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Chapter 321: Chapter 321: Disappearance

"I thought... she was taking the photos in our world." Chen Xuan said in surprise.

"Me too." Lin Qing fell into deep thought, "It seems this area was abandoned after the explosion, but why did Honglian leave photos here? Could it be... she attended this demon meeting in the original timeline?"

Was the intentionally taken photo... a memento of the past?

The issue is, in the timeline where Lin Qing exists, there shouldn’t be any interference from Chen Xuan. Naturally, there would also be no warning from Elorie and no rebirth of New Paris. The entire world was destroyed by crystal meteorites falling from the sky, forcing the surviving humans underground, and the existence of Jiang City remained an unknown.

How did Honglian appear in a timeline that hasn’t yet emerged?

Chen Xuan felt his brain had frozen.

"No one can probably answer this question." Lin Qing shook her head after a long silence, "Unless we can travel to that moment in time, we might discover the beginning and end of this matter."

At the moment, there seems to be only one way to achieve that.

That’s if Honglian connected to the Ability Store at that time, or rather... the store chose her as a customer.

Even just thinking about this scenario gave Chen Xuan a headache.

Two timelines, two different eras, and two Honglians appearing in the store at the same time?

That would be terrifying.

For the time being, the two focused on investigating the whereabouts of the Mechanism, gathering information about Jiang City through TV and the internet, not missing any live footage. But Xiao Canong and his team seemed to have vanished without a trace, leaving absolutely no clues.

Of course... Chen Xuan also didn’t rule out the possibility that they had slipped away long ago. After all, the explosion scene was extremely chaotic, fires raged everywhere, the sky was shrouded in smoke, and ground transportation was completely paralyzed, with only hover cars capable of reaching the explosion’s core area. Under such conditions, they could easily slip out of the city undetected.

In the evening, the two returned to the main store for a meal before continuing their wait at the branch store.

One day seemed incredibly long.

"Actually, we could just sleep normally and summon them tomorrow morning. They’re capable of withstanding a nuclear blast, so waiting another half day wouldn’t be too much of a problem." Chen Xuan casually said.

Seeing Lin Qing’s wide-eyed expression, he decided to wait obediently until the stroke of midnight, "Alright, forget I mentioned it."

He suspected that if he changed his answer a second later, she would pounce on him.

The closer it got to midnight, the more agitated Lin Qing seemed to become.

She paced back and forth in the room, looking like she wanted to say something but held back, and repeatedly asked Chen Xuan to check if Honglian was still on the guest list.

"Don’t worry, she’ll definitely come back." Chen Xuan reassured, "You’ve seen my power; even across different worlds, it still works."

"I’m just afraid in case..." Lin Qing seemed to be responding to him, yet also muttering to herself.

Chen Xuan was a bit taken aback. Is Honglian really that important? Important enough to make her show such unease...

Even when they had just returned to the past, amidst unfamiliar surroundings, she had never been this nervous.

Back then, Lin Qing would even sit cross-legged, munching on snacks while denouncing the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s various offenses.

But no matter how anxious she was, it was only for this half-night.

Especially when they had already waited a long time, with only fifteen minutes left until midnight.

"Why don’t you take a bath first?" Chen Xuan shrugged, "By the time you’re done, Honglian might already be waiting for you on the sofa."

No response from her.

"Actually, I can stay here on my own, you can wait in the main store, that way you can see Honglian first thing."

Still no response.

"Lin Qing?" Chen Xuan was about to turn around when suddenly he felt someone hug him from behind.

The pair of warm and soft arms undoubtedly belonged to Lin Qing—a significant change from her initially cold and rigid body.

"I’m fine." Her voice surprisingly calm.

So different from her earlier nervous tone, it was like a completely different person.

For a moment, Chen Xuan even thought this was the Lin Qing traveling through time—the Lin Qing who came over after midnight and meeting Honglian.

Although he didn’t know why she reverted to her usual self, this was the Future Warrior he was most familiar with.

"Are you trying to warm me up?" Chen Xuan chuckled softly.

In March, cities in high latitude regions were quite cold, but he had long since been immune to the Earth’s natural temperature changes.

"If you need it." Lin Qing replied in a low voice, "But in reality, you’re the one who’s always keeping me warm. Don’t worry, I just want you to remember this feeling."

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Chen Xuan didn’t quite understand, but since she didn’t move, he could only maintain this posture.

The television continued to broadcast 24-hour news, yet the sound seemed to be coming from a distant place... the room appeared both noisy and silent as if time was speeding by yet also frozen at this moment.

Until the second hand pointed to midnight.

Lin Qing finally let go of her hands, "It’s time."

"Alright." Chen Xuan turned around and patted her head. She must have been too anxious, using this method to calm down. She didn’t avoid his touch but urged him with her eyes, "Hurry up."

"Alright, alright."

He took out the scan gun, selected Honglian’s name, and initiated the recall.

The option disappeared, indicating the command was executed.

"See, there you go." Chen Xuan shook his head with a smile, wondering what she had been so worried about, "Let’s go back, Honglian should have already arrived at the store—"

Raising his head, he froze abruptly.

The space before him was empty, and the Lin Qing who was just standing in front of him had vanished!

"Did you just activate optical camouflage?" He asked while using Heart Method to probe the surroundings, but there was still nothing. An inexplicable sense of emptiness surged into his heart, gripping it tightly. This change made him think of something, yet he instinctively resisted accepting this thought.

Chen Xuan rushed into the elevator, pressing the button for the main store.

Upon arriving back at the store, he saw Liuli taking care of a woman lying on the floor.

"You’re here. She suddenly appeared and then collapsed." Liuli shouted at him, "You better call a doctor, she’s not in good condition."

Could it be Lin Qing?

Did he mistakenly select the wrong person?

Chen Xuan rushed to Liuli’s side to examine the situation, and before the person had even come fully into view, upon seeing that distinctive red hair, he already knew his bit of hope hadn’t materialized; the one who was teleported was indeed Honglian.

But her appearance was obviously not right.

There were purple bruises around her neck, with several needle marks visible, and her entire body was soaked in sweat, as if fished out of a river. Her lips were pale and still trembling slightly.

"She..."

"She was interrogated." Liuli said while checking her pulse, "And injected with psychoactive drugs, probably to amplify pain... if we don’t hurry and administer an antidote, she won’t last long."

Liuli seemed to be well-versed in these matters.

Following Liuli’s gaze to Honglian’s wrist, Chen Xuan was instantly filled with rage! Honglian’s hands were drenched in blood, and her fingers were bare, not a single fingernail left.

It had only been half a day!

Chen Xuan comprehended that this series of crises was a well-devised plan by the Mechanism. They intended not only to seize the relic from the demon but also to utilize the constraints of the parallel world to purge traitors within their organization! Such heavy-handed actions indicated that Xiao Canong was beyond mere suspicion; he was certain Honglian was a problem!

Putting aside the source of the information leak, his immediate priority was to stabilize Honglian’s condition.

Call Beitian Academy?

He picked up his phone, then set it down—no! If the Mechanism had indeed extracted some intelligence from Honglian, Beitian Academy might also be under surveillance. If they had people lurking nearby, taking Honglian there would be walking right into a trap.

Fortunately, he had another method to save her.

Chen Xuan went to the second floor and knocked on the door of room 205.

Soon after, Xu Xuanling peeked through the door crack, "Master, do you know how late it is? It’s rather rude to visit a debutante at this hour. If it weren’t you, I wouldn’t even open the door—"

"Cut the nonsense, get dressed and come save someone!" Chen Xuan interrupted directly.