Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 755: 443, Internal Test Player

Qing Chen stood silently in the dark room.

He remained silent, not knowing for how long, until the sunlight outside became intense.

Shadow pulled the curtains closed in the room.

“You’re saying that I am from the Inner World,” Qing Chen said calmly, “Therefore, I possess the bloodline of the Qing Family Qing Zhen branch, exhibiting abilities beyond those of ordinary people.”

There are no Transcendents in the Outer World. Time Travelers also need to visit the Inner World in order to be qualified for Awakening and cultivation.

It’s like Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs. Crabs worth a dozen yuan can sell for a much higher price just by taking a ‘bath’ in Yangcheng Lake.

And Qing Chen’s so-called Super Memory syndrome is actually not a syndrome, but his ability.

In fact, after Qing Chen realized his photographic memory, he assumed he had Super Memory syndrome.

However, real Super Memory syndrome only comes with the ability to remember, not the ability to sort and analyze.

Those memories are stored in the brain like a running ledger; pulling out the desired information isn’t necessarily easy.

Qing Chen was different.

Shadow looked at him with a smile, “Shocking, isn’t it? I was very shocked at first myself. The Outer World often uses the term Public Test Players to describe Time Travelers, which is actually quite accurate, because if there’s a public test, there’s also an internal test.”

It indeed shocked Qing Chen.

Because this meant the time travel incidents were man-made!

Some mysterious entity, for reasons unknown, had begun their testing more than a decade ago, starting with an internal test, and then a public test.

What kind of person could possess such tremendous power?

“Who created the time travel events?” Qing Chen asked, frowning. “Are there really gods in this world?”

“I only know that he’s someone who has lived a very long time,” Shadow said. “I’ve speculated about his identity, but the conclusions are so astonishing that I’m not sure whether my speculations are true. So I won’t mislead you.”

Qing Chen said, “So, He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong are Internal Test Players from the Outer World, and I’m an Internal Test Player from the Inner World? Who else is an Internal Test Player?”

He had thought that only the Outer World could travel to the Inner World but hadn’t realized that the Inner World could also travel to the Outer World, albeit in extremely small numbers.

If there are two Internal Test Players from the Outer World, then correspondingly, there should be at least two from the Inner World, maybe even more.

However, back in the Outer World, Qing Chen never noticed anyone who might belong to that category, or perhaps, they were so secretive that no one realized it.

“Oh, whether He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong are really Internal Test Players, I have no idea,” Shadow said with a smile. “However, their behavior before and after the so-called time travel incident started didn’t change in the slightest. Also, they disappeared in the Outer World for 12 years and reappeared only half a year before the mass time travel event. Interesting, right? I put a lot of effort into finding this out about these two. This information could be worth a fortune if sold.”

Qing Chen thought, if he really was an Internal Test Player, then it meant the rules for the internal test were completely different from the public test.

During the public test, when Time Travelers arrive in the Inner World, time in the Outer World stands still.

During the internal test, Internal Test Players like Qing Chen, He Jinqiu, and Zheng Yuandong exist simultaneously in both worlds, but time progresses in parallel; the worlds don’t stop for anyone.

Otherwise, if he had come to the Outer World as a baby, he should still be a baby when he goes back to the Inner World.

When he traveled, there clearly was another Qing Chen who had just entered Prison No. 18, the same age as himself.

What about that Qing Chen?

Where did that Qing Chen come from?

Did someone use the Outer World’s Qing Chen as a replacement and then wait for the public test to start before switching back?

That’s not right. According to the travel mechanism, when he came to the Outer World as an Internal Test Player, the Outer World’s Qing Chen should have already been eradicated.

Qing Chen asked, “Since you say I am from the Inner World, who is the Qing Chen who lives in place of me in the Inner World?”

“There is no such Qing Chen,” Shadow said calmly. “It was just me occasionally pretending to be you. That’s why everyone thought you were mysterious and kept a low profile. Even within Qing’s Family, very few knew about you before you became a Shadow Candidate.”

“Why would you occasionally pretend to be me?” Qing Chen asked, puzzled.

Shadow said with a smile, “Because someone asked me to do so. The first time you entered Prison No. 18, that cell was already empty. Didn’t you notice? Prison No. 18 always transports new prisoners at midnight, so no one would know exactly how many new people have been added.”

Qing Chen shook his head.

Someone knew how many new people had been added.

One.

One must have known the number of prisoners was incorrect and that his sudden appearance was problematic.

This would have been impossible without One’s cooperation.

That’s why the cameras in Prison No. 18 were always trained on him; One has been observing him since then.

And the most likely person to create the time travel incident was One’s brother.

The one who has lived a long time and seems almost godly.

One had just mentioned that her brother had long known about the existence of Time Travelers and had recently taken her to some unknown place to do mysterious things.

This mysterious thing might also be related to Time Travelers.

But what for? Was it fun?

One once said that her brother thought if humans lived too long, they would grow weary of the world and tend to self-destruct.

Or perhaps he wanted to change the world.

So could it be that One’s brother, having lived too long, wanted to find some amusement for himself?

Qing Chen couldn’t be sure.

“Actually, I was almost an Internal Test Player myself,” Shadow said with a smile. “But when the time came, I refused. If I had become an Internal Test Player, I would have definitely tried to find others. So, in your memory, do you recall anyone like that?”

Qing Chen searched through all of his memories… Huan Yu?

Not sure.

He had always suspected that Huan Yu suffered from a split personality, given the peculiarity of the ‘brother’ Huan Yu spoke of.

So could it be that Huan Yu really was an Internal Test Player who experienced some sort of mishap during time travel, causing two Huan Yus to coexist?

Qing Chen shook his head. “I can’t think of anyone for now. How many Internal Test Players might there be?”

“That, I’m not sure of,” Shadow laughed. “But I suspect those Internal Test Players have already grown up quietly.”

Shadow said, “All you need to know is why I didn’t kill you.”

“Then why didn’t you kill Qing Yuan? He’s a Time Traveler,” Qing Chen said.

“Let’s not always resort to violence,” Shadow said.

“You’re someone who grows Realm camellia with Transcendent’s seeds, and you’re telling me not to resort to violence?!” Qing Chen’s eyebrows were raised in disbelief.

Shadow said calmly, “By pretending to be me now and sending all the Shadow Candidates to kill Jindai, aren’t you worried that a civil war within the Federation might start again because of you?”

Qing Chen thought and retorted, “Without me, would the war stop? Mr. Shadow, I act according to my conscience, not morality. I’m no better than you.”

“Alright, I’m warning you again not to impersonate me. On one hand, you might get exposed and then meet your death; on the other hand, you’re kind of lowering my standard,” Shadow said.

Qing Chen: “…”

“You’re sending the Shadow Candidates to the small town outside of 065 Taboo Land, just to help you kill God? Is it that simple?” Shadow asked.

Qing Chen fell silent.

In fact, it wasn’t.

Whether to kill God or not was secondary. His main idea was to get Qing Xing and Qing Yuan to a remote place with few people.

First was Qing Xing.

Qing Chen needed to trick him into traveling, to see if he carried that mysterious Taboo object with him.

In the city, it was too easy for someone to hide something.

But traveling from City Number 10 to the wilderness would drastically narrow down the target for the Taboo object.

Qing Chen believed that faced with the dangers of the wilderness, one would definitely carry the Taboo object with them, in whatever way, and there would surely be clues.

Next was Qing Yuan.

Qing Chen suspected there was a distance limit to Qing Yuan’s ability to control Puppets.

For instance, a Puppeteer has a limit of 50 meters.

Qing Yuan’s control over Puppets might have a larger range, but surely a Puppet can’t be completely independent, can it?

Of course, there was the possibility it was independent.

So by luring him into the wilderness, Qing Chen could observe some clues.

No matter what, leading the Shadow Candidates to an unfamiliar and desolate location was advantageous for Qing Chen.

That was the true reason why Qing Chen deceived the Shadow Candidates into going to the 065 Taboo Land.

“I’m leaving,” said Shadow. “Hurry up and clean this place. I came here to drink tea, not to eat dust.”

Qing Chen, with raised eyebrows, retorted, “Aren’t you being a bit too familiar? It’s one thing for you to come and drink tea, but now I also have to clean up?”

“Could anyone be more presumptuous than you? Hurry up and clean before I take issue with you,” said Shadow as he opened the Door of Shadow and left.

Qing Chen looked around, and indeed, there was a significant amount of dust. He rolled up his sleeves, found a rag, and spent a good three hours tidying up the place.

Sitting on the sofa, he thought calmly, digesting everything Shadow had said.

Was it really true?

Shadow seldom spoke the truth, so after listening, he needed to carefully think it over.

For years, he had never considered the possibility that he came from another world.

Qing Chen found it hard to digest this piece of information for now.

Did he cross over as an infant? Or was it after he gained the Super Memory ability at the age of six?

Before that, Qing Chen’s memories were chaotic. After that, he remembered every single detail clearly.

If Zhang Wanfang and Qing Guozhong weren’t his biological parents, then who were?

That was probably the key to why Shadow was helping him.

In addition, how many Internal Test Players were there, and what were He Jinqiu and Zheng Yuandong doing all this time?

Qing Chen felt that perhaps when other Internal Test Players from the Inner World emerged in the Outer World, something astonishing would happen.

Or could it be that another Internal Test Player was just as unaware as himself?