Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 341 Going to the Future

"This wasn't something I accomplished alone... There's nothing surprising about it," Chen Xuan replied nonchalantly. "As for Miss Lin... she's not here right now, so I'll be in charge of liaising with everyone for the time being."

"The Weixian Agency's branch in Jiangcheng has collapsed, which means you are all unemployed now. Of course, the agency still has other branches, such as the Chiyo City branch, which is the closest to here. If you want to continue working for them, you will have to go abroad."

“How could I possibly work for the government again? They all think I’m a traitor!” Wang Baihu said angrily. “Don’t worry about your jobs. I can start a company and hire you all. You’ll still get paid even if you don’t do anything.”

Xiao Jiu and Jiang Siqi looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Didn't I tell you? My family owns—"

"Ahem." Honglian coughed twice, interrupting him. "Alright, stop showing off your family background. Although I was dismissed from the organization, I only lost a title. It doesn't stop me from continuing to do what I want to do."

"So what do you want to do?"

Have you forgotten why the world connects with us?

Honglian turned to Chen Xuan and said, "I never had a chance to ask in detail before, or rather, I didn't dare to ask... Just suspecting the mechanism made me tremble with fear and hesitate. Now you've at least proven one thing: the mechanism is indeed not as upright as it claims. Their methods and ideologies have far crossed the line. However..."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "However, the Organization is still the most powerful organization of ability users in the world. If even they can't stop the apocalyptic crisis, can a few of us connected by the World Heart really do something that even the Organization can't do?"

Chen Xuan nodded. “It’s understandable that you’re confused. The concept of apocalypse is too broad, and since it happens in the distant future, you’ll naturally have all sorts of questions: For example, if we eliminate the mechanisms, will it lead to a surge in ability-based crimes and ultimately a new apocalypse? Or what if, after the mechanisms are removed from the stage, an even worse organization of ability users rises up?”

"Actually, the answer is simpler than you think."

"But before I say it, I must first ascertain your intentions—whether you want to take a different path from now on, never again getting involved in the conflict between the organization and the world, or whether you want to continue to protect this world... to prevent it from going to destruction. If you choose the former, then after leaving the Northern Heaven Academy, we will never meet again."

“There’s no need to ask that,” Honglian said without hesitation. “I’m going to stay, whether to repay the debt of saving my life or to do everything I can to stop the apocalypse.”

"Wherever Sister Honglian is, I will be there!" Xiaojiu raised her hand firmly.

“It sounds like it would be really interesting, I want to join,” Jiang Siqi replied.

"Hey, even you want to join?" Wang Baihu looked at the other person in surprise. "This kind of thing sounds like it could kill you. Aren't you afraid of dying?"

"Yes, I'm afraid, but I'm even more afraid of being unknown." Jiang Siqi shrugged. "If I ever meet with misfortune, I hope that the entire internet will remember my name."

“Ha…” Wang Baihu rolled his eyes. “I can’t understand it.”

"Brother Bird, you're not scared, are you?" Little Dove pouted.

"What a joke! How could I possibly be afraid!"

"You were the only one who cried just now."

"You guys didn't get electrocuted, so is this the same thing?" Wang Baihu crossed his arms, pretending to be fearless. "I'm actually okay too, I just wanted to see everyone's reaction. Besides, we've been partners for so many years, Honglian needs my support, right?"

Honglian glanced at him sideways, unmoved.

"Can't you just nod? For the sake of our partnership!" Wang Baihu shouted.

"Sigh..." Honglian sighed, but finally nodded. "Don't surrender so quickly next time, or it'll be embarrassing to tell anyone."

"Yay!" Kobato clapped her hands happily. "The Crimson Lotus Group is back!"

"Can you speak now?" Honglian looked at Chen Xuan.

The latter smiled slightly, "Of course, the answer is... because we can go to the future to check the results ourselves." Upon hearing this, all three of them were dumbfounded.

"Could it be that you've discovered an intrusion point to the future?" Honglian asked, then shook her head repeatedly. "No, that's impossible! A world shouldn't be capable of self-inflicted destruction; it doesn't make logical sense! The future you saw... is probably an alternate future similar to ours, like the Jiangcheng world where demons exist."

"It's not about the point of entry, but about using the power of the World Heart to travel to the future." Chen Xuan spread his hands. "Didn't I say before that the World Heart can provide the convenience of quickly traveling to other worlds?"

"I thought it could create special 'intrusion channels,' not time travel within the same world! This is just too outrageous!"

Indeed, the ability shop still relies on customers to jump through time, and cannot reach a specific time like a time machine. However, Chen Xuan did not intend to correct this point. "There are some limitations to this kind of travel, and it does seem unbelievable, but the facts are right in front of me, and I have no choice but to believe it - because I have already met people from the future."

"Who?"

"Lin Qing," Chen Xuan said slowly, "she will be a member of the organization in the future."

"what?"

The three of them were once again dumbfounded.

"Is she from the government?"

“This is too much!”

Honglian was the first to realize, exclaiming, "No wonder the organization is being targeted everywhere! I was wondering how the Wanderers knew the organization's secrets better than the organization's operators. Now it all makes sense!"

Wang Baihu questioned, "Since Miss Lin thinks the mechanism is doing something wrong, why doesn't she tell them the correct way to do it? She's from the future; surely the mechanism will listen to her!"

"This is a rather complicated explanation. Simply put, after the Limit Authority completes the sealing of the ability users, an internal split occurs, with the company that provides the organization with economic and military power gradually taking over the agency, while she belongs to the resistance."

Chen Xuan thought for a moment, but still didn't reveal that Honglian would become the leader of the resistance army. He was worried that such a premature announcement would have more uncertain effects on the future.

"Lin Qing believes that the organization cannot rise without the help of these companies, and the interests of both sides are highly intertwined. It is unlikely that she can completely change course with just one statement. This is also why you feel that the organization is gradually changing its nature: the larger it expands, the more interests it needs to take care of."

"Understood!" Honglian clapped her hands sharply, her eyes brightening. "Since we can verify the future, there's nothing to worry about! Right is right, wrong is wrong, and the facts will prove us right!"

That's true, but will things really go that smoothly in reality?
Chen Xuan nodded in agreement on the surface, but he had other worries in his heart.

His act of saving Honglian directly led to Lin Qing's disappearance and drastically changed the future. What if the next change causes even more people to disappear?

The river of time does not give him the opportunity to repeatedly try and fail. Once a customer is removed from the store list, he will also lose all information about that node.

Wang Qianduan mentioned that Honglian had to be sent back to headquarters, which shows that from the organization's perspective, Honglian was indeed an important figure, even if her previous position was only that of an executive team leader. He had also asked Honglian about this, but she had no clue about it.

He couldn't ask the authorities yet, because that would inevitably alert them.

Therefore, the way to obtain intelligence becomes quite clear.

"That's all for today... Everyone, get some rest tonight, let your families know you're safe, and we'll meet again at Beitianyuan tomorrow," Chen Xuan instructed.

"Do you have a plan for the next step?" Honglian asked.

“That’s right. Instead of continuing to fight the authorities in this era, let’s find their weaknesses somewhere else—” Chen Xuan’s gaze swept over the four of them in turn. “Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the future.”

(End of this chapter)