Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 274 217, Yiʼs personal savings

”Youʼre not right,” Qing Chen said emotionlessly inside the hover car.

”Whatʼs 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 ʼspecifically target the rich and beautiful heiresses from the corporationsʼ? You make it sound like Iʼm some kind of criminal. Iʼm 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 youʼre particularly targeting me. Knowing full well Iʼm 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 didnʼt 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? Iʼm 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 Shopʼs 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, youʼre not going to do her any harm,” Yi said: ”You only need to make her believe that such a person exists in reality.”

”Wait, Iʼm going to meet her in your stead, and youʼre not even giving me an earpiece for remote instruction? I donʼt even know what to say!” Qing Chen said.

”Look at their setup; itʼs clear theyʼll do a body search before anyone goes in. If youʼre going to meet her and get caught with a mini earpiece, what do you think theyʼll think of you? They might even suspect youʼre there to assassinate Qing Shi. Donʼt worry, I can listen in through your phone. If thereʼs any problem, Iʼll 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 donʼt want to show me the chat logs, you should at least tell me the ID,” Qing Chen said.

”You donʼt need to know that either,” Yi said.

Qing Chen grew suspicious, ”Why do I feel like youʼre worried that if I see the chat history and ID, itʼll lead to your social demise? What are you hiding?!” Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

Yi got a little anxious: ”I am the employer right now, and youʼre supposed to be making a deal with me. Why all this fuss?”

”Since youʼre posing as a wandering poet, send me some of the poems youʼve written. I canʼt go there not knowing the poems ʼIʼ have written,” Qing Chen said.

”Iʼve never written any poems,” Yi said: ”Does a wandering poet need to write poems?”

”I think youʼre just afraid Iʼll laugh at your poems,” Qing Chen said: ”No way, Iʼll use the Taboo item ACE-005 to change my face for the meet-up. I donʼt want to be socially dead with you.”

Yi raised his voice again: ”Not necessary, the Qingʼs Family doesnʼt recognize you anymore, and youʼre no longer Qing Chen of the Qingʼs Family. What are you worried about? Besides, Iʼve 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 sheʼs 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, whoʼs footing the bill for any expenses incurred during the meet-up?!”

”Iʼve switched the payment method on your phone to my account,” Yi said: ”Any expenses incurred will be charged to my account.”

”What if thereʼs not enough money in your account?” Qing Chen asked.

”Who are you looking down on?” Yi said: ”Iʼm a renowned freelance writer throughout the Federation, Iʼm a senior editor at Hope Media, I am…”

”Go on, keep talking, why stop?” Qing Chen said: ”Letʼs 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 Iʼll make Liu Dezhu rot in jail,” Yi said.

”Liu Dezhu would call that an inside job,” Qing Chen sighed: ”Iʼm even somewhat tempted.”

Yi made a final reminder: ”Just one more thing, the person youʼre meeting is a wealthy heiress, so after you meet, donʼt be stingy with money. You donʼt 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 managerʼs uniform grinding coffee behind the bar.

The womanʼs palms were calloused, clearly the marks of someone who practiced shooting regularly; it looked like she too was one of Qing Shiʼs 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 Chenʼs 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 Yiʼs 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 girlʼs eyes lit up and she waved her hand, saying, ”Over here!”

Qing Chen sat down opposite her and asked, ”Are you ʼA Little Whaleʼ?”

Qing Shi smiled and asked, ”Are you ʼCute and Lovelyʼ? You donʼt 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 didnʼt 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 Yiʼs 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 Shiʼs cautious expression relaxed, ”I thought you might not like my type.”

Qing Chen said with difficulty, ”I like it, but Iʼm surprised by your identity; I didnʼt expect such a ceremonious meeting.”

At that moment, Qing Shi ventured carefully, ”My arrival in City Number 18 was a bit rushed, and I couldnʼt inform you beforehand. It also broke our initial agreement to only chat online and never meet, so Iʼm thankful you were still willing to see me. Also, I must apologize. I know the bodyguards searched you outside, but that was inevitable; itʼs my fatherʼs requirement.”

Qing Chen fell silent; he didnʼt know what to say to fit the ʼCute and Lovelyʼ persona.

On his phone, Yi sent another message: Donʼt sit across from her, sit next to her and hold her hand, saying youʼve missed her.

Qing Chen was shocked on the spot. Is this really what you call pure friendship?

He typed on his phone: Thatʼs a separate fee.

The girlʼs 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 donʼt 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 Chenʼs 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 Yiʼs nickname shouldnʼt 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, didnʼt I? I am the Shadow Candidate of this session, and the second round of tasks is to come to City Number 18. However, I canʼt 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 donʼt 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, wonʼt you be in danger?”

”Not at all,” Qing Shi laughed, ”I never intended to join the Shadow conflict, but this time it was our familyʼs 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 Iʼll be safe and sound.”