Earlier.

More than six o'clock in the evening on New Year's Eve.

On an arterial road in Pengcheng, a black GMC motorhome was driving smoothly.

The interior of the RV has been greatly remodeled, with only one seat left, and it is obviously custom-made, which is different from the original one, much larger.

In other spaces, various devices are installed. There are two side-by-side screens on the front partition, and there are many controllable buttons and joysticks at the bottom of the screen.

In the rear space, there are more equipment, and a miniature, small drone is placed in a fixed position.

The "person" who was covered with golden shiny "skin" like spider web patterns, sat in the only seat and was looking at some data through the screen was Mr. Liang.

After reading the data, Mr. Liang pressed the call button with the cab: "Old Xie, after sending me to the place, I will give you a day off."

After the driver heard the unpleasant hoarse voice, he was silent for a while before he said: "Mr. Liang, I don't need a holiday, it's a holiday...I don't know what to do.

Mr. Liang said: "I can give you two more days off to see your family."

The driver replied: "No need, Mr. Liang, I am like this, and they can't recognize it. Since there is no way to recognize each other, there is no need to be on the side. It is meaningless. Anyway, you can always use the surveillance video arranged by you. Just see them and know that they are doing well."

Mr. Liang turned his head for a while and then asked, "Old Xie, how long have you been with me?"

"Counting today, it is two thousand and ninety-three days." Old Xie replied without any hesitation.

"It's been more than five years, will you feel tired?" Mr. Liang asked.

Old Xie was silent for a while before he said: "You gave me a new life. Without you, I would still be paralyzed in bed. I would have to be served by others for food and drink. Like the living and dead, I would simply drag my family. I stood up again and helped me take care of my family. The only meaning in the rest of my life is to do things for you."

Mr. Liang released the call button, but directly opened a small window connected to the cab on the partition. He leaned back on the large and comfortable seat, as if the sound of metal rubbing was directly transmitted through the small window. In the past: "Do you have any doubts, why did I become like this? What am I doing?"

This time, Lao Xie didn’t hesitate, and immediately replied: “I don’t read many books, don’t have much culture, and don’t understand too advanced principles. But so many doctors, graduate students, and even professors are helping you do things. I want you to do Naturally, this is a major event. Since I don’t understand, I can just do as you say."

Mr. Liang laughed silently, grinning at the corners of his mouth as far as his ears.

Before long, the black RV drove into the underground parking lot of a building, and the car drove directly to the separate and closed parking lot on the bottom floor, which belonged solely to Mr. Liang.

However, there was no one at the entrance of the parking lot on this floor. It was an automatic gate. After the camera in front of the gate scanned the license plate, Lao Xie lowered the car window and let an extended metal arm scan. Yi scanned his face, and after a second, the scanner retracted, and the heavy gate was raised at a constant speed.

At first glance, the parking lot on the bottom floor seems to have much smaller space than the upper floors. Various modified vehicles, drones and other equipment are parked, and there are a few workers who are maintaining drones.However, it can be seen from the structure next to it that there are a lot of enclosed spaces on this floor.

The RV parked in front of the exclusive elevator, Lao Xie got off the car, opened the opposite door of the RV, and walked to the elevator with a box to wait.

Lao Xie was a middle-aged man with a big face and a sturdy waist. He could feel a fierceness just by looking at his face covered with earthworm scars, but his walking posture seemed weird and uncoordinated.

After a while, the elevator next to Lao Xie made a beep, the elevator door opened, and very light footsteps sounded.

Old Xie put the box in the elevator, then walked out and bowed slightly in front of the elevator door.

The elevator doors closed slowly and began to go down-it turned out that this is still not the bottom floor of the building.

From beginning to end, Lao Xie did not see Mr. Liang getting off the car, but he knew very well that Mr. Liang had already gotten on the elevator-only Mr. Liang could get in this elevator.

And he also knows that in most cases, Mr. Liang is "invisible".

After the elevator went down, Lao Xie got on the car to tidy up, and went to a room in the basement-this was one of his exclusive rooms. Before Mr. Liang came here, he basically waited in this room.

The furnishings in the room are very simple. There is only one bed, one table, one chair and one cabinet, but they all look very textured. The table can be raised and lowered by electricity and can be adjusted in multiple angles. The chair is also ergonomic because of the good exhaust facilities in the room. The air is also good.

He sat on the chair, awakened the dormant computer, directly opened a software on the desktop, and then saw a nine-square grid page that looked like a monitoring main control screen.

He clicked on one of the screens. It was a video of two teenagers playing XBOX on the TV. From the conversation, it should be the two brothers. The indoor environment where they are located can be seen. The decoration and electrical appliances are very high-end. , Living conditions should be good.

Old Xie watched the two teenagers play games, and watched them being called by a middle-aged woman to the dining table to start eating. After switching to another screen, after changing from another angle, we could see three elderly people sitting at the dining table. Those are the child's grandfather and grandparents.

Seeing the family members having reunion dinner and New Year's Eve dinner together, Lao Xie's mouth also unknowingly put on a smile, and the fierce air on his face was suddenly washed away a lot.

...

After reaching the lowest floor in the exclusive elevator, Mr. Liang's figure was revealed again as the elevator door opened.

Compared to the previous parking lot, this place is now a bit wider. The whole area is almost half the size of a football field. The ceiling is full of white light grids that look like huge bricks. When opened, all kinds of equipment are exposed in front of you, which looks extremely technological, like the base of superheroes in the movie.

However, there is no one here except Mr. Liang, which makes people feel cold and lonely.

Mr. Liang carried the box, walked to the middle of the console and sat down, opened the box, took out the "scarred" rabbit woodcarving inside, and placed it on the edge of the platform, like a decoration.

At the same time, several surrounding screens were lowered from the ceiling, and all of them were images returned by drones working in different places across the country or monitoring images of the interior of the building.

The screens are all the specific situations of the teams still working, including Fang Pingfang's team who spent New Year's Eve in the villa near Wu Shushan, but the screen returned was the drone above the villa, not the interior of the building.

But by switching to the infrared thermal imaging mode, you can see where the person near the window is when they are moving.

Even if he wants to, he can turn on the microphone on the device of the team member inside to directly monitor the sound inside, but he didn't do that.

The surveillance picture on one of the screens suddenly disappeared and turned into a video request. This is his internal communication system, such as Fang Pingfang, Mi Qiao, and other "Shenxing Technology" secret department research team leaders and important R&D personnel. When you want to contact him, you always use this system and you need dedicated hardware equipment.

But the person applying for the video now is not any of his subordinates in the secret department, but the big boss of "Shenxing Technology"-Lu Chengan.

Mr. Liang hesitated for a while, and still connected the video.

Of course, just like when he communicated with Fang Pingfang and others, he could see the other party's picture, but the other party could not see him.

On the screen, an old man with dyed black hair, well-combed hair, and a majestic face appeared. He looked at the camera and frowned: "Aliang, the video on your side is also on."

Mr. Liang's unpleasant voice sounded: "No, you should know what I am like now."

On the screen, the founder of "Shenxing Technology" was silent for a moment, and then said: "A Liang, tonight is New Year's Eve."

"I know." Mr. Liang said.

The two sides fell silent again.

After half a minute, Lu Chengan sighed: "A Liang, come back and spend time together."

Mr. Liang’s gaze shifted from Lu Cheng’an’s video and his eyes without eyelids looked at a black screen with no picture. Because of the light, it reflected his appearance at this time, and his voice became a little low. It sounds even worse:

"It's too late to go back."

Lu Chengan's expression became a little complicated, and after a moment he said, "Occasionally... come back and see your mother together."

"I have a picture of her." Mr. Liang said.

"you know what I mean……"

"The ashes are the same as the photos. They are nothing but a thing that misses her. There is not much difference." Mr. Liang's figure on the seat suddenly disappeared and entered an invisible state, although he did not turn on the camera facing him. Lu Chengan couldn't see him.

Lu Chengan frowned slightly and asked, "A Liang, you won't be still thinking...you want to bring her back to life, right?"

"People can't come back from death, I know. Even if a person is recreated through gene cloning technology, she will no longer be her." Mr. Liang paused slightly, then said: "I just want to control my own destiny. ."

Chang An Lu Cheng sighed. After a long time, he asked: "A Liang...Are you still my son?"

After waiting for a long time without answering, Lu Chengan finally ended the communication disappointedly.

Mr. Liang's figure slowly appeared on the seat, all the images on the screen disappeared at the same time, the screen rose and retracted into the ceiling.

Then he looked at the center of the empty room, where the naked-eye 3D holographic projection made from old video images appeared.

It was a video taken by a young couple on the birthday of their just-baby son. The little boy in it looked lively and cute. Although the young couple were not so handsome and beautiful, they all looked quite temperamental. And he is very affectionate, teasing his son affectionately.

Looking at these pictures, Mr. Liang's unpleasant voice with metal particles rubbing sounded:

"I will always be your son."

...

Star City, at Liu Shiling's home.

After eating the New Year's Eve dinner with only mother and daughter with her daughter, Shiling's mother could not help wiping tears while washing the dishes, and then kept telling herself not to cry.

She quarreled with Shiling's father on the phone again today. She thinks that now a family of three is enough to stay together. Their house has been sold before, and they can buy a house in Star City.Compared with the previous city, the housing prices in Star City are more reasonable.

As long as there is a house, everything else is easy to handle. After Liu Shiling goes to elementary school, she can also start working and earn money together.

But Shiling's father still has a passion for his previous company. He still wants to "fight for" a little bit more, and want to continue his previous career, so that he can't come back with a family of three in the 30s.

Because of this, they have quarreled more than once, and once even scared their daughter to "run away from home".

Fortunately, my daughter is more sensible now. She asked once in the evening "Isn't Dad coming back?" After she didn't answer, she never asked this question again.

After washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen, Shiling returned to the living room, but her mother was taken aback, because she saw a small bench in the middle of the living room and a can of melon seeds and a bottle of Coke beside the bench, while her daughter was looking Lie on the edge of the shoe cabinet.

"Liu Shiling, what are you doing lying on the ground?" Shiling's mother asked quickly.

Liu Shiling pointed to the small bench in the middle of the living room: "Mom, that's your place. You will be seated slightly! Before the Spring Festival Gala, I will show you a show. Sit down! Eat melon seeds and drink Coke!"

Mother Shiling sat down on the small bench her daughter usually sits on, because the bench was so low that she almost fell when she sat down, so she hurriedly supported her hands on the ground to maintain her balance.

"Mother, have you sat down? I'm ready to start!" Liu Shiling went behind the shoe cabinet and asked loudly.

"Okay, okay, what are you going to perform?" Shiling's mother asked confusedly.

"I want to perform magic... Hmm... Magic Paper Man War! Mom, you are the first to see it!" Liu Shiling said with a little pride and pride.

Shiling's mother smiled, her heart was a little warm, she knew that this was because her daughter knew that she was in a bad mood and deliberately wanted to please her.

No matter how her daughter performs, she is very happy with this heart.

"I'm starting!"

As Liu Shiling said, her chubby little hand took a paper crane and placed it on the shoe cabinet, then let go and said in a "serious" tone:

"A long, long time ago, there was a cute and beautiful crane, her name was Wangzi, and she lived happily in Happy Valley!"

The paper crane looks a little different from the ordinary paper crane folding method. It looks a little fatter, and one joint of both wings is placed on the shoe cabinet to help support it.

Following Liu Shiling's explanation, the paper crane on the shoe cabinet actually began to move its wings left and right, and slowly moved on the shoe cabinet.

"Oh?! Ouch..." Shiling's mother was shocked and subconsciously wanted to stand up, but because the bench was too short, she almost fell down when she didn't stand up too hard.

"Mom, I'm performing, you have to sit down and watch it!" Liu Shiling's dissatisfied voice sounded behind the shoe cabinet.

"Okay, I'll take a good look." Shiling's mother had to sit down again, and then stared at the fat paper crane on the shoe cabinet, her mentality has changed from tolerance for her daughter to curiosity.