Chapter 42 The Method of Verifying the Truth

Guests were undoubtedly valuable assets, but that referred to individuals who could continuously provide ability transactions, such as Liu Shuyue.

Then there were guests whose abilities were currently limited, yet possessed considerable room for growth—those who would acquire new abilities through subsequent development and with whom a good relationship needed to be maintained, like Jeanne.

The new guest before him, however, fit into neither category.

She hailed from a rather advanced future, yet possessed a mere three abilities in total, and one of them had even been temporarily traded away, which was genuinely somewhat disappointing. Chen Xuan had already used the barcode scanner to confirm that she was now left with only "Mental Fortress" and "Free Will."

Liu Shuyue had judged that her body had suffered excessive destruction, leaving her with zero potential for cultivation, and Lin Qing herself admitted that cybernetic technology would replace abilities, indicating that the two likely conflicted to some extent. When attacked by the armed mecha earlier, she had used her bare body to withstand a 30mm round head-on. Under an ability-based system, that would have required something along the lines of an indestructible diamond physique, yet the scanner failed to detect any related information, showing that the shop did not factor the advantages granted by cyberware into abilities.

Naturally, Chen Xuan did not consider himself the type of cold-blooded merchant who cared only for profit. Even if a business deal fell through, the human connection remained; if Lin Qing had nowhere to go, letting her stay in the shop for free for a month or two was no big deal. But the problem was that she insisted on taking the heavy responsibility of saving the world upon her shoulders, dragging him into opposition with some mysterious organization he had never even heard of, which made things rather tricky.

Suppose—and he meant just suppose—that the lunatic Judy truly belonged to the Limiting Authority, and that this organization possessed the capability to thoroughly suppress and seal away all information regarding ability users, then the hidden power they wielded beneath the surface was certainly not to be underestimated.

Faced with such a faction, Chen Xuan would prefer to retreat three hundred paces rather than actively provoke them.

Even if the end of the world were truly destined to happen, it would be a century from now; by then, he might not even exist.

Upon being refused, Lin Qing neither threw a tantrum nor turned cold, nor did she wear an expression of overwhelming disappointment. A faint glimmer flickered within her eyes as if she were thinking at high speed. The hand that had been pushed away reached back out to grab his wrist, refusing to let go, as though terrified that he might run off.

A few seconds later, her eyes flashed. "Found it."

"Found what?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Since you run an ability shop, you must surely need a steady supply of many abilities, just like a supermarket constantly needs to restock its inventory, am I right?"

"Uh-huh." He had nothing to deny on that point.

"I can help you solve part of your sourcing problem," Lin Qing said with conviction.

Chen Xuan looked at her skeptically, though the feedback from the Voice of Trust remained favorable. "Oh? How do you propose to do that?"

She pointed to her own head. "My memory stores a great deal of decrypted data belonging to the Limiting Authority. This includes recorded incursion events and the associated ability users. You can restock from them."

"...Restock from whom?" For a moment, he thought he had misheard.

"From those connected to the incursion events," Lin Qing repeated. "Whether through threats or coercion, you can employ any means necessary to extract their abilities. Most of these people are unregistered outlaws with heavy crimes on their heads; even if you wipe them all out, no one will care. I don't know how you usually acquire abilities, but I believe you certainly have ways to 'persuade' them."

This young lady had quite ruthless methods.

Chen Xuan suddenly felt a flicker of curiosity. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Of course," Lin Qing answered without the slightest hesitation. "In my era, cities were crawling with madmen, criminals, and lunatics; public order had long since ceased to exist. If you wanted to survive, you had to use force to protect yourself. I could only do my best to ensure I didn't harm innocent bystanders during combat."

It seemed none of his guests were ordinary troublemakers.

He fell into thoughtful contemplation. "So you were just searching for incursion records?"

"That's right. The most recent incursion occurred two days from now, right here in this city. There is only one individual involved, and the location is quite secluded, making it a perfect test run." The young girl raised a hand and gestured twice. "I've already sent the data to your phone."

Immediately afterward, the phone in his pocket rang.

Surprised, Chen Xuan took out his device and noticed the text message displayed an incoming number of "10089." "You didn't hack the telecommunications provider, did you?"

"Not quite. I simply used overlay transmission technology to simulate this frequency band and send a message to you," Lin Qing explained with a hint of pride. "Personal electronic data protection in this era is still quite weak; there's no need to go through the trouble of hacking the provider. By the way, if you want to call me, just dial this number and add a pound sign at the end."

"Was stopping that bullet also the work of cyberware?"

"Mhm, military-grade subcutaneous armor. Quite expensive equipment. Ordinary people can only afford to embed a flexible carbon-film armor at most, which can barely stop handgun rounds."

Cyberware really was convenient... all one had to do was pay to have it implanted.

Chen Xuan stared at Lin Qing for a long time.

The latter shrank back uncomfortably. "Installing these things requires a specialized operating room, plus there are immune-compatibility issues. Even if you carved them out of me, no one else could use them."

"If I were really after them, I would have stripped them while you were unconscious." Chen Xuan waved a hand dismissively and opened the file she had provided. A strikingly charming woman's profile photo came into view, accompanied by her name below: Fei Wuniang, SC-104-C1, Deceased.

Chen Xuan did indeed have some impression of the location where this person had appeared.

It was an abandoned building located beyond the third ring road, which seemed to have once been a wildly popular club.

"If you can capture her, it will also prove that my words are true," Lin Qing pressed further, seeing that he wasn't rejecting her outright as before. "Store Manager, everything you are experiencing is the past of that destroyed world. Nanotech science only came into being about thirty years ago; once it spirals out of control, it will be far too late to change anything, and billions of people will die because of it! To prevent humanity from repeating its mistakes, I implore you to help me once more. Your reward will be the abilities of those intruders!"

...

...

Two days later, following the photograph provided by Lin Qing, Chen Xuan took a cab to the abandoned building.

"Here to explore?" the taxi driver asked, turning his head. "Eighty-five yuan for the fare."

So expensive. Traveling from the first ring road to beyond the third ring road really cost a pretty penny. Chen Xuan scanned the QR code to pay while replying, "Yeah, do a lot of people come to play here?"

Anyone taking the highway exit and heading straight here in the past couple of years was usually aiming for that place. I hear it's haunted, and people even stay the night in groups." The driver chuckled. "It's pretty rare to see someone coming alone like you."

That made sense, considering exploration videos of the place could easily be found online.

After the taxi drove off, Chen Xuan cast his gaze toward the dilapidated building not far away.

It stood four stories tall, situated beside a patch of farmland. Its square, blocky structure appeared quite solemn—if not for the knowledge that it had once been called the Lushui Club.

Anyone with eyes knew what a club built in such a desolate place was used for. Back when it was thriving, Chen Xuan was still studying at university; by the time he graduated, entered the workforce, and finally had some money, the club had already gone out of business.

Lin Qing had not come along.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but rather that she couldn't.

Her physical damage was more severe than she had anticipated. After resting for so many days, taking a stroll around the residential compound was fine, but engaging in combat like before was out of the question. Therefore, she listened to reason and didn't insist on tagging along, opting instead to provide intelligence support via an earpiece.

"It really is identical..."

Chen Xuan compared the scene before him with the photo... and found that the degree of damage on both matched almost perfectly. Even the tilt angle of the nearly falling "Lushui Club" sign above the main entrance was basically identical.

This proved that the photograph had been taken very recently.

Could everything Lin Qing said be true? That world where the Crystal Palace fell... was the future of this world?

Crossing the parking lot and walking up to the entrance, he found the door handles bound with chains, bearing a sign that read: "Closed Area, Do Not Enter." However, this was completely ineffective at stopping adventurous thrill-seekers. Chen Xuan noticed that the floor-to-ceiling glass beside the door had already been smashed, leaving a gap wide enough for a person to crawl through.

"I'm going in."

"Mhm," Lin Qing's voice came through the earpiece. "The incursion point is on the second floor. But you must be careful; the capture records only document Fei Wuniang's transit location and time of death, which doesn't mean she only ever entered the club at that exact moment."

"The reason for her death... was it because of the Limiting Authority's capture?"

"Yes." There was a brief pause on the other end. "Though I must clarify, Fei Wuniang indeed had dozens of human lives on her hands and belonged to the unforgivable category. However, the Authority's primary tenet is containment rather than eradication. Even if the target is a bloodthirsty villain, the strike team prioritizes capturing them alive. After all, the Limiting Authority is not some legal organization, nor do they harbor any intentions of dispensing justice... Naturally, the ideal of maintaining world stability will inevitably attract individuals who are devoted to justice or fancy themselves righteous."

Chen Xuan stepped over the window frame and crunched across a floor of broken glass into the lobby. "At the end of the day, she still died."

"Combat is like that. If the opponent's determination to resist is extremely strong, or their methods particularly vicious, casualties are unavoidable. That holds true for both sides."

To be honest, Chen Xuan was inclined to believe this point.

When he had encountered the lunatic Judy in the castle dungeon, the very first projectile she fired at him was a syringe rather than a metal bullet.

Nor was Chen Xuan particularly worried that Fei Wuniang might be crouching on the second floor to ambush him. Before even entering the club, he had swept the building with his Tianxia Kung Fu, confirming that the abandoned structure was completely empty.