Chapter 348 Anxious
"That doesn't make sense." Chu Hengkong muttered to himself, "Why hasn't the boss come yet?"
He sat on the big sofa on the first floor of the bookstore, and there was a bustle inside and outside the store: old customers surrounded the owner, asking about his well-being. The latter had a big patch on his belly and was munching on various blood-tonifying foods; Speaker Parriman, projected on the water screen, looked furious, condemning the "political extremists" who had caused the riot the day before, and declaring that Jingsha's freedom would not succumb to violence; citizens on the street were mingling together, sometimes the opposition was labeled terrorists and beaten up, and sometimes the supporters were counterattacked by the old men and women who were driven over.
A politician, caught between the two factions, pleaded for mercy: "It's a misunderstanding! I'm against the bill..."
"But you voted in favor!" A rat with a thick beard jumped up and beat him with a cane. "You betrayed the Allies! Fuck you!"
"I don't know why! I was clearly planning to vote against it, but when I was writing, my hand just…"
Manager Bang Bang Crusty was annoyed by the noise and went out angrily to block the mouths of these people one by one with a cloud.
The chaos in the city-state was even more widespread than it had been two days ago. The unrest caused by the assassins had been resolved, but its impact had spread with increasing force. The unrest, the resentment of a disrupted festival, and the anger of political disagreements had caused distrust to grow like moss after a rainy season. Parriman, who was supposed to be responsible for calming public sentiment, had instead delivered an inflammatory speech, completely igniting the tinderbox that was Jingsha.
The Third Order's festive atmosphere was completely gone; quarrels and riots were everywhere, and the Divine Guards were already frantically busy. Most importantly, this series of events wasn't over yet. Lerna had escaped during the chaos, Guo Yutu was still hiding, and Wang Quan was nowhere to be found. The Thorn Flower Festival operation had failed, but the Blood Alliance assassins still had another chance to strike.
But Chu Hengkong paid no attention to all these changes. Like the diligent students of old, he ignored everything outside the window and immersed himself in his own inner world. Now he only cared about one thing.
Why hasn't Velvet come yet?
“That shouldn’t be the case…”
Wuchendi headquarters has a dedicated route directly to Jingsha City-State. At normal speeds, important cargo can be delivered within a week, and with the full force of high-quality experts, the speed will be even faster. For the boss, reaching Jingsha is a top priority. She will use her extraordinary mobility, which makes even the most cunning scholars sigh in despair, to rush from Wuchendi.
For her in this state, two days was an incredibly generous deadline. It was enough, absolutely enough. She was someone who could summon the divine staff from a laboratory far away in the Dustless Land. Even if she had to bring some large-scale decisive weapon with her, two days would definitely be enough!
To avoid missing out, Chu Hengkong had simply sat in the bookstore for the past two days, but after 48 hours, he hadn't received a single legitimate signal. No letter, no picture, no flashing light, no book with a hidden videotape. All the possible methods he could think of had failed to materialize. This slow reaction speed was simply abnormal for her. What on earth had happened?!
"Dude, can you calm down?" Vander said. "You're like a fusion of an anxious old father waiting for his daughter to come home from school and a young man who arrived at a date earlier and is anxious because his girlfriend hasn't shown up. I've never seen anyone so contradictory and coherent."
"You make him sound like a ghost father who is in love with his daughter." Ji Huaisu chuckled.
Vander exclaimed, "Vilbert is about to come, and you can still laugh. I really admire your nerves."
"Isn't it a good thing that she's here? Finally, we have a serious advisor in this brainless team."
Chu Hengkong pushed them back onto the sofa with one hand each, and said earnestly, "Instead of talking nonsense, why don't you help me figure out the reason? There's no reason for her to be so slow in reacting."
Vander wasn't in a hurry at all. He sat on the armrest of the sofa, pointing with his tentacles outstretched. "I have to say this now. You're too concerned. This has nothing to do with speed. Put yourself in Velvet's shoes. If you were her, would you dare to come directly?"
Chu Hengkong was a little anxious: "Why not? I'm already here, what is she worried about?"
"The city-state you're about to visit was a hapless place two days ago, thoroughly infiltrated. Just what you know includes, but is not limited to, the hacked divine communication network, blood smoke bombs everywhere, Black Death soldiers disguised as ordinary citizens attending a play at the Grand Theater, and a shadowy yet incredibly skilled idiot pretending to be the third captain greets everyone on the chat." Finder said, "And you, an exceptionally intelligent Floating Path Transformer, are invincible in your base camp. Without your equipment, you're essentially a cyborg chicken. Let's put ourselves in their shoes. Would you be willing to brazenly come to the city-state and tell the assassins, 'Come and kill me!'"
Chu Hengkong clutched his forehead, laying on the sofa in despair. The editor, Dudu Otter, handed him three cups of lemon tea and said, "I really want to tell you not to laugh, but reality is holding me back."
"They're doing this on purpose!" Big Seal yelled, holding a board. "Thinking back to when we were at our peak—"
"Yes, yes, yes. Back then you could treat the Moon Beast as a snack, but now a female college student can make you erect in three rounds." said Dudu Otter.
[I am a gentleman and do not fight with women.]
The Crucian Carp manager patted the store manager on the head and said sympathetically, "Be brave—face reality! You used to be a tough, strong pig leg, but now you're just a piece of old fat meat."
[Your decline is more obvious than mine! You can't even beat the vegetables grown by Gulibo now!]
Bang Bang Crucian Carp was anxious: "How can you talk like that! Go away!"
"Even to put it in the most respectable way, we should all start arranging rehabilitation," Dudu Otter said. "Tomorrow I'll ask Huan Ge to bring in some outsiders. Everyone, please help me sort out Chu Hengkong's issue first. After that, the store manager will officially switch to military rations. Is everyone okay with this?"
"Jian!"
【eat! 】
Chu Hengkong took the lemon tea and asked, "Editor, do you have any thoughts on this?"
"I originally planned to use the bookstore to organize some activities. But then I thought about your description..." Poison Otter scratched his chin, "The killer named 'Wang Quan' is very good at disguising himself and hiding his body. He is also a very high-ranking Fallen, right?"
"Yes."
"You see, we dealt with the Fallen a lot back then. Their most common tactic is to create an identical 'base camp' on the battlefield. After a battle, exhausted and ready to return home for supplies, you'll see familiar faces on the way in, and everything will be perfectly normal. But as you lie down on your bed, your comrades will tear their faces apart!" Poison Otter clapped his paws, "and you'll discover that the 'people' in the entire camp are all Moon Beasts, and your superiors are the Fallen who command them. By then, it's too late to react."
Gulibo, who was listening in, trembled: "How scary!"
[This trick requires a disorienting illusion on the battlefield, but it's unnecessary in a big city.] Big Seal held up his sign. [That killer could easily fake another bookstore in the third vein. With some simple information jamming, the average person wouldn't notice. If your boss's signal reaches this fake bookstore, things could get really bad.]
"It's something it could do." Chu Hengkong nodded. "The boss also thought of it, so he didn't take any action..."
"Considering that iconic locations are easily copied, why not create an environment where even Wang Quan wouldn't be able to sneak in?" Vander pondered. "It would be best if such a place were crowded, making it difficult for intruders to locate the target. At the same time, there should be clear guidance or hints, so Velvet would know at a glance that you're looking for her..."
Poison Otter raised his glass: "So, how about we do a traditional activity?"
"……Activity?"
"A friendly, peaceful, and romantic little event," said Bang Bang Crucian Carp. "Let's find our soulmates under the fluorescent trees!"
·
The tradition of the "fluorescent tree" has no connection to major historical events, nor does it have anything to do with honor or justice. It is a rumor spread by young people, a superstition passed down by small animals, and a wind that has been blowing through every leaf in the forest since who knows when.
The sound of the wind is that "people who are missing someone will meet their other half under the fluorescent tree." People who are knowledgeable and have a resume in society will know at once that this is nothing more than a rumor made up by young people troubled by love to give themselves courage and opportunities, because there are no fluorescent trees in Jingsha.
But people are always good at creating opportunities for themselves. They enlist the help of glowing Zerg citizens, they decorate old trees with lights, they use glowing ice to create a mysterious, shimmering atmosphere. People have a million ways to make fluorescent trees appear. This is a country full of passion, and objective limitations can never stop people from pursuing romance.
"The traditional solution is to ask passing bugs for help, but they're not very reliable and often cause problems," said Rico, who was invited to the project. "So, how about we use plants? Glowing, furry, like dandelions that slowly fall from the sky~"
"I understand. Leave it to me, Bo." Gulibo raised his paw.
Li Ke grabbed a map and spread it out, drawing a circle not far from the bookstore. "As for a location, I recommend the Little Orchid Forest Park in the north. It's a good distance from the bookstore and Team 3, making it easy to observe. It's also spacious enough with a high flow of people, so we don't have to worry about the enemy easily locking onto us. He can't set up a fake camp in such a large area."
Vander objected: "Then Wang Quan can't pretend to be a buddy—the real thing is here with us, and if he dares to show up, he'll be caught—but what if it pretends to be Velvet?"
"It won't." Chu Hengkong said, "It knows I will never recognize the wrong boss."
"Very convincing. What if they get the information and take advantage of it to cause trouble?"
The wind chimes at the bookstore entrance jingled, and Trek walked in, waving: "If you need free escort, we have plenty of people here~"
"It's not good to abuse public power for personal gain..." Ji Huaisu suffered from occupational disease.
"Normally, that's the case. However, the person who wants to use it privately this time is a great hero who just saved the Third Vein Order. Everyone will turn a blind eye."
Trick threw a flyer over. "There's just one small problem. The venue you chose was reserved a week ago. For the next two days, the park will be hosting an open-air concert by the Jingsha Free and Independent Symphony Orchestra—as the name suggests, they're a well-known extremist art group."
Chu Hengkong stared at the familiar metal mask pattern on the flyer and said, "I'll go talk to them."
·
"What do you conservatives want from our band?"
The conductor of the Free and Independent Symphony Orchestra was an old tree-man with green hair. His long hooked nose made his face look even more hostile than his tone. The members who were rehearsing all cast hostile glances at him.
After the commotion on the first day of the Jinghua Festival, Chu Hengkong and his group had become somewhat of a household name in Jingsha. Everyone was talking about the blonde woman carrying out terrorist attacks and the man with the prosthetic hand, who was terrifying in a fight. A few people even lumped them together with the saboteurs of the extreme conservatives. In such an environment, it was hard for supporters of the bill to be in a good mood. Chu Hengkong felt the urge to break another coin.
He said calmly, "I want to borrow your space to set up a fluorescent tree."
"Fluorescent tree?" The old tree man stared. "You?"
He wasn't good at negotiating with this kind of old man, so he simply pulled Vander out of his pocket and let Ace Mouth speak for him. Vander tried his best to avoid exaggeration and gave a brief localized translation of the story of the two people.
The old man's eyes were even more surprised. "You mean to say that there's a girl you've been separated from for over two years, so long that you thought she was dead. But recently you've spotted her again, and you're worried she won't be able to find you, so you want to borrow our space to make a fluorescent tree?"
"Yes." Chu Hengkong nodded.
"The roots of the sacred tree, of course!" The old tree man turned around and asked, "Does anyone have any objections?"
"We can provide the venue music for free!" a musician said. "Without music, there's no atmosphere!"
"That's right! We could build a stage in the trees and play music from the treetops—everyone would be able to hear it and have a blast!"
The band members discussed enthusiastically, and Chu Hengkong was a little overwhelmed.
"Thank you," he said. "I didn't expect that... After all..."
"Different positions?" asked the old tree man.
Chu Hengkong nodded.
"Differences in stance are political, but whether lovers can meet is a matter of love," the old tree man said solemnly. "How can we ignore a relationship simply because of a difference of opinion? Sir, this is the city-state of Jingsha, and love always comes first."
(End of this chapter)
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