Chapter 22: I am the state of etiquette

July 28th, 2023

Pull the time forward a bit.

Lu Ye University, women’s dormitory.

“Has Lin Xuan not come back yet?” Xu Ruan returned after doing the laundry and noticed that Lin Xuan’s parcel hadn’t been collected yet. She asked curiously.

“She must have gone to buy food,” Ning Yadun said.

Right outside the north gate is a street full of snacks. The food there is delicious and cheap. Even if people passing by aren’t hungry, they can’t help but buy something to satisfy their cravings when they smell the aroma.

Xu Ruan nodded, finding Ning Yadun’s speculation very reasonable, so she didn’t think too much about it.

“Let’s watch a horror movie. When Lin Xuan comes back, we can turn off the lights, draw the curtains, and watch it together,” Chu Feifei suggested. “Opportunities like this are rare.”

“Sure, let me find the projector, and you guys look for a high-level horror movie,” Ning Yadun said. She started rummaging through her drawer. It had been a while since she watched a movie in the dorm, and she wasn’t sure where she had put the projector.

“How about a ghost movie?” Chu Feifei asked.

“Forget it. Lin Xuan already pretends to be a female ghost in the escape room. It won’t scare her,” Xu Ruan rejected.

“Then a serial killer movie?”

The three girls busied themselves in the dorm. Unbeknownst to them, half an hour had passed. They finally noticed something was wrong. Was Lin Xuan taking too long?

“She’s been gone for too long, even if she’s buying food,” Xu Ruan said. Considering the time before, Lin Xuan had been gone for nearly an hour.

“No response to the messages either.” Xu Ruan sent Lin Xuan a WeChat message, but there was no reply.

“Let’s call her.” Chu Feifei suggested.

Xu Ruan agreed and immediately dialed Lin Xuan’s phone number.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is out of service.”

The three of them were dumbfounded. Even remote mountainous areas have signal coverage these days, so how could there be an out-of-service area in their university town?

“Maybe it’s a problem with her phone,” Xu Ruan said. “Lin Xuan’s previous phone was broken, and she bought an old-fashioned one that often freezes and runs out of battery.”

“I’m still worried. I’ll go and take a look outside,” Ning Yadun said, feeling uneasy. She planned to go outside and search.

“I’ll go with you,” Xu Ruan said, changing her shoes to join her.

“I’ll wait in the dorm,” Chu Feifei said, afraid that Lin Xuan would come back exactly when they were gone.

The north gate wasn’t far from the dormitory, and Ning Yadun and Xu Ruan walked quickly. In just a few minutes, they arrived at the package storage area at the school gate.

“Excuse me, did a girl come here to pick up a package?” Xu Ruan asked the delivery guy.

“Which one are you referring to?” His place was filled with packages for university students, and he had no idea which girl she was talking about.

“I… I have her phone number. Can you help me check if she picked up her package?” Xu Ruan realized and quickly found Lin Xuan’s phone number, giving it to the delivery guy.

The delivery guy checked and quickly replied, “Yes, Lin Xuan. She has a package that hasn’t been picked up yet. Are you her classmates? Do you want to help her collect it?”

“She didn’t come to pick up the package?” Ning Yadun’s face darkened upon hearing this.

“Yeah, there’s no record of her picking it up here. Are you going to help collect it or not?” The storage area was already piled up with packages, and another truckload was expected to arrive in the evening. If they didn’t take them away, there wouldn’t be enough space. So the delivery guy really hoped these two girls would help take the packages.

“Xu Ruan, ask Feifei if Lin Xuan went back to the dorm?” Ning Yadun said to Xu Ruan.

Xu Ruan quickly called Chu Feifei, who was guarding the dorm, asking if Lin Xuan had returned. The answer she received was that Lin Xuan hadn’t come back.

After hanging up the phone, the two girls looked at each other, their expressions turning gloomy.

“Let’s go and search on the snack street.” The two girls turned around and left.

“Hey, can you help take the packages!” The delivery guy shouted loudly, but the two girls seemed not to hear and walked away quickly. “Students these days, don’t they care about their classmates?”

The two girls divided their search, going left and right along the snack street. If they came across the shops Lin Xuan often visited, they would go in and ask, but there was still no news of Lin Xuan.

At that moment, Chu Feifei also rushed out of the dorm. The three girls were worried at the school gate. “Could Lin Xuan suddenly have something to do and went to take care of it?”

They still preferred to think optimistically.

“Could it be work-related?” Ning Yadun speculated.

“Xu Ruan, do you have the phone number of her workplace?” Chu Feifei asked Xu Ruan.

“The cake shop and the escape room’s phone numbers are available online.” It was the internet age, and any business open to the public would have information online. Especially since both of the places where Lin Xuan had part-time jobs catered mainly to students, it would be easier to find.

Xu Ruan and Chu Feifei separately searched online for the phone numbers of the cake shop and the escape room. They called to inquire about Lin Xuan’s whereabouts, but the answer they received was that Lin Xuan wasn’t there, and they hadn’t asked her to come back.

“What about her workplace? What’s the name of the state-owned enterprise where she works?” Chu Feifei looked at Xu Ruan.

Xu Ruan shook her head. “I… I don’t know.”

Xu Ruan was usually very busy with work, sometimes returning home later than Lin Xuan, and even working overtime on weekends. So even though they lived together, they didn’t have many opportunities to talk.

“I hope nothing has happened to her.” Sometimes when you don’t think about certain things, you don’t feel anything, but once your thoughts start to spiral, you can imagine all sorts of terrifying consequences. Chu Feifei was naturally sensitive, and the strong uneasiness made her eyes turn red.

“She’ll be fine, don’t scare yourself.” Xu Ruan reassured her.

“But Lin Xuan has never been the kind of person who leaves things unfinished. If she had something to do and had to leave, she would definitely tell us.” Ning Yadun also started to panic.

“I’ll call her again.” Xu Ruan called Lin Xuan again, but the phone still showed that it was out of the service area.

“Let’s call the police.” Chu Feifei suggested, “Let the police help us find her.”

“But it’s only been two hours. Will the police look for Lin Xuan?” Ning Yadun asked.

“Let’s go back to the dorm first. If Lin Xuan hasn’t returned by eleven, we’ll call the police.” Xu Ruan said.

“It’s only 8:30 now. What if something happens to Lin Xuan during this time?” Chu Feifei’s voice trembled with a touch of tears.

“Can you please stop being so pessimistic?” Ning Yadun couldn’t bear it anymore.

“I don’t want to be either, but Lin Xuan can even buy instant noodles without the seasoning packet. With her luck, how can I be optimistic?” Chu Feifei said.

“…” This undeniable fact silenced the three of them.

“She found a job in a state-owned enterprise, right? I think Lin Xuan’s luck has turned around.” Xu Ruan tried to uplift Lin Xuan’s image.

“But we don’t even know which company she went to, could that company be a scam? Nowadays, state-owned enterprises don’t even hire master’s graduates, and campus recruitment is already over. How did Lin Xuan manage to get an interview?” Ning Yadun asked.

“…” Once again, the three fell into silence.

Finally, the three of them decided to go together to the nearby police station to report the situation.

Upon hearing the accounts from the three girls, the police officer couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated. A grown adult had been out of contact for just over two hours, and they came rushing to report it? The police officer wanted to send the girls back, but seeing their cute and tearful appearance, they couldn’t help but feel compassion.

“Alright, let me check and see if I can find the company where your classmate is located,” said the police officer.

“Thank you, Uncle Policeman,” the three girls quickly expressed their gratitude.

The police officer accessed the internal network of the police station and entered the name Lin Xuan. Soon, a record popped up: “Lin Xuan, was she the one who was hit by a car at the school gate a month ago? The driver fled the scene.”

“Yes, yes, that’s her,” the three girls nodded eagerly.

The police officer’s expression became more serious. They were the ones who initially handled this case, but they hadn’t been able to find the hit-and-run driver. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to find him, but the driver was already a wanted criminal by the city criminal investigation team. He had strong anti-investigation abilities and was involved in five or six cases. He had been on the run for over six months. If he hadn’t hit someone with his car a month ago, the police wouldn’t even have had any leads. He was difficult to catch.

The police officer searched all the information within his jurisdiction but regretfully said, “I couldn’t find any information about your classmate’s employment online. It’s possible that the company she joined hasn’t processed her employment or hasn’t registered her on the labor website.”

“What should we do then?” Xu Ruan asked.

“Don’t panic for now. Here’s what we’ll do: you go back, and if she hasn’t returned by morning, we’ll initiate an investigation. In the meantime, we’ll patrol the area around the college road and conduct some inquiries,” the police officer suggested.

The three girls knew that the police could only do so much. Although they were still worried, they obediently returned to the school.

Meanwhile, at the same time the police officer found Lin Xuan’s information through the internal network, someone in the Group 6 chat suddenly posted a screenshot and mentioned Assistant Tan.

Qingkong: “Is this Lin Xuan the new member of our group?”

Haiwang: “Yes, it’s her.”

The response came not from Assistant Tan but from Jian Xingyu, who always had an eventful nightlife.

Chu: “What happened to Lin Xuan?”

Qingkong: “Someone just searched for Lin Xuan’s information on the internal network. I called to inquire about the situation. The local police station said three girls went there to report that Lin Xuan went missing. It happened about two and a half hours ago.”

Wang: “Two and a half hours ago, if I remember correctly, that’s right around the time the spatial portal closed.”

Haiwang: “Are you saying she might have entered the spatial portal? That’s not possible. She’s only an F-ranker. How could she be swallowed by the spatial portal?”

Blue Sky: [Are you sure she’s F-class?]

Ocean King: [Of course, I’m certain. If you don’t believe me, ask Chen Chu.]

Chen Chu didn’t reply because he was on the phone with Lin Xuan, and all he heard was a message saying the system was out of service area. For ordinary people, being out of service area might simply mean poor signal, but for them, the superhumans, it meant something else.

At this moment, Tan, who had silently read through all the chat records, finally came online: [I just made a phone call, and Lin Xuan is no longer in the service area.]

Ocean King: […]

Blue Sky: [It seems she really went in.]

Ocean King: [She’s not really F-class? If she deceived me, it’s possible, but Chen Chu also said she’s F-class. Could she really be hiding her true abilities?]

Tan: [It’s also possible that she’s just unlucky.]

Tan: [Xiao Wen warned me that Lin Xuan has had bad luck.]

Tan knew that Lin Xuan had bad luck, but he never expected it to be to this extent. The spatial dimension devouring superhumans did so to replenish their own energy. From another perspective, it was also the spatial dimension’s recognition of the superhuman’s energy level. But Lin Xuan clearly didn’t fall within that category.

Polluted King: [So her luck is really bad. According to what’s written above, she was hit by a car a month ago, and they still haven’t found the hit-and-run driver. @Blue Sky, your police efficiency is lacking.]

Blue Sky’s alternate identity in reality is a police officer, and he intercepted information about the hit-and-run incident involving Lin Xuan.

Blue Sky: [That’s not a case I’m responsible for, and besides, my ability is not tracking.]

Tan: [@Everyone, although the chances of Lin Xuan surviving are slim, everyone should closely monitor the energy fluctuations around them. If you detect the opening of a spatial door, immediately proceed to investigate.]

[Understood.]

Rows and rows of messages appeared on the screen in an orderly fashion.

Meanwhile, Chen Chu had already pushed open the door and stood on the terrace outside. The apartment he rented was located in the center of Jin City, elevated and overlooking a large part of the city. He stood in the wind, feeling the breeze carrying its scent.

One hour, two hours, three hours passed.

The city lights of Jin City still shone brightly, but the moving car lights had all been extinguished, and the entire city gradually quieted down. The longer time passed, the heavier Chen Chu’s heart became. Although there might be a deviation in the flow of time within the spatial dimension compared to the outside world, the longer it took inside, the more dangerous it became.

Four hours, five hours… eight hours.

The distant sky gradually revealed a pale light, and the wind became more moist and refreshing, but there was still no sign of energy fluctuations. Chen Chu, who had spent the night sleepless, put down the book in his hand and casually turned off the lamp on the terrace. He walked to the edge of the balcony, where potted plants were arranged, drinking in the morning dew and awaiting the sunrise.

Suddenly, Chen Chu remembered the scene when Lin Xuan climbed onto his TV. He followed Lin Xuan back into the pitch-black alley and took action to teach those two scumbags a lesson. At that time, the girl who had been trembling behind him, clutching onto his clothes, immediately became spirited as soon as it was confirmed to be safe. Her tears hadn’t even dried, yet she could instantly smile without a trace of gloom and even take pleasure in mocking others: “Scum, you’ve kicked the wrong person. I might not be able to deal with you, but someone will.”

Chen Chu didn’t mind helping Lin Xuan deal with scum, but the prerequisite was that he could reach them.

The flow of time in the spatial dimension was different from the outside world, and no one could accurately estimate when the spatial doors would reopen. However, most spatial doors would reopen within 24 hours. Chen Chu glanced at the sky, turned around, and walked back into the house. He planned to grab something to eat first and then return to continue waiting.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, lifting Chen Chu’s slightly damp bangs and his snow-white shirt.

Residual energy waves.

Chen Chu swiftly turned around, his sharp eyes fixedly staring down at the city below, where a massive Ferris wheel stood.

Jin City Amusement Park.

Chen Chu stepped onto the balcony, leaped off, and his body plummeted straight down from the 36th floor. When he reached the 28th floor, wings suddenly sprouted from his back, and he flew towards the direction of the amusement park, riding the wind.

At the same time, beneath the Ferris wheel in the amusement park, a dark spatial rift suddenly appeared, and Lin Xuan, in a disheveled state, tumbled and crawled out from it.

Back in the real world, the TV channel immediately appeared, and Lin Xuan was almost instinctively about to dive into it. As long as she could enter the TV, she could escape from Sato.

Lin Xuan’s thoughts were beautiful, but as soon as she made a move, a tremendous pulling force came from her hair, dragging her down to the ground.

“Ugh!” Lin Xuan cried out in pain, hastily turning her head and just happened to see the man in a kimono dragging Sadako out of the spatial door by her hair.

Lin Xuan’s first thought was to take off the wig, but she was unsuccessful.

[Skill in use, unable to remove.]

Lin Xuan wished she had a knife in her hand right now so that she could cut off her long hair with a single stroke. At this moment, she could only suffer from the tenacious and resilient texture of Sadako’s hair.

Why did her hair have to be so good?

What should she do? What should she do? She couldn’t control Sato with a ruler, she couldn’t crawl into the TV, so what else could she do? System, please help, or else you’ll have to find a new host.

“Swoosh!”

As if hearing Lin Xuan’s call, the system suddenly shook and produced a bamboo slip: [Sato Ichiro, 27 years old, arrested for illegal immigration.]

Huh?

“A mere F-level dares to steal from me.” Sato Ichiro leisurely walked towards Lin Xuan, his samurai sword gleaming with a chilling light as he raised it to strike.

“Wait, you’re about to be caught for illegal immigration, you can still run…” Lin Xuan shouted hoarsely, trying to use the divination result to stop him from wanting to kill her. However, Sato Ichiro clearly didn’t think that killing her would waste much time. The strike came without any reduction in momentum and was already before her eyes.

Terrified, Lin Xuan tightly closed her eyes and waited for a long time, but the expected pain never came.

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Xuan cautiously opened one eye and saw the snow-white tip of the blade and a slender palm whiter than the blade, blocking the tip. Between that palm and the blade, there was a faint bluish energy barrier.

“Chen Chu-jun?”

“Sato Ichiro?”

The two looked at each other, both expressing surprise at seeing the other.

Sato Ichiro retracted his samurai sword, but he still held onto Sadako’s long hair without letting go. Chen Chu glanced at them, curled his finger, and a burst of energy directly pressured Sato Ichiro’s hand gripping the hair. Sato Ichiro’s expression changed, and only then did he release his grip and step back.

“Chen… Chen Chu-senior?” Lin Xuan looked at the tall figure standing in front of her, overwhelmed with a strong sense of security that almost brought tears to her eyes.

Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, I’m alive again.

“Are you okay?” Chen Chu turned around and asked Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan struggled to get up from the ground, her face covered in dirt, sweat, and tears. Her chest was still in pain, feeling extremely wronged, she pointed at Sato Ichiro and complained bitterly, “I’m not okay! I almost died! Sob…senior, he wanted to kill me as soon as I entered. I didn’t offend him in any way.”

Compared to the ordinary world, the spatial dimension was a lawless place, free from legal constraints and rules. People who entered there would not be protected by the law but would instead abide by the law of the jungle, where the strong preyed on the weak. Chen Chu understood this truth when he first entered, knowing that in there, killing someone didn’t require a reason, only one’s mood. Everyone who entered the spatial dimension should understand this, so Lin Xuan’s complaint was actually unreasonable.

However… Chen Chu didn’t need a reason to intervene.

“Chen Chu-jun, she stole my belongings,” Sato Ichiro sensed Chen Chu’s killing intent and explained, “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have chased her here to kill her.”

Chen Chu raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Lin Xuan. It wasn’t that he wanted to blame her for stealing, but with Lin Xuan’s abilities, could she really have stolen something from Sato?

“I didn’t! Chen Chu-senior, don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s framing me,” when Sadako was stealing, Lin Xuan was desperately trying to escape, so she didn’t see anything.

“You did. You used your hair to take away my energy crystal,” Sato accused angrily.

Lin Xuan blinked and reached out, pulling two strands of Sadako’s hair to her chest. And sure enough, at the end of one of the hairs, she saw a green energy crystal entangled in the hair.

Wait, did I really steal it?

Lin Xuan guiltily looked at Chen Chu. It wasn’t me who stole it, it was my hair.

Chen Chu unexpectedly glanced at Lin Xuan but didn’t show any signs of blame. Instead, he turned to Sato Ichiro and said, “Mr. Sato, in the spatial dimension, belongings have no owner. Whoever brings them out of the spatial dimension becomes the rightful owner. If we talk about stealing, it seems like you were the one trying to steal her belongings.”

Lin Xuan widened her eyes, feeling surprised. Could it be done this way? It seemed a bit unreasonable, but it felt so satisfying to hear.

Sato Ichiro looked at Lin Xuan, who was acting arrogantly, and then at Chen Chu, who remained calm and composed. He knew that he couldn’t retrieve his belongings today, so he simply clasped his hands and said, “Chen Chu-jun is right. I take my leave.”

After speaking, Sato Ichiro was about to leave.

“Hold on!” Chen Chu stopped Sato Ichiro and said, “Mr. Sato, have you reported your entry into Hua Country?”

Sato Ichiro’s face turned serious as he explained, “I came out of the spatial dimension and didn’t know this was Hua Country.”

Sato’s meaning was clear. He didn’t intentionally fail to report; he entered the spatial dimension from his own country and then entered Hua Country. There was no way for him to report it.

Chen Chu nodded. “That is indeed a force majeure situation, and I understand. However, illegal immigration is still illegal.”

Lin Xuan suddenly realized that the system’s divination about illegal immigration meant this.

“What do you want to do?” Sato Ichiro looked wary as he stared at Chen Chu.

“Sato-san, there’s no need to be nervous. Hua Country is a land of etiquette, and we won’t make things difficult for you. I have two solutions. One, you come with me to the law enforcement team and surrender. We will wait for your country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate and take you back. Two…” Chen Chu’s tone was gentle as he continued, “If you intend to escape, I will take action to capture you and hand you over to the law enforcement team. We will wait for your country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate and take you back.”

Sato Ichiro’s face looked incredibly ugly. In any other situation, if he had any courage, he would have drawn his sword and attacked Chen Chu. However… the fact was that he couldn’t defeat Chen Chu. Moreover, this was Hua Country, and once he made a move, the extraordinary abilities organization of Hua Country would never let him off the hook.

Unable to win and unable to escape, but he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words “surrender.” Sato wished the spatial portal would open again so he could crawl back in.

“If Mr. Sato doesn’t speak, I’ll assume you agree to surrender.”

“…,” Sato Ichiro’s hand trembled as he gripped the samurai sword, but he remained silent and didn’t run away.

Seeing his appearance, Lin Xuan also understood that he was indeed going to surrender.

So Chen Chu made a phone call to the law enforcement team on the spot. “Mr. Sato has illegally immigrated and knows his behavior was inappropriate. He voluntarily turned himself in. Please come and pick him up. We’re currently at the amusement park, under the Ferris wheel. Alright, we’ll wait for you.”

After hanging up the phone, Chen Chu politely addressed Sato Ichiro, whose face had turned pale. “Mr. Sato, please wait. It will take approximately twenty minutes for the law enforcement team to arrive.”

Witnessing Chen Chu’s series of actions, Lin Xuan couldn’t help herself and discreetly tugged at Chen Chu’s clothes.

Chen Chu turned around and saw Lin Xuan gesturing with both hands, giving him a thumbs-up.

Chen Chu chuckled lightly, revealing a dimple that shone like the first ray of morning sunshine.

Author’s Note:

Sato: I’ve never experienced such humiliation in my entire life.