Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 526: Cruel and Unusual Punishment

“Master, I’ve been eating very well these past few days. Aunt Yang Yang treated me to so much food.”

“Master, Aunt Yang Yang said she’ll take me to Luo City soon. She said that’s where you live.”

“Master, you must take care of yourself. I’ll wait for you in Luo City,” Xiao Zhenji cried on the phone, chatting with Qing Chen for a long time.

Qing Chen asked, “Have you been training these days?”

Xiao Zhenji’s breath hitched, her crying stopping abruptly. “I’ll give the phone to Aunt Yang Yang.”

Qing Chen smiled, “Don’t slack off once you get to Luo City.”

Xiao Zhenji: “Mmm…”

“It’s me who stopped her from training. If you have any complaints, take it out on me. Don’t blame the child. What’s the point of training when we’re running for our lives?” Yang Yang took the phone and muttered.

For some reason, at that moment, the saying “A doting mother spoils her child” flashed through Qing Chen’s mind…

Yang Yang: “I plan to leave as soon as possible. After sending Xiao Zhenji back, I’ll immediately return. The entire country of Japan is currently under lockdown, and bringing you back by air should be the easiest way to leave. However, before I get back, can you hold on? Let me tell you, be careful of the remaining three Chosen Ones; they might be the most troublesome. I suspect two of them are A-Class. Also, Li Yunze from Koshima, no one has seen his whereabouts. If he comes here, he’ll likely try to ambush you guys.”

Li Yunze, was the Chosen One who had once used a clone to confront the Six-winged Angel in Europe.

At that time, Li Yunze’s Face^[-] was half destroyed by a roadside bomb. This debt is also counted against Joker.

Yang Yang said, “You must be careful. I’ll come back for you.”

Qing Chen smiled, “Don’t worry. I’m in a very safe place. As long as you don’t get lost, I’ll definitely be able to hold on until I see you.”

“Safe?” Yang Yang was doubtful. “Didn’t you say that Shendai has the Cloud Mirror Shikigami? It can observe you every four hours. It can see where you are.”

“There will always be a way.”

“Why don’t I go pick you up, and bring you both back? Although it’s slower, it will let you leave here sooner.”

“No, I still have some things to do.”

Yang Yang understood that Qing Chen had already thought of a way.

Although she didn’t know what that way was.

“By the way,” Yang Yang said, “The news that the Master of Daybreak appeared in Osaka to avenge ‘Qing Chen’ seems to have spread. The Daybreak organization will soon become a household name. Even for the sake of Face^[-], Shendai will definitely retaliate. They may not have any way to deal with you in the Outer World, but in the Inner World, they will definitely take action.”

“Mmm, I know.”

After a great battle, Qing Chen’s heart had completely calmed down.

He needs to rest and recuperate, waiting for the crossing seven days later. He can’t get injured again.

A02 base, and nearly a thousand Qing Family intelligence personnel are waiting in that bitterly cold land…

…

…

At this moment, in the underground air raid shelter of Osaka City Hall, the alarm clock beside Shendai Kongyu rang.

She precisely timed it to four hours, cut open the chest of a corpse, and sacrificed the body to the Cloud Mirror.

“Wait, why can’t I see anything in the Cloud Mirror?” Shendai Kongyu became puzzled.

The Cloud Mirror was pitch black. There was no trace of Qing Chen.

Shendai Kongyu glanced at her watch. It was clearly 9 o’clock in the morning, the sky was already bright, why was the place observed by the Cloud Mirror pitch black?

Could it be that the Cloud Mirror is broken?!

No, it’s a Shikigami, not some inferior household appliance. How could it break?

After another four hours, it was still the same. The Cloud Mirror was still pitch black.

After another 24 hours, it was still the same!

Shendai Kongyu got up and walked outside. She had to tell Shendai Yunluo this news.

After hearing this, Shendai Yunluo just smiled and explained, “It’s not that your Cloud Mirror is broken, but that he’s been hiding in a place of absolute darkness, making it impossible for you to find his location from the details. There are many places of absolute darkness. It could be in a sewer, in a container, in a room covered with black tape, or in the underground airtight environment that Zard created for him.”

Shendai Kongyu was stunned. This guy is exploiting a bug?!

Qing Chen’s methods of countering the Cloud Mirror twice were too simple, but they left her with no way to deal with it.

She clearly had a tracking device, yet she couldn’t even find a single hair.

At this moment, Shendai Yunxiu sat in the office, holding her phone and said, “Just 24 hours ago, someone posted a ‘Complete Guide to Evading ATS-088 Shikigami Cloud Mirror Tracking’ online. It details the functions of the Cloud Mirror, how to use montage techniques to mislead tracking, and how to avoid Cloud Mirror’s peeping. One of the methods is to hide in a completely dark environment, so that you can’t see anything… This post is quite popular in China.”

The so-called montage technique is that even if you are playing in the Forbidden City, you deliberately hold a souvenir from the Temple of Heaven, misleading the user of the Cloud Mirror into thinking that you are in the Temple of Heaven.

After all, the range of vision of the Cloud Mirror is limited.

Shendai Kongyu was instantly disgusted. How could this be considered cruel and unusual punishment? It’s one thing to exploit a bug yourself, but to teach others how to do it?!

Are you earning negative emotional value or something?!

“But, how can a person stay in the dark for so long? Won’t he go crazy?” Shendai Kongyu recalled. She had also undergone closed-door training. This is something that all Shendai Family fighters must go through. It teaches them how to Face^[-] fear and loneliness.

Shendai Yunxiu stayed in the closed chamber for five days, Shendai Yunluo for six days, and Shendai Kongyu herself only stayed for three days.

This kind of completely dark, closed-door horror is not as simple as one might imagine. It’s the extreme suppression of human beings losing their sense of space and time. Only those who have experienced it will understand.

Shendai Yunluo said indifferently, “He’s enduring it, trying to endure it until the moment of crossing, and doesn’t want any more trouble before that. After all, Qing Chen of the Daybreak organization is still imprisoned in the A02 secret base. Qing Chen is only C-Class. It’s impossible for him to escape on his own. Therefore, after the Master of Daybreak comes to avenge him, he must want to preserve his strength for the rescue plan in the Inner World. So, he can’t get injured before the crossing, lest it affect the plan.”

Shendai Yunxiu pondered for a moment, “It doesn’t matter. Now that the whole country is under lockdown, he has to come out of the darkness, and we will find him sooner or later. At most six days, he will not be able to bear the darkness and loneliness. Even if he can barely endure this crossing, he will have to come out when he returns next time. No one can endure the darkness forever.”

“Then we’ll just wait?” Shendai Kongyu asked.

Shendai Yunluo: “First, spread the news about the Master of Daybreak’s killing, letting the whole world know that Daybreak killed four Chosen Ones of Shendai. We also need to prepare well. When we return to the Inner World, we still have to Face^[-] the joint questioning of ten council members, and push all the responsibility onto Daybreak.”

…

…

Luo City.

A brand new Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan slowly drove into an old residential compound on Xingshu Road.

The car stopped, and Qin Shuli quickly got out of the car. Zhang Wanfang held Qin Haoh’s hand and waited aside.

Seeing her husband struggling to carry too many things, she said, “Let’s put them in the trunk first, and let my brother and my younger brother come down and move them later. Anyway, the things for the elders are always divided up by them, so it’s only right for them to move them.”

“Okay,” Qin Shuli nodded.

It’s time for the New Year. Qin Shuli’s family of three came to visit Zhang Wanfang’s parents.

The New Year’s goods included top-quality Jinhua ham, a whole pig leg cured, and a box of Moutai. This is something rarely seen in ordinary families. This box of six bottles costs more than 10,000 yuan.

In the past, when Qin Shuli came to pay New Year’s greetings, bringing two bottles of Wuliangye was considered good.

This is the nature of industry. It seems that the business flow is quite good, but 90% of the money is tied up in materials, purchases, and debts, and the cash in hand is pitifully small. Life is just getting by.

Therefore, the car Qin Shuli originally drove hadn’t been changed for seven or eight years.

Entering the building, Qin Shuli saw a Porsche 911 in the parking space next door and took a second look.

The family of three went up to the fourth floor and pressed the doorbell.

A middle-aged man opened the door, wearing a gaudy shirt.

The man looked at Qin Shuli, “Why did you come empty-handed? I heard that your factory’s performance is not good this year, but it’s not appropriate to come empty-handed to see your parents during the New Year.”

Zhang Wanfang led Qin Haoh into the house and casually retorted, “Who asks for New Year’s goods from others?”

This is Zhang Wanfang’s elder brother, Zhang Jianjun, Qing Chen’s uncle.

Years ago, he worked at the Luo City Bearing Group, and later he lost his job and didn’t look for work. He stayed at home taking care of his parents, living on his parents’ retirement pension.

The family asked him to find a job, but he was unwilling to do so, saying that he lived quite well this way.

He’s also a well-known street loafer in the neighborhood.

Zhang Jianjun cracked sunflower seeds and said, “Wanfang, I heard that Qing Guozhong was arrested for gathering people to gamble and was sentenced to three years? Are you still in contact with him? He still owes me 5,000 yuan. I lent him the money because I thought he was my brother-in-law. Now what about this money?”

Zhang Wanfang felt embarrassed when her current husband mentioned her ex-husband in front of him. Qin Shuli sat on the sofa and didn’t speak. She said angrily, “All these years, have I ever asked you to pay a penny when Mom and Dad were sick? Every time they were hospitalized, wasn’t I the one who paid the money? Why are you telling me this now?”

“One thing at a time,” Zhang Jianjun said unconcernedly.

Zhang Wanfang: “You still don’t go out to work. You are almost fifty years old and still stay at home and live off your parents. How can you be so shameless?”

Zhang Jianjun spat out a sunflower seed shell, “The economic situation is not good now. Nothing makes money… By the way, do you know about Time Travelers? Being a Time Traveler makes a lot of money. See that Porsche over there? A neighbor’s child became a Time Traveler. He also joined the Luo City local Time Traveler organization ‘Guardians’ Union’ and was just promoted to ‘Green Family Member’. He makes a lot of money! That Porsche 911 is his!”

At this moment, the door was opened, and a young man in his thirties pushed the door open and said, “Hey, did you see that big Mercedes-Benz downstairs? I don’t know whose it is? It looks really beautiful!”

Qin Shuli hesitated for a moment, took out her car keys and said, “The car is mine. There are also New Year’s goods for Mom and Dad in the trunk, including a box of Moutai. You can all move them up.”

Zhang Jianjun and Zhang Jianbing’s eyes lit up.

Zhang Jianbing exclaimed, “Brother-in-law has become rich! Where did you make your fortune?!”

Qin Shuli thought for a moment and explained, “I also became a Time Traveler. I also joined the Luo City local ‘Guardians’ Union.”

“Ah?” Zhang Jianjun was stunned. “Wait, you’ve become a Time Traveler? Between you and that ‘Green Family Member’ next door, who is of a higher level?”

Qin Shuli said reservedly, “I’m a Blue Family Member, one level higher than him. But my promotion is special. I made a contribution in a previous operation, so it was an exceptional promotion. If the neighbor is a member of the Guardians’ Union, he should have heard of me.”

Although Qin Shuli didn’t receive Luo Wanya’s attention in the Guardians’ Union, many people knew that Luo Wanya had saved Qin Shuli during the extermination of the Mechanical God Sect headquarters.

Therefore, Qin Shuli’s status in the Guardians’ Union was quite good, all thanks to Luo Wanya’s Face^[-] as a Black Family Member.

Although everyone didn’t know the relationship between Luo Wanya and Qin Shuli.

This time, at Zhang Wanfang’s persuasion, Qin Shuli auctioned off the medicines he brought back from the Inner World, and his hands suddenly became generous.

He really didn’t expect that those traffic stars would be willing to spend so much money for high-end beauty products from the Inner World.

At this time, Zhang Jianjun’s attitude was completely different: “Brother-in-law, come, come, tell me about the Guardians’ Union. Do you think I have the potential to become a Time Traveler?”

Qin Shuli helplessly said, “Whether you can become a Time Traveler or not, we don’t have a say. It depends on whether there is someone in the Inner World who corresponds to you. Now many people are taking turns going to various public test cities to try their luck. Why don’t you try too?”

Zhang Jianjun excitedly said, “Okay, if I become a Time Traveler, can you cover for me?”

“I…” Qin Shuli knew that his Blue Family Member status was also obtained by chance, so he didn’t dare to make any promises.

At this time, Zhang Jianbing said, “Sister, brother-in-law, you are also considered successful now. Tell me more about the money-making business. Just so happens, Qing Guozhong is also in, no one is bothering you, and life is getting better.”

Zhang Jianjun suddenly asked, “By the way, where is Qing Chen?”

Zhang Wanfang was stunned: “…I haven’t contacted him for some time. He blocked me.”

Zhang Jianjun said, “It’s good that he doesn’t answer the phone. As the old saying goes, the son of a dragon will be a dragon, the son of a phoenix will be a phoenix, and the son of a mouse will burrow. What kind of good stuff could Qing Guozhong’s son be? Maybe he’ll also become a gambler in the future. It’s better to cut off contact and let him fend for himself.”

Zhang Wanfang remained silent, and the atmosphere in the room became awkward.