Chapter 494: Deviation
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"She actually came back!"
Elorie couldn’t help but cheer as she crossed the Erosion Zone.
The other end didn’t appear in the sky, nor was it deep underground, but simply appeared at a street corner, even matching with a closed room under renovation — the luckiest outcome indeed.
"It’s all thanks to Liu Shuyue," Lin Qing sighed. "If she hadn’t once split the sky, we wouldn’t have thought there could be an erosion point connecting to Jiang City near the Lotus Cloud Sect."
"What do you plan to do next?" Ji Lian asked.
"First, head to Celestial Ridge District." She had already decided, "Even if we don’t find Chen Xuan, we should be able to see Honglian and Liuli. They should know what’s happened to the store."
Just as Ji Lian summoned the Thousand Thoughts Sword, intending to silently cut the lock outside the door, Lin Qing stopped her again, "Wait."
"Hmm?"
"Just in case, let’s do a disguise. After all, Chen Xuan suddenly losing contact is quite suspicious, we can’t rule out the possibility of an enemy attack at the moment."
"You mean... a mechanism?" Elorie frowned.
Lin Qing nodded.
Actually, this thought had already occurred to her before, but she didn’t dare to think it through. If Chen Xuan was killed by a mechanism’s assassin...
She couldn’t help but clench her fists.
"No problem, let’s use a disguise talisman." Ji Lian took out three talismans, bit her finger, and drew several simple rune symbols on them with her blood, then stuck them on her companions’ foreheads, "That’s all."
Lin Qing was slightly surprised, she clearly didn’t feel any change in her body.
Turning around to look at Elorie, she maintained her original appearance too.
"Wow, I’ve grown taller!" But the Little Angel exclaimed while staring at the glass curtain wall.
She turned around and discovered that her reflection in the glass had turned into a young man, with clothes now being a common T-shirt and sweatpants.
Elorie transformed into a mature office woman, her gray-white suit looked very professional.
Ji Lian went further, disguised as an old person, with white beard almost hanging down to her neck.
Such drastic appearance changes, even if Chen Xuan stood here, he probably wouldn’t recognize them immediately.
"This talisman technique only works on strangers, so don’t worry about missing familiar faces."
Ji Lian took out an Invisibility Talisman, crushed it in front of her companions, and their figures immediately turned transparent.
"Thank goodness we have you." Lin Qing felt much more at ease, "Let’s set off when we’re ready."
After cutting the lock, the three pushed open the door and walked out boldly. Outside was a magnificent indoor mall, with décor resembling a medieval European palace. There weren’t many wandering tourists, only a handful, and these people didn’t notice that a door had suddenly opened a small gap in the mall’s quiet corner.
Finding a blind spot without cameras, they released their invisibility, and quietly blended into this world.
Following Lin Qing’s instructions, Ji Lian used the Law Decree True Words to "borrow" a phone from a passerby, and called a taxi with it.
An hour later, the three finally saw the gate of Celestial Ridge District again.
Lin Qing couldn’t hold back her excitement, and started running immediately after getting out of the car.
However, when she reached the store entrance, the scene before her was chilling!
Where was the Ability Store?!
She only saw a tightly closed storefront, with "Celestial Market" pasted on the door frame, and a neon sign box on the wall displaying "spicy hot pot"... None of these matched Chen Xuan’s fruit store at all.
Unwilling to give up, Lin Qing went forward and patted the shutter door, apart from shaking off a large pile of dust, there was no response inside.
"Young man, who are you looking for?"
Suddenly, a very familiar voice came from behind.
Lin Qing was stunned, turned around, and found it was Uncle Qiao who often visited the store.
"Old man..."
"If you’re looking for the owner of this store, you’re late." He shrugged, "That guy seems to be addicted to gambling, lost all his belongings and storefront, and has been missing for almost two or three months now. You wouldn’t be here to collect debts, would you?"
"So... there’s never been a fruit store here?"
"Where’s a fruit store? Isn’t it selling spicy hot pot?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Qing turned away.
"Hey, young man, you haven’t answered me, is he owing you money?" Uncle Qiao pursued, unwilling to give up.
"...What’s going on here?" Ji Lian and Elorie saw Lin Qing quickly returning, their faces instantly turning more serious.
"Wrong timing!" She lowered her voice, struggling to speak, "Chen Xuan’s store hasn’t opened here yet, we’ve arrived at the world line too early!"
"Then he must still be in Jiang City, right?" Elorie suggested, "Why don’t we call him?"
"No way! At this point, he doesn’t know us yet... or know anything about our situation." Lin Qing immediately rejected, "And hastily advancing the meeting might negatively impact Chen Xuan."
"But didn’t the Celestial Patrol say that once ascension succeeds, the relevant historical nodes will be fixed, and no one can change them?"
"That’s why we mustn’t act rashly." She gritted her teeth, "No one knows how this fixation will manifest. If it forcibly alters Chen Xuan’s memory or creates a substitute for him, the situation would be troublesome!"
"I agree with Miss Lin’s view." Ji Lian nodded, "Since our master acknowledged the Celestial Patrol completed ascension, we shouldn’t ignore its warnings."
"Given that, aren’t we supposed to wait?" Elorie pouted, "Wait for Mr. Store Owner to open the store here, then wait another year or so, and almost connect with our time?"
Theoretically, that’s indeed feasible.
But it’s the most foolish way.
Lin Qing found it unbearable to wait that long.
"Let’s go back first." She pondered for a moment and then said.
The Little Angel looked puzzled, "Go back where?"
"The Erosion Zone, and cross it again from there."
"Why?" Ji Lian also didn’t quite understand.
"I previously only thought about finding Chen Xuan, not considering the time variable. Now my goal is clearer, so I might be able to alter the exit of the intrusion point," Lin Qing explained.
"That won’t work, right?" Elorie scratched her head, "I remember the intrusion point can’t change the time flow?"
Indeed, this was the conclusion from Dimensional Limit Mechanism research, Lin Qing was well aware of it.
So far, they’ve been able to cross time-space barriers thanks to the Ability Store’s power.
But who can guarantee that the mechanism’s conclusion is absolutely correct? Didn’t they invest so much manpower and money in ascension research, and ended up being wrong?
Rather than waiting aimlessly, she’d rather try everything she possibly can.
And Lin Qing’s resolve quickly persuaded her two companions.
So they repeated their trick, called for another taxi, and returned to the World Window.
By now it was nearing dusk, the setting sun added a touch of peaceful golden light to the scenery area. The cool evening breeze swept across their faces, evoking a sense of autumn’s refreshing comfort. Such delightful times were hard to come by in the apocalypse, it was so beautiful that Lin Qing momentarily forgot her urgency.
However, when they reached the Champs-Élysées Avenue in the park, an ominous premonition surged in the hearts of the three.
The room hiding the intrusion point towards the street side was already blocked by high construction barriers.