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Chapter 359: Chapter 359: Kindred Spirits

"What’s wrong?" After announcing her name, she noticed Chen Xuan was in a daze and couldn’t help but stop to ask.

Chen Xuan realized a problem, how to prove... or rather, make her believe that she is the real Lin Qing?

Proving this isn’t difficult; Lin Qing had left her own DNA evidence. Moreover, Lin Qing is still a VIP guest; changing housing would confirm her true identity. Whether it’s a twin or a clone, none can escape the eyes of the Ability Store.

However, to "Yuyan," Lin Qing was a completely unfamiliar person.

She hadn’t experienced Lin Qing’s future, hadn’t become a warrior of the resistance, naturally, she wouldn’t resonate with Lin Qing’s identity.

If he tried to impose Lin Qing’s memories onto her, it would probably backfire.

Therefore, he couldn’t reveal anything about Lin Qing to her, at least not before she trusts him; he must treat her as just a regular person.

"No... nothing." Chen Xuan pulled back his dispersed thoughts, shaking his head while pressing the scan button on his glasses.

—— "Wilderness Survival" LV2, White.

"Chewing leaves, recognizing mushrooms, you can always find a way to survive, and your body and will are adapting to this hardship."

Her abilities were completely different from Lin Qing’s.

By the agency’s standards, she didn’t even qualify as an Ability User.

"Let me introduce you, this is our band’s main member." Yuyan... or rather, the woman suspected to be Lin Qing, called out to the gathered crowd at the camp, "Everyone, come and show yourselves. I’ve recruited a kindred spirit!"

Chen Xuan also saw the group.

As expected, each of them wore protective clothing, only their outfits were adorned with various "personal elements," like red capes, umbrella hats, skull waist pendants... Overall, they looked like a group of wasteland punk youngsters.

"Wow, you really managed to recruit someone? Is he an Ability User?" They rushed forward, eyeing Chen Xuan as if he were a rare guest.

"Yes, an Ability User," Lin Qing confirmed.

"Great! We just need someone who can take on big responsibilities!"

"Welcome to the band, our mission is to rejuvenate Jiang City!"

"That’s right, this city will stand strong!"

They warmly shook hands with Chen Xuan, as if he had already become part of this family.

"This is Liu Yi, the mechanic; this is Uncle Li, the heavy gunner; and this short guy is Huang Gou, an outstanding driver..." Lin Qing quickly introduced everyone.

Chen Xuan scanned with his glasses, finding that there were both Ability Users and regular people mixed with nicknames and names, completely unlike a well-trained regular army.

Considering their recruitment methods, the complex composition of team members was understandable.

"Who’s the leader?" Chen Xuan naturally asked while shaking hands.

"We don’t have a sole leader," Lin Qing replied. "Everyone has their strengths in different areas, so we let the professionals handle professional matters. For instance, when it comes to tactics and confronting enemies, we listen to Uncle Li."

"Honestly, I think... Yuyan should be the chief leader," someone shouted. "The Hotwire Band was established because of your years of efforts."

"Yeah, I support Yuyan too!"

"Enough, everyone stop messing around," Lin Qing gestured for silence. "Who’s the leader isn’t important. We’re not big enough to change the current rules."

After quickly introducing everyone, she pulled Chen Xuan aside, "Don’t you think our team is too casual?"

Chen Xuan didn’t expect her to bring this up, "Actually... it’s fine."

After all, makeshift teams are a worldwide norm.

"No need to hide it, your eyes say it all," Lin Qing shrugged. "Believe it or not, this is actually more beneficial for Hotwire Band’s survival. We roam the urban wilderness, always on the brink of death. If a leader dies, such a blow could completely dissolve the team. I’ve seen many outstanding search teams that fell apart because of an unfortunate captain’s death."

"Distributed management may be slightly inefficient, but it compensates for the major drawback of high casualty rates. If one person dies, another can take their place, like a multi-headed serpent."

Chen Xuan replied noncommittally, "Makes sense, but I feel... you don’t seem prepared for sacrifice?"

Lin Qing’s back slightly paused.

But she didn’t refute, instead, she carried on as though she hadn’t heard, leading him to a tent, "Go in."

With that, she went in first.

Chen Xuan didn’t mind, following her inside, bending slightly to enter. It was a moderately large tent, about ten square meters, filled with electronic equipment and a panoramic projector. The floor was cluttered with winding cables, making it difficult to find a spot to step.

"Yuyan, you’re here." A skinny, weak-looking girl looked up, her curious gaze landing on Chen Xuan. "And who is this..."

"Chen Xuan, an Ability User I recruited from Sha River Station," Lin Qing said. "This is Ji, our electronics expert."

"Hehe, not quite an expert, just a little familiar," she chuckled, her short pigtails bouncing up and down adorably.

This combination... really reminds one of Honglian and Little Pigeon.

Come to think of it, if this world’s version of her saw Honglian, she’d probably be shocked, right? After all, removing all the fancy prosthetics, Ordinary Lin Qing and Honglian look strikingly similar.

Upon hearing he was an Ability User, Ji’s eyes became bright, "Great... you’re the first Ability User willing to join us this month! If you have any broken personal devices, I can fix them for you for free!"

"Cough cough..." Lin Qing coughed twice, "Because our recent bases are all small-scale, it’s normal for us to have difficulty recruiting. Once we reach the High-tech Zone, we’ll definitely recruit more people who agree with our plan."

"Uh, maybe..." Ji’s face showed clear uncertainty.

"Show him what we discovered," she briskly changed the topic, "Let me declare first, these footage are all taken from the surveillance at Celestial Ridge District’s Park Station. We haven’t tampered with it."

The girl tapped her wrist a few times, and a monitor began playing a recording.

Because these devices were all haphazardly piled on the ground, Chen Xuan had to crouch down to view the screen properly.

Four screen sections clearly displayed time and place in the upper right corner—the time was about half a year ago, and the places were "Ticket Hall," "Security Check Area," "Transfer Area," and "Rest Area." No living souls were in sight, only the time jumping constantly.

Based on his life experience and comparison to Binjiang Garden Station, the ticket hall was usually on the first floor, with security and transfer areas on the second and third floors. These areas had also been massively modified to accommodate a large number of refugees. But in the footage, all areas were empty, as if nobody had ever inhabited them.

"This metro station... is it also a shelter?" Chen Xuan had a vaguely bad feeling.

"Yes. About twelve hundred people lived there previously." Lin Qing said, "When we approached this station and found no patrols, we realized something was wrong, so we didn’t enter recklessly. Ji took control of the station’s cameras via an external data interface, and then we saw some horrific things."

Ji tapped her wrist again, and the scenes immediately changed.

The locations were still the same four areas, but the perspectives differed, likely from different cameras on the same floors.

Chen Xuan’s gaze was immediately captured by the security check area’s floor—he saw many vein-like structures growing from it, appearing metallic silver-gray, intertwined peculiarly, and contracting and expanding over time.

For a moment, he thought of the Tower of Flesh and Blood, which had made Chang’an City bloody, with muscular veins spreading within walls and countless intestines falling from above.

Yet, the "veins" on the screen were different, their edges sharp, their texture cold and hard, not something created by flesh.

"What is this..." he looked at Lin Qing.

"They’re subway tracks," she sighed, "new tracks growing from the ground."