Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 58 - 57: Journey to Yunzhou
...
The customers gradually left.
They also bought a large amount of beer and instant food. For many, tonight will be a sleepless night.
The old man was the last one in the family to leave. Before going out, he took two more packs of cigarettes.
"Why not hang out with your friends?" he asked.
"Now?" Chen Xuan shook his head with a smile, "I still have to look after the store."
"You’re quite a strange one, having such patience," the old man said with emotion. "After today, I’m afraid the world will change drastically. It reminds me of the time when we entered the world stage and hosted the Olympics, it was just as lively."
"And did the world change after that?"
"It did. You don’t notice because you were born into this era of change. But for our generation, those events marked a clear dividing line; things were very different before and after."
Chen Xuan didn’t respond because he saw a touch of wistfulness in the old man’s eyes.
"Why am I telling you all this," the old man laughed self-deprecatingly and pocketed the cigarettes from the bar, "If you have friends, get in touch with them. I’m sure they have a lot to say to you."
With that, he wobbled out of the shop.
For some reason, Chen Xuan felt that his figure was not as spry as before. The half-hour spent here felt like many years had passed.
Friends?
Does that colleague who blocked me count?
Chen Xuan suddenly realized that he was indeed alone in this city.
"Now we’re seen as irredeemable villains," Lin Qing interrupted his thoughts, "But that’s the usual tactic of the mechanism. Unless they see the future with their own eyes, no one will question their own correctness."
"Do you drink usually?"
Lin Qing was taken aback, then laughed, "You should ask how much I can drink. Let’s put it this way, if I crank my alcohol metabolism to the max, not even all the liquor in this store could get me drunk."
Chen Xuan took two chilled beers from the fridge, "Then let’s have a drink."
"Alright, as long as it’s on you."
"My treat." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
Outside the store, on the small path, Chen Xuan set up a small table and two folding chairs, ordered some barbecue, and started drinking and eating with his guest and employee.
The weather tonight was nice too, with the moon hanging high and bright, like a sickle.
After two drinks, he asked, "Do you know who the person was who stood for the Dimensional Limit Mechanism earlier?"
"He’s in the stored information, codenamed Doctor," Lin Qing nodded.
Chen Xuan was a bit surprised, "That’s it?"
"You want to know how important he is, right?" She seemed to be searching through data, "On the whole, his scientific research level is quite high, but only for this era. With the combination of ability and scientific research, many projects progress rapidly, it wouldn’t be exaggerated to say at lightning speed. His main contribution to the mechanism is the labs he leads and pulling in a lot of capital. Even if he were eliminated now, Dimensional Limit would not stop moving forward."
Chen Xuan’s brow twitched, no, I just asked casually, and you immediately thought of assassination?
"That last part... have you really considered it?"
"Of course, as long as there’s a solid way to prevent that disaster, I’m willing to do anything," Lin Qing replied, "In 2025, the Dimensional Limit Mechanism is like a fast-moving train, expanding its influence rapidly, not something that can be changed by eliminating one or two people."
The disaster was brought by the technological revolution, with the key factor being the emergence of nano bugs.
There are many tech companies behind the development of nano bugs, and they are largely associated with the Dimensional Limit Mechanism. Furthermore, their products are not limited to nano bugs alone, with AI, robots, military equipment, pharmaceuticals, prosthetics... dominating these fields.
In other words, it’s because of the mechanism’s support that they’ve become the leading giants in the tech revolution.
So Lin Qing thinks, overthrowing or destroying the mechanism is the most feasible approach.
This logic isn’t flawed, but Chen Xuan still felt a slight doubt, searching and failing to find a suitable answer.
What exactly is ability?
Did he acquire this store because of changes caused by a breach point?
"I suddenly wonder, if the Dimensional Limit Mechanism indeed collapses early or ceases to exist, those technologies won’t appear, right?" Chen Xuan spoke slowly while picking up a skewer of grilled meat, "The integration of ability and research propelled tech’s rapid advancement, but without ability, it would eventually be developed, no?"
He thought Lin Qing would ponder for a long time, but she unexpectedly replied lightly, "Maybe, just as humans will eventually meet their end, but that doesn’t have much to do with us anymore. New disasters will have new people to turn the tide, I just need to focus on the present task."
Chen Xuan once again admired her resilience, "Seems about right."
Trusting in the wisdom of future generations, aren’t you?
"Even in the worst-case scenario, if we can’t stop the Dimensional Limit Mechanism and those endlessly harmful technologies are developed, my mission won’t be a total failure. At least I can have my epitaph carved on my tombstone: Don’t waste money building the Crystal Palace anymore!"
"Hahaha..." The two laughed together.
After laughing, Lin Qing raised her glass to him again, "But speaking of which, I feel the future is already changing bit by bit. The mechanism is being forced to do these things for the first time; they’ve never mentioned publicly recruiting ability users before. It’s probably a good start."
Chen Xuan clinked glasses with her, "Agreed."
At least his Ability Store can significantly expand its business scope now.
...
...
The last time Liu Shuyue came to Yunzhou was only in passing.
This place is relatively close to the center of the Kingdom, so few Demon Fiends would storm here. Yunzhou isn’t big, with only two towns having populations exceeding a hundred thousand, one of which to the east, Jiufeng City, is the Liu Family’s location.
At this moment, she was already standing outside the city.
Unlike towns in Qing State, one needn’t worry about foreign invasions here, so the city walls are only to defend against mountain bandits and vagrants, generally not built high, resembling long courtyard walls at first glance. Her previous impression of this place was ordinary and peaceful, though not as bustling as the Royal City, it was more stable than frontier towns. Before she witnessed the manager’s world, the united Qi Kingdom in her mind, was just like Yunzhou everywhere.
But now she felt a fire of anger burning in her chest.
In the fields outside the city, numerous tents were erected, and checkpoints were set up on all the dirt roads leading to Jiufeng City, which was evidently not normal.
Judging from the standing banners, the army camping here wasn’t from Yunzhou either.
Do these soldiers know why they were sent?
Considering the chevaux-de-frise and checkpoints were facing Jiufeng City rather than the suburbs, she figured the soldiers were aware.
Precisely because of this did she feel an unprecedented anger... and absurdity.
Would these people truly storm into the city and massacre unarmed civilians with a single decree from the King of Qi?
But stories from the Encyclopedia of Ancient and Modern tell her, they would.
She couldn’t hope for a noble-hearted leader who, upon receiving a royal order, led an army here immediately.
Even so, Liu Shuyue wanted to give it another try, first clearing the rumors from the Liu Family and severing all her ties with Great Qi, giving the King of Qi no excuse for slaughter.
She used an Invisibility Talisman to silently pass through the city gate checkpoint into Jiufeng City.
She couldn’t help but notice the stark desolation on the streets. Besides beggars lying by the walls with vacant expressions, there were hardly any other figures. The street shops’ doors were all shut tight, windows sealed with wooden boards. What made her sigh further were the gallows erected along the roads, with corpses swaying slightly and notices below stating their crimes: unauthorized escape from Jiufeng City.
This situation evidently wasn’t created overnight.
I’d guess the King of Qi’s generals were preparing for today as in writing the letter.
All of this is pressuring her to comply.
But she had resolved since slaying the dragon; even if she died in Wanshan Wilderness, she wouldn’t serve the King of Qi anymore.
Liu Shuyue removed the invisibility and approached a beggar, placing a Snickers bar in his bowl—the manager mentioned this thing was incredibly filling, more so than instant noodles, and she had verified it on her journey, indeed true. "Where’s the Liu Family?"
The beggar raised his head to look at her, showing a terrified expression, "The Liu, Liu Family is cursed, doomed to misfortune!"
"Just answer me."
He picked up the Snickers bar, sniffed it, cautiously took a bite, then devoured it. After finishing, he licked his fingers, "...Northwest, head northwest and you’ll find it, a large mansion. But I advise you not to go, after today they’ll be dead!"
