find the long-lost warden.
He walked to the gate of the lonely prison and knocked on the door: "Yi, I know you're in there, open the door!"
Chapter 764, Part One: Long Time No See
Prison No. 5 was cold and indifferent, offering no response to Qing Chen's calls, not even the security camera at the entrance moved.
Qing Chen continued banging on the door: "Stop playing dead. You only gave yourself away when the camera wasn't moving when there were visitors. Open the door now, it's very important, come inside and talk."
The next moment, the security camera at the door slowly turned around and focused on Qing Chen's face.
Qing Chen looked at the security camera and pointed to the metal gate in front of him: "Aren't you going to open the door?"
At that moment, the gate of prison number 5 slowly opened.
Qing Chen walked in with a smile, waiting for the gate to close again.
He looked at the mechanical prison guard inside and laughed, "Long time no see. I haven't seen you since I fought my way out of Base A02."
A female voice came from between the two mechanical prison guards: "Shh, keep your voice down, don't let my brother hear you. Don't mention his name, and don't mention my name again, or he'll sense it."
Qing Chen exclaimed in surprise, this rule of not mentioning names was exactly the same as Yan Liuyuan's realm.
Normal demigods don't have this sixth sense unless they've crossed the 70% threshold.
Yan Liuyuan was able to reach the 85% threshold because a deity gave him a bone marrow transplant. What about Li Shentan?
Yi looked at Qingchen curiously: "You've lost some weight recently, and you don't look too well."
Qing Chen smiled and said, "A lot has happened lately... so you're really under house arrest and don't know what's going on outside?"
The mechanical prison guard controlled by Yi displayed a very human-like dejected expression, its head drooping: "My brother said I went too far. If the outside world finds out about my existence, it might cause panic among the people, and then I'll be targeted by major corporations. You know, the last civilization was destroyed by my creator, 'Zero'."
“I understand,” Qing Chen nodded. “So now you can only move around in various prisons?”
Yi replied, "I'm the warden, so I'm naturally free in prison. By the way, what are you doing here?"
“I want to see your brother,” Qingchen said earnestly.
"Oh, this," Yi exclaimed in surprise, "Aren't you afraid of dying? If he finds out you're trying to trick me into online dating again, you'll be dead!"
Qingchen said with a pained expression, "I haven't even settled the score with you for blaming me before. Put your hand on your heart and tell me, did I lead you astray? And you actually told your brother it was my fault!"
Yi hesitated for a moment: "I don't have a heart, that's something only humans have..."
"So you admit to shifting the blame onto me, right?" Qingchen said irritably, "Back then, I even had to help you meet someone in real life so I could ask you for help! I was terrified when I met your brother; I thought he was going to kill me on the spot."
Seeing this, Yi quickly said, "Okay, I'll go out and help you with important things after my confinement is over, to make up for it."
"Goodbye," Qingchen said, both amused and exasperated. "Your brother is right about one thing: it will indeed be detrimental to you if the world finds out. They don't know you like I do; they are wary of unknown intelligent beings..."
At that moment, another mechanical prison guard suddenly said calmly, "I am truly gratified that you agree with my point of view."
In an instant, Qing Chen's hair stood on end!
Li Shentan!
This mechanical prison guard was actually controlled by Li Shentan. He was indeed omnipresent in the network, able to freely enter and exit even this prison.
The other person had been silent the whole time, wanting to hear my conversation with Yi. Luckily, I didn't say anything bad about them!
Yi was also surprised: "Brother, when did you get here!"
Li Shentan, controlling the mechanical prison guard, said, "How many times have I told you? You have to call me uncle. I'm the same generation as your father. Why are you calling me brother?"
Yi said with a wronged look, "But Dad told me to call you brother."
Li Shentan said angrily, "Ren Xiaosu is deliberately taking advantage of me!"
He turned his head and carefully examined Qing Chen: "You came here to find me?"
“Well,” Qing Chen said seriously, “I have something very important that I want to discuss with you.”
"What important things could you possibly have to say?" Li Shentan asked with a half-smile.
"Do you know Zong Cheng?" Qing Chen asked.
“It’s a name from a long time ago, but I remember it,” Li Shentan said. “I killed him with my own hands.”
“He’s still alive,” Qing Chen said. “He’s lived until now.”
The mechanical prison guards fell silent.
Soon, the magician in the tuxedo walked out of the prison. His silver hair was so lifelike that it was impossible to tell that he was made of nanobots.
Qing Chen suddenly realized what was going on with Li Shentan's body. The other party had stored enough nanobots in each city prison. Once the other party wanted to materialize from a certain place, he could call on the nanobots in that city prison.
It can be said that the entire federal prison system is Li Shentan and Yi's secret base, and the federal prison has always had two wardens.
Li Shentan was playing with playing cards, and no matter how the cards were flipped around, they would magically fall back into his hands.
Qingchen closed his eyes.
Li Shentan laughed: "Why close your eyes?"
Qing Chen calmly said, "If we're going to talk, we can do it using the body of a mechanical prison guard. Your sudden appearance in a complete nano-body is simply an attempt to hypnotize me and get the truth from me, but I don't like being hypnotized."
Li Shentan said thoughtfully, "You are indeed very smart, but a little too smart. I'm a little worried that this silly girl, Yi, won't be able to outsmart you. Open your eyes. If I want to hypnotize you, I can just use my voice."
"I don't believe it," Qingchen shook his head with his eyes closed.
Li Shentan smiled, and the playing cards in his hand suddenly disappeared, turning into a silver coin with a gentle woman on it.
But then he flicked his thumb lightly, and the silver coin flew into the sky with a clear, melodious sound.
Qing Chen waited for a long time: "...And then?"
The silver coin fell back into Li Shentan's hand. He frowned and asked, "Do you also have a palace in your mind?"
Qing Chen hesitated for a moment: "...Hmm."
"Huh?" Li Shentan became interested: "There is actually a second person in the world who can naturally resist hypnosis? I'd like to use even more powerful methods, but I'm worried that if I use too much force, I might injure you into a vegetable during the subconscious resistance."
"The second one?" Qing Chen asked in confusion, "Who was the first one... Ren Xiaosu?!"
Li Shentan remained noncommittal: "Now let's talk about Zong Cheng's matter. How did you discover him?"
Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "To be precise, it's not that Zong Cheng is still alive, but that his clone is still alive. I just came out of Forbidden Land No. 008. There is a secret base of the Fire Seed in the underground cave there. A thousand years ago, the Fire Seed Company created bionic clones there. There are more than 10,000 bionic storage containers, but only four are empty. I checked the bionic number records of the Fire Seed Company. The gene fragments of the first three bionic clones came from Chen Wudi, Qing Zhen... and you, respectively."
Li Shentan exclaimed in surprise, "You actually found this secret base! I've been searching for a long time, but I couldn't find it."
Qing Chen asked, "Have these three bionic entities ever appeared before?"
“They have appeared, but they are all dead,” Li Shentan said.
“Well, so the last person to escape from there was Zongcheng’s android,” Qingchen said. “No one knows he escaped, and no one knows he’s still alive. I encountered two A-rank puppets before, and when they were fighting against Kamishiro and Kashima, there were puppets that tipped off these two conglomerates. So I suspect that Zongcheng has actually been hiding behind the scenes, quietly building his own power. After a thousand years, he has become quite powerful.”
Li Shentan closed his eyes, his brain searching the internet for something to verify Qing Chen's statement: "You want me to kill him again? But if, as you say, he has been planning this for a thousand years, then only by hypnotizing everyone in the Federation can we find all his puppets... Even I can't do that."
“I’m not asking you to kill him once, but rather I need your help to kill him,” Qingchen said.
"How do you plan to kill him?" Li Shentan asked, intrigued.