Chapter 496: Going Home

A nurse pushed a small cart down the hallway, slowed as she passed a little boy in a wheelchair, looked down at him with a smile, then kept pushing the cart forward.

The boy's hair was grass‑green, like the color of fresh spring shoots; a light‑gray blanket covered his legs, and his gaze stayed fixed on the wall outside.

"Look, look—"

A playing card swooped past his eyes, face up, depicting a clown with a crooked smile, a star beneath the left eye and a tear beneath the right.

The card flipped in the air and landed on someone's fingertip.

He wore a casual hoodie and a loosely worn mask, squatted beside the boy's wheelchair, a fingertip holding the card, the other hand pulling out the remaining deck from his pocket and spreading it in his palm.

"Pick one," he said with a laugh, "any one you like."

The boy hesitated, extended his hand, his fingertip paused on the deck, then drew the card right in the middle.

He turned it over: the Ace of Hearts.

The man smiled, gathered the cards and reshuffled so fast the boy's eyes couldn't keep up, only seeing the cards flutter between his fingers like a swarm of startled white butterflies.

"What's your name?" he asked while shuffling.

The boy lowered his head, looking at the blanket on his legs.

"Qi Yang."

"Qi Yang, huh," he repeated, slipping the freshly shuffled cards back into his pocket.

Probably from squatting too long his leg went numb; he shifted it, then pulled an apple from his pocket.

"There's an old saying: an apple a day keeps illness away. Here, have one."

Xie Jingyan was standing at the doorway of the Field Operations Department's detention room when the new message arrived.

She had just decided to send one of her own team into the Dome prison when her communicator vibrated.

The screen lit up, showing a boy in a wheelchair with an apple on the blanket over his legs; the camera angle was very low, as if taken while crouching.

She felt a chill; the other side had sent her the conversation record where Qi Ran was threatened—what was this now?

Using the same method to threaten her?

"Don't read too much into it; I just don't want to be stood up."

"Hmm... to put it bluntly, I'm using him to force you to meet me, okay? I don't want to wait forever; playing with a kid passes the time, but it gets boring after a while."

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Luo Jinyou had assumed Ying Duo would take him on a detour to check out the new 'base,' but Ying Duo merely used his communicator to pull up a map of the Dome and quickly locked onto a location.

This time, before Luo Jinyou could ask, Ying Duo already spoke up to explain.

"First, come to my place."

Ying Duo actually has a home inside the Dome?

Luo Jinyou suddenly realized his thought was rude; after all, Ying Duo came from outside the Dome, so having a home here isn't incomprehensible.

Finding Yang Yixie's home isn't difficult.

Because Yang Yixie has already been to the Consciousness Space once, by roughly aligning with the Dome headquarters building's orientation, the location can be roughly pinpointed.

The two walked in a stop‑and‑go manner into the residential complex; the gate had a Rune‑based access device, but to Ying Duo those Rune trimmings were no different from ordinary décor.

Someone was cooling off under a tree; an elderly man sat on a folding chair, holding a palm fan, looking very relaxed.

The Dome treats ordinary people quite well; at least they dare to lounge in the sun outside, something unimaginable elsewhere.

They turned a corner, and another household's door was wide open, a pair of pink slippers placed at the entrance.

Ying Duo led Luo Jinyou in circles until they entered a unit building, stopping when the elevator reached a certain floor.

When Luo Jinyou thought Ying Duo would use a key to open the door, Ying Duo slipped out through a hallway window.

He slipped a finger into the gap of a house's window frame, applied gentle pressure, and once the frame loosened, slowly opened the window and slipped inside.

Even going home requires climbing through a window?

How is this different from a player character picking a lock to return to their base?

Luo Jinyou followed the path Ying Duo had taken, and then heard the door open—Ying Duo had opened it from inside.

Did they really not trespass a private residence?

Thick curtains blocked the sunlight; after Luo Jinyou let his eyes adjust to the darkness, he began to scan the room.

Finally, his gaze settled on a family portrait in the living room.

Although the hair color, eyes, even the expression seemed unrelated to Ying Duo, the black‑haired, black‑eyed figure wearing Black-framed Glasses looked like the archetypal obedient, well‑behaved student—perhaps, maybe, possibly...

It really is Ying Duo.

After opening the door for him, Ying Duo walked further inside, leaving Luo Jinyou alone in the living room, only daring to look around without touching anything.

Luo Jinyou only heard a rustling of boxes and cabinets inside, as if Ying Duo were searching for something, then it fell silent again.

Did he find it?

Luo Jinyou pricked up his ears to listen, then saw Ying Duo burst out of the house, grabbing Luo Jinyou and leading him into his own room.

The house seemed long uninhabited; even the box of game cartridges Ying Duo pulled out was coated in dust.

But Ying Duo, as if oblivious, inserted a game cartridge into the console, powered it up, and handed a controller to Luo Jinyou.

"Don't just stare; the job of clearing the game is yours now."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Duo decisively gave the gaming spot to Luo Jinyou, while he rummaged for a pile of materials nearby.

Yang Yixie thought that he must have some unsavory intel on his hands, so the question arose: how would Yang Yixie hide the information he possessed?

After seeing the house filled with game cartridges, he already had an answer.

Regarding gaming, Luo Jinyou is one of the few people Yang Yixie trusts, so handing it to him puts Yang Yixie at ease.

Thus, Luo Jinyou, looking bewildered, took the console and promptly powered it up.

He didn't know what was happening, but these games…

His eyes skimmed the game cartridges; the newest ones were released a few months ago, and it was a strange coincidence.

He has cleared all of these games.

Luo Jinyou's eyes gradually grew serious.

When it comes to scheming, dealing with people, and plotting conspiracies, he can only stand helplessly behind Ying Duo, but playing games is another matter.

This is his home turf.