Chapter 37 Chapter Thirty-Six

Swiss Guard Battalion. Standing in the doorway, Langdon surveyed the scene before them, where things from different ages had gathered.Mix art effect.It is a renaissance-style lavishly decorated library, with built-in bookcases, oriental rugs, colorful tapestries... However, the room is also equipped with high-tech equipment-rows of computers, faxes, etc. TVs, and an electronic map of the Vatican City, and all the TVs were tuned to CNN.The man in colorful breeches tapped on the computer keyboard quickly, listening intently with an extremely advanced receiver on his head. "Wait here," said the guard.

Langdon and Victoria waited while the guard walked across the room to a tall, thin figure in a dark blue military uniform.The man was talking on his mobile phone, and he was standing upright, almost leaning back.The guard said something to him, and he gave Langdon and Victoria a quick glance, nodded, and turned back to the phone again. The guard came back and said to them: "Commander Olivetti will be here in a moment." "thanks." The guard left and walked up the stairs the same way. Langdon watched Commander Olivetti carefully across the room, realizing that this man was in fact the Commander-in-Chief of the country's armed forces.Victoria and Langdon waited, watching what was in front of them.The brightly-dressed guards were busy, shouting instructions in Italian.

"Keep looking!" a soldier yelled into the phone. "Will it be in a museum?" asked another. Langdon didn't need to be very good at Italian to understand that the security center was urgently searching for something.That's good news, but the bad news is that apparently they haven't found antimatter yet. "Are you okay?" Langdon asked Victoria. She shrugged and smiled wearily. The commander finally hung up the phone and walked towards the other side of the room. Every step he took seemed to grow a little taller.Langdon himself was tall and was not used to looking up, but facing Commander Olivetti it seemed necessary.Commander Olivetti walked up to them. Langdon immediately recognized that the commander was a man who had weathered the storm. Fortitude comes only after years of rigorous training.He walked briskly, and the earplug carefully tucked behind one ear made him look less like a Swiss guard than from the Secret Service of the U.S. Treasury Department.

The commander greeted them in English, with a heavy accent.For his size, he spoke in an unbelievably soft voice, almost whispering, but earnestly. "Good afternoon," he said, "I'm Commander Olivetti, the commander-in-chief of the Swiss Guards. I'm calling your chief." Victoria looked up at him. "Thank you for hosting us, sir." The commander was silent.He motioned for them to follow, leading them through a mass of electronic equipment to a door at the side of the room. "Come in," he said, holding the door for them. Langdon and Victoria went inside and found that it was a dark control room, one wall was covered with monitors, and the black and white images of the entire city were slowly switching on the screen.A young guard sits looking intently at the image above.

"Get out," said Olivetti. The guard got up and left. Olivetti walked up to one of the screens and pointed at the image. He turned to his guest and said: "This image was taken by a remote camera somewhere in Vatican City. I want to know what's going on. " Langdon and Victoria gasped in unison.There is absolutely nothing wrong with this image.True.This is the antimatter storage of CERN.Inside the storage tank, a shiny liquid droplet was suspended in the air, giving off a rather ominous feeling. The numbers on the electronic display flashed rhythmically, illuminating the small droplet.The strange thing is that the surroundings of this storage are almost pitch black, as if in a closet or a dark room.On the top of the monitor, several words overlaid on the image kept flashing: Real-time video recording—Camera No. 86.

The pointer on the memory kept flickering, and Victoria looked at the remaining time displayed on it. "It's been less than six hours," she whispered to Langdon with her face tensed. Langdon checked his watch. "Then we can last until..." He suddenly paused, feeling his heart twitch. "Twelve o'clock in the middle of the night," Victoria said, giving him a threatening look. At twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, Langdon thought, genius.Obviously, the person who stole this storage device last night had timed it right.Langdon shuddered at the realization that he was now sitting on the hypocentre projection point.

Olivetti's soft words now sounded more like shrieks. "Is this thing yours?" Victoria nodded. "Yes, sir. Someone stole it from us. There's a very flammable thing called antimatter in it." Olivetti seemed unmoved. "Ms. Wittler, I've seen a lot of incendiary bombs, but I've never heard of antimatter." "This is new technology. We need to find out where it is immediately or we will have to evacuate the Vatican City." Olivetti blinked slowly, as if such a new look at Victoria would change what he had just heard. "Evacuate? Do you know what's going on here tonight?"

"I know, sir. I also know that your cardinals are at stake. We have about six hours. How is your search for this cache going?" Olivetti shook his head and said, "We haven't started looking yet." Victoria almost held her breath. "What? But we can hear clearly, your guards are talking about searching..." "Search, yes," Olivetti said, "but not your storage. Our people are looking for something else, not your business." Victoria screamed, "You haven't even started yet?" Olivetti's eyeballs seemed to be retracted into his head, and he said deadpan, "What's the matter, Ms. Wittler? Let me explain. Your director won't tell me something about this thing on the phone." Details, just that I need to find this thing right away. We're too busy to spare manpower to deal with it unless you give me some information."

"There's only one important thing now, sir," Victoria said, "and that's that in six hours, that thing will wipe out the whole of Vatican City." Olivetti stood there without moving. "Ms. Wittler, there are some things you need to know," he said condescendingly. "Although the Vatican City looks old, every entrance, whether public or private, is equipped with State-of-the-art sensors. Whoever comes in with flammables, no matter what kind of flammables, will be detected immediately. We have radioisotope scanners designed by the US Drug Administration, olfactory filters, which can detect The faintest chemical signatures in flammables and toxins. We also use the most advanced metal detectors and X-ray scanners in the world."

"Really powerful," said Vittoria, her voice as icy as Olivetti's. "Unfortunately, antimatter is not radioactive, it has the same chemical signature as pure hydrogen, and this reservoir is plastic. None of these instruments can detect it." "But this thing has a power supply," Olivetti said, pointing to the flickering electronic display. "Even the faintest nickel-cadmium battery will be detected—" "These batteries are also plastic." Olivetti gradually lost his patience. "Plastic batteries?" "Plastic Batteries with Polymer Electrolytes."

Olivetti leaned toward her, as if to show his height. "Ma'am, the Vatican has been the target of many bombings. I have personally trained every Swiss guard and taught them modern demolition techniques. I know very well that nothing in the world is as powerful as you say, unless you say A nuclear warhead the size of a baseball." Victoria glared at him. "There are many mysteries in nature that have yet to be solved." Olivetti moved closer to her. "May I ask you a question, who are you? What is your role in 'European Nuclear Center'?" "I am a senior researcher and have been sent to work with the Holy See on this crisis." "Forgive me for being reckless, but if there is a real crisis here, why do I have to work with you instead of your boss? Also, you came to the Vatican in shorts, disrespectful, what do you care about?" Langdon snorted.He couldn't believe it, this guy was still thinking about the clothes at this time.But then it occurred to him that if a stone phallus could conjure up pornographic associations among the people of the Vatican, then Victoria in shorts was, of course, a threat to national security. "Commander Olivetti," Langdon interjected, wanting to ease the tension before another bomb was about to go off, "My name is Robert Langdon, a professor of religious studies from the United States. 'CERN' has nothing to do with it. I've seen a demonstration of an antimatter explosion, and I can assure you that Ms. Wittler's statement is true. That thing is indeed dangerous and unusual. And we have reason to believe that it was killed by an anti-religious organization placed in your country, they attempted to sabotage your secret meeting." Olivetti turned his face and stared at Langdon intently, and said, "A woman in shorts told me that a small drop of water was about to blow up the Vatican City, and an American professor told me that we were attacked by some anti-religious organization. target. What exactly do you want me to do?" "Find the storage," Victoria said. "Go find it now." "Impossible. It can be placed anywhere, and it's as big as Vatican City." "Aren't your cameras equipped with GPS?" "These things are generally not stolen. It will take a few days to find this camera." "We don't have a few days," said Victoria persistently. "We only have six hours." "So what in six hours, Ms. Wittler?" Oliverti suddenly raised his voice, pointing to the image on the screen and said, "The countdown is over? The Vatican City disappeared without a trace? Listen to me." , I don't feel good about people breaking down my security system, and I don't like these mechanical devices that appear in my jurisdiction out of nowhere. I do have a headache, and it's my job, but I can't accept what you are saying here .” Langdon didn't wait for him to finish before he said, "Have you heard of the Illuminati?" The indifferent commander was about to explode.His eyes were red with anxiety, like a shark about to attack. "I warn you, I don't have time to talk to you about this." "So you've heard of the Illuminati?" Hearing Langdon's words, Olivetti cast his gaze over like a sharp bayonet. "I swear to the death for Catholicism, and of course I've heard of the Illuminati. They perished decades ago." Langdon pulled the branded faxed picture of Leonardo Witterer's body from his pocket and handed it to Olivetti. "I'm an expert on the Illuminati." When Olivetti examined the pictures carefully, Langdon said, "It's also hard for me to believe that the Illuminati are still active in the world. However, this brand combined with the Illuminati's famous anti-Vatican The facts have changed my opinion.” "Computer generated, it's just a prank." Olivetti returned the fax to Langdon. Langdon's eyes widened, and he couldn't believe his ears. "Prank? Look at how symmetrical this figure is! All of you should know the truth of this..." "The one who doesn't know the truth is you. Maybe Ms. Wittler didn't tell you that scientists at CERN have in fact denounced Vatican policy for decades. They've often begged us to drop creationism and ask Galileo and Columbia Bernie's official apology, and let's stop condemning dangerous or immoral research. Which do you think is more likely - a 400-year-old cult with advanced weapons of mass destruction A reappearance, or is it a prank by someone at CERN, who set up a clever trap to destroy a sacrament in the Vatican?" "The man in that picture," Victoria blurted out, like a volcanic eruption, "is my father. He was killed. Do you think I'm going to joke about that?" "I don't know, Ms. Witterer. I just know that I won't issue any alarms until I have a reasonable answer. I must remain vigilant and proceed with caution...a clear head is required to ensure that the sacrament is held here .Today was extraordinary." Langdon said, "At least the meeting must be postponed." "Postponed?" Olivetti was speechless in surprise, "You are too crazy! A secret meeting is not like an American baseball game, which can be canceled after a few drops of rain. This is a sacred event, following strict rituals and procedures Well, a billion Catholics all over the world are waiting for the birth of a new chief, and the media of the world are out there. The codes governing this event are sacred—no changes. Since 1179, Whether there is an earthquake, a famine, or even a plague, the conclave goes on as scheduled. Listen to me, this meeting will never be canceled because of a murdered scientist and a drop of God-knows-what." "I want to see the person in charge." Victoria demanded sharply. Olivetti glared: "You have seen it." "No," she said, "I want to meet the church." The veins on Olivetti's forehead popped out. "They're all gone. Apart from the Swiss Guard, the only ones left in Vatican City at this time are the Cardinals, and they're in the Sistine Chapel." "Is the valet there?" Langdon asked bluntly. "Who?" "The previous Pope's chamberlain." Langdon repeated the word confidently, secretly praying that his memory would help.He remembered an article he had read about the bizarre actions taken by the Vatican after the death of a pope.If Langdon remembers correctly, during the transition period between the old and new popes, all powers will be temporarily and automatically transferred to the personal assistant of the previous pope - his position is similar to that of a secretary. He will monitor the progress of the secret meeting until the cardinal elects a new pope. "I think the servant is the person in charge now." "The Pope's chamberlain?" Olivetti said angrily. "The Pope's chamberlain is just a priest here. He was a servant of the previous pope." "But he's here now, and you spoke to him." Olivetti crossed his arms and said: "Mr. Langdon, you are right. The Vatican decree did designate the Pope's servant to serve as the chief executive during the conclave, but that was only because he was not qualified to be the pope. Impartiality. It's like your president is dead and one of his aides is temporarily sitting in his seat. The pope's chamberlain is still young and has a fairly limited knowledge of security or whatnot. I'm actually in charge here. " "Take us to him," Victoria said. "Impossible. The Conclave starts in forty minutes. The Pope's chamberlain is making preparations in the Pope's office. I don't want to bother him with security." Victoria was about to respond, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.Olivetti opened the door. A well-dressed guard stood outside, pointing to his watch and saying, "It's time, Commander." Olivetti looked at his watch and nodded.He turned to Langdon and Victoria, like a judge ruling their fate. "Follow me." He led them out of the surveillance room, through the security center, and to the door of a small bright room by the back wall. "This is my office." Olivetti waved them in.The room was basic—an untidy desk, filing cabinets, folding chairs, and a water cooler. "I'll go out and be back in ten minutes. I suggest you use this time to think about what you're going to do." Victoria turned around suddenly and shouted: "You can't go, that storage..." "I don't have time to tell you this," Olivetti said furiously. "Maybe I should detain you until the conclave is over and I really have time." "Sir," the guard urged him, pointing to his watch again, "search the church." Olivetti nodded, ready to go. "Search the church?" Victoria asked. "Are you going to search the church?" Olivetti turned to stare at her. "We're searching for electronic bugs, Ms. Wittler—be careful," he said, pointing to her thigh. "There are some things I don't expect you to understand." After finishing speaking, he slammed the door and went out, rattling the thick glass. Immediately after, he took out another key and inserted it into the lock hole, twisted it, and locked the door firmly. "Fool!" cried Victoria. "You can't keep us here!" Through the glass door, Langdon saw Olivetti talking to the guard, who nodded.Olivetti strode out of the room, and the guard turned and ran over, facing them through the glass door, standing with arms folded, the sidearms on his waist clearly visible. Good, Langdon thought.It was wonderful.