"That’s unavoidable," Lin Qing placed a bowl of sliced watermelon in front of him, "People naturally choose benefits over dangers, and right now, the situation makes abilities seem more harmful than beneficial.

"Thanks." Chen Xuan took a bite and realized something was off, "...Is this watermelon from the store?"

"Yeah, there are over a dozen. You’re not expecting to make money from it, so what’s wrong with eating one?" Lin Qing reasoned confidently, "Didn’t I often eat chips before too?"

This is a winter melon, a greenhouse melon!

"Alright." He gave up on arguing, "Are you saying it’ll change in the future?"

"Not for regular people, no. In theory, the more wild ability users there are, the more frequent superpower-related crimes will become. The Dimensional Limit Mechanism is capitalizing on this momentum by forming more execution teams to crack down on ability users, further replacing abilities with prosthetics," Lin Qing shrugged, "But don’t worry, Jiang City won’t turn into a silent ghost town. Most people will eventually return."

"Why?"

"Because there’s a branch of the agency here, and they respond the fastest to ability-related crimes."

After listening, Chen Xuan was stunned for a moment. Doesn’t this imply that the security problems in other cities will become worse in the future?

"By the way... speaking of the agency, I almost forgot to tell you," Lin Qing’s tone suddenly rose, "Honglian is from the Jiang City agency! We don’t need to search the whole world to find her anymore!"

"Who?" Chen Xuan didn’t recall at once.

"Honglian, the one who caused the Dimensional Limit Mechanism to split..." She took out the photo of the old lady, "This person! Do you remember now?"

He let out a drawn-out "oh", "Did you hear about this from Jiang Siqi?"

"That’s right, I heard the execution team referring to their team leader as Sister Honglian during task briefings!" Lin Qing said excitedly, "I later heard this title multiple times, but unfortunately, I never recorded Honglian’s voice. Now, there’s a high probability that among those who went to the Five Rings Machinery Factory, Honglian is among them!"

"Hmm..." Chen Xuan pondered for a moment, "But there’s also a chance they share the same code name."

"That doesn’t matter. As long as we can get a frontal shot of Honglian’s face, Lv can simulate her identity through skeletal features, with a credibility rate often over eighty percent." Lin Qing shook the photo in her hand as she spoke.

"Get Jiang Siqi to take a picture when there’s a chance?"

"I thought of that too, but unfortunately, I’ve lost contact with her recently."

Lost contact? Chen Xuan quickly realized, "She went through the breach point?"

"Yes, that’s the only possibility," Lin Qing nodded, "The phone signal disappeared at dawn, meaning the Dimensional Limit Mechanism didn’t even wait for daylight before sending someone into the Paris World."

"Damn." Chen Xuan frowned, "I stayed over there with Liu Shuyue for three days and never heard about another group of crossers. Jiang Siqi wouldn’t have turned into a bug-faced monster from the radiation, right?"

"This..." Lin Qing hesitated, "...Can you summon her over?"

"No, she used a clandestine trade route that won’t be recorded by the shop, so she’s not considered an official customer."

"We won’t have to go look for her, right?"

"We can’t." Chen Xuan shook his head, "I was tossed over by a corrupted space, and maybe the landing point doesn’t line up with a stable entry channel. If the agency people didn’t appear on the Champs-Élysées, us looking for them would be like fetching a needle from the sea. Apart from waiting for Jiang Siqi to return on her own, we have no better methods."

A trace of worry appeared on Lin Qing’s face.

She was definitely not worried about Jiang Siqi.

There was also a high chance Honglian entered another world. If she got stuck over there, causing the Dimensional Limit Mechanism to lose its divider, it would be a severe problem.

After two days, they hadn’t received any signal from Jiang Siqi, yet Liu Shuyue showed up.

"How’s Hot Pepper Village?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Everything’s normal." She seemed quite spirited, even though there had been numerous twists and turns in the past few days, Chen Xuan felt she was rather enjoying this time where she could temporarily let go of responsibilities and have free adventures.

"Then we’re set to go."

"I want to go too!" Lin Qing interjected.

"If you also go, who’s going to watch the store?" Chen Xuan put his hand on his forehead.

"Then let’s close the shop for a day. You’re not making money from it anyway," she pleaded, "I want to find a place to test the repaired prosthetics since it’s inconvenient in the neighborhood." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Yep, she’s practically made not making money a catchphrase.

"This should be a quick trip, it doesn’t matter if she comes along," Liu Shuyue chimed in to support.

Seeing both of them pleading with him, Chen Xuan could only agree, "Alright, alright, I got it."

After setting the branch at the location of the old Only I Am Venerable Sect, the three entered the elevator, directly reaching the territory of Chang’an City.

Upon entering the branch, Chen Xuan found the courtyard to be remarkably clean, with the big tree in the corner lush, yet not many fallen leaves were seen on the ground. The two Spiritual Energy Devices used for testing disciples were still placed in the courtyard’s center, with someone considerately having covered them with tarpaulin to shield from rain.

"Doesn’t feel much different," Chen Xuan remarked.

"What change could there be? We’ve only been away for a month... hmm?" Lin Qing suddenly let out an "eh".

The two followed her gaze, looking up at an iron rod standing on the rooftop—it was now encased in a thick layer of rust, turning entirely orange-red.

"Is that the antenna you mounted?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Yes, cobbled together with some renovation materials I found in the warehouse." She sounded a bit surprised, "Why’s it rusting so badly?"

At that moment, footsteps echoed from outside the courtyard.

Two men dressed in simple clothes, holding brooms, pushed open the gate and walked into the courtyard. Upon seeing Chen Xuan and the others, they were taken aback.

"Just in time," Chen Xuan beckoned them over, "Are you from the Immortal Alliance?"

The two exchanged a glance, but their expressions turned to shock! They dropped the brooms and knelt, kowtowing to Chen Xuan, "We greet the Immortal Master Lords!"

Huh?

Chen Xuan was perplexed, what’s this all about? Only I Am Venerable Sect disciples used to address him and Liu Shuyue like this, but the sect had already disbanded. Could these people still be from the sect?

"Get up, get up, no need to rush into kowtowing," he quickly stopped them, "Tell me, who are you?"

The two then stood up, patted the dust off themselves, and answered with lowered heads, "I am Wang Wenyi, and he is Wang Wenshou, both entry-level disciples of the Ascension Platform."

"Oh... Ascension Platform," Chen Xuan nodded, "So during this time, have you two been responsible for cleaning this courtyard?"

"Replying to Immortal Master, we dare not take credit!" Wang Wenyi hurriedly said, "Every year, new disciples are stationed outside the courtyard to ensure everything is fresh and new for the Immortal Master’s return!"

"I see—" midway through speaking, Chen Xuan’s expression changed, "Hold on, every year?"

Over there, Liu Shuyue had already jumped in to ask, "When was the teleportation array last activated?"

"Let me think..." Wang Wenyi calculated, "If I recall correctly, it was twenty-five years ago."

Twenty-five years!?

The three of them were stunned.

"This shouldn’t be right!" Chen Xuan murmured, "How could the time discrepancy have widened so fast? Clearly, the Ability Store had already established a significant connection here."

From his past experiences, the more visits to a place, the shorter the time discrepancy between the two places would become.

Even if he didn’t visit for a while, the time flow rate would gradually speed up from slow to fast, instead of instantly resetting to the initial discrepancy.

"Could it be because you stayed in another world for a few days, and the scan gun broke, doubling the distancing effect?" Lin Qing whispered.

This was indeed a possibility.

"Then why had less than half a month passed in Hot Pepper Village?" Liu Shuyue asked skeptically.

"Maybe it’s because your and Fu Jiaolu’s room doors were always open, while Joan’s would only open when using the teleportation array."

Joan’s room number was 210, and it was located far from others to allow for sufficient length to lay out the partitioned channel. Chen Xuan didn’t want any cultivator barging into the shop, so once a person was transported over, he would always shut both the front and back room doors.

"We’ll ponder this later," Chen Xuan turned to the two men, "Since it’s been twenty-five years, the Immortal Alliance headquarters should have been built by now, right? Who’s currently the Alliance Leader or Governor? Please help introduce me."

"We dare not presume! If you have any needs, just instruct us," they hurriedly waved their hands, their faces showing both shock and a hint of hesitation, "However, replying to Immortal Master, the Immortal Alliance has already disbanded, there’s no longer any Alliance Leader or Governor here."