Chapter 960: Inclusive Big City

The train slowly began to move.

The woman gazed out the window at the receding metropolis, a hint of coldness flickering in her eyes. Casually, she spat a sunflower seed shell from the corner of her mouth onto a stainless steel plate, producing a soft clink.

This woman was none other than Chen Ling, after activating *Wuxiang*.

Chen Ling was no stranger to feigning death to escape. After the missile pulverized his body, the remnants fell down the cliff into the dense forest... And with the deduction of 50 expectation points, he soon regenerated in an uninhabited area.

In fact, Chen Ling wasn't truly cornered at that time; he still had many ways to maneuver and stall. But the most important reason he chose to commit suicide was to remove the tracking spell within his body.

Although the divine path users of this era are not high-ranked, their methods are completely different from the Era of the Nine Lords. There's the Azure Divine Path activated with a camera, the Soldier Divine Path which involves quick-scoping and leaves unhealable wounds, and tracking spells that inexplicably lock onto others...

Even Chen Ling found these abilities hard to guard against. He didn't know where he had been tracked from, nor how to resolve it, so he simply chose to regenerate, clearing all negative effects from his body.

To leave Shanghai, Chen Ling completely transformed himself. Not only his appearance and age, but he even disguised his gender. He didn't believe that even after going to such lengths, those "White Hands" would still be able to track him.

"Excuse me, how much is the fruit platter?"

"Fifty-one per serving."

"I'll scan the code."

A figure stood by the carriage door for a moment, then, carrying a fruit platter, slowly walked towards Chen Ling's seat.

As it was an old-fashioned green train, the front and back rows of seats faced each other with a small table in between. At that moment, an old woman was sitting next to Chen Ling, chatting happily with another old woman across from her.

"Excuse me, could you make some room?" The young man, holding the fruit platter, stood in the aisle. "I'm in the window seat on the inside."

The woman by the window was gazing out at Shanghai. Her eyes flickered slightly at the sound, then she glanced at the young man standing beside her and the grotesque mask at his waist. She quietly averted her gaze, pretending not to recognize him...

The old woman shuffled back, barely making enough room for the young man. He painstakingly moved to the seat opposite Chen Ling, then slowly sat down.

"What a coincidence," the young man said, pushing the fruit platter towards the woman opposite him. "You're here too."

Chen Ling glanced at him and spoke coolly:

"Do I know you?"

The two old women, who had been gossiping by the side, immediately closed their mouths and silently pricked up their ears.

"Oh... my mistake," the young man said, as if realizing something. "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Shen Nan."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not interested in knowing you."

"I'm quite curious how you managed to change so much... Is it makeup? Plastic surgery? No, that's not right... You even changed your gender... Could it be that you..."

The two old women's eyes widened in astonishment as they listened. They even started uncontrollably taking sunflower seeds from Chen Ling's bowl, while secretly glancing at the man and woman beside them out of the corner of their eyes, skillfully popping the seeds into their mouths, as if some deeply ingrained instinct had been activated.

Shanghai truly lives up to its reputation as a big city. When they say it's inclusive, they really mean it!

Chen Ling looked at Shen Nan with an incredibly complex expression. He couldn't help but speak:

"I've gone to such lengths, how did you find me??"

"I saw it," Shen Nan said after a pause. "When you jumped off the cliff, I was about to save you... But as you know, those who were cornering you are considered my own people, so I couldn't openly intervene. I planned to take you away from the bottom of the cliff, as far from Shanghai as possible...

But I didn't expect them to actually..."

Shen Nan did not continue.

But in the minds of the two old women, a spectacular drama was already unfolding. Their speed of cracking sunflower seeds increased, and they wished they could press their ears against the two of them!

"Then why are you still looking for me?" Chen Ling asked with a frown.

"I was just curious. I wanted to know what exactly you were trying to achieve..."

Shen Nan casually peeled an orange and continued, "I followed you the whole way. Although you've changed so much that I couldn't even recognize you... there are some things I can sense."

"What?"

"The two souls within you."

The old woman gasped in shock, her mouth wide open. The sunflower seeds in her hand dropped to the floor.

"Grandma, you've reached your stop. Please get off the train now," a kind train attendant walked over and said.

Without a word, the old woman pulled out a few banknotes from her pocket and tried to hand them to the attendant.

"Just one more stop! I want to ride one more stop!"

The attendant looked perplexed.

Perhaps because the next stop was too far, the old woman ultimately chose not to buy an extended ticket. She gave Chen Ling and Shen Nan a reluctant look, and finally patted Shen Nan on the shoulder.

"Grandma supports you two."

Shen Nan was utterly bewildered.

No one knew what kind of story would rapidly spread through the villages following the two old women's departure, prompting countless people to rethink their understanding of the love-hate entanglements among Shanghai's elite families and filling them with curiosity about this magical and inclusive city.

Chen Ling and Shen Nan didn't realize anything was amiss and had no idea what roles they would play in the old women's narratives. They only knew that after the two old women left, their seats felt considerably more spacious.

Chen Ling adjusted his sitting posture and continued:

"I thought you'd capture me and take me back, or report me to them."

"I don't have such deep feelings for Bureau 749," Shen Nan sighed. "Becoming a 'White Hand' was just a way to get a legitimate identity. After saving you, those people kept coming to question me, batch after batch; it's incredibly annoying... I also want to take this opportunity to get away for a while."

"You want to run away with me? You trust me that much?"

"Before coming here, I called Elder Xiao," Shen Nan said calmly. "She asked me to take good care of you, saying their family owes you a great favor... Elder Xiao was kind to me back then, so I couldn't refuse her request."

So Elder Xiao had intervened... Chen Ling understood.

Although Shen Nan's path is unusual, his strength is definitely not weak within Bureau 749. The fact that he would risk protecting Chen Ling shows just how influential Elder Xiao is.

"It's hard to say who'll be taking care of whom," Chen Ling said emotionlessly, popping an orange segment into his mouth. "After all, you're a normal person most of the time... If I hadn't kicked you away back then, you would have already died once."

"Perhaps."

Shen Nan shrugged, leaning back in his seat, and propping his head with one hand, he slowly spoke.

"But there's one thing I can indeed help you with."

"What?"

"Resolving your one body, two souls."

Hearing this, Chen Ling's eyes narrowed slightly.