Battle Center (2)

 From everyone's faces, Ivan read a sentence: We have tried our best, let's get it over with!

  When Ivan saw Captain Alex, he changed from yesterday's rudeness and greeted Ivan, but the silly smile on his face made Ivan unhappy. He didn't want to sit next to Captain Alex, but there was only one empty seat, so he had to sit there. The already strong smell of smoke in the room became even stronger.

  When handing out documents, Captain Alex approached Ivan and said, "Professor Ivan, you seem to be researching something... new materials?"

  "Strong interaction force, we have founded nano technology." Ivan answered simply.

  "I've heard that that thing is very strong, so it won't be used in crimes, right?" From Captain Alex's half-ridiculous expression, Ivan couldn't tell whether he was joking.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Oh, I heard that that thing can slice a big truck with a hair's thickness. If a criminal steals some to make a knife, he can cut a car in two with one blow and rob money trucks on the road."

  "Hmph, there is no need to make it into a knife. Use that material to make a thread that is only one hundredth percent of the thickness of a human hair. If you stop it on the road, you can cut the passing cars in half like cutting cheese...what can't be used? For committing a crime? A knife can be used to cut down the Eiffel Tower! Just like how fish scales can be used to chop organs"

  Captain Alex took half of the documents in front of him out of the bag and stuffed them back, obviously losing interest. "You're right, fish can commit crimes! I worked on a murder case, and a woman cut off her husband's, nephew, son, and father's manhood. Do you know what was used? Frozen Arapaima in the refrigerator! The fish was frozen hard for an entire month. After that, the row of thorns on the back was like a sharp knife..."

Alex made a chopping motion in front of his pelvis.

  "I'm not interested. Is this why you asked me to come to the meeting?"

  "Fish? Strong Interaction Force? No, no, it has nothing to do with that. ." Captain Alex put his mouth to Ivan's ear.

 "Don't give these guys good information, they discriminate against us, they just want to get information from us, but they don't tell us anything. Like me, I have been hanging around here for more than a year, I still know nothing like you."

  "Everyone, the meeting begins." General Nguyen said, "In all battle centers around the world, our place is now the focus. First, let me introduce the current situation to our allies present. "

  The unusual term "battle center" confused Ivan. He also noticed that the general did not seem to intend to introduce the ins and outs to a newcomer like him, which confirmed Captain Alex's words. In General Nguyen's brief opening remarks, he mentioned "comrades" and "allies". 

Ivan looked at the two NATO soldiers and other two officers from China and Russia opposite to him and felt that the general seemed to have missed "gentlemen."

  "They are also allies, that's what everyone here calls them anyway, part of so-called united nations" Captain Alex said to Ivan in a low voice, while pointing at the four foreigners with the cigarette in his hand.

  While confused, Ivan was somewhat impressed by Captain Alex's observation skills.

  "Captain, put out your cigarette. The smell of smoke here is strong enough." Nguyen said, lowering his head and flipping through the documents.

  Captain Alex took the newly lit cigarette and looked around. He couldn't find the ashtray, so he threw it into the tea cup with a "squeak". He seized this opportunity and raised his hand to ask for a speech. Before Nguyen could express his position, he said loudly: "Chief, I have a request that I have made before - equality of information!"

  General Nguyen raised his head, "No! Military operations are based on information reciprocity. I also ask the experts and scholars present to understand that we cannot introduce more background information to you." "

  But we are different." Captain Alex said, "The police were established from the operations center. We, the civilians, have been participating since the beginning, but until now, we don't even know what this organization does. Moreover, you are squeezing the police out. You are familiar with our work step by step, and then drive us away one by one."

  Participants at the meeting Several other police officers whispered to stop Captain Alex. Ivan was a little surprised that Captain Alex dared to speak like this to a leader of Nguyen's level, and the latter's counterattack was even sharper.

  "I'm talking to you, Captain. It seems that your old habits in the army have not changed yet. Can you represent the police? You have been suspended for several months because of your bad behavior and will soon be removed from the public security force. I transferred you here because I value your experience in urban policing. You must cherish this opportunity."

  Captain said in a deep voice: "Then I have done meritorious service for my crime? Don't you think those are all crooked experiences? 

"But it's useful." Nguyen nodded to Captain Alex, "As long as it's useful, I don't care about that much now. This is war time."

  "I can't care about anything anymore," a CIA intelligence officer on the right side of General Nguyen said in a standard way, "We can no longer use conventional thinking."

  The British Field Marshal obviously also understood what he meant. He nodded, "To be or not to be..."

  "What did he say?" Captain Alex asked Ivan.

  "Nothing." Ivan replied mechanically. These people seem to be talking in their sleep. War time? Where is the war? He turned to look at the floor-to-ceiling windows in the hall. Through the windows, he could see the city outside the compound in the distance: under the spring sunshine, the streets were full of traffic; people were walking dogs on the sidewalk, and several children were playing, running around near the war museum.

  Which one is more real to him, the outside world or what's happening here now?

  General Nguyen said: "Recently, the enemy's attacks have obviously intensified, and the target is still high-level officials in the scientific community. Please take a look at the list of names in the document first."

  Ivan pulled out the top piece of paper in the document and spoke with a large Printed in large font, the list was obviously drawn up hastily, with both Chinese and English names included.

  "Professor Ivan, what's your impression when you see this list?" Nguyen looked at Ivan and asked.

  "I know that three of them are famous scholars at the forefront of physics." Ivan replied, a little absent-mindedly. His eyes were fixed on the last name. In his subconscious, the colors of those words were the same as those of the famous scholars. The lines above are different. Why do you see her name here? What's up with her?

  "Do you know her?" Captain asked, pointing to the name on the document with a thick finger yellowed by smoke. Seeing that Ivan didn't respond, he responded quickly and said, "Oh, I don't know her very well. Do you want to meet and hook up?"

  Now, Ivan knew that it made sense for Nguyen to transfer his former soldier, this guy with a vulgar appearance, eyes like a warrior. He may not be a good cop, but he is certainly a ruthless character who gets the job done.

  That was a few years ago, and Ivan was the person in charge of the nano component part of the "Waxahachie" Top-Secret accelerator super collider project. That afternoon at the construction site in Texa, during a short break, he was suddenly attracted by a composition in front of him. As a landscape photography enthusiast, realistic scenes often form artistic compositions in his eyes. The main body of the composition is the superconducting coil they are installing. The coil is three stories high and halfway installed. It looks like a monster composed of a huge metal block and a mess of ultra-low-temperature refrigerant pipes, like a pile of large-scale industrial era. The rubbish shows the coldness of inhuman technology and the brutality of steel. Just in front of the giant metal monster, the slender figure of a young woman appeared. The light distribution in this composition is also amazing: the metal monster is submerged in the shadow of the temporary construction ceiling, which reveals its cold and rough texture; and a beam of golden light from the sunset shines right on the figure through the hole in the ceiling. The soft warm light shines on her silky hair, and on the white neck on the collar of the overalls, it looks like a delicate flower blooming on the huge metal ruins after a violent thunderstorm...