Chapter Twenty: Turmoil

Page 1 of 3

August 16, 1993, 2:03 PM
40 kilometers west of the rendezvous point, on the edge of Grizzly City

“So, after she died, you carried out the experiment yourself?”

Zhou Yingxiong nodded and handed a stack of documents to Wang Luo. “Everything you prepared is completed. I’ve annotated everything as well.”

The room fell silent for a moment. Wang Luo carefully flipped through the experiment reports; Yang Wentian looked astonished, sizing up Zhou Yingxiong as if he were seeing him for the first time; Zhou himself appeared calm, as though what he had done amounted to nothing of significance.

“Change has occurred.” Minutes later, Wang Luo patted Zhou Yingxiong on the shoulder. “The carp from before has now become a dragon.”

“Her death was my responsibility. I originally intended for her to recite, so I didn’t prepare the materials. But it doesn’t matter... I hope you’ll cherish your life more in the future.”

Zhou Yingxiong smiled slightly, nodded, and then began to discuss the experiment.

“The three of them went back. Each earned over five hundred yuan, all quite pleased, hoping to continue tomorrow. But after sorting the data, I found there’s a significant issue. The same task, carried out by different people, sometimes yields completely different results, with no discernible pattern.”

“What’s really going on?” Yang Wentian asked.

“The two girls bought fourteen different newspapers. Six purchases succeeded, but the other eight encountered various problems.”

“What kind of problems?”

“They couldn’t remember. It seems they only realized the newspapers were missing when they arrived here, then kept crying to me, begging for another chance. I think they genuinely couldn’t remember.”

“Such things...” Wang Luo mused, tapping the table with his right index finger, lost in thought.

“It must be a restriction imposed by the space,” Yang Wentian said. “I’ve never seen experiments like yours before, but people in the space often say, ‘Don’t try to exploit loopholes in the rules, or you’ll regret it.’”

“I’m not looking for loopholes.” Wang Luo continued reviewing the report. “If we try a few more times, do you think a pattern will emerge?”

“Unlikely.” At this point, Zhou Yingxiong frowned deeply. “All the experiments are like this. The audio recording data is inconsistent, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; the electronics purchased, some function, some don’t, with no apparent order at all.”

Page 2 of 3

“Unstable... is that it.” Wang Luo fell into contemplation. “Let’s head back for now, I need to sort out my thoughts.”

“When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. Tomorrow... we rest. No more experiments.”

------------

August 16, 1993, 3:08 PM
Grizzly City Hall, Mayor’s Office

The mayor sat in his usual spot, rubbing his neck—right where Yang Wentian’s blade had come close—while gazing at the half-filled box of cash before him.

“That fellow is rather confident.” He took out a wad of cash from the suitcase, smoothed it, then tossed it back in and picked up the phone.

“Connect me to Mr. Parken.”

“Hello, William, it’s Mike. I know you’re busy, and I know why.”

“Yes, I just received word—the one stirring up trouble behind the scenes is a man wearing a clown mask. Yes, just like the one from Batman. But apparently, quite a few people in the city are collaborating with them. Their target is the data in your underground lab. Supposedly, they noticed you’ve made a key breakthrough in some technology, and they’re very interested.”

“Looks like some other company hired them. You’re making too much money, it’s bound to make people jealous.”

“And by the way, it seems they want to pressure you. Soon, they’ll probably propose through certain channels that you allow citizen representatives to tour your underground lab. Maybe the day after tomorrow at eight in the morning. My advice? Move anything valuable out and agree to the visit. That should pacify the public; if it doesn’t work, I hope you’ll assign some people here to protect me. Otherwise, you’ll lose your best friend and most loyal ally.”

“Alright, thank you. I look forward to the next banquet.”

After the conversation, the mayor let out a long sigh and leaned back in his chair.

Compared to the longstanding friendship, real estate, women, and power Umbrella had provided, the few tens of thousands left by the clown had no competitive value—making this choice was hardly difficult.

--------

August 16, 1993, 3:35 PM

Page 3 of 3

6.2 kilometers east of the rendezvous point, 7 Frigel Street, Grizzly City First Bank

Because of yesterday’s robbery, the bank was temporarily closed today.

At the entrance, there was no crowd protesting or clamoring for withdrawals. Perhaps the entire city was either busy marching to city hall in protest, or raiding Umbrella's various strongholds.

Either way, both were closely tied to the bank’s actions yesterday. In hindsight, there were several scenarios in the previous world suitable for bank robberies—it was just that no one had thought of them.

Zhu Cunjia smacked his lips.

In the morning, following Wang Luo’s instructions, he wrapped what little gold and dollars remained into small boxes and scattered them near Umbrella’s business locations and warehouses.

This would further disrupt the overall situation and make Wang Luo’s plan proceed more smoothly—in other words, by using the Exchange Card, he himself would reap greater rewards.

There was no doubt that Wang Luo was valuable. If one befriended him, supported him, and recruited him into the team after returning to the space, the leader would surely reward them. Unfortunately, the Exchange Card had already been used up, and he was destined to be an enemy.

That was the Demon Card. Powerful, dark—while using it, Zhu Cunjia felt the demon behind the card grinning wickedly at him.

He once hesitated, but unwittingly, he had already reached this point.

As long as the card stayed on him, and the right opportunity appeared, those around him were no longer teammates, but prey. Either he would gain enough benefit from them, or they would kill him.

As he pondered this, the bank doors opened. Several police officers, appearing pressed for time, ignored the bank employees chasing after them and rushed to their cars and sped away.

Perfect—now was the time to act.