Under the moonlight

Chapter 151 Turnaround

Zhao Meng and Huang Meng entered the conference room one after the other. As soon as they entered, Huang Meng felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange. Logically speaking, going down the low gate could be considered a victory. They had delivered the medicine to the shed area and found out the whereabouts of those men. Although they were not out of danger yet, the mercenaries would not easily touch them. For the time being, everything was going smoothly.

But as soon as she came in, she saw Xu Ao looking worried and gloomy. Old Zhang was also sitting dejectedly to one side. Jiang Ying and Chen Che were standing by the table, staring at a piece of paper on the table, sighing from time to time.

"What happened?" Huang Meng walked up to Jiang Ying and asked softly.

"Take a look," Jiang Ying said, handing her the paper on the table instead of answering her directly.

Huang Meng looked at Jiang Ying with a puzzled expression, then took the paper. It was a fax paper with a very good texture. Huang Meng carefully read the contents, and the smile that had been on her lips gradually faded.

“This…” Huang Mengyou held the paper, opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say, and stared straight at Xu Ao.

Zhao Meng stood next to Huang Meng. When Huang Meng looked at it, Zhao Meng also looked at it once, but he still took it and looked at it carefully.

"This says you disregarded the lives of your compatriots and acted without authorization, and you will be punished?" Zhao Meng said incredulously after reading it.

"Aren't the Chinese characters on it very obvious?" Li Shuo replied helplessly, sitting with his arms crossed and leaning against the table.

"But how would they know about what's happening here?"

"I did say that this evening, I had Lao Zhang send a fax back explaining what happened this afternoon." Xu Ao's voice was weak and powerless, and he lowered his head in frustration after speaking.

“It’s not your fault for reporting this. Your original purpose in coming here was to help the embassy evacuate safely. The country must be paying close attention to the embassy’s movements. It’s also our fault for not considering everything thoroughly.” Jiang Ying’s words were true. As the person in charge of the embassy, ​​Xu Ao did need to report the situation here truthfully.

“But you’re the ones facing those mercenaries, not those middle-aged men sitting in offices drinking tea and reading newspapers. Are you expecting us to stand at their gunpoint and forcibly take them back? They don’t even know what the situation was like.” Li Shuo said indignantly. After speaking, he looked at Jiang Ying beside him. He knew that she also had grievances, but her uniform prevented her from making too many judgments about the criticisms made by her superiors. He would take the blame for her.

"Regardless, it was indeed risky for us to let those people be taken away by Saudi Arabia. Maybe they are already... So, we have to go to their door first thing tomorrow morning to ask for them back. This is also the order from our superiors. Even if they have done something wrong, it is up to us to exercise that power to investigate them. No one else can judge them." Xu Ao sighed heavily, his brows furrowed, looking tired and tense.

"Since they've already decided to punish you, why care so much? The more you care, the more constrained you'll be; the more you think, the more sluggish you'll be. This matter should end now," Huang Meng said, raising her voice as she looked at the demoralized group.

“Old Zhang, you’ve already sent those photos back to China, so the domestic media must know about it now. Zhao Meng, send a fax to Yuanyuan later and ask her if there are any related reports about this on the Chinese internet.”

After Huang Meng finished speaking, the others were still in a daze, staring at her blankly, wondering what she was going to do.

"Oh, since you've already made a mistake, what does it matter how many mistakes you made? A lot of fleas won't tickle you. The punishment only said you didn't consider your compatriots, but it didn't say your methods were wrong. They definitely know about the photos that Lao Zhang sent back. If it can arouse public outrage, our country will have a better chance to take action, won't it?"

After Huang Meng finished speaking, Jiang Ying was the first to react, "You mean we can use the photos to incite public anger under the pretext of saving our compatriots, so that the country will have a reason to take action. If things continue as they are now, with the mercenaries using the plague and political control to blockade this place, the country has no reason to act rashly. But once the public outcry is high, there will be no reason not to take action."

"Yes, yes, that's right, that's right. Our reason for taking action is the safety of citizens, but once those photos are widely circulated in the media, their atrocities will surely arouse public outrage around the world." Old Zhang stood up excitedly.

“Hmm, what you’re saying makes a lot of sense. However, we have a limited number of photos. If we want to expose more, we’ll have to take risks to get more photos. But those mercenaries are definitely on guard against us now. We won’t be able to distract them with some tricks like we did the first time.”

Zhao Meng had remained silent until his sudden outburst, which was like a bucket of ice water being poured over his head. Indeed, the impact of those few photos alone was limited, and they might even be questioned by some.

The group, who had been so excited just moments before, immediately deflated.

"Think of a way to get the camera to Yuri." Xu Ao's calm tone was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.

"Yeah, yeah, Yuri has access to far more affected local people than we do!"

"Yes, and he can film their misery up close."

"But how do we give it to them? Through that dog hole we crawled through last time?" Chen Che's words immediately drew everyone's attention again.

"What, what dog hole?" Old Zhang asked in confusion.

"It was the last time Lao Huang and I went there. They said they crawled out of a hole behind the shed area. Isn't that a dog hole?"

"But if there's a hole, why don't they come out?"

“What difference does it make whether they come out or not? They’ll be dead anyway without medicine.” Xu Ao said, then suddenly remembered something and quickly said to Chen Che, “Let’s go, let’s go now.”

Seeing his sudden anxious expression, Huang Meng had a vague guess in her mind, "Are you worried that with the medicine, they won't be able to hold back and will rush out?"

Xu Ao nodded quickly, but didn't have time to say more. He grabbed Chen Che and ran out. "You didn't run into Saudi Arabia when you went there during the day. Which road did you take?" Xu Ao asked as he ran down the stairs.

“The shantytown is in the city center. We’ve never been through the city center before; we went around it via the port road.” Chen Che understood the urgency of the situation and, without waiting for Xu Ao’s instructions, went downstairs to get the car.

They had just gotten into the car when Old Zhang followed, panting. "Huff, huff, take this, take this, so we don't have to make another trip." Xu Ao took the camera, and Chen Che stepped on the gas and sped off.