Chapter 1 How Did He Die?

"How did he die?" Jiang Cheng pressed.

A moment later, Fatty got the answer from Su An. He looked at Jiang Cheng and hesitated, "They said... they said Zero... no, wait, it was Shao Tong, Shao Tong died of illness."

"Died of illness..."

This answer made Jiang Cheng's scalp tingle. The ominous premonition in his heart was slowly coming true. He knew he had been drawn into a massive conspiracy.

Su An was kidnapped to the base after Shao Tong's death, so it was normal that he didn't know Shao Tong. Jiang Cheng judged that these Crimson Hues had no reason to lie to him.

In the following questioning, the Crimson Hues all said they weren't familiar with Shao Tong. After all, they were usually locked in their rooms. And people dying in the base was normal; everyone was used to it.

In a way, death was more like a liberation for them.

Looking at the Crimson Hues' faces, which showed no signs of acting, Jiang Cheng instinctively felt a sense of caution. It seemed too smooth. He keenly sensed that something must be wrong. He scanned their faces one by one, his mind racing.

The atmosphere became oppressive, the air freezing. Finally, Jiang Cheng realized the problem. "Tell them to have everyone who knows Zero and knows that he died of illness to take a step forward." Jiang Cheng bypassed Fatty and directly gave the order to Su An.

Su An looked at Fatty. Seeing Fatty nod, he blew his whistle. After a few short blasts, the scene before them made Fatty frown. A whole row of Crimson Hues stepped forward in unison.

Even Fatty realized the problem. If everyone said they weren't familiar with Zero, how could everyone know and have noticed his death? Was everyone present when Zero died?

Or did the base publish a list of deaths regularly?

Obviously, neither of those situations was possible.

Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. His guess had been confirmed. The Crimson Hues were more like they had been collectively brainwashed. Someone had planted the false information that Zero was dead, and had died of illness, deep in their memories.

The most likely culprit Jiang Cheng could think of was the Watchman Chairman, whom they had already killed.

Based on the current intelligence analysis, Jiang Cheng suspected that not only the Crimson Hue members had had their memories altered, but also researchers like Liu Hui.

The Chairman's purpose in doing this was easy to guess: to completely erase the traces of "Zero," that is, Shao Tong, to prepare for the next stage of the mission.

It all made sense, but Jiang Cheng wondered if the Chairman was being too cautious. He always felt that there might be unknown secrets that hadn't been uncovered.

The door was pushed open, and a researcher-looking person walked in quickly, his face visibly tense. "Mr. Jiang, may I have a word with you?"

After leading Jiang Cheng outside, the researcher took out a tablet with wavy lines on it, like an electrocardiogram. "Mr. Jiang, you can't stay here any longer. According to our monitoring, the Crimson Hue members are starting to become irritable. Their various indicators are rapidly intensifying, and they are approaching the critical point."

"When did this happen?" Jiang Cheng was surprised, since Su An had been here all along.

The researcher tapped the screen a few times with a serious attitude, and gave an accurate answer after a moment. "Just 7 minutes ago, Mr. Jiang."

Jiang Cheng recalled that this was exactly the time when he asked the Crimson Hues about the details of "Zero's" death. After this taboo topic was brought up, danger arrived unnoticed.

"Okay, thank you. I'll call my friend out, and then we'll leave."

Under the researcher's supervision, Jiang Cheng called out Fatty. According to Fatty, Su An had also noticed that the Crimson Hues' emotions were off and was helping to soothe them inside.

Soon, escorted by a team of security guards, several medical personnel in isolation suits rushed over from the other side of the corridor, pushing a cart covered with a white cloth.

Ignoring the guard's warning, Jiang Cheng lifted the white cloth. Underneath were rows of densely packed syringes, already filled with a light pink liquid.

The number of doses of the drug was even more than double the number of Crimson Hues in the room.

The researcher holding the tablet was worried that the situation would escalate, and hurriedly explained, "Mr. Jiang, Mr. Wang, don't misunderstand. This is a newly developed, powerful sedative, specially developed for the special cases inside. It will only weaken their physical functions, it is not fatal."

Hearing this, Fatty, who had his heart in his throat, finally relaxed. He had promised the kids inside that he would bring them hamburgers for dinner, and iced happy water. He absolutely couldn't break his promise.

Back in the room, Yao Shunyu and Li Bai had been waiting for a long time. After listening to Jiang Cheng's introduction of the current situation, they also realized the seriousness of the problem.

Fatty asked somewhat guiltily, "Could it be... could it be that the Chairman was actually fake, just a front, and this Zero, that is, Shao Tong, is the real Chairman?"

"No." Yao Shunyu shook his head decisively. His reasoning was simple: if just a fake Chairman could fight back and forth with Hei Yi and Master Wu, then the true Chairman's strength would only be more unfathomable. If that were the case, then there would be no point in making it so complicated; the Chairman would have come out and wreaked havoc.

More importantly, both the Chairman and Shao Tong were dead. Wu had personally examined Shao Tong's body, and there was no way there could be a problem.

Seeing that the atmosphere was very bad, Fatty couldn't help but stand up and comfort them, "Everyone, don't worry. Brother Su An has already promised me that he will help us continue to investigate this matter."

After so much tossing and turning, Jiang Cheng was no longer sleepy. As soon as he closed his eyes, Shao Tong's figure lingered before his eyes, as well as the Chairman's face, which was exactly the same as his own.

Although Lin Wan'er and Wu had both hinted at it, Jiang Cheng knew clearly that the Chairman was the real Lu Jianli, the paper man that the River Goddess used to love.

Time passed by silently, and finally, in the evening, news came. A researcher rushed over in a hurry and told Jiang Cheng to go to room 19 on the 3rd floor.

This time, Jiang Cheng brought Yao Shunyu and Li Bai, plus Fatty. The four of them rushed over together. Before they even arrived, they heard the sound of arguing in the corridor ahead.

The person in charge was surrounded Su An with several people, constantly explaining something, but Su An, who was blocking the door of the room, ignored them completely, until he saw Fatty appear from afar.