Chapter 164: Open the Door, Check the Water Meter! (An Important Chapter)

Chapter 164: Open the Door, Check the Water Meter! (An Important Chapter)

The following day went smoothly for both of them, without any unexpected disasters occurring.

That evening.

Chen Ye and Tang Zichen slept in separate rooms. The presidential suite had a master bedroom and two additional bedrooms, enough for both of them to sleep comfortably.

The next morning, they both received a prompt indicating they could leave the secret realm and return to the real world at any time.

Tang Zichen said, "Shall I go back first?"

Chen Ye nodded with a smile.

Tang Zichen seemed to have thought of something and asked, "If I go back this early, should I hide in my dorm for the next few days? That way, the teachers won't find out I came back early."

"What about meals? If I recall, there's not much food in your refrigerator," Chen Ye replied with a smile.

Tang Zichen said, "If you don't want to expose yourself, I can ration the food in my fridge; it should be enough for me to last a few days."

"No need!" Chen Ye shook his head. "Just live as you normally would. If a teacher asks, say you're worried about foreign attacks. Besides, I want to train alone for a bit, so you went back first."

Tang Zichen thought for a moment. "That works."

"Chen Ye, take care of yourself. If you can't hold out, just come back. I'll be waiting in the dorm," she said.

"Alright!" he responded.

With those words, Tang Zichen vanished from the room.

Not long after that, as Chen Ye was about to order lunch, someone knocked on the door.

"Knock! Knock! Knock!"

Chen Ye paused. He had heard a few footsteps approaching earlier but hadn't expected someone to actually come looking for him.

He walked over and opened the door.

Outside stood a few men who looked fairly young, even the leader seemed to be in his thirties. Each of them wore a badge on their chest that read "Time-Space Management Bureau" in bold letters.

Clearly, these were official personnel.

"Hello, traveler from another world. We are from the Time-Space Management Bureau," the middle-aged man leading them said, pointing into the room. "May we come in?"

Chen Ye stepped aside with a smile, gesturing for them to enter. "Please, come in."

Once they were all in the living room, Chen Ye asked, "I was just about to order lunch. Care to join me?"

The middle-aged man looked around as he responded, "No need. Being around people like you who attract misfortune means we're in danger at any time, so let's keep this brief."

Chen Ye chuckled. "You seem to know quite a bit about us?"

The man nodded, helplessly saying, "It's been decades now. You all come to cause trouble every couple of months. Even if our government agencies are bloated, they'd have to react eventually."

"We can't say we know you inside and out, but we do have a general understanding. For example, our world is just one of many worlds you travelers explore and train in, right?"

Chen Ye nodded with a smile.

"By the way," the man continued, "why are you alone? Normally, shouldn't you operate in pairs?"

"My teammate has already left. I'm alone this time," Chen Ye replied.

"Oh?" The man looked at Chen Ye in surprise. "In cases like yours, you either have confidence in your own strength, or you're ready to give up and flee at any moment. Which one are you?"

Chen Ye smiled and asked, "Does it really matter?"

The man nodded. "Yes, it does! If you belong to the first category, you'll be our primary focus."

Chen Ye was puzzled. "Why didn't my teacher mention your Time-Space Management Bureau?"

"Oh, that's normal. Our bureau was only officially established a month ago. You guys are the first batch we're formally contacting. Before this, we only gathered information about you from various sources."

"Ah, I see." No wonder Old Liu hadn't mentioned them.

Chen Ye continued, "I originally thought that once we left, your world would reset, like a game save file. But apparently, that's not the case?"

"Of course not!" The middle-aged man said seriously. "Even though we don't know why our world is your training ground, it doesn't change the fact that this is a real world!"

Chen Ye fell silent.

A real world, huh? Previously, he encountered a Predator during his trial in Secret Realm No. 4, indicating that the secret realms weren't just fixed programs.

It seemed these so-called secret realms weren't as simple as they appeared…

"Hey!" The man asked again, "So, which one are you? Are you a weakling ready to retreat at any moment, or do you plan to hold out until the end?"

Chen Ye replied ambiguously, "My goal, of course, is to endure to the end. But you never know; life is precious. If I encounter an unbeatable disaster, I'd definitely leave early."

Though these people seemed sincere, Chen Ye wasn't foolish enough to show all his cards.

After all, to this world's inhabitants, he was an outsider. There's an old saying, "If you're not of our kind, your heart must be different."

Who knew how the people of this world would view them once they learned of their existence?

One must always remain vigilant!

Hearing his response, the young men cast hostile glances at Chen Ye.

"Oh? It seems you're quite confident in your strength," the middle-aged man remarked, then shook his head. "Honestly, we at the Time-Space Management Bureau don't like confident folks like you because your persistence brings great disasters, harming innocent people."

"You might be able to leave whenever you can't hold on, but the innocent citizens of this city cannot."

"Just in this city alone, thousands of people die each year because of your involvement!"

"Including other cities, the number of innocent lives lost annually due to your kind exceeds a hundred thousand."

His words were startling.

However, Chen Ye's expression remained calm.

It wasn't that he lacked sympathy. Rather, he understood that sympathy has its time and place.

Whether this world was real was still up for debate.

And he certainly wouldn't abandon his plans based on a few words from others.

As Old Liu used to say, they would face countless tests in the future. If their resolve wasn't firm, they shouldn't bother with secret realms at all.

Chen Ye ignored the hostility of the young men, turning his gaze to the middle-aged man and asking, "So, your real reason for coming to me is to persuade me to leave your world as soon as possible?"

"I wish it were that easy!" The middle-aged man shook his head. "But I know that people like you won't change your minds easily."

Before Chen Ye could reply, the middle-aged man continued, "So, I can only take a step back and hope you will cooperate by moving to the suburbs. Don't bring disaster into the city because that's where the citizens live."

Chen Ye wasn't surprised by this request and nodded in agreement. "No problem. After learning that your world is real, I was planning to stay away from the city, even if you hadn't mentioned it."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man smiled, and the expressions on the young men's faces also softened a bit.

"Thank you for your cooperation!" The middle-aged man said. "Don't worry. When you move to the suburbs, we will provide for all your living supplies. Whatever you want to eat, we'll deliver it right to your doorstep."

As he spoke, the middle-aged man took out a prepared phone and handed it to Chen Ye. "It has my contact information. Use this to reach me. Besides, this phone has high specs, so you can play games when you get bored."

Chen Ye didn't refuse. He took the phone and said, "Thank you."

The middle-aged man then suggested, "There's no time to waste; disaster can strike at any moment. Why don't we leave now?"

"No problem!" Chen Ye agreed immediately.

...

After that, Chen Ye followed these people into a bulletproof SUV, leaving the city for the suburbs.

On the way, Chen Ye asked, "Have all those who sneaked into the city been moved to the suburbs by you?"

The middle-aged man driving the car laughed, "Are you worried that if too many people gather, the misfortune will increase?"

"You even know about that?" Chen Ye was surprised.

"Of course, we were the ones who discovered it and then informed your people," the man replied.

Hearing this, Chen Ye was stunned.

Good grief, these foreigners are shameless! It was the natives who discovered the secret, yet they claimed it as their own.

The middle-aged man laughed, "Rest assured, according to our research, as long as you people maintain a distance of more than 300 meters from each other, there won't be an increase in misfortune."

"Also, as long as there are no more than five of you in the same area, misfortune won't increase."

"The suburban area I'm taking you to is specifically prepared for people like you. The conditions may be simple; there's only water, electricity, and a place to sleep, but it's all for your safety."

"For you, having too many things just means increased danger."

Chen Ye nodded and suddenly asked, "What if someone refuses to cooperate with you?"

"Then we can become the disaster!" The middle-aged man replied calmly.

Chen Ye merely smiled at this response.

Seeing that Chen Ye didn't speak further, the middle-aged man explained, "There are too many people in the city. We can't afford to gamble. If someone refuses to cooperate and doesn't want to return to your world as soon as possible, we can only use force to expel them!"

It was clear his words carried a hidden meaning.

He was implying that Chen Ye should cooperate.

Of course, Chen Ye could hear it.

However, he didn't act recklessly or arrogantly, relying on his strength. He merely smiled, showing no intention of arguing.

Even though there was a threat in the man's words, at the fifth secret realm stage, even someone as exceptional as Tang Zichen was only at the fourth rank in overall strength.

Such power, though extraordinary among ordinary people, was still insignificant before the state machinery.

If the state truly decided to target these travelers, they had many ways to do so.

Of course, Chen Ye was an exception.

With his current strength, as long as the state didn't go to the extreme of using nuclear weapons, other threats would be practically useless against him.

Chen Ye simply felt that his priority should be the mission. There was no need to stir up additional trouble.

"Also, young man, I don't know if your teacher warned you," the middle-aged man continued, his face turning serious, "We won't interfere with your trials, but I hope you won't stay in this world for more than six days."

"If you exceed six days, you might face an apocalyptic-level disaster."

"By then, not only will you be finished, but we will also be doomed."

"This isn't an empty threat. Based on our data, someone among you once stayed until the seventh day, and on that day, they encountered a meteor strike!"

"I don't know if that person managed to escape in the end, but a giant city was destroyed because of them."

"To prevent such a catastrophe from happening again, our Time-Space Management Bureau has obtained the highest federal authorization. If anyone stays beyond the sixth day, we will use force to expel them!"

Chen Ye asked calmly, "Is this a threat?"

That statement was already an open threat, and if he didn't make a stand now, he'd really be treated like clay to be molded.

"You can think of it that way," the middle-aged man replied without retreating. "From the moment we joined the Time-Space Management Bureau, we swore to protect our city at all costs!"

Then, the man changed his tone and smiled, "Actually, you don't need to stay until the seventh day. As long as you stay for five days and leave on the sixth, you can still receive the highest reward."

Chen Ye suddenly recalled something important and asked, "By the way, are there any extraordinary individuals in your world? My teacher once told me that he saw a flying humanoid creature here."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man's expression remained calm.

However, the two young men sitting in the back didn't have such deep self-control, their expressions changing slightly.

Although they quickly regained their composure, Chen Ye's sharp eyes caught their reactions.

"A flying humanoid creature?" The middle-aged man asked, looking puzzled. "I haven't heard of it... Maybe your teacher was mistaken? This is a proper world."

"Is that so?" Seeing that the middle-aged man didn't want to elaborate, Chen Ye smiled. "My teacher also doubted whether he was mistaken."

...

The journey went smoothly.

They didn't encounter any disasters.

Soon, the car arrived at its destination.

The so-called suburb was very far from the city, practically a wilderness.

Here, a cluster of low houses had been built, all of them mobile wooden cabins.

Not even air conditioning was installed!

The conditions weren't just simple; they were downright harsh!

So, while the middle-aged man and the others breathed a sigh of relief for not encountering any disaster, Chen Ye's expression was not pleasant.

However, he didn't say much.

After all, he was only staying for a few days. A little discomfort was manageable.

As for the lack of air conditioning, it wasn't a big deal for him.

He hadn't used air conditioning for more than a year anyway...

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