Chapter 9 Chapter 5 Music Box

ONE The Capitol, a 45-year-old Russian-style building, stands a 100-foot bronze statue of the founding father of the Caucasus Democratic Republic.He pointed to the sky like a Roman god and carried a heavy assault rifle. In the early morning, it was cloudy and rainy. Lin stood at the huge glass window and looked out. This ancient city seemed to be shrouded in a veil. "Mr. Theodore Lin, we meet again." The door rang, and someone said behind him. Lin turned and saw first the wheelchair, then the old man with the drooping eyebrows.Sitting in a wheelchair, he raised the military cap in his hand to Lin.

"I'm very glad to see you back safely," the speaker turned the wheelchair and approached him, and stretched out his hand, "I don't believe in God like him, but if there is a god, please give Peng Borji the peace of mind. " Lin didn't move or show any expression.He looked straight into the speaker's eyes, "I think you are the real leader of the dove faction, so you are the one who was appointed to form the cabinet in the end. Even if Risong didn't die that day, it wouldn't be his turn." The wheelchair stopped slowly, and the distance between the two was several meters.The Speaker slowly put his hand back on the armrest.

"How did you find out?" The Speaker suddenly smiled. "You said something on the phone and I remember your voice, I remember anyone's voice I've ever heard." "I really didn't expect you to notice the distorted voice on the phone." The old man nodded, "Nathan Mann reminded me not to underestimate his best students." "Why do you want to protect the general?" Lin's voice was calm, without any ups and downs, "Or was it a scam from the beginning?" "At that time, he was still useful to us." The old man said slowly, "Before the referendum came out, Peng Borji was always a bargaining chip for us to ask the Western camp for a price. I want to give him more time. But in the end The result came out, and I had taken the absolute initiative. At this time, Peng Borji turned into a threat to me. Can I keep such a powerful person in my prison? Time to judge him It could take years, and if he is extradited to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, he may even have the chance to overturn the case - if the Western camp is not satisfied with my policies, it is not impossible for them to re-establish Peng Borji."

"You are a real politician." "Thank you for your understanding." The speaker raised the military cap in his hand, "Don't think that Peng Borji is a national hero and we are traitors who betrayed the interests of the Caucasus. It's just that Peng lives for his ideals, and we live for ours. fight for their own interests.” Lin stared straight into his eyes, and the old man didn't flinch. The whole room was silent, and the temperature seemed to drop suddenly. The bodyguard behind the old man pressed his hand on the handle of the gun in his suit. Lin took a step forward.

There was a uniform metallic sound, and all the bodyguards drew their guns at the same instant, some blocked the old man, and some squatted down to aim.They were well-trained personnel who knew when to be on high alert, and many of them felt their hearts racing for no apparent reason in the presence of this young man. The old man stopped them with a wave of his hand, "There is no need to do this, Mr. Lin will not do anything stupid. He has already understood our position, we are brothers in the same trench." "A brother in the same trench? I don't think so. I'm just a little tired and want to find a place to rest as soon as possible."

"But we are friends with the LMA, otherwise you wouldn't have been sent here. I got a call from Dr. Mann and he said that from that moment on, his best student, which is you, will protect me every step of the way. .” The old man smiled slightly. Lin silently looked at the ground. "You killed Na Risong and my son." After a while, the old man said softly. "Your... son?" Lin's body trembled slightly. The old man turned the wheelchair to the window and silently watched the overwhelming rain fall, "That Risong's mother was my classmate. When he was born, I was still studying for my degree at the Caucasus First Military Academy. That woman later Left me because I didn't want to marry her. I didn't meet him until Nassong was ten years old, but he knew my name. At that time I was the most prominent newcomer in the Caucasus political situation, just like Peng Borji later Nari Song worshiped me. When he was ten years old, his mother begged his uncle to send him to me before he died of illness. But I couldn’t adopt him. My wife is my ex’s daughter. I have a lot of pressure .”

"But I was determined to make him a man like his father, and Nari Song agreed to me. So I sent him to study in the United States so that he could receive the best education. I told him not to go back to the Caucasus easily. If he wants to come back , I have to wait until he is sure to make this country his own. And I later realized that I need him, I need someone who can absolutely trust me to hold some power in my place and stand in the foreground. I can't stand up against Peng Bao by myself Erji, I don't have his enthusiasm, and in a sense, I don't have his talent. Nari Song promised me again." He bowed his head and was silent for a while, "Originally when I won the election, he would go through some complicated The program is my son again."

"I didn't tell Na Risong that I had invited the LMA guest, which is you, I don't think he needs to know, and when he found you, he mistook you for the enemy and rushed to fight back. He is still too young." The old man murmured, "This is the only loophole in the whole plan. When I found out, it was too late." His figure was reflected in the huge glass window, and he reached out to stroke his gray hair on the sideburns, shaking his head slightly. He turned his head and looked at Lin, "Also, Mr. Lin, your estimate is wrong. That Risong has no right to sign the assassination order against Borji. Although he signed it forcibly, it will not take effect. You don't need to rush there To save Borji. To kill Borghi, I had to write the pen myself. Nari Song signed it for me. He had a premonition that the situation was critical, and he wanted to ensure 100% success. This child was just too impatient, probably because he could wait Is it too long?"

He sighed lowly, "He wants to absolve me of my guilt. He is a good son, but he doesn't understand that no one can forgive his father's guilt." "For your power and status, you sacrificed such an important thing, don't you feel sad?" Lin asked in a low voice after a long silence. "Sad?" The old man smiled lowly. There was no sadness in his laughter, but no joy either. He reached out, and in his hand was a mobile phone. Lin took it and opened it, putting it to his ear.The doctor's voice was as calm as ever: "What Mr. Speaker said is the resolution of the Supreme Council, please protect his safety."

The phone hung up without another word. "The rain has stopped, let's go." The old man turned the wheelchair and went to the door. "Today is my inauguration ceremony. Come with us, Mr. Theodore Lin." The bodyguards followed, and then Lin followed. TWO Kura Riverfront Road. The young man walked into a residential building humming a happy song.The road in front of the building was closed by a fence with a martial law sign, and he greeted the armed police beside the fence in a friendly manner.The policemen gave him a cold look from under their helmets, but said nothing.

There was no light in the dark corridor, the young man slowly climbed up to the 13th floor, went into the bathroom and locked the door behind his back.Then he briskly removed the iron window whose screws had already been loosened. The cold morning wind rushed in, and in the distance was the Capitol Building, which seemed to be shrouded in fog.He opened his travel bag, which contained metal fittings embedded in sponge foam.These accessories were combined one by one, and a strangely shaped sniper rifle was formed in his hands. He snapped the optical sight into the slot, and the towering building was reflected in it, and a marble statue of a warrior holding a flag stood in front of the door. The young man took a deep breath and inserted an earphone into his right ear hole.From the earphones came the high and low ringtones, ding ding dong dong, crisp and sweet, as if the wind was stirring the wind chimes far away. He looked at his watch, 6:30 in the morning. "It's a very windy morning." He carefully corrected his posture and muttered in a low voice. Lin walked out of the building, past the marble sculptures of warriors carrying victory banners, the cold morning wind blowing in his face.It had just rained, and the old man's wheelchair was splashed with very fine water, and the bodyguards surrounded him around him. Lin stopped for a step and looked up at the soldier who was about to plant the victory banner on the top of the mountain. He had been shot in the chest, and his expression was painful and determined.He thought of the battle to establish this country many years ago, thanked the artist for his persistent efforts, the roar of the soldiers and the red color of the flag were still vivid.But the glory ends here, and a new chapter will be opened today. There seemed to be subtle wind chimes in the wind, which made him feel like a piece of ice was frozen inside his mind. The head has been incorporated into the crosshair of the scope, and the muzzle of the gun pans very slowly following the wheelchair. The young man tried his best to control the muzzle of his gun. The muscles of his whole body were working like a precision machine tool. The gun seemed to move on a smooth track, and every ounce of strength was used just right.He was cautious, knowing that even the slightest movement, imperceptible to the naked eye, could shift the impact point by more than a meter at a distance of 3,000 meters. The figures of the bodyguards flickered.Most of the time, their black clothes occupy the field of vision, and a gray head occasionally flashes behind the black clothes. The young man turned his gaze, his watch was on the windowsill, it was 6:39:35 in the morning. The tinkling of small bells is peaceful and far away in his ears, sometimes it is chaotic and panicky, and it never stops. "Quicker, faster. Give me just one moment, just one moment!" The voice echoed in his mind. He couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. "Wind chime?" Lin's body trembled suddenly. Why are there wind chimes? His eyes moved quickly, and the last silver light caught his sight.It was about 100 meters away, and a small silver bell hung from the height of the utility pole, like a child's toy. The bell disappeared.The moment Lin found the bell, the wind stopped. A shiver ran through his spine like electricity. "Get down!" Lin growled. 6:40 in the morning. The low-orbit satellite Mercury slowly rises above the horizon.In the earphones, the music of the silver bell ended. The muzzle flash extinguished, and in an instant the bullet spun out of the muzzle.Time seemed to be slowed down dozens of times, and the shooter could even see the bullet leave the muzzle with his own eyes.At the same time as the launch was completed, he closed his eyes, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. "Theo, that's our difference." He stood up, without looking at the modified sniper rifle, quickly took off the fake beard on his upper lip, took off his coat and turned it over completely, his appearance was changed in an instant.He hurried out the door and closed the bathroom with a lock behind his back.He knew that this would buy him dozens of seconds. Even if the other party found the location of the shooting, they would at least need to break the lock to confirm. Lin stood there in a daze. He wanted to rush forward, knowing that the bullet from nowhere would take two seconds to reach.But he was stopped at the end by the bodyguards, and he had no chance at all. The speaker turned around in surprise.He was a well-trained soldier, but his legs had been mercilessly severed by shell splinters in a battle many years ago.He had no chance to look back, a bullet entered from the back of his head and passed out from the front of his forehead. Lin saw a huge splash of bright red splashing in front of his eyes.There seemed to be a miniature bomb hidden in the speaker's skull, and the flesh and blood on his entire face was shredded by the impact of the bullet and sprayed out.The bloody corpse shuddered convulsively in the wheelchair, lost control, jumped forward, and rolled far, far along the marble steps. The rain system was still working, and water washed over the marble steps, running down with blood. The bodyguards looked around blankly with their guns raised.Lin silently looked in the direction of the bullet, and in the distance beyond his sight, he knew that the back of a person was disappearing. The young man was reading a book on the departing bus when sirens wailed across the Kura Embankment.He was wearing a blue-gray woolen peaked cap and a simple hunting suit. He had an Asian face with sharp lines, and there seemed to be a little smile in his eyes. The carriage was empty, only him and the elderly driver. "It's so noisy! What else do they want? The police and soldiers are like robbers! Isn't it peaceful? What else do they want?" the old driver complained loudly. The young man smiled and continued to flip through the book, as if the distant noise didn't bother him at all. "It's rare these days to have children who read books. Are you a foreigner? What books do you read?" The old driver liked this guy. The young man turned the cover of the book over, and on it was written the title of the book - "My Motherland", the author is - Peng Borji. "The book is full of innocent dreams," the young man smiled, "but, it's so beautiful." THREE Deep in the Siberian red pine forest. Dr. Nathan Mann strode into the meeting room with a typed-out telegram in his hand. "The latest news from the Caucasus Republic is that the newly elected president was assassinated before forming a cabinet. So far no organization has declared responsibility for the assassination. It should be the mutated piece on our chessboard, which made another move." Dr. Put the telegram on the table. "Hell, it's been ahead of us every step of the way." Number 4's voice sounded excited. "What are these people trying to do? Push the world to the brink of war? The Caucasus is about to fall into chaos again. I really don't understand, what good will it do them for the East and West camps to shoot destructive weapons?" No. 7 said. All the lights in the conference room flickered. "Well! Nobody benefits from this situation. But don't ignore the power factor. We wield too much power and we will always be challenged from all sides. They don't necessarily want to push the hands of that clock To the end, but they must not be satisfied that this clock is in our hands. There has never been an absolute ruler in mythology. Odin has those giant enemies, and Ragnarok, Adam will also be tempted by snakes, Lu The Sifa will rebel against God. They are here for power." On the 13th, this increasingly chaotic discussion was terminated. "Agent No. 17 Theodore Lin returned from Mtskheta today. His mission has failed." No. 13 said indifferently. "That's not his responsibility," the doctor added. "We understand. With his current status, it is impossible for him to gain any trust in the Caucasus." No. 11 said. "Communicate with him well. His hesitation in the general's actions this time is worrying." No. 13 said in a low voice, "Man, we cultivate angels, but they may also be devils. You have read "Divine Comedy". I remember that before Lucifer fell to heaven, he was also the Vice-Prince of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord of glory like the morning star." "I understand the concerns of the Supreme Council, and I will stay awake." The doctor got up and gave a military salute. "Then we wouldn't know who leaked the news 11 years ago, even if it was Pen Borghi himself, he's dead." "Is it really necessary to ask who leaked the news now? Mistakes have been made." "But we have to give the foundation a full report." "Okay, Man, we finally decided to support your opinion. The entire file of the Fernance incident will be closed. There is no conclusion to this incident. We will set it the highest confidentiality level, and the confidentiality level will not be lowered for 75 years. I do not wish to discuss this matter between us any longer.” "How will the Foundation respond?" "The LMA and the Foundation, after all, are two interdependent departments. They can't do without us. There are always some chips that can be used for negotiation and delay." Thirteen sighed softly, "We will communicate about this matter." "Man, why are you laughing like that? Are you laughing at or despising us?" "No, I'm despising myself. I remember the Japanese guy who hit the starter and destroyed Fernance and said to me that he believed in LMA justice to his death, if he knew that our justice would be used in dirty Bargaining at the negotiating table, when he..." "Nathan Mann!" "Man, that's great." "very nice?" "Although you are old, you are not like us. You are still angry, which is great." The light on No. 13 slowly went out. LMA News roundup (29 November 2056): Delivered to: All members of the SCC Source: Public Media News Network CNN Reporter: Runas The latest news from the Democratic Republic of the Caucasus, with CNN's Henry Ford from Mtskheta. The general election in the Caucasus ended as scheduled. The day after the League of Peace and Democracy was successfully elected, the chairman of the alliance and the president of the Caucasus, Mr. Tengger, was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in front of the Capitol and died on the spot. The day before, when the Caucasus Secrecy Bureau arrested Peng Borji, the former leader of the Caucasus military government, he encountered armed resistance and a fierce gun battle broke out between the two sides.As a result, 29 people were killed and injured, and Peng Borji himself was killed by the shooting. This afternoon, the Caucasus Democratic Assembly held a temporary special meeting to discuss the selection of the new president.As of now, the meeting has not concluded and no information has been released publicly.It is believed that the bills that will be discussed together include the issue of the southern minority self-government, the garrison of Western coalition forces and the lease of strategic missile bases. Today, the street situation in Mtskheta is chaotic. People supporting Peng Borji spontaneously marched, and there was a violent confrontation with supporters of the Democratic Peace Alliance. 53 people were killed and injured on the spot. The number of casualties has not yet been counted. FOUR Lin pushed the rook on the board to the bottom line.A white bubble-shaped plastic hand was placed across the table, like the hand of a character in a cartoon, huge and cute, and it also moved a chess piece. "I know I will lose if this continues." Lin stared at the board thinking. "It's not like that. I've limited my upper limit of chess strength, and I'll occasionally make a few mistakes. When I practice with you, I'm just a young chess player." Lunas' voice was amplified from that hand out from the device. "That's what you did on purpose." "It is true, but I have already said that chess is a game that has no suspense for me." "Lunas, would you like to change the game?" Lin suddenly said. "Happy to help, Theo." The big hand waved, like a nod. "How many data can you monitor at the same time?" "Not necessarily, maybe at the level of tens of billions, depending on your definition of the concept of 'data'." "How many data do you think there are in this room, will it be tens of billions?" "Not so much. I can monitor most of the variables in this room and speculate on the greatest possibility." "Well, I have an apple here, do you think I will eat it, or not?" Lin stretched out his hand, holding an apple in his palm. Runas laughed, "You gave me a problem, Theo, what I can't monitor is the thinking of a single individual. That is, I can't judge a person's independent thinking, but I can judge the thinking of a group. The final direction. This is like the molecules in a bottle of air doing random Brownian motion, but the sum of their velocity vectors is still zero. But I am willing to bet you that you will not eat this apple, you will Pass it to someone." "Oh?" Lin was taken aback for a moment. The door was opened suddenly, and Irina was wearing an apron with a knife in one hand. She called out to Lin, "Hey, Theo, give me that apple in your hand, I'm going to make a salad." "Oh, is this... used for salad?" Lin was caught off guard. "Of course it's for salad. I picked it specially. No one asked you to take it and eat it yourself. If you want to eat apples, you can get them in the refrigerator!" Lin was silent for a moment, and handed the apple over. "It's almost time for dinner, haven't you finished playing chess with that funny big hand?" Irina stroked his hair. "I seem to have lost." Lin dodged her hand. "Hurry up, the party is about to start, it's to celebrate your successful return from the Caucasus, don't be the guest of honor and play chess inside!" The door closed, and the big hands made a "V" for victory. "You won." Lin smiled, "Sometimes you are such a funny computer." "No, I don't count as winning. I actually can't guess your next judgment. If I guess you will eat it, you may not eat it, and vice versa. If you want to decide to let my calculation fail, I am There is no way." Lunas's voice was brisk, "It was just a trick just now, I know today's recipe, and I also know that our beautiful 'Phoenix' is going to make apple salad. And there is only one apple in the whole room, I picked it up from the outside Irina was seen on the monitor walking towards this side with a fruit-cutting knife, so it's not hard to guess." "That's right." Lin nodded. "I also know why you want to play this game with me. You start to doubt my judgment. I judged that the civilization of the Caucasus has no future. It is destined to be a victim in the strangulation of the Eastern and Western camps. The Supreme Council adopted my judgment. Decided to drop Pen Borji, who everyone knows is your pastor, whom you call your father." Lin nodded silently. "But such doubts are unnecessary. The Borgi of today is like the Caesar of years ago. Caesar, because of his irresistible power and wearing the purple robe that only the emperor can wear, is suspected by the Senate of destroying Roman democracy. , so they killed him. As for whether Caesar really wanted to become the emperor of Italy, we can no longer verify it today. But with the huge power he holds, he will become a person wrapped in the torrent of history, There are not many opportunities for choice. In order to maintain his status, he may have to become emperor, even if he doesn't want to. The Senate is not a bunch of mediocrities. If Caesar does not die under the knife of Brutus, he has a great advantage May become the Dikvedo of Rome!" Lunas's voice became sharp, "Pen Borgi can choose his own death, but he can no longer choose the future of the Caucasus!" "I..." Lin pushed the chessboard away, "I'm a little confused." "People can't fight against the trend of history, this is fate. You probably feel relieved because the killer killed the speaker. At least he changed the history of the Caucasus instead of you. What you hope in your heart is someone like Borji To establish a heroic republic. However, there is a document typed out this morning in the drawer behind you, and you may as well pull it out and read it." Lin opened the drawer, and there lay a piece of paper with only one line of writing on it.He glanced at it, trembling all over. "This is my prediction the night before the assassination. After Pen Borghi's death, there is a good chance that our adversaries will take the assassination of the newly elected president to disrupt the situation. The best time is before the inauguration. The best way is to kill from a distance," Lunas said. Lin was silent. "When the dovish leaders are killed by unknown causes, the doves in the Caucasus will be in chaos in the short term. The new ruling party in the referendum will fall apart, and the leaders of various factions will quarrel over different political interests, It is very likely that they will announce a split and establish a new party, and the hawks—followers of General Peng Borji—will get a chance to counterattack.” Lunas continued, “But the outcome will not change, very soon The efforts of the Fast Hawks will be hindered by the further hardening of the attitude of the Western Allied Forces. When the Doves find that their chaos is only creating opportunities for the Hawks, they will first concentrate on getting rid of the core figures of the Hawks. The biggest It may be political prison and assassination, I guess the first batch of assassination lists have already begun to be drafted." "You have already expected..." Lin took a deep breath, as if he was exhausted. "Theo," Lunas said in a slow tone, "don't doubt, and don't be bothered by thinking about the course of history. No one can decide the future, neither can Peng Borji, nor can you." "It's better to resist than to accept, right?" "Although it is a desperate answer, I still want to tell you that it is so." Lin slowly sat back in the chair and didn't say a word for a long time. "In addition, regarding the opponent's killer. The scope of the martial law is a circular area with a diameter of about 5 kilometers. He fired the gun outside the martial law area. The straight-line distance from the shooting location to the Capitol is 3016? 24 meters, which is How many people in the world can do this with an ultra-long-range sniper kill?" Lin raised his eyes and looked at the big cute cartoon hand. He felt the pressure from that hand, which made him unable to breathe. "Small metal bells were found at the scene, and one was placed every 50 to 100 meters on the expected ballistic trajectory. The pitch of each small bell was different, and the tiny transmitter transmitted their sound to an earphone. The shooter can judge the strength of the ballistic stroke by listening to these sounds, provided that he can monitor dozens of bells with different pitches at the same time. The most perfect moment of shooting, all the bells stop, and the flow of air also temporarily stops So those unstable warheads that would roll over with the flow of the wind suddenly became extremely reliable enough to travel 3,000 meters while maintaining their trajectory and hit in one hit." "Ultra-long-range shooting at a distance of 3,000 meters, 'Long Knife Tactics'; using bells to monitor the wind direction, 'Music Box'. Are you familiar with these two terms? They are both created by the academy. There are several people in the world who have received such training. ?” "What a perfect and precise moment, 6:40, Mercury rises from the horizon and will be able to monitor Mtskheta. And just before that, he did it, so I didn't capture any information from him at all. The bullet passed through the gap in the human wall composed of 26 agents and security guards, hit the target, and was fatal in one blow. I guess that is the only gap, and there is still someone in this world who can catch it, except you, Lin, who else can catch it. There's maybe a 1/20th chance of staying there? We know who's coming back, and so do you." Lin sat dumbly, cold sweat covered his forehead. "The changer also has a traceable trajectory of fate, but it has not been included in our chessboard. He thought he changed our blueprint, but in fact he himself has been marked on our blueprint." Lunas said The sound was as loud as metal. There was a long silence.Lin bent down and propped his elbows on his knees, as if unable to bear the weight of his body. "Lin, I know you don't want to betray the academy, but you can't accept submitting to a future where everything is designed," Runas said softly, "but you don't want to see the future, but it's already there." "Lunas, why can't human beings design their own future, but you can calculate it?" Lin raised his head. "Because humans are afraid. You used to be obsessed with astrology like you were obsessed with witchcraft, hoping to perceive the future. But they often only rejoice because of good predictions, and completely ignore bad predictions. But the Chinese have long been In ancient times, it was said that the way of heaven is permanent, neither exists for Yao nor perishes for Jie. Only a fair predictor can approach the land of God and penetrate chaos to make predictions. It is impossible for human beings, because you are afraid, but for me, all these It's just a math problem, there's no such thing as a good ending or a bad ending." "Irina's salad is ready." The door opened automatically, and Lunas whispered, "Theo, forget about this, try the delicious food, and seize the moment."