Chapter 49

As the darkness dissipated, Qingchen was still drenched in sweat. He glanced at the night outside the window and at his small house on Xingshu Road.

Just a second after parting, he already felt a bit nostalgic for that eerie prison.

Qingchen spat out the USB drive from his mouth and then looked at his palm. The golden orb that should have remained in the Inner World was still in his hand.

This was a delightful discovery, as it meant he had an advantage over others when traveling between the Inner and Outer Worlds.

He looked down at his arm, the countdown read 168:00:00.

Another seven days.

The last return was after seven days, and this time it was seven days before the next crossing. It seemed the span of time for the Time Traveler was getting longer on both sides.

How long would it be in the future? Would there be a day when he would stay there for a lifetime and never return?

He didn't know.

Qingchen smiled. He didn't go to sleep but instead laid a sheet on the ground and continued the training exercises Ye Wan had taught him.

Although no one was supervising, cultivation was his own responsibility.

Since he had said he would train until 3 a.m. every day, he should continue to do so even after returning to the Outer World.

He took a deep breath, and with the peculiar breathing rhythm, the flame patterns on his cheeks bloomed again!

Whether in the Outer World or the Inner World, self-discipline was the greatest freedom.

Wait, he seemed to have forgotten something important.

After finishing his training, Qingchen sat on the ground and drank water, letting his sweat drip continuously.

He opened his phone and found the simultaneous translation app, then tried to recall every word that Kamakura Koushi had said.

The soft murmur in Japanese from the other party always made Qingchen feel that it contained a lot of information.

It's like... if you travel to a place, the locals will use a dialect you don't understand when they want to curse at you.

Qingchen, following his memory, repeated into the phone's microphone: "こんなに静かに座っているのもよさそうですが、この少年の沈黙ぶりは本当にきれいですね。"

The translation app quickly displayed the subtitle: "Sitting quietly like this seems nice, this boy's silence is really beautiful."

Qingchen was stunned. What did the other party mean?

Moreover, didn't the Kamakura family also speak Mandarin? Why was it in Japanese?

Was it a Time Traveler from the Outer World? Or did the Kamakura family still retain the tradition of speaking Japanese?

But if it was really a Time Traveler, how could they explain the other party's fluent Mandarin? Probably not many islanders could speak such fluent Mandarin.

The next morning, as soon as Qingchen woke up, he saw his WeChat messages flashing non-stop on his phone.

He opened it to see a message from Nangengchen: "Qingchen Qingchen Qingchen! Do you know how awesome Liu Dezhu from the next class is?"

Qingchen was taken aback and immediately sat up in bed: "What do you mean?"

"Come to school quickly!" Nangengchen said.

Qingchen put on his blue and white school uniform and ran to school. Before leaving, he checked his reflection in the mirror, relieved to see that the aftereffects of his fasting had disappeared.

When he arrived at the school, he saw that the entrance to the next class was already surrounded by a crowd. Dozens of students were gathered at the door of Class 4, Grade 2, seemingly waiting for something.

"Over here," Nangengchen's small figure was on tiptoe in the crowd, waving his arm to greet Qingchen.

Qingchen squeezed through and asked in a low voice: "What's going on?"

"Check the trending topics," Nangengchen showed him Weibo.

The result shocked him.

A man named Jian Mou from Chuanzhou was on a business trip in Luocheng and accidentally became a Time Traveler, crossing into the 18th Prison of the Inner World.

However, he was already recognized as a Time Traveler and was confined in a hidden solitary cell.

He crossed for seven days and was detained for seven days.

According to Jian Mou, there was already a Time Traveler in the 18th Prison who had become a significant figure, even able to move freely in and out of the prison and have Extraordinary Beings serve him.

Jian Mou hoped to find this Time Traveler, and whether through negotiation or payment, he wanted the other party to persuade the 18th Prison to release him.

Qingchen was stunned. He hadn't expected Jian Sheng to be so bold, directly seeking media help and then finding him to help with his escape.

It seemed that being confined in a solitary cell for seven days had really gotten to him.

It must be said that Liu Dezhu and Jian Sheng were quite unlucky. Even though they had become Time Travelers, they were forcibly detained.

Other Time Travelers had colorful lives, enjoying the holographic images of the city and traveling through cyber cities, while these two ended up in prison.

It would have been better if they hadn't crossed at all.

At this moment, Qingchen suddenly realized why everyone was gathered at the entrance of Liu Dezhu's class.

Even though Liu Dezhu hadn't come to school yet, everyone was willing to wait.

During the last return, Liu Dezhu, for the sake of his pride, admitted that he had crossed to the 18th Prison and even told everyone that he had spoken to Uncle Li!

Later, when classmates asked, Liu Dezhu would always have a mysterious look and say nothing, meaning: "It's a secret, don't ask."

The less he said, the more everyone speculated.

Thus, many people thought Liu Dezhu was about to inherit Uncle Li's legacy and become a Time Traveler.

After Jian Sheng's incident became public, the classmates who saw the Weibo trending topic immediately thought of Liu Dezhu!

Because in everyone's understanding, the Time Traveler in the 18th Prison could only be Liu Dezhu!

As the trending topic climbed, a classmate finally replied in the comments: "My classmate is the Time Traveler he mentioned, and he is about to inherit Uncle Li's legacy!"

Originally, Jian Sheng's trending topic was only in the 40s, but this comment pushed it into the top ten within three minutes.

The heat continued to rise.

In the current public opinion of the Outer World, apart from mysterious figures like He Xiaoxiao, there weren't many known Extraordinary Beings.

And it was Uncle Li, the highest potential career path in He Xiaoxiao's guide.

Now, almost everyone who saw the trending topic and comments believed that Liu Dezhu was the mysterious big shot mentioned by Jian Sheng...

As everyone whispered, Liu Dezhu came up the stairs with his backpack. When he turned into the corridor and saw the crowd, he was so scared that his face turned pale: "What's going on?"

The crowd was helpless; the main person didn't even know what was happening.

"Did you see the trending topic? If not, check your phone," a classmate said.

"There's a person named Jian Sheng who said he met you in the 18th Prison and hopes you can speak to Uncle Li to get him out of solitary confinement."

Liu Dezhu's mind buzzed. He had been in solitary confinement for seven days, and when he returned, he was exhausted. He had finally managed to sleep in a soft bed and woke up late, then rushed to school on his bicycle without checking his phone.

He quickly opened his phone to check the trending topic.

But the more he read, the more he felt something was wrong. According to Jian Sheng, the mysterious big shot had visited him alone and asked a few questions.

But that person wasn't him.

So, in the 18th Prison, besides himself and Jian Sheng, there was a third Time Traveler, and that person was the real big shot, while he was just a scapegoat!

"I also want to ask this big shot to release me and Jian Sheng together, okay?!" Liu Dezhu was on the verge of tears.

At this point, he wanted to deny his identity, but the situation had already escalated.

Liu Dezhu tried to say: "Actually, the person Jian Sheng mentioned is not me, but someone else."

A classmate was puzzled: "Yesterday, when we asked if there were other Time Travelers in the 18th Prison, you said no."

For Liu Dezhu, the "yesterday" in the Outer World was already seven days ago.

Qingchen silently watched this scene, thinking it wasn't bad to have someone draw attention away from him.

However, it wasn't a good idea for these two to stay in solitary confinement for a long time. Perhaps he should ask Uncle Li to transfer them to another prison.

At this moment, four news vehicles arrived outside Luocheng Foreign Language School, and the reporters rushed into the school.

The two security guards at the school gate tried to stop them but failed.

Qingchen immediately pulled Nangengchen and turned back to the classroom. At this moment, the most important thing was to avoid being caught on camera.

Time Travelers had the same appearance in both the Inner and Outer Worlds, and appearing on TV would make them memorable.

...

More to come tonight! First day of May, I need votes to get into the top ten!

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