Chapter 150
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Chapter 150: Others Fear My Increased Investment
As his consciousness sank into the dream of another, Lin Qingliu appeared at the door of a somewhat low-roofed house.
Though this house stood alone, it was as dilapidated as the others nearby, the kind that even if offered for free, few would accept.
The dimly lit room was not spacious; bags of instant nutritional paste were piled beside the bed, and the only table held a radio, stained with oil, sputtering intermittently like an old man on his deathbed, lamenting his ailments.
In the corner formed by the bed and the wall, a child who looked around seven or eight years old held a book with dog-eared edges in his hands; it appeared to be part of Hope City’s compulsory education materials.
A woman peeked her head out from the room. She had long gray hair and wore slightly outdated but clean clothes, though her facial features had become somewhat blurred.
“Ah, someone has come! May I ask who you are?”
The boy, absorbed in his reading, suddenly looked up, gazing at the somewhat familiar face at the door.
In an instant, memories from the real world surged into El’s mind, and he understood where he was.
“El, did your father mention that any of his friends would be visiting?”
As soon as the blurred-faced woman finished speaking, she slowly became transparent, vanishing from the room.
With her disappearance, the seven or eight-year-old boy gradually grew taller, his face changing as if it were maturing.
Before long, the El Lin Qingliu was familiar with appeared at the corner of the bed.
“Dr. Lin, how did you…?”
“How did I get in here?”
“Of course, I had the assistance of a certain Mr. ‘Paster’ who prefers to remain anonymous.”
Lin Qingliu sat on the edge of the bed. He had seen similar scenes in many soldiers’ dreams before, yet he still felt a twinge of sadness.
If it weren’t for those unfortunate events, this child might still be in school…
“I saw the message you left, came to check on you, and also had a few matters to discuss.”
El quickly moved closer to Lin Qingliu.
“Please go ahead.”
“There’s no need to be so serious. I’ll be moving to the inner city soon, and there will be military personnel at this clinic to help. Considering you might find yourself making a trip here after getting hurt, I thought it was necessary to inform you about this.”
El nodded obediently, saying,
“Don’t worry, I’ve been paying attention. Ever since my abilities underwent some changes, I’ve become more skilled and have been getting hurt less frequently.
“And part of my upcoming activities will also take place in the inner city, so I will still have opportunities to meet you.”
Hearing this, Lin Qingliu raised his eyebrows slightly,
“Has your plan changed?”
Lin Qingliu was aware of El’s previous plan but was indeed in the dark about any changes.
As the leader of an underground organization, Lin Qingliu did not overly control his followers when there were no special missions; everyone had their own matters to attend to.
“Yes…”
El felt safe discussing matters in his In Dream, knowing there was no risk of information leaking, so he explained Zhuang Mian’s notifications to him and the follow-up plans made with Li Rui.
Lin Qingliu carefully considered the feasibility of using Holy Shield to sweep through the dark corners of the outer city and certain parts of the inner city, and he found that it was indeed a promising plan.
After all, the things El intended to do weren’t significantly different from Shi Jin’s, except for being slightly more violent.
Although this kid couldn’t crack a safe, just the ability of Dimensional Shift was enough to make Shi Jin realize what it means to play against someone who’s essentially cheating.
After a moment of contemplation, Lin Qingliu finally added,
“I won’t interfere too much, but you should be aware of the potential consequences. The previous Master Hand was caught because he overstepped into the inner city.
“Moreover, the inner city is quite different from the outer city; surveillance is prevalent in many areas, which you must be cautious about.”
After a brief pause, Lin Qingliu concluded,
“Currently, I’m serving as one of the military’s external consultants. You’d better wait until I’ve moved and have a new address before you start your operations. That way, if things go south, you’ll have a place to hide.”
Actually, Lin Qingliu hadn’t initially planned to say this, but given his decent relationship with El and the difficulty in cultivating a few stable advancing believers, he reconsidered.
With confirmation of the other’s potential and loyalty, making some additional investments seemed feasible.
He had already prepared himself mentally for this; in the future, within manageable limits, he could offer some assistance to the believers, though, of course, not without a price.
El nodded, attempting to speak several times, as if to prove he wasn’t entirely clueless:
“I understand; Li Rui and I have been scouting the differences between the inner and outer cities recently and have rehearsed several times…”
The two exchanged recent intelligence, and after a few more reminders from Lin Qingliu, he released his ability and exited El’s dream.
El, lying on the mattress, quickly opened his eyes to find the room empty, with only the familiar sound of Li Rui’s snoring drifting from another room.
Noticing the light outside, El decided to “wake up” a bit earlier today.
Outside the alley, Lin Qingliu pondered as he walked home about which combinations of abilities could enable him to manipulate dragging someone into a dream remotely in the future.
While packing his essential items, he had one more task to attend to.
—
After work, Ji Yongxing returned to his room.
Upon closing the door, a small camera suddenly emerged from the edge of a leather suitcase on the desk, performing a 360-degree sweep of the room.
“Environment confirmed safe. Welcome back, [Pioneer] your Excellency.”
“Good evening, [Skydome]. You seem to be getting more timid lately…”
Ji Yongxing looked at the creature that had opened the suitcase to reveal a green pixelated face, his own face showing a hint of helplessness.
This creature seemed excessively cautious. When had this started?
Ji Yongxing recalled and confirmed that it had begun after the visit from the talking cat.
“Master, you have new messages~”
[Skydome] emitted a humanoid mechanical sound, and on the screen appeared a pointed arrow pointing to the lower right, where a communicator was connected to its “body.”
At that moment, the green light on the communicator was blinking.
Ji Yongxing quickly moved forward to read the message.
As expected, the message was indeed from Lin Qingliu, and this time, what the other party wanted him to do…
Seemed a bit too mundane.
Having grown accustomed to scenes of flesh blobs consuming people and Infected besieging cities, Ji Yongxing felt a sense of unreality bubbling up inside as he faced the request for assistance in selecting a new home…
