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Chapter 342: Chapter 342: Pioneer Assembly!

In fact, apart from Wang Baihu, the other three were all renting places, so going "home" or not didn’t make much difference. Under Wang Baihu’s arrangements, Beitian Academy allocated several staff dorm rooms for them, so they no longer had to waste time on the commute.

By the time all this was settled, it was almost ten in the evening.

Just as Chen Xuan was about to close up shop, he suddenly saw Honglian’s figure pacing in the courtyard.

"Is there something else?"

"Walk with me?" Honglian pointed toward the side courtyard gate.

The invitation surprised him a little, but considering it was Honglian, he nodded and agreed.

If not for the recent attack by the Mechanism, Beitian Academy was actually a very scenic place, even at night. Lawns, courtyards, and century‑old trees lined both sides of the paths, and in the distance were buildings with an antique charm. Every hundred meters stood a streetlamp, its pale yellow light just right, like a moon hidden among the shadows of the trees.

Compared to Lu Mountain, which was a tourist spot to begin with, this place was even more secluded and beautiful, hardly disturbed by anyone.

"Mr. Chen, Miss Lin... she isn’t truly dead, is she?" When they reached Cyan Grass Hall, Honglian finally spoke.

Chen Xuan’s footsteps paused slightly. "Why do you ask that?"

"Because whenever you mention she’s gone, your brows knit a little, as if there’s some lingering concern, but you’re not shrouded in grief... And I remember you said she vanished in order to save me, not that she died. So I was wondering if that meant there’s still a sliver of hope?"

So it was his expression that gave him away... Was that why she’d asked him out alone to talk? Chen Xuan suddenly understood, not expecting her to be so attentive to this kind of detail.

To be honest, even if she hadn’t asked today, he had planned to tell them tomorrow. Going to the future to gather intel was just a side quest; his real goal was to bring Lin Qing back—since her room still existed, that meant she hadn’t just vanished from the world. She had to be somewhere in the future at this very moment.

Of course... trying to find one specific person on the vast Earth was, to put it mildly, ridiculously difficult.

But no matter how hard it was, he didn’t want to give up, and the sooner he acted, the better.

He had to act before she completely disappeared from the customer list.

Precisely because finding Lin Qing was so important, he had to explain things clearly to everyone so they wouldn’t miss any clues when scouting the future. Since Honglian had asked in advance, he simply said it outright: "You guessed right. Her disappearance happened at the moment you were rescued. After that, I went to the future and found that era had already undergone drastic changes."

"Saving me... caused the future to change?" Honglian said in surprise.

"That’s exactly it. Lin Qing was born in the future, so she was affected. My current guess is that some change prevented her from becoming a Mechanical Warrior, so the chance for her to come to this world never reappeared."

"..." Honglian’s expression gradually turned serious. "This might be presumptuous of me, but I have to bring it up—you’ve considered the possibility that the altered future might mean she was never born at all, right?"

Chen Xuan looked at her in surprise.

She met his gaze head‑on. "I know that’s a cruel question, but if you want to end the apocalypse, sacrifices are bound to be unavoidable. We can’t let emotion override reason, or we’ll pay a greater price sooner or later."

Always think with reason, huh...

When she’d learned of Wang Baihu’s death, she’d been devastated too, but she still hadn’t gone for the kill with Xiao Canong.

Could that be one of the reasons she became the Rebel Army’s leader?

After studying her for a moment, Chen Xuan smiled. "Thank you for the reminder. Fluctuations in the future do indeed cause many people who should have been born to disappear, but she’s not one of them. Shixin can still sense her existence. I just can’t be sure whether she’s still the Lin Qing we know."

"I see." Honglian let out a long breath, clearly pleased by the answer. "Then I’ll definitely help find her."

"You want to see her again too?"

"Of course. I still owe her a thank‑you." She answered without thinking. "Besides... I feel like I really click with her. It’s like we’re long‑lost sisters or something. I can’t just let her run off like that."

"Seriously?" Chen Xuan teased. "Though to be fair, you two do look quite alike."

"Don’t tell me... she’s my daughter!?" The thought suddenly struck Honglian, and her expression instantly became complicated. ƒrēewebnovel.com

"Uh..." He scratched his head. According to the records, Honglian neither married nor had children, but things like that were just like her becoming a leader—saying it out loud felt like it might affect history. "That I don’t know."

"Can you tell me more about her?"

"Like what?"

"Everything you know... When you met, where you met, what you did together before..." She suddenly stopped and swept Chen Xuan with a sharp look. "And what’s your relationship with her? I mean besides the ability thing."

Chen Xuan covered his forehead. Why did the vibe feel like it had suddenly shifted?

But that actually made him a bit happy.

People keep existing because someone remembers them.

Now there was one more person who wanted to know about Lin Qing.

Once the memory is there, the gap of time and worlds doesn’t feel quite so far anymore.

...

The next day, everyone arrived as agreed. Besides Honglian’s group of four, Chen Xuan also saw the familiar "dragon silhouette"—Guagua.

It seemed quite excited to visit this "forest park" again, and started wagging its tail the moment it saw Chen Xuan.

Was this thing a dragon or a dog?

"How come it’s here?" Chen Xuan looked at Wang Baihu. If he remembered correctly, Guagua had always been kept at the Wang Family villa.

"Sister Honglian said you wanted to find someone, so she told me to bring Guagua along," he replied. "And the future is all ruins, right? With a dragon around, it can be our mount too."

Yesterday, when he’d told Honglian about Lin Qing’s story, he had indeed mentioned in passing what the future looked like now.

"Gua!"

Guagua lifted its head in coordination.

It seemed to have grown even bigger... It looked more than large enough for two people to ride on its back.

Chen Xuan nodded, accepting the idea. Then he called over Liuli and Xu Xuanling and introduced everyone to each other—though they’d more or less met before, a formal introduction was still necessary. After all, from today onward, they would become true customers of the shop.

And to enter the customer list, they had to complete at least one full transaction. frёewebηovel.cѳm

The process was still carried out under the name of the World Ability Center. Chen Xuan didn’t touch any of the abilities they already possessed. Instead, he first used a hidden transaction to gift them White Abilities from the shop’s inventory, then traded for them with the Purifying Heart Technique. The end result was that Jiang Siqi, Little Pigeon, and Wang Baihu each obtained a beginner‑level Heart Method.

This feature really should’ve been unlocked earlier, Chen Xuan thought. A restriction that prevented trading abilities of the same type and grade was just malicious design. If they were worried store managers would farm performance points with it, they could just not count this type of trade toward KPI after the first time, right?

A rickety, half‑baked setup through and through.

Once they were registered as customers, Chen Xuan could use Recall directly to teleport them to the shop.

Of course, the once‑per‑day restriction still applied, so this could only serve as a last‑resort lifesaving card. The rest of the time, they’d have to rely on themselves and stay cautious.

Chen Xuan took out four backpacks and handed them over. "There’s three days’ worth of food and water in here, as well as some basic survival tools. The place we’re heading to is a city, but it’s been through a major catastrophe. It’s basically no different from a warzone now."

"Wilderness survival, huh?" Wang Baihu patted his chest. "That’s exactly my specialty."

"Urban ruins and the wild are two different things. Haven’t you seen zombie‑apocalypse movies?" Jiang Siqi took the backpack with an unconcerned air. "Our challenge isn’t supplies, it’s the enemies hiding in the dark!" She looked at Chen Xuan. "Am I right?"

"You could put it that way."

Seeing him confirm it, she smugly flashed a V sign at Wang Baihu.

Chen Xuan frowned slightly. These people were still way too relaxed; it was obvious they hadn’t shifted out of their Mechanical Officer mindset yet. Strictly speaking, they really weren’t suited for an expedition to the future. But he couldn’t just dump the entire mission on Xu Xuanling, Liuli, and Liu Shuyue—someone had to stay behind to watch the shop.

Looks like he’d have to slowly train them up during the upcoming time‑travel trip.