Night’s Nomenclature

Nobody noticed what was happening inside the emergency exit, it was like a black hole, swallowing everything that entered it.

A single set of footsteps resonated from outside the restaurant.

A young man in a dark blue suit ambled into Sunlight Pavilion Restaurant, a tiny white turbine embroidered on his cuff.

Li Shutong had already finished the his serving of braised pork, calmly watching a teenager eating his fried soybean paste noodles.

From the young man’s perspective, he could see Li Shutong’s face but only view Qing Chen’s back.

Just as he was about to speak, Li Shutong lightly raised his hand to stop him.

Smiling while pointing at Qing Chen, he said, “The talk can wait until he’s done eating.”

The young man was stunned for a moment, glancing at Qing Chen’s back with a strange glint.

Because Qing Chen was facing away from him, he had no way ofdiscerning his identity.

He was curious, what kind of person was he, able to make someone like Li Shutong wait so patiently?

Moreover, even with somebody else waiting, Qing Chen was still eating at the same pace,  disregarding all of his surroundings.

It was as if he didn’t hear the deafening noise of Black Kites-01 outside the window, nor did he see the dozens of floating ships mounted with cannons surrounding Eternal Tower.

Those flying killer weapons hovered around like asteroids orbiting a star.

“I’ve finished eating,” Qing Chen wiped his mouth, put the cat face mask back on and looked at his teacher.

Li Shutong smiled at the young man outside the door, “The eldest grandson of the Chen Family, Chen Yehu? I heard you’ve already been promoted to Level A.”

“The level of this junior is not important, we have no intention on fighting against the Knights and Heng Group, we only want to escort you back to Prison 18… There will be no need to stir up a big noise,” Chen Yehu made a bow.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go after chatting here for a short while, I won’t make things difficult for you,” smiled Li Shutong.

“That is good. We will not disturb you, we will also leave after you have made your leave,” Chen Yehu walked out of Sunlight Pavilion Restaurant. The special force squad halted, starting to wait on standby, and the armed helicopters began to hover in place.

The helicopters even switched off their spotlights and turned down the roar of their engines to the lowest possible level.

The matter seemed to have been settled very easily.

But in actuality it was anything but simple.

Li Shutong looked at Qing Chen. “Many people will start losing their nerves the moment I walk out of Prison 18, so now you should know why I don’t leave.”

“Are they afraid of you?” asked Qing Chen.

Li Shutong shook his head and laughed, “In this era, even stepping into the demigod realm doesn’t guarantee invincibility. They are not afraid of me, but rather of fire. Let’s go, we’ll head back home.”

“Ok,” Qing Chen followed Li Shutong onto the rooftop.

Wearing his cat face mask, he stood in the night breeze on top of the clouds. Qing Chen swept another look at the galaxy in the city, then at the helicopters hovering underneath his feet.

He knew, sooner or later, there would be a day when he would come back.

……

Chen Yehu stood alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window; quietly watching the black floating ships disappear into the night.

He asked, “Has the special forces squad been found?”

Behind him, a person answered, “They’ve been found, all in an unconscious state. From what I can see, someone should have launched a surprise attack on them in the emergency exit, and then escaped unscathed.”

Chen Yehu sneered, “They’re telling us that the net we wove wasn’t tight enough. Let’s retreat, go home and sleep.”

The people involved had all gone home and fell asleep, but those whose nights were disrupted could no longer fall asleep.

It was unknown how many had hastily entered the teleconference room in the middle of the night, or how many analysis reports were being made.

This important news was spreading on the internet, and the media was also competing to report about it.

Someone analyzed that the unknown person who met with Li Shutong might be a representative from an external force.

Others had analyzed that there have been frequent incidents involving time travelers, the appearance of the Outer World had caused turmoil to rise, and so Li Shutong once again made his appearance in front of everyone to plan out something new.

What happened tonight might create an immeasurable impact on the entire federation.

In fact, everyone was more inclined to believe the first conjecture: the reason Li Shutong walked out of prison after eight years was to meet an important person and discuss a very important matter.

Although the person wearing the cat face mask was unknown, he must be very important.

Judging from his figure, perhaps it was Qing Family’s Qing Xun or Luo Mo? Or Lee Jung Jae from Kashima Corporation? Or perhaps could it be Kamidai Imade of Kamidai Corporation?

There was no way to confirm.

What they didn’t know was, the only reason Li Shutong came out of Prison 18 – sitting by as armed helicopters and heavy artillery aimed at him – was to merely bring Qing Chen to look at the scenery.

As he put it, the scenery that other people observed must also be seen by his student.

That was all.

And the reason why he ate braised pork was simply because he wanted to eat braised pork.

On the way back, Qing Chen was sitting on the soft seat of the floating car when Li Shutong said to him, "Do you know why I told you to wear a mask?"

“Because you don't want others to know that I’m related to you," answered Qing Chen.

Li Shutong again asked, "Do you know why I didn’t give you acknowledgement despite having accepted you as a student? Do you believe it’s unfair?"

“I don’t,” Qing Chen calmly shook his head, "It’s because you know how hard it is to unshackle the chains restraining you, so you’re worried I would get tangled up in those chains too. Thank you teacher."

“You’ve always been so smart, your potential is unlimited,” praised Li Shutong. “It’s precisely for this reason that makes me feel you shouldn’t be burdened by anything before stepping into this battlefield."

Li Shutong thought that as a teacher, what he could do was not to drag his student to fight alongside himself, but to accompany Qing Chen to walk for a while, and then watch his back to see how far he could go.

Qing Chen didn’t reply to his words, instead he suddenly asked, "Will we still have a chance to go out in the future?"

“Do you still want to go out and play?” asked Li Shutong full of interest.

"Yes," Qing Chen nodded, "Because I might have to race against time, or race against other time travelers."

"Then let's find another chance to go out and play in a few days," Li Shutong said with a smile, seemingly not caring the slightest bit about the situation tonight.

This middle-aged man seemed to have never been afraid of anything.

The time was only 3 o'clock in the morning; he had just transmigrated for 3 hours.

But Qing Chen felt that this was probably the most wonderful three hours within his 17 years of life.

……

At this time, Zheng Yuandong silently arrived at the mercenary bar in City 18. Lu Yuan had been waiting here for a long while

Zheng Yuandong immediately asked, “Did you see the news?”

Lu Yuan replied, “I saw it, boss, I think we should try to get in touch with Liu Dezhu again. Li Shutong is such an important figure in the Inner World. Even if you dislike Liu Dezhu, you must consider that he’s currently the closest person to Li Shutong."

"I believe in my intuition, and I'm even more certain today," Zheng Yuandong said, shaking his head. “You have to understand, Lu Yuan, that someone like Li Shutong will never recognize Liu Dezhu. In Prison 18, there is undoubtedly a third time traveler."

"Then what should we do?" asked Lu Yuan, feeling helpless.

“Find him.”