"Actually... I wasn't really after your pocket money, I just asked casually," Qing Chen said somewhat awkwardly.
At this moment, even he felt a little sheepish.
Really getting obsessed with money here...
However, Qing Chen had realized that Li Tongyun was also suspecting him to be a transmigrator.
Perhaps it was because of his keen interest in the Inner World, always asking questions, or maybe because he had guessed her secret.
When he unhesitatingly said he did not need the Inner World's money, the other party dismissed their suspicions.
Overall, Qing Chen had quite a fruitful evening, at least confirming Li Tongyun's identity as a transmigrator.
Now that he was involved in the Qing's Family shadow struggle, having one more friend was better than none.
Even though Li Tongyun was only ten, she might be of help someday.
Just like when he first transmigrated and prayed to the Buddha, the preparation work had to be done beforehand.
Taking advantage of Jiang Xue still not having finished washing the dishes, Li Tongyun whispered to Qing Chen, "I really don't have much pocket money in the Outer World, why don't you change the condition, Brother Qing Chen?"
"Change to what condition?" Qing Chen asked.
"I don't know, but you can't tell my mom," Li Tongyun pressed her voice lower again.
"All right, you owe me one for now," Qing Chen glanced at Jiang Xue's silhouette in the kitchen: "Remember to take good care of your mother in the Inner World, I hear it's pretty chaotic in there."
"Yeah, don't worry," Li Tongyun said contentedly: "When you have a chance to transmigrate to the Inner World in the future, I will protect you guys!"
Qing Chen was somewhat amused; the promise of a child was so pure and simple.
He said goodbye to Jiang Xue and went downstairs, finding his own home much lonelier in comparison.
No family and no one to talk to.
Qing Chen opened his phone and glanced at the class group. Inside, there was still blind and uninformative discussion going on. There are probably only him and Nan Gengchen as transmigrators in class 2-3, right?
He opened Weibo and immediately noticed two trending topics rapidly climbing: an overseas mysterious organization was offering a hefty reward for purchasing mechanical limbs and future technology items from the Inner World.
Someone posted a screenshot online, and the organization even listed an inventory of items: NECE anti-aging drugs, EDE-002 genetic potions...
Among them, there were even various targeted drugs for cancer, none of which had been developed in the Outer World yet.
The list of these future technology items actually shared common characteristics: life-saving, life-prolonging, maintaining youth, and enhancing physical functions.
The organization claimed to have tested the effectiveness of the drugs, which indeed worked on Ordinary People from the Outer World.
They even openly taught transmigrators methods for carrying the items: wrap the tablets with protective film and place them in the mouth or swallow them, or insert them into the rectum.
Qing Chen frowned upon reading this, these people resorted to using a drug mule's methods to bring things back from the Inner World.
You have to understand, the value of targeted drugs, anti-aging medications and the like are incalculable. If a wealthy person was dying of cancer and their only hope was a life-saving drug from the Inner World, what price would they pay?
What price is equivalent to a life?
Of course, there are many other life-saving items like bionic kidneys and hearts, but those can't be transported.
Qing Chen was somewhat reflective, just when he was still figuring out how to become a Transcendent, some people had already started doing business.
But this method, he couldn't use it right now.
If you want to do a physical transaction, you'll inevitably expose your identity.
Of course, you could also bring back technology on a USB drive, but what ordinary transmigrator could access the core technologies of the Inner World? Maybe in the future, but it seems there's no one like that now.
So far, Qing Chen had hardly been able to access outside information from within that No. 18 Prison.
The most important thing was to build a good relationship with Uncle Li Dong.
Wait, Qing Chen suddenly realized, the mysterious organization was also buying mechanical limbs!
A few days ago, a transmigrator had their legs cut off, and now these people are paying sky-high prices to purchase something, which likely would further encourage such crimes against transmigrators!
At that moment, Qing Chen suddenly remembered the two strange men he had seen in the courtyard on his way home from school!
He moved quietly to the window and carefully pulled back the curtain to peek outside.
However, the two men who had been squatting outside were now nowhere to be seen.
Qing Chen hesitated only for three seconds before he immediately dialed 110, "Hello, my address is Building 12, No. 4 Xingshu Road courtyard; I spotted two very suspicious men in the evening, and I think they have bad intentions."
He hesitated because if he was wrong, he would have made a false alarm.
The female dispatcher on the other end of the phone confirmed, "You are at No. 4 Xingshu Road courtyard, right? Let me confirm with you again, you have seen two strange men in the community..."
Before she could finish, a piercing scream from Li Tongyun suddenly came from upstairs!
"Please dispatch the police immediately, thank you!" Qing Chen said and then hung up the call.
His judgment was not wrong; these two people were indeed targeting Jiang Xue.
When he had passed by the two men, they had looked in four directions, and one of those was towards Jiang Xue's home window!
Qing Chen grabbed the entrenching shovel he had purchased earlier from the kitchen, and as he was about to leave, he hesitated again.
He was just an ordinary 17-year-old student; he had seen death, but he was still only an ordinary person!
The assailants were two grown men, possibly even more; could he handle them?
With a click, Qing Chen turned the doorknob and, holding the entrenching shovel, burst out the door.
He was not some kind of saint; he was quite selfish, as he had been unmoved by the sight of his classmate going mad in Prison No. 18.
But to stand by as a child like Li Tongyun faced harm, Qing Chen couldn't do it!
At one point, he thought if he had gained supernatural abilities but did not have the courage to match, such abilities would be useless.
But just as he opened the door, he saw that a middle-aged man had just tumbled down the stairs.
The man's arm was twisted in an unnatural way, he had already collapsed unconscious on the sloped staircase.
A spring knife lay scattered by his side.
When Qing Chen looked up, he saw Jiang Xue, her face smeared with blood, standing above on the stairs; her white long-sleeved T-shirt stained with lines of blood.
One of the woman's sleeves was torn, revealing a mechanical arm glowing with blue light, slender yet powerful, beautiful but tough.
She was trembling all over, but her eyes were gradually firming up.
The emotion of a mother protecting her daughter is something ordinary people can't understand.
At that moment, Jiang Xue had a unique allure, somewhat hardcore.
Jiang Xue glanced at Qing Chen, then at the entrenching shovel in his hand, and calmed down before saying, "Thank you."
She knew Qing Chen had come to help, and she had to remember anyone who would lend a hand in such a situation.
"Was there only one of them?" Qing Chen asked.
"There was another, he ran away," Jiang Xue replied.
"Is Xiao Yun okay?" asked Qing Chen.
Jiang Xue said, "She got scared."
Qing Chen frowned, "You take care of Xiao Yun first."
After speaking, he rushed out of the stairwell just in time to see a figure sprinting away in the night.
Jiang Xue wanted to stop him, but before she could even speak, the youth had already disappeared into the night.
However, she suddenly realized that the man was running in a different direction.