Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 338: The Midnight Knock

In the mountains, the Nine Provinces members have left, and the oil tanker sits alone in the woods.

He Jinqiu sits on top of the oil tanker, his neat tie loosened, looking less refined and meticulous.

Footsteps sound outside the woods, and Zheng Yuandong walks slowly over: "Your people have withdrawn, why are you still here?"

He Jinqiu smiles: "Waiting for you, old squad leader. I know you must have questions to ask me."

Zheng Yuandong looks up at the young man sitting on the oil tanker. At some point, his temples have also turned gray.

He remembers when this young man first joined the company, how energetic and optimistic he was.

He would follow him around calling him squad leader.

Squad leader this, squad leader that, like a clingy pest.

Now, the other party is a top expert, with his own goals and ambitions, his own organization and power, and gray hair at his temples.

He Jinqiu is no longer the He Jinqiu of the past.

The He Jinqiu of the past was willing to believe in others.

The He Jinqiu of today needs to use the Forbidden Artifact ‘Truth Coin’ to judge lies and truth.

It seems everything is different.

"Did you make a deal with the Underworld Consortium?" Zheng Yuandong asks.

"Yes," He Jinqiu nods. "This time I made a deal with the Li Clan. I helped them stop Shendai and Koshima's plan."

"What about the Substitution targets?" Zheng Yuandong asks.

He Jinqiu calmly says: "Killed."

Zheng Yuandong is silent.

"Old squad leader, do you think I was wrong to kill them? Of course, I know you wouldn't be able to do it. You can criticize me, I won't talk back this time," He Jinqiu says.

Zheng Yuandong shakes his head: "I'm not in a position to criticize you. I just want to tell you, don't go too far, don't go to the point of no return, and don't forget your ideals."

After saying that, Zheng Yuandong turns and leaves.

Only He Jinqiu is left sitting calmly on the oil tanker, looking up at the starry sky.

...

...

"Brother Chen, why did you make me keep my eyes closed the whole time? I wanted to see the fight between Nine Provinces and Shendai Koshima's experts!"

On a deserted street at night, Nangeng Chen mutters softly.

The two of them are carrying electric bike helmets, walking slowly.

Their appearance doesn't look like they've just used a large sniper rifle to kill a B-level expert. It's as if tonight's events have nothing to do with them.

Qing Chen says: "I suspected early on that He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong might be A-level, and now it's confirmed. Zheng Yuandong is still uncertain, but He Jinqiu definitely is. If you had been within 1000 meters of him just now, you might have been sensed in advance, and then it would have been troublesome."

"Okay," Nangeng Chen sighs. "How did he become A-level as soon as he time-traveled?"

"I don't know," Qing Chen shakes his head. "Maybe I'm not the first batch of Time Travelers?"

Earlier, Qing Chen thought he might be the first batch, but now he's not so sure.

Qing Chen always feels that if He Jinqiu is an earlier batch of Time Travelers, then everything he has shown is reasonable.

But Qing Chen can't confirm it. What if he really just substituted some big shot after time-traveling?

This kind of thing, unless you directly ask Zheng Yuandong and He Jinqiu, you can't know the truth.

"By the way, Brother Chen, can I let Xiaoniu and Aunt Jiang Xue go back to the villa?" Nangeng Chen asks.

"Yes, tell them to go back."

Tonight, among the Daybreak members, only Nangeng Chen, Liu Dezhu, and Qing Chen participated in the operation. The others went to a nearby mall to watch a movie.

Liu Dezhu hid further away to provide support, while Nangeng Chen stayed with Qing Chen to prevent anyone from silently approaching while he was concentrating on sniping.

The reason Qing Chen let Hu Xiaoniu and the others stay outside was because he was worried that Shendai and Koshima would suddenly go to the villa to cause trouble. Now that Shendai and Koshima are badly injured, they probably won't have this worry for a short time.

When the other party recovers and regains control of many Time Travelers, Daybreak may not be afraid of those monsters in the Outer World.

Turning a corner, Qing Chen calls out to Liu Dezhu hiding in the shadows: "Zhuzi, let's go home."

Liu Dezhu walks out curiously: "Didn't Boss say we might encounter danger? Nothing happened."

Under the Boss's instructions, he ambushed in the shadows of this corner. Once the Boss encountered danger, he would lead people here, and then Liu Dezhu would launch a surprise attack.

Tonight, Liu Dezhu was a human-shaped backup trap, but it wasn't used.

Qing Chen says: "Boss handled things smoothly, no one is chasing, let's go home."

However, after the three of them passed through two streets and arrived at the Zhuangyuanhong Road where they parked their electric bikes,

they suddenly felt something was wrong.

Nangeng Chen stares blankly at the three electric bikes in front of him: "Where are the batteries?"

Liu Dezhu is also shocked. He grieves: "Damn it, where are the batteries?!"

At this time, the seats of the electric bikes have been pried open, and the batteries under the seats have long since disappeared.

Who would have thought that Daybreak, which had just resisted foreign enemies with Nine Provinces and Kunlun, and just shot and killed a B-level expert, actually came by electric bike!

Who would have thought that the electric bike of the Daybreak Boss would have its batteries stolen!

Qing Chen thinks, does Daybreak have some kind of curse that it can never be cool for long?

Last time, it was cool for a while, then stopped by the traffic police, this time the battery was stolen, can it still work?!

Huh?!

It's at least 8 kilometers from here to the Guobao Garden villa area. If they push it back, how long will it take?

Qing Chen thinks for a moment and says: "Let's take a taxi back. Tomorrow, let Luo Wanya's men transport it back."

When they returned to the villa, it was already 1 am.

The three of them quietly returned to the villa, but when they opened the door, they found that everyone was waiting, not sleeping at all.

Nangeng Chen's expression is a little unnatural: "Everyone hasn't slept yet?"

Xiao Tongyun leans on the living room window and asks: "Hey, where are your electric bikes? Didn't you ride out three?"

Qing Chen: "...Something small happened, don't mind such trivial matters."

Jiang Xue nods: "Well, it's good that everyone is okay."

"Let's take a look at He Xiaoxiao's group chat," Zhang Tianzhen says. "It seems that a lot has happened tonight."

Qing Chen glanced at his phone. At this time, in He Xiaoxiao's group chat, the group leader He Xiaoxiao rarely started to actively report the progress of the battle.

You know, this He Xiaoxiao has been low-key for a long time, only occasionally popping up to say a few words.

He Xiaoxiao: "The Nine Provinces organization successfully intercepted Shendai and Koshima Time Travelers at the junction of Baiyun Mountain and Yangzigou in the south."

He Xiaoxiao: "The Kunlun organization successfully intercepted Shendai and Koshima Time Travelers downstream of the Xiaolangdi Dam."

He Xiaoxiao: "Zheng Yuandong successfully ambushed a B-level expert from the Shendai Consortium. The Underworld Consortium seems to have found a way to reverse time travel to the Outer World. Please be careful, members of the group chat."

When Qing Chen saw this message, he was stunned.

Reverse time travel to the Outer World? How did the Conglomerate do it?!

However, before Qing Chen could think, he received a text message from Zheng Yuandong, which detailed the matter of Shendai members using shells to reverse time travel.

Qing Chen thinks, Kunlun is going to share intelligence with Daybreak? So selfless?

He asks on his phone: "Why give me such important information?"

Zheng Yuandong replies: "You're a Kunlun Member, have you forgotten?"

Qing Chen: "Oh, yeah..."

The other party's reply is reasonable.

At this time, He Xiaoxiao continues to say in the group chat: "The battle at the intersection of Wangcheng Avenue and National Highway 103 has just ended. The Boss of Daybreak used a sniper rifle to kill a B-level expert from Koshima. Currently, there is still an expert skilled in illusionary techniques at large."

In this report, there is no mention of the horror of He Jinqiu's swordsmanship, putting all the focus on Qing Chen, as if wanting to use Qing Chen to cover up He Jinqiu's true strength.

However, this message had just been posted, and before everyone could discuss it, Lu Ya suddenly sent a message: "Look at the trending searches on Weibo!"

Qing Chen quickly opened Weibo, the first one:"Suspected large-scale battle of Time Travelers broke out in Japan's capital city. The identities of both sides are still unknown. The number of participants in this battle was as many as hundreds, destroying three blocks, causing fires all over Japan's capital city."

According to those who know the situation, B-level experts appeared in Japan's capital city in this battle. These people suspected using Korea as a springboard, sneaking into Japan to hide, and suddenly taking action.

So far, the battle has not yet ended, and both sides are still carrying out life-or-death chases in Japan's capital city.

Qing Chen had just finished reading the first one, when another trending search quickly rose: "Large-scale Time Traveler battle also broke out in Ercity, Korea. The entire Xiaozidong block was destroyed. The battle has not ended yet."

Korean Time Travelers said that the other side of the battle seemed to have sneaked into the country from the Changbaishan direction.

Even the usually calm Qing Chen, looking at these two trending searches, felt shocked.

"I finally know why such a big incident happened in the country, but the Li Clan and Qing Family remained silent. Simultaneously launching cross-border surprise attacks on the Time Traveler bases in Korea and Japan, this is definitely not something that a single Conglomerate can do. The Li Clan and Qing Family must have joined forces," Qing Chen said.

Qing Chen's information is not complete, so he can only guess that this was done by the Li Clan and Qing Family, after all, no one else could have done this.

This is too unexpected.

It seems that while Shendai and Koshima were carrying out their reverse time-travel plan, the Li Clan and Qing Family were also planning everything.

They infiltrated Korea and Japan early on, searching for potential Substitution targets while preparing for a major war.

Of course, since Shendai and Koshima could gather Time Travelers in the country, the Li Clan and Qing Family must have been able to do so as well.

This time, the reason why the Li Clan did not appear was probably because most of their main force was already lurking abroad, so they could not return.

If they returned, all the efforts they had made before would have been wasted.

Therefore, instead of returning to defend, it was better to make a big move abroad and launch a counterattack.

This time, Nine Provinces and Kunlun did not disappoint everyone. So, have the Li Clan and Qing Family completed their reverse time-travel plan?

Which big shots of the Shendai and Koshima families will be Substituted?

After this Return Countdown ends, I'm afraid many Conglomerate big shots will have to urgently take Gene Medicine to avoid risks. Whether to sterilize or not, they can't care about that now.

Before this, Qing Chen had also asked the Old Man why he didn't give Gene Medicine to all the family members.

The Li Clan can produce Gene Medicine themselves, and the yield of Gene Medicine with serial number 005 is high, so it shouldn't be a problem to cover the core members of the Li Clan.

And, sterilization can also be solved, freezing sperm and eggs.

But the Old Man's answer was: "If a Conglomerate puts its ability to continue its lineage on freezing sperm and eggs, what will happen if one day the place where the sperm and eggs are stored is invaded and destroyed, or even tampered with? I can build a medical center dedicated to freezing sperm and eggs in the Ban Shan Mountain Estate, and then send experts to guard it, but the problem is, can this expert be trusted?"

The Old Man added: "This is like putting all your eggs in one basket. It's a concentrated target for others to attack. Even if you divide them into five places for storage and safekeeping, it's just five baskets, not much difference. It's better not to let them run wild in the Outer World."

Now that I think about it, the events in these two trending searches are probably orchestrated by the Old Man.

The Federation is about to have a civil war, and the Old Man wants to finish everything he needs to do before he can leave with peace of mind.

At this time, Hu Xiaoniu worries: "Those Time Travelers who went to Japan and Korea to cause trouble, I'm afraid they won't be able to come back easily, right? Being completely blocked in the other party's territory, it will be difficult to escape. After all, that's Shendai and Koshima's home turf."

Before, everyone had discussed that the Time Travelers controlled by Shendai and Koshima were very concentrated, probably several thousand or tens of thousands of people.

In this case, although the battle was magnificent, those who went might find it difficult to escape unscathed.

Death in battle is the fate of most people.

"Do you think they thought they might die there when they went?" Zhang Tianzhen asks.

Liu Dezhu thinks for a moment and says: "They've been controlled by the Conglomerate, and they have no choice. After all, the Li Clan and Qing Family aren't charities. The purpose of controlling them is to make them participate in the battle."

Nangeng Chen says: "I heard that Li Yino said that Time Travelers controlled by the Li Clan strongly resisted causing trouble domestically, so brainwashing was difficult. But later, the Li Clan proposed to let them cause trouble in Korea and Japan, and everything went smoothly. So, although they were controlled, there should be some willingness in it."

At this time, another trending search appeared: "The battle in Japan's capital city has come to an end. Insiders revealed to the media that the Shendai Family suffered heavy losses, but they almost wiped out more than half of the foreign Time Travelers. The remaining foreign Time Travelers could only escape in disgrace."

The "foreign" Time Travelers mentioned here are relative to Japan.

Soon, a Time Traveler from the Shendai Family began to accept media interviews: "We have controlled the situation and showed the world the strength of the Shendai Family in the Outer World. Here, we also warn all foreign Time Travelers not to try to come here..."

This Time Traveler already considers himself a member of the Shendai Family, which also shows how much control Shendai has over the Outer World.

However, before this Time Traveler finished speaking, explosions sounded in the distance.

The camera turned, and it was the direction of the Japanese shrine several kilometers away. The huge fire illuminated the sky.

The facts don't seem to be as the Shendai Time Traveler said, that the situation has been controlled.

While escaping, the other side of the battle still had the strength to blow up the Japanese shrine!

The camera turned back to the Face^[-] of the Shendai Time Traveler, but his Face^[-] was livid in the firelight.

The reporter asked in a low voice: "Excuse me... what's going on?"

"No comment," the Shendai Time Traveler didn't have the energy to accept interviews anymore and turned to rush towards the shrine.

In the Daybreak villa in Guobao Garden, Luo City, Qing Chen sits in the living room and thinks: "Even if the Time Travelers controlled by the Li Clan and Qing Family are going to cause trouble in Japan, they wouldn't give the order to blow up the shrine. After all, those in the Inner World haven't experienced our history, so they won't empathize with us. Therefore, this action must have been spontaneous by those Time Travelers."

Nangeng Chen solemnly respects: "Brother Chen, how about we go play too?"

Qing Chen glances at him: "No, at least not yet. If you have time to think about this, you might as well cultivate and make yourself stronger."

At this time, in He Xiaoxiao's group chat, Rebel King asks: "Something so big happened outside, was it done by Nine Provinces and Kunlun?"

Forbidden Artifactace-999 replied: "No, they have no connection with the domestic situation, and they have not received instructions from Nine Provinces and Kunlun. Nine Provinces and Kunlun adhere to the principle of peaceful coexistence and interact with the outside world. Of course, Nine Provinces and Kunlun will also do their best to protect our lost compatriots and bring them home."

Under this official statement from Forbidden Artifactace-999, it first denies the relationship between Nine Provinces and Kunlun and this matter, but then changes the subject, defining the Time Travelers they will bring home in the future as "lost compatriots."

In the group, some people who know what Nine Provinces has done outside see this official statement and sneer. It's not the first day that American Time Travelers have publicly accused Nine Provinces.

Even if Nine Provinces came out and admitted that they did this, many people would not be surprised.

Tonight, too much happened, so everyone needs time to digest the information.

What happened abroad even overshadowed what happened domestically, and it didn't even make the trending searches.

The next day, news came from the outside world again: "The mastermind behind the bombing of the shrine has been confirmed to be a young man named Zhang Jingwen, and he has not yet been arrested and is currently missing."

For the next few days, all the information was related to abroad, and before they knew it, the time point for the next time travel arrived.

All the Daybreak cultivators have completed the great Zhoutian cultivation.

In the villa, Qing Chen looks at all the Daybreak members and says: "After this time travel, I may have to take Xiaoniu out for a trip. The Boss instructed that civil war may erupt soon, and others should not walk around in City 18 casually, and should be as low-key as possible."

Zhang Tianzhen and others nodded: "Understood."

Countdown to zero.

The world plunges into darkness.

And then lights up again.

Qing Chen lies on the recliner in Autumn Leaf Manor, enjoying the short peace.

He didn't go to sleep, but silently practiced the next Trials of Life and Death in the mysterious world.

Qing Chen is waiting.

He knows that tonight's events are not over yet.

Knock knock knock, a knock comes from outside the door.

The other party pushes the door open without waiting for Qing Chen to respond, as if knocking on the door is just a polite gesture.

At this time, only one person can ignore the "no visitors" sign of Autumn Leaf Manor.

In the night, Li Changqing looks at him with a smile: "How much longer are you going to continue deceiving me?

...