Qiao Yifeng no longer had anything to say to Chen Xiaolian.
As for Chen Xiaolian, he was able to make a rough estimate regarding what was going on in Qiao Yifeng’s mind. For one, this was about giving an explanation for the unexpected event that had occurred earlier. Qiao Yifeng expressed his thanks and at the same time, inquired some important matters from Chen Xiaolian.
After all, there was a huge difference between his daughter having a relationship with an ordinary brat and having a relationship with an Awakened who might die at any moment.
Qiao Yifeng no longer said anything regarding the relationship between Chen Xiaolian and Qiao Qiao – he no longer expressed any words of objection. However, from what Chen Xiaolian could observe, Qiao Yifeng’s expression and tone of words indicated that things were not so optimistic.
It was possible that Qiao Yifeng’s objection toward their relationship would intensify. That was very likely.
Sure enough, Qiao Yifeng entered a state of silence, seemingly having nothing left to say. Chen Xiaolian straightened himself and said that he would leave first if there were nothing else at hand.
“That may be for the best,” Qiao Yifeng pondered about it and straightened himself as well. Then, he personally escorted Chen Xiaolian out of the cabin.
The night wind blew across the surface of the pier. Wearing the trench coat, Qiao Yifeng stood before Chen Xiaolian.
“I have some other matters to attend to for today. However, I think that we will still need to meet up once more. There are some things that needed to be discussed thoroughly,” Qiao Yifeng spoke with a calm tone.
Chen Xiaolian could not restrain himself and he asked. “You… you still want me to break up with Qiao Qiao?”
“If you are the only one with the identity of an Awakened while Qiao Qiao is an ordinary person, I would have you two break up even at the cost of my life,” Qiao Qiao said coolly. “No parent would want their child to be together with someone like you. It is too dangerous; there is no guarantee that nothing bad will happen.”
“So now…” Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat.
“I will have to reconsider the matter,” Qiao Yifeng shook his head. “Unfortunately… Qiao Qiao is also an Awakened. That factor is more important compared to your relationship with her.”
Chen Xiaolian was able to understand. For Qiao Yifeng, the most important matter that he had to consider was how to ensure his daughter’s safety – matters such as relationships could simply be tossed aside.
“About tonight’s incident, do not tell Qiao Qiao,” Qiao Yifeng thought about it. “I hope you can cooperate. This is something that requires a discussion between us father and daughter.”
“I understand,” Chen Xiaolian expressed his agreement.
“Then this is goodbye. In a few days’ time, we will meet again… after I have a discussion with Qiao Qiao,” Qiao Yifeng said. Then, he extended his right hand.
After the two of them shook hands, Chen Xiaolian walked out of the pier and onto the side of the road.
…
The ship slowly left the dock. Qiao Yifeng sat inside the cabin near the window.
Yu Jiajia woke up and saw Qiao Yifeng and the man in black beside her. Her eyes revealed confusion before becoming surprised. She exclaimed. “Ah, you… you are still alive…”
The man in black retrieved a pen like object from his chest and looked at the time before slowly rotating the scale on top two and a half times. Then, he moved to face Yu Jiajia. “Jiajia, please look over here.”
A flash of light erupted and Yu Jiajia’s pupil abruptly shrank before widening again. Then, she fainted.
In but half a minute, Yu Jiajia woke up again.
With a bleary-eyed expression, she rubbed her eyes and looked around at the cabin. Then, she revealed a look of surprise. Turning around, she looked at Qiao Yifeng, who was wearing a trench coat and smiled sheepishly. “I… did I fall asleep again?”
The man in black gave a faint smile. “Miss Jiajia is probably feeling tired. You fell asleep the moment you got on the car. I brought you in here.”
“Maybe you have had a tiring day?” Qiao Yifeng had a light smile on his face as he looked at Yu Jiajia.
“Is that so…” Yu Jiajia wore a dazed expression for a moment. Then, she mused. “In school today, I encountered a really weird fellow…”
…
Chen Xiaolian walked along the street for half an hour before stopping. Then, he waved down a cab.
After half an hour, Chen Xiaolian got off the cab. He was back at the residential complex that Han Bi lived in.
Easily vaulting over the walls of the residential complex, Chen Xiaolian then moved toward Han Bi’s residence.
Pressing the doorbell, he found that no one was answering.
He raised his head and peered up at the window of Han Bi’s room. It was dark, seemingly indicating that no one was living inside.
He did not give up.
He waited there patiently for a long time. When night arrived, Chen Xiaolian looked around and watched as the lights of the other residential buildings go off one after another. Then, he began climbing up the building’s outer walls.
Due to the many platform railing for air conditioning units available, Chen Xiaolian who possessed a [B+] Physique did not face much difficulty. What he needed to be careful of was to not let this act of his be caught by mobile phones of ordinary people. Then, he will unwittingly be mistaken as Spiderman and have the video uploaded onto the net.
Chen Xiaolian had been careful and he chose to wear a cap and a mouth muffle as he climbed up.
The window to Han Bi’s room was locked. Chen Xiaolian simply broke a small hole through the window and proceeded to open the window. Then, he slipped inside.
He entered a kitchen.
Chen Xiaolian landed lightly.
Amid the darkness, he saw that the kitchen was very clean. Not a trace of soot could be seen.
He then touched the sink and found that it was very dry. There were no watermarks at all – that meant that it had not seen any use for quite some time.
The furniture inside the living room were simplistic in nature. Most importantly, there was a light layer of dust upon them.
Due to them living in a big city, the air quality was not too good. For any normal household, some dust will build up if the house was not cleaned once every few days. Additionally, Han Bi’s residential building was located close to the main road and was more exposed toward the exhaust gas from automobiles.
As expected, the apartment was empty.
Two rooms, a master bedroom and a study.
The one thing that surprised Chen Xiaolian was that Han Bi lived alone and not with his parents.
Opening the closet, he found them to be partially empty. It was clear that many of the clothes there had been taken away.
In the study room, there was a desktop. However, there was no laptop… Chen Xiaolian recalled seeing Han Bi carrying a laptop with him when they met back in the train.
Some of the food in the fridge had already gone bad, indicating that the owner had been gone for a long time.
From what he could see, Chen Xiaolian concluded that Han Bi had left in a hurry.
Clothes were scattered over the surface of the sofa and the bed. Books were strewn all over the study room. A power bank could be seen left on the floor.
Two of the drawers were left open.
If not for the fact that the door and window was intact, it would seem as though a thief had broken into this apartment.
Chen Xiaolian pondered for a moment. Next, he switched on Han Bi’s desktop.
The browsing history for IE had not been deleted. The most recently date of access was two days after the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon concluded. It was the same day Chen Xiaolian left for Japan.
Through the IE browser’s history, Chen Xiaolian saw that a booking was made.
Unfortunately, he was unable to find out the destination…
Clearly, after the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon was over, he had returned home. However, he did not stay here for long. He had hastily packed up and moved out.
Chen Xiaolian thought about it, brought out a piece of paper, and wrote a sentence on it. Then, he placed the piece of paper on the living room’s table.
“I could not get in touch with you, I am feeling worried. Sorry to enter your house uninvited. If you still think of me as a fried, please be sure to contact me.”
Below the sentence was: A friend whom you had supported before. [1]
After doing that, Chen Xiaolian sighed and left Han Bi’s house.
After walking out of the residential complex, Chen Xiaolian was suddenly visited by a feeling of frustration.
This trip to Hangzhou had left him speechless.
He failed to find the person he was looking for. Instead, he met someone he did not wish to meet.
Qiao Qiao’s father, Qiao Yifeng was simply a huge source of trouble.
“After he has his discussion with Qiao Qiao, would he ask her to join the guild that he is part of?” Chen Xiaolian considered the possibility.
Such a possibility was highly likely.
The guild that Qiao Yifeng was part of was clearly a veteran guild; with a level of strength that exceeded his by a hundred times.
For the sake of Qiao Qiao’s safety, her father would certainly hope that she become part of a strong guild. By doing so, her chances of survival would be higher. Additionally, Qiao Yifeng would be able to care for her.
Chen Xiaolian felt vexed.
Walking along the main road, Chen Xiaolian looked at the time and saw that it was already midnight. He decided to wait for dawn to arrive before heading home on the earliest train.
There should be a few more hours before the earliest train set to depart after dawn.
How should I spend the next few hours?
Chen Xiaolian was not too familiar with the roads in Hangzhou. Thus, he randomly walked through the streets. Unconsciously, he ended up heading toward Han Bi’s school.
Within roughly half an hour, he ended up standing before the entrance to the school.
“Why did I walk here…” Chen Xiaolian smiled wryly.
Looking at the time, he shrugged it off and decided to find an internet café to spend the rest of the time.
As for going to a hotel to catch some sleep, Chen Xiaolian was not feeling sleepy.
He was also not interested in going to those places of entertainment.
For a student like him, an internet café appeared to be the most familiar place for him.
Additionally… there should be a lot of internet cafes in the vicinity of most schools.
Chen Xiaolian went around the school. After walking through half a street, he found a shabby looking internet café with a cliché name: Speedy Café.
After handing tens of yuans to the manager in charge, he got a spot opened for him and switched on the computer.
In his boredom, he logged into the novel website and saw comments asking for updates and curses filling the novel review section. Suddenly, for some unknown reason – or perhaps it was because the encounters he had experienced through this day and night had not been going according to plan, causing him to feel rebellious instead.
This world has been gradually moving away from the norm… but I will instead do the same thing I did before!
He opened up a document. Then, as he sat in the internet café, he started typing up a novel.
Subconsciously, Chen Xiaolian ended up putting in all the things that he had experienced in the past few days, such as the instance dungeon beneath the island, the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon, the Japan instance dungeon… all the things he experienced were typed into the novel.
The novel that he wrote was originally of the fantasy type. At any rate, the route that the story followed was about defeating monsters to level up. Thus, inserting those messed up subjects inside and giving it a new feel did not seem overly obtrusive.
After two hours, he finished typing out a chapter and uploaded it onto the site.
Feeling suffocated, Chen Xiaolian went to the counter overseen by the manager in charge and bought a pack of cigarettes. Then, he went back to his seat and took a drag.
After finishing one cigarette, Chen Xiaolian suddenly understood why he was in such a bad mood!
He came to realize that he was feeling afraid!
He was afraid…
Afraid of losing Qiao Qiao!
What if Qiao Qiao’s father insisted on separating her from him?
What if Qiao Qiao’s father insisted on having her join that guild?
After father and daughter had finished their discussion… when Qiao Qiao realizes that her father is a member of that guild… will she be more willing to stay by her father’s side and fight alongside him?
Additionally… what is up with myself?
Logically speaking… I should be supporting the act of having her join Qiao Yifeng’s guild. Because that would be safer! A big guild with a strong battle strength and great powers will provide her with a higher level of safety. That way, the chances of her surviving will be that much higher.
If I really love her, I should wish her a better…
But…
Humans were selfish beings after all.
Chen Xiaolian felt very distressed.
He shook the mouse in his hand and turned to look at the book review section.
Even though it was late in the night, there were still many night owls around.
Many readers were shocked by the chapter that he had just uploaded!
“Fatty Wu’s corpse is stirring!”
“Old eunuch is coming out of the palace!”
“Bastard! Did you come back to type after spending away all the royalties?”
“Pooh! This senior will now go to pirate sites! I will vex you to death!”
“New chapter is quite good, I have sent in a recommendation ticket, work hard, Fatty Wu~”
“The content seems to have changed. Shouldn’t it supposed to be magic? Why did a mech suddenly pop out? Fatty Wu, are you planning on playing mix and match?”
“New novel advertisement…”
Chen Xiaolian was uncertain what it was he was hoping for as he read the comments popping out inside the book review section.
It seemed like it was only yesterday when he was still doing all these… after experiencing this change in worldview, he was engulfed by a dismal feeling.
“This life… I would likely be unable to return to this life, would I?” Chen Xiaolian snuffed out the cigarette in his hand as he felt his heart suffocating.
It was at that moment that a new comment in the book review section caught his attention.
“Are you Xiaolian, or Fatty Wu?”
The ID was: Aircraft Fanatic Bigmouth Han.
Chen Xiaolian’s eyes suddenly lit up!
This was Han Bi’s ID!
He quickly produced his mobile phone and called Han Bi’s number.
However, no one answered the phone!
Chen Xiaolian considered it and quickly clicked onto the comment left by Han Bi and typed the following reply.
“Bastard! Why aren’t you picking up the phone! Do you know how hard I have been looking for you?”
After sending the reply…
Before Han Bi could answer, the others from the book review section saw it. Countless replies surged inside.
“Holy shit! I saw Big Wu provoking a reader in the middle of the night!”
“Is this a romantic confession?”
“Who is that ‘Aircraft Fanatic Bigmouth Han’? Could that be the legendary wife of Bro Wu?”
“Upstairs is an idiot! Would a woman use such a wretched sounding ID?”
“Upstairs is wise! That fellow is definitely a male! Oh, no! Is Fatty Wu coming out of the closet?”
“Big Wu, do not be afraid. We will support you! It does not matter if you are coming out of the closet or if you are going off-track, as long as you do not stop updating, everything will be fine, ha ha ha.”
“What nonsense, even if Fatty Wu comes out of the closet, the one he will be with will be a certain San. San Wu couple is king!” [2]
Cold sweat trickled out of Chen Xiaolian as he saw those comments. He was so furious that his nose turned crooked.
Son of a bitch! My nose is turning so crooked, it will reach the vault of the Heavens!
Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. Seeing that Han Bi had yet to reply, he sent out another line through private messaging.
“Han Bi, why aren’t you picking up the phone? I am in Hangzhou now, looking for you!”
A while later, after about five minutes, a reply came over.
“I saw you updating with a new chapter and thought ‘Oh, Hell’. I thought that you returned to write novels because you had died and was refreshed back as an ordinary person.”
Chen Xiaolian: “Han Bi, where are you? Let us meet up. About what happened in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, I have never blamed you.”
A moment later, Han Bi replied.
“I am sorry. Even if we meet up, I do not know what I should say to you…”
Subsequently, another message was sent over.
“Xiaolian, you did not die, you are alive. That is good! You must live on.”
Their conversation ended with that. Chen Xiaolian sent over several more messages, but got no reply from Han Bi.
Damn it!
Chen Xiaolian slapped down heavily on the surface of the table.
This action of his alarmed the other customers who were inside the adjacent booths. Some raised their head to look over in his direction.
“Is he crazy, pounding the table in the middle of the night.”
“Just leave him alone, he is probably feeling salty after getting his ass handed to him in LoL.”
…