48 Hours a Day

Chapter 1046: Qiu Ming's Distress

E-Goat was forced to say the previous sentence, but when he found that everyone was looking at him, he suddenly became nervous again. "That… I, I just said it casually, you don't have to take it to heart," he muttered bashfully.

"No, you're right," Qiu Ming nodded. "I didn't expect you to figure out this problem in such a short time. It made me look at you in a new light. Humans are indeed a species with infinite possibilities. Even if your memory has been rewritten to become a nerd with Super High Network technology, you don't always live according to the established path. For example, falling in love with Xu Qian, or breaking into the Shengtang Morgan's secret headquarters… saying such words that completely deviates from your character…"

"Morgan has also done a lot of research in this area, and they finally found that even the most excellent memory encoding could not prevent such things from happening. You can control a person's past through memory encoding, thus affecting his present. You can never, however, fully control his future. The company had to even set up a special department to deal with such things."

However, to everyone's surprise, Xu Qian shook her head and insisted, "I'm sorry, I Can't go with you."

"Why?"

E-Goat couldn't understand what he was hearing.

"Because I don't want to live on the run every day for the next few days. I don't know when I'll be caught. I've already experienced enough fear… I live in fear every minute and every second. Maybe you don't believe me, but when Qiu Ming found me, the stone in my heart fell. Although I'm still afraid and don't know what will happen to me next, at least I don't have to worry about when the sword of Damocles will fall."

Xu Qian looked into E-Goat's eyes. "I'm very touched that you rushed all the way here to save me. I regret that I didn't get to know you well before. When I really realized this feeling, I had no time left. You've done all kinds of things for me all this time. At least, let me do one thing for you. I won't go with you and become a burden to you. If I do, Shengtang Morgan will also target you."

"I don't care," E-Goat insisted resolutely.

"But I do care. I really do. Don't think that your life isn't important because your current memories are made up. You can start a new life anytime. As far as I know, the next job for a declining productivity employee won't be as easy as it is now. No matter what, your life is pretty good. You shouldn't have given up everything for me… and yourself."

Xu Qian turned to look at Zhang Heng. "You've helped me a lot too. At least you'll be able to let me see the truth when it comes. Even though it's only for a short while, this is probably my most sobering period since I entered New Shanghai 0297. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I won't be able to pay you the money I promised you."

"So this is your final decision?" Zhang Heng asked.

"That's right," Xu Qian nodded. "I've made my decision."

E-Goat wanted to say more, but Xu Qian pointed at the paused projection. "I want to finish watching this movie. Can you accompany me?"

E-Goat looked at Qiu Ming reflexively, then at Zhang Heng. When he finally confirmed that Xu Qian was talking to him, he couldn't help but feel flattered. Nervously, he walked to the sofa and chose the seat on the right-most side, then sat down with his hands in front of his knees, staring straight ahead.

"Why are you sitting so far away? It's not like I'm going to eat you up," Xu Qian said from the side.

E-Goat then shifted slightly and moved to a spot one body's length away from Xu Qian. Unexpectedly, Xu Qian directly stood up and sat beside him. E-Goat's body instantly stiffened. What was even more unexpected was that Xu Qian actually leaned her head on his shoulder.

Due to their extremely close proximity, E-Goat could even smell the shampoo's fragrance on Xu Qian's hair.

Qiu Ming and Zhang Heng looked at each other. Then, Zhang Heng took the lead and walked out of the room. Qiu Ming followed behind and conveniently closed the door.

When they were outside, Qiu Ming took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to Zhang Heng, only to be refused by the latter.

Thus, Qiu Ming took a cigarette and put it in his mouth. After lighting it with a lighter, he smiled. "I have a headache right now."

"Is it because your ex-girlfriend is watching a movie with another man in the room?"

"…"

"It's not because of that. I'm only getting close to Xu Qian because of work. I don't have any other motives," Qiu Ming said. "What's troubling me now is whether or not I should pretend not to know who you are."

"Hmm… then why don't you continue pretending?" Zhang Heng asked calmly.

"Because I don't want you to think that I'm some self-righteous fool. I don't want things to develop in a direction that I don't want," Qiu Ming confessed. "You can even handle the Emergency Response Team. There's no reason that you don't know that I've already discovered your identity."

Although Xu Qian and E-Goat did not mention Zhang Heng's name throughout their conversation, Qiu Ming, who had been paying attention to Xu Qian all this time, naturally knew about Xu Qian's newly hired clone bodyguard. Furthermore, as an employee of Shengtang Morgan New Shanghai 0297 branch, Qiu Ming naturally knew about the fire that happened on the second floor that night.

Zhang Heng's incredible fighting strength had already attracted the company's attention, but there was no clue from his entry file. He was like most job seekers who had come to new Shanghai 0297. They had no personality or characteristics but were just pure production material.

However, as the investigation delved deeper, more and more doubts began to surface. The interviewer, for instance, didn't think much of Zhang Heng that day, and the surveillance video pulled up according to the date found no trace of Zhang Heng from the beginning to the end. To make matters worse, the security company that hired him, G7z, had no other traces other than a file. He was like a ghost that had magically materialized in New Shanghai 0297.

However, because Zhang Heng had later died in the fire on the second floor, Shengtang Morgan could not continue the investigation.

Qiu Ming had initially thought that the matter would end here. Although he was very curious about Zhang Heng, he was not so curious that he had to get a result. Zhang Heng's abnormality had to be something Shengtang Morgan's top management should be worried about. It had nothing to do with an ordinary employee like Qiu Ming. Never would he have thought that his great luck would bump him into a big prize this time.