At nine o'clock in the morning, the helicopter landed in Liuzhen, a small town south of Tangshan.
The reconnaissance team sent by Ji Cheng had already surveyed a few hundred meters around the landing site in advance and found no suspicious people. In fact, there were very few people there. [Search for the latest updates here.]
Liu Town was hit by a disaster at the end of last year. After the sea wall was washed away, almost the entire town was submerged by sea water, and nearly a thousand people died. The rescue and relief work lasted for nearly a month before gradually turning to post-disaster reconstruction. There are still many local people who are still homeless, living in temporary prefabricated houses and relying on disaster relief supplies sent from elsewhere for food and clothing.
Speaking of this disaster, we need to first explain several problems that the earth in this parallel universe is facing.
From 2060 onwards, the four most pressing problems facing people on earth are population expansion, energy crisis, rising sea levels, and global warming. They are ranked in order, from light to heavy, from slow to urgent.
The first problem was alleviated after the Imperial Unification War in 2000, but nearly thirty years later, this problem came to the fore again and was placed on the agenda of Tiandu's top leaders. After several years of research, the empire formulated a high "second son tax" policy, which can be regarded as controlling population growth at a stable trend.
The next three questions can be discussed together. Since the industrial revolution, humans have begun to rely on "burning things" to obtain their main energy. For modern civilized society, oil is blood, natural gas is oxygen, and coal is cell tissue. This energy choice will inevitably intensify the greenhouse effect, causing global warming. Global warming will cause the polar glaciers to melt, and then the sea level will rise. These are facts that all middle school students know.
The empire has indeed made a lot of efforts in energy reform. Several pure, reliable, and powerful energy sources have been successfully developed. However, energy sources that have the above three natural characteristics, as well as three other artificially imposed characteristics, are expensive. , technical secrecy, and imperial exclusivity.
These energy sources were not used by the civilian population, but were used exclusively by the military and the upper echelons of the empire. However, as long as there are people using it, even if it shares the energy burden of the earth, it is always a good thing. The energy crisis has been solved with the rise in oil prices.
As for the issues of global warming and sea level rise, have you noticed that the sky is a floating island in the sky? From their perspective, there is still a lot of room for sea level to rise...
Of course, the court cannot really ignore these two problems, so the solution is to raise the seawall. After decades of construction, in 2101, almost all coastal areas around the world, as long as there are towns, will have seawalls that are several meters to dozens of meters higher than the road surface.
The seawall in Liu Town was built five years ago. As the water level continued to rise year after year, the original seawall was no longer able to handle it. Therefore, the upper levels of Long County allocated funds to raise the height. Unexpectedly, it was washed away in just a few years.
Levi got off the helicopter, and his short hair with olive oil was really not messy in the strong wind. He was wearing a black shirt with an open collar, a pair of sweatpants, and a pair of sneakers worth a month's salary of a helicopter pilot. He was wearing a bulletproof vest over his shirt, with tracking and eavesdropping devices built into the vest.
Almost at the same time that Li Wei, Ji Cheng and others stepped off the helicopter, another text message from Tianyi was received on the mobile phone: "Master Li, from now on, you will act alone and walk south. Chief Ji, please arrange for you to be around." The manpower will be transferred back. You can wait here or close the team directly, but don't follow Li Wei.
Please complete the above requirements carefully. "
Li Wei and Ji Cheng read the text message together. After reading it, he asked: "What should I do?"
Ji Chengdao: "I can only do what he said." He paused and added: "This person doesn't like talking about hostages. He is tired of us asking about the safety of the hostages, so he doesn't use it repeatedly like ordinary kidnappers." The safety of the hostages came to threaten us. He just added 'please complete it carefully' at the end of the text message. These five words told us that we must do what he said, otherwise we will bear the consequences. There is no way... we cannot take risks with the hostages."
Levi nodded. He thought for a few seconds, then leaned into Ji Cheng's ear and said, "Chief Ji, do you feel that he knows our situation too well? It's like there is a pair of eyes always looking at us..." He What is hinting at Ji Cheng.
Ji Cheng replied calmly: "I have my own sense of discretion." He then raised his voice intentionally, as if he wanted to tell the people around him: "Don't worry, the body armor is just for safety. If the kidnapper wants to If you are not in a good position, you can install an explosive device in that coffee machine. You can go ahead with peace of mind. We will monitor it through the tracking equipment and we will be there in two minutes if there is any situation."
Levi responded and walked south alone.
The helicopter stopped in a suburban open space, and HL's people quickly mobilized several surveillance vehicles, attached portable equipment to the vehicles, and continued to track Levi's movements.
Levi walked along the widest road. This road had obviously been renovated after the disaster. The road surface was very smooth, probably to allow large vehicles to drive in smoothly for material transportation and reconstruction work.
After a while, there were more buildings around, but they were all destroyed by floods. This neighborhood used to be a residential area, but now walking there feels like passing through a ruins in the end of the world.
The phone rang again, and Levi picked up and said, "What do you want now?"
Tian Yiyi said: "The piece in the lower left corner of the phone has Bluetooth, take it off and put it on."
Levi put the phone in front of him, removed a building block-sized component from the lower left corner, put it on his ear, and then put the phone into the shirt pocket inside his bulletproof vest.
"alright."
Tianyi said: "Does this place remind you of anything?"
Levi glanced around: "I've never been here."
"I know, but everyone here knows you."
"Hmph... There are many people in Long County who know me, but I don't know them."
"Hey... It seems that you are very forgetful. Do you really need me to remind you to remember?"
Tianyi's words confused Li Wei, and he replied: "I don't know what tricks you are playing. What is your purpose? Where is Jiang Yun?"
"Six years ago, you, the talented young entrepreneur Li Gongzi, received a project fund allocated by the senior officials of Long County." Tianyi did not answer the question, but began to narrate on his own: "This sum of money Theoretically, it was divided into five installments. However, in order to curry favor with you, a powerful noble son, and to show his full 'trust' and 'support' for you, the Governor of Tangshan, who was handling the matter at the time, gave the entire amount directly to you. .
You spent a month without doing anything. You didn't move brick by brick. You first laundered 30% of the money and financed the new leather bag company under your name.
Then he threw all the remaining parts to a contractor with whom he had a long history of interests, and became a hands-off shopkeeper. After receiving the transaction, the other party, as usual, gave you a huge kickback.
More than a year later, the project was completed. You declined the governor's invitation to cut the ribbon, citing physical discomfort. In fact, you were just hanging out with an actress in a luxurious villa in Guangzhou that day. "
The more Li Wei listened, the more frightened he became, and his expression suddenly changed: "How could you..." He really couldn't figure out how Tianyi knew these things. No one in the world could be found who knew that he had used the money, who knew about his dealings with contractors, who knew the contents of his conversation with the governor, and who knew his whereabouts at that time, except for Levi himself. the second.
"Hahahaha..." Tianyi laughed maniacally on the other end of the phone: "Are you still worried about your personal safety? What you should be worried about is your own personal safety."
Levi suddenly realized something. At this moment, his neck froze.
Tianyi continued: "It seems that you have already thought of it. Yes, that project is to raise the seawall here." He said in a relaxed tone: "Obviously, due to cost reduction, this project ended up being a waste. But because it was Mr. Li who handled it, the governor here was very wise and helped you cover it up. His idea is that even if the embankment collapses one day more than ten years later, he may not still be in his position. , what kind of responsibility can be held
What a pity... The embankment collapsed within five years. Of course, the governor-general was not punished too seriously. He was just transferred to a more remote and impoverished area to serve as deputy governor.
The empire hopes to keep a low profile and cover up this matter. The core meaning... is that the dike will collapse because the waves are too strong. It is just a natural disaster. You should consider yourself unlucky. "
"Haha..." At this point, Tian Yi couldn't help laughing again: "But... the governor here, in order to curry favor with you, made good use of the local media to do some publicity work after the completion of the project. If you come to cut the ribbon, If you do, you can see it. Huge slogans, big photos, newspapers, roadside walls, and even billboards can be seen everywhere. You are a great benefactor to the people of Liu Town."
Li Wei's face became very ugly. He now knew why "everyone here knows you." An instinct told Levi that he had to leave, it was not safe here.
When he turned around, he saw that the road behind him was already filled with people standing dozens of meters apart.
Most of them are old, weak, women and children, and most of the young and middle-aged people have left this place. But it was the looks in the eyes of these old people, children, and middle-aged women that made Li Wei's legs tremble involuntarily.
Tianyi's voice came from the Bluetooth end again: "Finally, the part I want to talk about is the funniest part. The leather bag company under your name, after helping you make a fortune, still left some remaining assets. , you merged them into your own food chain brand at will, and that company began to comprehensively develop and produce canned food.
Those cans were so unpalatable that they were rated online as the worst-tasting junk products in Long County. In fact, their reputation was so bad that even I couldn’t help but be curious and bought one, wanting to try it. Taste how bad it is...
In short, there have been twists and turns, and the company was defined as a loss-making cancer by your group headquarters at the end of last year, and it suffered layoffs and disbandment. However, the factory warehouse still has the last batch of cans that are on the verge of expiration. So, your think tanks came up with an idea. In order to do some face-saving projects for the company and enhance the corporate image, they donated all the unsold cans for free. It was given to a hard-hit area that had just suffered a disaster, and it was promoted with great fanfare.
And that disaster area is Liu Town. "
With a "pong" sound, Levi was hit on the head by something.
Among the crowd, an unknown kid threw a can and accurately hit Levi on the head.
Levi grinned in pain, and blood flowed from his forehead. However, he was basically dumbfounded. He just squatted down and picked up the can. On the packaging of the can, he saw the words "Huan vulgar and impatient". Holding a photo of his boss, that is, himself...