48 Hours a Day

Before the trio left for the valley, Qiu Ming had warned Zhang Heng and E-Goat more than once that they should stop pursuing the matter before it was too late.

Therefore, before E-Goat even entered, he had already imagined many terrifying scenes.

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For example, a heavily armed team waiting behind the gate to take them down, or Shengtang Morgan hiring a group of scientists to secretly carry out some bloody human experiments. They could’ve even locked up a group of extraterrestrial creatures in the base without public knowledge.

But no matter what kind of speculation it was, it was not as crazy and dark as what he had seen with his own eyes. Clearly, E-Goat had only seen the most common company structure along the way, each and every one of the extremely ordinary departments, but with all of it pieced together, and the final truth revealed, E-Goat felt his world spin.

He looked at the people coming out of the van. Each of them looked healthy, but in places where his eyes could not reach, their souls had long been riddled with patches.

E-Goat couldn’t even see their faces because they all seemed to look the same. What horrified him the most, though, was that he knew he was one of them.

Once he realized this, it was hard for him not to think about a question. If all his memories had been written, what was he initially like?

E-Goat tried his best to recall, but his head felt like it was exploding when he thought about it. No matter how hard he racked his brain, he still could not remember anything. What was even sadder was that even if he recalled any bits and pieces, he couldn’t be sure if that was the real him or remnants of old memories left behind after a memory was coded.

He did not know where he came from nor where he should go. His past had been marred by countless upgrades, and he was oblivious as to what sort of lie he would be living in the future.

E-Goat didn’t even know if his feelings for Xu Qian were real or fake. The latter was the woman he had loved so much, but if even he was fake, how credible then were those feelings?

He stood in the middle of the station square, stuck in a daze.

When Qiu Ming finished his speech, he was also silently observing E-Goat and Zhang Heng. E-Goat’s reaction was within his expectations. Qiu Ming saw an amalgamation of fear, pain, confusion, and disbelief in his eyes.

This was not difficult to understand because E-Goat’s worldview had collapsed entirely at that moment. Qiu Ming knew that his heart must be filled with questions, but he did not know who could answer them.

This was how most normal reacted.

On the other hand, Qiu Ming could not understand Zhang Heng. Although there was surprise on his face, such a revelation was like witnessing a traffic accident on the road. No matter how tragic the scene was… it never really affected the passing cars.

This made Qiu Ming feel a little incredulous. After realizing that he had been living a lie and had long lost himself, it was impossible for anyone to be as indifferent as Zhang Heng.

If possible, Qiu Ming really wished to pry open Zhang Heng’s skull to read his memories and see what he was thinking.

“Xu Qian is just ahead.”

After waiting for a while, Qiu Ming said again, “We’ll be there soon after passing through the station, but I don’t know if you guys still want to keep looking for her.”

Qiu Ming’s words confused E-Goat even more. Other than the fact that he couldn’t determine if his feelings for Xu Qian had been pre-coded, if Xu Qian’s identity was also fabricated, then was he saving her so she could keep being a version of herself that wasn’t true?

E-Goat, however, didn’t expect Zhang Heng to remain relentless.

“Take me to her.”

This time, it was Qiu Ming’s turn to be surprised. “Even after knowing everything, you’re still prepared to take Xu Qian away?”

Zhang Heng nodded. “I don’t care what this world is like. A promise is a promise. I’ve come to an agreement with her to help her investigate her matter. Now that I’ve more or less understood the situation, it’s time for me to report to her. As for whether she’s willing to leave with us, it’s her own choice.”

“What an admirable professional attitude,” Qiu Ming said. “What About You?” he asked, turning to E-Goat.

E-Goat seemed to be in a lot of trouble. He thought for a full minute before finally gritting his teeth, saying, “The voice of reason beseeches me to turn around and leave this damned place. But I don’t know which ba*tard wrote my memory, so I’ve never been rational when it came to Xu Qian. So, yes, I still want to see her.”

“I’ve underestimated you,” Qiu Ming applauded. “After realizing that your personality and memory might have been encoded, you persevered.”

“What can a dog really do,” E-Goat moaned in self-depreciation.

“Actually, you don’t have to be so pessimistic. The memory coding work that we carried out was completed before you entered New Shanghai 0297. Other than a small number of residents who played the role of clones, most people’s memories weren’t adjusted after that. Xu Qian came to New Shanghai 0297 after you, so all of your memories and feelings about her hadn’t yet been written. You might have actually fallen in love with her,” Qiu Ming said.

“You mean to say that I became an a*s licker voluntarily?” E-Goat’s expression was complicated. “So, is this good news or bad news?”

“This means that even from the soil of lies, real flowers can bloom,” Qiu Ming went on.

“But I still don’t understand. Since Xu Qian is not a clone, why did you take her away?” E-Goat asked.

“Think of this as an internal shift in the company. We monitor everyone’s performance. For people whose performance continues to decline, the company will consider changing their positions. Of course, since Xu Qian is a public figure, it will be more troublesome to deal with her. This is what I have been doing all along. In order to facilitate management, under normal circumstances, for some special positions, we will set a goal in advance when encoding the employee’s memory.

“This goal will be the employee’s deepest desire. In order to achieve this goal, the employee can accept such sacrifices as giving up his career and moving out of his original place of residence. I am good at dealing with female employees who have love and marriage goals. In addition, I have colleagues who are good at other types of work. After minimizing the impact, we will hide it from the public and send them to other unconnected cities.”