"What kind of trouble are you talking about?" Electronic Sheep asked, puzzled. "Did she take out online loans, or lose too much money on stocks?"
"I mean the kind of trouble where her personal freedom may already have been taken away," Zhang Heng said.
Electronic Sheep looked contemptuous. "That excuse is way too far-fetched this time. Even if I'm easy to fool, you could at least put a little more effort into making it up."
"I'm not making it up. Xu Qian may very well be a clone," Zhang Heng said bluntly. "You've been in her livestream room all this time, so you should know that her viewer count has been steadily declining lately. I think her drop in output made her company consider... reclaiming her. I'd always suspected that her boyfriend, Qiu Ming, was the person sent to reclaim her. Otherwise, there's no way to explain why such a perfect man happened to appear before her when her career was at its lowest point. It was practically like a fairy tale. And now I've also confirmed that Xu Qian's experiences on the first level never existed."
Electronic Sheep's mouth fell open. It took him a full half minute before he said admiringly, "Even when I fantasize every day, at most I imagine her boyfriend's company suddenly going bankrupt, leaving him penniless and homeless, grabbing my pant leg to beg me for money before I kick him away. You've really got more nerve than me, bro."
"..."
"I'm not joking," Zhang Heng said seriously.
Electronic Sheep looked astonished. "You're her bodyguard. Shouldn't this be easy to check? Just scan the back of her neck and see whether there's a serial code. Then you'll know if she's a clone."
"Yeah. I did some investigating, and I have reason to suspect that