Chapter 30
Yi Laizhe was originally going to sign an agreement with the Austrian side regarding the crystal core "sample" today, but a communication from Jiang Mu completely disrupted his plan.
After the communication ended, Yi Laizhe immediately gathered a large number of people to go to the Olin Research Institute with him, including the accompanying doctor Renee.
Only a small number of people remained on the Rescue, such as Lu Chao who had not yet woken up.
When Yi Laizhe and others rushed to the research institute, it had been surrounded by the Olin military.
Everyone's attention was focused on the control center on the first floor. Yi Laizhe winked at Renee. Renee nodded and, while no one was paying attention, she turned towards the basement floor, carrying her medical kit.
Yi Laizhe came to the door of the control center. When Jiang Mu saw him, his eyes immediately turned red: "Uncle Yi Laizhe, can you find a way to save my father?"
After all, he is just a fifteen-year-old child. No matter how calm he is in normal times, he still needs to rely on adults and elders when encountering such things.
Yi Laizhe touched Jiang Mu's head and said, "Don't be afraid. We won't let anything happen to your father."
Morris, his face livid, pushed through the crowd and came to the door of the control center: "—Jiang Yun? Are you okay?"
After seeing the scene inside the control center clearly, Morris was stunned.
Jiang Yun was not as he imagined, with the gangster holding his shoulders with one hand and a gun against his temples with the other.
Jiang Yunduan sat in front of the console with his hands on his knees. There was not a single wrinkle on his suit or shirt. He was calm and composed as if he was attending a diplomatic meeting.
The gangster stood beside Jiang Yun, his lower back leaning against the console, his two long legs slanted on the floor, his waist bent in a careless arc.
If Jiang Yun's head had not been pointed at the back by the gun, and if the gangster had not had such a good figure but such an ordinary face, this picture of them together would have looked like a double family portrait.
The criminal glanced at Morris and then looked away, seemingly unwilling to waste time on him. "Instead of crowding at the door to watch the fun, why not go and persuade Ian Tang? If you agree to my conditions sooner, Foreign Minister Jiang will suffer less."
Morris: “……!”
The gangster pointed his gun provocatively at Jiang Yun's head. "These days, there are more and more Alphas who like to talk nonsense," the gangster said, leaning down behind Jiang Yun and chuckling. "Don't you agree, Foreign Minister Jiang?"
Jiang Yun glanced at the criminal and said nothing.
"What's going on now?" Outside the door, Yi Laizhe was harshly questioning Ian and the others, "Our Foreign Minister is being held at gunpoint, and all of you are just standing here waiting?"
Lance's gaze was fixed on Jiang Yun and the criminals, and his attitude was very firm: "The conditions offered by the criminals are too outrageous. We will never agree to them."
"Is that outrageous? He just wants you to lay down your weapons, clear a path, and prepare a car for him." Jiang Mu said in a voice that was not loud enough for everyone to hear, "Aren't these the conditions that every hostage-taker puts forward?"
"'Just'?" Ian suddenly turned and looked at Jiang Mu, his red eyes seemed to be able to see through the boy's mind, "You'd better figure out what these conditions mean."
Jiang Mu seemed to be frightened by Ian and shrank towards Yi Laizhe.
Yi Laizhe warned loudly: "Ian Tang!"
"I'm sorry, my tone was too harsh." Ian put on a guilty and annoyed look again, bent down facing Jiang Mu, and said gently, "But please believe me, I did this to better protect your father."
Cheng Chi had just resisted the urge to follow Lieutenant Colonel Morris to check on Foreign Minister Jiang, just so he could better join the fight now. "The criminals could strike at any moment. If we can't even guarantee Foreign Minister Jiang's immediate safety, what's the point of saying so much?"
Zhong Man said coldly: "We all know why Sir Ian did this."
Ian refused to give in to the criminals, seemingly because he cared about Foreign Minister Jiang's safety, but in fact it was only for his own benefit.
To this day, the sniper who blew up Wycliffe's head, the mastermind who stole Colonel Lu's body, and the culprit who caused the tragic deaths of eight mercenaries in the shantytown have not been apprehended.
Impeachment cases against Foreign Minister Ian within the Olin cabinet are mushrooming. If the case of Foreign Minister Jiang's hostage-taking is not resolved promptly and appropriately, Ian may lose Hiroshi Yamashiro's trust and influence forever.
"Can't you see? This criminal disguised as Bartley is most likely the one who stole Colonel Lu's body. With the experience of stealing the body last time, he dared to invade again with such brazenness." Eugene tried to unite Olin and the Alliance, and said smartly, "If you let him go now, on the Ice Wasteland Planet with its extremely backward infrastructure, you may never find Colonel Lu's body..."
Ian's expression suddenly changed, and he abruptly interrupted Eugene: "Shut up."
Ian reacted quickly, but was still a step too late.
A gleam flashed in Yi Laizhe's eyes, and he said in a resounding voice, "So you're telling me that with the power of the Olin military alone, it's impossible for you to find any criminal suspects on the Ice Wasteland Planet?"
Eugene was startled and stammered, "I, I didn't mean that."
Yi Laizhe didn't give the Austrian side any time to react. He continued, "As Diplomat Cheng said, whether on Ice Wasteland or any other planet, Foreign Minister Jiang's immediate safety is paramount. You just need to agree to the criminals' conditions and ensure they don't attack Foreign Minister Jiang now. As for how to apprehend the criminals in the future, I believe General Osvid, the commander-in-chief of our three CY6 battleships, will be willing to lend us a hand."
Ian was silent for a long time, then said slowly, "Perhaps I misunderstood, but why do I feel like you're asking me for the Alliance's right to station troops on the Ice Wasteland Planet, Mr. Yi Laizhe?"
"You have indeed misunderstood, Sir Ian." Yi Laizhe said calmly, "We just want to ensure that after Foreign Minister Jiang was taken away by the criminals today, he can return to the Rescue as quickly and safely as possible. If the Olin military can't do this, we can only rely on ourselves."
Ian's face was filled with a mold-like smile, but his eyes were cold. "Mr. Yi Laizhe is truly impressive. No wonder even Foreign Minister Jiang calls you 'Senior'."
"You're too kind, Mr. Ian." Yi Laizhe met Ian's gaze without flinching. "Everyone present must be well aware of how important Foreign Minister Jiang is to the Alliance. As long as his safety is guaranteed, even if it means sacrificing three CY6 warships and the entire Alliance Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we will spare no effort."
Five minutes later, a path was cleared from the control center to the institute's gate.
The Olin military was stationed on both sides of the road, each holding a weapon capable of killing the criminals with one blow.
But the only thing they could do was to silently salute the two people walking on the road one after the other.
In the distance, the Austrian snipers who had already taken their positions were concentrating, ready to pull the trigger at any time to end this confrontation that brought shame to the empire.
In the extremely clear sniper scope, they could see the Union Foreign Minister walking steadily forward with a gun pressed against his head, and they could also see the gangsters glancing at them from time to time, with vague counter-gazes.
The gangster seemed to have known their position for a long time. No matter which direction they fired from, there was always an insurmountable wall between their bullets and the target.
They can never find the right moment to strike.
No matter how many people there are, how sophisticated the equipment is, or how powerful the military force is, at this moment they all become gorgeous but useless waste.
At the end of the road, there was an anti-reconnaissance off-road vehicle that the criminals had specifically requested.
The gangster opened the car door and forced the Union Foreign Minister to sit in the passenger seat. Then, he turned around and put forward the fourth condition to the Austrian side.
"I'm a little hungry, could you please prepare something to eat for me?" the criminal said. "I like hot milk and small cakes, thank you."
——
The off-road vehicle drove towards the sparsely populated snowfield. To ensure its anti-reconnaissance capabilities, it was not equipped with any smart devices, not even the most basic intelligent driving functions.
Fortunately, even though Colonel Lu had been asleep for seventeen years, his driving skills were still sharp. Jiang Yun didn't have to worry about anything, so he could just sit in the passenger seat and eat cake with milk.
But, why milk and cake?
He is not still in school and has long lost interest in these things.
Lu Huai didn't seem to have much sense of the span of time, and always regarded his present self as the little Jiang Yun seventeen years ago. This was not a good thing.
Jiang Yun thought so, silently opened the cap of the milk bottle, and took a small sip.
Lu Huai glanced at Jiang Yun and asked, "Is it delicious?"
Jiang Yun remained noncommittal: "Where is Colonel Lu planning to take me?"
Lu Huai said absentmindedly, "I don't know. I don't have any plans. You want me to make some plans now?" Lu Huai didn't know if he was pretending or if he was really making a temporary plan. "The Alliance warships can't land on Ice Desolate Planet until tomorrow. It will take almost a day to stop the troops and reorganize, plus the repeated tugs of war between various forces. Let's stay at Major Gu and my base for two nights. The day after tomorrow, we'll let the Alliance find you and take you back, okay?"
Jiang Yun asked: "Where is your base?"
Lu Huai said: "In the shantytown, there are many people and a lot of different opinions, so it's actually safer."
Jiang Yun frowned: "How is the environment of the stronghold?"
"It's pretty good." Lu Huai thought for a moment, "It's only slightly worse than ours."
Jiang Yun was slightly startled: "'Our family'?"
"Yes, our house," Lu Huai said in a casual tone, "No. 5, Qianshui Road."
Jiang Yun was stunned, his expression blank for a moment: "Our house... is No. 5 Qianshui Road."
Lu Huai tilted his head to look at Jiang Yun and asked with a smile, "What's wrong with you? Have you forgotten number five on Qianshui Road?"
Jiang Yun narrowed his eyes slightly, quietly hiding the sudden surge of emotions, and said softly: "How is it possible."
He just rarely heard anyone other than himself mention this address, so he was a little uncomfortable with it for a while.
He had almost forgotten that there was someone who had almost identical memories of No. 5 Shallow Water Road.
Fortunately, he was already accustomed to that kind of sudden emotion.
It wasn't sadness, perhaps a slight regret, but as long as he didn't dwell on it too much, as long as he didn't let himself get lost in the past, this emotion wouldn't have a significant impact on his work and life.
So, what he needed to do now was to force himself to think about something else, just like before, and wait quietly for the subtle and indescribable emotions to dissipate on their own.
It's very simple.
Jiang Yun closed his eyes and was about to discuss the follow-up arrangements with Lu Huai when he suddenly felt a warm touch on his head.
Lu Huai drove the car with his eyes looking straight ahead, holding the steering wheel with one hand and the other hand gently placed on Jiang Yun's hair.
"You look beautiful today," Lu Huai said, "I love you."
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