After leaving the hospital building, Chen Xuan slowed his pace.
A row of shared bicycles in various colors stood outside the hospital entrance, each one with a QR code stuck to the back. Several delivery riders wove through the crowd on electric scooters, navigation apps on their phone mounts constantly reminding them of the route ahead. QR codes for payment could be found outside the breakfast shops and convenience stores along the street, even at the fruit stalls.
Ten years ago, forgetting your wallet when you went out was bound to cause some inconvenience. Now, many young people needed only a phone to travel between cities and take care of all their daily needs—food, transportation, and everything in between. Paper money had not disappeared, but few people carried much loose change anymore.
Following the method his younger sister had taught him beforehand, Chen Xuan hailed a car on his phone. The app displayed not only the license plate and the driver's name, but even how far the vehicle was from the hospital.
In less than three minutes, a white sedan slowly pulled up by the roadside.
Chen Xuan checked the license plate before getting in. After confirming the last digits of the phone number, the driver followed the navigation toward Huangting. The two of them did not even need to discuss the route; the map on the screen had already plotted the fastest way there.
The taxi drove through Jiangzhou's busiest commercial district.
Leaning against the back seat, Chen Xuan watched the scenery slide past the window. Several old buildings from his memories had vanished, replaced by towering office blocks and enormous shopping malls. A subway entrance had been built beside the bus stop where people once had to wait in long lines, and there were nearly as many new-energy vehicles on the road as cars running on gasoline.
A massive electronic screen hung on the exterior wall of a shopping mall, its images so clear that every detail could be seen. Dense arrays of surveillance cameras had been installed beneath the overpasses, while traffic lights adjusted their timing according to the congestion at each intersection. Even the inconspicuous parcel lockers by the roadside could be opened with a phone.
The cultivation world also had jade talismans capable of transmitting messages, flying vessels that could travel ten thousand miles in a single day, and grand formations that could envelop entire cities.
But those things were controlled by sects, aristocratic clans, and the powerful. An ordinary mortal might toil all their life and still never have the right to come into contact with them.
Although Earth lacked abundant spiritual energy, ordinary people had taken another path, turning long-distance communication, rapid travel, and remote transactions into things that could be found everywhere. Such power could not grant immortality, nor could it make flesh withstand blades and swords, but it had genuinely changed the lives of every ordinary person.
With sixty years of cultivation behind him, Chen Xuan would never dismiss these things as mere tricks and novelties.
On the contrary, he understood all too well what an immense level of organization and production was required for a system to serve hundreds of millions of ordinary people.
The ten years he had been gone happened to be the decade in which this world had developed the fastest.
When the taxi arrived at Huangting, the driver pointed to the QR code beside the center console.
“Hello. You selected cash on delivery for this ride. That’ll be ten yuan. Just scan this code—WeChat Pay or Alipay, either one works.”
Chen Xuan took out the phone his father had given him and scanned the code. After looking at the payment page, he realized that his bank card had not yet been linked, so he could not make the payment. He had no choice but to take a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket.
The driver accepted the money with a surprised look. Even while counting out the change, he seemed somewhat taken aback.
“Not many young people carry cash with them these days. Here’s ninety yuan back. Please take it.”
Chen Xuan smiled, accepted the change, and got out of the car without offering an explanation.
Learning new things was not difficult. The most complicated formations in the cultivation world could contain tens of thousands of changes in their formation patterns, and he had been able to master each one. As for the various functions on a phone, all he needed was a single demonstration before he could quickly learn them.
What truly concerned him was not whether he could keep up with this era.
It was that, during the ten years in which the world had raced forward, his parents and younger sister had been trapped between a cramped apartment and a hospital room.
While others enjoyed the convenience brought by the progress of the times, his father had dragged his injured leg to a logistics park to guard a warehouse. Every day, his mother helped him turn over and clean himself, virtually shackled to his side and robbed of any life of her own.
His younger sister should have finished her studies and found a job she enjoyed. Instead, because of the medical bills, she had come to Huangting, forcing smiles for drunken customers. Aside from her work uniform, she could hardly bring herself to buy a decent new outfit.
Ten years could never be reclaimed.
But the things they had lost—Chen Xuan could make up for them, little by little.
The entire Huangting building was lit with golden lights even in broad daylight, and quite a few luxury cars were parked outside. Uniformed doormen stood on either side of the entrance, occasionally opening car doors for arriving and departing guests.
Chen Xuan looked up at the enormous golden sign, then walked toward the entrance.
The eighty thousand yuan had to be repaid. He would not be short a single cent.
As for the additional one hundred and eighty thousand Huangting was demanding, that would depend on whether they had the ability to take it.
The lobby of Huangting was even more lavish than it had appeared in the video.
A massive crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, while the floor was paved with dark-colored marble. Directly opposite the entrance stood an indoor fountain, water flowing slowly down an exquisitely carved artificial mountain. The air carried a faint scent of perfume, masking most of the alcohol fumes common to entertainment venues.
Seeing Chen Xuan's plainly dressed appearance, one of the attendants eyed him with some suspicion and immediately stepped forward to stop him.
“Sir, do you have a reservation?”
“I'm here to see Wang Hai.”
The smile on the attendant's face did not change.
“May I ask your name?”
“Chen Xuan. I'm here to handle a contract on behalf of Chen Yan. We made an appointment yesterday. We’re meeting in the manager's office at noon.”
At the mention of Chen Yan's name, the attendant gave him a second look.
Chen Yan had not returned to the staff dormitory the previous night, and Manager Wang had given instructions in advance. If any of her family members came by, they were not to be stopped and were to be taken directly upstairs.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll notify the manager.”
The attendant picked up his walkie-talkie and said a few words. Soon, a young man in a black suit came out from inside.
“Mr. Chen, I presume? Manager Wang is already waiting for you.”
The young man gestured politely for him to follow and led Chen Xuan toward the elevator.
Once inside, the man swiped his staff card to authorize the floor. There were no ordinary buttons on either side of the elevator, only a single illuminated number six.
Standing behind him, Chen Xuan's gaze swept over the surveillance camera mounted on the ceiling of the elevator.
Since entering the building, he had already passed four cameras. Huangting's security was somewhat tighter than that of an ordinary hotel, and several corridors leading to employee areas required an access card.
But such measures could only stop ordinary people from wandering in where they did not belong.
The improvement brought by reaching the first level of Qi Condensation was not limited to strength. His hearing, reaction speed, and awareness of his surroundings had all far surpassed those of ordinary people. When he had passed through the lobby earlier, he had already heard someone mention Chen Yan in the nearby lounge.
“Manager Wang said that if Chen Yan comes back, don’t let her into the staff dormitory yet.”
“What happened to Chen Yan?”
“I heard she skipped work and never came back.”
“Huh? Didn’t she take an advance of tens of thousands from the hotel? No one would dare run off owing Huangting money, would they?”