Chapter 6: The Treatment of a Big Shot is Really Good
Why would such a strong individual target the Qing Tong organization? For what reason? That merchandise? Or to rescue the youth who wanted to save that merchandise?
Qing Yu Chen was puzzled for a moment, then quickly found a reason.
That strong individual originally did not intend to reveal their identity.
It seemed that if he were to capture the youth, that strong individual would also pretend to be captured.
If Qing Yu Chen hadn't revealed it himself, that strong individual wouldn't have even stepped forward.
That esteemed person was in disguise! Qing Yu Chen showed a look of understanding.
That esteemed person arrived after the youth. His purpose was to deceive that youth!
No wonder, no wonder, no wonder he didn't care at all whether he would be caught by the Qing Tong organization.
He was strong, he was fearless. He came here merely to perfect his game identity!
He didn't care at all whether this was the Qing Tong organization or the Huang Tong organization. Toying with this organization was just an auxiliary plot in his game.
Qing Yu Chen firmly believed in the conclusion he had deduced.
There were all kinds of people among ability users, and the strong ones were especially individualistic.
Merely liking to disguise oneself and pretend to be weak while actually being strong was not strange at all.
It seemed he had accidentally disrupted that esteemed person's game, Qing Yu Chen thought.
At the same time, he relaxed. As long as that esteemed person wanted to continue the game, they could negotiate.
He believed that the esteemed person's willingness to use the walkie-talkie to communicate was a signal of goodwill.
Then things weren't so bad.
...
Before coming to Qing Tong, Li Li had never imagined that she would end up being Qing Tong organization's guest of honor.
And the leader of Qing Tong organization, Qing Yu Chen, stood beside her, his attitude seemingly humble, yet his eyes still held a trace of arrogance.
“This is our ‘Cocoon’.” The man in the light green changpao magua pushed the rimless glasses on his nose and gestured with his hand across the single room doors, each with a bronze luster. “Or you could call it a merchandise room.”
“The mimicry-type youth is temporarily stored here. Please rest assured, I've made him fall asleep. He'll wake up in about an hour.”
The power had not yet been restored. The corridor was pitch black, and the path ahead resembled a dark beast that would devour life.
Qing Yu Chen carried a lantern, illuminating this area.
However, in this endless corridor, black-robed men stood outside the room doors like silent stone statues.
This ability user seemed to care a lot about his image.
His hair was parted in the middle, with black, choppy bangs loosely covering his forehead.
When he spoke, his light purple eyes narrowed slightly, resembling an arrogant mountain sprite.
Li Li felt as if the air conditioning had been turned on full blast here; it was chilly.
It might also have been her own psychological suggestion.
After all, she was genuinely a bit creeped out.
The Qing Tong boss was right beside her; this was equivalent to playing a game with a blank account and casually chatting with the instance boss face-to-face.
Li Li couldn't help but think: How am I so capable?
This was a place even the protagonist Yiming wouldn't dare to venture into, the highest secret of the Qing Tong organization, and she had just walked in so casually.
Who was she, and who was Yiming? She, Li Li, was a non-ability user. Yiming was at least D-rank, almost touching the edge of mid-rank.
Yet now, Yiming had been locked up by Qing Yu Chen, while she, an ordinary person, was being served by Qing Yu Chen as if she were a big shot.
Although the pressure Li Li was under was also considerable, she genuinely found it quite amusing.
Even in Jiao Huang, the Qing Tong organization was a special existence.
The C-rank boss could become the protector of an entire street, while the B-rank Qing Yu Chen was considered to have few rivals in Jiao Huang.
Aside from the elusive Jiao Huang city lord, this city didn't even have an A-rank.
This was Qing Yu Chen's source of pride.
Li Li felt like she had skipped the leveling process and started fighting the boss directly.
How could this not make her panic!
She felt like her smile was about to freeze!
The faint flame suddenly flickered.
The firelight barely illuminated the second bronze-colored door on the left.
After a creaking sound, it suddenly turned into specks of light and disappeared from its original position.
The door vanished into thin air, yet the black-robed men were accustomed to this, not even shifting their gaze for a moment.
It was an ability. Li Li looked over. In the room unlit by the lantern, a black-robed man gradually walked out.
The black-robed man was a full one meter ninety tall.
His large frame and strong muscles stretched the robe taut, and the hem of the robe was embroidered with a golden tiger pattern.
The bottom of his black robe was damp, leaving a circular mark on the bluestone-like floor tiles.
Before she could see his face clearly, Li Li first smelled a strong scent of blood.
She suppressed the physiological reaction of wanting to frown and finally saw the man's face.
A hood covered the upper half of his face.
A slightly square jaw, a man with an aquiline nose. Li Li had seen him in the manga.
When Yiming was buying information about Qing Tong from the boss, the boss spoke in words, but the manga provided illustrations.
It was a matter of life and death, so Li Li remembered it very clearly.
The B-rank Qing Yu Chen, with his long hair gathered into a small braid, had an otherworldly temperament.
His appearance in a single panel had caused face-con readers on the forum to scream for hundreds of posts.
There was another C-rank ability user.
The boss didn't mention his name, only told Yiming that such a person existed.
His ability was spell-type, suspected to be related to Qing tong.
At that time, the illustration in the manga was almost identical to the man before her now.
Great, not only did she face the instance boss with a blank account, but she also met the instance sub-boss.
“Step down, waste,” Qing Yu Chen suddenly said coldly.
Li Li, who was thinking, was startled.
Before she could react facially, she saw the black-robed man who had just walked out of the room suddenly stop and lower his head: “Yes, Leader.”
Did the C-rank ability user still not have the heart to resist when facing Qing Yu Chen? Li Li thought.
This seemed to be just an interlude.
After this, Qing Yu Chen turned around leisurely and continued to speak in a seemingly humble manner: "Please don't mind. As a token of apology, you can take any merchandise from here at will."
He spoke in a sincere tone: "If you don't mind, you can complete the plunder as soon as you've chosen. We will provide the tools and the site, and we will also dispose of the corpse. If you want Tang, the original buyer is only a D-rank. We can directly resell, no, give her to you."
So that C-rank just completed a plunder? Li Li still frowned.
Everyone in the Qing Tong organization seemed to be accustomed to harming the weak, but this was just a microcosm of this world.
The darkness concealed Li Li's subtle expression changes.
Coincidentally, Qing Yu Chen had also turned around and didn't see her.
It was explained in the manga that abilities were almost spread throughout a person's entire body.
Therefore, to plunder an ability, the plundered person would suffer great pain.
The lucky ones would only be disabled afterward, but the unlucky ones would die directly.
This world's technological focus was on ability research.
Naturally, researchers had studied how to strip abilities without harming the ability user, but this technology currently required a lot of funds, and ordinary people certainly wouldn't receive such treatment.
Because of same-type plundering, ability users of the same type were enemies to each other.
When Li Li was reading the manga before, she once thought, could this be considered raising gu, putting ability users of the same type into one box, and the one who fought their way out in the end became the Gu King.
Qing Yu Chen was testing her.
This B-rank ability user's superficial attitude was very good.
His attitude towards Li Li was completely different from when he cursed his subordinates as wastes.
He was cold and aloof towards his subordinates, but towards her, he was like a spring breeze, as if whatever she said was law.
However, this respect was only superficial. This person was not vague at all when testing her ability.
Li Li slowly turned her head and looked at Qing Yu Chen.
She suddenly had an idea.
So she said: “Concept-type.”
“Concept?” Qing Yu Chen was stunned for a moment.
“I’m interested in concept-types, you know.” She turned her face to the side, looking at Qing Yu Chen's expression, as if suddenly interested. “Do you have any?”
Concept-type ability users were very rare.
The entire Qing Tong might only have one concept-type ability user, and that was the leader of Qing Tong, Qing Yu Chen himself.
Li Li felt that she was sometimes really bold.
This was equivalent to her pointing at Qing Yu Chen's nose and saying she wanted his ability.
In the dim corridor, the candlelight illuminated half of her face, revealing a slightly interested smile.
That appearance, the same color as darkness, was like a demon.
Qing Yu Chen's expression indeed changed.
Li Li appeared leisurely on the surface, but in reality, she was already prepared to use her remaining popularity points to exchange for items.
She looked at Qing Yu Chen's face, waiting for what kind of answer he would give.
She saw Qing Yu Chen's lips press down. After a moment of, he said: “Please don’t joke, how could you possibly need a concept-type.”
Why couldn't she be a concept-type? Li Li was a little puzzled, but quickly put it out of her mind.
“Joking?” Li Li looked into Qing Yu Chen's eyes, staring for a long time, then suddenly chuckled.
“Alright, it’s a joke. I originally thought you could really produce anything.” She drew out her words, with a hint of mockery.
She didn't wait for Qing Yu Chen to explain, shifted her gaze, took a few steps forward, and stopped in front of that C-rank black-robed man.
“You, take me to see Little Corgi.” She casually pointed at the C-rank black-robed man and walked into the darkness of the corridor without looking back.
Behind her, Qing Yu Chen's expression changed, his polite demeanor almost unsustainable.
Finally, he forced a smile: “Your wish is everything.” Then he turned his head and cursed the black-robed man again, “Waste, go to Room Four!”
The black-robed man's lowered head lifted slightly, but he didn't look at Qing Yu Chen's face.
...
The C-rank black-robed man silently walked in front of Li Li, leading the way for her.
He seemed to be able to see in the dark, his steps without a trace of hesitation.
Soon, he arrived at a bronze-colored door. After waiting for Li Li's nod, he activated his ability.
The bronze-colored door instantly began to transform, receding from the middle to both sides like a tide, revealing the scene inside the room.
Li Li's gaze paused for a moment on the original location of the door.
She finally understood why the Qing Tong organization was so confident in their security, and thus got their base stolen by Yiming when Qing Yu Chen was absent.
Because the rooms of the ‘Cocoon’ were all ability creations of the C-rank ability user.
Bronze was a type of alloy, and also an inanimate creation.
Freely controlling alloys belonged to spell-type abilities, which matched the boss's information.
The C-rank boss's domain enveloped his casino, while the similarly C-rank black-robed man had turned this area into his own prison.
Qing Yu Chen was the controller, the black-robed man was the guard.
How could ability users who fell into their hands possibly escape.
The C-rank ability user walked into the room carrying a lantern, the light illuminating the scene inside.
The walls were made of alloy.
In the small room, there was a bed, and the brown-haired youth was lying on it, his eyes tightly closed.
Quite some time had passed since Li Li followed Qing Yu Chen around pontificating, but he still hadn't woken up.
Qing Yu Chen had said that he would probably wake up in about an hour.
Li Li could already predict what the readers would say when this scene was drawn.
She first laughed without conscience, then paused.
Based on her experience reading manga, the scene where Yiming woke up would definitely be drawn.
At this time, she could complete her formal debut.
According to Yiming's misunderstanding of her, then she should be... pretending to be weak?