Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 972: 608. Small Matters After Returning

The world regained its brightness.

Countdown 168:00:00.

Ma Jingjing sat in his double dormitory, looking at the countdown on his arm, then at Yi Wenbo, who was equally puzzled across from him...

Both simultaneously voiced a question from the depths of their souls: ”Was that person by the lake just now the boss of Daytime, Qing Chen?”

Indeed, it was Qing Chen.

His appearance had already been made public, and his ability to switch disguises instantly completely matched the title ”Thousand-faced God” given by the Jindai Consortium...

However, Ma Jingjing and Yi Wenbo still couldn’t quite process it.

To be specific, they couldn’t believe it.

Their encounter with Qing Chen was quite coincidental, meeting on a steam train, first mistaking him for an Artifact Spirit, then thinking he was a shameless freeloading tour guide.

In the end, at the very last moment before returning, everything suddenly flipped.

The person at the pinnacle of the Time Traveler pyramid was actually right beside them.

Ma Jingjing stood up and opened the curtains, looking outside at the raging black ocean waves at midnight.

The dormitory at the Time Traveler’s Academy was luxurious, with a 42-square-meter room for two people, akin to a standard room in a five-star hotel in a big city.

Inside the dormitory were two small beds equipped with intelligent elevation functions, capable of elevating legs above heart level to aid blood circulation.

On the bedside table, there was also an intelligent switch to control the lights and curtains of the entire room.

Once the curtains were opened, there was a cliff and the vast sea visible outside the dormitory’s floor-to-ceiling windows, and if the windows were opened, the sound of waves hitting the cliff could be heard.

It was awe-inspiring.

Looking up from the vast sea towards the cliff, one could see dormitories arranged in an orderly fashion, with lights bright behind the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The entire Time Traveler’s Academy had over sixty thousand students, with eight students per dormitory in elementary school, four in middle and high school, and two in university.

The island was as large as a city, and in more than twenty thousand dormitories, soft yellow lights glowed.

They were like glass boxes embedded tidily along the long coastline, atop the black cliffs.

Like a picturesque galaxy.

An outsider would surely think this was a top-tier cliff hotel.

Sophisticated and grand.

This academy was built jointly by Kyushu and Kunlun.

Every student who arrived here couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

At this moment, Ma Jingjing said, ”I’ve long heard Daytime is formidable, but without seeing it myself, I had no clear concept... If he is the Master of Daytime, then it’s understandable why someone from Taboo Land would come to hunt him down.”

Yi Wenbo nodded heavily: ”But, contrary to what everyone imagines, people thought he’d be on the run, having no respite from being hunted down, but he leisurely ran to snatch our Dragon Fish.”

After Qing Chen captured Jindai Yasuhito of the Ten Eunuch.

Everyone thought the Jindai Consortium would initiate a crazy retaliation, and Qing Chen would henceforth live under the shadow of being hunted.

Even though the Master of Daytime is formidable, it’s unlikely he could contend against an entire consortium.

However, the Qing Chen in Ma Jingjing’s eyes was not like how they imagined, the other party seemed never flustered, instead, played cards and sang on the steam train.

Just like he was unworried.

Even when intense gunfire sounded in the 10th Taboo Land, the youth remained by the lake, as if nothing was happening.

This calm demeanor was enough to shock everyone after Ma Jingjing and others learned the truth.

Actually, in the Taboo Land, Qing Chen didn’t showcase his strength through any actions.

But the laser guidance ability of Yan Yan, and the effortless assassination abilities of Zard and Qing Ye, said it all.

Invisible as it was, the identity of the Master of Daytime thus appeared even more mysterious.

They knew Qing Chen and his people were formidable, but their perspective limited their ability to even fathom how formidable the other party was.

They recalled the ease with which the other party entered the Taboo Land and the few mysterious subordinates, then compared with their own prideful days, and realized they were insignificant.

Knock knock knock, came knocking sounds.

Ma Jingjing went to open the door, and in the hallway stood Xiao Yu and Li Mengyun.

At this moment, the hallway was particularly lively, with new students introducing themselves to each other and exchanging contact information.

But Li Mengyun anxiously said, ”Ma Jingjing, was I seeing things just now? Was that Qing Chen in the Inner World?”

As soon as the name Qing Chen was spoken, the whole hallway suddenly quieted down.

The dormitory hallway of the Time Traveler’s Academy was like a maze, yet even so, it couldn’t resist the allure of the name Daytime; everyone gathered around.

Ma Jingjing realized the trouble, glanced around, and whispered, ”Let’s talk inside, don’t shout outside.”

But before he could close the door, the students in the hallway had already gathered: ”Wait, were you just talking about Qing Chen? Is that Qing Chen from Daytime? Were you with him?”

Ma Jingjing sighed, it was over.

Someone in the crowd recognized Ma Jingjing with brightened eyes: ”Hey, Ma Jingjing! I followed your Douyin account, your last video said you were going to the 10th Taboo Land. Did you meet Qing Chen there?”

Ma Jingjing was a Douyin influencer, specializing in Inner World adventure videos, taking photos and videos in the Inner World, then returning to the Outer World to earn traffic.

His followers had already reached seven hundred thousand.

During his last crossing, he said he was going to the 10th Taboo Land, and many followers were waiting for his update.

At this moment, Xiao Yu whispered beside me: ”If you say we went to the 10th forbidden place with Qing Chen, the fans might exceed ten million...”

Ma Jingjing pondered over it, looking at the crowd that was packed tight: ”We indeed met the Master of Daytime Qing Chen. As for what happened, we will include it in the video. Everyone, please follow my Douyin account for more information in advance.”

He was thinking whether he could directly make a ’Daytime Journey’ video.

What the Weibo ’Tycoon’ can do, he can do too.

At this time, Ma Jingjing’s gaze suddenly passed through the crowd, and he saw a person with a little sapling on their head wobbling and walking out.

Due to the large number of people, he could only see that wobbly little sapling.

He quickly pushed through the layers of crowd, chasing the little sapling across the sea of heads: ”Hey, Zard!”

Zard turned around in surprise and said: ”You might have mistaken me for someone else!”

Ma Jingjing’s expression changed: ”Brother, is there any other person with a sapling on their head?”

Zard thought for two seconds and said: ”Ah, right, right...”

”We’re not at the 10th forbidden place anymore!” Ma Jingjing whispered as he pulled him aside: ”In the 10th forbidden place, the person was indeed Qing Chen, wasn’t it?”

Zard looked at the ceiling: ”I don’t know.”

In the meantime, Xiao Ying was approaching with Li Tongyun, Jinguji Maki, Nan Gengchen, Liu Dezhu, Jiang Xue, and others.

Zard beamed with joy: ”Finally, you’re here! I have things that my boss asked me to bring back for you!”

Li Tongyun and the others were stunned, wondering who this person was.

They saw Zard suddenly reach into his chest, pulling out a Dragon Fish from a sand-like chest and belly: ”Here, Qing Chen said this is for a little girl!”

The Dragon Fish’s mouth was stuffed with sand, seemingly choking it.

The fish was dead; Zard couldn’t bring back living things.

In fact, until the return was about to happen, Qing Chen only realized that the ability of Huan Yu to transport items from the Inner World didn’t come from a Taboo.

It was Zard’s body.

At this time, the crowd swarmed up again, and Li Tongyun looked expressionlessly at the students: ”Make way.”

This voice had a peculiar intimidating force, causing the enthusiastic students to involuntarily open up a path.

Someone whispered: ”That’s the Daytime Li Tongyun... and Liu Dezhu and the others, the Daytime members are here!”

...

...

In the early morning, Luo Wanya rode a bicycle to Los Angeles University of Technology.

Now, he was the only one left in Los Angeles City, and his life was still very calm, seemingly unchanged.

He just stopped attending international relations classes.

He wanted to learn more, feeling an unprecedented thirst for knowledge as a brother in the jianghu.

Initially, Luo Wanya had some reading difficulties, but now he had no issues, feeling he couldn’t even eat without reading each day.

At this moment, Luo Wanya was sitting in the library, reading materials on modern Chinese history, when the sound of high heels came from afar, getting closer.

He looked up and saw the female teacher standing opposite him.

The female teacher did not blame him, only stood opposite him with a smile: ”Why did you delete me?”

Luo Wanya thought for a moment and smiled: ”How did you find me?”

”You’re a famous person at the school now. It’s not hard to find you,” the teacher said, ”Why are you avoiding me and not attending classes anymore?”

Luo Wanya seriously said: ”We have different paths and cannot work together.”

The female teacher was somewhat surprised: ”How are our paths different? I’m curious, why is someone like you, near fifty, so loyal to a high school student?”

”It’s not loyalty,” Luo Wanya shook his head: ”We are fellow travelers.”

He recalled the promise Qing Chen made to him before the last crossing: We are now changing the world. I hope there are more and more fellow travelers on this path, and we need only be loyal to that shared ideal. If ever I compromise with reality and become a fragile failure, then I would no longer be myself. At that point, I hope you leave me or kill me.

Only at that moment did Luo Wanya finally feel a sense of identification with Qing Chen.

No matter what the future holds, for now, loyalty to Qing Chen meant loyalty to the ideal.

The female teacher found it hard to believe, not expecting Luo Wanya, such a rough person, to resist her charms: ”You are fellow travelers, then what about me?”

Luo Wanya calmly said: ”You and I are different. You strive to be the best, while what we are fighting for now is to stop having people being beneath us. Please leave, do not disturb my reading, thank you.”

The female teacher’s face turned cold: ”I saw online that the Daytime members have all left, and it’s just you left to guard the place. It seems they don’t see you as one of their own.”

Luo Wanya laughed indifferently: ”You’re mistaken. Disappear before I get angry; I’m starting to become a little disgusted with you, merely a pretty face.”

Luo Wanya did not feel like the one left behind.

Qing Chen had been quietly guarding Los Angeles City to prevent anyone from assassinating the solitary Luo Wanya.

It was only after dealing with the fire and moving to a new secret base that he stepped on the high-speed rail heading to Zheng City.

Now... that boss should have arrived in Zheng City by now.

Going to school, what an enticing term, Luo Wanya laughed. If he had the chance, he too would love to attend school like Qing Chen and the others.

However, he now hoped even more that the children from the slums in the Inner World could have the right to attend school just like the children in the Outer World.

...

There will be one more Chapter before 11 PM, Beijing time, on February 11, 2022.