Chapter 93 (Minor Repair)

45th floor, Central Command Room.

The walls of the command room that runs through the entire level are inlaid with a 248-degree circular crystal screen. The control panel suspended in the air is controlled by Solomon with a mechanical arm extended. The seemingly harmless room is filled with cordons with sentries at every step.

Shen Jian sat behind the control console, looking calmly at the analyzed circular mechanical projection. Next to him was a pure gold scepter, with a snake body made of five-colored gemstones entwined around it, hovering at the top, with blood-like diamond juice flowing under its scarlet tongue.

The purpose of the thing that Jörmungandr had just stuffed into his hand was unknown.

The young leader had no expression on his face. Even at this critical moment when war was about to be declared, he seemed to be in the mood to look for something in Solomon's intelligence library. His inky pupils seemed to blend in with the black light of the sun.

Shen An stood behind Shen Jian holding a document, looking much calmer than usual. He lowered his eyes to look at the leader, then looked back at the document in his hand.

Shen An's voice was calm: "Sir, the operation desk sent a communication request fifteen minutes ago."

"Shot dead." Shen Jian said calmly without even turning his head.

"Spirit exploration, jade bracelet, basil..."

"Kill them all."

Shen An stopped talking, clicked twice on the open floating screen, and then glanced at Shen Jian silently.

Only twenty-five minutes had passed since Shen Jian issued the order, but the huge monster that was exposed when Huo Qiang retracted his weapons and painted had already caused panic among the entire upper level, and communications like snowflakes were poured into the Wu Yan Tower.

"gentlemen."

Shen An waited for a while, and in the breathless atmosphere, he gently touched Shen Jian's thorns: "'He' can't run away, Xu Yinmo said so, didn't he?"

Shen Jian paused, closed the small screen and hummed. His face, which was truly like a work of art to some extent, remained calm, with his hands crossed on his knees.

Shen An was not surprised to see that the gentleman cast his eyes on the large screen, showing several simulations of the scene in Area A just now.

Theoretically, it was impossible for Xu Yinmo, who was carrying a arsenal of weapons on his back, to not survive in a pile of rubble and parts, but...

The situation seemed... weird.

Shen Jian fixed his gaze on the small starship launcher and defensive energy shield that Xu Yinmo was not using.

"Why doesn't it work?" Shen Jian moved his lips, asking silently, almost talking to himself.

The chestnut-haired man blinked and shifted his gaze as well.

The gentleman did not seem to have any emotional fluctuations because of Xu Yinmo, whose life or death was still unknown, but in fact, since Shen Jian "awoke", this declaration of war was the only time he showed his edge.

For Xu Yinmo...? To be more precise, for a subordinate who had not yet officially entered the Wuyan Tower?

Shen An was silent for a while, and then he forced out a silent smile that didn't know what it meant.

His heart was very calm. He even anticipated Xu Yinmo's situation earlier than Shen An.

The video surveillance in Shen Xiuzhu's office simultaneously broadcast the situation of Xu Yinmo's original location. In order to facilitate subsequent archiving and recording, Solomon broadcast it among his direct descendants.

Almost the moment Xu Yinmo raised his head and looked at Shen Jian, they, the subordinates, realized that something was wrong.

The gentleman might not be clear about the psychological state of a subordinate when he is carrying out a mission that means he must die, but Shen An is so familiar with it that he didn't even think about confirming it again. He turned around and walked towards the leader's room. As expected, he met his colleagues who were also in a hurry on the way.

Thinking of this, Shen An slightly turned his head and looked at Shen Jian again.

Xu Yinmo had not had time to integrate into the Wuyin Tower, Shen An thought with a bit of regret.

If it was him who was on the other end, or even if it was Shen An who had only followed Shen Jian for a short period of time, he would have told Shen Jian very clearly at the last moment...

Don't miss them.

Behind Shen Jian, his subordinates had very cold eyes.

This is not about being indifferent when seeing opponents or colleagues who pose a threat to oneself die, but rather taking the death of "Shen Jian's subordinates" for granted.

Yes, that's the attitude of their subordinates.

In their opinion, being able to die now, or even being the first to die, and leaving a deep scar in Shen Jian's heart forever just for this reason, is already...

Something they had never even dared to dream of.

Even if every subordinate tries his best to leave a mark in the master's heart, in fact, no one thinks that he or she is irreplaceable.

——In the beginning, Shen Jian was not as gentle as he is now. He was almost a perfect founding leader: he had an irresistible ambition, was rational and sentimental, kind but not blind, and his personal charm was so strong that it would overflow. Just standing there made people want to kneel down.

It's the same even now, isn't it?

Who can be sure that the reason for Mr.'s sadness is not "the promising check and balance has run away, so how should I balance the situation next"?

While Shen An was guessing aimlessly, he asked, "Do you have any questions about the results Solomon analyzed?"

Otherwise, why would we watch this video over and over again?

Shen Jian glanced at Shen An and moved his fingers slightly.

Shen An blinked, and instantly realized what Shen Jian meant.

He kept a soft smile that shouldn't have been there at this time, put down the documents in his hand, took two steps, stood in front of Shen Jian, and then knelt down.

"Sir?" Chen An asked in a soft voice, as if he really didn't know that this was the second time he mentioned Xu Yinmo's name.

Shen Jian was silent for a while before saying, “Shen An.”

"Hmm?" Shen An responded gently.

He smiled and looked up at his leader, knowing deep down that there was no way the sir would admit right now that he was truly sad for Xu Yinmo, even if that sadness might be real.

Now, he needs them, and he needs subordinates of extremely high purity who only obey the leader's orders and maintain supreme loyalty.

so……

Shen An straightened his back and leaned forward slightly, and as expected, he saw that Shen Jian did not stop him.

The corners of his lips, hidden by his chestnut hair, lifted slightly, then quickly dropped.

Then, the water light flowed down like flowing light, and when it splashed on the ground and rose up again, Shen An realized that he seemed to have an emotional breakdown.

He didn't know what his expression was now, but soon Shen Jian leaned over and wiped away his overflowing tears.

Chen An thought a little dazedly. When he really felt that the master didn't care much about their death, he couldn't help feeling a little sad, as if the rabbit died and the fox mourned.

"Why are you crying?" The leader's calm voice came quickly, "Maybe I think you should be happy?"

Shen Jian calmly wiped the water droplets off Shen An’s face.

He could clearly analyze that if he showed any sadness, he would not know how many people would deliberately die in the next war just so that he would remember.

This is especially true for those who may stay in senior cadre positions for a long time but fail to produce any earth-shaking research achievements or military achievements.

Now, Wuyan Tower could not afford to lose a cadre, so Shen Jian gave up the idea of ​​showing his emotions and concealed his silence well.

Shen Jian retracted his thoughts, suppressed the slight twitch of his heart, and patted Shen An's shoulder almost amusingly, "Why are you the first one who can't hold on?"

Shen An shook his head, and leaned over and grasped Shen Jian's cloak as if looking for a placebo.

Sometimes, even their subordinates find themselves very funny when they talk about it in their daily lives: they clearly know that they may be replaced by another person one day, but they still work diligently every day to sell their lives. In order to prevent their ruthless leader from worrying about the transfer of power after their death, they even personally train future successors who are eyeing the position under their buttocks.

"...rushing to meet them and give them to them?"

Shen An recalled that he was still young at that time and said this with a smile to Shen Tu, who was still his direct superior. He was punished by the latter neither lightly nor severely, and missed the experimental project that Shen Jian should have given him. He lay on the bed with tears in his eyes and gritted his teeth.

Shen An wrapped the leader's cloak tightly in his arms and buried his head deeper.

The gentleman didn't explain... maybe he really didn't care...

As Shen An thought about this, deep despair overwhelmed him like tons of seawater pouring back.

He remembered what he was thinking when he helped Shen Wenyan up with his own hands.

If he died, then Shen Wenyan would be able to quickly take over his position, and presumably the gentleman would be able to blame him less for not completing the task and so on because of his early planning.

...Shen Tu was thinking the same thing when he helped Shen Xiuzhu up, right? Then again, it was him that Shen Tu wanted to help before, but he was picked by Mr. to be transferred to the Armed Forces Department.

Shen Jian let Shen An hold his cloak tightly, but just looked away and picked up the documents that Shen An had placed aside and started reading them.

He was a little helpless, but couldn't say anything, so he just stroked Shen An's hair lightly.

He would turn a blind eye to certain clashes between his subordinates; but as long as he stepped into the clash, it would not be something that could be resolved by his subordinates tripping each other up.

Of course, Shen Jian had no idea what his subordinates were thinking. He only thought that they might die in vain, causing him to suffer both physiologically and physically.

Who knows whether making subordinates fall into despair means "whether my death will have any meaning"?

Whenever Chen Jian recalled this time later, he couldn't help but think with regret, what if he had just said "You are all irreplaceable" at that time?

There were only Shen An and Shen Jian in the huge command room. During the time when the fire was crossing the medium distance, 80% of the researchers stayed in the shuttle room that was activated for the first time. Even though it was almost certain that there would be no failure, countless sets of measures were still prepared to deal with failure.

They couldn't leave their posts until the first shuttle was successful.

The rest of the cadres were busy in their respective areas, and as a compensation for the lack of personnel around the leader, the highest alert mode of the Fire was automatically activated. Now, the air that the Fire communicated with the outside world was self-produced and circulated, and not even a speck of dust could enter.

After a long time, Shen Jian heard Shen An's voice, "Sir, maybe Shen An can take Xu Yinmo's place."

Shen Jian still couldn’t help but twitched his fingertips a little.

He was sincerely thankful that Shen An didn't look up now and couldn't see his expression.

Shen An lowered his eyes, as if he had calmed down, his expression calm, "One possibility proposed by Shen Xiuzhu: The reason why Xu Yinmo does not use large weapons may be that there are local ways to exclude these weapons."

——In other words, our technology may all be a pile of scrap metal, except for the quantum cold weapons developed by Chen An.

Shen Jian was silent for a while, his cloak falling on the ground between him and his subordinates and on Shen An's knees.

He neither acquiesced nor denied it, and seemed to be really troubled about who should be given Xu Yinmo's position.

He was still wearing a military uniform, standing straight, and the pleats of his trousers near his military boots were subconsciously tidied up by Shen An.

Shen Jian calmly listened to the announcement from the door behind him, and touched Shen An's head again.

"Open the door," the leader said.