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Chapter 322 Hope Has Not Yet Been Lost
He knew that Xu Xuanling was no longer the same person she used to be.

The Lotus Cloud Sect has made rapid progress in magic, array formations, talisman techniques, and alchemy, and its methods for healing people should also be much richer than in the past.

Xu Xuanling came downstairs in a few seconds after putting on her outer robe.

After sitting cross-legged next to Honglian and conducting a brief examination, she slapped the other woman's chest with her palm, then turned her palm into fingers and tapped several times before prying open the other woman's jaw and inserting two pills.

"Her problem isn't serious, this should be fine," Xu Xuanling said, finishing her practice.

"That simple?" Chen Xuan raised an eyebrow.

"Her blood and qi circulation was impaired, but I have used spiritual energy to help clear it. Her body has fire toxins, which can be resolved by strengthening her organs. As for the external wounds, taking one blood orange and one anti-frozen pill will suffice," she calmly replied. "I thought the situation was extremely dangerous; she only looks weak, but she won't actually die for another day or two. The person who acted was quite measured and didn't intend to kill her."

"I see... Thank you for your hard work." Chen Xuan realized that he had underestimated her strength.

"Not at all. I'd be more than happy to be of help to Master." Xu Xuanling stared at him with a half-smile. "Then may I ask, Master, who is this woman?"

"Yes..." Chen Xuan stopped mid-sentence.

Who is she?
She is Honglian, an executive officer in the Jiangcheng branch.

But which Red Lotus is she?
While Honglian holds significant historical importance, history has been altered! Now, Honglian is merely an ordinary agency employee. Why would her arrival cause Lin Qing to disappear?
In his haste to save her, he had suppressed all the jumbled thoughts in his mind. Now that Honglian was out of danger, those suppressed thoughts rushed back to him. Even now, he hadn't fully accepted the fact; he still felt that he was just temporarily unable to find her.

After a pause, he looked at Xu Xuanling and asked, "Don't you feel... there's one person missing from the shop?"

"Missing people? Who?" Xu Xuanling looked around. "Master, me, Miss Liuli... If we include this woman who just arrived, there's actually one more. Oh, you mean Master Liu isn't here?"

Chen Xuan turned his gaze to Liuli, who also looked puzzled.

They don't remember Lin Qing.

He had encountered a similar situation before—when Elori stopped the demons from attacking the Temple Treasury through him, the entire course of history was rewritten, as if some force had overturned everything. He had asked Jiang Siqi about the apocalypse and the underground city, but she said she had never heard of them.

He can remember because he was one of the people who brought about the change.

This seems to be another recurrence of historical upheavals, only this time it's happening in Jiangcheng.

Even though Xu Xuanling and Liuli are outsiders, their memories have been altered because they are in this world.

The facts are beyond doubt: his act of sending the Red Lotus back to the shop completely changed the future, and its impact was so great that it even surpassed any previous change, to the point that Lin Qing herself disappeared.

"Master?" Xu Xuanling seemed to sense his inner turmoil and asked with some concern, "Are you alright?"

"It's alright... This person is also my guest, you... take good care of her first." Chen Xuan stood up and swayed as he walked to the computer. "I'll get her a room..."

Now, recalling Lin Qing's previous anxiety and unusual behavior, he suddenly understood. He realized that his partner might have already realized this, which was why she showed such strong unease.

As for why she eventually returned to normal?
Was it because she had already made a decision when time was running out?
Therefore, Lin Qing never revealed a single guess to herself, fearing that if she knew, she would no longer recall Honglian, thus steer the timeline in another direction.

When did she realize that this action might change history?
Is it that photo? Or...sometime before?
Furthermore, is there a causal relationship between her and Honglian? Chen Xuan doesn't believe that the two are completely unrelated. Not only do they look very similar, but their abilities also overlap. For example, he has only seen the ability "Mental Fortress" in Lin Qing and Honglian.

Blood ties? According to intelligence, the rebel leader never married and had no children. Cloning? Even less likely... Clones are genetically replicated one-to-one; two people shouldn't have any physical differences.

Moreover, as long as Honglian lives, both of these outcomes are reproducible and will not have such a significant impact on the future.

Chen Xuan opened the housekeeper app somewhat blankly and moved to the housing section.

The room 202 that belonged to Lin Qing should obviously no longer exist.

In the end, Lin Qing was unable to open the back door of the room and return to her home.

"what!?"

Chen Xuan couldn't help but shout it out.

"What's wrong, Master?"

"What are you yelling about in the middle of the night? You scared me." Xu Xuanling and Liuli both looked at him.

"No...it's nothing, I just bumped my toe." Chen Xuan rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen again: Room 202 was still there! The guest listed was Lin Qing.

She didn't actually disappear?
Chen Xuan quickly pulled up the customer list. As long as Lin Qing was still in the records, he could recall her to the store in just one more day.

However, the result once again surprised Chen Xuan.

Lin Qing's name wasn't on the guest list!

This completely baffled him.

Registering as a guest requires becoming a guest, and becoming a guest requires completing a formal transaction. After the transaction, the guest's name will definitely appear on the list... He had completed this process many times and was very familiar with it. However, Lin Qing is no longer a guest, yet she is still a guest. How is this possible?

However, compared to the emptiness he felt earlier, Chen Xuan felt his motivation rekindled. This at least showed that Lin Qing hadn't completely disappeared, and he still had a chance to find her!

By the way, what are the rules for canceling a room?

He opened the cabinet under the bar and took out the "Store Manager's Code of Conduct," which he hadn't looked at in a long time.

"...Tenants can be removed by the manager, but please remember to collect the room key before doing so...Aside from voluntary removal, the following situations can lead to automatic check-out..."

"Customer death...too many customer complaints...store manager demoted due to failing audit..."

Chen Xuan quickly browsed through the list and found that there was indeed no rule stating that "guest removal will result in check-out".

In other words, if someone becomes a guest and books a room on the second floor, even if they are later removed from the guest list, they are still considered a tenant of the shop.

Is this considered exploiting a bug?

After all, the only way to remove a customer from the transaction record is through death, and even if the manager is in charge, they cannot actively cancel a customer's account. Furthermore, the store will automatically cancel the customer's account upon their death, so there is no conflict between the two.

So what does this mean now? Lin Qing has disappeared, but disappearing doesn't equal dying?

"Master, has the room been booked? She needs to rest in bed," Xu Xuanling called out.

"Oh...right away." Chen Xuan selected Honglian and assigned her to room 206. The printer then printed out the rental contract. "Give this to her and have her sign it...a fingerprint will also do."

Being unconscious has little impact on renting a room. After obtaining the contract with his fingerprint, Chen Xuan scanned it into the APP, and the blank room card could then be entered with the corresponding information.

Ding Dong!

Just as he pulled out his room key, a familiar voice rang out, and a new email notification popped up in the lower left corner of the screen.

Why did you send an email at almost 1 a.m.?
Chen Xuan subconsciously clicked on it.

"Congratulations! You have become a proud Level 6 Store Manager!"

— "The ???th Store Manager" LV6, Colored.

"Peaks never reached before, scenery never seen before, we look forward to continuing our journey together."

"Control Room Unlocked: You can now use the Ability Shop more freely."

"Restrictions on ability trading have been lifted: Performance points will no longer be used as a promotion criterion for store managers at LV7 and above."

"Increase in base salary."

"Ability synchronization limit increased to LV6".

"Not for sale, not for transfer. Store manager's current status: still active."

(End of this chapter)