The male supporting character was actually myself.

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Chapter Twenty-One: A Love Across Time and Space

Control, control it?!

Cheng Xiamu couldn't help but facepalm. "Second Uncle, you have to play games in moderation and not get addicted."

Upon hearing this, the little white cat perked up immediately. "Meow~ Bug likes playing games too? I didn't expect we'd be kindred spirits! When I have time, I'll see what games you play. Maybe we can even add each other as friends and play matches together, hehehe..."

It hopped over to protect them from the shadows, fearing that something might go wrong with the old man and the child's supposedly lazy and unproductive ways of getting away with it, otherwise its host's future girlfriend wouldn't be able to travel through time...

"Why is it you again?" Chen Luoqi was puzzled when he saw the slightly chubby old man wearing expensive-looking training clothes, holding a paper fan, and wearing a bracelet on his wrist.

Is he stalking me?

Otherwise, why would it appear in such a remote place?

"I've been asking around for days before I found you here." The old man walked over slowly, fanning himself. "Child, although we've only met once, your appearance is truly rare. I want to see if your fate has changed again."

Chen Luoqi's face fell.

Damn it, are you treating me like some rare animal for research? You old liar, you've got a lot of fuss about you.

"Is there something you need? I'm busy here!" he asked bluntly.

The other person rubbed the prayer beads in his hand, carefully examining him from head to toe, and shook his head, saying, "Your forehead looks dark; you're probably in danger."

Chen Luoqi rolled his eyes. "Heh, I know what you guys are up to. You'll start pushing those talismans and stuff next, right? I'm doing really well lately, business is booming, no need for you to bother. Can't you see they're unloading? You'd better go away and not keep them from making money."

The old man caught a glimpse of Cheng Xiamu carrying a box of towels inside, then nimbly blending into the pile of goods, presumably having hidden it well. He smiled, said nothing, and turned to walk towards the street behind.

"What bad luck." Chen Luoqi watched him leave with a cold eye before spitting out a curse under his breath.

After the last box of goods was stacked up and the truck driver and movers drove away, he cautiously looked around to make sure no one was on the street before locking the gate from the inside, then spread out the fishing net to gather all the goods and pressed the button.

"biu!"

The huge warehouse was suddenly empty.

The old man nervously gripped his fan tightly, clasped his hands together, and muttered incantations.

"Host, come pick up your wife!" The moment it passed through, the fluffy little thing darted out and ran straight into its host's arms like a fluffy little doll, hanging on his chest. Its childish voice poured out like beans from a bamboo tube, "Hurry up and go see, Cheng Xiamu crawled into a big box that holds towels and came to find you!"

Jiang Chen:o((⊙﹏⊙))o

Could it be her? Why am I suddenly feeling a little nervous?

He hurriedly got up and turned on his communication device. As usual, Chen Luoqi exchanged a few polite words to get closer to him. During this time, the little white cat slowly moved all the other boxes into the space, leaving only the large cardboard box where Cheng Xiamu was hiding.

"Host, I'm leaving now, you guys keep chatting!" The little white cat waved its paw and followed Chen Luoqi, who had pressed the button, back to where it was.

Taking advantage of the crowd, Cheng Xiamu slipped into the warehouse and nimbly squeezed into a large box, peering out through a hole in the cardboard box.

It was her first time doing something so clandestine; and she was about to attempt time travel, so her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating.

Soon after, she heard rustling sounds. Peeking through the small hole, she saw that the other person was using a fishing net to trap the pile of goods. Then, everything suddenly went black!

Just as Cheng Xiamu was so nervous that her heart was practically leaping out of her throat, she heard a dull knocking sound.

About ten seconds later, soft lights came on outside and a lot of disinfectant was sprayed. A deep, magnetic voice came through the speaker. Listening to Chen Luoqi's brief exchange with the other person, she was incredibly impressed by her second uncle's deduction.

It really has been transported to the future!

But Cheng Xiamu soon started to panic—because Chen Luoqi only chatted briefly for a couple of minutes before falling silent.

Oh no! Did he travel through time?!

What should I do then?

If people from the future discover this, will it cause misunderstandings?

I wonder if the reason I secretly came up with will be enough to fool them...

"Come out, I know you're in there." Seeing that the last box hadn't moved for a while, Jiang Chen got straight to the point: "Welcome to the wasteland world. I'm sorry, I can't open the sealed room to let you out right now."

After all... the outside world is a desolate place with excessive radiation, and even if there are air purifiers in the shelter, I can't be sure if it will have any effect on your body.

The bacteria and viruses we both carry could very well infect the other with disease; you should understand that, right?

Cheng Xiamu felt her heart skip a beat.

He knew I was hiding in the box!!!

How did he know? Could Chen Luoqi already know as well?

Now that Chen Luoqi has discovered their secret, will he harm Second Uncle?

After a few seconds of confusion, she hurriedly climbed out of the large box, using both hands and feet, and only then could she see her surroundings clearly.

The huge room was completely sealed with what appeared to be steel panels without any gaps; there were no doors, windows, or even a single ventilation opening...

"How...how did you find me?" Countless questions flashed through Cheng Xiamu's mind in an instant, but in the end, she still asked the question without any confidence.

Jiang Chen observed her through the camera.

The fluffy dumpling was right; he did indeed feel an instant liking for her.

That special feeling is indescribable. It's as if everything is perfect, even the slightest smile or frown matches my aesthetic sense. It's exactly the kind of intimacy I dream of having in my lover.

"You can tell that there's a big difference between a living person and a pile of towels."

"You...you people of the wasteland world, could it be that you've evolved superpowers?!"

Jiang Chen couldn't help but laugh. "Human evolution isn't that advanced yet. What's your name? Why are you hiding in the box? Did you accidentally discover Chen Luoqi's secret and want to find out?"

Cheng Xiamu opened her mouth, intending to use the lie she had already prepared to brush him off, but for some reason she just didn't want to lie to him, so she replied softly, "My name is Cheng Xiamu, and I'm just really curious about time travel... Do you know where he comes from? What exactly is the thing that can travel through time? Can I... can I still go back safely?"

A series of questions were thrown at him, and Jiang Chen thought for a moment before answering truthfully: "Chen Luoqi is very lucky. He got a time-traveling magic item that can take him from Liuli City in 201x to Liuli City in the post-disaster wasteland."

And the fixed teleportation location of his shuttle is here—my shelter.

This sealed room used to be my bedroom. After I discovered he could easily travel through it, I renovated it for safety reasons. You'll have to wait a bit before you can go back; you'll probably have a chance tonight.

Because Chen Luoqi only plugs in the time-travel device to charge at night, Xiaobai has the opportunity to take it and travel back to bring Cheng Xiamu back.

"Huh? So that means you've actually been in contact?" She immediately seized on the key point and asked, "How long has it been since the first indirect contact? Everything is normal on our end now, and you shouldn't have any problems either, right? If it's been long enough, it means there's no risk of infection from the bacteria and virus clusters."

"But I dare not take any risks. If anything goes wrong, it will harm the whole world. Whether it's your place or ours, once the virus spreads, it will kill many people and require a huge price to pay."

"Hmm, that's true. You've really thought of everything... But if this room is sealed off, I'll get oxygen-deprived if I stay here too long."

“We can provide you with fresh air through the disinfection vent, so you don’t have to worry about lack of oxygen. Can you tell me what your world is like? I’m very curious, but Chen Luoqi isn’t a suitable person to chat with.”

"No problem, I'm free anyway." Cheng Xiamu quite liked this way of chatting, which was a bit like making friends over the phone, where she would just say whatever came to mind without any particular purpose.

So she started by talking about the urban environment, then moved on to her university major, job prospects, and her childhood life of living under someone else's roof. Jiang Chen sat in front of the screen, watching her extremely relaxed state with a slight smile on her lips, and told her about the pre-disaster ruins, the progress of the shelter development, and the plan to rebuild the country.

"Now, the only concerns left are viral infections and superbugs, right?"

Cheng Xiamu chatted happily and asked excitedly, "As long as it's confirmed that there's no danger in contact between people from our two worlds, then we can relax! Our side has abundant resources at low prices, so sending large quantities over can play a crucial role. We can also take your high technology back to benefit the public!"

Jiang Chen paused for a moment and denied it, saying, "Our technological development here is actually not that advanced, so it's difficult to bring it into your world; the resources from your side can only alleviate the problems in the wasteland world."

To truly revitalize the wasteland, the first step is to disarm the inhabitants; secondly, to shift the focus of large-scale research projects from weapons development to the revitalization of agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing.

This world is constantly dropping nuclear bombs; you bomb me today, I bomb you tomorrow. If these scourges aren't eliminated, the radiation in the wasteland will only increase, and vaults will have to be built deeper and deeper underground. Perhaps two generations from now, they won't even be able to see the sky anymore.

"Indeed, world peace is the key to better development..."

The two chatted like old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time, sharing similar topics and interests, making the conversation easy and enjoyable.

Two hours later, the little white cat suddenly hopped over and said, "Host, I took the time-travel artifact when Chen Luoqi wasn't looking. When are you planning to send her back?"

They can't even get a bottle of water here, let alone a meal. You should hurry up and put a door on the room. After all, the script already sets up the protagonist to follow you, which means that viruses and bacteria don't even exist in this mission world.

Jiang Chen also felt that given the script team's portrayal of the illiterate group for whom gold was useless, they probably wouldn't have considered such details.

But he really didn't dare to take the risk until he was completely sure.

The script team was determined to kill themselves off, but then suddenly had a brilliant idea: let's just create a virus infection and see who they can complain to?

"Xia Mu, I've obtained the time-travel artifact using a method I can't tell you yet. If you travel back in time, you'll end up in Chen Luoqi's warehouse. It's definitely locked now. Do you have a way to get out?"

Cheng Xiamu, who was deep in thought, paused for a moment, glanced at her phone, and saw that it was evening. She wondered if her second uncle had left yet...

“I have an idea!” Instead of answering the question directly, she made a request: “I… I really want to leave this closed room and see what another world is like. But to be responsible for both worlds, I can’t be selfish and willful. In that case, why don’t we do an experiment?”

Could you please bring some air from your room over?

If I get infected with bacteria or viruses, that's my own problem. After I return, someone will help me put on protective clothing and I can isolate at home to monitor my health. That way, even if I get infected, it can be controlled.

"As long as the test goes smoothly, could you take me outside to have a look?"

Jiang Chen was silent for a moment before making up his mind, "Since we're going to do the experiment, we can't let you bear the risks alone. I'll open the vents, and the two of us can try it together. Generally, the incubation period for suddenly invading viruses and bacteria is about half a month, and they come on strong."

During this time, if you have any problems, I will try to teleport you here. The medical technology here should be able to control the situation.

This kind of isolation isn't a solution. We should eliminate the safety risks before the script team comes up with the virus trick!

Chen Luoqi cannot be used for experiments. The script is designed so that he can operate in both worlds, and even if there are problems, he can use the protagonist's halo to cover them up.

Whether I can get close to Cheng Xiamu depends on whether this attempt can prevent the virus infection from spreading before the script is updated and the script team has a chance to patch it!

The fluffy little dumpling chuckled, stroking its large, furry ears. "Host, I won't bother you two anymore. To avoid alerting the protagonist, I'll go back and continue charging the box. Can I pick her up at nine tonight?"

Jiang Chen nodded, and it pressed the button and disappeared.

“Actually, you didn’t need to take the risk.” Sitting on the pile of towels, Cheng Xiamu bit her lip and said softly, “It was my curiosity that made me want to go outside and see what was going on. What if… you got infected?”

Jiang Chen flipped through the script and smiled, replying, "Living in a wasteland is all about taking it one day at a time. You never know when the heavens, who control fate, might get annoyed and try to kill you. Doing experiments with you, even if it's dangerous, is worth it. Otherwise, what's the point if we can't even talk face-to-face?"

For no reason, her face flushed red. She felt a surge of curiosity about Jiang Chen, who had a pleasant voice, was responsible, steady, and had lofty ideals. She really wanted to see what he was like as soon as possible!

Humans in the wasteland world shouldn't be too different from people in their own world, right?

The ventilation vents whirred as the two shared a single breath of air. A wall separated the two young people sitting back to back. At that moment, it seemed as if the whole world consisted only of the two adjacent rooms in the shelter and two vibrant, beating hearts drawn closer to each other…

"Nannan, is that you back?" At a little past nine o'clock in the evening, the old man, who had just finished his leisurely dinner, was waiting at the back window of the dark old warehouse. He saw a figure moving vaguely inside the warehouse and then noticed the light of a mobile phone. He asked in a low voice.

Just as Cheng Xiamu was about to call his second uncle, he hurriedly went to the back window and said through the glass, "Second Uncle, could you help me find a set of isolation suits? I'm worried that if I come into contact with people in the wasteland world after I travel there, I might bring back some dangerous bacteria or viruses. I'll have to quarantine myself for half a month..."

Chapter Twenty-Two: Second Uncle, I've Made It!

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