Chapter 41

Uncle Li Shu Tong left with the big cat, saying only that he would personally teach Qing Chen, but not what he would teach.

But Lin Xiaoxiao, who knew the boss well, understood that the boss was in a very, very good mood.

Very, very good.

The knight lineage was almost about to be severed by the time it reached Li Shu Tong. Although he never mentioned it, Lin Xiaoxiao had personally witnessed him selecting one successor after another, only to fail each time.

Lin Xiaoxiao knew that the boss was anxious.

The path was too difficult, so much so that even he and Ye Wan couldn't walk it.

At this moment, Qing Chen's prison uniform was already soaked through, his hair dripping with water, and he couldn't stop panting.

The pain of waterboarding leaves a psychological shadow.

"I admire you," Lin Xiaoxiao said. "I don't know how you managed to endure four days in the black room. I couldn't last 36 hours, and Ye Mama was a bit stronger, lasting 47 hours."

"A bit stronger?" Ye Wan glanced at him.

"A lot stronger, can't you see?" Lin Xiaoxiao said impatiently.

Qing Chen slowly stopped panting. "You were also locked in the black room?"

"Yeah," Lin Xiaoxiao nodded. "For ordinary people, it's a form of torture, but for us, it's just a test, a necessary one. When the boss had you locked in the black room, I knew he wanted to choose you, but if you couldn't endure it, he wouldn't mind seeing you die. The boss has seen too many lives and deaths, and his heart has become hard."

Lin Xiaoxiao smiled and continued, "But a soft heart won't do in this era. Don't blame him."

Ye Wan handed Qing Chen a soft, thick, dark blue towel. "Dry yourself off. Not many people can be as tough as you during waterboarding. It's normal for most people to lose control of their bladder and bowels."

It seemed that Ye Wan had used waterboarding on others before.

And now, he genuinely recognized Qing Chen.

At this moment, Lin Xiaoxiao went outside the interrogation room and brought in a tray with a bowl of rice, a plate of sweet and sour ribs with a good color, aroma, and taste, and a bowl of white rice porridge.

Qing Chen thought for a moment and picked up the bowl of porridge. Ye Wan said to Lin Xiaoxiao, "I won, you owe me a thousand yuan."

Qing Chen was taken aback. "You were betting?"

"Exactly," Lin Xiaoxiao said helplessly. "Your blood sugar is extremely low right now, and you should really want to eat something sweet. That's what your body is telling your brain, so I bet you would eat the sweet and sour ribs first."

Ye Wan said, "But you haven't eaten for four days. A smart person would choose to drink the porridge first, controlling their body's instincts and telling themselves what the right choice is. I bet that someone who can endure the black room and waterboarding wouldn't be foolish enough to eat the ribs first."

Qing Chen slowly drank the porridge, feeling his cold body gradually warm up.

In the real world, no matter how painful the experiences, they were nothing compared to what he had gone through in the past few days.

His peers were still in class, dating, and playing games, while he had already embarked on an unknown life.

Even he didn't know where he would end up.

Lin Xiaoxiao suddenly said, "So, you didn't know you were a member of the Qing family when you came in, which is why you challenged the boss to a chess game to get yourself out of trouble?"

"Right," Qing Chen nodded, no point in hiding it now.

Lin Xiaoxiao asked again, "So, you actually have no connection to the Qing family, right? You haven't lived with them and don't feel a sense of belonging."

"Right," Qing Chen nodded again.

Lin Xiaoxiao's face lit up. "That's pretty good. I think the boss also considered this point when he decided to accept you."

Ye Wan said to Qing Chen, "You can rest assured. Only I, Lin Xiaoxiao, and the boss know about your real-world identity. Even Li Dongze won't be told. We will keep this secret for you."

Qing Chen sighed in relief. "Thank you... Who is Li Dongze?"

"Li Dongze of the Heng Society," Lin Xiaoxiao laughed. "The Heng Society is an organization under the knight's command. The knight's power is probably even greater than you can imagine. It seems you know nothing about the outside world. We'll have to give you a crash course over the next few days."

Ye Wan said, "By the way, Lu Guangyi is quite loyal to you. He's suffered a lot for you these past few days and almost attacked the boss."

"Thanks for the heads-up," Qing Chen nodded.

"Do you know Liu Dezhu, Huang Jixian, and that foul-mouthed Jian Sheng?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked.

"I know Liu Dezhu and Huang Jixian, but not well. They were my high school classmates," Qing Chen explained.

"Wait, you were just an ordinary high school student in the real world?" Lin Xiaoxiao was shocked. Although he knew some things about the real world, he thought Qing Chen should be quite powerful there.

Given the abilities and willpower Qing Chen had shown, he shouldn't be an ordinary student.

Qing Chen said, "The real world is a relatively peaceful place, with no extraordinary beings, no mechanical limbs, and no gang organizations. It's stable and harmonious. In such an era, even ordinary people live well and face no life-threatening dangers."

"Really enviable," Lin Xiaoxiao sighed.

Qing Chen asked, "Where is the person who speaks the dialect being held?"

"Just a few rooms away from this interrogation room. What's up?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked.

"Can I go talk to him for a moment?" Qing Chen asked.

"Of course," Lin Xiaoxiao said with a smile. "We're all on the same side now. You can do whatever you want in this 18th prison."

Qing Chen thought for a moment, tied the towel from the waterboarding over his face, and had Lin Xiaoxiao fetch him a reader before going to the room where Jian Sheng was being held.

The alloy gate opened, and Ye Wan went in first to control Jian Sheng.

This fellow from Earth was about thirty years old.

Jian Sheng started cursing, "I'll give you a piece of my mind, you little—"

Before he could finish, Qing Chen silently wrote three words on the reader, which made Jian Sheng stop cursing: "Kuanzhai Alley."

Jian Sheng was taken aback. "You're from Earth?"

"I have a few questions," Qing Chen continued writing. "You're not from Chuanzhou, right? Why did you end up here, and where are you from in Lu City?"

"I was doing some business in Lu City, and I don't know how I ended up here," Jian Sheng answered, seeing that he was talking to a fellow Earthling.

"What do you do for a living?" Qing Chen wrote again.

"I'm a scalper," Jian Sheng replied. "Are you from Lu City?"

However, Qing Chen didn't intend to answer his question and turned to leave.

Only then did Ye Wan release him.

Jian Sheng, seeing the slowly closing alloy gate, realized that his fellow Earthling had no intention of saving him and started cursing again.

But then Jian Sheng thought it was odd. If this young man was from Earth, why did he seem to have such a high status in this world?

The Lin Xiaoxiao who had interrogated him and the burly man were both cooperating with him.

Was there already such a powerful figure among the time travelers?

Outside the door, Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Qing Chen, first at the towel on his face, then at the reader in his hand.

This young man had just been through the black room and waterboarding, yet he could still maintain such cautious behavior?