The darkness that enveloped the world dissipated.
To the outside world, this period of ti seed to have lasted less than a mont, so short that only figures like Demi-Gods could perceive it.
But for every Ti Traveler, this period of ti felt incredibly long, and none could be certain how long their lives had been shrouded in darkness.
Qing Chen did not wake imdiately, his eyes remaining closed as he remained imrsed in a certain world.
It was the world of Forbidden Artifact ACE-011, Conquer with Virtue.
He looked around, observing his surroundings…
It was a barren wasteland, empty and tranquil.
"Is anyone there?" Qing Chen shouted, but received no reply.
Suddenly, Qing Chen sensed sothing was amiss. He looked down to see a cold sniper rifle clutched in his arms, sohow.
A mont later, Qing Chen understood. He peered through the scope to survey his surroundings, quickly spotting a small coin standing upright on the wasteland 400 ters away.
He lay prone on the ground, breathing lightly, then pulled the trigger.
From the barrel, the bullet exploded forth with imnse firepower, following an absolutely straight trajectory, precisely hitting the coin in the distance.
The powerful recoil of the anti-materiel sniper rifle slamd against Qing Chen’s shoulder, causing a numbing sensation even in his tahuman body.
The mont the gunfire erupted, the air expelled from the sides of the barrel stirred up all the dust around Qing Chen, leaving him temporarily covered in gri.
Qing Chen remained motionless, unmindful of the dust swirling around him, like a statue.
However, even after hitting the coin, the world did not dissipate.
The young man, no longer anxious or restless, slowly cald down, searching for his next target as if playing a ga.
The next mont, another coin appeared 800 ters away.
At a distance of 800 ters, Qing Chen felt the coin was almost invisible; even the reticle in the scope appeared much larger than the target itself.
Qing Chen breathed slowly, and at the peak of one of his breaths, his arm, his body, reached their most stable state.
He pulled the trigger again.
The coin was once again struck.
Qing Chen remained still. This ti, the coin appeared farther away, at 1600 ters.
A gentle breeze swept across this mysterious world, and a light rain began to fall from the originally clear sky, causing visibility to rapidly decrease.
Qing Chen tried pulling the trigger, but the bullet veered off course in the distant wilderness, unable to hit the coin.
He recalled Old Nine’s words: When the sniper target exceeds 1600 ters, it is almost impossible to see with the naked eye, and the bullet will be affected by external interference.
At that point, what a sniper needed was not skill, but precise calculation and an even more mysterious sense of the gun.
Qing Chen silently stared at the coin, a target that seed eternally unreachable.
He began breathing in a peculiar rhythm, the fla patterns on his cheeks blooming once more.
Painful mories flashed through his mind, yet the abundant release of Endorphins put him in a unique state of stability, as if soone was gently stroking his head, singing a warm song.
A one-degree deviation in trajectory would result in a vast difference in the final impact point.
Qing Chen closed his eyes, silently calculating and repeatedly recalling the trajectory of the previous bullet.
When he opened his eyes again, he subtly adjusted the sniper’s reticle using the subtle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
The rise and fall of his chest was more stable than his wrist, fingers, and shoulders; this is sothing ordinary people find difficult to control and asure.
The young man pulled the trigger.
The slender bullet, spinning through the rifling of the barrel, pierced the rain curtain at an imnse initial velocity.
This ti, the world did not indicate whether he had hit the target before quickly dissipating.
Qing Chen ntally reviewed the trajectory. He believed he still missed, but the mysterious world seed to have accepted him.
Back in his small house on Xingshu Road, Qing Chen opened his eyes and let out a light sigh.
When Li Shutong was still around, he always looked forward to traveling through ti. After Li Shutong’s departure, he felt a sense of unexpected peace each ti he returned to the Outer World.
In comparison, the Inner World, while full of opportunities, also carried dangers.
The mysterious world he had just experienced was likely the containnt condition for the Forbidden Artifact ACE-011, Conquer with Virtue. It had once experienced its peak and glory in the hands of a master gunsmith, and thus was unwilling to fall into the hands of an incompetent person.
This was the pride of a Forbidden Artifact.
A knock sounded on the bedroom door. Nangeng Chen called from outside, "Chen ge, Chen ge, I have sothing important to tell you."
"Wait a mont," Qing Chen responded, "I need to take care of sothing first."
While in the Inner World, he had maintained the image of a superior, so he did not imdiately check Conquer with Virtue.
As a result, he had just contained the Forbidden Artifact ACE-011, Conquer with Virtue within his body before returning, the containnt process spanning two worlds.
Now, sitting by the bed, he silently called out in his heart, and a long black sniper rifle appeared out of thin air on his lap.
The rifle was 1.4 ters long, its body as black as ink.
A large flash suppressor was attached to the front of the barrel.
His right hand gently caressed the black sniper rifle, tracing it all the way to the stock, where a small yet elegant ‘De’ character was engraved.
"It’s indeed Conquer with Virtue," Qing Chen exclaid, "From now on, I’ll also be a reasonable person."
If anyone were to say he was unreasonable, even Conquer with Virtue wouldn’t agree.
In a sense, this black sniper rifle wasn’t a typical Forbidden Artifact because it lacked clear and defined containnt conditions.
However, containing it was far more difficult than containing other Forbidden Artifacts.
This was because it was recognizing Qing Chen, not the other way around – it wasn’t about Qing Chen fulfilling certain containnt conditions to possess it.
"Huh," Qing Chen suddenly noticed a problem. Conquer with Virtue didn’t have a place to load bullets!
Although he didn’t have any sniper bullets on hand, and although he didn’t dare to fire a shot in the Outer World and attract attention, the problem was… a sniper rifle shouldn’t lack a place to load bullets, right?
Qing Chen pondered this for a long ti without figuring it out.
He opened the door. "Xiaonan, what is it?"
"Chen ge, before I returned, I received a letter with the Demon Stamp on it," Nangeng Chen said.
"What did the letter say?"
Nangeng Chen replied, "It said our ga is not over yet."
"Where did the letter appear?" Qing Chen frowned. This possessor was truly persistent, managing to find Nangeng Chen even in the Inner World.
"The letter appeared in my residence at Qing Shan Bie Yuan Courtyard, beside Li Yino’s pillow," Nangeng Chen said, "Li Yino has agreed to help track down the Demon Stamp."
"Mmm, that’s a good approach. After all, the fourth president of the Federation once possessed the Demon Stamp. After his assassination in his later years, the Demon Stamp disappeared. I think the whereabouts of this Forbidden Artifact might be related to the assassin," Qing Chen pondered, offering the information he knew, "During the fourth president’s term, the Conglorate wasn’t as powerful as it is now. It’s said that this president enacted many laws restricting the Conglorate during his tenure, so I suspect the Conglorate was behind his assassination."
Qing Chen continued, "If the mastermind behind the assassination was the Conglorate, then soone like Li Yino, a figure within the Conglorate, should be able to find out where the Demon Stamp has gone."
Nangeng Chen beca slightly excited. "We’re going to dig out this Demon Stamp possessor?"
"I didn’t pay much attention to him before, but now it seems we have no choice but to dig," Qing Chen said calmly, "I don’t mind having another slave."
"What should we do now?" Nangeng Chen asked.
"First, let’s peel off one of his disguises," Qing Chen replied.
However, he didn’t say how they would do it, and Nangeng Chen couldn’t figure it out either.
Qing Chen glanced at the countdown: 167:45:02
Another seven days.
At this ti, the group chat created by He Xiaoxiao beca lively again. Rebel King was the first to speak, "I have so rather significant news to share with everyone. Seven gangs in City 18 attacked the Eternal Society, and almost all of them were wiped out. Li Dongze broke through to A-class in the midst of battle, inflicting heavy casualties on those gangs."
Qing Chen held Nangeng Chen’s phone. When he saw this ssage, he realized that the outside world didn’t know that Li Dongze had quietly broken through to A-class years ago.
Unexpectedly, Li Dongze had hidden himself so deeply.
At this ti, Lu Ya, who had spoken in the group before, said, "I believe the Conglorate supported those seven gangs, but no true experts from the Conglorate appeared that night. Therefore, I suspect that a certain Conglorate wanted to use the Eternal Society to clear out City 18’s underground world."
Rebel King was silent for a while, "What benefit does the Conglorate have from the Eternal Society dominating City 18? Do you have any evidence?"
"I’m just guessing, I don’t need evidence," Lu Ya replied calmly.
In the group, seeing the rising tension between the two, Li Si quickly changed the subject, "Rebel King, we’re not too interested in the Eternal Society. I want to know about the progress of Shadow Succession."
Now Rebel King took on a superior tone, "What’s the rush? I can only co back once a week, so of course, I need so appetizers before the main course. Let share a second piece of small news. On the night the Eternal Society was attacked, Li Changqing, an important figure in the Li Clan, was attacked in District 4. The attackers were suspected to be from another Conglorate. What does this an, everyone? It ans that war is very likely to break out in the Inner World in the future!"
Rebel King continued, "A ti of chaos is coming. If you want to survive, you have to prepare in advance."
Li Si said, "Rebel King, since you have so much information, why don’t you establish an organization and let us follow you?"
"Hehe, I’m used to working alone and not interested in establishing any organization," Rebel King replied, "Besides, I don’t care about other people’s lives or deaths. I only care about myself."
"What other news? Don’t keep us in suspense. Let’s talk about Shadow Succession," Lu Ya spoke in the group.
"Alright, then I’ll talk about Shadow Succession to broaden your horizons," Rebel King cheerfully sent a ssage, "All Shadow Candidates have arrived in City 18. Surprisingly, Qing Yi is related to the Li Clan by blood, and has directly moved into the Ban Shan Mountain Estate."
"What about Qing Wen and Qing Zhong?" Li Si asked.
"The other Shadow Candidates have also found collaborators within the Li Clan, but I don’t know who they are yet," Rebel King said.
Qing Chen thought to himself, Rebel King was now telling him information he already knew.
As for the collaborators of the Shadow Candidates… probably most people didn’t know that four of those seven people were cooperating with Li Yino.
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