Chapter 18

"Sir, I have to say, your daily routine is quite irregular." Bond saw the pile of stinky lunch boxes in the corner and the wrinkled bedding, raised his hand, and waved it in front of his nose. "You remind me of those young auto mechanics in Detroit."

"I'm different from them. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, and I certainly don't race or visit prostitutes," Chu Ci rolled his eyes and retorted.

"No, you misunderstand these energetic young people. I meant you're single," Bond chuckled with a hint of malice.

Chu Ci's eyes rolled so far back they looked like ping-pong balls. "As the most gentlemanly agent in history and the most agent-like gentleman, I think you should understand what comes next. Get to work quickly." He shooed 007 out and started tidying up his messy room.

The open computer showed that Chu Ci's last穿越 (time travel) took one day. If you include the transition and waiting time, Chu Ci had reason to believe that the Overlord could not only travel through space at will but perhaps even control time.

He wondered if the Overlord could reverse time, a thought that suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Ring ring~~" The old default ringtone suddenly rang, interrupting Chu Ci's wandering thoughts.

"Hello." Chu Ci fumbled for his phone on the bedside table and put it to his ear.

"Brother Chu, are you okay? You were nowhere to be found all day yesterday, and your phone was unreachable. Are you sick?" A sweet female voice came from the other end, filled with worry and anxiety.

"I'm fine, Xiao Yun. Tell the boss that I have some trouble back home and need to go back for a few days to sort it out," Chu Ci thought quickly, judging the pros and cons, and calmly reassured the young intern.

"Brother Chu, I'm glad you're okay. I'll take care of the leave for you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." Tang Xiaoyun sighed in relief, as long as he was fine.

"Thanks. I have to go now. I'll treat you to a meal when I get back." Chu Ci hung up and lit a cigarette.

When Bond returned, the bedroom was full of cigarette butts, and the smoky air flickered with intermittent sparks.

"Sir, smoking too much can cause cancer," Bond turned on the lights, opened the door and windows to let the smoke out, and revealed Chu Ci sitting on the bed.

"Pot calling the kettle black, don't you smoke cigars too?" Since 007 was back, Chu Ci couldn't let him see his vulnerable side.

Anyone who can work with a lion must be a tiger!

"I've made all the necessary preparations: a green card application, an apartment not far from you, a kart club in the urban-rural fringe, and online purchases. I really didn't expect online shopping in this world to be so convenient. I ordered a full set of field equipment on eBay, enough to keep us alive in the Amazon rainforest for three months, except for firearms." 007, being 007, had everything arranged perfectly in less than a day with just a batch of gold.

"Very good. Next, create a Facebook account in my name and probe the communication platform for the cycle travelers." With the control chip acting as a CPU, Chu Ci's thinking speed far exceeded that of an ordinary person, and he organized his thoughts in less than half a second. "I need to go back to the orphanage and sort out some things."

"Understood." Bond nodded seriously.

That afternoon, Chu Ci put on casual clothes and boarded the train back to his hometown. A five-hour train ride would have exhausted the once frail Chu Ci, but with his now athlete-like body, the journey was almost effortless.

As soon as he got off the train, Chu Ci took a taxi straight to the Hai Tang Orphanage. Without showing his volunteer ID, the security guard let him in with a facial recognition scan.

The orphanage looked the same as always, the walls covered with ivy, and the area where children were no longer allowed to play. The swings Chu Ci had fought over in the past were now being contested by new children, who giggled and laughed.

Time might change many things, but some people always remain in their original place.

"Grandma Shao." Even though his nearsightedness was cured, Chu Ci still wore a pair of clear glasses as a disguise. His sharp eyes immediately spotted the kind old headmistress, and his worried heart instantly relaxed.

"Oh, it's Xiao Ci." Grandma Shao was slightly surprised, then delighted. "Come over, let Grandma have a good look at you."

"Yes." No matter how much time passed, or how close to thirty Chu Ci was, he was always a child in front of the woman who raised him.

"Xiao Ci, Grandma has a question for you."

Chu Ci's affectionate gaze froze, his eyes darted away, and he stammered.

Two hours later, Chu Ci sat in a nice Hong Kong-style teahouse, a pot of red tea and a few delicious dim sum dishes on the table. Unfortunately, Chu Ci had no interest in eating. His laptop was open, a mobile hard drive connected, and he was studying the core logic library of Red Queen, trying to replicate and write it from scratch.

"Are you Chu Ci?" As Chu Ci's fingers flew over the keyboard, fully engrossed in coding, a voice asked from across the table.

"Ji Qiao'er? Please sit. We'll each do our own thing, and when we get back, we'll say we didn't like each other," Chu Ci didn't look up, freeing one hand to hand over the personal information he had just written. "Take a look, so you can answer if your parents ask."

Ji Qiao'er, who had been forced to come by her parents, looked unwilling. Seeing Chu Ci's overworked programmer appearance through the glass, she felt even more dissatisfied. Before she could refuse, Chu Ci preemptively said what she wanted to say, making it seem like he was the one who didn't like her, which infuriated her.

"Waiter, bring me a mocha coffee, two sugar cubes, no condensed milk, please." Ji Qiao'er sat down in front of Chu Ci and took out her makeup kit to reapply her makeup in front of him.

When he asked why she was reapplying makeup, she would say she was going on a date with a rich and handsome man, just to annoy him! Ji Qiao'er secretly smiled like a fox, feeling a sense of vindictive satisfaction.

An hour passed.

Ji Qiao'er had applied skincare water four times, changed her lip gloss twice, and tried four different eye shadow styles. Chu Ci continued to type away, and Ji Qiao'er felt her veins about to burst.

At that moment, "Hello, PureRuby." Chu Ci, who had been silent, suddenly spoke in elementary school-level English.

"???" Ji Qiao'er looked at him in confusion.

"No, reset the limit valve." Chu Ci muttered to himself and continued coding.

"－_－|||" Ji Qiao'er wanted to throw her coffee, which she had refilled three times, in Chu Ci's face.

Perhaps Ji Qiao'er's resentment was strong enough to affect Chu Ci. He suddenly frowned, lifted his eyelids, and looked at Ji Qiao'er for the first time. She had an oval face, big eyes, double eyelids, fair skin, and a pink tight shirt paired with wide pants, giving off a competent and sexy charm.

"You're still here?" Chu Ci's words made him realize he had said something wrong.

"You still dare to say! What are you even doing here? Working overtime? Is your company that cruel? And you said your salary is so low that you can't even support yourself, so you have to do part-time jobs in your free time?" Ji Qiao'er, a well-mannered and cultured young woman, was suddenly set off, and harsh words poured out.

"Ji Qiao'er." Chu Ci abruptly interrupted her, continuing, "27 years old, graduated from Zhejiang University, worked three jobs, currently a PR assistant at Bain Consulting. From your resume and work history, I can see you're a strong woman with a mild case of misandry and no immediate plans for marriage."

"You investigated me?" Ji Qiao'er showed clear disgust.

"Yep." Chu Ci nodded, put away the things he shouldn't show, and pushed the laptop to Ji Qiao. "Three hours ago, the old headmistress introduced me to a match and gave me your email. I hacked into your mailbox and took a look at your situation."

"That's an invasion of privacy. If I sue you, you won't win." Ji Qiao'er felt her blood pressure rise, and she slammed the laptop shut.

"Whatever. By the way, your last job was because your boss sexually harassed you. I copied some things from your beastly ex-boss's hard drive and sent them to you." Chu Ci opened her Baidu Cloud in front of her and uploaded a few pornographic videos and some illegal bribery records.

"I know your mother often volunteers at the Hai Tang Orphanage. I hope you can say some fair words about me. I don't want the old headmistress to worry about me in her old age." Chu Ci instructed her sternly, like a strict leader.

"Waiter, the bill." Chu Ci took out his phone and handed it to the waiter to scan the barcode. The service at this Hong Kong restaurant was even better than he expected. "I'm leaving. See you... um, probably never. Bye."

Chu Ci neatly packed up his laptop, the red tea on his right untouched, and left. Ji Qiao was left dumbfounded, still in shock even after Chu Ci was long gone.

"Grandma Shao... yes... she's beautiful and proud, how could she like me... it's fine, Xiao Ci wants to focus on his career for a few more years... with a career, it's not hard to find a wife... yes, my salary plus bonus is nearly 30,000... it's fine, consider it my contribution to the orphanage."

Chu Ci, who had turned off his phone, felt like he had just finished a World War II, and he let out a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to go through a blind date again anytime soon.

"Ring ring~~~"

"Damn, who is it now?" Chu Ci looked at the screen, which only showed three Arabic numerals, not even a phone number.

It was 007.

"Is there a problem?" 007 wouldn't call him at the risk of being eavesdropped unless it was something very urgent.

"I've been exposed. A smart life form called Skynet is demanding that you register an account personally." Bond's voice sounded calm, but Chu Ci knew he was seething inside.

"Understood. I'll find a safe place. If they contact you, stay silent." Chu Ci knew the power of smart life forms and didn't blame 007. Instead, he gave him other tasks.

"I know you need special equipment, so in the next seven days, besides making the equipment, spend the rest of the time helping me find something in the national security system. I'll have Red Queen assist you and... uh, review all special cases in the past three years."

Su Jiayou had specifically reminded him that the Overlord's space didn't require secrecy but shouldn't be leaked. Chu Ci, who had wandered around the Pentagon for years, had never found any clues. Now it seemed that the real world was full of hidden talents, and he could only hope that the lagging administrative system of the country would bring him a surprise.