Chapter 274 - Chapter 274: 217, Yi's personal savings
Chapter 274: 217, Yi’s personal savings
“You’re not right,” Qing Chen said emotionlessly inside the hover car.
“What’s wrong with me?” Yi asked.
“You online date if you want to, but why specifically target the rich and beautiful heiresses from the corporations?” Qing Chen asked.
“What do you mean ‘specifically target the rich and beautiful heiresses from the corporations’? You make it sound like I’m some kind of criminal. I’m the warden of 25 Federation prisons; I have social status too!” Yi raised his voice.
“24 prisons, thank you,” Qing Chen said.
Prison No. 18 had just been destroyed, leaving only 24.
“Plus, I suspect you’re particularly targeting me. Knowing full well I’m embroiled in the Shadow rivalry, you still had me go meet up with another Shadow Candidate,” Qing Chen continued without expression.
Yi earnestly explained, “It was purely accidental. When I chat with girls, I never do a background check in advance; it would taint the purity of the friendship.”
Gazing calmly out the window, Qing Chen said, “If you truly didn’t look her up, how did you know her real name is Qing Shi?”
Yi was silent for a moment: “Talking to you really requires caution. I need to boot up a backup server cluster specifically for processing linguistic logic.”
“Save it. Now what do we do? I’m actually a bit scared seeing all this below,” Qing Chen said as he looked down from the hover car. Right in front of Yunji Coffee Shop’s entrance stood two rows of security guards in black suits, each wearing sunglasses and an earpiece communication headset.
It was a complete state of martial law.
“No problem, you’re not going to do her any harm,” Yi said: “You only need to make her believe that such a person exists in reality.”
“Wait, I’m going to meet her in your stead, and you’re not even giving me an earpiece for remote instruction? I don’t even know what to say!” Qing Chen said.
“Look at their setup; it’s clear they’ll do a body search before anyone goes in. If you’re going to meet her and get caught with a mini earpiece, what do you think they’ll think of you? They might even suspect you’re there to assassinate Qing Shi. Don’t worry, I can listen in through your phone. If there’s any problem, I’ll send you a message as a reminder,” Yi said.
“At least show me the chat history between you two. What if I slip up while talking to her?” Qing Chen frowned.
“Um,” Yi said: “Chat logs are private; how can I just show them to you?”
“Fine, even if you don’t want to show me the chat logs, you should at least tell me the ID,” Qing Chen said.
“You don’t need to know that either,” Yi said.
Qing Chen grew suspicious, “Why do I feel like you’re worried that if I see the chat history and ID, it’ll lead to your social demise? What are you hiding?!”
Yi got a little anxious: “I am the employer right now, and you’re supposed to be making a deal with me. Why all this fuss?”
“Since you’re posing as a wandering poet, send me some of the poems you’ve written. I can’t go there not knowing the poems ‘I’ have written,” Qing Chen said.
“I’ve never written any poems,” Yi said: “Does a wandering poet need to write poems?”
“I think you’re just afraid I’ll laugh at your poems,” Qing Chen said: “No way, I’ll use the Taboo item ACE-005 to change my face for the meet-up. I don’t want to be socially dead with you.”
Yi raised his voice again: “Not necessary, the Qing’s Family doesn’t recognize you anymore, and you’re no longer Qing Chen of the Qing’s Family. What are you worried about? Besides, I’ve already sent her your photo. I can sense that after she looked at your photo, her typing speed increased notably! Usually, her typing speed is 49 words per minute, but after seeing your photo, it went up to 67 words per minute. This means she’s very pleased!”
Qing Chen was puzzled. Could AI freely engage in data-driven online romance without restraint?
While the two were talking, the hover car slowly descended. Suddenly, Qing Chen remembered something, “Wait, who’s footing the bill for any expenses incurred during the meet-up?!”
“I’ve switched the payment method on your phone to my account,” Yi said: “Any expenses incurred will be charged to my account.”
“What if there’s not enough money in your account?” Qing Chen asked.
“Who are you looking down on?” Yi said: “I’m a renowned freelance writer throughout the Federation, I’m a senior editor at Hope Media, I am…”
“Go on, keep talking, why stop?” Qing Chen said: “Let’s see how many more aliases you have.”
Yet Qing Chen was somewhat surprised that AI had to honestly work and write articles to save money…
Such a humble and unadorned way of making money; he had thought they could just directly change numbers in the bank.
“Hurry and complete our transaction, or I’ll make Liu Dezhu rot in jail,” Yi said.
“Liu Dezhu would call that an inside job,” Qing Chen sighed: “I’m even somewhat tempted.”
Yi made a final reminder: “Just one more thing, the person you’re meeting is a wealthy heiress, so after you meet, don’t be stingy with money. You don’t have to save for me.”
Qing Chen mused; even artificial intelligence can have vanity, it seems.
By then, the hover car had finally landed on the ground.
The two rows of bodyguards at the entrance of Yunji Coffee Shop sprang into action, one row guarding the entrance and the other slowly approaching the hover car, with two of them reaching into their jackets, seemingly ready to draw out guns at any moment.
This was no online romance meet-up; it was more like the scene of an underground deal.
Qing Chen alighted from the car, and was promptly patted down by someone, while another person used a strange pen-style detector to scan him all over.
Not until they confirmed that he only had a cellphone on him did the bodyguards let him pass with stern faces.
Yunji Coffee Shop faced the street, with a small storefront on the first floor, but it suddenly opened up as you ascended the stairs.
In the vast coffee shop with no waitstaff, there was only a young girl with twin ponytails sitting quietly at a booth, and a middle-aged woman wearing a manager’s uniform grinding coffee behind the bar.
The woman’s palms were calloused, clearly the marks of someone who practiced shooting regularly; it looked like she too was one of Qing Shi’s bodyguards in disguise as a waitress.
The woman glanced at Qing Chen and asked, “What would you like?”
At that moment, a line of text appeared on Qing Chen’s phone: Order the most expensive one.
Qing Chen looked up at the woman and said, “I want to buy this coffee shop.”
The screen on his phone flickered erratically, with Yi’s emotions seeming somewhat incoherent.
The woman on the other side hesitated a moment before responding, “The coffee shop is not for sale.”
“Oh, then just a cup of coffee will do,” Qing Chen said, then walked towards the girl not far away.
Seeing Qing Chen, the twin ponytail girl’s eyes lit up and she waved her hand, saying, “Over here!”
Qing Chen sat down opposite her and asked, “Are you ‘A Little Whale’?”
Qing Shi smiled and asked, “Are you ‘Cute and Lovely’? You don’t look any different from your photo. I was worried before because I heard many people deceive with edited images.”
Cute and Lovely…
Qing Chen thought to himself, Yi did not share her own ID, probably fearing social death.
And this didn’t seem like the ID of a wandering poet. Which wandering poet would be called Cute and Lovely?!
He took a good look at the girl named Qing Shi, the Shadow Candidate; around her fair neck, she wore a black choker with a shiny pearl embedded in the center.
The girl was indeed very pretty, meeting Yi’s standards for choosing friends.
After exchanging IDs, both of them fell silent, seemingly a bit constrained.
Moving from the online realm to reality seemed to require such a process.
Qing Chen sneakily glanced at his phone, and saw a message from Yi: Initiate the conversation, compliment her looks, break the deadlock.
He looked up at Qing Shi and said, “You are very beautiful.”
“Really,” Qing Shi’s cautious expression relaxed, “I thought you might not like my type.”
Qing Chen said with difficulty, “I like it, but I’m surprised by your identity; I didn’t expect such a ceremonious meeting.”
At that moment, Qing Shi ventured carefully, “My arrival in City Number 18 was a bit rushed, and I couldn’t inform you beforehand. It also broke our initial agreement to only chat online and never meet, so I’m thankful you were still willing to see me. Also, I must apologize. I know the bodyguards searched you outside, but that was inevitable; it’s my father’s requirement.”
Qing Chen fell silent; he didn’t know what to say to fit the ‘Cute and Lovely’ persona.
On his phone, Yi sent another message: Don’t sit across from her, sit next to her and hold her hand, saying you’ve missed her.
Qing Chen was shocked on the spot. Is this really what you call pure friendship?
He typed on his phone: That’s a separate fee.
The girl’s eyes sparkled as she stared at Qing Chen, seemingly very satisfied, “I thought your photo was edited before, but you look so good in person too… But are you really a wandering poet? You don’t seem the part.”
“What does a wandering poet look like in your imagination?” Qing Chen asked.
“Should have long, unkempt hair,” Qing Shi thought for a moment and said, “But you look very clean, not like someone who wanders.”
A line of text appeared on Qing Chen’s phone: I only want to wander into your heart.
He glanced at the text and immediately turned his phone face down on the table.
Qing Chen felt that Yi’s nickname shouldn’t be Cute and Lovely; it should be Gross and Disgusting.
Having turned his phone face down, Qing Chen stopped worrying about what Yi thought and directly asked the question he cared most about, “I just cleaned up a bit before coming to see you today. And why have you suddenly come to City Number 18? Also, is your family all right with you meeting with me so easily?”
“I told you the day before yesterday, didn’t I? I am the Shadow Candidate of this session, and the second round of tasks is to come to City Number 18. However, I can’t tell you the specific tasks, haha,” Qing Shi paused, then explained, “Meeting you this time was sneaky. I told them I had to meet a collaborator from City Number 18 because of the Shadow conflict, they don’t know our relationship…”
Seeing that she brought up the Shadow conflict herself, Qing Chen pretended to be worried and asked, “The Federation media keeps reporting on the Shadow conflict, won’t you be in danger?”
“Not at all,” Qing Shi laughed, “I never intended to join the Shadow conflict, but this time it was our family’s turn to provide a candidate, and we had to send someone. My father told me to just take good care of myself and not to strive too hard for anything; he just hopes I’ll be safe and sound.”