The cold wind blew up from last night, and then picked up the fine flowers, dyeing Yanshan a layer of white again.
“Gah, gah…”
The crow flying from nowhere opened its eyelids and was startled for the first time by people walking on the ground.
The sky gradually becomes brighter.
The lights at the National Command Center that had been on all night finally went out with a pop.
Liang Jing held a breakfast taken from the cafeteria and walked through the miserable mountain road filled with heavy atmosphere.
I saw the clerks who had not slept a wink after a busy night, walked out with red eyes, and scattered in all directions tiredly.
She waited until everyone was almost gone, then opened the door and walked into the room.
I saw the messy conference table, documents and cups scattered, and the light screen cast by the projector on the wall was only a monotonous blue.
The conference room was empty except for Shi Shengcun.
Still sitting at the table, with his elbows on the table, rubbing his eyebrows, he turned his head when he heard the voice:
"Go and rest, you have been busy for so long."
Liang Jing walked over silently, placed breakfast in front of him, and then looked at Shi Shengcun, whose face was tired and could not be concealed:
"Didn't you have a day and a night without rest?"
"It's different. I'm just sitting here, different from you," Shi Shengcun forced out a smile, "It's a pity that the injury hasn't healed yet, otherwise..."
Liang Jing suddenly raised his hand to stop what he was saying, then reached out and frowned, taking a cup full of bitter coffee from the side, washed it with mineral water, and filled it with hot soy milk.
Shi Shengcun smiled, sighed softly, and started eating obediently.
After Liang Jing finished doing this, his eyes saw a still warm document on the table.
Then his eyes moved: "The casualty statistics...are out?"
The battle had basically begun yesterday afternoon. By night, all the undead had been eliminated, and even the projection had disappeared silently.
Everything happened so quickly and ended so quickly. The good news is that the "disaster relief" was timely after all, but even if it was "timely", it still could not save the lives that had been lost.
The battle is over, and the battle has just begun.
In each province and city, the affected areas need to be handled by local departments for follow-up treatment.
In comparison, the property damage is not high. The most damaged are only some cars. As for the dilapidated streets and alleys, they can only be repaired. I believe they will be restored to like new soon.
The real problem, however, is the people who die.
How to deal with post-disaster compensation and appease public opinion is an extremely heavy and important task.
"I... I read the news before, and it was said that the top leaders have come forward to visit various disaster areas to offer condolences." Liang Jing said softly, but did not touch the report on the specific number of casualties.
"Well, if it's not inconvenient, I should really be the one to deal with it." Shi Shengcun said with emotion, then he was silent for a moment and said a number, "More than ninety-seven thousand people."
"How many?"
"Incomplete statistics, the number of victims is 97,000, and the number of injured is very small. You should understand that in that situation, few people can escape. Most of the injuries are caused by car accidents and when citizens escape.
Some accidents happened..."
Shi Shengcun spoke in a very calm tone, like a spokesman in the news.
"Wow." Even though he had been prepared to some extent, when he heard this number, Liang Jing still subconsciously held up the conference table and pushed a few empty bottles.
One hundred thousand...the number of victims actually reached one hundred thousand!
Liang Jing felt her breathing tightening, and her chest seemed to be pressed by a huge boulder, which was so heavy that she couldn't breathe!
We must know that the number of victims of the Sichuan earthquake that shocked the whole country and was mourned by more than a billion people was less than 70,000!
what does that mean?
It was almost unimaginable for her!
"Fortunately, the number of people is much smaller than I expected," Shi Shengcun held his breakfast and said in an almost emotionless voice, "You have done a good job. If the rescue was not timely, this number may have increased many times. As for the global death toll
I believe we will know the number of people in the next few days."
Liang Jing looked at him and didn't know what to say for a moment. He moved his lips and said:
"Mainly Cheng Lin...he put in a lot of effort..."
"I know," Shi Shengcun nodded, then turned his gaze to the gradually brightening window and said, "Which room is he resting in?"
"No. 3, retreat room, he...hasn't come out since the call came back. He has been in the room all the time. I went to see him before, but he didn't ask to open the door," Liang Jing explained, "He must be very tired, and...he
The death of his father should have been a bigger blow to him."
"I'll go take a look, and you should go and have a rest." Shi Shengcun was silent for a few seconds, swallowed the food in his hand, then pushed the wheelchair and walked out.
After walking out of the door, the wheelchair walked along the aisle to the left side of the building, making two thin tracks on the ground.
…
…
Passing through the red pillars, he finally stopped outside the door of an inconspicuous room.
Shi Shengcun didn't speak, just sat quietly in the chair and stared at the door.
After more than ten seconds, the pairs of classical carved wooden doors slowly opened inward, and the faint sunlight cast down from the corner of the eaves, shining on Cheng Lin's pale face.
He looked a little depressed, his hair was a little messy, and his eyes were bloodshot, obviously he had not slept all night.
"Don't you invite me to come in and sit down?" Shi Shengcun said with a smile.
Cheng Lin turned around and walked into the room. When the latter entered the door, only the two of them were left in the empty room. Shi Shengcun looked around with emotion and said:
"Why didn't you go to the office or the accommodation assigned to you? There isn't even a bed here."
"I'm thinking about something." Cheng Lin finally spoke, his voice slightly hoarse but his expression very calm, which was much better than Shi Shengcun expected.
"Oh? What?" he asked.
Immediately, I heard Cheng Lin say:
"The day before yesterday, I was here... summoning the projection. Yesterday I came back and I didn't know where I was going, so I walked here subconsciously, and then sat here for a while. In a daze, I even thought I was still in a dream. Unfortunately,
A dream is a dream after all. Then I thought, this could have been avoided."
There was silence for a moment.
Shi Shengcun said seriously:
"This is not your responsibility. I believe that you did not expect that things would develop like this. It was too sudden and unexpected. If I have to say, it was me who asked you to deduce it, and it was me who did not realize the danger.
I, then... the one who should face all this is naturally me."
"Do you like to take the responsibility on yourself so much?" Cheng Lin suddenly raised the corner of his mouth and said in an incomprehensible tone.
"It doesn't matter. Things have already happened. There is no point in pursuing the past."
"If other people think like you..." Cheng Lin seemed to smile, but also seemed not to smile. He turned around and picked up the teapot in the room, went to pour water, and then said casually, "Count the number of victims.
Is it gone? How much?"
"One hundred thousand."
The hand holding the teapot paused for a moment, then returned to normal. Cheng Lin handed one of the cups to Shi Shengcun, picked up the other one, and took a sip: "Not much."
"indeed."
Shi Shengcun nodded, but what he didn't know was that Cheng Lin's words were referring to the billions of people who died every now and then in the deduction, which was really not much.
"What to do next?" Cheng Lin asked while drinking ice-cold tea.
"This is not what we should be concerned about, and it is not the scope of the special affairs department. In fact, other departments will have more experience in dealing with this situation."
"That……"
"You should go back and rest first." Shi Shengcun said suddenly.
"Where to go back?"
"Go home. Isn't your home in Ningcheng? Or any beautiful scenic spot. Take a rest and relax. I know you worked very hard yesterday. Take a good rest. Maybe you can have a good New Year. After that,
When things are stable here, come back." Shi Shengcun said in a seemingly casual tone.
Cheng Lin stared at him quietly, his eyes a little strange: "Are you serious?"
"certainly."
"Just let me go back to rest? That's it?"
"ASAP."
They looked at each other in silence for a long time.
Cheng Lin finally looked away, swallowed the cold tea in the cup, and nodded vigorously: "I understand."
After saying that, he walked out without any pause. The moment he stepped out, he heard Shi Shengcun's voice coming from behind him: "By the way, Jie..."
"No need." Cheng Lin waved his hand, then walked out quickly, leaving the latter behind.
His pace was neither fast nor slow, and he just walked down the stairs of Yanshan Mountain. Along the way, he bumped into many clerks who had just returned from eating in the cafeteria.
"Procedure……"
The clerks subconsciously gathered together and said hello, but before they could finish saying the words "Commander Cheng," Cheng Lin left directly, as if he didn't see anyone at all.
He kept walking down until he left Yanshan and stopped a taxi on the road.
"...Where are you going?" The driver looked at Cheng Lin's uniform and asked in a respectful tone.
Cheng Lin took out his mobile phone, opened the ticket booking software, and then reported the name of the airport.
The driver nodded, stepped on the accelerator, and then asked habitually: "Are you on a business trip?"
Immediately, he saw Cheng Lin slowly raising his head in the rearview mirror, with a complicated expression on his face. He smiled and said, "Go home."
…
…
Because it was well protected, the area around the capital was not affected in this disaster.
If you just look out from the streets of Beijing, you will hardly notice anything unusual.
Cheng Lin chose the nearest flight and flew directly to Liao Province.
He had some vague guesses about Shi Shengcun's arrangements, but he wasn't sure yet.
After all, this matter is too big to be solved internally by one department or one special department. It will definitely be heard by Heaven.
The aftermath of the disaster will turn into a whirlpool, and where it will ultimately lead is bound to be a fierce game.
He had thought a lot about the possible follow-up in that quiet room that night and was not afraid of any consequences.
"After all, the worst-case scenario is a confrontation of weapons."
Sitting on the airplane seat, Cheng Lin leaned back, covered his face with a magazine, and thought very seriously.