Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 401: North Pole

This was Qing Chen’s first trip to a foreign country, and he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

He worried about whether he would be able to get used to the food in Amsterdam.

He worried that his supposedly fluent English might sound a bit awkward to foreigners.

He worried about whether he could successfully apply for a job on a crab boat.

He worried about whether he would really encounter challenging enough waves.

30-meter waves, that’s the great power of nature, rare and unpredictable.

Qing Chen sat in the soft seat of the first-class cabin, and when the plane entered the stratosphere, he closed his eyes and recalled the information Yan Chunmi had given him.

Information about Qing Xing.

After Yan Chunmi caused a ruckus in the “Prosperous Flowers” apartment complex and removed Qing Xing’s informants in a dramatic way.

This third-tier actress immediately calmed down, filming, working, and auditioning according to plan.

Just like a real actor.

This really disgusted Qing Xing. He had to rent another house for the security personnel.

However, it was this renting action that allowed several other Kestrels under Qing Chen to find an opportunity to investigate the security forces around Qing Xing.

24 security personnel stationed permanently, working in three shifts of 8 people each, monitoring the movements within Prosperous Flowers around the clock.

But this wasn’t the focus of Qing Chen’s attention. The key was Qing Xing’s living habits.

He summarized all the details related to Qing Xing in his mind and found that the other party never wore rings, watches, or necklaces.

He could be said to have no ornaments on him at all.

In addition, Qing Xing would change into different clothes every day, and he could even wear different clothes for a month without repeating.

On weekdays, apart from clothes, there were no other extra personal belongings.

In other words, Qing Xing didn’t carry the Forbidden Artifact with him, and he didn’t know where it was hidden.

Of course, there is also ‘Conquer with Virtue’, a Forbidden Artifact that can be stored in the body without leaving any trace.

But in fact, ‘Conquer with Virtue’ is not strictly speaking a Forbidden Artifact. It is a gift left by Yang Xiaojin to Yi, and this woman herself is not yet dead.

Strictly speaking, only the rule items extracted from deceased Metahumans are considered Forbidden Artifacts.

In the known Forbidden Artifact sequence, none of them can be stored in the body like ‘Conquer with Virtue’.

So, Qing Chen boldly hypothesized that Qing Xing’s Forbidden Artifact could not be stored in the body either.

Then, there are Forbidden Artifacts that exist in the form of tattoos, such as the Demon Stamp.

But Qing Xing loves swimming very much, and much evidence shows that there are no tattoos on his body.

Unless… that Forbidden Artifact is tattooed on Qing Xing’s butt.

Qing Chen didn’t think this was very likely either. Forbidden Artifacts are actually active and have dignity. They wouldn’t stay on someone’s butt for no reason.

Now that the possibility of Qing Xing carrying the Forbidden Artifact with him is ruled out, where would he hide the Forbidden Artifact?

Qing Chen closed his eyes and frowned. In the five days that Yan Chunmi monitored him, Qing Xing had been to a total of 37 public places besides going home and to the Third Intelligence Bureau, but none of the 37 places were the same.

If it was a place to hide the Forbidden Artifact, then Qing Xing should go there frequently.

Did Qing Xing hide the Forbidden Artifact in the Third Intelligence Bureau? No, if he did, it would have been obtained by Qing Wen and other Shadow Candidates long ago.

Hidden at home? No, Qing Yi went to the Third Intelligence Bureau to arrest people in the afternoon, and Qing Chen was arranged for his fate in the evening.

Qing Chen specifically asked Yan Chunmi to investigate Qing Xing’s whereabouts that day. After Qing Yi went to arrest people, Qing Xing left the Third Intelligence Bureau but didn’t go home.

Qing Chen’s thinking became faster and faster. He kept summarizing Qing Xing’s patterns, but found that this guy was really unpredictable.

Wait.

There is a pattern.

Qing Chen suddenly felt like he was looking for something under a lamp. The other party did have two obvious patterns.

The first pattern is that Qing Xing will always pick up money when he goes out.

The second pattern is that he goes out every day.

Regardless of sunny or rainy days, in 365 days a year, Qing Xing goes out to play, stroll, and make appointments for about 340 days.

It’s as if… the other party goes out just to pick up money, and he will lose something if he doesn’t go out for a day.

Qing Chen opened his eyes. He felt that he had a guess, perhaps the clues related to Qing Xing were hidden in this picking up money.

Although he didn’t know how the other party did it, Qing Chen vaguely sensed that the other party going out to pick up money every day was related to hiding the Forbidden Artifact.

…

…

At midnight, the first-class passengers around Qing Chen had adjusted their seats to a reclining position, covering themselves with blankets and falling asleep, or lying on their seats watching movies.

And Qing Chen was still simulating surfing in his mind over and over again.

He had to force himself to keep training, because he had to Face^[-] too many uncertainties at sea. The huge waves swept by the strong wind might not only be 30 meters, but even 40 meters or 45 meters.

If Qing Chen made a slight mistake, he would be completely buried in the sea.

At this time, a flight attendant saw Qing Chen still sitting in his seat and thought he was taking this kind of reclining cabin for the first time, so she went over to remind him.

After all, in most domestic flights, even business class can only slightly adjust the backrest. It’s normal for some people not to know.

However, the moment the flight attendant approached, she saw that in the dim cabin, the young man suddenly opened his eyes and looked at her with bright eyes.

For some reason, she felt that her heartbeat seemed to stop for a beat, and she felt afraid for a moment.

When she got closer, she saw that the young man was holding a deck of playing cards, constantly cutting and shuffling the cards in his hands.

The flight attendant seemed to be attracted by this scene, and her mind went blank for a while.

The murderous aura of a person is very mysterious.

Usually, when someone kills a chicken, the chicken will struggle constantly.

However, butchers in the farmer’s market only need to reach into the cage, and all the chickens will calm down and let themselves be slaughtered.

Village dogs will bark wildly when they meet strangers, but when they meet those who steal dogs every day, they will be subdued obediently.

It’s like suppression in the blood, dumbfounded.

This kind of thing is invisible, but it seems to really exist.

And what the flight attendant felt at that moment seemed to be this kind of thing.

Qing Chen smiled: “Is there anything?”

The flight attendant was stunned. She felt that the moment he smiled, the original fear disappeared.

Like the snow on the eaves, it melts when the sun comes out.

The flight attendant thought for a moment and said, “Sir, you can adjust your seat to lie flat by pressing the button on the left. There are still 9 hours before arriving in Istanbul, you can take a nap.”

Qing Chen smiled: “Okay, thank you.”

After saying that, he still sat upright and closed his eyes to rest.

During this boarding, Qing Chen noticed that at least 7 passengers in the queue had looked at him more than 5 times, and one young man had looked at him 17 times.

It wasn’t that Qing Chen was too sensitive, but that he had to be more cautious when he was out.

He was very sure that Nine Provinces and Kunlun had the ability to know his flight information in advance, and even Shendai and Koshima might be paying close attention to him.

There must be someone following him on this flight.

Therefore, Qing Chen must keep himself in a state where he can Face^[-] combat at any time.

Not revealing any flaws is what he has to do.

This time he went out, he only carried a mobile phone, a wallet, and a deck of playing cards.

It’s difficult for others to carry weapons when entering and leaving the country, after all, after the 911 incident, global security checks are extremely strict.

However, at this time, the advantage of Autumn Leaf Blade is reflected. An ordinary deck of playing cards can become a murder weapon at any time.

Hearing that the security situation in Europe is not very good, Qing Chen thought that he was only carrying a deck of self-defense playing cards, which shouldn’t be excessive, right?

9 hours passed, and the flight attendant who had been scared by Qing Chen always couldn’t help but look at him.

But no matter when she looked, the young man always sat upright with his eyes closed.

His closed eyes would open at any time if anyone approached.

The action of cutting cards would also stop suddenly.

The flight attendant was very sure that this young man had been awake for nearly 11 hours, and he had maintained a high degree of vigilance.

She thought to herself, this wouldn’t be the legendary top killer, like Agent 47 in Hollywood action movies.

The young flight attendant couldn’t help but fill in a fantasy drama in her mind to pass the boring time on the plane.

Until the plane landed.

Qing Chen didn’t have any luggage and got off the plane first to transfer to another flight to Amsterdam, TK1953, to Schiphol Airport.

Unexpectedly and reasonably, all those who were suspected of following him disappeared.

After all, this is a plane change, and it’s too blatant to continue following, and Qing Chen isn’t stupid.

However, the trackers were more prepared than Qing Chen imagined. During his transfer, they actually changed three people to follow him onto the plane to Amsterdam at Istanbul Airport in Turkey, and they were all sitting in first class…

Qing Chen chose first class because he could get off the plane early and go through the visa process early. If someone followed him but sat in economy class, he would definitely be able to shake them off.

But unexpectedly, the trackers were so extravagant, which made Qing Chen wonder if they were members of the wealthy Nine Provinces.

Kunlun certainly wouldn’t do this, they would just let Little Eagle or Lu Yuan shamelessly follow him.

When the plane landed again at Schiphol Airport, Qing Chen quickly left.

Three trackers followed closely behind him in the crowd.

One of the women deliberately walked in front of Qing Chen.

Because everyone who wants to leave the airport must first go through visa checks and immigration procedures.

So if Qing Chen is the first to handle it, they will be blocked by the airport inspectors from processing it later, so one person must be in front of Qing Chen to pass the customs.

This is to use the sandwich tracking method to sandwich Qing Chen in the middle.

But unexpectedly, the woman in front was walking quickly when she suddenly felt her foot slip and almost fell.

She looked down and found that the heel of her high-heeled shoe had been broken by something sharp at some point, and the cut surface was very smooth.

The woman was shocked. How sharp must something be to cut the heel so smoothly?

Could it be that someone can still carry such a weapon when passing through security?

Before she could react, Qing Chen had already entered the Amsterdam border quarantine channel ahead of her.

The woman whispered to the two behind her: “Keep up.”

However, after Qing Chen passed through the visa channel, his followers began to undergo inspection.

The followers watched Qing Chen leave first, feeling anxious but dare not forcefully break through the quarantine checkpoint.

Qing Chen walked into a toilet, took out a black sealed package from the bucket used by the cleaning lady to wash the mop, and entered the cubicle and locked the door.

In just 30 seconds, Qing Chen had already taken off and put on the double-sided jacket, and quickly changed into the shoes and pants in the sealed bag.

His Face^[-] had also changed to an unfamiliar appearance.

No one knew who put the sealed bag in the toilet. It seemed that Qing Chen had known that he would be followed and made preparations.

After the three trackers passed through the visa channel, they quickly came to the toilet door. Qing Chen passed them Face^[-] to Face^[-], but the trackers didn’t notice.

They looked at each other and entered the men’s and women’s toilets to check, but Qing Chen wasn’t inside.

The three quickly shuttled and searched in the crowd, but Qing Chen was like a drop of water merging into a river, disappearing completely.

The trackers looked at each other. They couldn’t even figure out how Qing Chen did it.

This disappearance was too thorough. It was as if Qing Chen had performed a magic trick in front of them, a big person disappearing out of thin air.

A tracker took out his phone and made a call, hesitated for a second, and said, “Boss, we lost him.”

He Jinqiu’s laughter came from the phone, and he asked, “Even with first-class tickets for the three of you, you still lost him?”

The tracker was a little ashamed: “I don’t know what happened. He was like suddenly evaporating from the air, mysteriously disappearing. And, he seemed to be carrying some kind of weapon. We were watching closely, but we didn’t know when he cut Wang Mengyao’s heel.”

“This is interesting,” He Jinqiu thought for a moment and said, “Wasn’t it cut by playing cards?”

“No,” the tracker replied, “If it were playing cards, even if his movements were fast, we could see them.”

“It seems that this trip to Europe is going to be fun,” He Jinqiu instructed, “Since you’ve lost him, forget it. I’ll handle domestic matters and arrive in Amsterdam in three days. Be careful over there. There’s intelligence that Time Travelers from North America are very active in Europe. Don’t conflict with them before I arrive.”

Speaking of this, He Jinqiu’s voice turned cold: “Although losing him is normal, go to Coach Lu for two months of special training after you return to China.”

The tracker whispered: “Received…”

Europe, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and South America, these areas without Time Travelers are like new continents for Time Travelers.

There are opportunities everywhere.

After the Time Travelers from North America came here, they immediately wanted to take over the new order from the local black forces in Europe, and the Mafia was plowed by the North America Time Travelers.

After all, Europe is the world of white people, and North America Time Travelers have more advantages here.

They dare not provoke He Jinqiu casually, but ordinary members of Nine Provinces still have to be careful here.

However, He Jinqiu was even more curious at this time. What was the young man named Qing Chen doing here?

It couldn’t be to establish a foothold for Daybreak’s expansion into Europe…

Or, just to eat Emperor Crab and shrimp?!

At this moment, in the Nine Provinces headquarters in the capital, He Jinqiu was sitting in his spacious office, and Yu Cheng brought him a cup of coffee: “Boss, do we need to make such a fuss over a Qing Chen?”

He Jinqiu looked up at him and smiled: “You don’t know what happened in City 10 recently. If you did, you would think that he is the best candidate for Nine Provinces to take charge of the European underworld. If such a person is stationed in Europe, I won’t have to fly there on business trips anymore and can focus on dealing with the ‘Future’ organization in the Middle East and North America. The slogan ‘Let the ‘Future’ have no future’ is very creative, isn’t it?”

Yu Cheng: “…”.

He didn’t expect that the reason behind Boss He’s desire to recruit Qing Chen was to hand over Nine Provinces’ power in Europe to the young man.

What they didn’t know was that outside the Schiphol Airport exit, several Shendai and Koshima killers were guarding in the cold wind.

They stubbornly guarded from morning to night, almost frozen silly.

But in the bustling crowd of the airport, there was no trace of Qing Chen. They almost thought that Qing Chen didn’t get off the plane at all, but directly took a plane back.

Today, too many people were waiting for Qing Chen, and his trip to Europe had touched the nerves of many people.

However, the young man disappeared without a trace in this distant foreign land.

…

…

At 8 pm, the ‘Walnut Bar’ outside the port was bustling.

Although there were still three days before the crab fishermen were about to set sail, the preparations were always made before setting sail.

In the bar, sailors from all over Europe gathered here, each holding a craft beer and drinking happily.

Soon, they would spend 15 days and nights on the ship, and in the first 30 hours at sea, they would have to find the correct crab fishing area, so that in these 30 hours, each person could only sleep for a maximum of four hours.

This is a job that only requires 15 days of work each year, but can earn 600,000. Danger and opportunity coexist.

The Emperor Crab production areas are mainly concentrated in Jiri Jinwan Bay near Russia, the Bering Sea on the east coast of America, and the Barents Sea in northern Europe.

Each production area produces about 10,000 tons of Emperor Crab each year.

At this time of year, all crab fishermen will gather in these three places to prepare to share the gifts of nature.

Emperor Crabs grow in icy waters 270 meters deep. After this season, fully grown Emperor Crabs will move to deeper waters, and it will be difficult to catch them then.

At this time, there is a unique damp smell in the Walnut Bar. The salty smell of seawater was brought in by the sailors and captains. The sailors are like aquatic creatures who have become refined, gathering in the human world.

While drinking beer, the sailors secretly looked at the table in the middle. There were three Nordic strong men and an Asian young man sitting at the table, and the atmosphere was tense.

Those were four captains, negotiating.

A white strongman captain looked at the Asian young man and said coldly: “Zhang, your boat is too small. Everyone has changed to 147-foot crab boats for years, and you are still using a 120-foot crab boat from more than 20 years ago. This year, you spent 400,000 euros on repairs alone, and even the crab cages are rented.”

One foot is about 30 centimeters, and a 120-foot boat is about 40 meters.

However, the 147-foot crab boat and the 120-foot crab boat are not just different in size.

The cargo hold used to load Emperor Crabs and the crane used to hoist the crab cages are not at the same level.

Another captain said: “We admit that your father was the best crab fisherman. He could always find the best Emperor Crab fishing areas. But Zhang, you’re really not suitable for this line of work. Last year, you only earned enough for fuel, and this year, no sailors are willing to go to sea with you. Following a captain with not much experience, and no senior sailors on the deck, the crew will die.”

The young man’s name was Zhang Jian, and he took over the profession of crab fisherman from his father at a young age, along with the old crab boat.

His father had died of lung cancer, leaving Zhang Jian with only an inheritance, a crab fishing map, and an old boat.

Zhang Jian wasn’t completely inexperienced; he had been going to sea with his father since a few years ago.

But compared to skills and experience, and ability to handle things, he was indeed inferior to other captains.

The sailors’ income is positively correlated with the amount of Emperor Crabs caught, so if the captain can’t find the correct fishing location, the sailors’ income will be greatly reduced.

At the round table, Zhang Jian looked coldly at the other three captains and asked: “You called me here, not just to say a few words of garbage, are you?”

A white captain said: “We know that you have a quota of 300,000 pounds this year. Sell this quota to us, and you can have a considerable income without going to sea. Give us the boat and let you be the ship owner.”

Another captain echoed: “Zhang, if you can’t conquer the Barents Sea, let us conquer it.”

Here, the boat may not be privately owned. A boat may have many shareholders.

Shareholders don’t need to know how to catch crabs, but they can invest and receive dividends.

And there are only so many boats that can get crab fishing licenses. For example, if a boat’s quota is 300,000 pounds, then they will Face^[-] huge fines if they catch more than this amount.

This is a measure taken by Europe to protect the marine ecological environment.

Therefore, these captains saw that Zhang Jian, this Asian, couldn’t gather seven sailors, and wanted to buy his quota at a low price. In this way, everyone can make money.

But Zhang Jian wasn’t willing to do so. He shook his head and said: “This boat was left to me by my father, and I am also capable of driving it to the Barents Sea to catch Emperor Crab.”

A burst of noisy laughter rang out in the Walnut Bar, as if Zhang Jian had just told a joke.

A captain said: “Last year, you went to sea twice and only caught 70,000 pounds of Emperor Crab, just enough for fuel. Zhang, sailors go to sea with you to make a living, not to go out to enjoy the scenery. You only recruited three sailors this year, one is an old man who used to follow your father, and the other two are newcomers without seafaring experience. Even the lowest configuration still needs two more. Can you recruit them? If you can’t, how do you go to sea?”

Another captain sneered: “Should the captain personally go to the deck to collect crab cages? Then who will be at the helm in the wheelhouse?”

Zhang Jian looked stubbornly at the captains, seeming to have no idea how to respond.

As the other party said, he really couldn’t recruit the last two sailors.

Many newcomers want to join the crab fishing industry in this port every year. In theory, he could fool some newcomers onto his ship.

But these captains seemed to have a plan. When newcomers come here, these captains would tell the newcomers how miserable Zhang Jian was in the past two years.

This made it so that Zhang Jian couldn’t even recruit crew members this year.

However, at this moment, the door of the Walnut Bar was pushed open.

The wind chimes at the entrance jingled, and a gust of winter cold wind poured in from outside the bar, and a young man walked into the bar with the winter chill, smiling.

The cold wind seemed to take everyone to the icy Barents Sea in advance, and the black night outside the bar was like the black sea.

The young man saw everyone in the bar suddenly turn to look at him, and without any timidity, he asked in English, “Good evening, everyone. Someone told me that I can find work related to crab fishing here?”

Zhang Jian’s eyes lit up immediately, but they dimmed immediately.

Because he knew very well what would happen next.

Moreover, this young man was too thin, too young, probably just graduated from high school? Or even dropped out of high school.

He looked very good, but the Barents Sea doesn’t look at appearance.

A captain looked at the young man: “Are you so young to go out to work?”

The young man smiled: “Is that okay? I have to make a living. I heard that North Pole hasn’t recruited enough crew members, which captain is from North Pole?”

Zhang Jian raised his head: “I am.”

However, another captain next to him smiled at the young man: “Do you want to be a sailor on North Pole? But do you know that North Pole’s catch of Emperor Crabs last year was just enough for its fuel?”

The young man smiled and explained: “My teacher told me that in the first year of entering an industry, you don’t need to consider the income too much, accumulating experience is the key!”

A sailor joked: “What experience can you accumulate on North Pole? Learn to play the harmonica from Zhang? He plays the harmonica well, but he can’t catch Emperor Crabs. Last year, I went to sea with him, and I almost got scolded by my wife when I went home with meager pay.”

A captain looked at Zhang Jian and smiled: “Also, are you willing to let such a weak sailor on board? What can he do on the deck? He probably doesn’t even have the strength to move the crab cages.”

Zhang Jian sat silently at the table. He knew that the young man would give up North Pole next and board other crab boats, or leave Amsterdam.

In short, he won’t join North Pole.

At this time, Zhang Jian didn’t care whether the young man was weak or not, as long as anyone was willing to join North Pole, even if he was cooking for everyone on North Pole.

At the next moment, a hand suddenly reached out from Zhang Jian’s lowered gaze.

He looked up in surprise and saw the young man standing beside him smiling: “You’re the captain, right? My name is Qing Chen. I’m also Asian. If possible, I’d be happy to join your North Pole.”

Zhang Jian was stunned for a while and quickly stood up to shake Qing Chen’s hand: “Welcome to join, very welcome.”

…