The four of them spent the next few days in the hotel.

  Xu Qian woke up that night. After realizing the situation she was in, she reacted rather calmly. However, she looked at E-Goat in a rather complicated way.

  She had initially chosen to stay in the base because she didn’t want E-Goat, Zhang Heng, and the others to be implicated. However, now that she had been brought out, there was no point in going back. Xu Qian still looked a bit lost, though. She could no longer be a live streamer, and although Shengtang Morgan had yet to issue her warrant for arrest, they must have already discovered Xu Qian’s escape.

  Xu Qian didn’t know if someone was secretly tracking her whereabouts, and was oblivious to what awaited her in the future. Although E-Goat had promised her that something big was about to go down in New Shanghai 0297, Xu Qian wasn’t sure how this matter would impact her life.

  After all, for New Shanghai 0297’s residents, the Shengtang Morgan conglomerate had always been like an unshakable behemoth. Xu Qian thought that there was nobody that could shake Shengtang Morgan’s dominance through resistanc, especially after seeing what happened in that secret base,

  In fact, at this time, like Xu Qian, most citizens knew nothing about what would happen in the future, especially on the upper floors. Everyone still commuted every day to make a living, busy with their families and careers. Everything seemed the same as before.

  One day, people suddenly found that Shengtang Morgan had issued a blockade order on the first floor.

  From this moment on, all the central shuttle stations no longer sold tickets to the first floor to individuals. At the same time, the central shuttle on the first floor also stopped selling tickets to the other floors.

  The situation suddenly became grim. Most people didn’t know what happened. They only noticed that the police on all floors had begun to assemble and head to the first floor in teams.

  The next night, the media received photos and videos from the first floor.

  In a video that quickly spread on the internet, a group of rioters with guns ambushed two police security squads. Both sides exchanged fire, and the scene was very bloody. In the end, at least ten rioters were killed. There were also casualties on the police side. One of the policemen was unlucky when he peeked behind the explosion-proof shield and was hit in the eye by a stray bullet. Rioters then dragged another officer into a building.

  Five minutes later, when the police stormed into the building, the officer had already been killed.

  Riots. This was an extremely unfamiliar term to the residents of new Shanghai 0297. Since the city’s inception, it was the first time that such a thing had happened. Although the security situation on the first floor had always been quite bad because of the high levels of poverty, there were violent incidents from time to time, but the most serious was the gang war. It had never escalated to the level of a riot.

  Many people were shocked by the cruel scenes shown in the video. At the same time, the media also condemned the rioters.

  Qiu Ming turned off the television.

  During this period, his life was not very comfortable. In order to avoid investigation after the Shengtang Morgan crackdown, Zhang Heng ordered everyone not to leave the hotel unless there was an emergency. Three meals a day were ordered and delivered by drones. E-Goat wasnt in such a bad state—he could share a room with the girl he loved.

  According to Qiu Ming’s observation, there was psychological progress between the two over the past few days. Nothing, however, physically happened. But no matter what, sharing a room with a beautiful girl was a happy feeling.

  In contrast, Qiu Ming was miserable. Zhang Heng did not do anything excessive to him. He just lived a normal life, eating, sleeping, and did not even restrict his activities. However, the scary thing was that Qiu Ming realized that no matter what he did, he couldn’t hide it from Zhang Heng.

  Even when he woke up in the middle of the night, Zhang Heng looked like he was fast asleep. His movements were light enough, standing silently beside Zhang Heng’s bed and observed him for ten minutes to make sure that the latter wouldn’t wake up. Then, he tiptoed to open the door before lighting a cigarette in the corridor.

  The following day, when the two of them were having breakfast, Qiu Ming saw Zhang Heng putting the ashtray in front of him without saying anything.

  In the end, Qiu Ming couldn’t help but say, “I don’t smoke in the morning.”


  Zhang Heng nodded and took a sip of tofu pudding with fried dough. “I know, but since you smoke three cigarettes a day, why don’t you finish it earlier? You’ll sleep better at night. I don’t care anyway.”


  Qiu Ming broke out in a cold sweat. He had caught his smoking habit when he was twenty years old, and he hadn’t changed it using memory coding until now. However, he only smoked two cigarettes during the day, with the third cigarette when he got up in the middle of the night.

  In other words, since Zhang Heng knew that he smoked three cigarettes a day. He also knew that he had snuck out to smoke in the middle of the night. However, Qiu Ming had been observing Zhang Heng at that time, and he clearly remembered that the latter was still in a deep sleep. Qiu Ming even searched the entire house for Zhang Heng’s hidden surveillance camera, but unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything.

  However, after this incident, Qiu Ming didn’t dare to take any chances. He knew that no matter what he did, he couldn’t hide it from Zhang Heng.

  In addition, he also noticed how disciplined Zhang Heng lived his life. Even if he could not leave his room, he would still exercise regularly every day. Qiu Ming had once suspected that Zhang Heng was also from some emergency response team, a commercial spy sent by other groups to New Shanghai 0297.

  However, this period of close contact had overturned Qiu Ming’s conjecture. Zhang Heng obviously did not serve any organization or organization. As he said, he was only loyal to himself. Not only was he different from the role-playing residents of New Shanghai 0297, but he was also completely different from the management and even the board of directors of Shengtang Morgan.

  Qiu Ming did not know how such a person could exist in such an era, or if he had any scientific skills. If it was not through memory coding, how did he get it? There were too many mysteries about this man, and Qiu Ming found himself somewhat fascinated by Zhang Heng’s past.

  “The photos and videos were spread online by Mr. G’s people,” Qiu Ming said. “Shengtang Morgan has chosen to seal off a layer of space to prevent this matter from expanding. I understand the thoughts of the management team very well. They’re not worried that this will get out of control, but if the loss is too great, then their financial statements for this quarter will become very ugly.”