Feng Zi stopped and panted as she leaned on the street lamp on the side of the road. The work clothes on her body were gone, replaced instead by a Lolita dress with a pair of small leather shoes and a bow on top of her head. It transformed her from an unruly mechanic lady into a shy and lovely Lolita.
Not even her co-workers could recognize her if she was standing in front of them. Feng Zi walked towards the mirror at the stall next door and took a look at her current appearance. Suddenly, she felt her stomach churn, and she complained to Zhang Heng, “Why did you make me look like a little girl?”
“…”
“Weren’t you supposed to be a woman originally?”
“Have you ever seen a woman who can fix a hydraulic pipe and put thirty kilograms of mechanical parts on her shoulder?” Feng Zi sneered.
“That is precisely why I had to transform you into a Lolita. The stronger the contrast, the harder it is for you to be recognized by others,” Zhang Heng reminded. “The way you act should also match your outlook. Don’t put your feet on the lamp post anymore. Try to stand with both of your legs close together.”
“Next, do you want to ask me to add eek, eek, eek to every sentence that I said?”
“No harm trying, I guess.”
Feng Zi rolled her eyes.
“Forget it. I would rather let them catch me.”
“Trust me. You don’t want to fall into the hands of those people,” Zhang Heng said. “They are willing to use whatever means necessary to draw me out.”
Zhang Heng was not trying to scare Feng Zi. If he hadn’t shown up in the pub just in time, her spleen would’ve suffered severe bleeding by now.
“So, who exactly did you provoke?” Feng Zi curiously asked. “The entire second-level is trying to catch us now.”
“The Shengtang Morgan Group.”
“Shengtang Morgan?!” Feng Zi raised her eyebrows, and she was about to put on her iconic laughter. However, when she saw that Zhang Heng did not look like he was telling a joke. The smile on her face gradually disappeared. “Do you know that New Shanghai 0297 was built by Shengtang Morgan? Although the federal government governs this place, Shengtang Morgan Group is actually the true ruler of this entire city.”
“I know about that too.”
“Why did you provoke the king of this city then?”
“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have gone this far,” Zhang Heng said. “Shengtang Morgan might not be my only enemy. I’m sorry to involve you. Initially, I just wanted you to help me with two small favors.”
“Hmph,” Feng Zi snorted.
“So… don’t you have anything to say?”
“What do you want me to say?” Feng Zi was puzzled. “Haven’t you asked me a similar question before, and I have given you the answer.”
Zhang Heng knew that Feng Zi was talking about the warning that he gave her earlier. Once she got involved in this problem, she might lose her job, life, and everything she had. However, the latter’s reply at the time was, “I don’t care much about those things anyway.”
“I don’t know if you feel this way,” Feng Zi loosened the collar of her dress. “This city is like a huge cage, imprisoning everyone who lives in it.”
“Why do you feel like that?”
“I don’t know. Consider me having a little too much to drink tonight,” Feng Zi paused. “Have you ever seen those clones? It is said that they are raised like animals before they become adults. After that, they will be given a set of memories and the tasks they are supposed to complete. They are like the blindfolded donkeys that keep spinning around the millstone.”
“Hmm.”
“In fact, when you think about it, ordinary people like us are the same too. The difference is that our goals are given by society. It defines our success, what is good and what is bad, what we need, and what we don’t need. Those media advertisements and news propaganda always affect how we judge our values, constantly reshaping us. They are like a piece of cloth blinding our eyes, making us believe that we should live like this. And the funniest part is that some of our memories are not as good as the clones’ memories.”
Feng Zi laughed at herself and looked at Zhang Heng. “I am actually a person without much courage. I came up with ideas to end this predetermined life countless times, but I always fail to take the first step. So, I can only wait for someone to show up in the small bar, hoping that the person can give me the courage to take risks. Strictly speaking, I should probably thank you for ruining my life.”
“I did more than just ruin your life,” Zhang Heng said. “You really got into big trouble this time. If we can’t solve this, not only will you fail to return to your original life, but it will also be impossible for you to start a new one.”
Feng Zi was taken aback, “Is it really that serious? But I didn’t do anything. All I ever did was flirt with you in the bar.”
Even though Feng Zi received an email from the union earlier, she was not too worried about it. To her, it was just a misunderstanding. At most, she would lose her job if the authorities caught her. If that happened, it would make her more determined to change her life. However, after she heard what Zhang Heng told her, the whole thing seemed more complicated than she thought.
“Do you have a way to solve this trouble?” Feng Zi asked.
“It’s just a rough plan. We need a bit of luck. Since the enemies made their move already, of course, we have to fight back,” Zhang Heng said while removing the signal blocker. He then sent a simple message to Mr. G.
[I’m being targeted by the emergency response team. The parcel has been transferred to other couriers. I will continue to attract the attention of the emergency response team.]
After he finished typing the message, Zhang Heng clicked send and put on the signal blocker again.
“Are you asking for help?”
When Zhang Heng typed the message, he did not mind letting Feng Zi take a look at it from the side. The latter was confused, and she did not understand what Zhang Heng meant by couriers and the emergency response team.
“No. This email is not meant for the recipient,” Zhang Heng said.
Now that the emergency response team had known his citizen ID, it should be easy for them to intercept his emails. Therefore, Zhang Heng was actually sending the email to them. He did not expect an email was enough to make them give up on chasing him and look for other couriers instead. Without having to face the entire emergency response team alone, Zhang Heng would be less pressurized.
At the same time, the message would also affect Mr. G’s wishful thinking. The latter wanted to use him as bait to attract the attention of the emergency response team so that his men could successfully complete the transaction. When the emergency response team intercepted Zhang Heng’s email, they would surely go and look for the other couriers. And Zhang Heng’s real purpose was to make sure the memory encoder stayed at the second level.
