Chapter 66

This time, the girl was not wearing formal Western attire but was dressed more casually.

She was wearing a loose white sweater, a long pleated skirt, and a pair of small leather shoes.

When she sat down, Qingchen could see the white socks wrapped around her slender calves.

Perhaps because she had changed into her usual outfit,

Shindai Kyouko was no longer fidgety but looked at Qingchen calmly, her large eyes speaking volumes as she carefully observed the young man.

Qingchen sat down opposite her, separated by an iron table.

The surroundings were gray metal walls, and the ceiling was lit by a pale LED light strip, but for some reason, the originally somewhat eerie environment seemed to become more refreshing with Shindai Kyouko's presence.

Actually, the girl wasn't particularly beautiful, but the longer one looked at her, the more comfortable one felt, as if basking in the sunlight.

Qingchen hesitated for a moment: "Why did you come?"

"To see you and bring you some food that I made myself," Shindai Kyouko said, lifting a small cloth bag from beside her chair. Inside was a temperature-controlled food box, more exquisite than the one Ye Wan had brought.

Qingchen silently opened the food box, inside were three neatly arranged pieces of sushi and a serving of beef rice.

Shindai Kyouko said, "I asked around, and the food in the prison doesn't seem to be very good, so I made some for you."

Qingchen asked, "Aren't you afraid I'm a convict?"

"I know you were on a mission," Shindai Kyouko said with a smile.

"I'm curious, we're not that close, at least not close enough for you to visit me in prison every day," Qingchen said calmly.

Although it was nice to be cared for, Qingchen never believed in unexplained love.

This was the Underworld, and the other party was a Time Walker. From these two points, it was clear that the first thing that came to Qingchen's mind upon seeing her was not affection but caution.

Shindai Kyouko thought for a moment and whispered, "This time, I came to City 18 with my elders. They asked me to spend more time with you, and... being with them is a bit uncomfortable."

Both fell into silence. Qingchen picked up the chopsticks the girl had prepared and silently ate all the food in the box.

It had to be said, the girl's cooking skills were excellent.

Then, both fell into silence again.

Throughout the 30-minute visit, Shindai Kyouko's gaze never left the young man, to the point where even Qingchen, who had not been flustered by the grand scene last night, felt somewhat uneasy.

At this moment, Shindai Kyouko whispered again, "Are you as rough and barbaric as the other people in the 'Underworld'?"

"What did you say?" Qingchen asked in confusion.

"Nothing, it's a language only our family understands," Shindai Kyouko smiled and stood up. "See you next time, Qingchen."

The girl seemed to have gotten used to the silence between them. The game of speaking in a language others couldn't understand and revealing her thoughts brought her joy.

...

At the same time.

Lin Xiaoxiao, sitting in the reading area, was feeling bored. Since the boss needed Qingchen to hide his identity, the prison seemed to have lost some of its fun.

He wanted to chat with Qingchen, but everyone had to pretend to be indifferent.

He wanted to chat with Ye Wan, but her personality was so reserved that it was hard to get a word out of her.

This made Lin Xiaoxiao feel a bit lonely...

As for Guo Huchan... he wished this bald guy would stay away from him.

Just then, the alloy gate beside the square slowly lifted, and two mechanical guards escorted Liu Dezhu back to the square.

"Damn," Lin Xiaoxiao slapped his forehead, feeling he had forgotten something.

According to the prison's punishment rules, today was the end of Liu Dezhu's solitary confinement.

The problem was, Liu Dezhu couldn't return because Lin Xiaoxiao knew he couldn't let this kid see Qingchen's face!

"Boss, this guy can't be released," he said to Uncle Li.

Uncle Li's gaze lifted from the chessboard, and he said, "Then put him back in solitary confinement, we'll talk about it later."

As he spoke, the two mechanical guards took Liu Dezhu back through the alloy gate and toward the solitary confinement room.

No one knew how Uncle Li managed it, nor who heard his command and gave the order to the mechanical guards.

It was as if no one knew how he had left Prison 18 in the first place.

Liu Dezhu, his feet off the ground, shouted, "Wait, weren't you going to release me back to the square? What's going on? Why am I being put back in solitary confinement? What did I do?"

No matter how he struggled, he was eventually taken back to solitary confinement...

Liu Dezhu felt a bit miserable.

For a modern person, not being able to communicate with the outside world, without a phone or games, was unbearable.

Liu Dezhu wanted to end it all, but he couldn't.

Every time the countdown ended, he was forcibly pulled into the Underworld by the world's rules, then spent a few days in prison.

He never imagined that at his young age, he would have to bear what he shouldn't.

Suddenly, the alloy gate in front of him opened, and in the dim, gray corridor, a person wearing a cat-faced mask stood, quietly watching him.

"Who... are you?" Liu Dezhu hesitated, a bit afraid, but upon closer inspection, the person didn't have any weapons, just a prison reader in hand.

He realized this was the third Time Walker in the prison.

Qingchen slowly walked into the solitary confinement room, and with a hydraulic sound, the alloy gate closed behind him.

"What are you going to do?!" Liu Dezhu was frightened in the enclosed space.

After a few seconds of silence, Qingchen slowly wrote on the reader: "I saw the news, you were mistaken for me."

Liu Dezhu's eyes widened: "Brother, I didn't mean to steal your thunder. I've already decided, I won't brag anymore. This time out, I'll admit I'm not the Time Walker Jian Sheng met."

Qingchen wrote on the reader: "No need."

"Huh?" Liu Dezhu, following his logic, thought he had stolen this mysterious big shot's thunder, making him unhappy, but it didn't seem to be the case.

He thought for a moment and weakly asked, "So, what do you want, big shot?"

"Publicly admit it," Qingchen replied on the reader.

"No, no," Liu Dezhu shook his head like a rattle drum. "I'm already scared of the harassment. Big shot, you don't know, I live on the second floor. The other day, I forgot to pull down the blinds while showering, and when I turned around, I saw someone from the opposite building filming me with a camera! And when I was riding my bike home, a paparazzo followed me in a car. He even said I should ride faster because it would look better in the photos!"

Qingchen ignored his complaints and wrote on the reader: "Do you know how many years your sentence is? This wasn't decided by me, but by the City 18 court in the Underworld."

Liu Dezhu was stunned; he didn't know his exact sentence, as he had been in prison since he arrived.

Qingchen wrote on the reader: "99 years and 7 months."

Liu Dezhu: "???"

Qingchen explained: "According to the news, you committed robbery, theft, smuggling, drug trafficking, and attempted murder, all of which are punishable by law."

"Damn!" Liu Dezhu almost vomited.

At this moment, Qingchen also pulled up the news of his trial on the reader, which belonged to Uncle Li and had the authority to read news.

Liu Dezhu stared at the reader, which clearly stated his crimes and noted that this was the highest sentence in City 18 in the past two years.

He felt hopeless, having previously hoped that he could just serve his time and be released.

Qingchen continued to write: "Of course, I think..."

Suddenly, Liu Dezhu asked, "Big shot, you've been writing to communicate with me, are you afraid I'll recognize your voice? So, are you someone I know, or someone close to me?"

At this moment, Liu Dezhu demonstrated his original intelligence, the intelligence of a normal person who had not been clouded by the穿越 and had calmed down in solitary confinement.

Qingchen looked at him coldly and then spoke from under the mask: "That's not important. What's important is that both I and Uncle Li believe you were pushed out by the society to take the fall. The Underworld society often does this, and when they are targeted by the Federal Public Security Committee, they randomly choose a scapegoat to bear all the blame."

In an instant, Liu Dezhu felt the other person's aura change, becoming more intimidating.

An invisible pressure made it hard to breathe.

The voice was somewhat neutral but very magnetic.

Liu Dezhu thought that if he had heard this voice before, he would definitely remember it.

But he had no such memory.

Qingchen asked, "Now that you've heard my voice, can we continue to communicate?"

"Sorry, big shot, it was a misunderstanding," Liu Dezhu's confidence waned.

Qingchen looked down at Liu Dezhu: "I came to see you to make a deal. You pretend to be me, and I'll help you clear your name."

He first destroyed Liu Dezhu's hope and then gave him hope again.

He did this because Liu Dezhu could now serve as a link between him and the surface world.