Grand Prince's funeral, broadcast live until this point, could be considered over.
At this time, it was already nine o'clock in the evening on Beichen Star in the Imperial City, while on Guiyuan Star, it was just the beginning of the day.
With the funeral broadcast complete, the students at the school began their formal classes.
Even when Xia Chujian didn't miss classes before, she had a little trouble keeping up.
Now, after missing more than ten days of classes, she basically didn't understand what the teacher was talking about.
After a day of classes, she was exhausted, even more so than the last time she fought Feng Qianzhan in the Exotic Beast Forest.
Rubbing her shoulders, she began to pack her desk, planning to go home.
Her deskmate, Zhu Yingying, lived in the same building as her, and was waiting for her, planning to go home together.
Just then, a girl dressed in a particularly fashionable way, wearing a snow-white exotic beast beret, came to the door of their classroom with two followers, and waved to Zhu Yingying, saying, "Yingying! Come on! Let me take you to see the world!"
Zhu Yingying looked up and saw that it was Fen Tai Ni, the class beauty from the advanced class next door.
She was a new friend Zhu Yingying had just made in the past few days.
Zhu Yingying hesitated and looked at Xia Chujian, nervously clutching the strap of her schoolbag, and murmured, "Chujian, I... I... I'll go first."
Xia Chujian looked up and said faintly, "Who is that? Which class is she from?"
Zhu Yingying honestly said, "That's Fen Tai Ni, the class beauty from the advanced class next door. She... she knows a lot of upper-class people and has taken me to a few of their gatherings."
Xia Chujian couldn't help but size up Zhu Yingying.
From the designer coat on her body to the new leather shoes made of exotic beast skin on her feet, she was obviously dressed up.
Xia Chujian asked suspiciously, "She knows upper-class people, what does that have to do with us?"
Zhu Yingying blushed and stammered, "Fen Tai Ni said she wants to introduce me to a boyfriend... a boyfriend with a high status and a good family background..."
"There's such a good thing? She's not keeping him for herself, but introducing him to you?" Xia Chujian was even more puzzled.
Zhu Yingying quickly said, "Fen Tai Ni also has a fiancé, I heard his surname is Fan, and he's a noble from Da Fu Prefecture..."
"What's his surname?" Xia Chujian thought she had misheard and immediately became alert.
Zhu Yingying didn't notice the change in Xia Chujian's tone and still said embarrassedly, "Fan, I heard he's from a branch of the Fan Family, not a direct descendant, but his surname is Fan, and he lives in the Fan Family's territory in Da Fu Prefecture..."
Xia Chujian: "..."
"...If... if my mom asks, Chujian, could you tell my mom that I went to the library to study with classmates..."
Zhu Yingying pleaded with a flushed face.
If Zhu Yingying hadn't said that Fen Tai Ni's fiancé's surname was Fan, and that he was from the noble Fan Family of Da Fu Prefecture, Xia Chujian wouldn't have paid any attention to this matter at all.
But since that person's surname was Fan, Xia Chujian had to be more careful.
She packed up the things on her desk, put on her schoolbag, and said with her eyes down, "It gets dark early now, if your mom asks me which library you went to, what should I say?"
Zhu Yingying thought for a while, "The place Fen Tai Ni is taking me to is a private club called 'Feather' in the eastern district of Mulan City, near the sea. I heard it's very close to the Third Library, right next door. Just say I went to the Third Library."
"If my mom wants to come find me, send me a message quickly, and I'll go to the Third Library to wait for her."
Xia Chujian thought, Yingying usually doesn't show off, but she's also quite bold. When she lies, she really has a whole set of stories.
She nodded calmly, "Okay, if your mom asks me, I'll say that. But if she doesn't ask, I won't say anything."
"Of course." Zhu Yingying suddenly became happy.
She also put on her schoolbag, raised a delicate smile, and waved to Xia Chujian.
Xia Chujian couldn't help but ask, "...Yingying, you're only eighteen years old, why are you in such a hurry to find a boyfriend?"
The smile on Zhu Yingying's face suddenly froze.
She bit her lip and said in a low voice after a long while, "Chujian, I hate my home... I can't stay there for a day... My dad always hits my mom, hits me... My mom still tells me to keep putting up with my dad... I can't take it anymore..."
Xia Chujian: "..."
This was also the truth.
In fact, Xia Chujian didn't understand why either.
She felt that Aunt Chen should have been able to resist, but she didn't, and was beaten along with her daughter by that man.
If anyone dared to treat her aunt like that, she would definitely riddle them with bullets from a Submachine Gun.
But there were all kinds of people in this world, and she wasn't a human research expert, so who knew what was going on with these people?
Her eyes glanced towards Fen Tai Ni at the door, only to see that Fen Tai Ni was actually looking at her.
She suddenly looked over and met Fen Tai Ni's gaze head-on.
Xia Chujian expressionlessly withdrew her gaze.
She picked up her backpack, ignored Zhu Yingying, and strode towards the classroom door.
As she went out, she brushed past the heavily made-up Fen Tai Ni.
Fen Tai Ni's eyes flickered, and she suddenly called out to her, "You're Xia Chujian, right? Want to come with us and see the world? My fiancé brought many talented young men from Da Fu Prefecture, and if you manage to hook up with one, you won't have to worry for the rest of your life..."
The two lackey girls beside her laughed unrestrainedly, "Her?! An ugly duckling! Who would take a fancy to her!"
"Exactly! Someone like her, with bad grades and an ugly face, should be grateful if she can get into a factory as a factory girl after graduation, let alone dream of climbing the social ladder? ...Fen Tai Ni, you're too kind!"
"Yes, yes! Fen Tai Ni, introduce some good men to us! Marrying well is better than doing well on exams. My mom has wanted me to marry into a noble family for a long time!"
They chatted and laughed as if no one else was around at the entrance of the intermediate class. Xia Chujian didn't even lift her eyelids and walked straight past them.
Because it was winter, the days were short and the nights were long.
Although it was only four o'clock in the afternoon when school ended, it was already dark.
The streetlights in the school lit up.
Xia Chujian walked alone across the huge playground towards the school gate.
Turning a corner from the school gate, she walked up to the Inner City Maglev Train platform.
Just then, a Bat-type Flying Vehicle slowly revealed itself in mid-air and descended to stop in front of her.
The Flying Vehicle's hatch opened automatically, and an electronic simulated voice came from inside, mechanical yet polite, "Ms. Xia, please come with us."
It was dark at this time, and the streetlights on this section of the road had somehow all gone out.
There was no one else around, only her and the Bat-type Flying Vehicle in front of her.
She had a moment of impulse to turn around and rush onto the Inner City Maglev Train.
But the painful experience of being "lifted" and "drifted" by two cylindrical robots in the Special Security Bureau in the morning made her restrain her impulse.
Xia Chujian had no choice but to obediently get into the Flying Vehicle.
This was the same Bat-type Flying Vehicle she had ridden in the morning, but the man who called himself Huo Yushen was in the Flying Vehicle at that time.
She then recalled that Huo Yushen had said that he would send someone to pick her up after school to do mechanical intelligent drawing.
That sharp and terrifying man had deduced from her few words that she had seen the face of the missing girl.
She really didn't know whether to say he was perceptive or that she herself was still not cautious enough.
Although Xia Chujian had already gone over the statements with her teammates several times at that time, and had fooled both Kang Shanxing and Director Gu of the Dark Night Hunter Association, she had not been able to hide it from Huo Yushen.
As expected of someone who could materialize a silver bow and golden arrows to shoot the moon...
He was especially good at using power to suppress people.
Xia Chujian complained in her heart, not having a good impression of this man.
She sat expressionlessly in the Bat-type Flying Vehicle and soon arrived once again at the Special Security Bureau's branch in Mulan City.
A cylindrical robot that looked very familiar was guarding the door. It led her directly inside to a small room.
This was not the conference room she had been to in the morning, but a studio.
There were many large and small display screens inside, not virtual, but physical display screens.
The resolution was very high.
No one was sitting in front of the workbench, only Huo Yushen was standing in front of a workbench with his hands behind his back, looking very noble.
On that workbench, there were two robotic arms extending from a computer host, and the mechanical fingers were pointing at the huge high-definition physical display screen, and line drawings appeared accordingly.
Xia Chujian had seen this kind of computer mainframe on the Star Network. The configuration was frighteningly high, and of course, the price was also frighteningly high.
In this day and age, when everyone uses a Smart Bracelet or Quantum Optical Brain, this kind of physical computer mainframe is only equipped for professional departments.
Ordinary families don't need this kind of thing.
Without turning around, Huo Yushen knew she had come in.
His voice was as cold and devoid of human warmth as ever, but it was full of baleful aura, like an emotionless killing machine.
"Sit down and express everything you know."
Xia Chujian looked at Huo Yushen's imposing and tall figure, then at the two robots in the corner that were eyeing her warily. Being pragmatic, she obediently walked over and sat down at the workbench next to Huo Yushen.
Huo Yushen casually pointed to a holographic glasses hanging on the side of the workbench, "Put it on."
This holographic glasses was quite similar to the kind she used to watch the Shao Siming Mecha promotional video that day, but it had some additional sensors that could be attached to the brain.
Xia Chujian took it and put it on her head.
This time, she didn't see any different scenes.
Before her eyes was still the same studio, the physical display screen, and the dark computer mainframe.
"Now, recall the scene you saw, and the mechanical intelligence will draw it."
Huo Yushen's icy voice rang in her ears, with a stubbornness and persistence that wouldn't stop until he achieved his goal.
Xia Chujian understood very well that this person was not easy to fool, and she was also afraid that he would use some means to reveal some of her few little secrets.
The best way was to cooperate with him quickly and draw the appearance of the missing girl.
In fact, deep down in Xia Chujian's heart, she still wanted to help this mysteriously missing girl a little.
She slowly concentrated her mind.
Soon, as she recalled, the two robotic arms slid their mechanical fingers and began to paint on the physical display screen.
At first, it was just a rough figure lying on the ground.
Then, bits of color began to be added.
The details of the figure also became clearer, including the style of the clothes on the person.
Finally, there was a close-up of the person's face.
The robotic arms paused on the physical display screen for a while, as if receiving data and processing it.
The girl's thick, eyebrow-level bangs were drawn first, and different shades of black were applied according to the light and shadow at the time.
My darlings, see you tomorrow!
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