The ultimate blue sea

Chapter 80

The top floor of the RZ Unit was an infrequently used activity space. It had been a very long time since anyone had been there. As soon as you opened the door, you could smell the dust inside. The arched ceiling hung high above, and at your feet was a scarlet carpet that was soft to step on. You could walk on it in silence. All around were enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. The somewhat old-fashioned pale gold curtains fluttered noisily in the wind blown in at this high altitude.

When Hu Bugui walked in, General Xiong had his back to him, standing in front of an open window and looking out. He had no bodyguards with him.

"Close the door," General Xiong said.

Hu Bugui subconsciously raised his head to look at the surveillance camera in a corner of the hall. General Xiong didn't look back, but as if he had seen his movement, he quietly said, "It's already off. Relax."

"It's already off" was precisely what meant Hu Bugui couldn't relax. He thought, what did General Xiong have to say that he couldn't say in the conference room or his office but had to come here for?

General Xiong turned his head and beckoned to him. "Come here and look."

Look at what?

Hu Bugui followed his gaze—the RZ Unit headquarters was at a certain distance from the city center. Its elevation was very high, and the place where they were standing was practically the tallest building around. Looking into the distance, the city, the roads, and the overpasses appeared in a nearly panoramic view.

It was drawing near to twilight. The sun had already sunk below the horizon. The city lights were beginning to light up bit by bit.

In heaven and on earth, all the colors faded, leaving only man-made lights.

Hu Bugui glanced a little suspiciously at General Xiong. "General, what's wrong?"

"Sometimes, when you look out like this, you find that there is nothing in the world that can't happen," General Xiong said irrelevantly. "One man can at most lift something weighing a few hundred pounds and run a few dozen kilometers. He can't live much more than a hundred years eating all the crops of the world. Looking from this far away, even an ant seems larger than a man."

The old general leaned against the railing, narrowing his eyes, pointing towards the distant city. "But, look, that's all man-made. We all live like this, day after day. At a glance, decades and centuries all pass in the same way. There are so many people in the world, so many powers that are so mysterious that you can't even imagine them. You think that there can't be any hiccups."

Hu Bugui didn't know why General Xiong suddenly tilted his head forty-five degrees up to look at the sky. He thought, Could it be that he's feeling the melancholy of old age?

General Xiong was silent for a long moment, then lowered his head, seeming to finally come around. He looked at him and asked, "How is it now?"

"Each country and each region has established a link. All scientistic research institutions that can be utilized are being urgently brought in. Currently there are no places reporting continued explosions, but we still have no hold on the 'sleeping sickness.'" Hu Bugui paused. "According to internal data, the number of people diagnosed worldwide has exceeded five-hundred cases. Our country currently has ninety-something cases. The patients are basically concentrated near Z City. With Z City as the center, it radiates out a hundred twenty kilometers, still expanding outwards."

General Xiong made no comment when he had heard this. He nodded. After a moment, he asked, "And the public opinion aspect?"

Hu Bugui said, "It hasn't gone out of control yet. Martial law has temporarily been imposed in Z City. They've announced that this is a highly infectious flu. The death toll and the true number of diagnosed individuals haven't leaked out."