```
A familiar voice.
Someone was forcefully pounding on the Alloy Gate, and steel beasts roared within the cell, "Newcomers, welcome to Prison 18!"
Qing Chen sat up from the hard-plank bed, a slight smile spilling from the corner of his mouth.
In his heart, he silently repeated, "Newcomers, welcome to Prison 18."
For some reason, the moment he transmigrated back, Qing Chen truly felt a burst of elation and excitement in his heart.
Here were familiar faces, familiar rules, and hopes for the future.
It was as if he belonged to the Inner World rather than the Outer World.
Here, there were no past memories he did not want to recall, no people he needed to worry about.
All he needed to do was move forward, everywhere was a new direction.
He glanced down at his arm but was taken aback.
Return countdown 160:20:09.
Minus the time he slept, the countdown this time was actually seven days!
This was too unexpected. Qing Chen had even gotten used to a 48-hour countdown, but the rules had suddenly changed.
Why?
Was there any pattern?
It seemed he still needed to explore the rules of transmigration.
Qing Chen approached the Alloy Gate, which opened in response, greeting him with precise timing.
The prisoners outside the corridor saw him and slightly bowed their upper bodies, greeting him with a nod.
Compared to the Outer World, it felt more like his home ground here.
Qing Chen stood in the corridor and gave Lu Guangyi a nod from afar, which the latter immediately understood.
After all the prisoners lined up and went downstairs, Lu Guangyi immediately got to work controlling the new prisoners,
He knew this was what Qing Chen wanted.
Although this might infuriate the other two factions, leading to a possible conflict any day,
he came to Prison 18 specifically to pave the way for Qing Chen.
To be a pawn, one must have the consciousness of a pawn; a pawn that has crossed the river cannot retreat.
Success brings life, failure brings death, and glory comes at the cost of one's life.
At the moment, Uncle Li Dong also tacitly consented to Lu Guangyi's actions; he seemed to want to see what Qing Chen planned to do.
Today, seven new prisoners arrived.
While Lu Guangyi was seizing new prisoners, six of them seemed to be second-timers, who chose to accept their fate right away.
Experienced prisoners knew it was better to endure; fighting back would likely make things worse.
However, as Lu Guangyi was about to grab the last new prisoner, the latter kept dodging desperately.
But this prisoner had not a single cybernetic limb on him, how could he, an ordinary man, outrun those steel beasts?
Just as Lu Guangyi was about to catch him, the new prisoner became frantic, "Don't fucking touch me! What the hell do you want grabbing me, fuck off!"
While dodging and running, he kept cursing, "Don't fucking mess with me! I'll slap you to death, you unborn god!"
Qing Chen: "???"
He was completely taken aback by the authentic Sichuan dialect, as in the Inner World, dialects didn't exist, everyone spoke Mandarin!
Not just Qing Chen but Lu Guangyi and the others were also baffled, "What the hell is this guy saying? Can you guys understand?"
Everyone looked at each other, "We can kind of understand, but not completely."
When the whole world spoke in the same accent, a dialect felt so out of place and jarring…
Qing Chen quickly realized this man was a transmigrator!
Because Qing Chen spoke Mandarin and Mandarin was relatively widespread in Los Angeles City, he hadn't realized that dialect was actually the biggest threat to exposing the existence of the Outer World...
At that moment, Qing Chen could even imagine what sort of situation those transmigrators carrying a dialect would face.
But this guy spoke in a Sichuan dialect, how did he transmigrate to Prison 18? According to the pattern Qing Chen and He Xiaoxiao had summarized before: transmigrators only appeared densely in 19 cities across the country, and the same transmigrator seemed to always transmigrate to almost the same location, so it should be people from Los Angeles City transmigrating here to Prison 18.
```
Could there be a problem with the pattern I've concluded? Are the landing points of transmigration random?
No, there must be special circumstances.
He glanced at the three individuals downstairs, Uncle Li Dong and his two companions; their expressions had clearly changed, all becoming grave.
Qing Chen felt that unless the other party was an idiot, they would definitely perceive something from these continuous unexpected events.
The people of the Inner World learning about the Outer World was only a matter of time, because there were just too many transmigrators!
Uncle Li Dong, looking at the farce nearby, turned to Lin Xiaoxiao and said, "Catch him and interrogate him carefully, including the earlier Huang Jixian and Liu Dezhu. I think they might all come from the same place."
"Understood," Lin Xiaoxiao said gravely.
A unique Sichuan dialect clue helped Uncle Li Dong link all the strange events that had occurred recently.
This time, he did not sit back and do nothing, but instead directed Lin Xiaoxiao to take action immediately.
As soon as his words fell, the man from Sichuan collapsed to the ground, falling into a nightmare.
Lin Xiaoxiao walked up to Lu Guangyi and said calmly, "Step aside, hand him over to me."
However, even faced with someone like Lin Xiaoxiao, Lu Guangyi stiffly retorted, "Only if our boss says so."
Saying so, Lu Guangyi turned his head to look at Qing Chen, who was still in the shadows of the third-floor corridor.
The prisoners were stunned—wasn't Lu Guangyi the boss? Who else could be the boss?
Only at this moment did the prisoners around Lu Guangyi understand that Qing Chen was not just a lucky youth who happened to meet Uncle Li Dong by chance.
He himself was a True God.
His surname was Qing, and he was Lu Guangyi's boss!
Thinking of this, many prisoners who had once had designs on Qing Chen immediately shivered with fear.
Anyone living on the Eastern Continent of the Inner World could not ignore the colossal entity that was Qing's Family.
It was an era where everyone could only live in the shadow of the five major financial conglomerates.
When nothing was amiss, everyone could indulge in pleasure.
But when they truly encountered this colossal entity, everyone would remember the fear of being dominated by the conglomerates at some point in their lives.
No one could escape unscathed.
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Lu Guangyi and smiled, "You know who my boss is and still dare to stand in the way. You do have some backbone, which is good."
Qing Chen did not wish to put Lu Guangyi in a difficult position, so he nodded his head, signaling for him to let Lin Xiaoxiao pass.
Lin Xiaoxiao pushed through the crowd, lifting the man from Sichuan with one hand and walked out.
Qing Chen watched as the heavy alloy gate of the prison slowly opened for Lin Xiaoxiao, and only closed slowly after he had passed through.
It seemed that Uncle Li Dong and his companions could come and go freely in Prison No. 18!
But if they were free to come and go, why didn't they leave this place?
He slowly descended the stairs and sat down opposite Uncle Li Dong, "Where did Lin Xiaoxiao go?"
"There's been an unexpected incident," Uncle Li Dong, holding the big cat in his arms, said slowly, "Although I still can't make sense of what the incident is, it seems to be something beyond my imagination. In the past, if one after another, people of unknown identity appeared around me, I would think someone had a meticulous plan to get something from me, but this time is different. The other party doesn't have a plan, and it seems... also lacks a brain."
Qing Chen fell silent for a long while after hearing this.
At this moment, Qing Chen realized he did not have much time left.
Let alone the fellow townsman from Sichuan, Liu Dezhu alone would certainly not be able to withstand Lin Xiaoxiao's interrogation.
Firstly, Liu Dezhu was just a coddled student, not strong-willed.
Secondly, Lin Xiaoxiao possessed a mysterious power of nightmares, which could inadvertently make someone reveal the truth during an interrogation.
The exposure of the Outer World was inevitable, and it would happen soon.
But there was nothing he could do.
He had the Canon score, but he was well aware that against a decisive person like Uncle Li, a score could not change anything.
Qing Chen could only wait.
...
Thank you for supporting me as a Silver City Alliance member of this book. Thank you for your generosity, boss; may your fortune be as vast as the Eastern Sea and your life as long as the Southern Mountains.
Footnote:
[1] The newcomer was speaking in Sichuan slang.
[2] The raw for the word “rascal” is seemingly the short form for “turtle’s grandson”, which in Chinese slang refers to unworthy rascals or b*stard.