Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 490 Yi Wenna's Whereabouts
The weekend after Christmas.

At 8:30 a.m., Ai Liang locked the door and prepared to go out to shop.

Yesterday's meal completely used up all the food stored in the refrigerator, leaving only some ginger and garlic.

There wasn't much stock left in the refrigerator, so this was a good opportunity to clear out the stock and replenish our inventory.

Ye Qing and Yi Wenna, who live next door, start getting up and washing up around five or six o'clock to prepare for going out.

The two girls have probably been shopping for a while now.

Don't ask how you know.

Ye Qing's room and Ai Liang's room are so close that they can chat face-to-face with just by opening the windows; it would be strange if they couldn't hear each other.

Last night, while Yi Wenna was asleep, Ye Qing asked Ai Liang on her phone if she wanted to go out together today, but Ai Liang declined.

He, a boy, would definitely not be interested in the places that two girls want to visit.

Besides buying groceries, I've also read almost all the books in my house.

After finishing her shopping, Ai Liang planned to visit a bookstore to see if there were any newly published novels.

I calculated the time and went downstairs to the bus stop.

Thirty seconds later, a bus stopped in front of Ai Liang.

In fact, most people living in the Asia Union city area order vegetable packages directly online.

While technological advancements have made life more convenient, they have also pushed some old habits out of the modern era.

Very few people are willing to go out to buy groceries themselves anymore.

Asia Union has very strict management of fresh food sold online. Anything that is to be listed online must be approved by multiple agencies.

It cannot be illegally genetically modified, and it cannot contain pesticide residues. For food nearing its expiration date, a discount should be applied based on the remaining shelf life, and the country of origin must be clearly stated.

Every so often, a special department will conduct surprise sampling surveys.

By the way, the genetically modified organisms (GMOs) mentioned here refer to genetically modified foods that are developed independently through unofficial channels and have not undergone safety assessment and testing.

Because food safety issues are strictly enforced, many companies are taking shortcuts by using genetic modification to increase the disease resistance and yield of vegetables and fruits, at least to make them look fresh.

As for any potential safety hazards, that remains unknown.

If someone suffers health damage from food purchased online, depending on the severity of the damage, not only will the supplier's representative face imprisonment for one to fifteen years, but the department responsible for the sampling investigation will also be severely punished.

These stringent regulations, along with strict enforcement measures, have greatly ensured food safety.

Therefore, people don't need to worry at all about buying inferior ingredients online.

After all, the Asian Union's annual expenditure on people's livelihood accounts for 21 percent of its total GDP.

Leaving Nevada aside, people in other cities are doing quite well.

This can be seen from the free and easy atmosphere in Chika City.

If people in a region are constantly struggling to survive, so busy that they don't even have time to rest, and are even afraid of delaying getting sick, it is impossible for them to have this kind of social atmosphere.

In addition, due to the influence of Neva City in recent years, Qianhua City has one of the worse security environments among all the cities in Asia Union.

In other cities, even if you never look for a job after you become an adult, you can live off public subsidies without any problems.

However, these subsidies are not without cost.

Your bank account will be subject to the supervision of the labor bureau.

Daily expenses are limited to basic living expenses, namely food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Each related expenditure cannot exceed the corresponding limit, and no luxury goods other than necessities can be purchased.

For example, you can buy small items, but you cannot spend more than 100 yuan per month, and the amount cannot be carried over to the next month.

You can buy more clothes, but you can't have more than three sets of clothes for each season...

In today's materialistic society, this is extremely fatal.

After all, it's about paying money to raise parasites, so the relevant regulations are very detailed, and there's almost no way to find any loopholes.

When your purchasing power is clearly limited, you'll find that your desires suddenly surge, and you want everything you see.

Therefore, less than 10% of adult men in the area choose to be parasites.

It's roughly one in every fifteen to twenty people.

Of course, this data is not fixed, and many people can't stand the days when all their consumption is regulated by the labor bureau, so they choose to go out and look for work.

There are even fewer women, and women's shopping desires are much stronger than men's.

The scene shifts to a fresh food market.

Most of the people who come to the fresh food market at this time are housewives hoping to save on transportation costs, and purchasing staff from restaurants.

The young Ai Liang was quite conspicuous to be seen here.

Ai Liang often goes out to buy groceries for two reasons: first, to pass the time and feel the pulse of life; and second, to commemorate her past life and retain some normal human habits.

After purchasing enough ingredients for the next few days, Ai Liang handed them over to the logistics personnel because she also needed to go to the bookstore to buy books.

They will deliver these items to the storage point downstairs in Ai Liang's building before noon.

There is an extra shipping fee to pay.

On her way to the bookstore, Ai Liang encountered a group of unexpected people.

"Ai Liang? Why are you alone?"

Chen Zili, Xu Tao, Peng Yuan, and another classmate whose identity is unknown bumped into Ai Liang.

Although they weren't very familiar with Ai Liang, they still greeted her out of basic politeness, including Peng Yuan, who had just arrived to report.

Ai Liang was surprised that Peng Yuan had become familiar with the classmates so quickly. This was many times better than Chen Zili, who could only talk to her back then.

"Is it strange that I'm alone?" Ai Liang said, maintaining her expressionless face.

Chen Zili waved his hand and explained, "That's not what I meant. I meant... Ye Qing wasn't with us today?"

This question left Ai Liang even more speechless: "Does it have to be normal for me to go out with her?"

Chen Zili scratched his head: "That's not what I meant..."

“But wasn’t yesterday Christmas? You should have spent it with Ye Qing, but you’re all alone today…” Chen Zili hesitated.

To put it bluntly, this guy was subtly probing, asking if he had some kind of unpleasantness with Ye Qing yesterday, which was why he went out alone today.

After figuring out what Chen Zili was trying to say, Ai Liang pursed her lips and explained, "She and Yi Wenna went out to play early this morning. They're not children, do you expect me to follow them?"

Chen Zili and the others were speechless at Ai Liang's hard-hitting answer.

Brother, is this a question of whether or not someone is a child?

You're an even tougher straight man than steel straight men, made of titanium alloy!
However, Xu Tao gleaned a crucial piece of information from it: "I remember Yi Wenna didn't go back to the dorm last night, could she have been there too...?"

Although the management at Qianhua Experimental Middle School is relatively relaxed, it is still necessary to report to the class monitor and dormitory manager and explain the situation if you stay out all night.

With Chen Zili, that dog of a manager, around, it wasn't difficult for Xu Tao to find out that Yi Wenna wasn't in the dormitory yesterday.

Ai Liang noticed Xu Tao's concerns and explained, "She had dinner at my place yesterday, but went to Ye Qing's house to sleep after dinner."

Ai Liang deliberately omitted the part about Yi Wenna getting drunk.

Because there's no point in saying it out loud; it would only cause Xu Tao more trouble.

Even though everyone is well aware of Ai Liang's hardcore straight-male personality, the fact that a girl got drunk at a guy's house where he lives alone is bound to raise suspicions.

What's more, yesterday was Christmas, a holiday filled with gunfire and conflict.

Xu Tao forced a smile: "I see."

It's obvious that he still believes Yi Wenna likes Ai Liang.

The only thing that made Xu Tao feel relieved was that Ai Liang wasn't a scumbag and wasn't very interested in Yi Wenna.

As long as Ai Liang maintains his image as a cool and handsome guy, he still has a chance.

After chatting for a few minutes, the group was about to say goodbye.

Peng Yuan spoke up at this moment.

"Speaking of which, since Yi Wenna left with Ye Qing, Ye Qing must have invited you before they left, right? Do you know where they went?"

Peng Yuan maintained his smile and asked curiously.

Ai Liang turned to look at Peng Yuan: "Why did you ask that?"

Peng Yuan continued, "It's nothing, it's just that Xu Tao invited Yi Wenna yesterday, but she refused, so we thought... you know what I mean."

Xu Tao paused for a moment, frowned as he looked at Peng Yuan, then turned his attention to Chen Zili: "Hey, Lao Chen, why do you tell everyone everything?"

Before Chen Zili could explain, Peng Yuan spoke up first: "Haha, sorry, sorry, this isn't what he told me. It was just that you guys were talking so loudly late the night before last, I couldn't help it."

Xu Tao immediately swallowed all his words.

Chen Zili wasn't in the boys' dormitory, and no one replied to his messages, so he could only make voice calls.

Boys who are bestial friends don't care about the time of day. It's common for them to drag someone out for a walk in the middle of the night or ask them to go online.

It was Xu Tao himself who called in the middle of the night, disturbing people's sleep.

Knowing he was in the wrong, he shut his mouth and stopped questioning Chen Zili.

"So?" Ai Liang still had that indifferent look on her face.

"So could you tell us where Yi Wenna and the others went?" Peng Yuan scratched his head and laughed heartily.

Upon hearing that Peng Yuan was helping him inquire about Yi Wenna's whereabouts, Xu Tao forgot all about being angry.

He looked at Ai Liang with expectant eyes, trying to find out Yi Wenna's whereabouts from her.

"So why should I tell you?"

Ai Liang put the problem more bluntly: "Yi Wenna didn't tell you where she went, which means she doesn't want you to know."

Besides, even if you found out, what could you do? Go and bother them? What's the difference between that and being a stalker?

Xu Tao's face turned pale and then red after Ai Liang's words.

He began to protest, "I... I just..."

Ai Liang didn't give him a chance to speak: "If you like her, then why do you keep doing things she hates? Or do you think that knowing where she is will immediately make her like you?"

Ai Liang's words reminded Xu Tao of what happened at the amusement park in Nevada City, and he fell silent.

Peng Yuan didn't take Ai Liang's questioning seriously. He said casually, "But if you don't know the other person's whereabouts, you won't even have the chance to develop feelings for them, right?"

Seeing that Peng Yuan was still unwilling to back down, Ai Liang bluntly said, "So why should I tell you? Are we that close?"

Because you've been turned down by the person directly, you ask others for information about their whereabouts. This is a common thing to do in school, but it's something to be avoided in society.

Ai Liang is a person of great principle, and also an adult.

His perspective on issues is completely different from that of his students.

Given Yi Wenna's resistance, what good would it do Ai Liang to reveal her whereabouts, besides offending people?

Have Peng Yuan and Xu Tao considered whether Ai Liang will be questioned after the matter is exposed?
No.

They only care about the present and don't consider the consequences at all.

The students' mentality is that they take all the help they receive from others for granted.

It's quite normal for them to betray those who helped them.

Only Chen Zili, who was a little more precocious, considered these issues and did not speak up.

The word "maturity" does not refer to age, but rather to one's perspective on things and one's methods of handling affairs.

Some people may ridicule these behaviors and show disdain.

But this just proves that he is a fragile and naive person.

Because he can't even understand that he has no right to set the rules of the game.

If someone doesn't try to change things, but just complains and thinks they're superior, how smart can you expect them to be?

As for whether Ai Liang's words will strain her relationship with her classmates.

Ai Liang came to Qianhua City just to live a peaceful life; she didn't really come here to go to school.

He only ever cared about a few people.

The relationship between classmates is completely irrelevant.

Ai Liang's sharp words put the group in an awkward situation.

Few people would speak so bluntly, no matter the time.

Just as Chen Zili was about to smooth things over, Ai Liang spoke up: "I have other things to do next, please excuse me."

After saying that, he walked past the group and left without looking back, leaving Chen Zili and his group standing there dumbfounded.

"Well, that's just Ai Liang's personality. His words may be a bit harsh, but he's not a bad person at heart."

Chen Zili began to explain for Ai Liang: "Otherwise, the amusement park wouldn't have helped me and Xu Tao find an excuse to get close to each other..."

"You just can't stand not touching my wound, can you?"

Xu Tao, standing behind Chen Zili, said quietly.

She had already been thoroughly criticized by Ai Liang, and now she was being betrayed by her own teammate.

Xu Tao felt exhausted: "Ai Liang is indeed not a bad person, but his personality is something most people really can't accept."

Peng Yuan looked with interest in the direction where Ai Liang disappeared: "Really? I think this Ai Liang is quite unique. This is the first time I've met someone like her in real life."

Xu Tao glanced at Peng Yuan: "Then your interests are really quite unusual."

Peng Yuan didn't refute, but chuckled and asked, "So, are we still going to the mall today to see if we can 'bump into' Yi Wenna?"

The young man named Xu Tao fell silent once again.

(End of this chapter)