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Chapter 281: Professional Assistance

"...The last question." Honglian said seriously, "Shixin pays special attention to Elorie because she is the key person related to the survival of that world. Can I understand it this way?"

"You probably can, though I can’t fully grasp the collective consciousness’s thoughts either." Lin Qing nodded.

"What about you? Are you also a key person in deciding whether this world will be destroyed?" Honglian stared into her eyes, "Since you know so many secrets about Shixin, you must have a close connection with it, right?"

"Uh..." She hesitated for a moment.

"Just say yes, what’s there to hesitate about?" Chen Xuan’s voice sounded in her mind, "If you hadn’t become a customer of the Ability Store, I wouldn’t bother to care what the future looks like."

"Maybe." Lin Qing replied after a moment of silence, "But even if I no longer exist, it doesn’t mean the world will necessarily be destroyed. As long as someone walks on the right path, the future has hope of being rewritten."

...

Honglian opened her eyes and found herself back in the medical room.

She sat up, looked around, and found that, indeed, only Wang Baihu was in the room. Elorie was still soaking in the glass tank, seemingly unaware of all that had just happened.

Wang Baihu heard the movement, turned his head, "You’re awake? Why did it take so long?"

"How long?"

"It’s already 10 o’clock now."

"That’s only about forty minutes, isn’t it?" Honglian rubbed her forehead and said irritably, "It’s not like I was lying there all day and night."

"I thought it would only take a few minutes." Wang Baihu said with some concern, "Isn’t it my turn next? What is it like to communicate in the consciousness space? Is there enough time... I can’t be home too late."

Honglian couldn’t help but chuckle softly... Her colleague surely couldn’t have imagined that she’d actually had a serious dinner and helped Elorie wash the dishes in there.

Licking her lips now, she could almost taste the cheese-baked salmon.

Yet her smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a heavy sense of pressure.

Tonight, the messages she received were too much, and frankly incredible.

"You don’t need to lie up there; if there’s something you want to know, I can tell you."

"What, are you sure? The other party chose to find me first!" Wang Baihu said incredulously.

At this moment, the door was pushed open, and You Chi walked in, "Looks like your communication has ended, didn’t feel uncomfortable anywhere, did you?"

"Just a bit tired."

"That’s normal; although your body was lying down, your brain was still in overdrive, consuming energy at several times the normal rate, just take a rest and you’ll be fine."

"Okay, please take us out."

"Wait, I haven’t tried—" Wang Baihu raised his hand to say.

But You Chi seemed to have ignored his words, smiling as he nodded, "Please follow me."

...

After Honglian exited, Chen Xuan came to Elorie’s room from the opposite apartment.

"Everyone coordinated well, thank you for your hard work." He gave a thumbs up to the Angel and Liuli.

"I didn’t do much, just drank on the side." Liuli said indifferently, "Though it would be nice if you could come here more often, nothing else matters."

"Hmm, felt like I told a lot of lies today." Elorie felt a bit guilty, "Since you think the group leader is a righteous person, why can’t we tell her the truth?"

"Because the time is not right." Chen Xuan comforted the Angel, "She’s too influenced by the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, and getting her to join us immediately isn’t easy."

"I didn’t expect the Mechanism to sell me to a demon." Elorie muttered, "I’ve always felt the chief was quite scary, even though he always smiled, I never felt he was smiling inside."

"You said earlier you avenged Elorie, I didn’t miss out, did I?" Liuli smiled radiantly looking at Chen Xuan, "That restless feeling has decreased a lot lately, seems you’ve fulfilled your promise well."

"What do you mean?" Elorie looked confused, "You’ve been here with me the whole time, where did you get time to kill a demon?"

"Nothing, just asking." Liuli reached her hand into her hair and ruffled it, interrupting her questioning.

Truly incredible... Chen Xuan thought, this dream not only can shape the individuals based on the dreamer’s memory but also continues the previous dream’s content like a series. Moreover, it seems Liuli has realized that she’s just a phantom here, and there’s another her outside, which is the real her.

But the problem is, as long as the dream doesn’t end, they have complete physical form and memories, and these memories diverge somewhat from the originals, unable to fully merge. In such a scenario, can they be considered independent people?

If they are, then after Elorie wakes up, this dream will end completely, and the Angel and Liuli in the dream will disappear?

He didn’t even dare to continue thinking in that direction.

Lin Qing was still bending down and searching the floor, "How does it not have any trace?"

"Are you looking for Honglian’s hair?" Chen Xuan sighed, "Don’t think about it, we can’t take things back—it can’t be detected anyway."

"I didn’t think about taking it back. Why don’t you open a detection shop here?"

...Chen Xuan was taken aback, her thinking is really quite dynamic.

Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t work. He now knows Honglian, but Honglian doesn’t know him. Inviting her into the dream is fine, creating a phantom is almost impossible. Even if there was a detection point here, he can’t conjure Honglian next time he enters the dream.

"Forget it, I think you might as well just ask her directly... You two look so similar, Honglian is sure to give it to you."

"I still don’t understand, how does Sister Lin Qing resemble the group leader at all? No matter how I look, they don’t seem like the same person at all," Elorie turned to Liuli, puzzled, "Right?"

"Uh-huh!"

As the Angel turned her head, Liuli quietly drank half more bottle of wine.

...

After saying goodbye to the dream Elorie and Liuli, Chen Xuan ended his dream connection and woke up in the adjacent room of the medical suite.

You Chi also brought news that two Mechanical Officers had left.

Although Dean Sun was full of wariness toward the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, not trusting the external organization at all, the two sides were not openly hostile. Therefore, even if Honglian leaked the information to higher-ups, Jiang City’s mechanism couldn’t touch Beitian Academy. It was considering this layer that the dean agreed to cooperate with Chen Xuan in playing this scene.

But Chen Xuan was still quite grateful to the other party, after all, without the support of Beitian Academy, the plan would not have been possible.

"Then, we’ll take our leave," Chen Xuan imitatively cupped his hands in a farewell gesture, "If you ever need my help in the future..."

"Hold on, no need to rush to leave just yet," surprisingly said You Chi immediately, "Mr. Chen, we do have something where we need your help."

Chen Xuan’s departing step was withdrawn, his brow raised slightly, "Is there a new epidemic?"

"Not that, remember the guy who got arrested last time?"

"I remember."

The arrest was done by Chen Xuan personally, how could he forget?

"The police conducted numerous investigations and interrogations that gathered some intelligence, but there hasn’t been a breakthrough in the case," You Chi said, "Both my senior and I have gone through the reports and think the lack of progress could be due to the absence of professional assistance."

Chen Xuan paused slightly, "Could it be... you mean the professional is me?"

"Exactly." You Chi smiled, "I’m well-versed in toxicology and pharmacology, so when dealing with poisoning cases, I can help the police narrow down the investigation by analyzing the poison production and dispersal methods. The case earlier this year seemed related to an infectious disease but is actually an ability event. Currently, finding a reliable Ability User to help within the country, apart from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, you are the only one I can think of."

"Looks like I can work as both a doctor and a detective?" Chen Xuan found it hard to refuse since he had just offered politeness, "Alright, but as I said... helping doesn’t guarantee results."

"Having your assistance is enough." You Chi appeared more confident than him, with a bright smile on his face, "The file is in the archive room, I’ll take you and Miss Lin over."