Chase Game

What is the outer realm of the mind?

"He is an individual, and also a force."

Li Qingping rarely appeared serious.

"If the chase game is likened to the Roman Colosseum, then he is the legendary Saint Seiya who has never lost a single battle."

He never takes lives after a victory; if you don't have what he wants, he'll simply leave.

What Li Qingping didn't mention was that he had also encountered the game of Xinwaitian, and in that game, he lost very quickly and completely.

"But what does that have to do with this?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to talk about next."

"Xinwaitian himself is very mysterious. His nationality, family, real name, and past are all unknown."

However, it has gathered a very large force under its command, which we collectively call the "Heavenly Court Outside the Mind".

For example, the members of the Flower Garden and the Beast Garden are all named after flowers or birds and beasts, and their abilities are mostly related to these.

The people of the Outer Heavenly Court believe in the principles of "punishment for guilt" and "an eye for an eye," and therefore have a strong aversion to the association's concept of "balance."

They dare not instigate large-scale social unrest, so they frequently provoke the association's bottom line in various ways; the words on this piece of paper are their symbol.

So that's the deeper reason, Ling Yi realized.

Using Bai Huan's revenge as a tool, the Outer Heavenly Court posed a sharp question to the Association—

When the law is unable to punish true evil, can an individual take the place of the law to uphold justice?

Instead of engaging in debate with the association, they directly offered their own answer:

Punish the guilty, and give an eye for an eye.

Now it's the association's turn to choose: to keep pursuing White Ring, or to end it here?

The atmosphere in the dormitory became heavy; no one expected things to escalate to such a predicament.

Fortunately, Li Qingping was experienced enough to draw a conclusion:

"This matter involves the Heavenly Court outside the mind. I will submit a report to the higher-ups for them to consider. Let's end it here."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't formally trained, so they didn't understand any grand principles. They just spoke from the heart. If it came down to it, they wouldn't be able to bring themselves to arrest anyone.

After leaving the school, Ling Yi and Li Qingping went in different directions; he was going home, while the other three went to the association.

Li Qingping said it was fine, since he was driving anyway, he would take Ling Yi to the association first, collect her attendance fee, and then go home. Ling Yi naturally agreed.

Only Liu Hao muttered under his breath, "How did I become a full-time driver..."

"Nonsense, I'm the captain, you're a team member. If you don't drive me, who will?"

Li Qingping cursed without any politeness, but just as he was about to sit in the back seat, Chen Yuyao, who was holding a tablet, crawled under his armpit.

The little girl placed the tablet on her lap, crossed her arms, and refused to let Li Qingping get in the car, saying:

"I don't sit with drunkards."

"Hey! I'm not going to bother with a little brat like you..."

Li Qingping obediently opened the passenger door and plopped down inside.

Ling Yi also sat in the back seat, just smiled and didn't say anything; he was just hitchhiking anyway.

Chen Yuyao was playing Candy Crush again. After spending time with her, Ling Yi felt that this girl wasn't very lively. Sometimes she seemed more like a little adult, which might be because she wasn't familiar with him.

In this respect, she is the complete opposite of her younger sister. After eating, Ling Miaomiao can chatter away all day long, like a wind-up toy.

Before long, they arrived at the association building.

As the saying goes, "a carefree life is a blessing," and after finishing his business, Ling Yi found the journey much easier.

He only became slightly nervous when Liu Hao asked about attendance pay halfway through the session.

At that moment, Liu Hao, while holding the steering wheel, said:

"Hey Captain, does this count as completing the mission? Are we still entitled to our attendance bonus in this situation?"

Li Qingping, already quite drunk in the passenger seat, gulped down another mouthful of wine before cursing:

"Why not, damn it? I'd like to see if those office idiots in the Coordination Department dare to embezzle my attendance pay."

Liu Hao's concerns were valid; the Coordination Department did indeed have various reasons for not wanting to pay the attendance fee.

However, as it turns out, the weak fear the strong, and the strong fear the ruthless. Li Qingping, fueled by alcohol, caused a scene at the Coordination Department.

He hurled every possible insult at the people in the Coordination Department, accusing them of abusing their power for personal gain and lining their own pockets.

In the end, it was Deputy Director Qian of the Coordination Department who stepped in to resolve the issue and settled the attendance fee with Li Qingping.

Even Ling Yi, who hadn't officially started working yet, didn't say anything.

After receiving the money, Li Qingping immediately sobered up and distributed the money to the two men on the spot.

Chen Yuyao didn't care, and she didn't care either; she only cared about her Candy Crush game.

Attendance pay is usually deposited into a bank card, but since Lingyi hasn't officially started working yet, she was given cash directly. It was in an envelope, a small stack, probably worth about 10,000 yuan.

Not many, in fact, pitifully few.

After all, the skills and items used cannot be bought with money, so the attendance fee of 10,000 is just a token gesture.

Ling Yi guessed that the association was able to be established and retain people not because of money, but because of other things he did not yet know.

After deducting the 5,000 yuan from [Ten Directions Grand View], he didn't exert much effort on this trip and still made a net profit of 5,000 yuan, which is not bad.

After the money was distributed, there was a knock on the office door.

Deputy Director Qian of the Coordination Department casually said something as he came in.

A hunched old man, leaning on a cane, slowly pushed open the door.

Chen Yuyao was facing the door and was the first to see the person entering. She immediately stood up, flashed a sweet smile, and called out:

"grandfather!"

The old man chuckled, freeing one hand to pat Chen Yuyao on the shoulder, and said happily:

"Oh! Did you have fun, my dear granddaughter?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuyao pouted and muttered:

"It's boring, not fun at all."

The old man chuckled and, with Chen Yuyao's help, entered the office.

Deputy Director Qian was wondering who it was when he finally saw who it was. He was so startled that he jumped up from his seat like a rocket, his fat body jiggling with each leap.

He quickly put on a fawning smile and said:

"Old Chairman, why are you even knocking? Next time, just push the door open and come in!"

The old man said indifferently:

"The rules must not be abandoned."

"Yes, yes, you're right. Please have a seat, I'll make you a pot of good tea."

The old man waved his hand in refusal, "No need to trouble yourself, I'm just here to pick up my granddaughter."

Deputy Director Qian wasn't about to back down easily; he wanted to use the tea-making time to quickly pull the director over to take the lead.

"Don't mention it, it's no trouble at all. It's just a short trip to get some water. You can rest for a bit..."

After saying that, he had already slipped out with the water bottle.

Li Qingping stepped forward again, straightened his posture, gave a standard salute, and said in a clear and resonant voice:

"Hello, former chairman!"

The old man lifted his cane, poked the wine flask at Li Qingping's waist, and laughed:

"Ah Qing, you should drink less alcohol; it's a waste of time and energy."