Chapter 37: Man from Sichuan

The familiar sound.

Some were banging on the metal cell doors, while others growled like metal animals inside their cells. Newcomers, welcome to Prison 18!

Qing Chen got up from his bed and a small smile spread across his face.

He repeated that phrase back to himself: Newcomers, welcome to Prison 18!

Qing Chen always felt a surge of joy whenever he returned to this place for some reason.

He was surrounded by people he recognized, rules he was familiar with, and hopes that could be realized.

He felt as if he was destined to be in the Inner World rather than the Outer World.

This place made him want to forget his past, and drop all his worries.

As long as he kept going forward, every step would be towards a bright future.

He took a look at his arm and froze for a moment.

Return Countdown: 160:20:09.

Including the time that he slept, that would be a total of seven days this time!

This came as a surprise to Qing Chen because he had already gotten used to the 48-hour intervals.

Why?

Was there a pattern?

Looks like he still has to be more patient before jumping to conclusions about rules in the Inner World.

Qing Chen walked up to the metal cell door, which promptly opened as if it was anticipating him.

When the other prisoners saw him in the hallway, they bowed slightly and politely greeted him.

Compared to the Outer World, here he was at home.

Qing Chen stood there in the hallway and waved to Lu Guangyi from the opposite side.

After all the prisoners got downstairs, Lu Guangyi started a new round of welcome ceremonies.

Qing Chen's wave was a gentle reminder to him to do so.

Despite the fact that this would enrage the other two groups in the prison... It was inevitable that a major brawl would break out at some point.

However, his goal in Prison 18 was to remove all obstacles in the way of Qing Chen.

He understood that he was a pawn in front of the knight, that he was a pawn who had crossed the river1In Chinese chess, pawns who cross the river are unable to return, therefore the only option was to fight and go forward..

He was the one who made his bed. He would live if he won; if he lost, he would die. His fame and grandeur had to be purchased with his life.

For now, Li Shutong remained indifferent to what Lu Guangyi was doing, so he was probably looking forward to what Qing Chen might do.

Seven new prisoners arrived yesterday night.

When Lu Guangyi approached the new prisoner, six of them accepted their fate and proceeded with the procedure.

The experienced prisoners knew very well that if they fought back, the pain would only be worse.

However, as Lu Guangyi was trying to get the last prisoner, that prisoner kept running away from him.

He noticed that this prisoner didn't have any mechanical limbs on him. As an ordinary human, how could he outrun the metal beasts?

Just as Lu Guangyi was about to grab him, that prisoner suddenly started screaming, "Get yer hands off me! What' y'all catchin' me for?2The original text is written in a heavy Sichuanese dialect. I tried my best to represent that this person is speaking with a funny accent."

While escaping, his mouth didn't stop running, "I'm givin' y'all one last chance! One slap from my hand is goin' to send y'all face to the sky!"

Qing Chen: "???"

He was stunned by this properly spoken Sichuanese. Qing Chen had realized that people here all spoke purely Mandarin!

Qing Chen was not the only one that had such a reaction. Everyone, including Lu Guangyi, didn't know what to do, "What is this guy talking about? Did you understand?"

People looked at each other confused, "I think I understood some but not all."

When knowing that everyone here spoke only one dialect and none had an accent, this Sichuanese dialect seemed abruptly strange...

Qing Chen quickly figured it out: He was a transmigrator!

Because Qing Chen spoke proper Mandarin, and Mandarin was mostly accepted in Luo City, he never realized that different Chinese dialects could be a critical way that one would be exposed as a transmigrator...

Qing Chen could not imagine what the transmigrators who spoke other dialects would be like in the Inner World.

With a mouth full of Sichuanese, how did this transmigrator get to Prison 18 Qing Chen had previously concluded that there were only 19 cities that produced a significant number of transmigrators, so Luo City matched City 18 in the Inner World.

Would it be that his guess was wrong? Or is the location of transmigration is in fact random?

No, this must be a special case.

He peeked at Li Shutong and the others downstairs and saw that all three of them became more serious than usual.

Qing Chen resolved that as long as they weren't idiots, they would have figured that something was off of all these weird incidents.

The Inner World would eventually learn the existence of the Outer World because there were too many transmigrators!

"Get him and question where he is from," Li Shutong remarked to Lin Xiaoxiao, looking at the rising turmoil in the distance. Get in touch with Huang Qixian and Liu Dezhu as well. I have a feeling they're both from the same place.

"Okay," Lin Xiaoxiao said stiffly.

Li Shutong finally connected the dots between all these events that happened in the prison recently.

This matter could no longer wait. He wanted to take the initiative.

A second later, the person from Sichuan3Sichuan is a province in China and is famous for its hot pots 😛 instantly fell into a nightmare.

Lin Xiaoxiao walked to Lu Guanyi and said calmly, "Move and let that person be."

However, Lu Guanyi didn't step down, even while facing a person like Lin Xiaoxiao. He said, "Boss has to agree first."

As he said so, Lu Guangyi turned to look at Qing Chen who was still on the third floor.

The prisoners were surprised. Wasn't Lu Guangyi the boss? Who was his superior?

Only now did Lu Guangyi's followers understand that Qing Chen was not just an ordinary teenager who coincidentally met Li Shutong.

He was a god from the beginning.

His surname was Qing and was Lu Guangyi's boss!

Thinking of this, those who had initially wanted to take advantage of Qing Chen felt a chill down their spines.

Living on this eastern land of the Inner World, no one could ignore the Qing Family.

This was an era in which everyone lived under the huge shadows of the five corporations.

If nothing happened, then everyone would live happily.

But if the giant were to move, then humanity would have a scary reminder of the existence of this terrifying entity.

Not a soul would be spared. Lin Xiaoxiao smiled at Lu Guanyi and said, "You know who my boss is and you still dare to stop me. Very well."

Qing Chen didn't want Lu Guangyi to actually start a fight, so he nodded.

Lin Xiaoxiao pushed through the crowd while holding up the Sichuanese man in one hand.

Qing Chen saw that as Lin Xiaoxiao approached, the metal gate opened up for him and closed right after he left.

Looks like Li Shutong and his group have exclusive rights to enter and exit the prison at any time!

Then... What's stopping them from just leaving the place?

He slowly walked to Li Shutong's table and sat down, "Where did Lin Xiaoxiao go? "

"Something strange happened," Li Shutong said as he scooped the large cat onto his lap and said, "I don't know what's going on, it's something beyond my current understanding. Before, if some random person appeared around me, I would think that they wanted something from me or at least had a plan of what to do, but this time it's different. They don't have a plan nor do they... seem to have a brain."

Qing Chen was speechless after he heard it.

By now, he realized that there wasn't much time left.

Not to mention that person from Sichuan, Liu Dezhu alone wouldn't be able to get through Lin Xiaoxiao's questioning.

Liu Dezhu was a child who grew up in a bubble. His willpower was woefully inadequate.

Lin Xiaoxiao's ability to manipulate one's mental state made it easy for him to extract secrets without the victim's knowledge.

Of course, this would speed up the process of exposing the Outer World.

But there wasn't anything Qing Chen could do.

He still possessed Canon's sheet music, but he realized that a piece of sheet music would be useless in front of a straightforward person like Li Shutong.

All he could do now was wait and see.

...