On the night they arrived in Beijing, they rested early, and the next day they got up and began to prepare materials for the afternoon meeting. In Li Zhen's view, this meeting is just a supporting role - whether it is to satisfy the curiosity of big people or to walk around the form, it always needs to be attended by a survivor like him who has personally experienced the battle.

It was only by looking at the list of victims and the number of words on the materials that he realized how necessary it was for him to be here.

Names, numbers, are nothing more than symbols. And those people are dealing with a lot of symbols. For officials who rule a vast country of more than a billion people, hundreds of casualties may indeed be a small number. If you hadn't personally experienced such a bloody and terrifying scene, you would never have an intuitive understanding of the situation at that time.

And the significance of his appearance is to deepen the impression of those people.

The venue of the meeting was Yingtai in the South China Sea.

Hundreds of years ago, it used to be the residence of ancient emperors, but after the constitution, the emperor only retained the two palaces and two halls of Qianqing, Jiaotai, Kunning and Yangxin, as well as the surrounding buildings. However, even so, there are still many people who think that the royal family's expenses are too high and that taxpayers' taxes are wasted.

In the past, Li Zhen didn't have much feeling about this, but when he got out of the car and saw the magnificent imperial city buildings for the first time, he sincerely sighed how much money and energy it would take to maintain such a building complex.

Although he only looked at the majestic palaces covered with golden glazed tiles from afar, he was still so impressed by their momentum that he was stunned outside the car door for two seconds. Only then did he follow the guards and continue to walk forward under the urging of Dai Bingcheng.

Dai Bingcheng was naturally accustomed to seeing this kind of scene, so he casually asked Li Zhen: "What do you think of the first time you see it?" ”

"I wonder how much the emperor's family will cost before the constitution." Li Zhen sighed slightly and said, "When I saw the palace of the Ying family, I thought it was very luxurious, but compared to the emperor, it was ......."

Dai Bingcheng smiled. As he walked, he pointed to the red-walled and glazed tile buildings, the ingenious garden scenery, and the picturesque landscape pavilions: "I don't know the road, right?" This place is still the Zhu family's. ”

He gestured again: "This entire Forbidden City is actually the private property of the Zhu family. ”

"Huh? Didn't you say that the emperor only has two palaces and two palaces now? Li Zhen was a little surprised, "Aren't these the property of the imperial government?" ”

"So the emperor is also a little aggrieved." Dai Bingcheng smiled, "This is the office area rented by the royal family to the imperial government, and the rent is the daily expenses of the imperial family. After all, it was necessary to make a good start, saying that it was necessary to establish a constitution to protect personal private property. Then the emperor's property is, of course, also private property. So I rented it. ”

"This is the first time I've known this." Li Zhen sighed with emotion, "Look at it this way...... The richest man in the world and the like are not worthy of the name. This land, along with the buildings on it, is to be sold for ......."

The two of them laughed together, but the two guards in front of them were still expressionless—just unclear that they heard someone talking about the Zhu family here. How will it feel.

The area around Yingtai in the South China Sea was the seat of the highest authority of the Empire. It's the Spring Festival right now. But there are still occasional staff members who can be seen hurrying by. In the past, Li Zhen felt that the working environment of the Secret Service Office was good, but when he came here, he realized what it meant to be really good. It took them nearly five minutes to cross a green field and turn a path shaded by weeping willows. After passing through the offices of two ministerial-level administrative departments, the last one walked on a path surrounded by white marble railings.

It would take more than ten minutes to reach the venue, but at this time, a person suddenly came from a fork in the road.

This person was obviously different from the government employees he had seen before, so he attracted Li Zhen's attention as soon as he appeared. He looked quite young, wearing a white tweed coat, a pair of frosted brown cowhide shoes, a pair of brown glasses on his face, and a scarf around his neck. This kind of dress can be seen everywhere on Yanjing Street, and it belongs to some small and fresh literary and artistic styles. But now appearing in the South China Sea is a little surprising to Li Zhen.

However, what was even more unexpected was that the man followed them as they passed by and walked next to Dai Bingcheng.

Then he smiled and said hello: "Long time no see." ”

Dai Bingcheng was obviously a little surprised, but not as surprised as Li Zhen - as if he had been familiar with this person before. He was slightly stunned and nodded, "Why are you here?" ”

"I heard you're coming, come and have a look." The man smiled gently, and looked at Li Zhen again, "This is ......."

"This is Lieutenant Li Zhen, the executive officer of the Secret Service Office." Dai Bingcheng nodded to Li Zhen, "An old friend." ”

But before Dai Bingcheng opened his mouth to introduce the identity of the other party, the man put his hand in his coat pocket and greeted Li Zhen with a smile: "It's really a hero and a talent." I'm an old friend of your director, and it's a pleasure to meet you. ”

Li Zhen thought for a moment and showed a smile on his face: "Fortunately, fortunately." ”

And then there was no more to say. Because he noticed one thing - Dai Bingcheng used "you" when talking to the other party. He had only heard Dai Bingcheng use this word in the Jinghu Courtyard - corresponding to the public. And even when he spoke to Ying Zhaoran, he was commensurate with the word "you".

The age of the person next to him does not seem to be as old as it should be, at most it can be seen as thirty-three or four-four years old, but at a young age, it is not impossible to be twenty-three or four-year-old. Dressed like this at such an age, and as if he was walking in his own garden, Shi Shiran walked up to the two of them, and the two guards in front of him didn't say anything......

He thought about it, and his heart skipped a slight beat.

So without a trace, he looked at each other again—it was somewhat similar.

The man walked a few more steps with him, and nodded with Dai Bingcheng: "You're almost there." Then I'll take my leave. ”

He glanced at Li Zhen again, and a gentle smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "I hope there is still a chance to see you." ”

Without waiting for the two men to reply, he turned around and walked onto another path.

Seeing that he was far away, Li Zhencai frowned. Whispering, "That won't be ......"

"Zhu Zhaoxu." Dai Bingcheng replied briefly.

"Huh." Li Zhen took a deep breath, "I really didn't expect it. ”

But what does it mean to come over so headlessly and then say "It's really a hero out of a teenager"? He had heard this kind of tone once when he was in the Jinghu Courtyard, and it was Ying Zhaoran who spoke at that time. But after all, the other party is the governor of Pingyang, and it is reasonable to know his own rumors. However, this one...... It's a bit far away from yourself, isn't it?

It's not easy for him to ask Dai Bingcheng about this kind of thing - otherwise it will make people feel a little strange. Maybe it's really just a greeting to an old friend and a polite touch to yourself by the way?

Li Zhen was thinking wildly in his heart, but he didn't notice the slightly strange look on Dai Bingcheng's face beside him. After walking like this for a while, the guard in front stopped in front of a golden glazed tile wall: "Two, it's here." Just go straight in. ”

Behind the wall is a large hall. It looks quaint, but the interior is full of modern office facilities – and this is the venue. Dai Bingcheng glanced at Li Zhen: "Are you ready?" ”

Li Zhen nodded.

The two of them bypassed the wall from the other side, and then saw the plaque at the main entrance of the main hall: Ziguang Pavilion.

Descending the long corridor into the main hall, one will find that the building is much larger than what you can see from the outside. There are large and small rooms on both sides of the hallway. There are signs for each department on the door. Some Li Zhen has heard of it, others have never heard of it. Inside and outside are two worlds, and it looks like a high-end office building. Although you can occasionally see ancient landscape calligraphy and paintings, exquisite ornaments, but compared with the appearance of this building hundreds of years ago, it is very different.

The number of people gradually increased. Some of the staff members ran back and forth with solemn faces. Passing by in the hallway. It was full of tension and solemnity. The two of them used their badges to pass through two access checks and finally arrived at the room at the end of the hallway.

In this room, there is a common circular conference table, with two rows of chairs behind the chairs. It should be for non-attendees. It seemed that they had arrived earlier, and there were only a few people sitting in the room. The "important people" with famous brands on the table were not present, and Dai Bingcheng was the first "famous and surnamed" participant to walk in.

Li Zhen sat down behind Dai Bingcheng and looked at his watch. It is 2.45 p.m., fifteen minutes before the opening of the meeting.

This is the South China Sea. After he sat down, he sighed slightly in his heart - he didn't expect that one day I would come here.

After another five minutes, another person walked into the conference room. It was an old man, dressed in a black crisp uniform, with a military hat tucked under his side, revealing a head full of gray hair. Dai Bingcheng got up as soon as he entered the door and stood up as a javelin. Li Zhen only glanced at his shoulder, and immediately stood up, his face stretched into a playing card.

On the old man's shoulders were two purple heart gold stars scorching and shining - this was a lieutenant general.

The Army's general's dress was supposed to be dark green, but his military dress was black—a uniform that belonged to the Special Affairs System, which had only one lieutenant general.

Your Excellency the Commander-in-General.

The two saluted the chief, and the old man looked at them seriously after returning the salute, and stayed on Li Zhen for a while, and then nodded: "Sit down." ”

But they still sat back in their seats after the old man sat down, Dai Bingcheng straightened his waist like Li Zhen, and it seemed that the director of the security bureau was also like Li Zhen when he sat next to his big boss, and he was a little nervous in his heart.

So Li Zhen secretly rejoiced - fortunately, he was just attending, and he didn't need to sit next to a general like Director Dai, and it seemed that he was a little uncomfortable even breathing.

After the chief entered, the others entered the room one after another as if they had made an appointment. The room was buzzing with activity – ordinary people certainly don't laugh and talk on such occasions, only the bigwigs would nod to each other and say hello, while their entourage filled the two rows of chairs behind the conference table, and the room seemed to be a little warmer as a result.

However, Li Zhen noticed that most of the people were sitting across from them. My side was a little deserted, and there were only five seats on the table. Two belonged to the Special Affairs Office, and the other three were in army uniforms, one major general, one colonel, and one without a title.

At the end, a balding middle-aged man walked to the front seat and sat down, nodded to everyone on both sides, and cleared his throat: "Everyone, the meeting has begun." ”

In fact, Li Zhen has always attended this meeting with a slightly curious mentality. Anyway. He had never imagined that he would be involved in a meeting of this calibre, so he was eager to see how the big names that he had only "heard" about in such an occasion were performing.

But now he was a little disappointed. Because apart from their identity, we don't talk about it...... The current scene is similar to when I had a class meeting in the past.

Some were worried, some were numb, and some seemed unconcerned. There were about twenty people at the conference table, with their names and surnames, plus nearly thirty people in their entourage—fifty of them with different expressions, completely absent from the atmosphere he had imagined to be facing a great enemy.

And next to him sat a middle-aged man, who seemed to be the entourage of the untitled attendee. The man smiled at him as he sat down next to Li Zhen, then rested the electronic notepad on his lap, stared at the data on it and stopped talking. At first, Li Zhen thought that this person was studying materials. However, it wasn't until the meeting took five minutes for the moderator to open the floor that the page was not clicked on.

Li Zhen couldn't help but glance at the monitor on his lap.

It was found that what was displayed on it was ...... "2015 XX Unit Annual Work Summary, Annual Financial Plan of the Logistics Department".

This is completely out of step with the content of this meeting.

He frowned. I don't know if I'm too nervous. Or is it really not a "big deal" for the things they are discussing at the moment.

At this time, the meeting began to get to the main topic, and the participants looked at a few pictures displayed on the big screen at the other end of the room, and listened to the host introduce the relevant situation of the Shennongjia incident, and fell silent for a while. Li Zhen also figured out the identity of the person who presided over the meeting - the assistant minister of justice of the empire.

The next sentence from the assistant made Li Zhen realize. The meeting may not have been as simple as he had imagined.

Because what he said was, "The species concerned." Let's start with Major Dai Bingcheng's opinion. Please focus on the events of the Shennongjia incident on that day. and an explanation of the casualties of the fighting at the northern base of the Special Affairs Office. ”

Li Zhen could see from the side, and Dai Bingcheng was slightly stunned.

It would have been a bit inappropriate for the assistant minister of justice to preside over the meeting, and to say such things at this time is like asking the teacher for guilt.

Dai Bingcheng looked at the chief next to him. He cleared his throat and said in a deep voice: "The relevant situation is detailed in the meeting materials in front of you. The next thing I want to focus on is also the battle of that day. But before you do that, let's watch a video. ”

Then he nodded, and the staff on the other side of the room played an image on the big screen.

It's a battle scene with Adam.

This footage comes from the miniature camera on the tactical helmet of the executive officer at the time, and it is not very effective. But even if the picture is blurry, one can still make out the huge figure in the middle of the field. It was encased in a cloud of fire, and the image trembled at the actions of the photographer - the first time the two sides came into contact, and Adam used his ability to block the flames, stop the warhead, and then step by step towards one of the force field generators.

At that time, this kind of shock brought to people, Li Zhen still remembers it vividly. But now sitting in the conference room and watching this video, it is difficult to regain the despair and fear of that day.

Because the picture is actually not very "exciting".

There is only one enemy, and he is walking very slowly. And the powerful fire kept bombarding it, and from the perspective of a bystander, this guy had the upper hand, and it seemed that he would fall in the next moment. After that, someone jumped out from behind the line and tried to sneak around Adam's back to attack him.

When he saw this, Li Zhen pursed his lips.

The footage was also available on his computer, but he had never seen it.

It's just one thing: those people of that day are no longer there. After the battle, he didn't feel much - in fact, he was in a very abnormal state at that time: the excitement of the rest of his life, the throbbing of his body after remodeling, and some restless mania in his consciousness. All kinds of factors made him get along with people in an extremely vague and anxious mood at that time.

And it wasn't until a later period, when those wills that did not belong to him were gradually suppressed, that he slowly found himself again, and realized it as he walked through one empty office after another......

Some people have completely disappeared from this world.

And at this time, on that screen, the former comrades-in-arms were still heroically charging against the species. Caring for the willingness to wear armor, with an indomitable momentum to open the way for his comrades, and in the next moment suddenly rose into the sky and fell to the ground.

It's the one who once misunderstood himself, "rescued" himself at the dinner party, and then embarrassed to say "sorry".

Then Adam's ability activated, and a large stump splattered, and the camera was covered in a blood-colored imprint, and then quickly rose into the darkness. It appears that the head of the photographer was cut off.

Li Zhen lowered his head slightly. Then I heard the assistant minister say, "It's okay to get here." We've all seen it. ”

Li Zhen's hand couldn't help but exert force, and with a "click", a crack was pinched out of the mahogany armrest. The man next to him seemed startled and glanced at the crack. Look at Li Zhen again. Turn your head over.

So Dai Bingcheng said in a deep voice: "Then as you can see, the species is very powerful. It has abilities that surpass the limits of human imagination, and are all Class A psionic abilities. This is the first time we've fought a creature like this, despite all the preparations. However, it and the Chiyu after it. Again and again, human perception has been challenged. The Northern Base has a smaller number of A-rank executives. Under the condition that the southern base cannot be fully cooperated......"

The assistant interrupted him: "Major, you are the problem that is going to be discussed now. There will be another hearing on the matter of the southern base. ”

Dai Bingcheng paused and took a deep breath. He continued: "Then look at the next piece of information - the results of the analysis of the second species, Chiyou. ”

What happened next was something Li Zhen hadn't expected beforehand. He had thought that this meeting was mainly to discuss the possibility of another species awakening, but he didn't expect it to start in this way. The Assistant Attorney General's attitude was not friendly, and he was "questioning" rather than presiding over the meeting. Dai Bingcheng took twenty minutes to answer his question after question with great patience, many of which seemed almost ridiculous to Li Zhen.

For example, for the reason why he decided to send the executor deep into the tomb at that time, instead of waiting for help, if that man had seen with his own eyes how terrible Adam's ability to recover was, and how quickly his power grew...... I'm afraid his choice will be to directly request the use of nuclear bombs, right?

Others then asked a few equally ridiculous questions.

"Why do you want to completely destroy Chiyou, who has precious research value?"

"Is the resilience of species exaggerated?"

"Is the situation so tragic due to the usual slackness of the executive officer?"

"Depending on the circumstances, if the combatants choose to ...... Maybe it won't be ......."

Li Zhen only felt that the anger in his heart gradually rose. However, Dai Bingcheng in front of him was still responding to every question one by one in a calm tone.

At the end of the day, someone finally brought the topic to him. It was a man of nearly fifty years old, looking at Dai Bingcheng with a skeptical look on his face from beginning to end, and when he answered the last question, he said, "If the species is indeed as terrible as you described, then one of the survivors, that Lieutenant Li Zhen, why can Lu easily destroy it in the last moment?" What didn't this ability show in the previous battle phase? Was it a previous fear? ”

Li Zhen suddenly raised his head and looked at him.

However, the other party only stared at Dai Bingcheng's eyes, and did not pay attention to the lieutenant behind him.

Dai Bingcheng said expressionlessly: "The situation at that time was also in the video materials later. Although the shooting is incomplete due to the angle, it ......"

But the other party waved his hand and interrupted him: "We don't have time to watch hours of battle footage, so we need you to make a statement." ”

Dai Bingcheng did not speak, but looked at him in silence.

The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds, and finally the one was defeated in Dai Bingcheng's razor-sharp eyes, and rubbed his forehead slightly to hide his emotions: "Major, only if you make these questions clear can you move on to the next topic." Otherwise......"

He clicked on the cardboard screen in front of him: "Otherwise, I'm not sure if the awakening of another kind of species you mentioned this time will require such a lot of manpower and material resources." Or, in my view, it is just an excuse for some people to take the opportunity to shirk their responsibilities and seek policy favors. ”

There was a slight uproar in the room. This should be the most serious "allegation" made at this point in the meeting. But this kind of "uproar" is not surprised or dissented, on the contrary, most of the people on the other side of the table have a bit of a taste of watching the fire from the other side. This atmosphere made Li Zhen quite uncomfortable, and he also found that the other three people from the army system on his side had been sitting in chairs with a detached attitude, and did not show any concern from beginning to end.

Li Zhen looked at the name tag in front of the man, and finally couldn't help but look up his name on the Internet. The results of the search revealed that this person was the deputy chief picket inspector of the Army Military Police Headquarters.

He was slightly stunned, and then glanced at the other three people from the army system on his side, and knew it in his heart.

I see......

At the last moment of the Shennongjia incident, Dai Bingcheng executed a lieutenant colonel on the pretext of an uproar. After learning about this, Li Zhen was also very moved by this - no matter what, when he learned that his commander did not hesitate to do such a risky thing in order to protect his subordinates, everyone would have some kind of warm emotion in their hearts.

Then that's because of this. No wonder the atmosphere of the meeting was so unusual – perhaps these people were planning to take the opportunity to take a bad breath. Maybe they wouldn't mind dragging this meeting on for a few days until they knocked Director Dai to the ground and never turned over?

Thinking of this, his thinking suddenly became clear--all kinds of things involve the powerful, and the affairs of the capable involve the secret service. However, the director and chief of the Northern Base were present...... And what about the people at the southern base? None of them showed up.

Should the inside be the same?

Li Zhen couldn't help but look at the two generals on the shoulders of the chief of the secret service office in front of him, and smiled in his heart.

It seems that the gold content of these two stars is not as high as I imagined.

The atmosphere in the venue was a little stiff. Dai Bingcheng was silent and did not speak. It stands to reason that this is the time to call yourself out, right?

However, Director Dai ...... It seems that he didn't expect the scene to turn out like this, and he seems to be hesitant to let himself come forward. Is it some kind of protective psychology in disguise?

Li Zhen's heart skipped a beat. (To be continued.) )