Yu Lian, of course, didn't know that due to his eccentric behavior, the Shared Foundation had a deep discussion about his issues, which had a very 'behind-the-scenes boss' vibe.
However, even if he knew, he wouldn't care. Having returned from the future, he was all too aware of the nature of this reliable black (meow) market intelligence dealer.
He stepped out and found that the city lights were already coming on, so he prepared to find a quiet place to look at some data. However, before he could walk a few steps, the door behind him opened again, and three people came out. The black-suited man in front was still cursing, "They call themselves the universe's number one intelligence dealer, but they can't even find out a person's identity after all this time. We spent so much money, and it's all just various legends, bah! Young master, what should we do…"
Yu Lian initially thought these intelligence dealers had changed their minds and were preparing to go back on their word, but then he realized that they, like him, must have come to buy intelligence. Either the transaction was completed now…
Sure enough, the cursing man also saw Yu Lian and showed a hint of surprise.
Yu Lian gave an awkward smile and nodded at him.
The man was stunned for nearly half a minute, then also awkwardly smiled and nodded.
Everyone was there to buy information; no one was nobler than anyone else, and no one could meddle in others' business. So, goodbye, or rather, never to see each other again would be best.
Yu Lian nodded to the other party again and was about to leave, but at that moment, he seemed to see the person in the middle of the group and paused slightly.
The other person must have also seen Yu Lian and peeked out from behind the big man.
In that instant, their gazes met, and they quickly confirmed that they knew each other.
"Yu Lian!"
"Autumn Mountain Yawata!" Yes, who else could it be but Autumn Mountain Yawata, Yu Lian’s classmate from the same school and grade, a core figure of the 830 Party in the future, a gloomy and reserved glasses-wearing guy who called himself a “Tactician”?
The suited man in front of Autumn Mountain shuddered and instinctively reached into his Arms, preparing to pull out a gun.
Immediately after, Yu Lian and Autumn Mountain Yawata both covered their faces almost simultaneously: "It's not me! I'm not here! Don't talk nonsense!"
However, it was already too late. The other man at the end, wearing a trench coat, had already reached into his jacket: "Young master, he knows you?"
"Don't move! This is the Foundation's place! We…" Brother Yawata in the team quickly said.
"Once we're outside, it's not the Foundation's place anymore! This is the Big Apple's lower city, where every alley can hide several corpses." The man in the lead was a step faster, already pulling out his pistol and rushing towards Yu Lian.
"Speak, are you from the Norman Gang!"
"What the hell?" Yu Lian was puzzled.
"Less nonsense!" The other party had already pressed the gun to Yu Lian's forehead. The latter immediately became a little angry. Didn't he know that he had never had a gun pointed at his head in his previous life? He decisively reached out, pushed the muzzle away, and punched the other party's face.
The suited man's features were distorted by the force of the punch, and he couldn't even close his eyes in time, his eyes somewhat unfocused.
However, Yu Lian's fist did not land. Instead, he withdrew his fist, letting his eyes meet the other party's startled gaze.
"What's the Norman Gang?"
"Then you must be that person's informant!" The suited man yelled distractedly.
"So, who exactly?"
"It's that so-called phantom thief, Count Black Moon! He's already sent us a letter!" The black-suited man shouted loudly.
...How did this get connected to that urban legend, Yu Lian's childhood idol?
"Idiot! Why are you telling him this?" The trench-coated man said angrily.
"Hey, yeah, why am I telling you this? This…" The suited man was confused.
Yu Lian looked up at the sky.
"Yu Lian, doing this in front of me is too disrespectful!" Autumn Mountain Yawata poked his head out from behind the big man, his poker face, with his glasses pushed up, restored.
This guy must have figured it out. Although he wasn't a spiritual energy user, he was indeed researching various spiritual energy combat techniques, claiming it was for counter-research, but Yu Lian knew it was to satisfy his longing for spiritual energy that he could never attain.
How sad!
"Of course, it's for counter-research! I really don't envy you at all." He pushed up his glasses and said earnestly.
"No, you do! But to spare our classmate's feelings, I won't point it out." Yu Lian.
Autumn Mountain Yawata continued to push up his glasses frantically.
Heh heh heh, if I told you I've already reached the second ring, your expression would surely be interesting.
"Well then, until we meet again in the martial world! Brother Autumn Mountain, farewell!" Yu Lian cupped his fists at the other party, pressed himself against the wall, and disappeared.
Autumn Mountain Yawata's eyes lit up, and he really wanted to ask what kind of technique that was, but the other party had already vanished, so he could only stand there, silently for a few seconds, then sighed wistfully before leaving with his subordinates.
In reality, this wasn't some profound spiritual energy technique, but the effect of the Pamino Ring on his hand. Yu Lian had only fiddled with it for a while yesterday and roughly understood the effect of this "Ring of Air." Besides allowing the wearer to breathe freely at all times, it could release a solidified gas shockwave every six hours; furthermore, it could manipulate the surrounding atmosphere to distort light and hide himself.
Of course, this kind of concealment actually utilized the visual displacement caused by air to people, a relatively crude method of concealment. It couldn't fool even slightly precise surveillance equipment, let alone a master with extraordinary spiritual perception.
Although Yu Lian was a little curious about Autumn Mountain Yawata's purpose in coming to the Shared Foundation, he wasn't interested in that "Norman Gang." While he was very interested in Count Black Moon, there was a hierarchy of priorities, after all.
He had to catch the night passenger ship to the Mist Capital, and he might as well fill his stomach first. It was already almost eight in the evening, and he hadn't eaten or drunk anything since arriving in Big Apple City.
Coincidentally, according to his original plan, he was going to figure out how to fill his stomach at that "Public's Delicacy." He hadn't eaten it in decades, and he really missed it.
Yu Lian saw that Autumn Mountain Yawata and his companions had gone far, so he changed direction and took a detour. He walked through several alleys, brushed Past a few homeless people, and shook off some scantily clad older sisters who, under the dim streetlights, seemed to want to have a little more than just friendly relations with him. Just as he was about to enter the main road, he heard a "boom" of an explosion.
Looking closely, he saw that a car by the roadside was already engulfed in flames.
What was originally a workers' rally and demonstration, for some unknown reason, became a fuse, and the situation completely spiraled out of control.
Anyway, what met Yu Lian's eyes was a scene of chaotic disorder. The people who were just parading and demonstrating instantly turned into rioters. They looted nearby shops, beat innocent passersby, burned cars on the road, and threw stones and homemade Molotov cocktails at the police and security drones.
Yu Lian stood there for a moment, once again feeling a surreal absurdity where reality and fantasy intertwined.
At this moment, thousands of people were involved in this chaotic situation right before his eyes. And in places he couldn't see, in other districts, who knew how many similar incidents were unfolding.
Whether it's a workers' parade or a student demonstration, if there isn't a clear-cut, well-structured, and effective organization and leadership, it will always devolve into collective violence. Even if the demonstrators' initial intention is only to fight for some legitimate interests, it always ends up like this.
On one hand, it's because not all demonstrators can be Pure; on the other hand, it's because there are always people who will make them impure.
Before the situation spread and affected him, Yu Lian paused and walked back. He knew that at this moment, he couldn't change anything.
He once again used the Pamino Ring to conceal himself, placed his hand on the high wall beside him, and with a gentle push, he was directly on the rooftop.
The benefit of being a spiritual energy user was that if all else failed, one could always walk on the rooftops. Anyway, this was the lower city of Big Apple City, mostly low-rise old buildings, with the tallest only three or four stories high.
Yu Lian searched for the direction of the airport on the rooftop, and with a few light leaps, he crossed several blocks, moving further away from the chaos on the main road.
But at this moment, he seemed to catch a familiar, panicked aura and couldn't help but stop. He stopped, standing on the rooftop of a five-story building, looking down at the labyrinthine houses and alleys below. His perception extended, and his vision was also enhanced. While not like an eagle eye technique that could capture everything from high altitude, everything happening within several hundred meters of the street was now hidden from Yu Lian.
He looked in the direction of that aura and soon saw such a scene.
Autumn Mountain Yawata, and his two big man followers, were running quickly through the alleyways. Behind them, there seemed to be shadows, flitting through the dim streetlights like ferocious ghosts.
"What a sin! What kind of hard life is this for me!" Yu Lian hesitated for half a second, cursed, and then leaped down towards that direction.