Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 337: Desolation

It was late at night, and all the lights in thousands of homes were extinguished.

Only the dim yellow streetlights and the narrow, deep lanes remained.

Zheng Yuandong blocked someone's path.

The middle-aged man opposite asked, “Kunlun Zheng Yuandong? It must have been difficult to find me.”

Zheng Yuandong slowly walked towards the other party, curiously asking, “I investigated you. A month ago, you were just a maintenance worker in the Outer World. A month later, you started wholeheartedly serving Shendai. So, are you still yourself?”

The middle-aged man smiled, “Does it matter who I am?”

“Let me guess,” Zheng Yuandong said, “Someone once said that the Shendai Family Head has always been that one person, six hundred years ago it was him, and now it's still him. I spent a month investigating this matter and finally found the writing notes of the Shendai Family Head six hundred years ago. The handwriting is indeed exactly the same as today's. Logically speaking, even in the Inner World, cultivators shouldn't have such a long lifespan. I think the Shendai Family has mastered Neural Link technology between people, and can even use it to rewrite the brain, right?”

The so-called Neural Link technology first appeared in the Qing Family, used to control Nanobots.

After those little guys were controlled, they could travel through the blood vessels to clear blood clots, non-invasively and painlessly.

Later, various Conglomerates made breakthroughs in their Neuron connection technology, so this technology was widely used in various fields, such as controlling robotic dogs and drones.

For example, connecting Cybernetic Limbs.

Later, some people tried to upload their consciousness to the network through Neuron connection technology in reverse, in order to achieve the concept of mechanical immortality.

However, this technology failed because everyone found that no matter how it was uploaded, as long as the consciousness appeared in the network, it would immediately annihilate.

Some say it's because the data flow of the network is too vast and will quickly assimilate the human consciousness uploaded.

Some say it's because the technology isn't mature enough.

But no one has found the reason yet.

Only a few people know that it was Yi's brother who was hunting down all human consciousness forms in the network.

Later, uploading consciousness didn't work, so some people conducted a more cruel experiment: after clearing a person's consciousness, using Neural Link technology to overwrite it with another person's consciousness.

From that moment on, the body became a temporary shell, while the consciousness would live forever.

This is a reverse time travel in disguise. Although people from the Inner World can't come over, their consciousness can overwrite a Time Traveler, allowing themselves to become a Time Traveler.

This is also the method Li Yunshou suggested to the Old Man, but the Old Man himself felt that life would lose its meaning if it was too long, so he refused.

The Old Man believed that this was the dirtiest aspect of human technological civilization's development to this day.

The middle-aged man did not speak.

Zheng Yuandong calmly said, “Let me guess again. Neural Link technology to overwrite someone else's consciousness may have high requirements for the "overwritten person'. We all know that the brain is the most vulnerable organ in the human body, so it needs a hard skull to protect it. In the Inner World, many hackers use their brains as servers to conduct protocol intrusions, often suffering from brain atrophy and becoming vegetative at the age of 30 or 40.”

Zheng Yuandong continued to speculate, “These hackers who may not live to see the next day may not care about brain atrophy, but the Conglomerate bigwigs do care. And ordinary people's brains may only be able to withstand one overwrite, but cannot undergo another connection. So, only those above B-Class can become qualified carriers, right? I checked a lot of information related to the Shendai Family, and found that every once in a while, a B-Class expert would suddenly disappear, and then reappear after a year.”

The middle-aged man laughed, “So many people haven't discovered the secret, but you have. Since you're so interested in the Shendai Family, why not join us?”

Zheng Yuandong shook his head, “Different mountains and rivers, different skies.”

“Then I can only make you keep this secret forever,” the middle-aged man smiled.

The next moment, his pupils actually showed a silvery glow.

Zheng Yuandong felt that everything around him turned into a double image.

It was as if a person with 300 degrees of myopia and astigmatism suddenly took off his glasses.

The dim yellow lights on the side of the road turned into circles of halos, making it impossible to see the original appearance of the world.

However, Zheng Yuandong was still very calm. He drew out his long knife and threw the scabbard aside.

Then he closed his eyes.

The middle-aged man curiously asked, “You didn't even bring firearms? Although firearms are useless in a battle between you and me, they're still better than a long knife, right?”

Zheng Yuandong replied, “Everyone is asleep, it's easy to wake many people up, it's disturbing the peace.”

“In a battle between masters, you're actually worried about the gunshots waking up the residents?” The middle-aged man was a little surprised, “Outer World cold weapons will get stuck in the muscles of a B-Class powerhouse, and even cutting a couple more times will cause the blade to roll. Are you a little too childish using this thing to fight me?”

“Enough,” Zheng Yuandong said.

The next moment, the middle-aged man's legs suddenly burst forth with tremendous force. He leaped over ten meters.

However, Zheng Yuandong, with his eyes closed, seemed to have seen everything, swinging his knife forward to chop.

The two sides separated at once. This time, Zheng Yuandong took the initiative to meet him. The long knife in his hand was like a graceful bird, extremely agile.

With a ripping sound, before the middle-aged man could react, the blade actually slid through the gap between his arm muscles.

With another ripping sound, the middle-aged man's leg also felt pain, and the blade once again slid through the gap between his rectus femoris and vastus lateralis.

The long knife in Zheng Yuandong's hand was as precise as a surgical scalpel, separating the two muscles that should have been glued together.

Blood flowed from the middle-aged man's arm and leg. As he twisted his body, he punched Zheng Yuandong.

But Zheng Yuandong's knife seemed to have been waiting there, once again cutting open the septum between the middle-aged man's biceps and triceps.

One cut after another, like butchering an ox, as if to dismember the middle-aged man.

Knife skills are art.

Now the middle-aged man was a little afraid. He didn't expect to encounter such a master in the Outer World. It had little to do with level; it was a difference in skill.

Zheng Yuandong swung his knife and had the leisure to ask, “It's not easy for Shendai to find someone like you who has reverse time traveled, right? First, you need a Time Traveler Substitution, a B-Class Awakened One or cultivator, and then you can perform the Neural Link surgery. If you kill you, they will be very heartbroken.”

...

...

At the intersection of Wangcheng Avenue North and National Highway 103.

The B-Class expert from the Koshima family seemed unwilling to abandon the tanker parked by the roadside, even though members of Nine Provinces were attacking him, even though he needed to guard against snipers, and even though he knew that the experts from Nine Provinces were about to arrive.

He was still just entangled, showing no sign of escaping.

As he moved, he flashed past a Nine Provinces member. He easily grabbed the Nine Provinces member's neck with one hand and lifted him up in front of him as a shield.

The short middle-aged man coldly said, “Killing people without asking why? Nine Provinces is too domineering!”

One Nine Provinces member did not answer. This battle was a life-or-death situation from the beginning. The other party said these things not to blame Nine Provinces, but to delay time.

In the distance, there was the sound of a cane tapping on the ground. He Jinqiu got out of the car and paced over, wearing a neat and tidy gray suit, “Were you waiting for me?”

The next second, a jade arrow flew out from He Jinqiu's sleeve, leaving a white line in the air. In just a flick of the finger, it traveled hundreds of meters to pierce through a window.

A scream came from the window.

The jade arrow did not stop and quickly flew to the other side, killing another person.

He Jinqiu smiled and asked, “Has anyone told you not to aim a sniper rifle at people casually? You'll die.”

The middle-aged man was stunned. He didn't expect that He Jinqiu's first move would kill their two snipers ambushed in the residential building.

Sensing!

This is the sensing ability only an A-Class can have!

The ability to immediately sense someone aiming within 1000 meters!

In the Inner World, someone once looked at an A-Class expert from a distance with malicious intent, and the A-Class expert found him out from the crowd.

This ability is almost divine.

Some people once said that if one reaches the S-level Demi-God realm, if someone mentions his name, even if they are tens of thousands of miles away, the Demi-God will sense it.

However, this statement has not been verified.

However, the middle-aged man couldn't care about thinking about these things anymore. He was shocked that...

There was actually an A-Class cultivator in the Outer World Time Travelers!

And the most crucial point is that He Jinqiu, a permanent member of the Hu Family Intelligence Agency, not only obtained the orthodox Hu Family Cultivation method but also cultivated jade arrows!

You must know that even someone like Li Changqing only had nascent jade arrow skills, far from reaching the point of freely controlling them.

He Jinqiu tapped the ground with his cane and then smiled, “Don't be so surprised. How dare you take charge of Nine Provinces without a little strength? And, you should also know that Time Travelers aren't so easy to manipulate.”

In fact, some time ago, He Jinqiu led a group of Nine Provinces members across the Middle East, doing many black-on-black things, and robbing American Time Travelers more than once or twice. Otherwise, Nine Provinces wouldn't be so wealthy.

Up to now, few people abroad can do anything to him, so they can only endure it for the time being.

However, at this moment, the middle-aged man who had been delaying time turned around and ran, without the slightest hesitation.

Koshima originally intended to kill both He Jinqiu and the Daybreak Boss with one stone, but unexpectedly, he drew a father!

This might be the only A-Class expert in the Outer World so far!

He Jinqiu smiled and said, “It's a little late to leave now, isn't it?”

As he spoke, the jade arrow drew a clear white line in the black night, soaring through the air!

However, something unexpected happened.

The scene behind the middle-aged man suddenly folded, as if someone had pinched the world and space together out of thin air.

The jade arrow originally flying straight towards the middle-aged man's back disappeared after passing through this space. Only two clinking sounds were heard, as if the jade arrow had been nailed into something hard.

He Jinqiu frowned, “Spatial ability? No, it's an illusion.”

He walked towards the direction where the middle-aged man escaped, but saw the distorted space gradually dissipate, and his arrow had pierced through the bus stop sign on the roadside and nailed to the ground.

The trajectory of the jade arrow had not been distorted. The scene they had just seen was just an illusion.

“So there was a helper. Interesting. They actually know how to do magic tricks,” He Jinqiu looked at the intersection. The middle-aged man driving the tanker was nowhere to be seen.

Of course, the other party might not have run far, but the illusion prevented them from seeing the other party's figure.

He Jinqiu carefully observed the surroundings. He keenly noticed that the light and shadow were still subtly changing unrealistically, slightly different from reality, but difficult to distinguish.

He knew that the middle-aged man might still be somewhere within 500 meters of him, slowly moving, even his footsteps had disappeared.

Otherwise, with his A-Class perception ability, he could locate the person just by hearing his footsteps.

“It seems that there's really no way to deal with this illusion,” He Jinqiu frankly sighed.

But as soon as he finished speaking, a sniper shot rang out in the suddenly quiet night.

He Jinqiu suddenly turned his head. The source of the gunshot seemed to be 700 meters behind him, very close!

This wasn't a sniper from Shendai or Koshima. The other party was cautious and never even looked at him.

Wait!

He Jinqiu suddenly looked in the direction where the middle-aged man escaped, and saw a radiating pool of blood appearing out of thin air under the empty streetlight.

“The Daybreak Boss,” He Jinqiu was stunned.

He thought the other party hadn't come tonight, after all, he hadn't seen the other party shoot all night.

Unexpectedly, the other party did come, but was more patient.

The illusion dissipated, and the person who maintained the illusion immediately fled far away after seeing his companion was dead.

The middle-aged man's body lay quietly on the ground, with a huge hole in his back, his entire back and chest pierced by sniper bullets!

900-meter shooting distance is nothing for the Daybreak Boss's reputation.

But He Jinqiu didn't understand how the Daybreak Boss saw through the illusion. He, an A-Class, didn't have a way to do that for a while, but the mysterious sniper found the target from 900 meters away.

That's too incredible, He Jinqiu frowned, thinking.

What he didn't know was that although the Awakened One who used the illusion was powerful, the fabricated scene was ultimately different from reality.

The moment the illusion was formed, the street before the illusion and the street after the illusion, the two images quickly overlapped in Qing Chen's mind, as if playing a "spot the difference' game. He immediately identified the difference.

Illusions require imagination to construct a seemingly real world, to deceive the eye.

But for Qing Chen, what's fake is fake.

In the headset, Tang Keke asked, “Boss, can we roughly confirm the other party's shooting position? Shall we chase him now?”

He Jinqiu thought for a moment, “I originally wanted to lure him to aim at me, maybe I could find him immediately, but this person is too patient and too restrained, he didn't even look at me. Don't go find him. You won't find him. He must have planned his escape route before he shot. Now, he might have already run away.”

At this moment, He Jinqiu only felt that the Daybreak Boss was like a lone wolf, and the calmness during hunting made people think deeply.

The other party's current true strength might still be ordinary. Using a sniper rifle to kill a B-Class also requires the target to be motionless.

But this kind of person will eventually grow up. Who knows what he will become after he grows up?

“Boss, what should we do now?” Tang Keke asked.

“Drive the tanker to a remote place,” He Jinqiu's Face^[-] turned cold, “I can feel seven people inside, and they should be the Substitution we are looking for. The other party did help us confirm one thing, the Substitution should enter the main urban area before the countdown appears on their arms. Otherwise, the other party wouldn't have driven the tanker here. In the future, we will know how to deal with reverse time travel plans... In the short term, they should not be able to do this again.”

Tang Keke worried, “They have already entered Luo City. The countdown probably appeared on their arms now.”

“Yeah, I know.”

After speaking, He Jinqiu got back into his business car and closely followed the tanker.

The car drove farther and farther, until the deserted mountains and fields, He Jinqiu signaled Yu Cheng to open the lid on top of the tanker.

In the tank, seven Time Travelers climbed out in fright, each looking extremely embarrassed.

He Jinqiu carefully identified their appearances: “Li Changqing, Li Yu, Li Kan...”

He was shocked.

The importance of Li Changqing naturally need not be said. Li Yu is one of the Secretariat's national policy advisors of the Li Clan, specializing in formulating strategic secrets. Li Kan is the Party Whip of the Federation Republican Party. He helped the Republican Party regain the majority party seats it had lost four years ago.

The so-called Party Whip is the "discipline committee member' within the party, and is also an important figure in unifying the party's ideology.

If a civil war breaks out in the Federation, these figures are one of the most important political resources of the Conglomerate.

If the cooperation between Shendai and Koshima succeeds this time, the Li Clan will be in chaos!

He Jinqiu pondered, these people are so bold, so many important figures' Substitutions, were all found out by them?!

However, He Jinqiu was thinking about a problem. The Li Clan only made a deal with Nine Provinces to solve such an important matter, so what is the Li Clan's Time Traveler doing now? What matters do they have to do?

At this moment, those Substitutions, upon seeing Nine Provinces, some were surprised, and some were afraid.

Some said they were coerced, some remained silent.

Tang Keke looked at He Jinqiu, “Boss, what should we do with these people?”

He Jinqiu remained silent for two seconds before saying, “Give me a gun.”

Tang Keke silently drew a pistol from his gun bag and handed it to him.

Everyone knew what choice He Jinqiu was going to make.

Someone whispered, “Boss, what if some people were really coerced?”

He Jinqiu calmly said, “I know some people were really coerced, and they are really innocent. But the countdown has already appeared on their arms. Before the next crossing, we can't search the whole world for seven Gene Medicines to stop them from crossing, and we don't know if it will work to use Gene Medicine after the countdown appears.”

“I don't intend to find any excuses. Everyone, the world is just so cruel. This time, you don't have to do it. If there is any guilt, I will take it all,” He Jinqiu said.

Tang Keke said, “Can we control these Substitutions? Shendai and Koshima can do it, and so can we.”

He Jinqiu shook his head, “The people these Substitutions are substituting for are too important. They can't act it out. Nine Provinces doesn't have the ability to withstand the wrath of the Underworld Consortium. Moreover, my deal with the Li Clan has been reached. The position of executive director of the Hu Family Intelligence Agency is what I need most.”

After speaking, he pulled the trigger and killed the seven Substitutions in front of him.

He Jinqiu stood in the wilderness under the night, the wind howled, the world was desolate.

...

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