Many people who live in the northern hemisphere of Fort Augustus have seen this peculiar sight in the night sky.

A blinding pillar of snow-white light descended from the sky, pierced through the thick clouds, and thundered with lightning and thunder, and landed in a wilderness somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

The inhabitants of Fort Augustus, the capital of the Alliance, have rarely seen the main guns of the main destroyers of the Alliance fleet bombarding the surface of the planet, and although they have seen it in countless literary and film works, there has never been a more shocking thing than to actually see this powerful terrifying weapon approaching.

The bombardment of high-energy hydrogen ions lasted for a second, but to many onlookers, it seemed like a century had passed.

It is a terrifying force that makes people unable to resist even at a glance, a weapon of the gods of the ancients, and a light of heavenly punishment from heaven.

But no one knew that in the middle of that heavenly punishment light, there happened to be a man who was wet and covered with scars.

The high temperature of tens of thousands of degrees melted almost everything in the place where the light pillar was bombarded, forming a deep pit as wide as a kilometer and several meters deep, and the bottom of the pit was a huge ceramic glaze with rough unevenness after the soil and rock were melted.

After the main artillery attack, lightning flashed and thunder, and torrential rain poured down.

That's a side effect of ionizing air.

When Zhai Liu arrived near the bombardment site, he saw that the huge ceramic plate was mixed with various objects that had not been turned into ashes under the terrifying heat of the destroyer's main gun, including molten metal that had recondensed, huge building structures, and the bones of unknown animals that had long been carbonized.

But there was no living man.

Any organism is as small as an ant in the face of humanity's most sophisticated weapons of killing.

He knew that no matter how powerful the means were, it would be impossible for Han Jianfei to escape under such a powerful attack.

Zhai Liu, who was soaking wet, stood silently on the edge of the pit for a while, as if he was seeing off his eldest brother and teacher.

In the rainstorm, on the opposite side of the pit, the flat-headed man with a suitcase put down the box, folded his hands and began to recite the Sutra of the Past Death.

The pit is as calm as ever, and the rainstorm falls on the flat-looking molten glaze, which will soon fill the entire crater.

President Feng has been sleeping poorly recently, and the health doctor has always advised him to drink less coffee, but the old man only has this one habit, and it is impossible to quit, and only with the help of sleeping pills can he barely fall asleep every night.

But at about one o'clock in the morning of the fourth time zone in the Eastern Fourth Time Zone, the old president had just fallen asleep, and Zhou Rong, the director of the office, hurriedly broke into his private residence, and without much hesitation, he directly knocked on the door of the old president's bedroom.

Mr. President walked out of the bedroom in a nightgown, without the slightest dissatisfaction on his face, he knew very well that if it wasn't for a hundred thousand urgent things, Zhou Rong would never be so impatient.

"What's wrong?" As the two went down the stairs, Mr. President yawned.

"Chen Mingyuan is crazy, Han Jianfei is dead." Zhou Rong helped his glasses and handed a simple reader to the president.

The stakes are so high, 100,000 urgent, he has no time to prepare paper copies for the old man.

Old President Feng glanced at him in surprise, he didn't believe either of these two news.

But then, his eyes were drawn to the holographic video in his hand.

What happened a few hours ago is succinctly described in the reader:

Han Jianfei appeared in Liangyan District and killed a councilor;

He then exchanged fire with unknown militants and fled wounded;

Prior to the exchange of fire, the Exterminator-class destroyer, which was supposed to be based on the back of Satellite 2, maneuvered into low-Earth orbit and fired its main guns into a wilderness in Liangyan District without entering the wartime authorization of the Parliament.

Circumstantial evidence shows that Han Jianfei, the target of the main artillery attack, has almost no chance of being spared in theory;

The only person who can directly issue orders to combat units in the capital area beyond the parliament is Chen Mingyuan, the supreme commander of the fleet in the actual sense, and the chief of the General Staff.

President Feng quickly sorted out the ins and outs of the real incident and began to think about the response after that.

After a while, he spoke: "Although I like that kid very much, if he really dies, this matter will be easy to handle." ”

He subconsciously wanted to drink something, Zhou Rong handed over a cup just right, the old president glanced at it, saw that it was cold and white, and put down the cup a little disappointed.

"I don't have to sleep tonight, make me a cup of coffee - cat!"

Zhou Rong hesitated, but went to make coffee himself.

While grinding the beans, he had been peeking at the old president, who was sitting quietly on the couch with his eyes closed and his face expressionless.

A few minutes later, Zhou Rong came back with a cup of coffee.

When the old president smelled the aroma, he opened his eyes, took a cup and took a sip gently, letting the bitter taste melt between his lips and tongue.

"Don't do anything but confirm whether Han Jianfei is dead or alive," the old president put down the cup and rubbed his face with his hands, "No matter what Chen Mingyuan says or does, the Left Progressive Alliance will give in, and this is the price that Chen Mingyuan must pay to kill Han Jianfei." ”

Zhou Rong moved his mouth, but he didn't ask what he said in his heart.

"I don't understand," President Feng continued, "why did Chen Mingyuan put Han Jian to death at such a great cost, even if it was possible to lose the chief of the general staff of the fleet?" ”

Zhou Rong said cautiously: "The Ministry of Defense has become a mess, and there are rumors in Liangyan District that there are enemies who have bypassed the edge world and directly hit the core star region of the alliance, and many people are preparing to leave." ”

The old president nodded and asked, "What does the Prime Minister's Mansion say?" ”

Zhou Rong shook his head: "Prime Minister Dongye, there is no news yet." ”

Such a bad thing happened, even he, the president who only has an honorary status, knows about it, and there is no reason for the Prime Minister's Mansion to be so calm, so there is only one possibility, Higashino Ya acquiesced and even participated in this matter.

I believe that it will not be long before the Prime Minister's Office will come up with a seemingly seamless reason to explain this unauthorised action, or simply throw Chen Mingyuan out and throw him away to protect the car.

Either way, the Conservatives could seize the opportunity to impeach the prime minister, or at least raise a no-confidence motion.

It's just that this bait looks so tempting, so tempting that no matter how you look at it, it looks like an elaborate trap.

The bait that is brought to the mouth, to eat it or not to eat it? This is a question facing Zhou Rong, director of the President's Office.

But for the old president, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

He sat in the living room of his private mansion at two o'clock in the morning, staring at the cup of black coffee in front of him.

Zhou Rong stood aside a little anxiously, the old president may be thinking, he didn't dare to interrupt his thoughts, until Mr. President raised his head and looked at him with some surprise.

"Hey, you're not leaving?" The old man asked, "If you don't go back to sleep, what are you waiting for?" ”

"Mr. President," Zhou Rong sighed, "You haven't told me yet, what should we do, Mr. Vice Speaker is still waiting for your reply." ”

"Didn't I tell you?" The old president waved his hand a little impatiently, "Don't do anything except confirm whether Han Jianfei is dead or alive." ”

"But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Left Progressive Alliance is digging its own grave, the parliamentary election is just around the corner, if we don't move, others will ......" Zhou Rong couldn't help but say what he thought directly.

President Feng shook his head: "Zhou Rong, you are now the director of the President's Office, not the director of the Conservative Party's campaign committee, what you should be more concerned about is the future of the alliance, but not a few insignificant seats in the parliament." ”

His voice was not loud, but it was full of displeasure and disappointment that Zhou Rong had never heard before, and he immediately realized that he had made a mistake.

He now has only one boss, the 76-year-old Mr. President in front of him, even if the two belong to the same camp.

But he should give his loyalty to the president, the mascot, not Mr. Hanwei, who sits in the vice-president's seat.

Cold sweat flowed from Zhou Rong's forehead, but the old president didn't seem to care too much, he waved his hand: "It's not early, hurry up and go back to sleep, start early tomorrow morning, investigate the life and death of Han Jianfei's kid, alive, ask him to come to see me, dead, I want a definitive death certificate." ”

"Also," seemed to hesitate for a moment, seeing that Zhou Rong was about to leave, the old president stopped him again, "There is one more thing, if you are sure that Han Jianfei is dead, look around, if there are any rings and necklaces or other things, bring them all back to me - you do this yourself, rot in my stomach." ”

Zhou Rong nodded and withdrew from Mr. President's villa.

It wasn't until he watched his office director leave that Feng Pinghai stood up, walked to the fireplace and threw a few pieces of wood into it, and then sat on the sofa near the fireplace with a somewhat cold coffee cup.

On the small round table in front of him, there was a reader brought by Zhou Rong, on which a holographic video taken by residents near the main artillery bombardment point was being played on a loop.

In the video, the pillar of light falling from the sky flickered on and off, reflecting the dim fire, reflecting the old president's wrinkled face into an oil painting.

Judging from the picture on the reader itself, or the traces in the pit after that, it was impossible for anyone to survive the attack of this intensity, so Zhou Rong was right, it was almost certain that Han Jianfei must be dead.

However, who can guarantee that this man, who frequently created absolutely impossible miracles when he was young, will not create another miracle this time?

Although he did not report much hope, President Feng still had a trace of expectation in his heart.

"You owe me a can of cat poop coffee." The old president said to himself, "And you still have that thing in your hand, there must be some way to escape death." ”

In the silence of the villa, no one answered his questions.