NOVEL NEXT c57 - Losing Control
When the Lady Empress and her party arrived at the disaster area, it was nearly evening.
This time wasn’t suitable for visiting the centralized resettlement point to comfort the victims.
So Gu Junwan led her people to stay at a simple guesthouse arranged in advance.
While most staff members began to rest, the Lady Empress was still diligently reviewing documents about this area.
Around 11 PM, the guard team began their shift rotation.
Shen Han brought Ma Haoyu to the door of the Lady Empress’s room.
This guesthouse had only three floors and was rather basic.
Though the walls had been cleaned thoroughly in advance, a distinct musty smell could still be detected if one got close.
The entire third floor became the Lady Empress’s temporary living quarters and office.
Except for her special assistant Xu Zhao, everyone entering the third floor needed identity verification.
Even guard team members needed to exchange passwords during shift changes.
Ma Haoyu glanced at the four comrades at both ends of the corridor.
Then he secretly whispered to Shen Han beside him, “Boss, if your relationship becomes public, in this situation, could you openly go into the room to guard her?”
Shen Han stood ramrod straight, facing forward without moving.
But her voice squeezed out lightly from her lips: “Don’t worry about these unnecessary things. Our task is to stand guard well each shift, protecting someone doesn’t mean always staying by their side.”
Hearing this, Ma Haoyu immediately felt deep respect.
Just then, the door behind them suddenly opened.
Xu Zhao came out: “Captain Shen, Her Majesty has something to discuss with you.”
Hearing this, Shen Han’s eyebrows raised slightly, and she immediately turned around properly yet gracefully, following Special Assistant Xu into the room.
Ma Haoyu: “……”
Seeing Gu Junwan sitting on the sofa waiting for her, Shen Han felt quite embarrassed.
After all, one second she was putting on airs in front of Ma Haoyu, and the next she was gleefully entering the room.
Her facade crumbled too quickly, beyond salvaging.
Gu Junwan was flipping through a stack of documents on the sofa, waiting a long time without hearing the Alpha speak.
She looked up slightly, only to see that silly Alpha standing not far away, looking all shy, as if she had been summoned for some intimate service.
Gu Junwan found it somewhat amusing.
But the current situation in this area made it impossible for her to laugh.
“I think there are major problems with local management in the 600th Street of the Third District and the 601st Street of the Fourth District.”
Realizing Gu Junwan had called her in to discuss official business, Shen Han immediately put aside her scattered thoughts.
She took two steps forward, bending to carefully examine the tablet spread on the table.
“What’s this ‘Fugui Gang’?”
Gu Junwan pulled her to sit down, then shared what she knew with her.
“The Fugui Gang is a spontaneously formed organization unique to this area, existing for several years now. They violently control and brainwash their members, ultimately aiming for illegal wealth accumulation. It’s an extremely harmful group.”
“The Federation allocates special funds every year to clean up and govern them, but the effect has been extremely poor. Not only have they not disappeared, but they’ve become more hidden and expanded.”
Listening to Gu Junwan’s patient explanation, Shen Han felt this gang model was eerily familiar.
Wasn’t this just like the pyramid schemes she had heard about before her transmigration?
After hearing all of Gu Junwan’s words, she pondered briefly, then suddenly asked, “Do you suspect the local administrative officials are nurturing these threats to maintain their own importance?”
Hearing such an apt description, the Empress’s beautiful golden phoenix eyes immediately lit up.
“Yes, besides the Fugui Gang issue, they have many other instances of deceiving superiors and oppressing subordinates. During this comforting mission, I want to address the root of these problems here.”
Watching the Alpha and Omega communicating so smoothly on the sofa, Xu Zhao didn’t know what was happening to herself, but she felt a faint sense of being moved.
Before this, she had always been unable to imagine what her Lady Empress’s future partner would be like.
Until this moment, seeing the scene before her, she suddenly felt that person should be someone like Shen Han.
The Alpha before her wasn’t perfect.
But from what Xu Zhao had seen so far, almost all of her qualities seemed to match her Lady Empress so well.
The two of them seemed like a match made in heaven.
Thinking of this, Xu Zhao inexplicably began to worry secretly.
Because Shen Han was, after all, an Alpha.
What if, at some point in the future, she became captivated by another Omega’s pheromones?
This wasn’t something that could necessarily be controlled even if one wanted to.
While Xu Zhao stood there, alternating between joy and sorrow, not understanding the darkness of night, Gu Junwan had already worked out several small plans with Shen Han.
Time reached the early hours of the morning.
Gu Junwan prepared to wash up and go to bed.
And as the captain of the guard, Shen Han couldn’t possibly stay overnight in this room.
She got up reluctantly.
Her clear eyes looked at her Omega, full of expectation.
“So, I’ll go stand guard outside, okay?”
How could Gu Junwan not guess her little thoughts?
Seeing her assistant still standing there lost in thought, the Omega stood on tiptoes, placing a light kiss on her Alpha’s lips.
Shen Han blinked, glanced at Xu Zhao, then imitated the action, tilting her head to kiss her Omega’s red lips twice.
The sweet fragrance of cold plum rolled on her tongue, then blossomed on her taste buds.
While it made her blood boil, it also created a desire for more in her heart.
But now wasn’t the time to be too intimate with her girlfriend.
Having tasted her Omega as she wished, Shen Han turned to leave of her own accord.
Passing by Special Assistant Xu, who was lowering her eyes in thought, she deliberately glanced at her.
Seeing that her expression remained unchanged, she finally left the room full of joy.
Xu Zhao’s face remained calm.
But in her heart, she was laughing: I’m pretending to be in a daze!
Early the next morning, a light rain was falling from the sky.
Gu Junwan, dressed in the same camouflage as the soldiers, set off towards the centralized resettlement point.
The Empress’s back was straight, her figure slender, yet she gave off a sense of strength.
The camouflage trouser legs were tucked into black military boots, her beautiful legs long and straight.
Combined with her naturally stunning looks, she appeared extremely cool and beautiful.
Shen Han was dressed identically to Gu Junwan, but compared to the slender Omega, the Alpha’s figure was taller and more upright.
She walked holding an umbrella in the position behind and to the right of Gu Junwan. The black umbrella seemed to form an independent space, subtly separating the two from others.
The group walked in a staggered formation on the muddy road, displaying a unique tension that seemed like a slow-motion scene from a blockbuster movie.
The Federation’s Second Television Station had already set up their positions in advance.
Now seeing Gu Junwan’s group approaching, all equipment and devices focused on them.
One staff member was responsible for the platform’s live broadcast.
The news of both heads of state comforting the disaster area simultaneously was already highly noteworthy. When the live broadcast preview was posted yesterday, several million people had already clicked to follow in advance.
Now, seeing the image of the Alpha guard holding an umbrella for the Lady Empress, the audience waiting to watch the current affairs broadcast in the live room immediately exploded.
[Holy crap! Holy crap! Although it might be inappropriate to say this, I still want to say, I’ve become a fan of the Lady Empress and the Alpha behind her!]
[Am I the only one who feels that the guard holding the umbrella for the Lady Empress gives off an idol drama vibe?]
[Lady Empress, kill me!]
[Ahhhhh, this is simply like a female CEO and her super soldier king!]
[Damn, I came to watch a current affairs report, not to eat dog food.]
[Hey, TV station host, please show more close-ups of the Lady Empress. I’ll send you rocket gifts, okay?]
In less than 10 minutes, the number of people in the live room had skyrocketed from over one million to over 80 million.
The proceeds from these days of live broadcasting would be used for disaster area reconstruction.
So while flooding the screen with comments, the audience generously opened their wallets.
In no time, the accumulated funds reached a scale that made one’s scalp tingle.
The host was completely shocked.
She hurriedly took out another phone and quietly called the editorial director.
The host’s voice was clearly panicked: “Director, I need to report a situation. I’m responsible for the official account’s live broadcast, and now the popularity of the live room and the fundraising have both exploded. I, I can’t handle it anymore.”
The editorial director calmly replied on the phone: “It’s a good thing that the audience is so enthusiastic and active, why are you panicking?
The donations we’ve raised will be given to the disaster area for reconstruction without a penny missing. Why are you talking nonsense about handling or not handling? You’re making it sound like our live room is very deep.”
The host secretly glanced at the again surging popularity and barrage of comments, feeling like she was about to cry.
“No! Director, wasn’t our original theme about the Lady Empress comforting the disaster area? Now the topic in the live room has completely derailed!”
“It hasn’t even been 15 minutes since the broadcast started, and there are already about 200 million people online, and everyone is clamoring for the Lady Empress and that Alpha beside her to be shipped!”
Hearing this, the editorial director also felt his scalp tingle.
How could such things be casually said? If it caused any negative social opinion, forget about a small director like himself not being able to handle it, the entire Federation’s Second Television Station wouldn’t be able to bear it!
“Quickly stop the live broadcast, hurry!”
“How should I explain it to the audience?”
“Stupid! Of course, say there’s a signal problem.”
After hearing the director’s tactical guidance, the host immediately went to carry it out.
However, just 5 minutes after the live broadcast was shut down, the station manager’s call came through to the editorial director.
“Li Lan! What are you doing? Why did you shut down the live broadcast?”
The director, wiping sweat, explained the circumstances, but was yelled at through the phone by the station manager.
“Now the station’s hotlines are about to be overwhelmed, and people are using drones to throw signal devices into our office, telling us to quickly send them to the disaster area host, not to delay the broadcast.”
“And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I’m telling you, even my five personal phones are about to be overwhelmed. Hurry up and restart the live broadcast.”
Li Lan asked with a dejected face: “What if it stirs up a storm of public opinion online, and the Lady Empress blames us, what should we do?”
The station manager snapped irritably into the phone: “Can’t you close the comments? Don’t you know how to control the narrative? Do I have to teach you these things? Really-”
Halfway through his rant, there was a sound of something falling to the ground on the station manager’s end.
Who knows if he was hit on the head by a signal device thrown by a drone?
Li Lan silently hung up the phone, not daring to delay for a moment, and ran towards the area responsible for the live broadcast in the rain.