"You can't expect the President to be patient enough to listen to an editor-in-chief at a time like this."
Wood paused, lit the slender cigarette between his fingers, shook his head and said, "Even the Post newspapers with clear backgrounds have withdrawn their tentacles under the pressure of the public. Voices, or the power that those voices can convey, may not be enough for the government to show enough respect."
"Perhaps so."
Editor-in-chief Bob fastened the collar of his single trench coat and walked to the newspaper office side by side with Wood. However, they had just turned the corner and were still a few hundred meters away from the SAR Daily Office, when their footsteps were forced to stop.
"Gentlemen, please don't go there."
The dark yellow cordon blocked off both ends of the street. Dozens of police officers shouted anxiously and blocked the crowd watching the excitement. Fortunately, today's parade had dispersed, otherwise it would have been just relying on these people and the few thin sticks. The yellow cordon is absolutely impossible to maintain order at the scene.
Editor-in-chief Bob looked at the burning newspaper building hundreds of meters away, his pupils shrank sharply, and the thick tobacco in his lips landed at his feet with a slap, smashing a few sparks.
Wood opened his mouth wide in shock, widened his eyes, stared at the building where he usually worked, stared at the terrifying flames wafting out of the windows, trembled with anger, pushed the policeman in front of him, and shouted: "Let's go over there! There are still people in the newspaper office!"
"Mr. Reporter, the staff in the daily newspaper building have been evacuated safely." The policeman who maintained the order guessed the identities of the two middle-aged men, and his attitude was a little more relaxed, explaining: "Except for a few slightly burned staff members who were in four The hospital is under observation and no one was injured."
Hearing that his colleagues in the newspaper office were safe, reporter Wood's shock and worry eased a lot, and his angry body movements also subconsciously stopped. Grabbing his hair in pain, he murmured in a trembling voice, "What is going on here! What is going on here!"
Editor-in-chief Bob looked at the newspaper office building where he had been serving since graduating from journalism school, pursed his angry lips tightly, and didn't say a word.
The building is burning, turning into charred ruins. The fierce fire seems to be burning his youthful enthusiasm, his middle-aged persistence and his original view of the world. This kind of burning deep inside his heart should be extremely painful. things, but there was not much expression on his face, and even his anger gradually disappeared, and some were just calm and even indifferent.
It seemed that I couldn't see clearly enough to see the newspaper building and the scene of the death of some cherished things in my heart. Editor-in-chief Bob slowly took out a pair of glasses from the inner pocket of his trench coat and put them on the bridge of his nose. above.
"One big fire can burn everything down, including our proud confidential library."
The red, yellow, and black smoke was reflected on the spectacle lenses. Bob's cold eyes penetrated through the lenses, looking at the burning building, and suddenly said faintly.
Wood's body froze suddenly, staring at his profile in disbelief. If this fire was not an accident, then who would dare to burn the most credible Baodu in the federation directly into rubble? Could it really be the government
"Medellin died and Pabble won the election, and I thought the world had changed a lot."
The reporter, known for his fearlessness and his use of entertainment paparazzi, remembered the Medellin investigation that won him the Nebula Award for Best Documentary Report. In the newspaper office building, his voice was hoarse and angrily said: "It turns out that nothing has changed! Do those people still want to break my leg again, or they want to kill us!"
"The fire is both an action and a warning. Although it will be difficult to kill two well-known journalists from the Federation and then disguise it as an accident, I believe that if we continue, such a tragic ending will definitely be waiting for us not far ahead. "
Editor-in-chief Bob said expressionlessly, then he lowered his head and looked at the thick tobacco at his feet that was struggling to survive in the autumn wind, breathing a few wisps of fine smoke, and said, "I am very disappointed in all this."
Wood's eyes were sharp and hot, staring at the flames spreading outside the building in the distance, looking at the busy police ahead and the firefighting ladder truck that was obviously late, and said in a low voice: "I want to go in and grab that document, the memory Not necessarily burnt out."
"Before the fire, all the memory must have been destroyed." Bob stopped his companion's courageous and adventurous, but obviously stupid and impulsive thoughts, and said calmly: "Fortunately, I have made backups in advance."
Wood was stunned for a while, slapped the editor-in-chief's weak shoulder hard, smiled ugly, but didn't laugh out loud, and said hoarsely, "Good job... What should we do next?"
"The most important question we face is what will happen to the publication of tomorrow's newspapers."
Bob rubbed his aching shoulders and said in a calm tone, "I'm going to the hospital and the police station at this time, you can contact the experts in the industry, rent a few workbenches, work overtime all night today, and the fiber paper version will be suspended for five days, but The electronic version must be released on time.”
"Understood." Wood replied very quickly, then frowned and asked in a low voice, "Is that report going to start tomorrow? I've already written part of it, and the title has been selected, so it's called the eternal ancient bell."
"It's too lyrical, but I like it." Editor-in-chief Bob ordered in a very serious tone: "But it can't be published now. In the face of such a strong president and government, I believe that before the newspaper with this report is published , you and I could be robbed and stabbed to death by some hooligan on the street at any time, or hit by a speeding car again."
"I understand that we need to wait for the right moment."
"That's it."
Across the yellow warning line, the two took a last look at the burning newspaper building in the distance, and prepared to leave.
At this moment, a large piece of heavy object suddenly fell off the edge of the burning newspaper building, making an extremely violent muffled sound, and countless sparks and charred metal pieces splashed around, causing the firefighters on the street to avoid everywhere.
The long-term high temperature burning made the metal object lose its original appearance, but Bob and Wood knew very well what it was.
That was the famous logo of the Capital District Daily: a half-eclipsed moon.
Eclipse of the moon.
The eclipse moon is not either of the two beautiful moons in the S1 night sky, but the forgotten asteroid in the sky of Donglin star.
In order to exploit the crystal ore resources on Donglin Star, the First Commonwealth of the First Republic forced the Fourth Military Region to use prohibited weapons to blow up the asteroid and change its trajectory without the knowledge of the management committee occupied by extreme environmentalists. Leaving behind a scarred and extremely ugly eclipse moon.
The question of right and wrong in history does not need to be debated. For the reporters in the Capital District Daily, the pattern of the eclipse is to remind them of what their predecessors said when they broke through the government’s news blockade at all costs. The famous saying.
"The moon is eclipsed in half, and we need to find out why."
Editor-in-chief Bob and Wood looked at the coke-like eclipse pattern in silence, with complicated expressions and heavy hearts. Although it was early autumn, a building was burning not far away, and the whole block was occupied by the high temperature and dry air, but they felt a little cold. .
Xu Le, wearing a hat, stood among the crowd on the street. At this moment, like the people around him, he seemed to be grabbed by an invisible hand by the neck, and he stood on tiptoe and looked into the distance. This scene looked very interesting, just like those rich people who can get documents and raise cats at the HTD Bureau. People, grab the soft fur on the back of the cat's neck.
The crowd watching was like many cats who didn't know what their owners were thinking. They stared curiously at the burning building, guessing what happened and whether it had anything to do with the rally and parade in the morning. Has anyone died, how many people have died, will there be a mourning event tomorrow, and so on, there are so many, the indifferent grief always makes people feel less sincere.
Xu Le left quietly, lit a shriveled cigarette in the autumn wind, and walked through the city where the light was getting darker and darker. It just seemed that he could vaguely understand what the real masters of those federations were thinking.
At least he knew that those people wanted to kill themselves.
These days, he has traveled around the underground world and on the ground, facing the almost omnipresent pursuit or killing of the federal government. At the south gate of the Botanical Garden and outside the wall of the 33 Protein Meat Synthesis Factory, he was attacked several times in a row, and the scene was extremely dangerous.
Although the old man is still on his side with a reserved and uneasy attitude, facing the federal government with a secondary surveillance network and countless resources, he is still too weak after all, especially the recent government's pursuit of killing efforts. And precision, let him smell a hint of danger sensitively.
Behind the surveillance cameras on the streets, there seems to be a group of very powerful people who are trying their best to track and kill themselves. These people are very professional, but they are not bureaucratic and inefficient like the FBI. These people are very professional, but not as easy as the army. Becoming extensive, their calculations are very meticulous and highly targeted.
Yes, targeted.
The successive attacks, and the sense of danger that is getting closer to death, made Xu Le feel that those people knew themselves very well, and sometimes even more accurately grasped their fighting style and action choices than themselves.
In addition to guessing the composition of the team with interest, he often thinks about what President Pabble said in the official residence these days in the underground, but today, seeing the newspaper building burned to charcoal, he realizes that he has made a mistake.
If you are not good at thinking, then don’t think. If you are used to doing more and saying less, then don’t think too much and do too little. Since many people praised themselves for being good at simplifying complex things, since Xilin returned, they should not choose the opposite behavior pattern.
People, after all, should still walk on the road they are familiar with.
For Xu Le, who is walking on the streets of the capital, what he should do and will do is to raise the gun in his hand and defend his own truth.