{"id":21723,"date":"2025-06-11T14:37:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T19:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/22nd-century-new-shanghai-lien-zhao-sci-fi-thriller\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T18:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:09:10","slug":"22nd-century-new-shanghai-lien-zhao-sci-fi-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/fiction\/22nd-century-new-shanghai-lien-zhao-sci-fi-thriller\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost of Eridanus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The neon glow of New Shanghai\u2019s skyline reflected in the rain-slick streets as Captain Lien Zhao adjusted the high-collared synthleather coat hugging her wiry frame. Its deep crimson hue\u2014a relic from her days in the Martian Revolutionary Guard\u2014stood out against the monochrome sprawl of the city. She hated Earth\u2019s gravity. It made her feel slow. Vulnerable. Like prey.<\/p>\n<p>A message flickered across her retinal display: <em>\"They know you\u2019re here. Extraction in 90 seconds.\"<\/em> Lien\u2019s jaw tightened. She\u2019d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Source<\/strong>...check out the great article that inspired this amazing short story: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/life\/health\/what-is-an-echocardiogram-complete-guide-to-heart-ultrasound-tests\/\" title=\"What Is an Echocardiogram? A Complete Guide to Heart Ultrasound Tests\">What Is an Echocardiogram? A Complete Guide to Heart Ultrasound Tests<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/storybackdrop_1749670644_file.jpeg\" title=\"What Is an Echocardiogram? A Complete Guide to Heart Ultrasound Tests Backdrop\"><img  title=\"\"  alt=\"storybackdrop_1749670644_file The Ghost of Eridanus\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/storybackdrop_1749670644_file.jpeg\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 22nd-century New Shanghai, ex-revolutionary Lien Zhao faces betrayal and corporate assassins while protecting a data crystal that could dismantle an interplanetary empire. A high-stakes sci-fi thriller blending *Blade Runner*\u2019s visuals with *Inception*\u2019s intrigue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":21721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[794,1656],"tags":[1481,1404],"class_list":["post-21723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-science-fiction-fiction","tag-fiction","tag-short-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/story_1749670640_file.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}