Mountains and seas have a home

Chapter 180

The commander's voice calmed everyone down a little. Lin Cheng leaned against the handrail next to him, straightened the hat on his head, clasped his fingers and said, "Fu Zhong, number 0578, assistant decision maker, is still missing. We can't find it." Any news about him."

Lin Cheng rolled his eyes, then looked at his hands again, paused for a while and continued to state: "The injury monitor on his body was fished out of the sea by a drone. The commander should have seen it last night. ...I'm sorry, it's not good news."

"No, Lin Cheng, you don't have to apologize, you've done a good job, it has nothing to do with you." Ji Yao said, he was sitting on a chair, propping up a cane, his eyes under the brim of the hat were always moist with water, but It doesn't look like sadness, "but he was hurt badly, and I don't deny it. And the source of the pain came from me. If I hadn't arranged for him to go down the well, nothing would have happened now. For you, including those who have been injured and died, I am deeply guilty and will definitely be responsible for this."

The silence in the main console replaced the tense atmosphere just now. In the silence, there was only the sound of the fox wagging its tail and walking, rustling like silk rubbing.Sitting in the crowd, Ji Yao apologized to everyone in a calm tone, which contained unsettled affection.The fox came to Ji Yao's feet, rubbed his nose against his leather boots, then pressed his front paws on the toes of the shoes, and sat down with a limp leg.Its amber eyes are like rough jade, and its fiery red fur shines dazzlingly in a black woolen coat, leaden room, black sea, chalky sky and dense fog. One of the most tear-jerking strokes of a gloomy, hopeless failure scene.

A young executive standing by the window stepped forward and said: "All of us present have participated in the retrospective plan, which means that each of us should be responsible for the casualties of our teammates. Sending people down the well is not a command." It is your own idea, but the result of our unanimous agreement after the meeting, including Xinghe, Xinghe also participated in the decision-making of this operation, I dare say that even it cannot escape unscathed."

Ji Yao took out the folder from the assistant next to him, and took out a few papers stuck inside, and said: "This is a death statement that was handed to me at the end of the morning meeting. It is in agreement. I didn't sign it. Because I know that once my name is signed, he really can't come back. Do we just take a man's life so hastily? Without definite proof of his death? That's not right, soldiers, It's not right, we can't give up on anyone."

"But we have mobilized all our search forces for five days. You know, Xinghe's search capabilities can find the dead body of an ant in the Amazon forest. Even if we can't find him with such an amazing ability, what else do we have? What hope?"

Ji Yao propped up the bridge of his nose, which stood upright in the center of his face with a pleasing curvature, and the undulation of his lips added to his handsomeness and masculinity, which was different from the temperament he showed in front of Fu Zhong.Fu Zhong said that he is beautiful, which is a pertinent and appropriate evaluation of him.

"Even if all hope is lost, we have to keep a glimmer of hope. No one will be so unfortunate. We have to be optimistic, especially now, don't let sadness defeat your strong bones." Ji Yao said, clutching the death statement in his hand , "Hostage, think about it, why do the people on the submarine use this word. He is not stupid, he understands us, as if he came from us. Maybe the accord is really in his hands? This submarine was once detected by Xinghe Ever? No, it escaped Xinghe's eyes perfectly."

Ji Yao didn't continue talking, he looked into everyone's eyes, smoothed out the folds of the statement, and lowered his eyes to the photo printed on the first page.Fu Zhong is handsome, a fine person with no faults in his body, he is always much better than ordinary people.Ji Yao has met Fu Zhong's father many times, and at a glance, Fu Yangxia's facial features are unforgettable. It's hard to imagine what an amazing appearance he was when he was young, but it must be the amazing inheritance of his youth. It's on Fu Zhong.

His fingers flicked across the photo, and stayed on Fu Zhong's cheek for a moment, realizing that he couldn't think about these things at this time, he returned the statement to the assistant.Instead, he continued in a nonchalant voice: "In addition, Fu Zhong is the son of Fu Yangxia, vice chairman of the Military Commission."

"Oh, God." Someone whispered, obviously they had heard the shocking news for the first time, "It seems that we are not only greeted by judges and prison guards, but also by the anger and revenge of the Vice Chairman of the Military Commission."

"So do you know what to do next? If we don't want to suffer in a court-martial, we'd better figure out how to make up a reasonable story from now on." Ji Yao turned the ring on his hand, his voice was different Big, but everyone can hear clearly, "Now everyone in this base, especially in this room, has to think about how to write today's marching log, I hope you are all creative executives member."

"...Behind me are the best executives in the world. We should not say death. But if we always move forward with a mission full of affection and courage, after we become sand and dust, the younger generation It will be said: There was such an era in history, such a group of people, they carried forward with love and hope, and these are the evidence of their survival..." The recording suddenly sounded in the main console, Ji Yao looked at the place where the sound came from, someone turned on his tape recorder, and the sound flowed out gurglingly.

This is a few hours before the official launch of the backtracking plan. Ji Yao gave a speech when he was interviewed by reporters and media at the Lake Baikal base. Ji Yao remembers it very clearly. It was the very beginning, and nothing happened. There is still a chance of redemption.

"When all people are united in one mind, Mount Tai can be shaken; but when loyalty and righteousness come, they are angry with bullfighting. When the Lord general kisses me, he is better than his parents; when he violates military orders, he is not free. When orders are clear, rewards and punishments are trustworthy; when he goes to water and fire, he dares to delay Keep?"

After one man started, all sang the battle hymn.But Ji Yao kept silent during the singing, as if the feelings and courage handed down from Qi Jiguang had nothing to do with him, but his eyes clearly revealed the cry and pain in his heart.

A new report came from the outpost, and the lights in the telescope flickered a few times again: "The submarine stopped 32 kilometers away, and the flashing signal was 'FOX', which means 'fox'. It stopped within the maximum range of surveillance. Outside. Commander, how do we respond?"

Ji Yao looked down at the fox sitting at his feet, reached out and rubbed the fox's head, and asked softly: "Little thing, is there anyone you know on the submarine?"

The fox didn't answer him, but raised his head and licked Ji Yao's palm with his pink tongue, then stood up and jumped onto the high platform.It stood in an unobtrusive place in the corner looking out at the ocean, opened its mouth towards the blurred water and sky, and whined softly.

Ji Yao looked away from the fox and did not speak. The engineer next to him rubbed his hands cautiously, and said in a tense tone, "Commander, what I have to tell you is that the various military weapons produced by the Gnard Military Factory are only Provided to the Time Bureau family, including submarines. Whether it's the Chernaberg or this unproven Belloberg, well, who knows what it is, but there is no doubt that it must be the Gnard Company products, because of its internal structure, or the drawings I drew myself.”

"Oh, is that so? I know. After all, I am talking with your president personally about the arms negotiations. I can't be more clear about this." Ji Yao showed a faint smile, "So you should know what's going on now right?"

"So the spearhead is now pointed at the time bureau again? On us? When we came, we were not equipped with submarines. They must not be our people." Someone said, "Could it be that someone from the time bureau came before?" Been here? It's crazy."

Ji Yao stopped her fingers, turned around and asked, "Who told you this? Or is it the result of your own thinking?"

"I said, Commander, I was the one who told the news." Lin Cheng quickly replied, he swallowed his throat, and Zhu Min who was next to him also raised his eyes to look at him, "Commander, it's already here At this point, this is no longer a secret, but an established fact. I think everyone on the base, everyone involved in the retrospective program, should know this."

"During the days when I couldn't wake up, what did you guys do? First, two doctors fought, but one of the parties refused to admit it. A certain unlucky doctor was beaten quite violently; Then there are all kinds of speeches; then there is a death statement. Oh, it's terrible!"

No one dared to speak at this time, Zhu Min lowered his head in shame, wiped the wound on his face, and then covered his forehead with his hands.Lin Cheng coughed softly, the water glass in his hand splashed out from time to time, he tried not to look into Ji Yao's eyes, his jaw was tense.

Ji Yao looked at the people in this room, a room full of restless and unlucky ghosts that he wanted to worry about.He finally nodded, turned around, and said, "But Lin Cheng, you did the right thing this time, although it was without my permission. I will punish you later, bad boy. If you want to avoid trouble If so, then go and turn off all the monitoring in the base, 0779, execute immediately."

Everyone was quietly relieved, only Zhu Min still couldn't hold his head up, he knew that Ji Yao would not lock him up now, but he had to wait for his unfortunate fate in anxiety, which was not a pleasant thing.

A few minutes later, Lin Cheng cut off all the monitoring inside and outside the base, and the monitoring screen of the main control station went black in an instant.Ji Yao issued an order to the sentry post, asking them to light up the lights to indicate that the monitoring had been removed, and the submarine could continue to move forward.

"The submarine has shut down all the weapon systems on board as agreed. It is advancing at a low speed, sailing on the surface, with an azimuth of 0-1-5, a speed of 19 knots, and may accelerate. It has entered our first-level strike radiation area and is heading towards the center. The strike zone is approaching."

The image transmission window of the telescope is now the place everyone looks forward to. The cross-shaped forecastle of the submarine is breaking through a row of ridge-like white waves. In places it was wrinkled like silk.

During the tense waiting, someone asked Ji Yao in a low voice: "Shouldn't we think about why the submarine didn't make other requests, but put forward a strange condition to turn off the monitoring? You know, it should make us turn off the weapon system too." Yes. I can't figure it out."

"He is not afraid that we will open fire. He knows us quite well, and the other party has a 'hostage' in his hand, a bargaining chip that can make him full of confidence." Ji Yao said, "Based on how well he knows us, he must know our situation. The monitoring is directly connected to the General Administration, and he can be sure of one thing by doing this, that is, he does not want the General Administration or anyone else to know about him. He is a smart person, and he has his reasons for doing so."

"Commander, do you know who is on the submarine? Lin Cheng told us that you suspected that the Time Bureau had sent people here a long time ago, so who are those people? Just now Xinghe said that there was only one person on the submarine, and that person ...Is it our predecessors?"

Ji Yao thought about it for a while, and finally his facial expression eased, and he replied: "I'm not sure whether that person is an enemy or a friend, but all signs prove that the time bureau has left many traces here. We are not the first batch to come here Don't think too highly of us. All you need to do is to complete the task, and I will take care of the rest."

After the monitoring of the base was disconnected, the coordinate instrument that had been staying outside quickly discovered the change. They tried to force restart, but all failed.After several fruitless calls, the coordinate system reported the situation to the General Administration.

The Beijing headquarters of the Time Bureau was trapped in the snowstorm. The lights from the high-rise buildings were filtered through the turbid air, and only the dying light could be seen lying in the windows between the buildings.Beifeng is like a foolish alcoholic, mixing cotton wool with alcohol and shaking it together, and still enjoying it.

"My God, how could there be such a bad weather." The secretary of the minister opened the curtain and looked out, then hastily closed the velvet curtain, walked to the closet and opened the glass door, "It's freezing outside, and the cars are all frozen." If you can’t go, the driver should complain again.”

He took out some documents from the cabinet, screened them and put them into the storage box on the desk.Then he used the same method to sweep away the brass sculptures, marble clocks, and a pot of pine trees and moss stones placed on the table, sealed the box, pasted a white label, and piled it aside.

The door of the minister's office was suddenly pushed open, revealing the brass doorplate on it, which read "Office of the Executive Minister", and was blocked from the outside as the door closed.The minister turned in from the door. He was wearing an ordinary suit, as if the wind and snow outside hadn't affected him.

Standing on the hand-woven gray cashmere carpet, the minister took off his glasses and put them in his pocket, looked up at the paintings on the walls on both sides, as well as the chest of drawers and Mason porcelain under these antique oil paintings.After bidding farewell to these items with a little nostalgia, he asked the assistant who was passing by him: "Is everything packed? The driver has been waiting downstairs for an hour. The snow outside is no joke. I But I can’t guarantee that the driver, Lao Guo, won’t complain in the car.”

"No, Mr. Minister, you have already spent 45 minutes on the phone with the director. I dared to do it after I just received your message. Please wait, sir, it may only take a while. Look, those boxes It’s something that’s been sorted out.”

"Be careful, especially the documents. Don't accidentally take away the work documents, or we will be in trouble." The minister called to ask someone to come up to carry the things, and went to help tidy up the closet. It will be left to the next minister, who is not sure who the new hapless guy will be. Maybe the deputy minister, after all, he is the only one who is competent now."

The assistant was opening the drawer under the window sill, and took out some utensils that the Minister used daily, including a glass tea pot and a coffee grinder.Because of these two things, the office is permeated with the aroma of black tea and coffee all the year round, and this aroma has infiltrated every piece of furniture in the room, those sculptures and potted plants during the ten years of the minister's tenure. There is a slight bitterness in this aroma.

The last thing to be put into the box was the desk calendar, the cover was stretched with velvet, and the gilded eagle giant tree and the full name and abbreviation of the executive department were printed on it.The minister lowered his head and stroked the badge on the cover, and said, "From the day I took office to today, exactly ten years."

The assistant tore off the last piece of tape, then tore off the white label and pasted it on the box, leaning on the table to take a breath, and said with a smile: "Then today is really a memorable day, what date is it today? March 3, it turns out It’s the end of the month. The snow is still so heavy, and the spring is cold.”

"Cold cold?" said the minister. He put away the desk calendar and put it on the top shelf of the box. He opened the curtains to see that the ruts outside were buried in an instant. "Spring has never come. Why do you say it is cold? Beijing has always been in winter." , this winter is too long."

Several people came in to remove the boxes in the office, the minister was in no hurry to leave, and the assistant was doing a final inspection of the office, drawing the curtains, dusting the desks, and turning off the heating system.The room slowly cooled in the storm, and it would not be full of life until the next minister came in. Those oil paintings, sculptures, mahogany cabinets, Edward III's gilding and vases could be used.

When the minister finally walked out of the office, he looked back at the furnishings inside. Under the cover of the velvet curtain, the slightly yellowed light in the room made it impossible to feel that there was actually a continuous snowstorm outside: "I have spent an unforgettable ten years here. , I will remember what it was like the day I started, what it was like the day the executive badge was changed, and what it was like when I left today. Those are unforgettable."

"Mr. Minister." When the assistant locked the door of the office, someone suddenly came to block the minister's way. He looked not relaxed, "Something went wrong with the backtracking plan, and the monitoring was suddenly blacked out during the mission. I hope you can take a look."

"Are you an employee of the executive department? I saw the badge on your chest." The minister stopped, but he didn't mean to look at the surveillance, "I'm no longer the minister of the executive department, I'm sorry, I will no longer be involved in any affairs related to the executive department, including the retroactive plan. But I will follow the progress of the plan on the news, hope everything is well, and hope that I can see the dawn of the sun before I die of old age."

"Of course, sir, the backtracking plan will definitely have a good result, there is no doubt about it, I never doubt it." The staff member looked extremely urgent, and he gestured, hoping that the minister would come with him, "But now There was some emergency, we lost contact with the commander, and the surveillance was suddenly blacked out. Maybe it will be brought to court. I know no one wants to see this happen. Mr. Minister, you have to go to see Look. According to the rules, I have to come to you, and you are the officer."

"I'm not now, the director has approved my resignation, just 15 minutes ago. Now I am no longer your officer, and I have no authority to make any decisions about the retroactive plan. If you are looking for an officer, it is best Go to the former deputy minister, Mr. Tang Lin. If I guess correctly, he will be your new chief. I should go, my driver is still waiting for me downstairs. I wish you all the best in your mission and everything goes well. Goodbye. "

After the minister finished speaking, he smiled unnaturally at the staff, and then he wrapped a white cashmere scarf around his neck, stepped on his leather shoes and walked down the stairs, putting on gloves on himself.When he walked out of the office building of the Executive Department with the windbreaker in his coat pocket, he saw the snowflakes converging into a tangible wind and passing by in front of his eyes. The branches are frozen hard, with crystal ice shells.

"Sir, why did you suddenly resign? And you look so relaxed and happy?" the assistant asked the minister, sitting in the car, as they drove out the gates of the General Office of Time, leaving behind a whole complex of buildings submerged in snow. back.

The minister folded his legs, and the white cashmere scarf around his neck was tied in a beautiful knot.It took a while for the minister to speak, with a slight smile on his face: "I'm relaxed because I finally got rid of the mess of the retroactive plan. I'm really glad that Li Chongyan can agree to my resignation application, but he has no reason to refuse. As for why I Resignation, that's another long story, and it boils down to the backtracking plan. At this point I have to be smart and get out of this mess sooner."

The assistant turned back and asked the minister: "What's wrong with the retrospective plan? Isn't everything going well? I have a hunch that they will succeed, and this plan will definitely be recorded in history."

"Whether it is successful or not is another matter, but as a minister, I can't just look at whether it will be successful or not. This seems natural, but it is undoubtedly a stupid performance. How many families have been involved in a retroactive plan?" At the beginning, I didn't pay attention to it, but as the plan progressed step by step, I vaguely realized what kind of conspiracy was hidden behind it. This made me uneasy, because I heard about the experience of the previous minister from some channels, so I feel like the backtracking program is a poor copy."

"Your last minister? That's the one from ten years ago? Oh, I don't know who the last minister was, and no one seems to have come to tell me." The assistant said, "What's the conspiracy behind the plan?" What do you mean by 'copy'?"

The minister didn't continue talking, he tightened his coat, and it was a bit cold in the car.The wind and snow blocked the view from a distance, revealing the crushed high-voltage lines and the neat field ridges in the suburbs, which were white and frosty, and the lights of the city were exposed further away, locked by the curved mountains.

"The water here is deeper, we don't need to know too much, it's good for everyone." The minister took out a badge from the inner pocket of his clothes, pinched it with his fingers and looked at it, "Think about what Li Chongyan is doing in Jiuquan now, Think about the situation in the whole world, including the ghosts of gossip that have been wandering among the lower-level staff in the time bureau, and the entire mission progress of the retrospective plan. If you observe carefully, you will find all kinds of bizarre things that happened during the mission The incident is too much of a coincidence. It's like someone arranged everything in advance, and then sent a group of innocent and ignorant executives, experts, etc., to die with the highest order of the United Nations and the hope of all mankind gone."

He stopped, as if preparing for the next sentence, and he continued after a while: "Even if I smell the rotten smell inside, will those executives still not think of it? Those experts and scholars have brains comparable to ours. They are much smarter, will they not notice? Sooner or later, someone has to realize that this is actually a complete human elimination plan, and they are just victims of family struggles, power and money struggles, and political struggles. I can’t be an accomplice, so I I have to get out early and get rid of myself. Otherwise, when the backtracking plan is over, if there is even one person who comes back alive, then what awaits me will be crazy revenge and an endless nightmare."

The assistant was silent for a minute. He seemed to be pondering the meaning of the minister's words. Then he pursed his lips and asked, "What do you mean by 'poor copy'?"

The minister looked into the assistant's eyes, seemed hesitant to speak, finally he sighed, and replied: "Literally, a reprint, following the old path that the predecessors walked. You haven't heard a saying that has been circulated among the lower-level staff for a long time. Is it? There was a bloody cleansing in the time bureau ten years ago, and many people were persecuted to death. Where did this sound come from?"

"Oh, there are such things? I blame my ignorance. But to be honest, I thought things like bloody purges only happened in the special era of the last century."

The minister smiled, and he did not comment on the assistant's words, but said: "You need to get to know the lower-level employees more, their lives are much more interesting than ours. They dare to take many important things as chats after dinner, often There are amazing words; they talk about state affairs, freely exchange their opinions, and can diverge their thoughts as they please. That is truly free people, and we are at best a part of a human being, a part of a particularly developed organ."