Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

After saying that sentence, Old Xu was panting heavily, his sunken chest feeling as if all the air had been sucked out.

The fat old man was in such a hurry to find some nitroglycerin pills that he accidentally kicked a plastic bottle with his toe.

The small medicine bottle rolled right into the shadows under the sofa, and there was no time to pick it up.

Because everyone's gaze in the room was piercing the corner of the wall like a knife.

There's a living thing huddled up there.

Qi Weidong, a special commissioner from the National Bureau of Statistics who fled back to Beijing.

Qi Weidong huddled tightly behind the shadow of the rosewood chair, his hands wrapped around his knees.

He used to be a powerful figure in Beijing, walking with an air of authority, but now he's like a stray dog ​​just pulled out of a ditch.

That once impeccably tailored Zhongshan suit is now completely unrecognizable.

While fleeing for his life at the Handong High-Speed ​​Railway Station overnight, he slipped and fell several times in the mud.

His clothes were covered in dusty mud stains, and the fabric on the shoulder was even torn open, revealing a ripped white shirt underneath.

His legs trembled uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered, making a soft "clucking" sound.

The crotch area of ​​the trousers was noticeably darker than the rest of the fabric.

It was sticking wet to the flesh at the base of my thighs.

A strong smell of ammonia and urine, mixed with the sweaty odor of the high-speed rail station, wafted out of the stuffy room.

This smell is so strong, it almost makes my eyes water.

The stench made General Lei, who was standing by the table, frown and feel a wave of nausea rising in his stomach.

"Crying! You still have the nerve to shed tears here?"

General Lei, dressed in a crisp officer's uniform, had a temper as explosive as a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.

He took two steps forward, his military boots making a dull "thump-thump" sound on the solid wood floor.

"Bang!"

General Lei raised his palm, as big as a palm leaf fan, and slammed it hard onto the mahogany table.

That was incredibly powerful.

The blue and white porcelain teacups on the table were shaken so much that they jumped up and made a series of clanging noises.

The scalding hot tea splashed out, spilling all over the table and dripping down the edge.

"A local nouveau riche, with a few measly coins in his hand, has really scared you civil officials to death?"

General Lei pointed at Qi Weidong's nose and cursed him, spitting far away.

"They're going overseas to collect debts, and you're so scared you wet your pants at the high-speed rail station?"

"Old Chief!"

General Lei suddenly turned his head to look at Old Man Xu in the main seat, the veins on his neck bulging.

"The matter in Handong absolutely cannot be delayed any longer! Yan Qingfeng is simply using his military power to his advantage! This is blatant rebellion!"

He swung his large hand in mid-air with a fierce chop, bringing with it a gust of cold wind that smelled of gunpowder.

"Call the Southern Theater Command right now! Send two heavy field divisions there!"

General Lei was panting heavily, his eyes wide like copper bells, and a fierce light flashed in them.

"Armored vehicles will drive straight into Jingzhou City! We'll surround the Lingxiao Building completely! Even if Yan Qingfeng has three heads and six arms, I'll blast him into a pulp with one shot!"

"No! Please don't go!"

A scream, now distorted, suddenly rang out from the corner of the wall.

The voice was as shrill as that of a live pig that had been drained of its blood in the middle of the night.

Qi Weidong was so frightened that his knees buckled and he knelt down on the hardwood floor with a thud.

The kneecap slammed heavily against the wooden board, producing a dull, teeth-grinding thud.

He gasped in pain, his face contorted in agony, and tears and snot streamed down his face instantly.

Qi Weidong scrambled forward two steps, gripping the edge of the mahogany table tightly with both hands.

The fingernails scraped against the waxed wood, making a harsh "sizzling" sound.

"General Lei! You're forcing fifty million people in Handong to their deaths!"

"Forced ordinary people to their deaths? I think Yan Qingfeng is the biggest scourge!"

General Lei kicked the leg of the chair next to Qi Weidong, the leather boot making the chair creak and groan.

"The field army's entry into the city to maintain stability and eliminate violence has made the people overjoyed!"

"What's there to be happy about!"

Qi Weidong howled in a hoarse voice, so anxious that he forgot all the rules of officialdom.

Snot dripped down to his lips, and he just wiped it haphazardly with his muddy sleeve.

"Yan Qingfeng controls 100,000 heavy industrial drones! They're all equipped with fully automated countermeasure modules!"

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple scraping against his neck.

I tasted a dry, rusty, bleeding metallic flavor in my throat.

"Those aren't toys! Those are miniature fighter squadrons capable of carrying electromagnetic pulse missiles! Didn't you see the devastation in Country T?!"

General Lei's eyelids twitched violently, and he clenched his molars tightly.

"Then cut off their network first! Send in special forces to decapitate them! Hold Yan Qingfeng down and forcibly deactivate the system!"

"Disconnect the network?"

Qi Weidong laughed dryly, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world; it looked worse than crying.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving two white streaks.

"General Lei, haven't you figured it out yet? Handong is currently using Lingxiao's quantum local area network! It's not even on the backbone networks of the three major telecom operators!"

Qi Weidong gripped the edge of the table tightly, his knuckles turning pale from the excessive force.

"You think that's all? The worst part is, the entire water supply network, the main power switch, the natural gas pipelines in Handong..."

He was gasping for breath, his lungs making a sawing sound.

"Everything has been physically taken over by the Lingxiao Consortium's Cloud AI system!"

General Lei, who had been eager to fight just moments before, fell silent instantly.

The fat old man's hand, which was about to pick up a teacup, suddenly froze in mid-air, causing the tea to ripple.

"You only need to make one phone call to mobilize troops..."

Qi Weidong knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind.

"Yan Qingfeng doesn't even need to send anyone to fight. He doesn't even need to show his face! He can just sit in his office and press the enter key on his keyboard!"

Qi Weidong stared at General Lei's dark face with red eyes.

"At 0.1 seconds! The entire province instantly lost water and power! All the electronic doors of the grain depots were physically locked!"

His voice grew increasingly shrill, carrying a chilling despair.

"Fifty million people! Fifty million people, General Lei!"

Qi Weidong roared hoarsely, "No water to drink, no food to eat, and we can't use our Lingxiao Points to buy things! In less than an hour, the entire Handong area will become a living hell!"

"Then who will feed them? Yan Qingfeng holds the mutated grain in his hands; the people now only recognize him, Lord Yan!"

He collapsed to the ground like a dead dog, smeared on the floor like mud.

"The field army you sent in can't even find a guide! Angry civilians will grab kitchen knives and hoes, treat the soldiers like enemies who have cut off their livelihood, and tear them apart alive!"

As for beheading?

Qi Weidong's lips curled into a ghastly smile, more hideous than a ghost's.

"Yan Qingfeng only needs to shout over the building's loudspeaker that people from the capital have come to rob them of their cheap water, electricity, and gas."

"The tens of thousands of elderly people who voluntarily kowtow outside the building every day could form a human shield and drown your special forces with their spittle!"

These words were spoken.

The meeting room was deathly silent.

Even the exhaust fan, which was making a "creaking" sound just now, sounds like it's stuck.

General Lei stood frozen in place, like a stone sculpture of an iron tower whose soul had been drained.

His fist, which was raised high in the air, suddenly stopped.

His knuckles gradually turned white, and eventually his entire arm began to tremble slightly.

That fierce temper that belongs to soldiers.

Crushed by this cold and cruel technology and distorted public opinion, an irreparable black hole has been created.

He slowly loosened his fingers.

His large hand fell limply to the ground, slamming onto the trouser leg of his military uniform with a dull thud.

The fat old man slumped back into his chair, his face as white as if it were covered in flour.

The old men in the room exchanged glances.

Those who once held the power of life and death have now become utterly powerless and lifeless.

Old Xu, who had been silent all along, finally moved.

He stretched out his withered fingers and picked up the blue and white porcelain teacup in front of him.

The tea had long since cooled down, with a few yellowish tea leaves floating on the surface.

He tilted his head back and drank the bitter, cold tea in one gulp.

Even the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup were poured into my mouth.

Old Xu's withered cheeks twitched slowly.

They chewed the bitter tea root until it was completely crushed.

The strong taste of bile spread from the back of his tongue throughout his mouth, stimulating his numb nerves.

He swallowed the remaining food, and the last glimmer of resistance in his eyes was completely extinguished.

He reached for a tissue and slowly wiped the water from the corner of his mouth.

He casually tossed the crumpled paper ball onto the table.

"We can't afford to mess with them..."

Old Xu's voice was low, but it was like a heavy hammer blow, striking everyone's hearts.

His gaze swept over Qi Weidong, who was kneeling on the ground trembling, and then he glanced at General Lei, who looked like a deflated balloon.

He closed his eyes and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his jacket.

He seemed to age twenty years in an instant.

"Pass on the message to Sha Ruijin."

Old Xu gritted his teeth and spat out this humiliating command.

"From now on, the capital will only observe and not interfere in matters concerning Handong."