Starting from the destruction of the Land of Light

Zhong Linwan's right eyelid has been twitching for the past two days.

Although she had always been a staunch materialist, for some reason, ever since she met that guy named Zhang Chen, she felt like she was having a run of bad luck.

In the past, she had always been immersed in the idea of ​​being a hermit walking in the unknown. The Earth Defense Force did not know her identity, nor did the aliens. She came and went without a trace, able to appear to save the day in the most critical moments, and also able to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at the most crucial time.

But after briefly getting involved in Zhang Chen and Bo Jiaru's incident, she suddenly felt a sense of crisis for no apparent reason.

This sense of crisis is not about the strength or weakness of one's power, but rather a feeling of powerlessness at being inexplicably used as someone else's pawn.

Especially after repeatedly reviewing what happened before, she began to wonder if she had paranoia.

For example, right now, looking at Zhang Chen through the peephole, Zhong Linwan's mentality completely collapsed.

Since her last phone call with her teacher, Zhong Linwan has stopped going to school. Instead, she obediently found a safe house to live in and rarely goes out. The supplies stored in the safe house are enough for her to stay there for half a year.

But she couldn't understand why, even though she was being so careful, this guy still managed to find her.

After a moment's hesitation, Zhong Linwan took a deep breath and slowly opened the door, looking calmly at Zhang Chen. "How did you find this place?"

"Why are you so hostile towards your partner? I think our relationship has improved since last time," Zhang Chen said with a smile, then picked up the things he was carrying. "Look, I even brought you some delicious food."

Hearing Zhang Chen's exaggerated tone, Zhong Linwan glanced at the stir-fried vegetables in the bag, then at Zhang Chen. "If you don't tell me, I'm closing the door."

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you." Seeing that the other person was so easily teased, Zhang Chen's tone became serious, returning to his previous demeanor. "Actually, you don't need to be too nervous. The reason I knew you were here wasn't because I had a lot of people following you. In fact, a locator was enough."

"A locator?" Zhong Linwan frowned. "Impossible, I checked the phone you gave me, there's no tracking device inside."

"Who told you it was a cell phone? When I gave you the cell phone, I told you that it was just a means for us to communicate, and I wouldn't tamper with it in any way."

"If you really consider your phone as a means of communication, then you should call me instead of just standing at the door of my safe house and knocking... Wait, what are you doing?" Zhong Linwan said, and then saw Zhang Chen suddenly raise his hand and take a thin golden thread, as thin as a hair, off his shoulder.

That thing really looks like hair; you can't see it at all unless you look closely.

"The real locator is this." Zhang Chen raised his hand to show it, then casually wrapped it around his finger. "It's a good thing you didn't change your clothes these past two days, otherwise this thing would be useless."

Hearing Zhang Chen's words, Zhong Linwan's heart stirred, and her thoughts immediately returned to the time when she appeared with Zhang Chen in the early morning to face Bo Jiaru. At that time, Zhang Chen did indeed put his arm around her shoulder very intimately.

Thinking of this, the slight feeling of goodwill that Zhong Linwan had for Zhang Chen instantly turned into an extremely complicated emotion.

She had never dealt with this kind of relationship before. This state of being neither enemy nor friend was very tormenting for her because she didn't want to get close to the other person, but she also found it difficult to detach herself from it.

Looking directly at Zhang Chen, Zhong Linwan spoke somewhat awkwardly, "...What exactly do you want?"

Zhang Chen didn't answer immediately, but instead picked up the bag again. "They say practice makes perfect, and we've met so many times already, aren't you going to invite me in for a seat?"

"Come in." Zhong Linwan stepped aside, then turned around and took out a pair of gray slippers from the shoe cabinet.

"Thank you." Zhang Chen changed his shoes, raised his hand and handed over the food. Zhong Linwan took it without paying any attention to Zhang Chen, turned around and walked into the kitchen with the bag.

At this moment, Zhang Chen also began to observe this so-called safe house.

Despite being called a safe house, it's actually just an ordinary residential house, only a bit larger, a single-level apartment, with a total area of ​​about 180 square meters.

The dishes Zhang Chen brought were things he bought on his way here: boiled fish, braised pork trotters with soybeans, stir-fried eggs with sand onions, and a serving of honey bitter melon. Zhong Linwan plated them one by one and brought them to the table.

When she returned to the living room, she saw Zhang Chen standing in front of the French windows, seemingly gazing at something.

"Dinner is ready."

"Oh, okay." Zhang Chen turned his gaze away upon hearing the noise and casually pointed out the window. "Your view is quite nice; you can even see the broadcasting and television center."

"It's just that the building is high up." Zhong Linwan turned and left.

At the dinner table, Zhang Chen's mouth watered at the sight of all the dishes on the table.

He was really starving. He had stayed up all night researching information, and had just woken up to come here. He hadn't even had time to have a proper meal.

Zhang Chen, naturally, didn't stand on ceremony with the food he had bought. He ate heartily as if no one else was around, and only after eating a little did he look up at the motionless Zhong Linwan. "Is it not to your liking, or are you afraid I've poisoned it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Linwan picked up her bowl, but her chopsticks hovered in the air for a long time without finding their target. "...I believe you didn't come here just to invite me to dinner, right? If you don't explain things clearly, I can't eat this meal."

"Hmm...still the same impatient nature." Zhang Chen nodded slightly, then without keeping her in suspense, he directly told Zhong Linwan everything about Bo Jiaru's background, strengths, and weaknesses.

At first, Zhong Linwan listened silently, but as Zhang Chen went into more detail, her expression became serious. By the time Zhang Chen finished speaking, she was already thinking about how to deal with Bo Jiaru.

However, she didn't show it on the surface. "Is Bogaru's weakness a fear of electricity? Is that why you came to me?"

"This has already been proven before. Your lightning struck Bogaru's shoulder, and the wound probably won't heal for several days. And that's without you transforming and not being able to use your full strength. I think that should be enough to prove that what I said is true."

"I don't think you're lying to me, but how can you be sure I'll help you?" Zhong Linwan stared coldly at Zhang Chen. "Don't tell me you're going to spout that nonsense about Earth's future and world security again. If someone else said that, that would be fine, but you, an alien, have no right to talk to me about that."

Zhang Chen realized that the other party had mistaken him for an alien. This was understandable, as controlling Black King was something that ordinary Earthlings could definitely not do.

Moreover, strictly speaking, he came from another Earth, so in a sense he can be considered an "alien".

So Zhang Chen didn't refute this point, but instead rested his chin on his hand with great interest, staring intently at Zhong Linwan's face.

"What are you doing?" Zhong Linwan felt a little uneasy under his gaze.

Zhang Chen smiled and slowly spoke.

"You're right, it's really unnecessary for an outsider like me to talk to you about Earth's peace. However, let me guess... your purpose in moving into this safe house is probably not to hide from me, is it?"

Zhong Linwan. "..."

...