Ita Era

Chapter 194 Red-Clad Background
Question: Does your boss know that you are dating your boyfriend?

If Ding Shi hadn't realized that the girl was Bai Yan and that his own girlfriend was Bai Yuan, he would definitely have answered that he knew. The boss knew Bai Yuan was her girlfriend, but did she know that Bai Yan was also her girlfriend?
Ugh, I'm such a scumbag. Not only did Bai Yuan betray me, but I also dated two sisters at the same time. I'm a beast. As a clone, I'm ashamed of my original self, Ding Shi.

Although Ding Shi had many girlfriends, he never dated two girlfriends at the same time. He always dated one at a time, making him a truly pure and devoted lover.

Ding Shihui, I don't know.

Incorrect answer.

Ding Shi has 0 points, and is only 10 points away from defeating another Ding Shi.

Ding Shi was shocked. The boss knew? Didn't the boss only know that he was dating Bai Yuan? From the boss's words and Bai Yan's words, they seemed to be unaware of the situation.

What a terrible dungeon! Ding Shi is going crazy.

After Ding Shi calmed down and planned to do the task again, it was lunchtime.

There's an employee cafeteria every ten floors in the office building. You can dine by swiping your ID card. The cafeterias are located on floors 5, 15, 25, 35, etc. The cafeteria on the 200th floor is a business cafeteria. Since this instance doesn't provide currency, Ding Shi doesn't know how to use it.

Ding Shi didn't choose the nearest 85th floor, but instead chose the 5th floor, which was the meeting place he and Hongyi had agreed to meet: the lowest floor, the ground floor restaurant.

The restaurant on the 5th floor was very crowded, with each window serving a different dish or cuisine.

Five-tiered dining rules: For every N grams of food wasted, an equivalent amount of N grams of body muscle, organs, etc., will be compensated.

The restaurant was crowded with players, making up about 30% of the total. Ding Shi walked around halfway and saw Hong Yi getting food. Hong Yi was wearing a bright pink suit, looking elegant and poised. She was getting a bowl of radish and pork rib soup when Ding Shi pressed her hand down, saying, "Don't take that."

The woman in red looked at Ding Shi warily, then poked Ding Shi's forehead with one finger. Ding Shi poked the woman in red's forehead with two fingers. The woman in red then poked her own forehead with four fingers, and Ding Shi poked the woman in red's forehead with one finger.

"The code is correct," Ding Shi said. "I have seen your clone." He placed two servings of pork heart soup on the red-clothed tray.

The two chatted as they got their food, sitting very close together.

The woman in red asked, "Where?"

Ding Shi said, "It's on the 80th floor, but I haven't seen her since I finished my second job. I was too busy this morning, I'll try to find out more this afternoon."

The woman in red asked, "What do you do for a living?"

Ding Shi replied, "Logistics, what about you?"

The woman in red said, "Cover designer." She works on the 50th floor, and her job is to design custom novel covers. Recently, the company had a big order: a handsome middle-aged man named Xia Xie commissioned the company to redesign the covers of 18 of his novels. This task fell to the woman in red.

Hongyi not only had to read the books, but also design covers based on their content. She would then send the covers to Xia Xie, who would give a score out of 100, with 80 being the passing grade. Xia Xie was too high-ranking and, being the client, wouldn't answer Hongyi's questions at all. Hongyi could only find the shortcomings and make corrections based on their scores.

All morning, she only finished designing the cover for one book, and then she received some identity information. The Cloning Administration asked her if she was an orphan, and she answered yes, because the information she received indicated that she grew up in an orphanage. Then she was deducted one point.

Ding Shi analyzed, "Have you considered one possibility?"

The woman in red asked, "What's possible?"

Ding Shi said, "Your parents might be staff members at the orphanage? They live with you in the staff dormitory at the orphanage."

The woman in red retorted, "Then I still have to go to school."

Ding Shi said, "Normal orphans in orphanages all go to school normally. Besides, who told you that I grew up in Experimental Primary School? Aren't you very smart? Faced with an answer that is obviously a trap, you should refuse to believe the surface evidence and rebel for once."

The woman in red asked, "Have you rebelled?"

Ding Shi sighed: "They've rebelled, refused to believe the facts, and lost a point."

The woman in red asked curiously, "What fact?"

Ding Shi: "My girlfriend cheated on me."

The woman in red chuckled, "Congratulations!"

Ding Shi: "But I had an affair with her sister."

The woman in red asked in surprise, "Are we going to hurt each other?"

Ding Shi: "Initially, I was most likely to become a couple with their mothers. Their mothers were my bosses, and they asked me to forgive my girlfriends and also demanded that I make my girlfriends happy."

The woman in red looked at Ding Shi sympathetically: "At least you have the upper hand in terms of words."

Ding Shi looked at the woman in red and said, "Don't be too happy yet. I don't think your resume is any simpler than mine."

The woman in red smiled and said, "So please help me find the clone. If I kill her, I can clear the dungeon."

The two found a secluded spot to sit down and began to eat. The woman in red said, "Why won't you let me have the pork rib and radish soup?"

Ding Shi said, "There is a problem with the restaurant's rules. Please note: there will be corresponding compensation."

The woman in red said, "Isn't it just a matter of wasting one gram of food, and they have to cut off one gram of our flesh?"

Ding Shi said, “The general direction is correct, but this is not called corresponding compensation. Corresponding compensation means that if I slap you, you slap me back. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you can’t chew the bones of the ribs, it’s equivalent to wasting the rib bones, so you have to compensate with ribs of the same weight.”

The woman in red looked around and leaned closer to Ding Shi: "Are you sure?"

Ding Shi said, "I can't be 100% sure, but I think this is the way restaurant rules work."

The woman in red looked at the next table, where a girl was picking out fish eyes and placing them on the table: "And her?"

Ding Shi said, "This is interesting. The unit of compensation is weight, not the corresponding part. So, if she doesn't eat fish eyes, she'll have to have her equally important eyeballs cut off."

Ding covered half of his eye with his hand and said, "For example, my left eye can only see 80%. As for the fish bone, it's not a big problem. It won't be very heavy. I should be able to get change for a rib."

The woman in red asked, "What if it were vegetables?"

Ding Shi guessed, "Should we just cut off some flesh to make up for it?"

The woman in red looked around, reached into her coat and rummaged around for a while, then slipped her hand inside Ding Shi's suit before pulling it back, as if they were a young couple taking advantage of each other.

Ding Shi reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and found a homemade dagger made from a utility knife blade, with a sheath made from A4 paper and transparent tape.

Ding Shi asked, "Is it permissible to kill someone?"

The woman in red said, "As long as we don't get caught, it's fine. Today I saw a player strangle his supervisor. The security department investigated the scene and solved the case, searching the suspect. The murder weapon the player used was a hair tie from a girl next to his desk. The girl had an alibi, so it became a cold case." She continued, "I plan to meet with Xia Xie this afternoon to have a full talk with him. If he cooperates, I'll proceed as planned. If he doesn't, I'll take care of him and find another client. If your supervisor's approval rating is too low, you can also consider taking him out. Note that there are my colleague's fingerprints in the scabbard."

Ding Shi exclaimed in surprise, "When did you become a master criminal?"

The woman in red said, "My mother is a detective novelist."

Ding Shi said, "Is there a connection? Those who write cultivation novels don't live past a hundred years old, those who write martial arts novels can't fight, and those who write sweet romance novels are all pitiful."

Red-Clad: "Are you still going to chat? Let me tell you, haven't I been communicating with Xia Xie via video on the computer? He didn't talk about the cover of the old book, but he talked to me about the concept of the new book. I was very impatient at first, but as I listened, I started to understand something."

Ding Shi asked, "Because he's handsome?" That's a fact, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't distort it.

The woman in red waved her hand, signaling Ding Shi not to disturb her, and said, "His new novel is quite similar to our current situation. The main theme is the '7-day shocking change of clones in the quantum universe formed by dark matter and the acceleration of macroscopic particles.'"

Ding Shi was shocked: "He's also a part-time physicist?"

The woman in red couldn't help but kick Ding Shi's shin, saying, "The clones invaded and stole memories. The original human woke up to find that they had lost their memories. The reason they didn't kill the original is because the clones still need energy transfer and spend seven days getting used to the original's habits."

Ding Shi said, "Your idea does not fit my reasoning. I believe that we are the invading clones. We are infiltrating the original's life and ultimately aim to replace the original."

The woman in red said, "If we are clones, our original selves should be working with us. We are the original selves whose memories have been stolen. In fact, the clones are hiding nearby, learning our behavior through energy transfer, with the ultimate goal of replacing us."

After thinking it over, Ding Shi accepted Hongyi's view that he was the original and said, "There are several ways to defeat the clones. The first way is that you will get some information for each task you complete. If you answer the Clones Administration Bureau's questions correctly and get 10 points, the Administration Bureau will help us eliminate the clones."

Ding Shi said, "The second method is to kill the clone directly. This depends on luck, whether we can find the clone. You are lucky. I will help you find it when I get back to the company. Let me add a number first."

Hongyi took out her phone, dialed Ding Shi's number, and wrote it down.

Ten minutes later, the two finished their meal and left together; the woman in red went back to work overtime.

"Hey bro, where did that beauty from your department go?" Ding Shi grabbed an NPC from the administration department and asked.

The NPC asked, "Which beautiful lady?"

Ding Shi thought for a moment: "Pretty, with eyes, a nose, and similar to everyone else. Wear the administrative department secretary uniform."

The NPC said, "Sorry, bro, could you describe it in more detail?"

Ding Shi pondered for a long time, then gestured with his hand and said, "This tall."

The NPC said, "I need more details."

Ding Shi said, "She was holding a cat."

"cat?"

Ding Shi said, “It’s a pure white Persian cat with lake-blue eyes, pointed and erect ears, a round face, and a gold ingot-shaped plaque hanging on its chest, about the size of a thumb, with two words on it: ‘Get rich.’”

The NPC said, "The cat you're talking about should belong to Vice President Wang. The person you're looking for should be Vice President Wang's administrative secretary, whose name is Hongyi. According to the department's notification, Hongyi resigned around 10 a.m. with Vice President Wang's approval. The reason for her resignation is that she is going to take over the position of vice president of one of her father's companies."

The clone is also called Red Robe? The same name as the original? That's not wrong, otherwise the clone would have to be renamed if the original disappeared in the future.

The father in red asked her to take over one of his companies.
However, based on their speculation at the restaurant, it is believed that the woman in red's father and mother live in an orphanage and work there.

"Thank you." Ding Shi contacted Hongyi and explained his findings, saying, "I suspect that Hongyi's company is still in the office building."

The woman in red asked, "What do you think is really going on with my parents?"

Ding Shi said, "There are many possibilities: biological parents, stepparents, adoptive parents, and even a sugar daddy. I suggest you work hard; you don't have enough information right now. Even if we want to get rid of the clone, we need to know which company she works for."

The woman in red sighed, "It's so hard, I understand."

Ding Shi saw Vice President Wang finish lunch and walk towards his office, saying, "Perhaps I have an easier way. Wait for me." Then he hung up the phone.

Vice President Wang opened the door to his office, intending to rest for a while. Ding Shi followed him in, knocked Vice President Wang unconscious with a karate chop, and dragged him to the office restroom.

When Vice President Wang woke up, he found himself lying on the cold ground with his eyes covered.

Ding put a piece of candy in his mouth and pressed it down on his tongue: "I'll ask you a question, and you answer it. If you understand, nod."

Vice President Wang nodded repeatedly.

Ding Shi didn't have gloves, so to avoid leaving fingerprints, he used two socks as gloves.

Ding Shi removed the tape from Vice President Feng Wang's mouth and said, "Tell me everything you know about the woman in red."

The man in the red dress is a friend of Vice President Wang. He owns five companies in the office building, located on floors 52-56.

Background story:

Before her wedding, the mother in red hosted a bachelorette party and received a gift from her classmate, best friend, and close confidant: her college crush, the father of the woman in red. The two had a flirtatious relationship but had never confessed their feelings.

That day, Hong's mother and father slept together.

As Hongyi grew up, the family's situation deteriorated. Hongyi's mother learned from the news that Hongyi's father had become a well-known entrepreneur, so she secretly had a DNA test done to confirm that Hongyi was her father's daughter.

Hong's father was a son-in-law who had married into his wife's family. He transferred some of his assets and divorced his wife a year ago. Because Hong's father had no status in the family and his children looked down on him, both children stayed with his wife.

Hong's father was overjoyed to accept Hongyi as his daughter and gave her a villa as a gift. He gave her a company today because last night, in a fit of anger, he slapped her; the reason was that Hongyi was dating his wife's child.

Hong's father's wife was remarried and had a son. Hongyi had no marital relationship with this boy. Hongyi insisted on her true love, which is why Hong's father slapped her.

From Vice President Wang's description, Ding Shi deduced more background information. It was speculated that Hongyi's adoptive father knew about the incident and was heartbroken, but didn't stop her from pursuing happiness. He further speculated that the troubled adoptive father was drinking alone with an aunt when Hongyi discovered him.

This aunt may be Hong's father's ex-wife, which is how Hong met the aunt's son. The aunt is the orphanage's biggest sponsor.

After hearing Ding Shi's description, Hongyi was so shocked that she was speechless for a long time. How could she possibly pass the exam with such a complicated relationship? Any random question could easily trap her.

Ding Shi divided the situation into two categories: one was what he heard, and the other was his own speculation.

Knowing the background of the story of the woman in red, Ding Shi himself was also uneasy. At present, he only had some information about his girlfriend and had not yet obtained any information about his own family.

After work in the afternoon, Ding Shi received a question from the Cloning Bureau: Do you know Bai Yuanzhen's legal wife?
(End of this chapter)