161: Chapter 161 Has something happened to Qian Shuying?

When Lu Cheng returned to the hotel, the air conditioning in the lobby was blasting.

He entered through the revolving door. The receptionist at the front desk was looking down, organizing the digital registration screen. Hearing footsteps, they looked up and were about to say "Welcome back," but when they saw it was Lu Cheng, they clamped their mouth shut halfway through.

Half the people in the Dragon Kingdom recognized Lu Cheng's face now.

He pressed the elevator button, and the floor indicator light ticked down from the top floor.

Exiting the elevator, he swiped his card to enter the room; the air conditioning inside was even stronger than in the lobby.

The curtains were half-drawn, and the afternoon sunlight sliced through the gap, painting a bright, glaring stripe across the bedsheets.

Lu Cheng took off his jacket, tossed it on the bed, and went into the bathroom to splash his face with water.

The airship back to Navigator Academy was scheduled for eight o'clock in the evening.

It was only a little past four, so there was still plenty of time.

Su Wan was staying in the room next door.

On the way back to the hotel, she had mentioned she wanted to take a shower and organize the commentary materials on her laptop.

Lu Cheng didn't go to knock on her door; instead, he took out his terminal and sent her a message.

"I'm heading out to buy something. I'll be quick."

Su Wan replied with a "Okay" and didn't ask any more questions... Immediately after, Su Wan appeared at the doorway with wet hair...

She shook her hair, using source energy to dry the moisture.

Lu Cheng paused, staring at Su Wan at the doorway.

"You're fine, just take a rest... You don't need to come out with me."

Su Wan replied with a calm expression.

"It's fine, I was planning to go for a stroll anyway."

Lu Cheng nodded; he was going to buy fermented bean juice.

Chu Xiuxiu had been craving it, so he might as well bring some over for her to try now.

There was an old, established shop selling fermented bean juice near the hotel; the map showed it was a ten-minute walk away.

When Lu Cheng walked out of the hotel entrance, a wave of heat rushed up to meet him—it was like a completely different world compared to the inside.

The temperature in the Imperial Capital in May was already frightening; the asphalt road was baking until it felt slightly soft, and the air was filled with waves of dry heat.

He pulled his hat down and walked east along the pedestrian street outside the hotel.

The shops on both sides of the street had set up awnings at their entrances. Sellers of milk tea, grilled sausages, and various trinkets created a buzzing cacophony of sound.

There were many people on the street, but no one noticed that the young man in the hat and black T-shirt was the same person who had slapped Qin Zhaobai away at the Arena today.

After walking for about seven or eight minutes, the sign for the fermented bean juice shop appeared across the street.

The red sign was slightly faded, reading "Cheng's Fermented Bean Juice · Established in 1972 of the Dragon Kingdom Calendar," and there were seven or eight people queuing at the entrance.

Lu Cheng went over and stood at the end of the line. An old man in front turned to look at him, but showed no reaction and turned back around.

The line moved forward twice. When it was Lu Cheng's turn, he leaned over and said to the proprietress inside the window, "I'd like ten servings, packed to go."

The proprietress looked up at him and paused for a moment.

"How... how many?"

"Hey? Aren't you that young man from today's match? I didn't expect you to have such a heavy palate!"

Lu Cheng didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Without another word, the proprietress stuffed two more servings in.

"These are on the house," she said. "That slap today was so satisfying."

"My son was watching the match too, and he said Imperial Capital No. 1 High School was too arrogant this year."

Lu Cheng took the bag and scanned the code to pay for all twelve servings.

Just as the proprietress was about to say something, he had already turned and walked away.

Lu Cheng carried the twelve bowls of fermented bean juice to the restroom...

And then came back empty-handed...

Su Wan looked at Lu Cheng, then looked at the restroom...

Hiss...

Just at this moment, Lu Cheng's terminal vibrated.

A message from Chu Xiuxiu.

He raised an eyebrow. The girl had sent the message at such a convenient time; he had just bought the fermented bean juice, and here it was.

What did she want to eat now?

Lu Cheng opened the message and then frowned.

On the screen, several messages from Chu Xiuxiu popped up in succession. Each one was very short, but the underlying tone felt wrong.

"Brother Lu Cheng!!!"

"Come quickly to South District 7, Nanling City..."

"Sister Qian has been taken away!!!"

Lu Cheng's footsteps stopped.

At Navigator Academy, who could take away a student?

Lu Cheng's fingers typed rapidly on the screen.

"What happened? Who took her? Tell me slowly."

Chu Xiuxiu's replies were fragmented; it was clear she didn't know the specifics herself either.

Messages popped up one after another.

"I don't know either..."

"It's just that something happened to the Qian Family..."

"I'm with Sister Qian at the Qian Family now..."

"They seem to want to marry Sister Qian off to someone... I don't know who it is..."

"Brother Qian Duoduo has been locked up too..."

Lu Cheng read these messages over twice. After returning to the hotel, he found Shen Guhong's contact on his terminal and placed a voice call.

"What is it?"

Shen Guhong's voice was as steady as ever, and in the background, one could hear the faint hum of engines; he was likely still at the Arena.

"Director Shen, Qian Shuying has been taken away." Lu Cheng kept his voice low. "Chu Xiuxiu just sent me a message saying something happened to the Qian Family. She's in Nanling City now. Do you know what's going on at the school?"

There was silence on the other end of the line for two seconds.

"I'll ask," Shen Guhong said, then hung up.

A moment later, the terminal rang.

Shen Guhong's voice came through: "I just confirmed with the school. Student Qian Shuying left the school voluntarily; we cannot interfere with a student's choices."

"I see..." Lu Cheng frowned slightly.

He hung up the phone, pulled up Qian Shuying's contact information, and sent a message.

"Qian Shuying... can you receive my message? What is your situation right now...?"

The message was sent, and the status showed "Delivered."

And then there was nothing more.

Lu Cheng stared at the screen for one minute... two minutes... three minutes.

Then he also sent a message to Chu Xiuxiu...

But he couldn't wait for a reply...

Lu Cheng remembered her asking him in May if he had any free time... Could it have been because of this?

Lu Cheng looked at Su Wan... and spoke.

"I'm not going back."

"That girl, Qian Shuying, left without saying goodbye. No matter what, I have to drag her back from her home first."

Su Wan looked at him for two seconds, then smiled.

"I'll go with you." Su Wan pushed the door completely open and turned to grab her things.

"We all came from the same place, and I only have a few friends like you all... I can't just sit by and do nothing when something happens."

She said this with her back to Lu Cheng, her voice calm, but when she said "I only have a few friends like you all," her speaking speed increased slightly.

Hearing this, Lu Cheng couldn't help but feel a little touched...

If he remembered correctly, today was the day of the Qian Family incident.

Fragments of memories from his past life surfaced intermittently.

The main line of the Qian Family was all killed, and the entire upper echelon of the Qian Family was wiped out in a bloodbath overnight.

Only Qian Duoduo survived.

As for Qian Shuying...

Su Wan's fingers paused on the zipper for a moment.

In her past life, she hadn't paid much attention to the Qian Family; she only remembered that after the incident, someone else had taken over the Qian Family's position in the financial circle, though she didn't know exactly who.

However, she didn't know what Qian Shuying's fate was in this event.

"I'll contact Director Shen first."

Lu Cheng's voice pulled her thoughts back.

He dialed Shen Guhong's number in front of Su Wan, this time putting it directly on speakerphone.

"Director Shen, I'm going to Nanling City."

There was silence on the other end of the line for two seconds.

Then Shen Guhong's voice rang out, with no surprise and no attempt to dissuade him, just saying one word in a flat, calm tone.

"Okay."

Then there was a brief pause, and the sound of typing on a keyboard came from the background.

"I'll book the earliest airship tickets for you."

"South District 7, Nanling City. There's a flight at nine tonight. Two people?"

"Yes." Lu Cheng glanced at Su Wan.

Su Wan had already put on her backpack, stood at the doorway, and nodded.

"It's booked," Shen Guhong said. "Report your safety to me when you arrive."

"Don't act rashly regarding the Qian Family's business; figure out the situation first."

"Understood." Lu Cheng hung up the phone.

They set off for Nanling City.

On the way to the airship port, the sky over the city had turned completely dark.

The neon lights outside the car window lit up one after another, billboards on both sides of the street flickered in the night, and pedestrians came and went; everything looked no different from usual.

The airship port in the South District was built on an elevated platform in the south of the city; from afar, it looked like a giant steel nest floating on the edge of the city.

Lu Cheng and Su Wan collected their tickets, went through security, and boarded the airship.

Everything went very smoothly.

However, when Lu Cheng was passing through the security checkpoint, he suddenly noticed that in the terminal waiting hall nearby, several huge projection screens were looping the same news.

[The Qian Family of Nanling's Centennial Celebration is About to Begin]

[Celebrities from All Walks of Life in South District 7 Gather in Nanling]

[The Qian Family will hold a centennial banquet tomorrow evening, inviting all major forces in South District 7 to witness it together]

On the screen was a brilliantly lit manor.

The camera looked down from high above; the entire manor occupied almost half a mountain, with large swathes of silver-white buildings built along the mountain, complete with lakes, gardens, banquet halls, and helipads.

At the top of the central building hung a huge emblem of the character "Qian."

It was golden and striking.

Like a sun hanging high above Nanling City.

The Qian Family's ancestral home was in Rong City, but it was just a small place after all; they kept expanding outward and finally established their headquarters at the District Council of South District 7.

The centennial celebration...

For Qian Shuying to lose contact at this exact moment—Lu Cheng wouldn't believe it if someone said there was no connection...

After the airship took off, the city lights rapidly shrank beneath their feet.

---

Lu Cheng sat by the window, watching the clouds outside being torn apart bit by bit by the airship's hull.

Two hours later, the airship arrived in Nanling City.

The moment the cabin door opened, a wave of boisterous noise rushed toward them.

Nanling City was completely different from Rong City.

If Rong City was a fringe city, carrying a touch of the ruggedness of an industrial zone, then Nanling City was thoroughly prosperous.

High-rises stood in rows, and the lights were as bright as day.

Hover cars shuttled along aerial tracks, giant holographic advertisements unfolded in the night sky, and financial buildings stood one after another in the center of the city, their glass curtain walls reflecting a sea of golden lights, as if the entire city had been plated in the color of money.

And the most conspicuous thing of all was the Qian Family's promotional material for the celebration.

From the moment they stepped out of the airship port, almost every digital screen, every streetlamp pole, and every shopping mall exterior wall was plastered with the Qian Family's invitation announcements.

Red and gold banners hung from one end of the street to the other.

The shops along the road had also changed into uniform decorations, with golden flower baskets placed at their entrances, and the staff wore the Qian Family's commemorative badges on their chests.

Even the onboard screens in taxis were scrolling through a countdown to the celebration.

The whole city was buzzing.