Originally, Qing Chen had just intended to coax some information out of him, but he did not expect Nan Gengchen's mindset to change so rapidly.
Just a moment ago he was all nervous and scared, and after one class, he was planning to become the protagonist of the world.
What could Qing Chen say? If you're happy, then I'm happy for you.
At that time, Nan Gengchen had already started seriously discussing with Qing Chen, "I mean, just suppose, if I could travel back, then I could bring back some high-tech stuff to sell, right?"
"I don't know," said Qing Chen, "you might not be able to bring anything back."
"Look, they brought back things like mechanical arms," said Nan Gengchen. "Don't worry, if I really make a fortune, I'll treat you to nice food."
Qing Chen knew that world was dangerous. Although as friends they had to keep some secrets, he still hoped his friend would return safely, so he kindly advised, "You see, many transmigrators have said they encountered dangers, so you should be careful and not always think about getting rich."
Nan Gengchen fell silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Where do you want to go eat by then?"
Qing Chen: "…"
In his mind, Nan Gengchen silently calculated his dreams of becoming rich, but only Qing Chen knew that you couldn't just bring things back at will when returning.
When Nan Gengchen treated him to a meal, imagine him pulling off his own arm, slamming it down on the counter and shouting "Two bowls of Dan Dan noodles!" What a festive scene that would be.
Suddenly, someone in the class wondered aloud, "What exactly is the pattern with these transmigrations? So many people have traveled, why haven't we?"
Nan Gengchen mumbled quietly beside, "Maybe only those with true talent can do it..."
Qing Chen just raised his eyebrows when he heard that.
News about transmigrators was becoming more frequent, both domestically and internationally.
Gradually, Qing Chen figured out two patterns:
First, all transmigrators had a six-hour countdown before leaving and a 48-hour countdown to return.
That is to say, the time everyone traveled was consistent, and so was the return time.
Then someone stepped forward after seeing the transmigration event, stating they hadn't traveled but a 48-hour countdown had appeared on their arm after midnight.
This should be the second batch.
Next time, the first and second batches will travel simultaneously.
The second pattern was that all those who had traveled were young, currently between the ages of 10 and 35.
Suddenly, a female student said, "A streamer claimed they're a transmigrator and is currently live streaming to show off their mechanical arm. I'll send the link to the group."
These days, students all carry mobile phones, which facilitates communication.
Everyone clicked on the link, and it was indeed an outdoor streamer showing off their mechanical arm.
Qing Chen always felt something was off because he had never seen such a plastic-looking mechanical limb...
And before the streamer had been showing it for two minutes, the mechanical arm snapped off and fell to the ground...
"Is this jerk wearing a model to ride the wave of popularity?"
Qing Chen was somewhat amused. Whenever there's a spectacle, all sorts of oddballs show up.
At this point, he guessed that Nan Gengchen wasn't part of the batch from yesterday at noon, but part of the new countdown that appeared early in the morning, otherwise, Nan wouldn't have been so shocked by Jacob's press conference.
So now there were two possibilities, one was that the number of transmigrators was fixed; if someone died, a new transmigrator would take their place.
The other possibility was that the number of transmigrators was continuously expanding and would increase in the future.
Currently, Qing Chen could not estimate how many transmigrators there were nationwide.
Gradually, all the classmates had arrived, and someone exclaimed, "There's a transmigrator on the streets of Los Angeles City too, I saw it on my friend's socials, someone captured it!"
Upon hearing this, everyone gathered around.
The video on the socials showed a young man in a hurry, his cheeks adorned with strange mechanical lines, showcasing a unique technological beauty.
Then someone noticed the gray steel ankles revealed as the young man moved.
Clearly, this young man's legs had also been replaced with mechanical limbs.
The cameraman in the video wanted to continue filming, but then saw the young man suddenly leap onto the rooftop of a nearby four or five meter high building, vanishing without a trace.
A female classmate whispered softly, "So cool."
"It'd be great if we had a transmigrator like that in our school; we could directly ask about that world."
Just then, Qing Chen suddenly remembered that the school indeed had one person who had transmigrated at the same time as him, the son of Yongli Group's chairman, Huang Jixian.
If he remembered correctly, the other person should be in Class 7 of Grade 11.
That day, after the breakdown, he was taken away by the Mechanical Prison Guard and had not appeared since then; logically, he should have returned by now, even if he was dead, his body would have returned.
With this thought, taking advantage of the ten or so minutes left before class, Qing Chen stood up and walked towards the first-year area downstairs.
Los Angeles Foreign Language School was bustling at this time, with everyone discussing the transmigrator incident—even the teachers passing by were scrolling through their phones as they walked.
No one probably expected that a certain transmigrator was right beside them.
Qing Chen looked at those people and suddenly felt a sense of alienation, as if he had become somewhat different without knowing when.
In the past, he might have thought about studying hard, taking time to seriously review and prepare in advance, striving to get into a good university far away from here.
But now, it seemed his path was no longer here.
Qing Chen arrived at the entrance of Class 1, Grade 7, and casually stopped a bespectacled boy, asking, "Hello, did Huang Jixian come to school today?"
"No, I haven't seen him yet," the classmate replied.
"Oh," Qing Chen nodded, "Do you know where he lives?"
"I only know that he lives in Silver Run Central Garden, but I'm not sure exactly where. Are you looking for him for something?" the classmate asked, "When he comes to class, I can pass him a message."
"It's okay, thanks," Qing Chen guessed that Huang Jixian probably couldn't make it anymore.
The collapsed boy's spirit had suffered great trauma; it was possible he had gone mad.
Qing Chen returned to his class, lost in thought, and almost all students had lost the will to study during the first period of math class.
During the latter half of the class, the young male math teacher, Tian Hailong, noticed everyone was distracted and simply started joking with them, saying, "You guys are completely not paying attention to me now. It looks like I need to get a mechanical arm or something for you to listen to me, right?"
The classroom burst into laughter, then, Tian Hailong actually started discussing this trending topic with the students, no longer teaching the class.
If it were an ordinary trending topic, neither teachers nor students would have reacted like this, but what was happening now was different because it was changing the world.
During class, Nan Gengchen had been browsing his phone constantly, and after class, he suddenly handed his phone to Qing Chen, saying, "He Xiaoxiao posted a guide!"
"He Xiaoxiao?" Qing Chen asked, puzzled.
"He's a major gamer and influencer, known for finding easter eggs and details in games, like how to find hidden plots, hidden orange weapons, and hidden professions. He has quite a few fans," Nan Gengchen explained, knowing that Qing Chen was not much into gaming and therefore unlikely to have followed someone like He Xiaoxiao.
Nan Gengchen continued, "He posted a game guide video a few hours ago, but no one had ever heard of the game he was talking about. He was quite serious about providing the guide. With the emerging transmigrator incident, everyone suddenly realized that his game guide might be related to that other world, and he might be one of the transmigrators."
The video had no images, just a dark background and white subtitles.
In the video, a young and magnetic male voice said, "Since this game is quite special, I can't show you the game video. I'll call this game... 'Inner World.'"
"And the world we're currently in is called the 'Outer World.'"
He Xiaoxiao then calmly continued, "Regarding this game, I've just entered it myself, so the information I have is very limited."
"I haven't found a way to obtain hidden orange weapons yet."
"There are currently three known paths to acquire professions. The first is to use technology to modify oneself, which can be directly purchased at a mechanical hospital."
"Mechanical limbs are relatively expensive, and since I haven't found a money glitch yet, I can't afford to try it. Selling one's organs seems to be the easiest way to make money here, but I don't recommend trying it."
"The second path is to join the Contraindicated courts, where one can become a new human by injecting a Genetic Potion, but I haven't found the relevant organization's NPC yet. This organization is quite mysterious."
"The third known path to a profession is in Prison No. 18. You need to go there and look for an NPC named Uncle Li Dong. This is currently the highest potential career path known."
"If I discover other career paths in the future, I will continue to share them with you."
The more Qing Chen watched the video, the more astonished he became.
He was certain it was a real world. How could it not be real if even bruises could be brought back?
Yet He Xiaoxiao seemed to have become obsessed, treating that place as a mere game!
And treating Uncle Li Dong as an NPC for grinding professions!
Qing Chen didn't know what He Xiaoxiao's role was in the Inner World, but one thing Qing Chen could be sure of was that Uncle Li Dong's reputation in the Inner World was indeed high, so much so that He Xiaoxiao heard of him within 48 hours of arriving.
And now, He Xiaoxiao had already considered Uncle Li Dong to be the most promising career path.
Nan Gengchen, after watching the video, muttered, "Isn't that the same as saying nothing? Buying mechanical limbs needs money, Contraindicated courts can't be found, and Prison No. 18 might be accessible, but he didn't say how to get in."
Qing Chen suddenly wondered, with the significant impact of this video, would people really rush to Prison No. 18 to explore the Uncle Li Dong route after he traveled back in two days?!
If someone really treated Uncle Li Dong as an NPC to grind, the outcome might be quite grim, and Uncle Li himself would probably be utterly confused.
The buzz about transmigration continued into the afternoon.
Until a piece of news appeared: a young male abroad, confirmed to be a transmigrator, was found dead at home. His mechanically enhanced legs, previously featured in a video, had been severed and were missing.
This news, like a dark cloud, suddenly overshadowed everyone's enthusiasm.
...
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