Silence is a kind of wisdom, or relief, or silent resistance, or it can be a proof of shock.

In fact, it is just a phone call to apply for the newspaper headline, which is not too unusual for the editor-in-chief of the Shengkan newspaper, which has always adhered to the principle of "truth", but there is only one newspaper and only one headline, so in some cases, it is normal to make some planning and operation for this position.

However, the content of the headline report made the silence fall for a moment, the wind blew through the hall, and even the clothes of the people present were not lifted, but it seemed so noisy.

The secretary general of external affairs of the Academy of Life Sciences lowered his eyebrows and looked at the wood pattern on the table in front of him, as if he wanted to see how many layers of growth rings this piece of wood had.

A government liaison officer sat upright and drank tea, which he had been drinking for almost 15 minutes, but the water in it had not decreased at all.

No one seems to want to be the first to speak at this time.

Don't speak, it's not that you don't care, but wait and see.

But there are always people who can't sit still, and for them, the silence seems so harsh and unbearable.

Finally, the dean of the Imperial Medical College smiled and said gently, "It seems that there are juniors who have some paranoid longing for the results display a few months ago. It is understandable that, after all, Professor Darwin was the leader of this scholarship, and in his later years, he died because of a small mistake of his own, so his students naturally did not easily accept this fact.

This kind of respect for predecessors and dedication to science is indeed an extremely valuable quality.

But in three months, two consecutive exhibitions of experimental results are held, is it a bit too frequent? ”

The dean of the medical school spoke carefully, but eventually showed some opposition.

"Frerequent?" At this moment, the secretary general, who had been watching the annual rings, suddenly pushed down his glasses: "With the results, it is natural to show the world that the empire is a whole, is there any good thing to hide and tuck by itself?" If I could, I would even like to see this kind of scientific progress as often as possible! ”

The dean received the rebuttal, and still smiled kindly: "I understand your position, working for the Academy of Life Sciences, naturally you need to say something for the Academy of Sciences, but the last time your achievements were not so satisfactory, how long has it been, I want to say, if it is just some small improvements, it should not be necessary to be so popular, and it will occupy the headlines of a holy journal, isn't it?"

He didn't say the word fuss, because at this point, his words were interrupted by the editor-in-chief's somewhat excited speech: "Your Excellency, Dean, it's not a small change, the other party means ...... The experiment was a success."

"Last time they said the trial was successful."

"The last experiment was a success!" The secretary general retorted lightly again: "The experiment failed, Dean Darwin got caught up in the struggle for the position of deputy dean, and finally died in his own experiment, haven't you read the newspaper reports In the past few months, there have been people who have suspected that the failure of this experiment was caused by someone deliberately obstructing it." ”

"Hehe, I never knew about these rumors, I'm busy, so I only read newspapers with absolute authority like the Holy Journal, in fact, you should also know that the information that attracts attention on those third-rate tabloids is just some words to pass the time for most people."

In fact, at such a meeting, it is a bit of nonsense to mention some third-rate reports that are casually publicized without substantiation, but the secretary general was very natural, and mentioned the death of Dean Darwin and the failure of the experiment in front of everyone.

However, even if these words sound like unsubstantiated nonsense, as soon as they are spoken, they reach the ears of all present people, and the truth of these questions is subject to different understandings.

"Alright."

Finally, Elder Miles's feeble voice rang out slowly, in fact, he should have stopped this kind of child-like political argument, but it seemed to be half a beat slower, and when everyone had said almost enough, he finally spoke:

"Whether this information can make headlines or not is a matter for other newspapers, so what's the use of arguing with you.

Moreover, the display of achievements is not kidnapping, you have to go, if someone wants to go, then go, if you don't want to go, don't go, noisy here, can it still affect where people's legs go? ”

This kind of street-side grandfather-like theory made the room fall silent again.

And in the midst of this silence. Elder Miles said with great calmness:

"I just hope that whether it is the potion that I studied before or the experiment that can control the wild demons just now, their original intention is the same, that is, to have a better future for the Empire.

And not because of those power struggles.

Or use it all as rights or inheritance capital.

I know it's a special time, so please don't let these good things get too much dust.

The House of Elders, although it is a group of old and dizzy guys, but there are also a few old stubborns, sometimes, if they decide that something is unpopular, it is really a knife to their necks, and they will not change their words. ”

With that, Elder Miles closed his eyes and exhaled heavily, as if he had said too much today:

"Alright, my speech on behalf of the House of Elders, that's all, you continue to talk about yours, I have to go back to sleep"

With that, he slowly got up, and then walked out of the hall with even slower steps.

The wind around seemed to be stronger, bringing out some of the sand and dust peculiar to the ancient Roman law city, slapping on people's bodies, like bullets that had been reduced countless times, crackling, shooting at each other in the field, but there was no gunshot, let alone flesh and blood.

On that day, night fell, and there were some clouds in the sky, like a rain, which made the dry city rarely show a little dampness.

In a simple building, there was only the faint hum of medical machinery, and some needles hung down the infusion pipes on the ceiling, and then pierced the back of a withered old man, some needles with rotating threads, quickly and silently, burrowed into the skin and spine, and then injected the medicine into the old man's spine.

This is undoubtedly unbearable pain for ordinary people, but the old man was silent throughout the whole process, and occasionally there were some imperceptible moans in his throat, which meant that he was also struggling to endure this cruel torture.

Finally, the gentle humming stopped, and the old man exhaled a long breath, feeling the interaction of various medicines in his body, as well as the severe muscle pain and stomach spasms caused by long-term infusion of drugs, he could only use breaths again and again to safety himself, at least, he could still feel the pain, at least he was still alive.

"Zi~Zi~Zi~"

There was some noise coming from the speakers, and:

"The Wild Demon Controlled Experiment has announced to the outside world that it is about to carry out a second presentation of results, and this news has been confirmed by the headquarters of the Holy Journal, and it is expected that the event will be covered tomorrow with the headline and half of the second page."

It seems that since Augustine the Great needed to stay in this room every day and use life support devices to extend his remaining life, all his contact with the outside world was through this voice, and at this time, that voice did not use honorific titles, let alone red tape between those courtiers and emperors, but just said the most important information at this time straight to the point.

“.”

In the room, there was still silence, the old man did not speak, just closed his eyes, and the slight wrinkle between his eyebrows meant that he was still suffering from the side effects of the drug on himself at this time.

After a long time, the discomfort in the withered body was finally relieved, and the old man slowly opened his eyes

"From today onwards, there is no need to report any more information to me, the Inheritance Ceremony is about to begin, and I need enough time to retain my energy." Augustine the Great said calmly.

"Yes." The voice responded, but hesitated: "What about the headlines of tomorrow's holy journals"

"There's no need for any processing."

"Don't deal with it.?" This time, the voice on the other side of the microphone seemed to be confused.

The owner of the voice should be a woman, who should not sound too old, maybe only in her twenties, which is almost a difference of three generations, or even four generations, compared to Augustine the Great.

This decades of historical estrangement will inevitably create a huge generation gap between the two sides.

However, Augustine the Great seems to have always trusted the owner of this voice, and even for so many years, everything he said was said through the mouth of the other party.

At this time, he obviously felt the other party's incomprehension, and it happened that he was in a very good mood today, so he explained with a smile for the first time:

"The world is rotating, like a steam engine, it is a whole, don't look at me as the emperor of this empire, but in fact, I am just a cog in the operation of this world."

"I don't really understand." The person on the other end of the speaker whispered.

"Half a year ago, I said that I wanted to kill the Holy Son of the Holy See, and you thought it was ridiculous at the time. But this thing really happened, do you think that it is really just because of my personal will that those airships can fly over London, and then fall downwards regardless of it? ”

Augustine the Great, lying on that special hospital bed, said with a smile:

"Haha, of course it can't be, after all, I'm just an ordinary old man, I'm even a little cold now, or I'm going to have a stomach, I'm likely to die, I can't even get out of this room.

It is useless for me alone to want the Holy Son of the Holy See to die.

All this happens, it can only be said that in addition to me, there are countless wills who want that Holy Son to die. The tacit understanding of countless people, intertwined with each other, can contribute to the occurrence of this incident.

In the same way, I have been sitting in this seat for 60 years, and I am still the emperor, and I am still not dead.

This proves that there are many wills that recognize that I am the emperor, and that I should not die.

Then, at this moment, there must be a will to arise to solve these trivial problems.

The so-called wild demonic controlled experiment is unlikely to succeed, because it hinders the normal operation of the Empire's machine, and although I don't know what will happen yet, I can guarantee that there will always be a force that will come out to stop it.

An empire can never be changed by a single idea.

That's why Professor Darwin died; The Pope will be sick and leave everything to a hairy boy; The old man who is enough to destroy the social fabric will always stand on the riverbank of his hometown, just watching the sun rise every day."

Augustine the Great said flatly, his gray eyes looking at the bare ceiling, as if he had fallen into some distant memories, but for the person on the other side of the microphone, the explanation he had just made himself more confused.

But fortunately, the girl who sent the message didn't care about this, she just kept caring about the health of the old man, and a pimple in her heart that she could never forget.

"However, those airships caused the death of 20,000 people."

She knew it was a bit out of place to say this at this point, but she opened her mouth anyway, and the sound was a little harsh as it entered the sterile room through the speakers.

On the hospital bed, the smile on the old man's face gradually dissipated, and he became calm, and there was no wave.

"The most important thing for a race is the stability of the social structure, not how many people live and how many people die.

In fact, to a certain extent, those who died in that disaster were sacrificed for the sake of the empire.

They are heroes, just like those soldiers on the battlefield."

After saying this, the old man exhaled slowly, then closed his eyes, and used a tired voice to tell the person on the other end of the microphone that he was tired, and the conversation, so let's stop here.

The call was hung up, and the room fell silent once again.

Just like the calamity that fell from the sky, the flames and wails that resounded all night, in the early morning of the next day, they could only return to silence, the smoke of gunpowder was silent, the blood was silent, those dead souls never said whether they wanted to be heroes or not, they could only stare silently and angrily across the distance between life and death, waiting for the day when their voices could reach the world through some channel, and issue the most powerful accusation to the gears of a certain empire.

(End of chapter)