Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 342 The Pioneers Assemble!
In fact, apart from Wang Baihu, the other three all lived in rented apartments, so whether they went home or not made no real difference. Under Wang Baihu's arrangement, Beitianyuan allocated several staff dormitories for them, which saved them time from traveling.

It was almost 10 p.m. when I finished all of this.

Just as Chen Xuan was about to close the shop, he suddenly saw Honglian lingering in the courtyard.

"Anything else?"

"Walk with me for a bit?" Honglian pointed to the gate of the side courtyard.

The invitation surprised him slightly, but considering that the other party was Honglian, he nodded and accepted.

If it weren't for the attack by the authorities, Kitaten-in would actually be a pretty scenic place, even at night. Grasslands, courtyards, and century-old trees stretch along both sides of the road, with antique buildings in the distance. Every hundred meters, there is a street lamp, its pale yellow light just right, like the moon hidden among the shadows of the trees.

Compared to Lushan Mountain, which is already a scenic area, this place is much quieter and more beautiful, and you'll hardly be disturbed by anyone.

“Mr. Chen, Miss Lin… she didn’t really die, did she?” Honglian asked as they reached the Green Grass Palace.

Chen Xuan paused slightly. "Why do you ask that?"

"Because you mentioned that your brow furrowed slightly when she was gone, as if you were somewhat worried, but not overwhelmed by sadness... And I remember you said before that she disappeared to save me, not that she passed away. So I'm wondering if this means a glimmer of hope?"

So it was his expression that betrayed his emotions... that's why she asked him out alone to ask him questions? Chen Xuan suddenly realized, not expecting her to notice such a detail.

Actually, even if the other party hadn't asked about Lin Qing today, he would have brought it up tomorrow anyway. Gathering intelligence in the future was just a side matter; his real purpose was to find Lin Qing—since her room was still there, it meant she hadn't vanished into thin air, and she must be somewhere in the future right now.

Of course... the difficulty of finding a specific person on this vast earth is beyond description.

But no matter how difficult it is, he doesn't want to give up, and the action should be launched as soon as possible.

Before she completely disappears from the guest list.

Because finding Lin Qing was so important, he had to explain it clearly to everyone to avoid missing any clues when investigating the future. Since Hong Lian had asked in advance, he simply said, "You guessed right, her disappearance happened the moment you were rescued. Afterwards, I went to the future and found that that era had undergone tremendous changes."

"Saving me... led to a change in the future?" Honglian asked in surprise.

"That's right. Lin Qing was born in the future, so she was affected. My current speculation is that some kind of change prevented her from becoming a mechanical warrior, thus making it impossible to recreate the opportunity that led her to this world."

"..." Honglian's expression gradually turned serious. "Perhaps I'm being presumptuous, but I have to bring it up—have you considered that future changes might prevent her from ever being born?"

Chen Xuan looked at her in surprise.

The latter's gaze was unwavering. "I know this is a cruel question, but if you want to end this apocalypse, sacrifices will be inevitable in the future. We must never let emotions dominate reason, or we will pay an even greater price sooner or later."

Should we always use rational thinking...?

She was deeply saddened when she learned of Wang Baihu's death, but she still did not kill Xiao Kanong.

Could this be one of the reasons why she was able to become the leader of the rebels?

Chen Xuan looked her over for a moment and then smiled. "Thank you for reminding me. Future fluctuations will indeed cause many people who should have been born to disappear, but she is not among them. Shi Xin can still sense her presence, but I cannot be sure if she is still the Lin Qing we know."

"I see." Honglian breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly pleased with the answer. "Then I will definitely find her."

"You also want to see her one more time?"

“Of course, I still owe her a thank you,” she said without hesitation. “Besides… I feel we get along very well, like long-lost sisters, and I can’t let her just run away like this.”

"Really?" Chen Xuan joked. "Come to think of it, you two do look quite alike."

"Could it be... that she's my daughter!?" Honglian suddenly realized this possibility, and her expression became complicated.

“Uh…” He scratched his head. According to the records, Honglian had neither married nor had any children, but such things, like her becoming a leader, felt like they would affect history if spoken of. “I don’t know about that.”

"Could you tell me more about her?" "For example?"

"Everything you know... when you met, where you met, what you did before..." She suddenly stopped, her sharp gaze sweeping over Chen Xuan, "And what is your relationship with her? I'm not talking about ability."

Chen Xuan rubbed his forehead. Why did the atmosphere suddenly change?

However, he was actually quite happy.

People live because someone remembers them.

Now there's one more person who wants to know about Lin Qing.

Once you've memorized it, the barriers of time and the world don't seem so far away anymore.

……

The next day, everyone arrived as promised. Besides the four members of the Red Lotus group, Chen Xuan also saw the familiar "Dragon Shadow"—Guagua.

It seemed quite excited to be able to visit this "forest park" again, and wagged its tail as soon as it saw Chen Xuan.

Is this guy a dragon or a dog?
"How did it get here?" Chen Xuan looked at Wang Baihu. If he remembered correctly, Guagua had always been kept in the Wang family villa.

“Sister Honglian said you wanted to find someone, so she told me to bring Guagua along,” the latter replied. “Besides, the future will be full of ruins, right? Having a dragon can also serve as a mount.”

When he told Honglian about Lin Qing's deeds yesterday, he did mention what she would look like now and in the future.

"Cuck!"

Guagua also raised its head in agreement.

It seems to have gotten bigger... There's more than enough room for two people to sit on its back.

Chen Xuan nodded, agreeing to the suggestion. He then called over Liu Li and Xu Xuanling and introduced them to each other—although they had met before to varying degrees, a formal introduction was still necessary. After all, from today onwards, they would be true customers of the store.

To be added to the customer list, a complete transaction must be completed.

This process was still carried out in the name of the World Ability Center. Chen Xuan did not touch the abilities they possessed. Instead, he first gifted them the white abilities in his inventory through a secret transaction, and then traded them with the Heart-Cleansing Technique. In the end, Jiang Siqi, Xiao Jiu, and Wang Baihu all obtained an introductory-level mental cultivation technique.

"This feature should have been unblocked sooner," Chen Xuan thought. "The restriction on trading of similar and graded abilities is a complete trap. If the concern is that store managers might use this method to inflate their performance points, wouldn't it be better to simply exclude the transaction from the KPI after it's completed?"
Ultimately, it was still a makeshift operation.

After registering them as guests, Chen Xuan could directly use his recall ability to teleport them into the store.

Of course, the limit of once a day still exists, so this trick can only be used as a last resort to save lives; otherwise, they still have to act carefully and cautiously.

Chen Xuan then handed four backpacks to everyone, saying, "These contain three days' worth of water and food, as well as some basic survival tools. Although we have arrived in a city, it has undergone a major upheaval and is basically no different from a war zone."

"Wilderness survival?" Wang Baihu patted his chest. "That's exactly my area of ​​expertise."

"Urban ruins and the wilderness are two different things. Haven't you ever experienced a zombie apocalypse?" Jiang Siqi took the backpack and said dismissively, "Our challenge isn't survival supplies, but the enemy lurking in the darkness!" She looked at Chen Xuan, "Am I right?"

"You can think so."

Seeing his affirmation, she proudly gave Wang Baihu a V-sign.

Chen Xuan frowned slightly. These people were far too relaxed, clearly not yet having transitioned from the mindset of agency personnel. Exploring the future wasn't really suitable for them. However, he couldn't entrust all the tasks to Xu Xuanling, Liu Li, and Liu Shuyue; someone had to stay and watch over the shop.

It seems we can only train them slowly during the upcoming journey.

(End of this chapter)