Chapter 34: Visitors From the Kun Lun

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“Cities may have cloud towers, but what if you want to leave the cities?” Qing Chen enquired.

“It’s a very troublesome process to travel outside of the cities, special passports are required.” Jiang Xue explained, “Probably in response to the rampant smuggling, tax agencies established a ton of checkpoints.  In the Inner World, tax agencies are very powerful, almost as formidable as the five corporations’ private military.
”

“They really have that much power?” Qing Chen was shocked.

“Yeah, not only do they have the power to make arrests, but they also have their own intelligence agencies.
Very different from the Outer World.” Jiang Xue said.

“What if you obtain a passport, and get out of the city?” asked Qing Chen.

“I’ve heard rumors of a few cloud towers scattered around the wilderness outside of the cities,” Jiang Xue explained, “The mechanical limbs have different battery storages, just like how phones have 64G, 128G, and 256G.
The longer a limb lasts, the more expensive it is.
Normally, people would go for the less expensive options because they have no use for the longer-lasting ones.

“Oh, so you can make a choice.” Qing Chen nodded, understanding.

In the Inner World, many young people like to pursue the newest, most fashionable mechanical limbs, much like how teens of the Outer World like to get the latest sneakers and phones.” Jiang Xue explained, “Moreover, people would even decorate their mechanical limbs, adding golden lines and edges, or embed them with rubies and diamonds.  ”

Qing Chen exclaimed, “Yeah, I know what you mean, like those fancy skins in games…”

Jiang Xue considered this and said, “I guess you can think of it that way…”

Suddenly, Qing Chen recalled the prisoners in Prison 18.

It seemed that many of them had those expensive decorations on their mechanical limbs, and most of them were gold.
That included Lu Guangyi!

Qing Chen asked eagerly, “Are those golden decorations made from real gold? ”

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“Yes,” Jiang Xue nodded.

“Then…does gold in the Inner World have the same value as gold in the Outer World?” Qing Chen asked again.

“I think so,” Jiang Xue said, “The five corporations in the Inner World all had gold reserves.
”

Qing Chen had finally figured out how to make money in the Inner World!

He also knew who owned gold and how much of it they possessed.

Other things could be hard to exchange for cash or could be easily exposed, but gold didn’t have such problems.

At the moment, Lu Guangyi still had no idea what would happen to him in a few days. 

Qing Chen then asked, “How do people travel around the wilderness when they’re in between the cities? Is it also electric vehicles? ”

“The military would use diesel-powered cars and trucks.” Jiang Xue answered. 

The diesel-powered vehicles had the ability of a huge burst of energy and easy maneuver, making them ideal for military use.

Diesel vehicles also do not require electricity to operate, making them more suited and reliable in harsh weather conditions.

Qing Chen didn’t expect that the Inner World would still use diesel vehicles…

“Of course, the military also uses more powerful drones that are powered by liquid oxygen,” Jiang Xue continued.
In the cities, there are wealthy people who use this fuel for transportation.”

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Qing Chen wondered aloud, “Could it be ethane?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Jiang Xue’s eyes brightened.

“That’s used in space,” Qing Chen exclaimed, “Elon Musk’s SpaceX uses methane to fuel their merlin engines.” ”

Jiang Xue said to Li Tongyun, “Look Li Tongyun, you need to be like Qing Chen.
I only said half a name, and he figured out the rest.
”

Even Jiang Xue became impressed with Qing Chen’s abilities.

Both understanding air charging and methane engines require extensive knowledge on the subject.

It felt like there was nothing this teenager wouldn’t know.

As for Qing Chen, Jiang Xue and Li Tongyun helped him fill in the gaps about the rest of the Inner World that he didn’t get to visit yet.

In Prison 18, it was hard for him to ask around without exposing his identity as a transmigrator. 

Even after re-entering the Outer World, it was difficult to tell the difference between true and false information.

Now that he could hear what the real Inner World was like from Jiang Xue, he was quite excited. 

Jiang Xue’s clinic was a place that all sorts of people came to visit, so it was a great place to obtain information.

Qing Chen suddenly remembered something, “Uh… so how can I help? ”

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Li Tongyun said, “Mom’s hand can’t move anymore, so can you please help take care of mom for a day? ”

Jiang Xue’s two arms are dangling beside her body at this point, and Qing Chen could tell she didn’t have time to do anything.

It’s strange how useful these mechanical limbs appear to be in the Inner World, but they became a hindrance in the Outer World.

Qing Chen suddenly remembered that Luo City had a transmigrator that jumped on top of the roof in a video.
That guy probably would be on the ground soon after the video is recorded. 

But this was not all bad news, as the people that had mechanical limbs would still have to be careful about their usage in the Outer World. 

He looked at Li Tongyun’s eyes and then at Jiang Xue.
He sighed and said, “But I don’t know what to do… ”

Today was Sunday, so time wasn’t an issue, but he had no experience taking care of someone else before.

No, no, you don’t have to look after me,” Jiang Xue responded hurriedly.
It’s only that I haven’t prepared anything for Xiaoyun yet, so could you please help make something?

Jiang Xue appeared to be terribly apologetic.

Li Tongyun, who was standing nearby, said, “Please, Brother Qing Chen, prepare some food for us.
” I’m hungry.

Qing Chen chuckled, “Well, this is something I can do.”

Suddenly, a knock came from outside the door, “Hello, anyone home? ”

Qing Chen stood in the living room and saw the SUV used by that mysterious organization outside the window.

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“Xiaoyun, go open the door.
I’ll be cooking in the living room,” said Xiaoyun as he quickly hurried into the kitchen and put on an apron. 

Xiaoyun opened the door and two men wearing black suits walked in.
One of them said to Jiang Xue, “Hello, I’m Lu Yuan, we met before.
I am from Kun Lun[1]{Kun Lun is the name of the largest mountain chain in China.
Its implied meaning includes vast, tall, and broad}.
”

Kun Lun? In the kitchen, Qing Chen stopped what he was doing.
This must be the name of their organization. 

Jiang Xue said, “Please have a seat.
Xiaoyun, get some water for our guests.
”

One of the men from Kun Lun looked at her arm and asked, “What happened to your hand? ”

“It ran out of power,” explained Jiang Xue.

“Keep this in mind.” The young man murmured something to his partner and asked Jiang Xue a few more questions regarding mechanical limbs.
It seemed that they didn’t know that mechanical limbs could run out of battery. 

Qing Chen assumed that since the group had only been founded, they were also attempting to learn about the Inner World.

“So, you two come here for…?” Jiang Xue interrupted.

“Oh, we are here to ask you something,” said one of the Kun Lun members.
After one of the two robbers fled, he claimed to have been hit in the neighborhood and now has a broken tendon.
Do you have any idea who did it? Don’t worry.
We aren’t here to seek legal responsibility.
We just want to assess the situation.”

Qing Chen tensed up.

Translated by: Nite

Edited by: Tempest