Chapter 438: Wanderer Hideout
"This way, please." Chen Xuan opened the bedroom wardrobe door, gesturing for Abigail to enter.
"..." Abigail was stunned.
No matter what, she never imagined that this was how the other party came aboard the ship.
"This ability is called the Mysterious Portal, using the concept of doors to connect different areas, even different worlds," Chen Xuan made up on the spot, "Once we enter, it will disappear, so there’s no need to worry about anyone tailing us."
Abigail took a glance inside.
The inside of the wardrobe was not dark and deep; it seemed to connect to another room, visible at a glance.
She sighed softly, "Do we need to leave for a long time? The ship will dock tomorrow at noon, and while no one on the ship dares to question my whereabouts, it’s different at the headquarters."
"I’ll prioritize getting you back," Chen Xuan assured her.
"What about Rodiya?"
"It’s better for her to stay here. I’ll instruct her not to leave the room until she sees you return."
Abigail had no further objections, bowed her head, and crawled into the narrow wardrobe.
Chen Xuan returned to the guest room and, after giving instructions to Rodiya, went back to room 210 with Honglian.
The bedroom quickly returned to silence.
Holding her breath, Rodiya listened quietly for a moment, confirmed there were no voices, and curiously pushed the door open to enter the bedroom — this cabin, less than six square meters, had nothing but a 1.2-meter wide bed, an iron desk, and a built-in wardrobe. She had personally seen three living people enter the room, but now there was no trace of their existence.
...
When Abigail stepped into the first floor of the shop, her mood was indescribably complex.
This place looked like a fruit shop but was actually a gathering point for Wanderers and traitors. Those few people sitting around the sofa looked at her with surprise, clearly unfamiliar with her, yet she recognized them immediately: Execution Team agents of the Jiang City branch. In the intelligence network inside the mechanism, each of them carried a wanted notice.
Was this enough confidence, or sheer arrogance?
After all, she was still a bona fide headquarters officer, ostensibly the "enemy" of these people. Just by sending coordinates, the mechanism’s satellite could immediately locate the fruit shop.
Nevertheless... whatever.
The mechanism had already given up the Jiang City branch, so why should she be the villain stirring up trouble?
"Let me introduce you; this lady is Abigail, currently a temporary officer of the Limit Mechanism Headquarters, affiliated with the Discipline Inspection Group," Chen Xuan cleared his throat and said to everyone, while exchanging a look with Lin Qing.
The latter understood and got up to close the shop’s shutter door and curtains.
"Hello!" Wang Baihu and Little Pigeon suddenly snapped to attention, "Nice to meet you!"
"Discipline Inspection Group? Jiang City doesn’t seem to have such a department," Jiang Siqi whispered.
"That’s unique to the headquarters."
"So, she’s technically the leader of the mechanism?"
"Forget it, leader or not, she’s my friend," Honglian laughed and said, "Besides, you guys aren’t mechanism employees anymore, can we drop the formalities?"
Abigail glanced at her classmate with slight surprise, as for the phrase "temporary officer" from Chen Xuan, she chalked it up to a slip of the tongue. "Is this truly another world?"
The difficulty in capturing the Wanderers was partly because they knew where the incursion points were and could avoid the mechanism’s tracking by crossing worlds.
"Not yet, follow me," Chen Xuan brought her to the bar.
An elevator?
Abigail looked at the elevator car in front of her, puzzled. With only two floors, was it necessary to install such a large elevator inside the house?
"Honglian and Lin Qing, come with me. The others, stay on standby."
"Understood!" Wang Baihu said firmly.
"Take care, Master," Xu Xuanling yawned lazily.
Liuli chuckled softly, pressed the brim of her hat with two fingers, indicating she heard.
Such peculiar people... Abigail thought, perhaps they came from different eras.
The elevator door closed, the cabin shook, but she couldn’t sense whether they were moving up or down.
She looked across, "You..."
"Hmm?" Honglian and Lin Qing responded simultaneously.
"I want to ask how you perceive each other."
She had to admit, having both of them standing together was indeed intriguing, giving her a sense of both similarity and complete difference. For instance, their features were quite similar, but their hair color and makeup were drastically different. Honglian was like a rebellious punk with red hair that seemed unapproachable; Lin Qing appeared quite normal, even somewhat coy.
Moreover, such differences were almost omnipresent... from stance, expression, to the tone of speaking with Chen Xuan, all were not the same.
"She is a senior I respect," Lin Qing said seriously.
Huh? A senior?
These two... should be about the same age?
To her surprise, a rare shy expression flashed across Honglian’s face, "Let’s not talk about the past; I feel I’ll never become a true leader in this life."
"That’s because the world has improved," Lin Qing shook her head, "When disaster strikes, you would still become that torchbearer leading everyone."
Honglian as a leader? Abigail slightly pulled at her lips, thinking it wasn’t much different from a dream.
Her training results were good, but she didn’t lack for mischief either.
"That’s quite a novel opinion," she glanced at Honglian, "I hope she can truly be like that."
"By the way, Miss Abigail, could you take off your blindfold?" Chen Xuan asked, "The place we’re going to is crowded, wearing it might cause suspicion."
Abigail nodded.
The blindfold was a form of self-restraint; removing it just meant accumulating slightly less power.
"Wow, you’re quite the beauty too," Lin Qing whistled, "What a pity to join the Limit Mechanism."
"Why is it a pity?"
"The mechanism festers with corruption, hang around them long enough, and your image will get tainted," she said with a playful wink, "Why not join us? Sister Honglian could be your sponsor."
Forget my previous impression, she’s not coy at all. Abigail thought, realizing she couldn’t judge a person on short-term impressions.
Ding.
The elevator came to a stop.
It was yet another unfamiliar room.
This was actually Honglian’s room 206. Chen Xuan used the authority of an LV6 store manager to swap the branch and room 206, making the process of going to another world seem more "complex," rather than just changing rooms on the same floor, which helped obscure the Ability Store’s function.
After passing through the back door, they finally entered the refuge.
Abigail immediately caught a slightly sour, old smell lingering in the room, a scent unique to longstanding occupied residences.
She noticed, also, that the other three had changed into extremely plain clothes.
"You don’t need to change, your clothes are already simple enough," Honglian assessed.
"Is this world... in crisis?" Abigail pondered for a moment before asking.
"More or less," Chen Xuan replied, "How did you figure it out?"
"There are several posters avoiding waste on the walls, and half-burnt candles on the dining table," she surveyed the room, "Resources seem scarce, yet there’s a sofa, coffee table, and glass cups, more like a peaceful world that suddenly fell into crisis."
"You guessed it exactly right."
"Worlds like this... the mechanism has seen many," Abigail withdrew her gaze and said regretfully, "Most of them have already perished."