Chapter 99: 99, Punishment that must be accepted

“It’s a friend; I helped her twice,” Qing Chen was a bit surprised, too, at how careful Jiang Xue was, to the point even Mother Ye had to praise her.

Ye Wan didn’t say much else and started applying the ointment to him directly.

Qing Chen only felt a burning and itching sensation in both of his feet, which was extremely painful,

This was nothing like what he had expected; he thought the medicine from the Inner World would make him feel a bit better.

Lin Xiaoxiao said from the side, “Endure it. This thing doesn’t have an analgesic effect, but it promotes recovery very well. Of course, fast recovery comes at a price; nothing comes without a price.”

Uncle Li Dong asked, “You said before there were five enemies. How many did you kill?”

Qing Chen replied, “I killed six.”

Ye Wan looked at Lin Xiaoxiao, “Pay up; it’s more than four.”

Lin Xiaoxiao said reluctantly, “Hey, kid, aren’t you a bit too ruthless… Wait, five thugs, six killed, did you sacrifice a classmate to the heavens or something?”

Qing Chen: “…No, the number of thugs exceeded expectations. There were a total of eight.”

“I see.”

By then, Qing Chen, who had gotten used to these two making bets about him, asked curiously, “How many did you bet I’d kill?”

“Three. I thought if you could manage to kill three, that would be quite impressive. This was your first time taking a life, after all!” Lin Xiaoxiao sighed, “Don’t you hesitate at all when you kill?”

In the midst of this conversation, Uncle Li Dong suddenly looked at Qing Chen with a serious expression.

The young man hesitated momentarily before saying, “Although saying this might make me seem indecisive, when I killed the first person, feeling the blood on my hands, I did hesitate, even felt a bit scared, and wanted to flee from there.”

Uncle Li Dong chuckled, “That’s the normal reaction. If you didn’t hesitate at all, I’d be the one regretting it. I taught you to face the world fiercely, but you should always maintain some reverence for life in your heart.”

“Mm, I understand what you mean, Teacher,” Qing Chen responded.

“Then, do you have any pressing matters to deal with upon returning?” Uncle Li Dong asked, “Teacher can handle them for you.”

“There are indeed two things,” said Qing Chen, “I’ll resolve the first issue first.”

Saying this, he checked that the ointment had been properly applied, then bore the pain and put on his shoes, heading in the direction of the confinement room.

Initially, his manner of walking was awkward, but as he walked, he forcibly endured the pain and resumed his normal gait.

Lin Xiaoxiao chuckled, “This kid is really tough on himself; doesn’t even mind that his feet hurt. But the tougher one is on oneself, the tougher one can be on the enemy, which is a good thing.”

Qing Chen put on the mysterious Cat Mask again, and the moment the door of the confinement room opened, Liu Dezhu inside was already obediently presenting three gold bars, behaving extraordinarily well.

But Qing Chen didn’t even go to take the gold bars; he calmly asked, “Explain your mistakes.”

“I shouldn’t have ignored my communicator for so long,” Liu Dezhu said submissively, “nor should I have thought only about escaping myself, and I definitely shouldn’t have pocketed the gold bars.”

Qing Chen silently sneered behind the mask, and he asked, “I know Kunlun contacted you alone. What did they say? Tell me everything.”

Liu Dezhu pondered, what exactly is the boss’s identity in the Outer World, to know even the movements of Kunlun?

At that moment, he also had some new conjectures, could it be that the boss has many subordinates, like the Assassin on Laojun Mountain?

Could the incident where he secretly kept the watch also have been revealed to the other party by one of the boss’s men?

It’s a possibility.

He made this guess because he always felt that the boss’s methods of dealing with things didn’t seem like those of a high school student.

High school students should be like him, afraid when they encounter danger, wanting to hide when they see a crisis, as none of them had experienced such terrifying things. Even elite students like Hu Xiaoniu were afraid that night, weren’t they?

To be precise, Liu Dezhu felt that there shouldn’t be someone like Qing Chen among high school students who could orchestrate everything from behind the scenes.

Actually, Qing Chen didn’t know that Kunlun had approached Liu Dezhu. He simply deduced that Kunlun would definitely look for him.

At that moment, Liu Dezhu said, “They asked me if I knew your subordinate. I didn’t answer. They said it was nothing else, just that they had found a phone at the scene. It seemed like the leader of the miscreants had taken a mysterious call before dying, but they couldn’t trace its origin.”

At this time, Liu Dezhu’s gaze was still wandering around Qing Chen’s feet. In fact, Kunlun had also mentioned they found bloody footprints, suggesting the murderer must have been severely injured in the foot.

But he noticed that the mysterious boss in front of him walked without any abnormality, so it looked like the other party really wasn’t at Laojun Mountain at that time.

And indeed, the boss had such a fierce subordinate.

“Why would they ask you about the call the miscreant took?” Qing Chen asked.

“Oh, they said that the fingerprint was added afterward. A normal phone has hundreds of fingerprints, but that phone only had about a dozen,” said Liu Dezhu. “They think that the killer must have taken that call.”

Typically, a phone used regularly would be picked up and put down frequently, covered with countless fingerprints.

But by that time, Qing Chen was on the verge of fainting and didn’t have the time to create that many fingerprints.

Sure enough, he couldn’t deceive the smart people in Kunlun with this small trick.

Liu Dezhu continued, “Kunlun approached me just to ask what was said in that mysterious call and who it was with. They suspect that it was the appearance of this person that led Wang Yun to become a mole. This person, hidden behind the miscreants, might collude with others harboring ill intentions to cause even bigger problems.”

He then added, “Boss, should I ask your subordinate and tell Kunlun what was said on the call?”

Qing Chen didn’t take the bait but instead asked, “Do you have any last words?”

At this moment, Qing Chen felt that it was very difficult to obtain any more useful information.

Liu Dezhu was stunned, then immediately burst into tears, “Boss, are you asking me for my last words?”

Qing Chen countered, “Do I still need to keep you? Do you think you are worth keeping?”

As he spoke, Liu Dezhu wished he could kneel down directly to Qing Chen, “Boss, I’ve brought all the gold bars I previously hid in my mouth, and I promise that I will dedicate myself wholeheartedly to serving you in the future. Please don’t kill me, I can be useful! I could be your decoy to attract Time Travelers from all over the country, I could be your Puppet to win them over!”

Liu Dezhu was acutely aware of one thing – even if the boss decided to kill him now, he would probably not face any legal consequences. Nobody in the Outer World would know how he died!

Qing Chen stood up, “It’s too late to say these things now. Remember, when you do something wrong, there will always be consequences. Although you are just a high school sophomore and have not experienced the harsh realities of society, nor do you understand how dangerous this world is, since you’ve entered this game, you must learn some rules.”

With that, he stood up and walked out as if nothing had happened.

In silence, Ye Wan and Lin Xiaoxiao seemed to understand without words, walking into the confinement room. They carried Liu Dezhu to the black box where Qing Chen had undergone his test.

Of course, this was just Qing Chen’s way of scaring him.

Liu Dezhu couldn’t die yet, but he had to be punished.

…

Thank you to the student who reads books and plays games every day for becoming a new ally of this book. The boss is generous, may the boss make a fortune!