Chapter 445: Escape from the Other World

When Meng Kexin was taken in, there were already seven or eight people seated in the room.

It was still a man in a dark blue uniform, standing at one end of the long table with a list in his hand.

He gave no self‑introduction, offered no small talk, and opened with a question:

"Seven days ago, a malicious attack occurred in Tianmian City of the game world. We want to obtain all related information from that time—the more detailed, the better; even seemingly trivial matters can be mentioned."

The room fell silent for a few seconds, then the man opposite Meng Kexin raised his hand; he was a middle‑aged man whose speech carried a slight accent:

"My workplace in the game seemed relatively close to there, but as soon as the incident happened we were sent to shelter by the Church. All we know is that the Church mobilized almost everyone; we know nothing else."

A few people nearby echoed him, their statements largely the same.

The Church's protection was indeed thorough, but because of it they remained completely uninformed.

Meng Kexin sat quietly in her chair, her electronic watch having been taken, leaving her wrist empty.

The uniformed man asked a few more questions about the chaos after the explosion, the Church's response, and so on; fewer people answered, and most offered only peripheral information.

Meng Kexin now had only one question on her mind: can she trust the officials?

Or rather, should she cooperate with the officials.

——————————————

On the computer screen, lines of Ying Guang Lu subtitles scrolled across a black background.

Yang Yixie's fingers rested on the edge of the keyboard, while Xi Ren Sheng crouched beside him, chin on the desk edge, eyes fixed on the screen without blinking.

Yang Yixie cannot turn himself into a Data Stream, but his energy can pass through cables, traverse countless router nodes, and hack into the officials' surveillance.

Nevertheless, he must remain extremely cautious; the officials have top‑grade monitoring everywhere. Though his energy‑based intrusion is unheard of, he could still get caught by some senior hacker.

Obviously, as the prime culprit, Yang Yixie cannot expect these people to give any useful answers.

Yang Yixie typed a line on the keyboard and sent it to Meng Kexin's watch: "Contact again during the day."

After sending, he withdrew his energy, and the scrolling text on the screen halted in time.

When Meng Kexin will see it is no longer his concern.

Yang Yixie closed all the applications, glanced at the time in the computer's lower‑right corner, and decisively shut down.

The real body is not like the game; although he wears Black-framed Glasses as a shield, Yang Yixie's dark circles are already noticeable.

"I scheduled a daytime appointment with the officials to examine your body," Yang Yixie said, turning to look at Xi Ren Sheng.

Xi Ren Sheng still had a red imprint on his face from leaning on the desk edge; looking after himself felt indescribably odd, yet he liked it.

"Will the officials let us meet?"

That doubt didn't arise out of nowhere; if earlier it was to soothe the players' families, the player waking up should have a better way of being comforted.

"Our appointment is a visitation, not a prison break."

Xi Ren Sheng heard Yang Yixie's words; his intuition told him there was definitely a story here, but Yang Yixie was no longer willing to chat.

In the game, Yang Yixie was already in a tense state; relying on Ying Duo without fatigue, he recklessly pushed himself. After finally returning, he naturally wanted a comfortable sleep.

"Sleeping on the floor or becoming a playing card, you pick one, and you still have to get up early."

"Partner, how could you treat me like this!"

Xi Ren Sheng's eyes widened abruptly, but Yang Yixie paid little heed to the drama‑seeker and simply slipped into his own bed.

He felt his eyelids extremely heavy; once closed, he didn't want to open them, and his consciousness began to fade.

That sleep was deep and dreamless.

————————————————

Jiangdu pushed open the warehouse's iron door and slipped inside sideways.

The warehouse was dim, and a faint rust smell lingered in the air.

He carried a plastic bag containing gauze, iodine solution, and anti‑inflammatory medicine stolen from a pharmacy.

He knows nothing of medicine and is unfamiliar with this world's drugs; the items were selected by a pharmacy clerk. He had intended to buy them, but when it came time to pay he realized the currencies of the two worlds didn't interoperate.

In the end he could only abandon the purchase temporarily, then used his Aberrant Arts to stealthily take the items.

If he ever has money later, he'll definitely return them.

Jiangdu felt a pang of conscience, but because someone needed them urgently, he could only act this way.

But there was no one in the warehouse.

Jiangdu stood at the doorway, his hand subconsciously tightening, and the plastic bag made a faint rustling sound.

He looked at the simple wooden‑board makeshift bed; no one was there, Lei Zhao was absent.

But where could he go?

Not to mention he was still badly wounded.

His heart skipped a beat as Jiangdu placed the plastic bag on the floor, intending to scout the vicinity, when he suddenly felt a chill at the back of his neck.

A sharp dagger pressed against his throat; a little more pressure would draw blood.

Jiangdu's hand froze mid‑air, unwilling to move.

"Who are you?" Lei Zhao's voice came from behind, heavy with fatigue, yet his grip on the knife remained steady.

Jiangdu's throat moved slightly, "It's me, Jiangdu."

The breathing behind him paused for a moment.

Then the dagger slipped from his throat, and before Jiangdu could even exhale, he heard a muffled thud from behind.

He quickly turned around and saw Lei Zhao supporting himself with one hand on the ground, the other still gripping the dagger, preventing himself from collapsing completely.

Bloodstains on his tattered clothes spread wider than before, and faintly beneath the strips one could see old scars from Lei Zhao's past injuries.

Jiangdu crouched to help him; Lei Zhao merely kept his eyes closed, his lips moving a few times without uttering a sound.

Jiangdu placed his arm over his own shoulder, hauled Lei Zhao up from the ground with force, then dragged him to the wooden‑board bed and let him sit down slowly.

"I bought the medicine back; let me bandage you first."

This was a blessing in misfortune: Jiangdu, who had lost all memory, happened to have spent some time with the healing‑skilled Yu Cai.

Though many times he lived like a transparent sidekick by Yu Cai's side, he still learned some basic bandaging techniques from her.

The fabric of his clothing had already stuck to the wound; the largest wound on Lei Zhao's back was cut by fragments from a space‑time fissure.

Jiangdu poured iodine solution onto the gauze and gently pressed it against the edge of the wound. Lei Zhao's body tensed, he clenched his teeth, and a vague, muffled hum came from his throat.