The conference room was silent, and everyone's eyes were on Secretary-General Song standing beside the leader.
Song Caizhe is both the Secretary-General and the Director of the Information Department of the Capital Center Building, responsible for handling various emergency calls to the center building.
Hearing Cheng Suming's question, Song Caizhe, who was nearly 40 years old and still dressed in formal clothes in the cold weather, was no longer calm and composed as usual. He was obviously flustered for a moment, and pretended to be calm and said, "Why would Doctor Cheng ask this? You have only been in our capital base for less than five hours. What can I hide from you?"
"I have lost contact with my wife for five hours." Cheng Suming stared at him and said word by word: "I need to hear my wife's voice, see my wife appear on the other end of the video, and do the specified actions for me to make sure she is safe. Otherwise, you can ask someone else for tomorrow's surgery!"
"This..." Song Caizhe didn't know what to say.
The other people in the meeting room also understood and had different expressions.
The man was about to undergo surgery. They had just held a meeting for more than two hours and finally decided on Cheng Suming's proposal, a surgical plan suitable for him, and decided to start the operation around 11 o'clock tomorrow morning.
If Cheng Suming quits at this critical juncture, who would dare to take over this mess?
Most of the people in the conference room are expert professor-level surgeons and cardiologists. Many of them have been practicing medicine for more than 30 years. In theory, they are capable of performing most heart surgeries.
But the patient to be operated on this time involved too many relatives and the operation had to be carried out immediately.
Behind these experts and professors there is a family or closely connected relatives and friends. If the operation is successful, everyone will benefit.
Whether the operation is successful or not, and the damage to reputation are minor matters. The most important thing involves the entire family's Ark quota, and no one dares to take the risk.
They could only find Cheng Suming, a scapegoat who had never had a single case of surgical failure in bases of all sizes across the country and who had the confidence to perform the surgery.
Before Cheng Suming came to the capital, everyone had read his information and knew that he was married and had a deep relationship with his wife, to the point where they were almost inseparable.
If he arrived in the capital for surgery and his wife got into trouble, everyone would probably turn around and leave immediately because of his cold and aloof look.
But if I don't tell him, judging from his appearance, he won't be able to perform the surgery. I'm really in a dilemma.
Professor Tao, who has the most profound background among all the experts and professors, looked at Song Caizhe and said, "Now that things have come to this, there is no point in hiding it. Tell Dr. Cheng the truth. Dr. Cheng is not the kind of person who is unreasonable and rude. We can discuss many things."
"Professor Tao is right." Song Caizhe took a deep breath and avoided Cheng Suming's gaze and said, "Doctor Cheng, it's not that we deliberately hid it from you, but the incident happened suddenly and we were worried... Not long after you arrived at the Kyoto military airport, we received a call from the Shishan military. Your wife was taken away by a group of organized and premeditated bandits. From the information they sent, the leader of the kidnappers is named Wu Ming. He was originally the captain of the communications team of the Shishan Communications Department. I don't know why he kidnapped your wife. The Shishan military is doing its best to pursue her. At present, your wife's life is not in danger for the time being."
Confirming what he was thinking, Cheng Suming's face turned pale, his hands clenched into fists, and his whole body began to tremble.
He should have killed that damn Wu Ming long ago. When he and Si Nan realized that Wu Ming had other intentions towards her, he should have found an opportunity to eliminate the evildoers who might pose a threat to Si Nan's life.
But it was too late to say anything now. He didn't know why Wu Ming took Si Nan away. It was night time and the wind and snow were ten times stronger than during the day. The helicopter couldn't start and it was not realistic to drive back to the stone mountain thousands of miles away. He could only force himself to calm down and many countermeasures emerged in his mind.
He was silent for a while, then slowly raised his head and said to Song Caizhe and Professor Tao, "I know why you asked me to perform surgery on that person. I can stay here until the surgery is completed, but I have two conditions."
He paused here and did not continue.
"What conditions?" Song Caizhe asked without losing patience.
Cheng Suming looked at Professor Tao. Professor Tao took off his glasses with a headache, rubbed his temples and said, "Tell me, as long as it's not excessive and not illegal, we will try our best to satisfy you."
"First, after I have completed the surgery tomorrow, the capital's military will immediately dispatch all helicopters and special elite troops to follow me to the Stone Mountain Base and await my orders. Second, if the surgery is successful, I want the capital to make a promise to give me another thirty spots on the Ark. Only I can issue and confirm them. Others are not allowed to take advantage of me and grab my spots by using my name and connections. If you can do this, first assign the spots to me. After I confirm that everything is correct, the surgery will proceed as normal tomorrow."
Professor Tao felt his headache getting worse, and Song Caizhe and the others all looked unhappy.
The Ark Project in the Himalayas was carried out in secret, and most of those who knew about it were wealthy and powerful people in Kyoto and across the country.
As for the quota for the Ark, nearly one-third has been internally allocated, and of the remaining two-thirds, half will be allocated to professional-level talents from all walks of life, and the other half will be allocated to ordinary people when the Ark is built.
Although they are called ordinary people, everyone knows that those places will basically be given to people with nepotism, and ordinary people will rarely get them.
The distinction between the rich and the poor will not change under any circumstances.
Cheng Suming is going to take up thirty places at once. To be honest, everyone feels a little distressed.
Many of them have relatives, friends, sons and daughters who hold important positions in the capital or in the Himalayas. They all plan to use the places given to ordinary people as favors, to build personal connections, or to make a fortune in materials to justify those places.
Suddenly, thirty places are reduced, and they might have to take all of them, causing them to lose many benefits. Everyone will naturally feel distressed.
However, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. Although no one knew how Cheng Su Ming knew about the secret Ark Project, they also knew that they had established an Ark certification system. In order to allow Cheng Su Ming to perform the operation, the people in the conference room had to compromise.
**
On the top of a cliff in Shishan, Yan Hongyi looked at the disappearing figures below the mountain. He put down the military night vision binoculars and couldn't help cursing: "Fuck, they are so well prepared!"
Ever since Si Nan was kidnapped and the helicopter could not fly, he led a team of over a hundred elite men on a desperate chase through the dangerous snow and ice. They accelerated from the footprints beside the train to get here, but they were still a step too late.
"What should we do now?" Yin Peng wiped the ice off his face and asked him standing beside him: "Continue chasing, or send some people back? We don't have a sled, so we can't catch up with them."
"You take some people back." Yan Hongyi frowned tightly. "I lost them in front of me. Even without a sled, we have to find another way. No matter where they go, we must find their traces before their footprints are covered by snow. You don't have to come back again. Prepare all the things you need in the snow. Tomorrow morning, when the weather gets better, bring six military helicopters here immediately. I will mark you along the way. If you don't find the marks, go straight to Changji Private Base. I suspect that Sinan's hostage incident is related to that base."
"yes."
It was a night of wind and snow, and many people tossed and turned in bed.
After a thrilling move that lasted most of the night, Si Nan was brought by Wu Ming and his companions to a city wall covered in ice and snow.
"Welcome to Changji Base." After Wu Ming said this to her, he asked the giant who had been carrying her to move forward.
Si Nan was shocked. He had just learned about the news of Changji Base from Yan Hongyi in the morning. Now he came to Changji Base. Was it a coincidence?
Yan Hongyi told her that the Changji base had a terrain similar to that of a rocky mountain. It was built against the mountain and had tall walls, making it a private base with only one entrance and exit, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
However, these walls were built a long time ago. At that time, this place was a mountain stronghold. Due to the scarcity of supplies and lack of water, the land was harder than the rocky mountains and crops could hardly survive, so it was abandoned. Only a few villages of indigenous people were left here.
According to Yan Hongyi, this private base has absorbed several large and small private bases in just one year from its construction to the present.
There are rumors that the leadership team of the Changji base is full of murderous criminals, especially the Changji leader, who has committed countless crimes and has recruited a group of ruthless characters who will kill people at the slightest disagreement, yet they have taken in millions of ordinary survivors, which really puzzles the Ishishan military.
However, the Shishan base is currently unable to take care of itself. No matter how the Changji base develops, as long as the Shishan base and the Shishan cake are not touched, everyone can keep to themselves.
Once Changji Base has any ideas, Shishan Base will not be polite either.
In front of the only entrance of Changji Base, Sinan saw that the gatekeepers were armed with guns just like those at Shishan Base, and there were people patrolling the walls with armed guns. He felt something was strange, as he felt that this private base had too many weapons.
Wu Ming and his group walked to the gate of the base, took off the scarves on their faces, and showed their left wrists to them.
Si Nan vaguely saw some kind of tattoo on their left wrists. Before she could take a closer look at what the pattern was, they all quickly covered their clothes and walked inside.
After entering, Sinan found that the housing facilities here were not as good as she had imagined. Compared with the high-rise red brick houses built everywhere in Shishan, most of the houses here were bungalows and sheds. There were also many houses with cracked walls and serious damage after the earthquake, but there were still people living in them.
The road is uneven and full of potholes. There are only a few street lights on. After walking a few steps, you can hear people coughing, snoring, talking, children crying, and indescribable sounds made by men and women.
Only then did she realize that many of the houses and greenhouses in the Changji base were inhabited by large groups of people.
She was a little confused about the situation. The accommodation conditions in this private base were so poor. Why did the survivors not go to the Shishan base with perfect conditions and facilities, but instead come to this unreliable private base?
Wu Ming and his group took her for a long walk and brought her to a slightly taller building.
She thought she would go straight upstairs to meet the boss they were talking about, but she didn't expect that after they went in, they would enter an ordinary room, move a wooden bed out of the room, open a basement entrance, and lead her down the dark concrete stairs step by step.
When she saw a square iron cage in the basement, she didn't know what to say.
"Go in." Wu Ming pushed her unceremoniously and locked her into an iron cage in the middle of the room.
"Can't you be gentler? It hurts so much." Si Nan muttered. Turning back, Wu Ming raised the injection in his hand again and thrust it into her neck. He stopped after pushing about one-third of the medicine.
Then he took everyone away, until Sinan heard the sound of the basement entrance being slammed and locked from above.
What does this mean? What are you trying to do by locking her up in a cage in the basement?!
Sinan looked around in confusion.
The basement was not big, about twenty square meters, with dim lighting inside. The walls were made of iron, and one could clearly see many jets of dried, blackened blood on the walls. There were dense surveillance cameras installed on all sides, which monitored the iron cage where she was in from all directions. The air was filled with an indescribable smell of blood mixed with the smell of stagnant air, making the already narrow basement even more eerie and terrifying.
Si Nan leaned limply against the iron cage, staring blankly at the surveillance cameras that were monitoring her, wondering why they had locked her up here?
She was an ordinary woman with neither power nor money. Except for her husband being a doctor, she started a greenhouse farming business under his name and had more supplies than ordinary people. She thought that she had not offended any big shots who would be worth their trouble to capture her.
unless......
She looked at the red lights flashing everywhere in the basement, indicating that the surveillance cameras were in operation. Could it be that these people arrested her for her space?
But except Cheng Suming, no one else knew that she had a space.
She has always been cautious and never let anything slip in front of others. She also believed in Cheng Su Ming and would never betray her or tell others that she had space.
But if it wasn't for this reason, she couldn't figure out why these people arrested her?
Could it be that Cheng Suming had offended someone, and the other party captured her and imprisoned her here, trying to blackmail her to do something?
She thought of Cheng Qiming, who wished Cheng Suming dead, and thought that this was very possible.
However, with so many surveillance cameras, her space cannot be used.
The cell phone and other things in her clothes had been taken away by Wu Ming long ago. She was drugged, although not much, so she didn't faint. However, she felt weak all over and it was difficult for her to escape.
After a day of running around, she was tired, thirsty, and hungry. She wanted to eat something, but under the intensive surveillance, she didn't dare to use the supplies in the space. When would Cheng Suming, Yan Hongyi, Yang Wentao and others find her and rescue her?
In a newly built high-rise building at the Changji Base, a man sat in front of a densely packed surveillance screen, watching Si Nan leaning against the iron cage with a look of despair. A strange arc appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he murmured in a hoarse voice: "I'll see how long you can hold on."
**
Si Nan didn’t know how long he had stayed in the basement, maybe one or two days, or maybe three or four days.
She had been staying in the cage the whole time, without eating anything or drinking a sip of water. Her lips were dry and cracked. Wu Ming and his gang still had no intention of giving her food or water, but they came down at regular times every day to give her anesthetics.
She felt like she was starving and dying of thirst, and had the urge to take food out of the space to eat many times, but she finally held back.
Unless it is absolutely necessary, she cannot reveal the fact that she has a space under surveillance. That will bring her endless troubles and even fatal danger. She can only hope that Cheng Su Ming and the others can find her faster.
That day, Wu Ming came to the basement as usual. Si Nan was curled up in the corner of the iron cage. He opened his eyes with great effort and asked him weakly, "What on earth do you want to do? You didn't give me food or water for so many days. Instead of starving me to death or dying of thirst, why not give me a quick death?"
She could take out guns and weapons from the space to kill Wu Ming and crawl to the ground, but with so many surveillance cameras, her every move was being monitored 360 degrees without blind spots. She was afraid that as soon as she took action, a group of people would rush out and cut her into pieces. She could only stay alive honestly and test Wu Ming's bottom line every day.
Wu Ming squatted in front of the iron cage door, tilted his head and looked at her. After a long while, he said something inexplicable: "You are quite patient."
Seeing Si Nan looking at him in confusion, he curled his lips and said, "Our boss wants to see you."
Two sturdy men walked out from behind him, opened the door of the iron cage, dragged Si Nan out, carried her on the left and right, and went up to the square room on the ground floor, then threw her onto the wooden bed and made her sit against the wall.
The room was dimly lit, with the only window closed.
Si Nan managed to maintain her sitting position. She saw a man sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of the group of people standing opposite her. He looked her up and down, and after a while he spoke, "Take off her clothes!"
Twenty or so strong men rushed over, Si Nan was horrified, and reflexively took out a loaded gun from his space and shouted: "Don't come over here! Don't blame me for being rude if you come over again!"
"Stop." The man gave the order lazily, and all the strong men retreated to his back.
"Sinan." The man read out her name with a wicked smile on his face. "You really have a space like in your previous life. I'm curious, you don't have a jade pendant or jade pendant as a medium, or a drip of blood to recognize the owner, how did you get the space?"
Previous life?
This person knew about the existence of her space and even mentioned the last life. Could this person be the legendary reincarnated person? Was he the one who killed her in Cheng Suming's dream?
Si Nan held the trigger tightly in his hand, looking vigilantly at the man with ordinary looks but a sinister and strange temperament.
After experiencing these two magical things, dreams and possessing space, if the person in front of her was a reborn person, she would understand why this person went to so much trouble to capture her.
In the difficult end-of-the-world environment, who wouldn't want to have a portable space to load a lot of supplies and take it away anytime and anywhere without any worries?
Si Nan tried his best to keep calm and said expressionlessly: "I don't know what you are talking about."
The man sneered: "It doesn't matter if you don't admit it. Your father and your friends are in my hands. I can kill them anytime I want."
After he finished speaking, he turned his head to look, and Wu Ming immediately took out a tablet computer, walked in front of Si Nan, and played two videos.
One is a video of Si Chengye wearing a neat and tidy suit, happily playing mahjong at a mahjong table with a cigarette in his mouth.
One is Gao Moli, who is so thin that she has lost her shape. She is sitting in a greenhouse area that is full of garbage and looks dirty and messy. She is being molested by several ruffian men.
Gao Moli had a numb face without any expression and allowed the men to attack her.
Si Nan didn't care how Si Chengye was doing. When she saw Gao Moli's video, her expression changed instantly. A strong murderous intent flashed in her eyes. She pointed the gun at the man: "Where is Gao Moli? What do you want to do?!"
"You don't care about your father's life or death, but you care about a friend you haven't seen for a long time. You are still the same heartless and unfilial woman as in your previous life."
The man had a faint smile on his lips and said slowly, "In my last life, I cut you into pieces, but I couldn't separate your space from you. I guess that space can only be controlled by you. I don't have any hobbies, I just like to do some naughty things. For example, before the end of the world, I kindly posted a message to tell the world that the end of the world is coming, to see how many people believe it. Unfortunately, most of them are idiots, they are all self-righteous and pretend not to see it, they deserve to die! I captured you and just want you to do one thing. I heard that the armory of the Stone Mountain Base keeps a large number of firearms and weapons, and even a few missiles and bombs. If you get all those things in your space and give them to me, I can not only release your friends, but also help you kill your father."
It turns out that the other mysterious poster was him!
Si Nan remained silent. Emotionally, she should be angry and question the man in front of her, asking him to let Gao Moli go.
But she was surprisingly calm.
She knew that her impotent rage was useless. Even if she had a gun in her hand and wanted to kill the man in front of her, it would be a fight to the death.
If he dies, she and Gao Moli will both die here.
But will she obediently submit to the man in front of her? Don't dream. She knows what this man wants with those weapons without even having to think.
How could she possibly steal the weapons from the Stone Mountain Base and give them to the man in front of her who looked like a psychopath?
But how could she find Gao Moli and take her away safely?
Just as she was thinking about a plan, there was a sudden rumbling sound of a helicopter propeller outside, followed by the door being slammed open. Everyone was startled and drew their weapons and looked towards the door.
Suddenly, two smoke bombs and tear gas were thrown in from the door. Wu Ming and others realized that something was wrong and subconsciously went to protect the man in the middle.
As the smoke filled the air, Si Nan heard loud and clear voices echoing in the narrow room: "Don't move! Otherwise, you will be shot!"
When Si Nan was still a little confused about the situation, she felt a figure rushing towards her. She subconsciously pulled the trigger, but the figure hugged her tightly in his arms and shouted in a trembling voice: "Anan, I'm coming."
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