“My biggest wish is to live a better life,” Xu Qian confessed after thinking a little. “I have stayed on the first level before, and although I have always wanted to forget that part of my life, it turned out unforgettable. Throughout the time I lived there, I swore every night in my heart that if I leave that place one day, I would never go back.”
“So, you haven’t been back since you left, have you?” Zhang Heng asked.
“Yes. Any problem with that?” Xu Qian asked. After a pause, she continued, “I have come so far, and I worked my way up to where I am today. Now, I just need one more step forward, and I can make my dream come true. I know what you think of me—a female streamer who loves money more than anything else. I don’t deny that. It’s crucial that I become a fourth-level resident, not to mention that my boyfriend is also a very nice man. He is definitely qualified to be my life partner.”
Zhang Heng was noncommittal when he heard those words. Instead, he said, “It’s getting late. Let’s go to bed early. We have to go out tomorrow.”
Xu Qian nodded and groggily stood up from the ground. At the same time, she asked the housework robot to clean up the unfinished snacks on the ground.
She then said to Zhang Heng, “If you have any sexual needs, I can pay someone to find… professionals to help you to deal with that. For the sake of the times we got along well, I hope you will not hurt me.”
“Oh. You think too much,” Zhang Heng lamented. “I am your bodyguard. And our contract is not even over yet?”
“Yeah. Anyway, um… thank you for helping me to find the person who stalked me in the mall.” Xu Qian put her arms together and walked towards her bedroom, “Also, about that… Good night. ”
“Sweet dreams.”
After Xu Qian returned to the bedroom and closed the door, Zhang Heng did not lie down and go to sleep immediately. Instead, he came to the floor-to-ceiling window of the living room. When the sensor detected someone standing here, the curtains would automatically retract to reveal the night view outside the window.
Xu Qian’s apartment was located close to the city center. Zhang Heng could see half of the third-level city from Xu Qian’s apartment, where the colorful street lights and electronic billboards twinkled beneath his feet. Although it was late at night, many cars were still moving on the street. The suspended monorail whizzed by under the circular track, and on both sides of the track were the futuristic office buildings with their lights still turned on.
A group of elite white-collar workers had just solved a challenge they encountered on their project. They were walking out of the office building while talking and laughing. Although they looked exhausted, the excitement on their faces was evident. Instead of returning home to sleep, they decided to meet up to have supper together to celebrate the victory.
Now, although Xu Qian always laughed at herself for being a materialistic small-time streamer, it was understandable why she was desperate to move to a higher level after comparing the first level and third level.
Compared to the bleak, jam-packed, and chaotic first level, this was indeed a place full of positivity and vitality. In addition to the huge gap in education, living environment, and consumption levels, the most important thing was that everyone on this level seemed to be filled with hope for a better future.
Convenient and trendy tech gizmos were displayed all over the shelves of the department stores. With clean and tidy streets, and coupled with the breathtaking night sky, even the most demanding critics had to admit that this might be the most ideal future habitat for humankind.
And this was only the third level of New Shanghai 0297. The fourth and fifth levels were definitely more beautiful and dreamier. In the end, Zhang Heng laid his eyes on the huge shuttle track that penetrated the sky in the city center. Like the Tower of Babel described in the Old Testament, it was supposed to connect heaven and earth.
Later, he turned off the light in the room and bid the hamster on the table goodnight.
…
Although Zhang Heng promised that he would never hurt her, Xu Qian still looked a little nervous the following day, especially when she had breakfast. She tried to make Zhang Heng tell her where they were heading next, but he said nothing in the end.
Xu Qian couldn’t help but feel nervous. It wasn’t until the two arrived at the station that Xu Qian saw the e-tickets Zhang Heng bought and realized where they were going next.
“We are going to the lowest level?!” Xu Qian looked incredulous. “I told you that I would never go back there again.”
“Relax. I’m not asking you to settle down over there. It’s just as a short trip,” Zhang Heng persuaded.
“I don’t want to travel there because it’ll remind me of the life I had.”
“I forgot who said it, but someone once said that if we want to understand the present, sometimes we need to face the past,” Zhang Heng said. “Anyway, I have already bought you a ticket. As long as you come with me once, I promise that I won’t bother you again.”
Xu Qian hesitated. A series of events that had happened on the first level made her reluctant to return. Besides, the first level was not as safe as the third, which also meant that it was easier for Zhang Heng to do whatever he wanted to do to her.
Of course, if Xu Qian yelled for help from the guards at the station, they would immediately get her out of trouble. Zhang Heng would very likely be arrested and recalled by the company in advance. However, once his memory was read by them, she would get into big trouble, which would undoubtedly affect her engagement.
In the end, her intense desire to ascend to the fourth level overwhelmed her fear. So, Xu Qian chose to accept Zhang Heng’s arrangement and boarded the shuttle to the first level.
“You said that when you first moved to New Shanghai 0297, you worked as a waitress in a small restaurant. Do you remember where that restaurant was?” Zhang Heng asked Xu Qian on the shuttle.
“Of course.”
Xu Qian shifted slightly after she strapped her seatbelt on. Even though she had already made up her mind, an inexplicable sense of despair still nudged her heart once she realized that she was approaching the first level. She just wanted to get up from her seat and leave the shuttle immediately. However, since the shuttle had started moving, she wouldn’t be able to unbuckle the seatbelt. So, left with no other option, Xu Qian had to sit tight till the end of the journey.
After a while, she frowned again. “So, you plan to get me to go to the small restaurant I worked at? Why? I don’t like the boss there and don’t want to see him again.”
“You are more successful than him now. Don’t you want to go back and avenge yourself?”
“What’s the point in doing that? It’s in the past.” Xu Qian shook her head, continuing, “Besides, with his thick face, there is an 80% chance that he would ask me to take a picture with him and advertise his small restaurant. I don’t want to let him take advantage of me anymore.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I am here now. If you are displeased with him, I can beat him up for you,” Zhang Heng said.
“This plan of yours sounds good.”
Xu Qian managed to squeeze a smile.
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