Chapter 1: Only I Have My Own Law Chapter 1: The Subway Crossing Time and Space

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

"Chen Yi, let's go play ball." Luo Xiaoshan lived up to his name, waving his bear-paw-like hands in the sky.

"Not going." Chen Yi waved his hand listlessly.

Beside him, Liang Yu said eagerly, "What about the weekend?"

Chen Yi knew they were worried about him, but still shook his head. "I have to see the old man on the weekend, so I'm afraid I can't."

As he spoke, he walked slowly toward the subway station.

Liang Yu made a face, tossed his schoolbag to his bodyguard from afar, and said in a low voice to Luo Xiaoshan, "I don't know if the Chen Family can make it through this time."

Luo Xiaoshan sighed, not optimistic. The three were extremely good friends, but on major matters affecting the family, they couldn't help at all.

The Chen Family was originally one of the prominent clans in Jiangning. Chen Yi's grandfather, Chen Zhongguo, though stubborn, held a high position. Under his care, the eldest son gave up the brush for the military, and the second son gave up the brush for business, both flourishing.

However, a political storm in Xijing completely changed the fate of the entire family.

Chen Zhongguo stepped down in disgrace, shaking the foundation of the entire family, and making him feel even more of the stormy winds and rains.

Chen Yi returned home, but his parents still hadn't returned. They, currently being squeezed by the bank and peers, were probably fighting desperately in the conference room.

He cooked a bowl of noodles for himself and ate silently.

Recalling two months ago, every night's meal was either a sumptuous dinner carefully cooked by the chef or a loving dinner made by his mother's own hands; there had never been days of eating instant noodles consecutively.

Chen Yi gritted his teeth hard, thinking to himself: Stop thinking nonsense, I still have tutoring later.

This was also his last tutoring session.

There was no choice. Given the Chen Family's former prosperity, the teachers they hired naturally charged prosperous prices. Not to mention his academic attainments and status, just that white-haired look, full of peaches and plums under heaven, always worrying for the world before others, could be called top-tier.

Moreover, this well-known Professor Hu of Jiangning only taught outstanding students. With the fading of the Chen Family's halo, Chen Yi was even further from the realm of an outstanding student.

At exactly seven o'clock, the doorbell rang "ding-dong."

The white-bearded old man, as usual, arrived punctually at the Chen Family home.

He held a small briefcase in his left hand, his head full of silver hair. When he sat on the sofa, he did not immediately open his lesson plan, but looked left and right for a while before saying: "Today, we will mainly talk about several conservation laws in physics. The time will be relatively long, but very important. Learning more is always good."

Chen Yi nodded silently.

In the past, he regarded tutoring as a path of hardship and tried every means to escape. But thinking that there would be no such opportunity in the future, he couldn't help but feel depressed.

One class was a solid 3 hours.

Professor Hu had devoted himself to education for decades, his level was quite good, the content was vivid and lifelike, profound yet easy to understand, and easy to remember.

Chen Yi listened so seriously for the first time, and the harvest far surpassed the past.

Unfortunately, he had never valued tutoring before, and now there would be no such opportunity again.

"Alright, that's all for today." The white-haired old man slowly closed his lesson plan, took a sip of water, and then said slowly: "I remember, you want to get into Jiangning University?"

"Yes."

"I asked your teacher. Based on your mock exam results, Jiangning University is very difficult." Professor Hu's voice was gentle, still carrying the rhythm of class: "Therefore, my suggestion is either to lower your target, or to study harder."

The latter was actually a tactful way of telling him to give up.

Chen Yi understood and said with a bitter smile: "Getting into Jiangning University is Grandfather's hope."

When Chen Zhongguo was young, his family conditions were very good, but for various reasons, he eventually joined the military. Nevertheless, his wish for the family to be a scholarly household never changed. That was why there was Professor Hu's tutoring, and the requirement of Jiangning University.

Suddenly encountering a great change, Grandfather's mood must be extremely terrible. Chen Yi hoped even more urgently than before to be able to get into Jiangning University.

Even if it were an egg striking a stone, the chance was slim.

Professor Hu had never regarded Chen Yi as his true student, and a little sympathy would not change anything. He looked deeply at him, gave him a collection of test papers, and then stood up to take his leave.

Chen Yi silently saw him onto the car, did not go home immediately, but walked aimlessly along Binjiang Avenue. His listless appearance was like a zoo monkey attacked by food.

In the college entrance examination war with a total score of 750 points, Jiangning University's requirement was around 650 points, while his score was mediocre but absolutely difficult to reach 600 points. When the Chen Family was prosperous, this was not too big a problem, but now it seemed like a natural moat.

A mere collection of test papers, or even an excellent tutor, could not change this.

Two "beep-beep" sounds woke Chen Yi from his annoyance. He looked up and seemed to have run a red light.

He drew his foot back to the sidewalk. The subway station was right on his left. Since it was still early, he simply went down inside, preparing to go check on his parents' company.

Around ten o'clock in the evening, there were pitifully few people. In the platform that could accommodate eight carriages, there were 32 waiting gates, but it was empty with only a few people.

Chen Yi chose a spot near the rear to stand. His mind was in great confusion. One moment he thought of everyone's stunned expressions when Grandfather stepped down, the next he thought of the bank run on his father's company, and then he thought of his elder brother still in the military and his younger sister at boarding school, not knowing if they were affected...

A strong gust of air blew, seemingly heralding the arrival of the subway.

Chen Yi subconsciously stepped forward a bit, lowered his head, waiting for the train to stop steadily.

The light on the ground was a bit brighter, even with a hint of flowing radiance. But Chen Yi didn't think much of it and directly stepped into it.

At this moment, he raised his head and discovered that none of the people who had been waiting on the platform had entered the subway.

Turning around to look at the surroundings, the entire carriage was empty. There was a lonely paper slip on the seat. The light above was white with a hint of yellow-green, quite strange.

The last subway always had very few people, but not to this extent.

Chen Yi simply walked forward, wanting to see what was going on.

The city subway was somewhat like a busified train, about the length of one carriage, and divided into 4 small parts. Each part had automatic door switches on both left and right. The seats were longitudinal rather than transverse, leaving more space for people to stand and move around.

When empty, it was easy to see the situation ahead from the back.

With a "bang," just as he reached the partition of a carriage, Chen Yi suddenly bumped into something.

But what met his eyes was empty space.

"Is anyone there?" Chen Yi's lips were a bit dry, and he raised his voice slightly to ask.

At the same time, he reached out his hand and slowly groped forward.

One inch, two inches…… at a distance of half an arm's length, a streak of flowing light suddenly flashed, and he felt resistance in his hand.

It was as if a transparent light curtain stood here.

An ordinary young man would probably cry out at a loss at this moment, but Chen Yi did not.

He pushed hard against the light curtain in front of him again, not to break it, but to test its properties—soft and elastic, showing it was not rigid metal; the deformation caused by force was small but not nonexistent, showing extreme toughness; no sensation of electric current, no temperature difference of liquid or gas……

Chen Yi forced himself to think, rather than to fear.

However, the result was not very encouraging.

His feet suddenly trembled, and a great force sent him lunging forward.

"The train accelerated." Chen Yi immediately turned back, seeing strange images constantly flashing through the window.

At first, it was the intersection of two or more colors; then, shapes gradually formed.

Chen Yi gave up on the inexplicable light curtain and moved quickly through the carriage; the glass on both sides became another kind of screen, with a trend of gradually becoming clearer.

War!

At the first window, Chen Yi finally made out the clue. It was two groups of nude people fighting, wielding long- and short-handled weapons, throwing and stabbing at each other; the scene was deep and vast, on the scale of hundreds of people.

On the second window, raging flames burned, so realistic that one couldn't help but reach out to try them. The adjacent image turned into dense lightning, and surging sea waves.

The train speed grew faster and faster, and the images blurred again; before that, Chen Yi had seen war and human figures again, but they were not very clear.

He deeply furrowed his brow and muttered to himself, "What in the world is this place."

A "hiss" of braking sounded beside his ear.

Chen Yi stumbled and was thrown forward; just as he got up, the train had stopped.

"Hiss."

The doors on both sides opened with a puffing sound, and a streak of purple light shone into the carriage.

Chen Yi rubbed his head and raised his head, immediately stunned.

Only to see a dome hundreds of meters high, carved with a huge mural covering tens of thousands of square meters, with five corresponding archways and slender columns, standing thirty or forty stories high; striking glass colored windows decomposed the sunlight into all colors, shining all the way toward ten thousand meters away……

Most astonishing were two huge sculptures, the size of the Statue of Liberty, one male and one female standing on the left and right respectively; the torches in their hands crackled, igniting flames as tall as an adult.

This was absolutely not a subway station; in fact, this building was several times larger than the largest airport hall Chen Yi had ever seen, with the long train stopping before one of its archways, small as an earthworm.

Chen Yi wanted to poke his head out to look around, but was blocked again by the flowing light curtain.

Neat footsteps sounded from behind him.

Chen Yi's heart jolted; he quickly turned around, only to see a group of gentlemen wearing white tall hats and dressed in cleric robes and ceremonial attire, standing in a fan shape, bowing with hands clasped, and saying loudly, "Welcome, Master."

……